Hag In My Seat

(To RIP)

When traveling by train, people generally avoid the side-lower berth in sleeper coaches. Even if you are only of average height, your feet don’t fit within the berth’s frame when lying down. In order to sleep, you have to embryonize yourself, curve into a banana.

Even so, your feet will jut out and the people – vendors, beggars, passengers, who not - walking by will brush your feet as they make their way through the passage. Slumber is well-nigh impossible with hot kettles and cold bottles grazing your toes, however fleeting the contact may be.

People would give anything for a good night’s sleep and hence they give a wide berth to the lowly side-berth unless they’re elderly or extremely short. However, given a choice, in spite of the discomfort that it entails, I always take the side-lower berth. Call it a quirk of mine, but the side-lower berth does offer some definite advantages:

(Ir-rationale)

a) In hot weather, you can open the windows before sleeping. It’s a pleasure sleeping with the wind blowing on your face and cooling the length of your body.
b) You can keep your distance if your co-passengers are gasbags. If they are interesting, you can always talk of course. You have the best of both worlds. In the six-seat/berth compartment, you are stuck; you have to put up with whomever you are put up with. Also, if you choose the side-lower, you have only one co-passenger whom you absolutely must bear.
c) You can sleep with your head pointing whichever direction you choose- either in the direction of the train’s motion or against. I hate traveling backwards.

Plus, every time you make a booking indicating your preference as side-lower, it being so unpopular, you get what you asked for. Who can say that there is no joy in that? Hey, somebody actually granted you your wish!

So there I was in the Bangalore-Trivandrum Express. Sure enough, I had gotten my very own side-lower berth. I had dozed off almost instantly after settling in; it had been a tiring day. I woke up refreshed after a good night’s sleep, the cool night-wind had energized me. I found that many of my co-passengers had gotten off on the way.

(The Encroacher)

From a station on the way, an old woman with her son and his family boarded the train. They chose to sit in the six-seat cubicle on my side. Thankfully, they left me alone, one of them could’ve opted to sit on the other half of my berth, you see.

The train chugged on, and after a while, I left my seat to take a dump, leaving behind my bag and novel, “booking” my seat. Even so, when I came back, I found that the old woman had crept into my seat. Encroachment! Infringement! In sharp contrast with me who would’ve taken the seat of my preference given a choice, she had taken it given a chance!

She seemed harmless enough, the praying, God-fearing, grandmother-type, with big gold earrings the size of bangles dangling from her ears. The rosary in her hand would’ve made her seem saintly to some but to me, she was a scheming demon in white. The white witch was not going to vacate; she seemed oblivious of me - lost in thought, engrossed in prayer. I quietly sat on the other half of the berth.

(Do unto others as others do unto you)

I didn’t protest aloud but I did keep shooting lethal looks at her, my eyes glowing with indignation and irritation. For a while, I shifted around trying to force her out through subtle, surreptitious changes in the position of my legs, pulsing, nudging but no, no way she was budging. She was a Mountain Of Faith, confident that she would be forgiven her trespass against me.

Some time later, after futile minutes of desperation, I decided to hunt around for another suitable seat. Trudging along the coach’s passage, I detected a side-lower berth that had been left unguarded by its owner. I seized the opportunity! I sat down and when the rightful owner, a young man, returned and saw me there, I thought I could see glimpses of me in him. For a while, he and I played me-and-encroacher-grandma.

He started behaving almost identically as I had previously. Perhaps it was normal - just human nature, or maybe comfort-loving-selfish-young-urban-male nature, that made us behave like we did. What hardships had we ever known, born into a pacifist world of plenty? Here we were, pettily fighting for a mere seat. Enlightened, after a while, I smiled a knowing smile and ‘surrendered’. I walked away.

(Thought experiments)

I returned to grandma-taunting. I would appeal to the encroacher’s conscience telepathically: Get up! Get up! Respect the boundaries! Why were wars fought in your day? The prime reason… Moved by the injustice, and convinced of my innocence, I was shaking my head so much that it could possibly have been classified as an audible vibration. But older people have a higher threshold of hearing and hence my mental remonstrations failed to inspire remorse in the old lady.

