Do you have any unusual talents?

Answer 1

does farting in the bathtub count?

Answer 2

Yes, I can watch 4 movies continuously.
Or play a good video game for 10 Hours.

Answer 3

Shaping unusual talents

ADITI DE

Rabi spent hours looking out of the window ... Perhaps that's what inspired him to later start Shantiniketan - a school without classrooms.

Do you remember Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian poet who won the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature for Gitanjali? He was the first Asian to be so honoured. Recall his flowing grey mane and smiling eyes? But he's equally famous for the unusual gurukula or school he set up in 1901 at Shantiniketan, West Bengal. Besides, he's the only poet ever whose songs were chosen as the national anthems of two countries — India and Bangladesh. Isn't that remarkable?

What shaped the talent of this boy, named Rabi by his family? He was born on May 7, 1861, the second youngest of the nine sons and six daughters of Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi. Can you imagine life within a large joint family?

Rabi was never lonely. Not even when his infant brother died, leaving the future poet as the baby of the family. His closest companion was his older sister's son, Satya.

The Tagore ancestral home lies in Kolkata's Jorasanko. It often held over a thousand people in its inner courtyard for musical or theatrical gatherings.

Rabi later wrote, "I do not remember a time when I could not sing." No wonder his songs, or Rabindra Sangeet, are still so popular.

The teeming Tagore children faced a daily stream of tutors, each armed with a cane. Their gruelling routine included wrestling and drawing. But Rabi was most fascinated by the skeleton-based anatomy lessons by Aghor Babu, the science teacher.

At five or six, Rabi often chose to play alone. He'd pick a large room, surrounded by verandahs with straight, tall railings, which he pretended were his students. The make-believe teacher would hit each railing with a cane to ensure discipline. Or else, he would stealthily creep into an old palanquin that rested in the mansion. With its curtains drawn, his imagination whisked him away to mysterious lands on impossible adventures.

Rabi hated his first school, the Oriental Seminary, where he was enrolled in 1868. If he didn't do his lessons, he had to stand on a bench with his slate on his head. Isn't that awful?

He was often caned for daydreaming. Rabi spent hours looking out of the window at the blue sky, the leaves on the trees or the bright flowers. Perhaps that's what inspired Shantiniketan, where lessons are held under shady trees, without classrooms.

Rabi missed his saintly Baba, Debendranath, who lived at Dalhousie, in the Himalayan foothills. At 11, the youngster took a long train trip to visit his father, despite Satya's terrifying stories of how the vehicle would toss Rabi out of the window as it jerked along! After a cold morning bath, Debendranath would teach him Sanskrit, which Rabi loved. At dusk, Rabi's Baba would point out the stars and planets during long walks.

Debendranath asked absent-minded Rabi to keep their daily household accounts. Rabi's notebook showed sums left over, even when it had all been spent! Sounds familiar to you?

Rabi was next sent to Kolkata's Normal School. By this time, his older brothers were proud of Rabi's poetic talent.

Intrigued, the school principal made up two lines of poetry, challenging Rabi to complete the verse. He did, with ease and perfect sense. As an adult, Rabi often doodled over unwanted words when his poems proved stubborn, until the page looked like a fantastical picture.

These drawings are now at Shantiniketan. In time, he came to be regarded as a father of modern Indian art. And when his great-grandnephew spent a vacation with Rabi at Shantiniketan, he was promised a special treat for his constant colds. Guess what it was? Garlic ice cream!

He was just 14 when he read out his poems at the Hindu Mela in Kolkata.

That's when the world first heard of Rabindranath Tagore, the poet who was proud to be an Indian. Does he sound like someone you'd like as a friend?

Answer 4

Hummm....I have a very talented tounge and thats all I'm going to say about that other than that.....I'm double jointed in both my hands and I can put my leg behind my head

Answer 5

Yes, I have had a few top answers on here and the funny thing is I could never get any answer right at school.

Answer 6

Popping my hipps out of the socket and cracking every bone in my body.

Answer 7

I can turn my right hand all the way around. And touch my right elbow to my left shoulder behind my head.

Answer 8

Oh yes...

I can fit an entire banana down my throat without gagging.

Answer 9

yes. i can sit and even sleep without getting out of the W position, which is bad for your body. you know. lay back and have your feet by your ears!

Answer 10

I wish I did. I would like to be able to save and load my game in life. That way I could do whatever I please, then, when I'm in prison - I load my game!

Answer 11

Umm... i can tie and untie a knot in a cherry stem with my tongue. And also, my fingers are double jointed so I can bend them backwards to where they look like the smile in a smiley face. =) <--- like that....lol... and I don't have to use my other hand to do it....