Sound of silence

 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

   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