She continued counting the beads on the rosary. Couldn’t she see the futility of that? You can keep doing that for an eternity and not have a clue as to how many. Infinity is a circle… Maybe God was listening to her prayers…If she wanted to stretch her legs, Let There Be Space! I climbed to the upper berth and I lay back reconciling myself to my fate.

For some time, I read my book with an occasional glance down at the old lady who, by now, had settled into a conscious trance, evidenced by her rotary rosary. I also resumed my stare-athon, with the old lady’s son this time, hoping that he would get the message.

Amongst other nefarious schemes for an ouster, of varying subterfuge, I thought of starting a conversation with the man in which I would cursorily and casually throw in the anecdote about the Arab and the camel – the one in which the Arab shares his tent with a camel and ends up being kicked out – with an occasional chance glance at his mother for good measure. That could get the idea through.

The parabolic parable was not to be, though; one just could not predict how people would react to their mother being called a camel! I’ve seen fights break out and heard that men have been killed for less. I could possibly have scraped through with my feathers unruffled in the probable scuffle with my quick-and-ready rejoinder: I was not an Arab, of course not! But cool logic tends to evaporate in the heat of rage; I decided not to take the risk. Thus scheming and plotting coups, unable to concentrate on my book, I nodded off momentarily.

(Hand Of God)

When I opened my eyes, sure enough, I fixed my gaze, leaning over, to my seat of contention. It was…empty! There for the taking! I looked to my left and saw the old lady, sitting with her family again. Thought can move mountains.

Joyously, though not ostentatiously (I think I managed to keep my rapturous glee down to a smirk of smug satisfaction), I descended down to my berth (mine!) and lay down. I even managed to read my book.

My joy was short-lived though; I shortly discovered that my cell phone was missing. Frantic, I rummaged around the compartment. My annexed neighbour however was unperturbed. Still counting the beads on her prayer-chain, she pointed out the phone to me.

It was there on the berth, my berth, where her head had been previously. It must have fallen down when I was sleeping in the upper berth. (I keep my wallet and my cell phone in my trouser-pockets, another of my quirks) I apologized profusely; I had only thought evil, you see, not said or done things. My apologies must have rung hollow and insincere; from the way they looked at me, it was obvious that they thought that I had done it intentionally.

She flung an accusatory glance at me, which rebounded off my innocence. I was only an instrument of Fate. And it was not as if she had not known the truth of gravity when she had lain in my berth - “There is a God, and He is Up Above.”

-Thomas Jay Cubb

Word Splurge

A peek into the creator's mind...when he feels he just has to write a poem only because he has learnt a couple of new (and similar) words, and wants to use them!
:-)

---------------------
WORD SPLURGE
---------------------

Er..Er...
I hesitate
Words to concatenate,
amalgamate and ostentate

Er..However
I have this urge
a creative urge
And it begins to surge.

I wonder whether
My inhibitions to expunge.
Make that lunge
and take the plunge.

No longer
a procrastinating Demivierge
I will emerge
my own demiurge.

- Thomas Jay Cubb


LEXICON
----------------
Demivierge - a young woman who takes part in sexual activity without ending her virginity
Demiurge - A subordinate deity, in some philosophies the creator of the universe

JUST-IN-CASE LEXICON
------------------------------
concatenate - Add by linking or joining so as to form a chain or series
amalgamate - To bring or combine together or with something else
ostentate - Display proudly; act ostentatiously or pretentiously
expunge - Remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line
lunge - The act of moving forward suddenly
procrastinate - Postpone or delay needlessly

Queuriest - IX

-------------------------------------------------------
QUEURIEST - IX
Keep Guessing - Johnnie Guesser
-------------------------------------------------------

1. You might not know it, but you actually have a philtrum. What could it be?
*

2. Which country is divided into administrative units called parishes? Clue: Hush,sh...death!
*

3. Horror in the 20th century! Be warned, this is not for the weak-at-heart. Who said after what, "I am a new Frankstein." ?
*

4. I wonder whether being perfect is the same as being ideal... If a perfect number is a number that is equal to the sum of its factors, what are ideal numbers?
*

5. What is Spanish for Mary Jane? (Try saying it repeatedly in as Spanish a way as you can...even if you don't get the answer, you might get a kick out of it!)
*

6. Which band takes its name from the Bob Dylan song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee And ..."? Cryptic Clue: The traitor preaches about violation of rules!
*

