Sunday Special--Pin Drop Silence!

Saved: Sun 25-08-2019 09:22

Can you hear a pin drop?
What is the meaning of pin drop silence?

Multiple exposures of pin drop

Following are some instances when silence could speak louder than voice.

Take 1:

Field Marshal Sam Bahadur Maneckshaw once started addressing a public meeting at Ahmedabad in English. The crowd started chanting, "Speak in Gujarati. We will hear you only if you speak in Gujarati." Field Marshal Sam Bahadur Maneckshaw stopped. Swept the audience with a hard stare and replied, "Friends, I have fought many a battle in my long career. I have learned Punjabi from men of the Sikh Regiment; Marathi from the Maratha Regiment; Tamil from the men of the Madras Sappers; Bengali from the men of the Bengal Sappers, Hindi from the Bihar Regiment; and even Nepali from the Gurkha Regiment. Unfortunately there was no soldier from Gujarat from whom I could have learned Gujarati.".............

You could have heard a pin drop

Take 2:

Robert Whiting, an elderly US gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.

At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.

"You have been to France before, Monsieur (Sir) ?" , the Customs officer asked sarcastically.

Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.

"Then you should know enough to have your passport ready."

The American said, “The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."

"Impossible. Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France !" , the Customs officer sneered.

The American senior gave the Frenchman a long, hard look.

Then he quietly explained ...

"Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach, at 4:40am, on D-Day in 1944, to help liberate your country, I couldn't find a single Frenchman to show a passport to.... "

You could have heard a pin drop

Take 3

Soon after getting freedom from British rule in 1947, the de-facto prime minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru called a meeting of senior Army Officers to select the first General of the Indian army.

Nehru proposed, "I think we should appoint a British officer as a General of The Indian Army, as we don't have enough experience to lead the same."
Having learned under the British, only to serve and rarely to lead, all the civilians and men in uniform present nodded their heads in agreement.

However one senior officer, Nathu Singh Rathore, asked for permission to speak. Nehru was a bit taken aback by the independent streak of the officer, though, he asked him to speak freely.
Rathore said, "You see, sir, we don't have enough experience to lead a nation too, so shouldn't we appoint a British person as the first Prime Minister of India?"

You could hear a pin drop.

After a pregnant pause, Nehru asked Rathore, "Are you ready to be the first General of The Indian Army?"........ Rathore declined the offer saying "Sir, we have a very talented army officer, my senior, Cariappa, who is the most deserving among us."

This is how the brilliant Gen. Cariappa became the first General and Rathore the first ever Lt. General of the Indian Army.

Take 4

At a time when the US President and other US politicians tend to apologize for their country's prior actions, here's a refresher on how some former US personnel handled negative comments about the United States.

JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when Charles DeGaule, the French President, decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaule said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible.

Rusk responded "does that include those who are buried here? DeGaule did not respond.

You could have heard a pin drop.

Take 5

---

When in England, at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if US plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush.

He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

Take 6

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There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American.

During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims.

What does he intended to do, "bomb them?"

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: "Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have??

You could have heard a pin drop.

Take 7

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A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies.

At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks when a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.

He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?'

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, 'Maybe it's because the Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

Take 8

In the 1959 batch of civil engineering at Thapar college of Engineering and Technology Patiala Punjab,in a class of 60, I was the lone turbaned Sikh and a Kashmiri Muslim Gulam Hassan Bhutt was the lone Muslim,rest of the 58 were Hindus.At that time people would not cut jokes on Sardaars as devout Sikhs carried 'Kirpan' ( Sword) as a prescribed dress.Liberal Sikhs did not carry sword with them and I was of later type.I was Captain of the college Hockey team and normally kept the company of Sportsmen and a day scholar.The sports persons were generally 'Dabang' type and normally no body would take 'Panga' (Mess0with them.Sardars were known to cut jokes on themselves.A survey camp was held at Dalhouzie and on tha last day of the camp.'Camp fire' was organised and Vinod Verma,the most notorious among us was acting as an 'Anchor'.He cut the a joke on Sardaars as follows:-

A 'Kumhaar' (Potter) had a donkey who had a habit of swinging his neck along Y--Axis (Vertically as if saying Yes).The potter thought of a plan to cash on this habit of his donkey.He made an announcement that any body who can make the donkey swing his neck along X-Axis( Horizontly indicating Yes) would be paid Rs.1000/-.and trial fee was fixed as Rs.100/-. Numerous people tried and failed and lost the bet money and the potter made a fortune.

At last a man said something in the ear of the donkey and the donkey swung his neck along X-Axis.The man won the bet.

People were curious to know what did he say in donkey's ear that made him say ,'No' he revealed that he asked him," Sardaar bane ga?"

The entire gathering around the fire place burst into laughter.I got up and took the mike from Vinod and  and said," So it is settled once for all that the donkey refused to become a sardaar and wanted to remain a Hindu!"

........and there was a Silence without even Pin I dropped reaching the ground!😌

Searched,Compiled and Illustrated by Tejinder Kamboj