Skip to main content

As we rush through life!

In Washington, DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.  During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. About 3 minutes: The violinist received his first dollar.  A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At 6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At 45 minutes: The musician played continuously.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while.  About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32.  After 1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over.  No one noticed and no one applauded.  There was no recognition at all. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world.  He...

CATCH THE LIAR

If you are a teacher or anyone associated to grill the pupil or public as a matter of routine job, you must surmise how to separate them who lie at ease than who speak the truth. Truly it is a tough task. In a school where hundreds of students throng, one comes up with specific complaints alleging other for the sin. But the guy looks so innocent and narrates his story so naively that it is hard to think that he ever could commit such follies. I remember a story of Mogul style of detecting the criminals by some courtesan on Mogul empire. Some suspects were brought to the court for alleged thefts. All denied having committed the crime. The courtesan, Bribal (Emperor Akbar`s court) came forward and sought permission to find the thief from the emperor. The permission was granted. He asked for some flour. That he distributed everybody one or two spoonful and put that on their palm. Asked them to make paste of flour, with their spit instantly, all did except one. He could not spit a drop, his mouth was dry. Birbal dragged him out and declared that he was the thief. The man confessed the crime, the emperor was surprised by Birbal`s intelligence and rewarded him while punishing the thief.
But stories are stories; they do not stand the test of time. However a recent finding as narrated by Dr Sharon Leal, co-author of the study at Portsmouth University states that if a person is telling lie, his eye would blink less while he is lying than the person who is speaking truth. But if you keep watch on him, afterward he would have a flurry up to eight times faster than usual. According to the report in the Mail Online, it means that blink rates could be used by professionals to catch liars. Experimenters undertaken for the study found that when questions were being asked and the answers given, the blink rate of the liars went down. Afterwards, the blink rate of the liars increased rapidly in a sudden flurry of activity, while that of the truth tellers remained the same. Is this tip of any help to you? Let me know, leave your comments.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

DARJEELING - THE HISTORY

“DARJEELING”, the very name of this hill station in India reminds you the colonial days and tea. Because it was the British colonizers; who were constantly on look out for cooler places, obviously in India it uses to be in hills what would remind them their home. The temperature in tropical countries, particularly in summer months use to be unbearable for them for mercury touching anywhere between 35 to 44 degree Celsius! In India Shimla and Darjeeling earned their reputation for hosting the colonial administrators with their staffs with families during summer months for running colonial administration for years. Though with English rulers, gone are the colonial days and prestige of Darjeeling, but it still holds name in world for its tea. It still the producer of world number one flavored tea and sold at a price, unthinkable for we ordinary mortals! Off late, a new hue for Gorkhaland is raised time and again. It stared in the decades of 90s, lot of agitations, number of strikes call...

A blank sheet of paper!

In busy office hours; amidst humming and buzzing noises; I got lost seeing an extra piece of white sheet in that sheaf  of reports!   I was about to check; that was urgent.  My mind focused on memory; how long it was I wrote a letter or anything on paper! Could not recollect exactly. The last letter I must have written to my mother who departed in 2003. But obviously it was much earlier to her settling to ‘rest in peace’ forever. The white sheet tempted me to write anything that comes in my mind as I used to long ago; long after I wrote last! Gone are the days of letters. Email and SMS replaced and outdated them almost totally; ever since computer permeated to our offices first and then our households. I am not sure how the word ‘love letter’ sounds to young generations! My heart still throbs faster when I remember writing or receiving my first one! I held the pen again though not sure enough what to write about! Received a jolt finishing the very first ...

As we rush through life!

In Washington, DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.  During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. About 3 minutes: The violinist received his first dollar.  A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At 6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At 45 minutes: The musician played continuously.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while.  About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32.  After 1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over.  No one noticed and no one applauded.  There was no recognition at all. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world.  He...