From: ragi@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Spaceman Spiff)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: Tall Tales from Hell -- Icarus.
Date: 29 Aug 1992 21:36:15 -0500
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: matt.ksu.ksu.edu

In <1992Aug29.211359.9648@colorado.edu> paulchem@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Icarus) writes:

>1] At lunch at the dining halls today, Njan told a pretty girl,
>   an astounding fact:
>   
>   There is a place in kodai canal called suicide point,
>   with a sheer drop of over 5000 meters.
>   People who jump off the cliff, are lost without a trace,
>   because they  burn up on re-entry from friction due to the
>   higher densities of air towards the end of the fall.

>   Now I have on occasion told women that Chemmanoor was latin
>   for Genius, but this one sounds a bit far fetched.

>   Anyone knows anything more about this fall from outer space ?


    Two corrections:

 1. The right spelling is Kodaikanal - lest the uninformed be misled
    into believing that you are talking about a canal that flows
    beneath a cliff - and it is a once-pretty hill station that in
    days of yore served as a summer resort for the families of 
    officials of the British Raj.  Now, though the beauty of the more
    popular tourist spots is marred by hordes of visitors (accompanied
    by the usual paan-spitting, music-blaring, rock-throwing-at-the-
    animals etc.) - not to mention the ubiquitous billboards screaming
    in loud colours the release of the latest kamalhassan movie -
    there are still secluded spots where one can commune with mother
    nature.

 2. If, for some reason, you should decide to jump off the cliff at
    suicide point (don't you think 5000 m is kind of high for that part
    of the country?) then indeed, your blessed ass is grass. But surely
    there will be traces - somewhere on the hillside there will be 
    a striking likeness of you, slightly distorted by the mountain
    wall that rushes up to greet you. 

    If, on the other hand, you aren't the daring kind and decide to 
    experiment with a mere coin or handkerchief, you might find
    that it miraculously defies gravity and falls up instead of down.
    This, I am told, is not due to friction but rather to the strong
    vertical current of air that occurs due to the peculiar geography
    of the region.

    This Njan guy seems to be ok, though. I have often regaled
    open-mouthed women with stories of my fearless great-grandfather,
    who killed a grizzly with his bare hands when it disturbed him
    while he was deep in prayer during his trek to Norway...

>3] Two clever ones I remember from Rajan didgits of pi's repertoire:

>   a]
>      So, The Buddha, is meditating and concentrating on Shiva, 
>      waiting for him to appear to ask him the meaning of life.

>      He waits for ten years, patiently.
>      Nothing happens.
>      Finally, disgusted with everything, he gets up and walks away.

>      Shiva panics, after playing hard to get all these years.
>      Shiva appears in front of The buddha and says:

>      "I am well pleased with your worship and dedication, ask anything
>       and it is yours. "

>      The buddha in disgust says:

>      "Oru Maiyurum Venda!"

>      The rest they say is history.
>      Sorry I dont know how Buddha came to be concentrating on Siva
>      or why he choose to speak in Tamil, the results however were 
>      immediately evident.

Ain't clever, by any means. Any khaki-shorts-clad schoolboy
in Madras will tell you this one!

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