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the almighty dollar

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 The Almighty Dollar Dr C. V. Ananda Bose   It was Washington Irving, the creator of Rip Van Winkle, who first used the expression ‘Almighty Dollar. ’ It was first used in his travalogue Creole Village. He said so against the background of the frenzied way in which the American people were running after material gains. Finding relief that the people of the villages were by and large free from going after the mirage of economic might, her wrote: ‘The almighty dollar who is worshipped universally does not seem to have many disciples in the villages. Till such times as its missionaries infiltrate the villages and set up banks and other places of worship, the villagers will conitinue to live in the present state of contented poverty. ’ The venue was the residence of a friend in New York. Many people had assembled there. All Indians. I had gone to the U.S. to participate in the Habitat conference of the U N General Assembly. And the friends had come there to offer felicitations. T
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SHOULD THERE BE BOOGIE WITH THE BOOZE

   2. SHOULD THERE BE BOOGIE WITH THE BOOZE There is perhaps one festival that all the drunkards of the world fervently look forward to. The October Fest, which is also known as Beer Fest. An estimated seven million people from different parts of the world are known to converge at Munich in Germany in October every year to take part in this festival in which millions of litres of beer are consumed in a matter of just a fortnight. It is said that no other festival anywhere in the world attracts such a massive crowd. Though known as October fest, the festivities in fact begins in late September. Despite being a boozers’ meet, there is a strict code of conduct for the festival that is meticulously observed by one and all. The festival gets an auspicious start at the stroke of 12 noon with the Mayor of Munich ceremoniously tapping a beer barrel. As if on signal, hundreds of thousands of mugs get filled up in the first wave of an almost never ending process of filling and drinking for a for
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Copy Cat Children

  52. Copy Cat Children   We Indians have an obvious preference for the male child as the first offspring of a couple. And   the child should not only be male, but should   also look like his father. In song and story that sentiment may have takers. But how boringly repetitive the society would be if   all the children grew up to become carbon copies of their father or mother!   variety being the spice of life, the purpose of creation is not at all to make clones of people.   Seeing the mad rush of new gen parents one would feel that their desire is not to have children but to have robots as their progeny. A crop of little monkeys that jumped according to their commands.   The number of mothers   insisting on getting the best of everything for their children is legion. I feel pity for   nervous, fidgety   mothers   waiting impatiently outside examination halls, causing tension not only for themselves but also for their children. There is tension in every home having school goin
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Had She Been Here

  51.Had She Been Here   One day when I was returning home from office I asked the driver to make a detour. To my old school master’s house. Reaching there I went to the door and pressed the calling bell. But there was no response. No one came to open the door. Nor was there any sound from within. Is he not there? I peered into the room through an open window and found that the fan was on. That meant that he was indeed in the house. Then why this delay? At last the master himself came and opened the door, with profuse apology. ‘I am sorry I am late. I was in the kitchen preparing noodles for my son who had come back from school. It was then I heard the calling bell. I thought I should put on a shirt...’ he paused for a while, thinking of something and then added with a tinge of sadness: ‘Had she been here!’ If she heard the sound of the calling bell when she was busy in the kitchen, she would immediately rush to the door, open it and usher in the guest. She would then take the
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GOVERNMENT IN LIMBO

  50. GOVERNMENT IN LIMBO England was shaken and shattered by the demise of Queen Victoria. Winston Churchill, who was a young man then, asked Sir William Hardcourt in sorrow: ‘What will happen now?’ Sir William said with a smile: ‘Since I am worldly wise I am telling you, nothing will happen. ’ For the first time in its democratic history when none got majority in the elections, the people of India asked themselves, ‘What will happen now?’Many felt that a minority government was a political absurdity destined to run on stilted legs. The general assessment was that a coalition government was something like a tattered and patched up coat. And like the chorus in a Greek drama the people asked in unison ‘What will happen now?’ We understood that what Sri William said was right. Nothing happened. Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister. People understood that a Thrishanku parliament, or a hung parliament, also was a parliament. The only thing is that a hung Prime Minister is to behav
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THE CHARIOT RISING SUN ROLLS

  49. THE CHARIOT RISING SUN ROLLS In Greek mythology the Sun God Apollo moves around Heavens daily in a chariot driven by white steed. It is as a result of this that day and night and the seasons occur. Once Phaeton, the son of Apollo, had a wish: to move around in the chariot with grandeur like his father. He got in the chariot. The horses bolted. The son of Apollo got flustered, unable to control the horses in their flight. During this time Nature lost all its moorings. It was as though the sun, the moon and the stars were about to be flung away from their positions. Exposed to the extreme heat the skin of the handsome men of Africa became dark and ugly. There was only one way to save the universe from total ruin. Zeus, the greatest of the Gods, threw his fiercest weapon, lighting, at Phaeton and killed him. Will the son of Apollo start his chariot race again? Will history repeat itself? These are the questions heard in the corridors of history as one hears the rumblings of
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WAS THE PRIME MINISTER A CHINESE SPY?

  48. WAS THE PRIME MINISTER A CHINESE SPY? The Prime Minister who went down the sea in a diving gear did not come up again. Even after the search by the naval helicopters or the expert divers no trace of the Prime Minister could be found. It was when people thought that the sea had swallowed him that the journalist Anthony Grey came up with a news which startled everyone. That the Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt was a Chinese spy. A spy who used to leak secrets to China for money before he became politically important. He was forced to continue as a spy even after he became Prime Minister. Ultimately when things reached a stage that the secret would be out Holt went for a swim in the sea off Victoria coast as preplanned in a secret understanding with China. In his book ‘The Prime Minister Was A Spy’ Anthony Grey disclosed that the Prime Minister boarded a waiting Chinese submarine which took him to China without anyone’s knowledge. The famous West German Chancellor Willy B
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