Urban legends from Childhood days

 Like many from my generation, I grew up amidst several Urban legends (few Rural too) in Odisha. For a long time I believed them as gospels written on stone. Here you go :

Jeff Thompson was known to be the fastest bowler during my childhood days. It was then said, to Sunil Gavaskar, the better known cricketer of our time, once the ball came out of Thompson's hand it looked like a woman's Sindoor (Vermilion dot which adores Hindu women's forehead as a symbol of marriage). A la Hindu women, it was destined for Gavaskara's (Sunny's last name pronounced in a thick Odia accent) forehead.

But our little Gavaskara knew about this folklore attributed to him. Because the Little Master had the height advantage of having a small height, readily ducking Thompson's "bounsara" missiles without getting hurt. As we know in India, cricket is more skewed towards the batsmen (probably the reason why we rarely produce quality fast bowlers). So whatever supposedly came out of our Gavaskara's mouth who dominated in the 1970s and 80s was treated as the gospel.

A guy in our neighborhood used to say that the world's fastest bowler was Lillian Thomson. Many would be wondering how can be a woman be the world's fastest bowler in a male dominated sport. Fast bowlers are known to hunt in pairs, so he innoculosly combined Lillie and Thompson duo as Lillian Thomson. But unfortunately later on we alluded the guy as "Gullian" Thompson (Gullia in Odia means a person who kills light hearted jokes).

In the 1979s a person from near my ancestral village near Puri, Odisha got into the Civil Services, undoubtedly the most cherished job those days when government was the largest employer in the country. The legend goes like this. In the UPSC interview panel he was questioned - "What's Half Circle, Full Circle, Half Circle A, Half Circle, Full Circle, Right Angle A". Instantly came his answer - "Coca Cola", which catapulted him to a top rank above the rest who were not brilliant enough to answer this question correctly. Not sure if that question prompted George Fernandez, the champion Socialist of that era to drive Coke and IBM out of India. It's rumored he toiled hard to nationalize the Tatas, the largest private sector of the time. Glad sanity prevailed, nothing of that sort happened.

And this one beats all - the myth about Mahatab's head. A widely circulated story attributed to the brain of late Dr. H.K. Mahatab, a Congressman and ex-Chief Minister of Odisha and the Governor of the state of Maharastra. Considered to be a wily politician of his time, it is said after his death America secretly fetched his head from Odisha to investigate and explore the secrets behind his masterly shrewd political brain.

It is still rumored to be well preserved is some remote research lab in the United States as the American scientists still can't fathom the depth of his immense political acumen and shrewness. Source of this GULLI (a light hearted joke) is most likely the Old Town area of Bhubaneswar where he lived and still has a lot of fan following. Many credit him for being the Founding Father of the New Capital city of Bhubaneswar who influence with Nehru tipped Bhonsara in its favor rather than the originally panned Anugul as the capital city of Odisha. Never know one day I might stumble upon a mummified head in some museum in US with a slab underneath it 'The Brainiest Head in the history of Mankind'. 
 
The story about his head is a devotional lie which transformed itself into a well believed truth. No wonder Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda Minister during the days of Nazi Germany famously said - "A lie repeated hundred times becomes the truth". We have an Odia proverb - "TINI TUNDARE CHHELI KUKURA - " a goat can be a dog if three mouths say so". The meaning is self explanatory as lies after lies peddled these days are believed as gospels by gullible folks.