Rice Pulling

Sounds like a unfinished phrase. But there have been examples of such phrases in our vocabulary (ever heard of bureau pulling?? forget it..).Now this cheesy phrase is a complete rage in Tamil Nadu and other southern states.
Let me introducte it to you with simple words - Rice pulling refers to charateristic of a mysterious iridium-copper alloy that can attract rice (you heard it right) like a magnet attracts iron.So there are literally hundreds(may be thousands!) of secret meetings happening in cheap lodges, bars and even remote villages about this.
So I set out to understand what this fuss is all about.By chance I got to talk to few known people who say they are in this secret business.I was astonished to see how secretive talk and bodylanguage was during this chat with me.Fine let me lay down the facts I learnt from these people

Source-There are 2 kinds of rice pulling items. One is something called 1616 coins minted by British in colonial times with iridium alloys from meteorites found only in south India.Other kind is metals from temple kalasams that have been struck by lightning.

Tests for verification:

- Place rice within 15 inches of the RP metal and it immediately pulls the rice towards it. Few minutes later the rice turns brown in colour

- If you place a watch near the RP metal it stops working

- Torch light bulb will fuse out when brought in proximity of RP metal - A flame bends towards the direction of the RP metal at close proximity

Effects : - Can black out a whole electricity grid if placed in contact

Handling : - Has to be wrapped in rubber sheets and placed in thermocol boxes

Buyers : - German companies are buying to extract the unbelievalble power these metals can generate

Price :- Transactions I heard where anywhere between 10 to 5000 crores (you heard it right!)
So what has happenend is this has created mass hysteria where people such as businessmen, lawyers, home makers. etc are spending lots of personal money, time and energy in closing these spurious deals.

I tried digging details on the internet and couldn't find one transaction that was completed. So these middlemen have been making money in the name of processing and testing fees. A person I know has lost lakhs of rupees running around this RP metal in the dream of earning few crores. I leave it to you to infer yourselves from whatever I have spoken here.

Spectacles & Hearing aids

Past

Waiting at a traffic signal on my bike, I happened to look at a person with a earphone on him. At first I thought that he was either talking on phone or listening to music.

Suddenly this primitive(!!!) thought came to me. I felt he was wearing a hearing-aid. My eyes started searching where the wire was jacked into. Obviously looking for a boxy device. But finally figured that it was just a mobile head-set that had a strange white color and feel.

Some kind of a keen observer I am.. or may be I was staring and may invite a different response in US. Let’s give it a honest thought.. at least am going to be.

How many of us have thought of a person being visually-challenged for wearing a spectacles?

Now I know why people around me think I am weird at times and many of my spectacled friends must be fuming in rage:-)

Spectacles are widely accepted as fashion add-ons and come in wide varieties and shapes. But it’s a common fact (at least as far as I have seen) that, in traditional families searching for a groom might look down upon a groom wearing a hearing-aid.

But the same cannot be said about a guy wearing spectacles. Few of my Tamil friends may even say "maapillai Bhagyaraj maathiri superaa irukaaru" meaning the guy likes like actor Bhagyaraj (in a nice way I mean) .

It must be interesting to know that the spectacles started as a device to help correct vision some 2800 years back ( I wonder if Jesus was wearing it in human form). That’s a long time to evolve while the hearing aid is comparably a recent phenomenon say a few hundred years.

This oldness to the spectacles may explain the slow progression of a defect correction device to something that does lot more. Today's spectacles can protect your eyes against UV rays, dust etc. as well as helps you in styling in latest trends.

It also gives you a sense of hiding behind a curtain when you have something you don't want the world to see

- hide a sore eye because of getting hit by wife (not for me)

- swollen eyes because of a mad booze party the previous night (high possibility)

- weepy eye due to watching a mega soap on TV (may be a depressing movie like "Mahanadhi")

- squint or differently-sized eyes(few top film stars do)


But all is not lost on the other side too. Hearing aids these days come in extremely miniscule sizes and shapes that are impossible to figure out.

Finally I hope hearing aids evolve both usage wise (can think of as a extended mobile phone feature) and acceptance wise - best indication would be acceptance of a bride/groom wearing hearing aid with the spectacled ones.

Now my grumblings are over.. homework time.. do post as comments.

Exercise 1 - Think of a trendy name (not that it sounds bad but just to be on the same ground as goggles/sunglass/spectacles etc) for a hearing-aid

Exercise 2 - Like my idea of making it a mobile phone feature throw some new ideas to make it more acceptable and trendy

Future - Spectacles with hearing-aid