Hilarious

It was very early days of railway in our country and toilets were not introduced in the compartments. Okhil Chandra Sen narrates the inconveniences caused in this letter, written in 1909 and now displayed in the Railway Museum in New Delhi -

“I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with ‘lotah’ in one hand and ‘dhoti’ in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on plateform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station. This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I am making big report to papers.”

Great ... now another material, that too has the potential to occupy a place in the same museum ... a ticket booked 100 years in advance !!!! The Times of India reports -

HOWRAH: Sixty-year-old Gopal Dey has a ticket to ride but nowhere to go. The tailor from Kadamtala in Howrah has a Kolkata-Jamshedpur train ticket — dated June 28, 2073. Dey has Indian Railways in a fix. Taking advantage of a rule that once allowed passengers to buy advance tickets without any time limit, Dey booked a ride on the Tata Express as a practical joke in 1973. Of course, Dey never expected to use the ticket. He plans to hand over the ticket to his daughter and hopes his grandson can use it. ........ The fare? A princely Rs 9.75.

Train ride or Time Machine ride !!!!!!
Read the full report ....

Inconvenient Truth

She too is a citizen of SHINING India. The Telegraph reports the following about Suku Soren on the day Chidambaram rolled out a "progressive" budget:

Suku Soren

Age: 17

Where: Nadna, 10kmfrom IIT Kharagpur, in West Midnapore
Education: Never been to school
Occupation: Domestic chores
Family: Mother Saraswati, father Kanon and five siblings
Family annual income: Rs 2,800
House: Single-room mud house with thatched roof. Space inside not more than 200sqft and the entire family sleeps there
Vehicle: None
Most valuable possession: Utensils, Kanon’s black stone ring, and junk jewellery worn by his wife and Suku
Least valuable possession: Nothing
Most cherished dream fulfilled: The poor can’t afford dreams, says Kanon
Cherished dream yet to be fulfilled: Two square meals a day

Dismayed ? Hold on .... there is more ...

The tribal girl has grown up in Nadna, just 10km from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur — a symbol of India’s march in the knowledge economy — without ever going to school. Kharagpur has the world’s longest platform, too, but Suku has never seen a train. Or a movie ......
The report concludes saying,
India’s economic boom has passed Suku and Kanon by. “I am where I was 10-15 years ago, if not worse,” Kanon says.

And I am a great fan of Dr. Singh and his economic policies. My own life has improved so much in last 10-15 years !!!
Read the full report.

Wedding Ceremony

THE TIMES OF INDIA reports the following:
BHUBANESWAR: About 3,000 people this past week converged in Orissa's Ghanteswara Village, about 200 kilometers from Bhubaneswar, the State capital, to witness a wedding ceremony ........
No, it is not an ordinary wedding ceremony in some rich businessman's household, rather two MONKEYS are getting married !!! It further reports :
The monkeys were showered with gifts by those present. They included a gold necklace for the bride, donated by a local businessman ........
I wish to know the reaction of Andrew Symonds :o)

Read the full report.

An evening in Park Street

Recently I visited my home. For a change of taste, one nice evening three of us, my mother, sister and myself decided to go out for a dinner. Very soon we were wandering in the pavements of Park Street looking for a suitable resturant (my mother has strong reservations against consumption of alcohol). We kept on walking and rejecting since all of them are BARS. We were running out of options. Frustrated, I decided to enter whatever comes into our sight first. After some time we found ourselves infront of a posh resturant (some complicated French name I do not remember). Gathering some courage took some more time and at last we decided to venture into it. Well ...... we were the odd group out. My mother was shocked to see that even teen agers were drinking happily with their parents (and I was happily shocked by their mindblowing fashion). Then sarted the live music. My mother grew more tense. Me and my sister kept on telling her to be relaxed, but to no avail. What was wrong with the music ? In the mean time, we had our food served and focussed on it ( not an easy task in that ambient, with so many beautiful distractions). Anyway, we managed to finish, were out of the resturant and I was happy to see sigh of relief from my mother.

"What made you so tensed ?"
"Oh, no ... they started playing the live music."
"So what ?"
"Oh ......... I thought they will start cabaret dence next. Thank god, it did not happen."
Well ...... so that was it. I was little disappointed .... I missed something.