Your Take On These, Please

The membership of our like-minded assorted Yahoogroups (US Brahmins, Iyer-123, Thatha Patty, etc.) totals 10 000 – inflated no doubt because most of us are members in almost all of them. Anyway, out of that we get to hear from a meagre 30 or 40 (of course quite welcomingly) - some with systematic regularity of one post a day, some in twos and threes a day, a few in pairs invariably, not to exclude the dated and out-of-place pieces from the likes of me occasionally.

I wonder if the following questions are interesting enough to stimulate the hitherto dormant members to respond - in addition, of course, to the active contributors. Answering one or max two questions in each post will overcome space constraints.

1. Whom would you rate the best PM India has had so far? Nehru, Morarji, Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Bajpai, or Manmohan Singh? Give reasons.

2.  Who has better PM material: Pranab Mukherjee, Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi, Jayalalithaa, Nitish Kumar, Mulayam Singh Yadav -- or someone else? Explain why.

3. “If I have maintained Brahmacharya all through and have uttered nothing but the truth, please let this Sudarshana Chakram protect the ….from the mantra-packed arrow,” said Lord Krishna, and it was protected. Despite having 16 100 wives and known not to be telling the truth always, what He claimed himself to be was correct. How? And what was it that he saved?

4. How do religious experts justify Rama’s Agni Pariksha on his beloved wife Sita? Also of his killing Vali under cover?

Now two riddles for children of all ages – or to keep Alzheimer’s at bay.

5. Two students identify a timepiece priced at Rs 50. They give their tea-boy Rs 25 each, and send him to buy that particular piece. The boy bargains with the shopkeeper and buys it for Rs 45/, and saves Rs 5. He tells the students that he bargained it for Rs 48/ i.e., Rs 24 each; returns one rupee to each, and pockets Rs 3/-. That makes a total Rs 51/-( Rs 48 + 3)? How come?

6.  Four youngsters undergo a long-term sentence. The jailor says he would let them off if they solve a riddle. He has two white and two black caps. He would place a cap on their heads, each standing one behind the other facing the East. Thus each can see only what the other/s in front is/are wearing but not his own. If anyone answers the colour of his own cap correct, he would free all four. Each cell can accommodate only three. So one of the four is in the cell in front, with a brick wall partition. The boy in the middle of the second cell answers it correct, and all are freed. How?

V.V. Sundaram

www.vvsundaram.blogspot.com

03 May 2012