Dear Tambola…

Dear Tambola,
I don’t believe you know me, but I know you quite well. I was introduced to you just a couple of days after I joined my husband at his unit location. I have to admit, that meeting you was a very unnerving experience.
I think I underestimated your magical power. What power you ask? Oh come on, don’t be so modest. You know it very well. Each year, you cast a spell on hundreds of young girls who marry Armymen. In just a matter of minutes, you make a 20-something girl feel like a 50-year-old aunty.
Yes, that is correct… I felt like an old woman who has entered that stage of life where just a game of Tambola gives immense joy. I felt like my hair colour has gone from black to grey just like that.
I was in a room full of women who did not burst laughing when the mc said “I am giving it a good shake.” I bit my lower lip when I saw a woman desperately waiting for that ONE number which would complete her full house.
Complete her full house? That doesn’t sound right!
I am going to be honest, dear Tambola, I feel like your place should be in a museum. You are ancient and have the power to make us young girls feel primitive. You have been a staple of every Army party for so many decades now, and the lucky ones would always swear by you.
I saw a slightly modern version of you twice, when instead of numbers, you were dressed in a theme-based avatar. That one time, you had different names of the sun written in some boxes of your 9×3 grid, and those names were called out by the mc to see who was destined to win. Another chance meeting with your rejuvenated self was when it was based on names of different flowers.
You can understand why it seems so boring for girls like me who have had many other ways of keeping ourselves entertained. But every time I see you at a party, the joy you bring to many ladies and officers (yes, officers also) is priceless.
I can safely say that it is time for you to reinvent your persona. That’s the only way you can get the younger lot to “shake it”.

Yours sincerely,
A curious Army wife