Iceman’s Realm

Move over, priests and godmen. A nag temple in Himachal Pradesh is inundated with visiting cards from devotees. On the cards are the devotees’ wishes, too, mostly profession related or the desire for a male child. Those without visiting cards leave their name, address and their fervent desires behind on a piece of paper. Those whose wishes are granted return to give thanks and remove their visiting card. Perhaps, the others need to include self-addressed envelopes.

Talking may remove barriers. But what will remove the barriers on talking? The banning of prepaid SIM cards in Jammu and Kashmir had incurred the wrath of one and all. Just in case you’re wondering what’s the real purpose, well it was to stop militants from misusing the service. But the move failed to prevent the Lal Chowk attack. Also, tapping prepaid SIMs helped security forces do away with more than one militant. Now the ban is revoked, however the formalities required to obtain a prepaid card outnumber those required for a passport. Plus, service providers are demanding Rs 200 a month even from existing subscribers to renew validity, apart from the advance payment of Rs 500 - Rs 1900.

Children often are made to suffer for the sins their parents commit. Take the case of a Kanchipuram temple priest, Devanathan, who was arrested for seducing women devotees in the sanctum sanctorum, no less. Even as police were collecting evidence from the women who fell prey to the holy casanova’s lures, a private school decided to punish him by dismissing his two daughters. Devanathan’s lawyer says the family is tying to convince the school authorities to take the kids back.

Pizza can sometimes land you behind bars. Five youths were so consumed with the desire for a slice that they called Domino’s Pizza and placed an order for 12 pizzas. As the delivery boy turned up and handed over the boxes and a four figure bill, the youths pushed him, lept into their car and fled with the pizza. The delivery boy called up the police right away and briefed them of this bizarre incident. It wasn’t that had chasing them down because these guys were relatively newbies to this activity. Poor youths, they are in jail right now. Biting off more than what one can chew, did someone say?

You can fool all of the government some of the time and some of the governments all of the time. Munir Khan based in Himachal Pradesh, produced fake certificates saying he was a doctor and bought land from the government of Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to manufacture his miracle medicine Body Revive. He convinced them that it would cure everything from rash to cancer. Finally, a man whose wife was not cured filed a complaint against Munir Khan exposing the quack!

Instead of a ring, try proposing marriage with a baby. Sounds ridiculous but not for this married female. Gouramma (name changed to protect identity), a married woman in Bangalore asked her lover to marry her, claiming to be pregnant. The lover, a law student, left for his home in Tamil Nadu and they didn’t meet for a year. Gouramma who always has an act up her sleeve didn’t hesitate to come up with one. Guess what Gouramma did this time. She kidnapped a 11 month old baby and turned up at her lover’s doorstep, claiming the baby boy was theirs. The scandalized family fixed a wedding date, but the baby’s father, who was actually her former neighbor informed to the police. Poor Gouramma, instead of enjoying a blissful life with her partner, she’s now behind the bars.

Snow in winter drives the tourist industry in Kashmir and ensures plenty of water for the summer. But it is also the season when the number of burn cases goes up in the state. To keep themselves warm during winter, Kashmiris carry the kangri - an earthen pot with a wicker casing - under their pheran (the winter gown). As the kangri is filled with burning coal, even a very small incident can lead to serious buns.

An unknown lad thought it was a good idea to call up police control room and report fire in a bus at Outer Ring Road, Delhi. Frantic cops rushed to the spot to find a lower-floor bus but no smoke and no fire. The driver appeared ignorant about the phone call, the youth, the fire and the smoke, when questioned by the unamused policemen. Attempts to trace the lad with the weird sense of humor are on.

Congress leader Rajmohan Unnithan has perished by the sword he drew. He has often pummeled his political rivals by pointing fingers at their extra marital relationships. Last week, a group of communist supporters caught him with a married woman at a rented house in Manjeri.  If reports are anything to go by, it seems they lodged a complaint for immoral trafficking and the duo was arrested. The crowd also informed the media which had a field day covering the event. Unnithan, whose dhoti was once yanked by rival camp followers in his party is yet to find cover.

Jairam Ramesh never fails to surprise. Guess what he did this time, the environment minister entered the Japanese delegation’s office at Copenhagen unannounced. He wanted to make amends for having kept his Japanese counterpart waiting at the Indian delegation’s office earlier, while he was at another meeting. Hence the impromptu decision to walk down to their office to meet their minutest detail were taken aback and took some time to come to grips with the situation. They had planned the meeting of the two ministers at the Indian delegation office right down to where the official photographer would stand and had even conducted a mock drill to ensure that nothing would go wrong.