Tickle your Brains

Heylo!

Thought its time to dust this blog which has been left idle for far too long. Have been following a couple of amazing quiz blogs like  http://brainiedeal.wordpress.com/ for some time now.

A set of 5 business questions served on a platter are here!

1. Mirror Mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all? Id her

2. Connect hamburgers and  JM Barrie

3. Id him. What is his contribution to the world?

Think information, telegraph

4. B School students esp XLers are forever indebted to him! Id the man whose statue in shown

5.Who is he?

The Quizzing Bug has bitten me….

1. Identify – clue independent MP but famous for something else

2. Whose logo – simple, famous, part Indian

3. Connect

4. Connect Asok, Vijay , Wally, Carol, Alice

5. Sitter : What links Meg Cabot, Salman Rushdie, Megan Mccafferty, Sophie Kinsella

The Harry Potter Trivia- for HP buffs

1. Connect dung bombs,nose biting teacups,sugar quills to something that Fred & George revered

2. Tiny, excitable wizard with a purple cap, bowing incessantly, showering Kent with downpour of shooting stars.. Who?

3. Connect the pic to Pomona Sprout

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Love Story-Slytherin, Ravenclaw,chains,blood : What are we talking about?

5. Dumbledore: phoenix

Snape: ?

Harry : ?

Ron:   ?

Hermione: ?

Quiz #1

1. Connect Brookes & Akhurst to Rafa & Serena

2. Venice : Gondola :: Srinagar: ??

3.  Connect Sandra Bullock to Tina Turner

4. Connect                         

5.  2002 , 18 year old, fantasy ficiton , dragons, 1st novel, print on demand, Random House , trilogy deal, movie. Who or what are we talking about?

“The White Tiger” -Aravind Adiga

Reading the rave reviews of “The White Tiger” which won the Man Booker,I thought -must be another of those India bashing, poverty tourism, cows on the  road type of a book to draw such international acclaim (Slumdog is another example). When I picked up the book it was with a ‘let’s see what is so great about it’ attitude. 10 pages down the line, I thought – ‘it is ok, not exceptionally brilliant language’. 10 more pages down the line, I was hooked ,with a capital H. The book made me feel like Balram Halwai -the protagonist, the man who was brought up in Darkness where basic amenities are not available, who dreams to be an important man with a lot of chandeliers, branded goods, Mac’s at his disposal

Balram’s lack of a proper name ( “Munna” was what he was called till a school master christened him as Balram), the corruption of the school teacher, his brilliance amongst the not so bright lot earning him the nick ‘The White Tiger’, his mother’s death etc. just grabbed my attention. The angst , the frustration, the cynic in him calling ‘River Ganga’  which is considered very sacred as a highly polluted river with human excreta floating around jolted me out of my comfort zone. His ambition to wear a khakhi uniform with a shiny whistle ala a bus conductor (who later rises to become the right hand of a politician) soon makes him a driver to the son (Ashok)of the richest man of his village and his wife Pinky. The servant politics, being forced to massage the landlord’s filthy legs, taking dogs for a walk, playing badminton with Pinky madam are some of the highlights of his life at Dhanbad as the driver.

Once the scene shifts to Delhi where the US returned man with a conscience Ashok & Pinky relocate to settle some under-the-table dealing with the ministers, our Balram becomes the man to rely upon, be it ferrying Ashok to the minister or taking a hit and run(credit goes to Pinky’s inebriated condition) blame, Balram is the man. The corruption of Balram is complete when he eyes the ‘dirty money’ to be handed over to the minister and kills Ashok for it. Escaping to Bangalore where he turns an entrepreuner even as police are looking for him helps him achieve what he always wanted -to be an important man , with a lot of chandeliers (one in the bathroom too!)  in the end.

The format of the book – letters to Wen Jiabo by “The White Tiger”  (alias Ashok alias Balram Halwai who takes up his victim’s name), the simple writing and the content came together to make it a Man booker winner which it surely deserved.

Verdict : Must Read. 8/10

Back to blogging on a fresh note

Finally after a hiatus of nearly 2 years (blame it on my laziness) i’m back to blogging (old blog: http://medhakrishnamurthy.blogspot.com/). Cheers to the new start!