[1] The sum of a square of three numbers in a calendar Ask your friend to choose three successive dates from a calender. Let him do so in a column starting with the lowest number. You can tell the sum of 9 digits of the square so formed. How? Ask your friend the least number he had thought of. Add …

If you want to sound extremely clever you can confuse your friends by telling them that the real name for truffles is Ascomycetes. That’s what the botanists call them. But you are most likely to come across truffles in the very best French pates-for examples, in the famous pates of the Perigord region of France. The Perigord truffles becomes famous …

The origin of the handshake goes back to primitive eras: the physical contact of the hand symbolized peace and friendship. Later symbolism of the gesture, apart from a greeting, was the ratification of a contract or pledge. Even today, we clinch a contract or business deal by ‘shaking hands on it’. Archaeological ruins and texts show the handshake was in …

The mascots of the Beijing Olympic Games are Fuwa (five children). Fuwa, designed to express the playful qualities of five little children who form an intimate circle of friends, embody the natural characteristics of four of China’s most popular animals — Beibe (the Fish), Jingjing (the Panda), Huanhuan (the Tibetan Antelope), Nini (the Swallow) and the Olympic Flame. When you …

The War of the Pacific is a war that took place in the western region of South America from 1879 to 1884. The war was fought between Chile and Peru on one side with Bolivia on the other side. The war is also called Saltpeter War (Saltpeter is a mineral) because the main reason of the war was to win …

The phrase kemo sabe is often heard in the American radio and TV serial Lone Ranger. Its hero, a Texas Ranger, and his assistant, an American Indian called Tonto, keep calling each other Kemo Sabe. In an early episode, these characters run into each other for the first time. When they recognise each other as childhood friends, they utter the …

The Karakoram Highway (KH) or Friendship Highway or N35 connects the Kashgar town in Xinjiang region in China to Havelian (Abbottabad district) in Pakistan, which extends further to the junction of Grand Trunk (GT) Road at Hasan Abdal in Pakistan. KH is the world’s highest paved international road constructed across the Karakoram mountain range and through the Khunjerab Pass located …

The Navratri festival is dedicated to the Mother Goddess. Known by other names such as Durga, Devi, she occupies a special place in the Hindu pantheon. She represents Shakti, the cosmic energy that animates all beings, and is also considered to be prakriti (nature), the counterpart of purusha. Together, they are responsible for the creation of the world according to …

Most people recoil in horror at seeing a toad in the garden. Toads are certainly more ugly than frogs. They have large flattened bodies with dry, wrinkled and primply skins. The head of toad is blunter than a frog’s and its arms and legs are shorter. The toad spends most of its time on land and it is a slow …

Deepika Padukone’s decision to come out in open about her battle with depression offers hope to millions of Indians suffering from it We are one of the most depressed countries in the world. We have one of the highest suicide rates too. Yet, like the three monkeys of Mahatma’s talisman, we don’t see, hear or speak about it. More than …