7. Who was the first person* to win the US Open on all three surfaces - clay, grass and hard-court? *to appease feminists! Clue: Say, when edges meet!
*

8. One that will surely make your eyes pop out! (Please don't google on this one, it'll really spoil the joy of guessing!)
Who or what are Peepeye, Poopeye, Pupeye and Pipeye?
*

9. Where would you expect to find Kirkwood gaps? Clue: Earth-grazers?
*

10. A very rough correspondence, maybe. Japanese: Hara-kiri :: Balinese: ___________ ?
*

---------------------------------------------------------------
BONUS QUESTION ;-)
Q: What is a paragodge? Tell me about it. . . :-)
*

----------------------------------------------------------------
Of all the words of mice
and men, the saddest are
"It might have been..."
------------------------------------

From: "SonOfDelphi"
Date: Tue Feb 11, 2003 8:52 pm
Subject: Queuriest - IX

hi everybody!

welcome to episode 9 of Queuriest.

this is the penultimate instalment of Queuriest. The 10th episode will be the last one. I've enjoyed setting these quizzes, especially the framing part - putting in the clues etc... mostly the Qs come from my diaries - stuff that I've noted down over the years from books I've read, quizzes that I've been to etc

when you reply to this, i would appreciate it if you could send in a brief intro of urself (asl+quizistory should do) so that I can put in something about u in the final episode* + maybe a few quizzing tidbits as well...stuff that you've gleaned and which you think suit the Queuriest mould.

Note that you do not need to do this, ONLY if you don't mind...

Answers in a week's time.

trivially yours,

luv
thomas

*will feature a mega-scoreboard of all responses to all episodes and ur rating based on performance.

ANSWERS
---------------

From: "SonOfDelphi"
Date: Tue Feb 18, 2003 7:32 pm
Subject: Answers to Queuriest - IX

hi folks!

31 responses in all.

Lots of half-points this time. May be because some of the questions were a bit arbitrary. . .

Only a few - 4 - got the bonus question right. Congrats! Though none corrected me on the spelling.

Queuriest-X tomorrow.

luv
thomas

-------------------------------------------------------
QUEURIEST - VIII
Keep Guessing - Johnnie Guesser
-------------------------------------------------------

1. You might not know it, but you actually have a philtrum. What could it be?
* Philtrum refers to the groove in the upper lip...that channel below your nose...that depression...yes, you are touching it now...:-)
Most answered question of the quiz. Perhaps the way the question was framed was taken as a direct insult? So it was philtrum with a vengeance! ;-)
Many answers referred to love-potion, as philtre=love-potion, nice guessing there...
+I from RK: in medico language its called the nasolabial fold

2. Which country is divided into administrative units called parishes? Clue: Hush,sh...death!
* Jamaica
Sort of ambiguous question...lots of countries are divided into parishes, I guess. . .that's why I had given the clue. . .
The clue referred to Whispering Death --> Michael Holding who comes from Jamaica...this being World-Cup mania, I thought somebody would crack the clue . . .Also I thought this was an FAQ on the circuit, but seems I was wrong on both counts..
If you answered England and feel 'wrong'ed, in spite of the validity of the clue you didn't use, go ahead and add 1 point to ur score.But before you do that, try this : Is India divided into states or is it divided into districts? England is divided into counties and __counties__ are divided into parishes. Now, read the question again and decide for urself.

3. Horror in the 20th century! Be warned, this is not for the weak-at-heart. Who said after what, "I am a new Frankstein." ?
* Louis Washkansky after the world's successful human heart-transplant by Dr.Christian Barnard.
In the book, Frankenstein is the creator, not the monster, which was nameless.( When will people stop thinking that it's the monster's name?!! )...and should have been said by the doctor actually...:-)

4. I wonder whether being perfect is the same as being ideal... If a perfect number is a number that is equal to the sum of its factors, what are ideal numbers?
* Ideal numbers were a class of numbers invented in order to prove Fermat's last theorem whose factorization in terms of complex numbers is unique.
A bit too technical?

5. What is Spanish for Mary Jane? (Try saying it repeatedly in as Spanish a way as you can...even if you don't get the answer, you might get a kick out of it!)
* Marijuana (Got the kick?)
Some of you came up with some very creative answers on this one...i wonder why...:-)

6. Which band takes its name from the Bob Dylan song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee And ..."? Cryptic Clue: The traitor preaches about violation of rules!
* Judas Priest
Clue made it really obvious. "Breaking The Law" song, Judas = Traitor disciple, Priest preaches ZZZZZZZZ...?

