The Mysterious Voice in the Reading Room

Whose voice is it anyway?

Two students, pursuing their master’s degree at my college came up with an unusual story sometime ago. They had reported (to the librarian) of hearing a mysterious voice in the campus library.

Well, I as a journalist, having a nose to unravel and unearth weird stories, thought I would try my hand at it. So today, I got down to the bottom of this mystery though I don’t believe in the existence of ghosts and long-dead, aimlessly roaming human spirits.

A reading room or a hang out for spirits?

Anyway, I went and met the librarian without wasting any time. She was grateful enough to allot a certain amount of time in the midst of her busyness. She revealed saying that  some students did hear a man’s voice in the reading room, the voice of late Fr Cecil Saldanha, who worked as a Botany lecturer in the college, a long time ago.

Since the name sounded familiar and I remembered seeing it somewhere in the library, I immediately entered the interior part of the library to check the cupboards. Wow, only then it dawned on me! 

Almost 12-14 cupboards in the Botany section had books, journals, encyclopedias, research literature and other collections by Fr Cecil Saldanha. Each of those cupboards, meticulously locked, had a paper strip on them saying, ‘Books of Fr Cecil Saldanha’. 

The chillness and the silence 

When the librarian newly moved from the UG to PG library in 2006, many of her colleagues had intimidated her about this. She does believe in the existence of ghosts and spirits. At the same time, she is also an avid believer in God. She believes that God is always with her.

Hollywood produces an array of movies on

 haunting

Two other gentlemen (one was deeply engrossed reading his newspaper and the other one just entering the library) overheard my conversation with the librarian. They heard the story and just disregarded it. 

However, two Microbiology students (returning their borrowed books at the counter)   heard the same conversation between us and were stunned (I was able to read their countenance). One of them mumbled, "I'm not gonna come here again!"

Our own shadows do scare us sometimes!

My friend Nikki (name changed) reported seeing an unexplained shadow (at around 6 in the evening) moving instantaneously behind him, while walking down the staircase in the campus yesterday. 

I spoke to our loyal security guard as well (who guards our campus day and night). He confirmed that so far he hasn’t heard or seen any mysterious happenings. 

Whatever, I firmly believe that this is just another rumor spread around to keep our anxiety and excitement alive. And the rest I leave it up to the readers to make their own judgment. 

My verdict: My College is the best and its library too! :)

- Raju G Prannoy

Our four-legged best friends

Most adorable creatures of the world

20 dogs including two pets, were poisoned to death near HSR Layout recently. The picture is still in front of our eyes. It proves that people are irked by incessant barkings at night or feared getting bitten while the school kids are returning from their schools or workers from their offices.


We cannot ignore the fact that some stray dogs look cruel and some of their activities make people dog-haters. Recently we as a team of budding film makers from St Joseph’s College (Komal, Shaista, Kalyan and I) contacted BBMP joint director (Animal Husbandry), Parvez Ahmed Piran regarding a video footage for our documentary about street dogs in Bangalore. While talking Mr Piran said that they are soon launching a awareness programme on dogs.

Witty and playful pals

When asked about the role of public he said, “Dogs will not bite unless they sense some danger to their puppies. When people disturb them or throw stones at them they bite to protect themselves. An unprovoked biting happens only in case of rabies.”


 When we took our camera to the streets and contacted dog lovers who expressed their dissatisfaction of the cruelty of people. Some people also suggested how to behave with the street dogs. Meera Jayadev, a dog lover, has adopted three dogs, said Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme is one solution from stray dogs in a city like Bangalore. “If you are scared of dogs, the tendency would be to run when the dog comes near us. We can avoid the cruel dogs by throwing biscuits or food left-over. Then they slowly become friendly towards humans.”

Warm, faithful and comforting

Another dog lover, Prayash Thapa, an LLB graduate has adopted two dogs. He says, “I found a wounded puppy and was following me. So I carried it to my home and medicated. There was another puppy on the street, which was looking very cute and so I adopted it.”



-Raghunath S  
My personal blog   
 

My journey to the podium via the hair pins

It was “THE KING OF THE CLOUDS” (Hill Climb Race), where I got onto the podium for the first time. My YAMAHA RD350 clocked winning timing twice both 1^st and 2nd in the 2 Stroke 251-350 class. I have participated in the Nandi Hills race event thrice earlier. During my first experience I was not exposed to Hill Climb racing so I couldn’t clock any position. During the second time the weather was not in our favour and it was pouring heavily. We just slipped making it to the podium by a couple of seconds and clocked 4^th. But this time I knew I did not want to keep repeating the same mistake as earlier, as the weather was superb.

