Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Chinese Whispers

Chinese Whispers - A Short One-Act Play

Cast of Characters:
Mary - Woman
Jane - Another Woman

Time and Place:
Any Place , Any Time

Mary: OMG Jane Did you know that..but I really can't tell you..

Jane: No Jane tell me ..

Mary: I've got some HOT news. I promised to keep it a secret but I'll tell only you and you must promise not to tell anyone else. That totally hot guy from Mizoram Kima is dating Bipasha!

Jane: Kima hot? Hah..no way but that's really big news. How did you get to know?

Mary: Oh well my sister Susan heard it from her colleague Sanjana who overheard Annie and Preeti discussing it in the ladies room... it seems they saw it on some other girl's facebook status stating that she saw Kima patting Jennifer on her shoulder so its obvious that Kima is dating Bipasha!

---------------------------~the end~-------------------------------
Chinese Whispers is the name of a game we used to play when we were kids - We'd sit in a circle and one kid would whisper something to another kid to his right or left and the other kid would whisper what he/she was told to the next person and so on and by the time the whispers reached the last kid the original whisper would have been totally distorted. And that's exactly how rumours are spread in real life.

I have often been the victim of some really wild rumours but this one is my favourite - this happened a while ago and I won't mention any names. Sometime ago in 2005 I was at work and a friend of mine sends me a text message - (His girlfriend had recently dumped him and he was feeling rather blue) "I am at so and so lake.. I am going to jump in and I don't know how to swim. Goodbye". I got really worried and I immediately took an auto to that lake assuming that he was trying to kill himself. I searched for him (or his body) but there were no signs of him (or dead body).

To cut a long story short (TCALSS) it all ended well after I called up some friends and we went to his place and found him drunk and fast asleep . Two weeks later my mother and father call me up and my mother told me that someone told her that my girlfriend tried to commit suicide 'cause I dumped her ! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was so funny and at the same time infuriating that people spread this particular rumour. Anyway that story too also ended well after I explained everything.

Women seem to love gossiping and spreading unfounded rumours much more than men (but that's an universal truth so I won't elaborate on that.) It probably is encoded in their DNA or something. Some of it is harmless but a lot of it is malicious and can lead to a lot of people getting hurt and getting beaten up or being drowned in a pond with their body encased in a block of cement . Even if we know for sure that someone is hiding a dirty little secret it is best to keep it to oneself and not let the whole world know about it. Various religions consider gossiping and spreading rumours as a grave sin. Islam considers gossiping as bad as eating the flesh of your own brother and the Bible equates gossiping with murder!

I'm aware of only one instance when rumours and gossip ended up in something good coming out of it - someone spread a rumour that a guy I know and some girl were sleeping around. None of it was true and both parties were very embarassed about it. The funny thing was they didn't even know each other . So one day they met up to clear up this rumour and TCALSS they ended up falling in love (and are still together after 3 years!). Now if only someone would start a similar rumour about Megan Fox and myself then maybe she'd want to meet up with me to clear up the situation and maybe things could happen...


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice play, by the way. Totally believable..
Rumors are like Bad news, they spread like wildfire, and if you're caught in between, you're sure to get burnt.Ironically, the reason rumors are so believable is because they are meant to be secrets. TCALSS(:P), call it Old-School Social-Engineering.. hehe

Mizohican said...

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Who can ever forget that night you and dear Jim (RIP) searched for his body in the lake? I came over the next morning immediately when I heard the news, but his sorry ass passed out body was already found by then. Also remember the other night this same dude was thrashed? hihihihihi! (Were you there that night? I dont remember, but you were definitely there along with him when I took you guys to our hostel party)

Nice post. Chinese whispers is so funny sometimes, when a totally opposite news reach other people.

And this guy Kima from Mizoram must be really hot.

Yamuna said...

:D.. Gossiping and women; actually gossiping for women is like a stress buster. You guys should be thankful, because if women did not “gossip”, all the men on this earth would have gone mad. So, what do men do over a coffee or a smoke break?

The post is good, the best line is “How did you get to know?”.

I was wondering what the topic would be this time, it’s a good one.

But, how are you so sure that it woman and not one of your guy friends who started that rumor about you dumping your girlfriend?

Aduhi Chawngthu said...

Men gossip as much as women, well not all of them but the ones who do are faaaaar worse gossips than their female counterparts.

nancy said...

@aduhi - thats really true.... sawi mai2 ka ni lo tiang mipa hi ka hre tak2 a nia

Lal Jo-a said...

someone please, buy me a popcorn! :-)

Mimihrahsel said...

and a coke plz! hehe..

the other day, my nieces were playing this very game, and my 2nd niece (age 5) placed her ears on my right ear, while her elder sister whispered to my left, coz the younger one was afraid she would say something bad about her. I LOL!

KymBawi Khuptong said...

Secrets and gossips are something you tell to one person at a time which version keeps on changing. 'Twas fun reading..

...btw I know that hot guy Kima, i use to visit his blog..may be someday I will meet him and take his autograph..^_<...

Calliopia said...

I tried hard, really really hard to start that rumour about you and Fox as requested but I guess she doesn't speak Chinese. Sad.

feddabonn said...

...surprised you guys didn't kill him, lol.

Helen Pari said...

keep writing, its VERY entertaining

virgochhas said...

yea yea...the story behind the post "girl, if you or your family or your friends or your friends friends etc etc hear things like 'Amos is a flirt etc etc'...it's just rumours..."

lolzzzzzzzzzz

virgochhas said...

yea yea...the story behind the post "girl, if you or your family or your friends or your friends friends etc etc hear things like 'Amos is a flirt etc etc'...it's just rumours..."

lolzzzzzzzzzz