7. Who was the first person* to win the US Open on all three surfaces - clay, grass and hard-court? *to appease feminists! Clue: Say, when edges meet!
*Jimmy Connors
When edges meet, say CORNERS!
...and people take note (feminists esp), men are persons too! :-). . .got a lot of women players as answers...as expected... ;-)

8. One that will surely make your eyes pop out! (Please don't google on this one, it'll really spoil the joy of guessing!)
Who or what are Peepeye, Poopeye, Pupeye and Pipeye?
* They are Popeye the Sailor's nephews.
I've been liberal on this one and given half-points to any answer that they are related to Popeye.

9. Where would you expect to find Kirkwood gaps? Clue: Earth-grazers?
* These are the relatively empty regions in the asteroid-belt.
Earth-grazer=

10. A very rough correspondence, maybe. Japanese: Hara-kiri :: Balinese: ___________ ?
* Puputan
Puputan was collective suicide committed by the Balinese kings and their courtiers because of the humiliation they suffered at the hands of the Dutch...
(and, remember puputan before you google! ;-)
I'd said it was a very rough correspondence. Strictly speaking, very different from hara-kiri. But basically, the idea in both was suicide...so I hope it's acceptable.

---------------------------------------------------------------
BONUS QUESTION ;-)
Q: What is a paragodge? Tell me about it. . . :-)
* There is no such thing as a paragodge! However there is something called paragoge. what couldd it be? adding sounds to words for eg. extra 'd's for effect, like in drownded, often seen in poems. So now you see!...why the smilies...why this was a bonusQ...why it was paragoDge!...;-)

----------------------------------------------------------------
Of all the words of mice
and men, the saddest are
"It might have been..."
----------------------------------------------------------------

The scores (in chronological order)

1. Gaurav Lochan - 2.5 (Still looking for a kick?)
2. Shobhana Balakrishnan - 4.5 (Tell me about it!)
3. Rajiv Rai - 3.5 (very good tries indeed)
4. Rahul Guha - 3.5 (Maria Janelle...dunno)
5. Vimal Vikrant Vardhan - 0.5 (nephews actually)
6. Kensy Joseph - 3 (Who's Juano? ;-)
7. Sundeep Venkatraman - 3 (Outrageous...and correct! Keep guessing is the motto here.)
8. Kunal Malhotra - 5 (good show)
9. Usha Ramaswamy - 0.5 (Very good guessing though, really you deserve more)
10. Biswabijoy Sen - 3 (play-it-safe man?)
11. Parmitaghosh - 4.5 (r u parmita or parmit a. ghosh?)
12. Partha Sengupta - 2.5 (Pop I)
13. Mamatha Balasubramanian - 4 (solid effort)
14. Sreeram - 2 (old man ;-)
15. Karthik Ramgopal - 8 (great show, bonusQ also..)
16. Shom Biswas - 4 (u confuse me with ur many names!)
17. Rexy Joseph - 4 (Jam!!??)
18. Minhaj Alam - 2 (really liked ur answers..)
19. Priyambad Pattanayak - 3 (congrats on BonusQ, but did u get the misspelling?)
20. Bhaskar Singh - 1 (Afghanistan!)
21. Ankur Jain - 6 (good, solid effort)
22. Thejaswi Udupa - 7.5 (good use of the clues after all eh?)
23. Anoop Radhakrishna - 5 (pretty cool)
24. Syam Prasad - 3 (It was not Dr.Barnard)
25. Ranjith Kumar - 1 (nice guesses though)
26. Pauline Daniel - 3 (UK hmm...)
27. Debashree Mitra - 3 (loooong intro! cool.)
28. Prithwiraj Mukherjee - 2 (nice answers)
29. Sandeep Unni - 6 (going great guns!)
30. Venkateswar - 2 (Two pennies! = 1 + 0.5 + 0.5)
31. Nithin - 4 (Ian Wilmut was a superb try)
32. Annanya Deb - 4 (in the nick of time!)