We had to struggle a lot to get the bikes to perform as there were a lot of technical stuff to be checked when it comes to the racing engines. I own 3 deadly bikes which pander to my craze. One Drag Race setup Yamaha RD350, one daily street use well used Yamaha RD350 and the last 225cc Karizma blown up to approximately 300cc. We took all the bikes for this event. It was a real challenge to get the engines tuned to perfection as in 2-stroke blown engines according to the climate we have to keep changing the tuning, if it is warm there is a different set of tuning and whenever it is cold there is a different set of tuning. We were working in the garage till 3 am, getting our bikes ready. Still to the last moment we were not happy with the way the Drag Setup RD350 was performing and we decided, if the same is not performing up the hill, we will drop that RD and race only with my street RD and Karizma.

We left Bangalore by six am in the morning and reached the venue by 8am. All our bikes were loaded on to a mini truck. And after reaching it was worse there as there was no time to rest and finish the tune up of the engines. We started tuning up our bikes by 10am and it went on till 2:30pm in the afternoon and still the Drag RD350 wasn’t performing. Finally we decided to drop that bike and carry on with other 2. It really is disheartening after blowing so much time, money, blood, sweat etc and raising our expectations to the highest point. Finally if the engines don’t perform in a race, one really get psyched. Every race, we  blow almost 10k on each machine and therefore have lot of hope on winning.

Being a student it is very difficult to organise approximately 30k for 3 bikes for each race and we race 3 to 4 times a year.

    It was extremely tiring as we didn’t sleep the entire night  working on the engines. And the track is 1.7 kms with 7 sharp hairpin bends. A small miss and you could either go straight to heaven or at hell. Therefore it is not at all advisable to be stressed at the start of your participation, which I definitely will not repeat

The race started, our names were called, and we rode to the starting line, where the countdown starts. I let my mind keep things within my control and thought of taking all the corners as safely as possible but the moment you are on the wheels the scene is totally different. On the fourth hairpin bend which is a lefthander, I almost scrapped the rocky hill through my right shoulder but still managed to keep the wheels on grip. My luckiest escape was on the 6^th corner which was again a lefthander where I almost went to the edge of the track, as my front brakes were totally worn out and I was on zero front brakes. Unfortunately my rear tyres were not in a good condition, so every time I killed the engine it used to keep spinning and fishtail. Even while I was doing the test run, the rear tyre was so bad that I almost climbed the rocky hills about 3 to 4 feet as the bike wasn’t gripping at all.

Overall after all these difficulties, we managed to clock great timings and climb the podium twice on the same red RD350. On the other side, the Karizma clocked in 4^th place which upset me as I slipped the gears 3-4 times. If I had avoided that error I could have easily reached the podium yet another time.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: We race only dressed in proper riding gear and leathers on a given track. HELMET wearing is compulsory, including the entire riding suit as I personally saw 2 major accidents in this event where neither rider was wearing any  safety measures. Today one of them is struggling for his life and the other with a major vehicle loss.

KALYAN

[ZAM Motors Club, Bangalore]

The Time Has Come.

When I was young your touch used to make me feel secure. You held my fingers and taught me how to walk. Whenever I use to fall it was you who used to get hurt more than me. You understood what I meant even with my unspoken words.
You have supported me in my hard times and taught me how to overcome them. Whenever I was dejected and needed someone you were there always and acted on behalf of my friends. You did everything possible to make me happy and fulfil all my dreams.

 You gave me the first human tenet on how to behave with others because of which I am able to muddle through life and society. You made my toughest challenge into a modest situation and made me strong in order to face the world. You showed me the world in different and beautiful ways.
 Now as I have grown up and can feel how much you have done for me, whatever I do for you will never be sufficient. Your love is above all and has no comparison.

The time has come where I must hold your hand and never let you down. I know you will never reveal how much you have done for me. But as I have grown to adult hood and can realise all your love and sacrifices done for me, it is my opportunity to give you happiness and fulfil all your dreams. I too want to do something for you. Love you Mom and Dad. Thank you for everything.

(Dedicated especially to my parents and parents all over the world and to those people who do not have time for their parents.)

SHAISTA KHATUN

musings of an active student

Got on one of those colourful buses a couple of days back to travel to college. When I say colourful I mean exploding with almost every shade of every color in the rainbow. Now these are not to be confused with the official city transportation buses rather they are privately owned buses that technically should not be plying commuters to various locations. Leaving ethics aside, these buses beat the regular old official public transportation hands down. This is because they have televisions inside playing popular south Indian cinema.

Pic source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/85325384@N00/3245865880/

At the same time, the movie on the go concept is seriously flawed! The day I got into the bus, they were playing a Telugu movie with Chiranjeevi, a hyperactive female lead trying her best to be cute, one sardarji kid (and yup he spoke impeccable Telugu) and one girl who did not have hands. So from what I saw, Chiranjeevi played the role of your typical altruistic but mischievous (supposedly) young man who the girls just love! His altruism was established in the scenes where he helped a blind girl and the other girl with no hands write their exams. 


Then one day both of them had exams on the same day and he decided to help the blind girl out as the other girl had asked her uncle to help. In typical Indian film twists, her uncle is not able to come as he meets with an accident. The worst part is Chiranjeevi is in the exam hall with the blind girl so she cannot call him out. She runs frantically asking everyone on the street if they would write her exams but they turn her down.


