Cut the clutter

It took me a long time to understand that 'mess' had another meaning than just a clutter. Until that knowledge took the charm away, it was fun to imagine a building where army officers would drop their stiff, disciplined, spit 'n' polish image and start mucking around. As a kid, everytime I saw this sign at St Thomas Mount, it took me to an image of officers behaving in the most un-gentlemanlike fashion.

In fact, even after learning that 'mess' could also describe a dish, or a place where meals are served to a specifc group, it was difficult to wipe away the earlier image. It was merely modified to one where the officers were being extremely clumsy about eating their food!

This was one of the two signs which fascinated me as a child; the other one is here