--------STATS ----------------------------------------------

Funnest! -
Area in which Hitler had moustache on Philtrum
Mike Tyson after EarBiting on Frankenstein
Maria Juano on Mary Jane
All Popeyes in different languages on Popeye's nephews
Numbers that "feel" right on ideal numbers
Atma hatya on Puputan

Ridiqulest! -
Numbers with no application on Ideal numbers
Crocodile's mouth on Kirkwood Gaps
Jam on Marijuana
Saddam Hussein on Frankenstein
Barakiri on Puputan

Guessest!- nice guessing
Kevorkian on Frankenstein
Numbers equal to product of factors on Ideal numbers
Ability to love! on Philtrum (how cute!...sentimental)
Ian Wilmut of Dolly fame on Frankenstein
Redundant nicticating eye membrane on Philtrum (Impressive!)
Names Olive Oyl calls Popeye on Nephews

* All questions except 2 and 10 were cracked fully
* Karthik Ramgopal tops the quiz with 8 points
* Average score : 3.5
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Queuriest - VIII

-------------------------------------------------------
QUEURIEST - VIII
Keep Guessing - Johnnie Guesser
-------------------------------------------------------

1. Eminently workoutable one for starters, especially if you read this aloud! What is echolalia? echolalia. . .
*

2. Who made his debut in the 1934 film `The Wise Little Hen'? Cryptic Clue: Bradman gets out for zero!
*

3. "Asking the ignorant to use the incomprehensible to decide the unknowable." Who defined what thus?
*

4. Question framed with a purpose?...What is chindogu?
*

5. USSR / Russia: Cosmonaut :: USA: Astronaut :: China:: ________?
*

6. Who or what is a Lazy Susan? Clue: Pass!
*

7. BeeGees, as in the pop band, was actually (obviously?) an abbreviation. What does it stand for? They were the . . .
*

8. Asterix question, or . . . is it? What was the codename for the spy Vitriolix?
*

9. Not so comical question, I swear, by Apollo! What is a nosocomical infection?
*

10. The name adopted by which dictator literally meant "Glorious Sun"? Direct Clue (for a change!) : He had Chinese blood in him.
*

------------------------------------
Fear is only a preference.
When one's enemies are
too strong, one chooses
weaker ones!
------------------------------------

From: "SonOfDelphi"
Date: Fri Feb 7, 2003 6:49 pm
Subject: Queuriest - VIII

hi everybody!

welcome to episode 8 of Queuriest.

answers in a week's time.

luv
thomas


ANSWERS
---------------

From: "SonOfDelphi"
Date: Tue Feb 11, 2003 8:49 pm
Subject: Answers to Queuriest - VIII

hi folks!

23 responses in all.

am out with the answers early 'cos answers've stopped coming...what with so many quizzes being posted in the previous 2 days...and most of the regular respondents having sent their post in... WHY WAIT?

apologies to anyone who was planning to send in answers today. but hey, you can check out Queuriest-IX.

In the previous answers post, I'd queried:

>I wonder if this is the only flag with a bird on it...(Papua New Guinea)
Sreeram: Flag of Mexico has an eagle
Peter: Guatemala's flag has a quetzal
...there may be many more...futile search for a new question...:-(

>Moonraker is the term for a native of _______
got no responses for this one. but found out that this is applied to residents of Wiltshire, England

...thanx for the responses.

luv
thomas

-------------------------------------------------------
QUEURIEST - VIII
Keep Guessing - Johnnie Guesser
-------------------------------------------------------

1. Eminently workoutable one for starters, especially if you read this aloud! What is echolalia? echolalia. . .
* Echolalia is a condition in which one tends to repeat words one has heard, usually the last word or sentence. So it pays to follow instructions. . . So it pays to follow instructions. . . So it pays to follow instructions....;-)

2. Who made his debut in the 1934 film `The Wise Little Hen'? Cryptic Clue: Bradman gets out for zero!
* Donald Duck
Many of you worked it out from the clue which made it pretty obvious, I guess. I don't know whether this is true, but I've heard this story that Walt Disney was in the stadium during this match / heard commentator exclaiming "Donald Duck"! --> name of Mr. Donald Fauntleroy Duck.

