You have heard of quadruplets, quintuplets and hextuplets. Or quadrilaterals, pentagons and hexagons.
The Penta has various connotations. Like the Pentagon. Or Brazil winning the soccer World Cup for the 5th time in 2002. Or even the dreaded Khalistani terrorist named Surjit Singh Penta, and the long-gone Hotel Leela Penta.
And there are penta locomotive combinations on the line through the Braganza ghats to Goa:
Note the “station” of Dudhsagar Water Falls, with is nothing but a viewing platform with signs.
This impressive array of power is needed for trains going downhill, particularly as they need additional braking power.
However, these are not the most locos on a train on the Indian Railways. Admittedly the six-pack you see below is quite rare.
Most of you have heard the one about “How do you get 4 elephants into a Volkswagen Beetle? Two in the front and two in the back”.
And the desi version involving the venerable Ambassador, where the 6 elephants are accommodated three in the front and three in the back.
Remember that now:
Video by Mr Rajendraprakash Saxena.
This was taken above Palasdhari at the start of the Bhor Ghat incline to Lonavla. Goods trains are normally hauled by electric locos, though here we have three WDG-3As in front and a triplet of WCG-2 howlers at the back. Not unlike howler monkeys. Sadly, you cannot hear them today.
Yes, academics have written lengthy analyses of dirty jokes and limericks. G Legman has written a number of books on these topics.
PJs and elephant jokes also deserve further study.
Have you ever wondered why there are so many elephant jokes, a small number of dog and cat jokes and hardly any jokes involving tigers and lions? Then there are phrases such as the “elephant in the room”.
And there are elephant limericks, although this one does not depend on the elephant:
A young man in sunny Yuma
Told an elephant joke to a puma.
Now his skeleton lies
Under desert skies.
The puma had no sense of huma.
Another indirect elephant joke:
A small boy misreads a sign at the zoo which says “African elephant”. He tells his father, “Dad, I saw a frickin’ elephant.”
This sign in a forest reserve is clearly not the mistake of the elephants:
And there are off-colour elephant jokes, such as these:
Learn something new: the two-humped camel is known as the Bactrian camel. Some can be seen in Ladakh. Presumably their ancestors had got lost when the Central Asian caravans were passing through some centuries ago.
For the moment, you need to remember than the one-humped variety found in most of western India and West Asia should correctly be called a dromedary.
The camel has a distant cousin called the llama. It has been immortalized in puns, besides verses like these:
An one L lama is a priest,
A two L lama is a beast.
I bet my silk pajama
That you can’t find a 3 L lama.
One of the “model answers” is a trainee llama who wears a L plate.
Another one is a “three-alarmer”, the most serious fire notified to fire brigades in the US.
And finally, an elephant joke which is almost like a shaggy dog story.
In 1986, a young man named Peter Davies from Chicago was on holiday in Kenya after his college graduation. During a hike through the bush, he came upon a young bull elephant standing with his right front leg in the air. The elephant was in obvious distress, so Peter approached the elephant carefully for a better look. He got down on one knee, inspected the elephant’s foot, and and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it….
As carefully as he could, Peter worked the wood out with his knife, after which, the relieved giant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant looked down upon Peter with what seemed to be a curious expression… It stared at him for several tense moments. Peter knelt before this young giant frozen, thinking only of being trampled to death…. Eventually, the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned and walked away… Peter would never forget that encounter which would make a lasting impression on him for life….
Twenty years later, Peter was visiting the Chicago zoo with his young son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned toward them and began to approach Peter and his son. The large bull elephant looked down at Peter, lifted it’s right front foot off the ground. The elephant did this repeatedly while trumpeting loudly and staring at the pair. Recalling his incredible encounter in 1986, Peter could not help but wonder if it was possible that this was the same young bull he had encountered so many years before….
Peter summoned up his courage, climbed the railing into the enclosure, and walked right up to the bull elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted loudly, wrapped its trunk around one of Peter’s legs, and slammed him against the railing killing him instantly….. Probably WASN’T THE SAME fucking elephant….!
This is for all of those who send out those heart-warming bull shit stories on email…..
While this is not a joke, it is useful to know there is someone to complain to:
abn397 