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Gora's Bargaining Prowess
Gora has ripped his shorts and needs a new pair. He asks his uncle to buy him a new pair of shorts. But uncle is busy and cannot
accompany Gora to the store. He gives Gora the money and tells him to go and buy the shorts by himself. However, the uncle is worried that
Gora might get cheated; a 12-year-old boy would be no match for an experienced seller.
Shibram Chakraborty's stories, which are full of pun and play on words, are fun to read. Gora, the hero of the story, has set out to buy a pair of shorts. His worried uncle has given him a few tips on how to avoid getting cheated. But the boy is sure of himself. He believes that no one can swindle him; he is afraid that it is he who might commit fraud unintentionally.
Gora has returned home with two pairs of shorts, but he isn't sure whether the shop-owner has cheated him; only his uncle could throw light on this matter.
(This story is being republished)
Dangerous Directions!
I feel rather scared when people stop by and ask me for directions. I have read of strangers on two-wheelers stopping
by someone to ask for directions and then fleeing away after robbing the unsuspecting person. But I am not talking of that
kind of danger; I feel afraid of giving wrong directions.
The other day, I was getting a pollution test certificate for my motorcycle from a road-side vendor when a car stopped and the driver, rather arrogantly, demanded to know the directions. I was angry at the driver's arrogant manner, but I kept my cool and told him he was following the right road. I turned my attention to the pollution test.
I had spent my childhood years in this neighbourhood and was aware of its geography. The municipality had recently constructed a flyover. The car driver, who was still there, asked in his rude manner whether he should take the flyover. "Go ahead," I told him and this time, he did speed away as though his tail was on fire.
(This story is being republished)
Math in Playing Cards!
The problem with my friend, Ashish, is that he sees the world in terms of
numbers - he tries to find math in everything!
He came to my house on a Sunday with a standard deck of playing cards. He wanted me to play cards, but I was in no mood for it. So, he chose to test my math skills instead.
He dealt some cards to me and some to himself from the deck and laid the rest aside. He then said to me, "If you give me a certain number of your cards I will have four times as many cards as you have. If I give you the same number of cards, I will have thrice as many cards as you have."
My head had already begun to swim, and I developed a terrible headache when Ashish asked me to tell him how many cards each of us had. Please help me figure out the number of cards with me and Ashish from the information provided.
(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