3. "Asking the ignorant to use the incomprehensible to decide the unknowable." Who defined what thus?
* Judge Hiller Zobel of the US (yeah the Louise Woodward/Mathew Eappen "nanny" case judge) criticizing/defining the jury system.
He mentioned this after the OJ Simpson case.
Nobody cracked this one fully. AS & TU got as far as "juries" but couldn't get the person right
Not too many attepts either...was waiting to be flooded with imaginative

4. Question framed with a purpose?...What is chindogu?
* It is the Japanese art of making "useless inventions" or devices that seem to be useful but actually are not. Like this question perhaps...totally useless information!...but hey I'm not Japanese!

5. USSR / Russia: Cosmonaut :: USA: Astronaut :: China:: ________?
* Taikonaut is what you would call a Chinese space-traveller
AS: taikong is the actual Chinese word

6. Who or what is a Lazy Susan? Clue: Pass!
* A revolving tray placed on a dining table. Pass...if you can't reach the pudding!

7. BeeGees, as in the pop band, was actually (obviously?) an abbreviation. What does it stand for? They were the . . .
* Brothers Gibb. They were literally a "Band of Brothers". :-)

8. Asterix question, or . . . is it? What was the codename for the spy Vitriolix?
* H2SO4 (echh-too-es-o-four)
(Oil of) Vitriol is sulphuric acid which has the formula h2so4... Z.Z.Z.Z....?
Workoutable one even if you are not an Asterix fanatic. I believe he features in Asterix and the Legionary (not too sure...) Dubbelosix, another spy, a caricature of Sean Connery features in Asterix & The Black Gold.

9. Not so comical question, I swear, by Apollo! What is a nosocomial infection?
* An infection you get from a hospital.
I apologise for a mistake in the question, it is nosocomial, without the second 'c'. (not nosocomical) Sory foks four thi bad speling. ;-)
About the clue: Swearing by Apollo --> Hippocratic Oath --> Doctors --> Hospitals
+I: Apollo is also the god of healing
Many of you worked it out as Apollo--> space, moon, sun etc. Good work but hey, where was the need to interpret it as a clue? I could've been just stating a fact (though I was not! ), nosocomial infections are pretty serious after all. . .and who else can Son Of Delphi swear by, but Apollo! ;-)

10. The name adopted by which dictator literally meant "Glorious Sun"? Direct Clue (for a change!) : He had Chinese blood in him.
* Ne Win of Myanmar. His real name was Shu Maung. He was of mixed Chinese-Burmese descent. He died in December 2002...
Current affairs in Queuriest! I'm SHOCKED!

------------------------------------
Fear is only a preference.
When one's enemies are
too strong, one chooses
weaker ones!
------------------------------------

The scores (in chronological order):

1. Debashree Mitra - 4 (nice going)
2. Prasenjit Sengupta - 2 (la la la liya)
3. Indraneel Sikdar - 1 (Tennyson is my guess)
4. Shobhana Balakrishnan - 2 (More tries please m'lady!)
5. Sreeram - 4 (ex-amnesiac!)
6. Shashi Thutupalli - 4 (nice guessing!)
7. Arjun Siva - 9.5 (Robert Burton's not the guy)
8. CoolDude9456 - 1 (100% cool)
9. Venkateswar KR - 2 ( u light up my quiz!)
10. Prithwiraj Mukherjee - 3 (so do u!)
11. Kunal Malhotra - 6 (good show boss)
12. Vittal Avinash - 2 (guess more)
13. Nilesh Sinha - 1 (what's the ureasusan connection?)
14. Shom Biswas - 2 (hope exams went great)
15. Pauline Daniel - 1 (use the clues more)
16. Sandeep Unni - 4 (I love my X-words too!)
17. Rinks S - 3.5 (Stalin & Chinese blood!)
18. Shrinath Nagarajan - 2 ( nice working out)
19. Bharat Jayakumar - 3.5 (It's not Queriest!)
20. Narayan Vinay - 8 (going great guns)
21. Thejaswi Udupa - 7.5 (solid effort)
22. Kensy Joseph - 2 (nice guesses though)
23. Partha Sengupta - 1 (Hollies was great)

--------STATS ----------------------------------------------

Funnest! -
Bill Gates on Linux for JuryQuote!
Answering Queuriest on JuryQuote!
Unuseless inventions on Chindogu
Nomanout on Taikonaut

Ridiqulest! -
Singing in the bathroom on Echolalia
Dogs leading with their chins on Chindogu
Question framed to get correct answer always on Chindogu
Urinal on Lazy Susan

