OBE's

One of my friends had an OBE (Out of body experience) some time back. We were killing time at a friends parking lot where he consumed marijuana soon after he had rum. He suddenly lost control and dropped down. He witnessed strange visualizations (like those in windows media player). He could hear everything we spoke but could not open his mouth to speak. He could see all of us and himself too, from a top angle, from a third person's view. Then he felt like he floated upwards and saw a tunnel of light. He saw a very peaceful and inviting world beyond the tunnel, calling him.
This is when it is said that the soul may totally leave the body.
Fortunately, he gained consciousness after some time.
This incident took place months back and he's still traumatized!

In my own findings, i came across a couple of interesting approaches.
In short, one is a realistic approach which says that the soul of a person leaves his body and travels through this tunnel, beyond which is a new world. This is how a person dies because of the soul departing from it. The other, scientific approach says that these are mere hallucinations which a person experiences when the oxygen supply to the brain is diminished (In intense or intoxicated conditions).

Stairway to Heaven - Backwards

Stairway to heaven is believed to be one the greatest songs composed till date. This song, composed by Led Zeppelin also happens to be the most frequently played song on radio in the US.
However, it is believed that Stairway to Heaven communicates satanic messages when played backwards!

Playing a song backwards is called backmasking and can be done very easily. Just download Audacity (free) and import the song you want to backmask. Then select the song in the main window, go to effects and click on reverse.

When I backmasked this song and heard it, I was shocked to see each and every word make perfect sense as if was composed to be played that way.
This would give you a better picture:
Stairway to Heaven - Backwards

Some believe that Jimmy Page is the man behind this as he studied Alister Crowley's work in occult and black magic, while others refer to this as a mere coincidence. On being confronted, Led Zeppelin denied any indecent involvements and called it off as a coincidence.
Well listen to the song and decide for yourself!

As far as I am concerned, Led Zeppelin is one of my favorite bands and i worship them whether this was intentional or not.
Stairway to Heaven - Original

Gloomy Sunday a.k.a. the "Hungarian Suicide Song"

A few years back, my friend Arch and I were discussing about this song. Both Arch and I are interested in topics related to life, death, philosophy and other unusual topics. We've spent loads of time talking about these things. I will share as many as possible. For now, let's start with this one, "Gloomy Sunday".
It was written in 1933 by Rezső Seress, on breaking up up with his love. He expressed intense emotions through this controversial piece which took hundreds of lives! The song was translated to english and was released in U.S.A. in 1936.

The melancholy in the lyrics compelled listeners to jump off from the nearest window or in any way commit suicide, leaving the words "Gloomy Sunday" or the lyrics of the song as their suicide note (in most cases).

Two people shot themselves while listening to a gypsy band playing the tune. Several others drowned themselves in the Danube while clutching the sheet music of "Gloomy Sunday". One gentleman walked out of a nightclub and blew his brains out after having requested the band to play "The Suicide Song". Perhaps the strongest of all was the case of an errand boy in Rome, who, having heard a beggar humming the tune, parked his cycle, walked over to the beggar, gave him all his money, and then sought his death in the waters beneath a nearby bridge!

This song, as a result was banned in various parts of the world. For some time, only the instrumental version was allowed in U.S.A.
But since the suicides continued, the ban has been re-imposed and has not been lifted till date.

Seress called his love and suggested that they should get back. But sadly, the next day, she poisoned herself. By her side was a piece of paper containing the words "Gloomy Sunday".
Even Seress committed suicide by jumping off from from his apartment in 1968.
But this too, did not put a full stop to the series of suicides.

The first thing i wanted to do after i got to know about this song was to listen to it. I wanted to know what was there in this song that made people give up their lives. So i heard a few versions of this song, covered by various artists. Listed below are the ones i liked most.
Have a listen... (i know you want to)

Gloomy Sunday - Original Instrumental Version

Gloomy Sunday - Diamanda Galas

Gloomy Sunday - Sarah McLachlan

Gloomy Sunday - Björk

"Sunday is gloomy, the hours are slumberless
dearest, the shadows I live with, are numberless
Little white flowers, will never awaken you,
not where the dark coach of sorrow has taken you
Angels have no thought of ever returning you,
would they be angry if I thought of joining you?

Gloomy Sunday...

Gloomy Sunday, with shadows I spend it all,
my heart and I have decided to end it all,
Soon there'll be prayers and candles are lit, I know,
let them not weep, let them know, that I'm glad to go
Death is no dream for in death I'm caressing you,
with the last breath of my soul, I'll be blessing you

Gloomy Sunday...

Dreaming, I was only dreaming,
I wake and I find you asleep and deep in my heart here
Darling, I hope that my dream hasn't haunted you
my heart is telling you, how much I wanted you

Gloomy Sunday."

Number Portability

Yes, go ahead, ask me what makes me believe that. Thousands of us are disgruntled with the services offered by our cellular service providers.
Some service providers have major network problems, while some burn a hole in our pockets with the 5 page bill at the end of the month.
But now, one can switch services for the same cellular number! I'm glad this concept has been introduced in India and that will be applicable soon (Latter half of 2008).

The project will be active in 4 metros in 2008, while the rest of the cities will have to wait for more updates. This is big news, as India is now one of the fastest growing markets in this sector.

With this change, service providers will always be under pressure to retain their customers.
Calls charges are likely to reduce and quality of services offered would improve substantially.

Subscribers were hesitant till now to change their service providers because of the inconvenience of changing their number and the hassle of forwarding it to everyone in their phone book. Also, these people whom you send your new number to, would crib saying "Damn, how often do you change your number? I'll have to update my phone book again".

Kudos to TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) and let the fittest ones survive.