[meteorite-list] another note from India

From: Michael Farmer <meteoriteguy_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:26 2004
Message-ID: <20031012052144.131.qmail_at_web20905.mail.yahoo.com>

Another day has dawned, finally sunny, no rain in
sight thank god. Over 5 million people are severely
affected by the floods according to todays newspaper.
After yesterdays tragedy, i really dont feel like
leaving the hotel for any sort of longjourney today, i
will go to a Tiger preserve today for some more
tourism.
I am still waiting on a call for a piece today, but
will leave here early tomorrow, regardless of whether
it comes or not.
There have been some questions posed as to exactly how
much meteorite there is. Even here noone has any idea.
There was one 5.7 kilogram stone, that I held, then i
know of another which landed nearby and was smashed up
into many fragments, it should also have been 5 or 6
kilos.
Then another piece that hit the hut, the one where my
already controversial fragment came from, that stone
weighed 5-8 kilos, and was also smashed by the
natives. It has dissapered, some fragments to
different people, the largest piece taken by a
policeman who has not been found yet. they are trying,
i have gotten calls every few hours, so they are
trying. I offered a nice price for it.
There seem to be alreay some rumors coming out through
Atul's contacts. I have made no firm offer on anyhting
other than a large price should they acquire me a
large piece. No 70,000 rupees offered for anything, as
I have seen nothing to buy. The stones in the custody
of the revenue minister in Kendrapara are of course
off limits as the local and federal government are
already fighting over them.
So I do not know the total weight or even how many
stones were found, but to the best figuring it is only
3 known to exist. Unfortunately it was sunset when I
had to divert from car to motorcycle the other nice to
get to the village where the hut smasher fell, and
since it was flooded, and almost dark, I left my
camera in the car. So I did not get a photo of the
crater and damage to the hut, and it is impossible, to
far to go back to that village.
According to the people, virtually millions saw the
fall, the firball exploded and broke into many pieces,
many explosions, boom boom boom boom boom, like that
they said, it is clear that the meteorite broek up
very high and into many pieces, it was so large I
assume that likely hundreds of stones fell. The
village where the hut smasher fell, the people
described the fire in the sky that made all of the
women and children scream in terror, lasted a few
seconds, then came the booming sounds, then one or two
minutes later, screaming sounds like they had never
heard, then the people still outside saw the dirt
flying and the stone bounce accross the village
square. They said they heard several such sounds, but
since it was already dark, they do not know where the
others landed, and the village like all others, is
very tiny, just one small trail in between the rows of
huts. It is on a raised little island, surrounded by
swamps and rice paddies. It is clear that many more
stones fell nearby, but now sit 3 feet under water in
the mud, never to be found. that is the only stone
that landed on the raised village.
As far as the homes that burned, it has nothing to do
with the meteorite as far as i can tell, they were in
villages that saw the fireball, and i think they just
associated the disaster with the firball.
One neat bit of local lore, the Hindus here believe in
many gods, one of which is names Indra, the god of
lightning, a bad god who likes to kill people by
throwing lightning and killing people and cows
(apparently hundreds are killed here by lightning, no
wonder due to the everyday thunderstorms and everyone
working in the rice paddies). they all thought that
this was a terrible punishment from Indra, who through
burning stones at the people. they also all asked me
how to protect themselves from the lightning, of
course I have no answer, only get out of the rain when
it comes.
The people look at me like some kind of strange being,
most in the small villages (women and children) have
never left their village, the men do to go work
elswhere. So most of them have never seen a white
person! I am also much larger than the small people
here, so they are fascinated with that.
When I was at the temple yesterday, I had several rich
Indian women come up to me and ask to take photos with
me, why I have no idea.


On another note, I am still fuming about what Keven
wrote, I hope is not being put up to it by some
envious competetors. That is the lowest of the low, if
you have something to say to me, say it! Perhaps I am
operating here not quite in line with the law, I
really hav eno idea, but I do not claim to be the most
law abiding person on the planet, I have been known to
drive faster than the posted limit, thus breaking the
law, no different that taking a stone from that I have
paid for out of the country without filling out a
thousand request papers and needing years to do it. If
that is a problem with someone like Kevin's lofty
sence of morality (Laughing my ass off), so be it.
Don't buy from me. But known this, next time you drive
a little too fast, you are as much a horrible criminal
as myself. I have gone to the local government, and
Tuesday, will spend the day at the National Museum In
Calcutta, viewing the meteorite collection there. I
hope to get photos of so many rare Indian meteorites
that none of us have even seen!
Received on Sun 12 Oct 2003 01:21:44 AM PDT