Guessest!- nice guessing
006, 000 on Vitriolix
"Sun"Yat Sen on Glorious Sun
Chinonaut on Chinese Astronaut
Doubleohsix on Vitriolix
Infection from sunlight on Nosocomial infection

* Most popular wrong answer: Pol Pot on Ne Win
* All questions except 3 were cracked fully
* Arjun Siva tops the quiz with 9.5 points
* Average score : 3.3
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Fahrenheit 451 - Review

Here's a review of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 that I posted on epinions.com Diamond Is Carbon. Apr 26 '04 Pros *Powerful ideas *Compelling dialogue *Imaginative storyline Cons *Weak prose at times *A bit raw, lacks polish *Strong, but one-dimensional characters The Bottom Line A good read. Find some wisdom here. But it fades in comparison to other dystopia-novels like 1984 or Brave New World.

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is a gem of a book; but it has a few flawed edges that mar the brilliance. On more than one occasion, I was reminded of the Saddest Words of Man- What could have been and If only... On to the story. F451's is a dystopic world in which books have been banned. There is even a Fire-Force whose duty is to burn books. Guy Montag, the protagonist, is a satisfied member of the Force, who enjoys his work. Meet Beatty, his know-it-all boss and the Mechanical Hound, the ruthless instrument of horror, that hunts down wrong-doers. It's a bad, bad world in which people betray their closest friends to the Force just to watch their house burning bright at night! The seeds of unrest and doubt are planted in Montag when he gets influenced by Clarisse, a sweet young girl who still lives life the old-fashioned and happy way. Montag also meets Faber, an old professor, in a park. The professor quite literally becomes the Voice in Montag's head (He gets a radio-receiver implanted), and our hero becomes just the person he must not be. A lover of books!. Montag is torn between what now seems to him to be the truth and what he has stood for all his life. Montag's crisis deepens with his ultra-materialistic wife Mildred dragging him down with her constant demands, his Mentor egging him on and his Boss tugging at him to return to the normal, routine life, all of which lead to interesting situations. The main characters are strong-as-rum and are also powerfully developed by the author. The confrontations between Montag and Beatty form the highlights of the book. The conversations Montag has with the Professor, though good, are not as impressive. Even though Bradbury is known primarily as a scienc-fiction writer , Fahrenheit 451 is more than just another sci-fi novel. It has substance: nourishing brain-food, in the form of original thoughts and delicious, albeit well-known quotes. A little learning is a dangerous thing/Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring. F451 will help you findyour thinking cap - the philosophical interludes are written powerfully and of course, proverb-fully. Bradbury even has a sure-fire way to get through life all guns blazing! If you don't like them, burn them! These nuggets of wisdom are thought-provoking and entertaining. Things go from the sublime to the ridiculous at times in Fahrenheit 451. But it is definitely worth its paper, even if only for those sublime parts, and there are many of those. Sci-fi writers have true, original and even brilliant ideas at times, but are often brutally so! They are perfectly capable of calling cute babies human-larvae! Or of calling diamonds glorified clarified carbon-blocks! Metaphors mixed, readers vexed! Take, for example, the opening sequence of the novel. It describes the protagonist Montag's daily routine of burning books. The author describes the fireman's hose as "...the great python spitting its venomous kerosene..." The python-hose comparison is okay, even good. But... pythons spitting venom??? From wheat to corn! (Just in case you didn't know, pythons are not poisonous. Sorry, but that's just not how pythons kill!) Such segments abound. The prophet in Bradbury shines through occasionally. His words about books becoming less popular and people getting addicted to TV ring alarmingly true. Fahrenheit 451 is most often termed a wannabe-1984. Where Orwell's 1984 was a masterpiece, Fahrenheit 451, though pretty good cannot be placed in the same league because it has more than a few flaws. It has as much substance but lacks the style. But all said, Fahrenheit 451 is a book that you would want to re-read. Some of the concepts are left abstract (purposefully?) and are worth chewing over. Or maybe ponder over some of those similes? There! Again I am reminded of those sad words...if only Ending with some mandatory bits of trivia. As Bradbury reminds us in an Afterword, Faber is a maker of pencils and Montag is a paper-manufacturer! And Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper burns. Feel the mercury rising! All the way to 233 degrees Celsius...