The next scene is Chiranjeevi coming out of the exam hall to find a large group of people gathered near the college building. He looks up and sees the girl with no arms standing at the edge threatening to take her life. He runs up with full on heroic splendor and .... well my stop approaches so I got off! I never really knew if she took a dived at the pavement below or if she came to her senses and went away. The whole day in college was wasted as I could not concentrate on a single word the teachers were saying in class. I kept thinking about how the scene would have gone down. Maybe she did jump or maybe Chiranjeevi was so moved that he chopped of his own hands and gave it to her. If she did jump maybe Chiranjeevi went insane and killed the principal and her uncle. Or maybe Chiranjeevi went too close to the wall, trying to convince her not to jump that he lost his balance in the process and fell to his death.


Guess I will never truly know.... I shall always be lost... lost hopelessly

Crazy fans of Natural Ice-cream

An interesting topic, to write is about for this blog is - ice-cream, ice-cream and ice-cream. Till now, I have eaten almost all the flavours and visited most of the ice-cream parlours in Bangalore except for Lakeview.


The recent fascination for me is the taste of Natural ice-cream. Hmmmm…. as I think of it, my mouth waters in rememberance. I got to know about this from a friend. She said, “You must taste this, it has got this natural taste of fruit in it.” I felt she was exaggerating about this,but anyway I thought let me give it a try. Finally, one evening when I was bored, I went to the nearest outlet in Basaveshwarnagar along with my friend.


As I entered, the parlour was full; people were pouncing on each other to buy their coupon. It is a small place but the demand for the ice-cream was large. People were crazy about it. In one corner, I could one whole family hogging all sorts of flavours, right from the kids to the elder ones.


For the first time, I was baffled as to which flavor to buy. Later, the person in charge gave me different flavours to try. Trust me; most of the flavours were really yummy. Especially, the tender coconut and musk melon were out of the world. I just loved the taste because there is the natural flavour of the fruit with ice-cream in it.


In India, it is very hard to find such natural ice-creams. I assure you if you try it just once you will be hooked!


Pavithra

Die another day…

I stood there; my breath swirling mist in the cold; my throat dry with fear; the bristles at the back of my neck standing up; my skin sweating despite the chill coolness of the night that cast its dark shadows around me. The darkness loomed menacingly as its freezing grip held me tighter even as I shuddered at the form in front of me.


He stood there; his appearance dimly outlined by the faint glow of the moonless sky; his shoulders hunched and ready to charge at my slightest movement; His hoarse breath echoed through the thick woods enclosing the path I was on. 


He stood, unflinching yet threatening in his stance as his shadow reached for me like the skeletal arms of the reaper. He stood firm with his feet steady and unmoving yet the air sparked with the dark energy his appearance exuded. I trembled under my clothes which vainly seemed to protect me from his overpowering evil and the icy mist around us.

We faced each other; my nemesis and I. My bones rattled with pure horror as the shape stepped from the wispy fog and advanced towards me. I stood rooted to the ground, my teeth chattering with absolute terror and breaking the deadly silence between us. Each step he took felt like a noose tightening around my neck. My heart pounded like a hammer and felt like it would explode any minute. 

The distance closed between us and though I still couldn’t make out his face, his growing image radiated an intensity that revealed pure malice. The shadowy figure was nearly upon me when my adrenaline kicked in and my limbs found a life of their own. I spun on my heels and bolted like the wind. He broke into pursuit and thundered after me. My legs barely touched the ground as they carried me blindly through the winding path.


Crashing through branches, tripping over stones, sliding down a rock wall and leaping over a fallen tree-trunk, I ran like a man possessed; running wildly to escape the demon behind me. But he chased relentlessly. I could feel him closing in on me. His steps pounded behind me, his breath heavy on my back; I could sense him right behind me. His throat growled with a deep growl as if in anticipation of hunting down his prey.


I tumbled over an extended root and fell headlong into the thickets that scratched my face as I went through them.  I fumbled and tried to get back on my feet. Turning around as I stood up, I looked at death straight in the eye and I froze. My predator leapt and we went crashing into the bushes again.


He stood on top of me pinning me down; his breath heavy and hot, his teeth bared inches from my face, a bloodcurdling growl emanated from him while his eyes glowed with an ethereal evil. I closed my eyes and waited for the kill.


But instead of feeling the teeth sink into me I felt wetness slide across my face. He was licking me! He licked me with his tongue and his muzzle gently cuddled at my face. I was dumbstruck with my heart in my mouth. The menacing hound that had chased me down was the neighbour’s dog! And though I had forgotten the tiny little pup that I had played with five years ago before I left to my studies abroad, he had not forgotten me.

Gosh! He had grown! And boy was he heavy. Getting up I dusted myself even as he bounded around me with excitement. Whew! I could breathe again. What a relief! And so we walked as dawn approached. Homeward bound, my friend and I; while I lived to die another day…


Allan Moses R.
(living life... one heartbeat at a time)