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Encounter With a Ghost
I have said this before, and I shall say again: I don't enjoy ghost stories; they scare me. But if it is a ghost story by
Shibram Chakraborty, then I would read it a hundred times. This story is scary enough to keep me up all night. But ... I slept and
slept well.
Mr. Chakraborty sets out for the Hundru Falls on a bicycle. After going seven miles, one of the tyres goes flat. It is a lonely road, and the nearest village is five miles away. A tiger was spotted in the vicinity a few days ago, and Mr. Chakraborty does not want to become a tiger's meal.
So, he decides to hitch a ride back to his lodge. After a long wait, a lorry approaches but does not bother to stop. After another long wait, Mr. Chakraborty sees a car approaching. The vehicle is coming at a slow speed; the speed is so slow that a person on foot could have overtaken it. The night has fallen, and there is a dense mist; the visibility is poor. Mr. Chakraborty flashes his torch, but the car driver shows no inclination to stop. Mr. Chakraborty is not willing to let this opportunity go; he rushes to the car, manages to turn the door handle, and hops inside. Mr. Chakraborty turns towards the driver's seat and says, "Please drop me at ..." But he does not complete the sentence. There is no person behind the wheels; the car's engine is also not running. Yet, the vehicle is moving and moving in the right direction.
Scary stuff! But as I said, I slept and slept well.
(This story is being republished)
Photographer's Woes
I recently purchased a new camera. When you have a camera, you want to click pictures; what is the use otherwise?
Wherever I go, my camera goes with me. I did not look at birds or butterflies in the past. But, now, the sight of even a crow, pigeon, or sparrow gets me excited.
Every evening, I take a walk. There is a lonely stretch of road near my house, which leads to a barren piece of land. The scene is rustic; there are many trees, and there are plenty of birds. I love this evening walk.
Adjacent to this land is another piece of fenced land. One day, I was taking my walk when I saw a woodpecker on a tree on the fenced land ...
(This story is being republished)
Grazing Cows!
I was getting late for the office, so I opened the throttle and let my motorcycle fly.
But all my hopes of reaching the office in time were dashed; I soon found myself at the tail of a traffic jam. The traffic snarl was caused by a herd of cows, which was crossing the road at a leisurely pace. I could do nothing but wait. But the sight reminded me of a trigonometric problem I had come across recently. Here it is:
Three cows are tethered at each corner of a triangular plot, which is fenced all around so that the cows cannot cross its boundaries. The lengths of the sides of the triangular plot are 20 metres, 30 metres, and 40 metres. The cows are tethered with ropes of 7-metre length each.
Please help me to find out the total area of the plot that can be grazed by the three cows. Also, please help me determine the area of the plot grazed by each cow.
(This puzzle is being republished)
Some useful links for
your career:
- Union Public Service Commission - www.upsc.gov.in
- IIT-Kharagpur - www.iitkgp.ac.in
- Indian Statistical Institute - www.isical.ac.in
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras - www.iitm.ac.in
- Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad - www.iimahd.ernet.in
- Indian Institute of Mass Commission - www.iimc.nic.in
- IIT Bombay - www.iitb.ac.in
- Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad - www.ismdhanbad.ac.in
- Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi - www.bitmesra.ac.in
- Central Institute of Fisheries Nautical and Engineering Training - www.cifnet.nic.in
- Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad (Deemed University) - www.iiita.ac.in
- Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi - www.cmfri.com
- Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai - www.tiss.edu