Sanjay Dutt sent to 6 years in Jail

and i hope that he stays in for his entire term. We have had enough of the movie industry behaving like a cartel and making a mockery out of the Indian judicial system. Sanjay Dutt may be a Munna Bhai helping the poor in the movies, but he is a criminal in real-life and criminals ought to be where they ought to be, in the jail.

Even the media is portraying these people as heroes in real life with NDTV conducting a "Sanjay Dutt speaks his heart out" interview with the sole aim of pulling the public in his favour. Bollywood comes up in arms whenever a member of their fraternity is pulled up by the law. I am sure that each of them does this in the hope that the rest would support them similarly if they were to break the law in future.

A classic example is that of Salman Khan. How on earth can this guy be roaming around free acting in movies and fooling around ? He is a murderer, he kills endangered animals, threatens people and still he goes scot free.I hope that he goes to jail too!

Update: NDTV has been showing Bollywood's reactions to Sanjay Dutt's arrest over the weekend. It is unfortunate that Amitabh Bachchan, supposedly the icon of the Indian movie industry speaks against Sanjay's arrest saying that Sanjay is a nice person, a role model, has kids etc and he should be pardoned. It is not good if a person representing India on such a global scale makes comment hinting that Bollywood is above the law.

Hats off to Rakhi Savant on the same issue. She said.

"I am happy that that law of the land has taken its course. I am not celebrating Sanjay's imprisonment. But, it doesn't matter if it is Sanjay Dutt or any other common man, the law should take its course"

Technorati Tags: sanjay dutt munna bhai sanjay dutt jail bombay blast case salman khan

It's cricket world cup time again - Twenty20

Even before the wounds from the cricket world cup had a chance to heal completely, we have another one just around the corner. It is the twenty 20 format this time. The twenty20 cricket world championships were formally inaugurated recently in South Africa and will start on September 11th with a match between South Africa and West Indies in Johannesburg.

India is grouped with arch rivals Pakistan in Group D. Maybe, they did this so that fans are assured that they will play against each other. During the world cup, the organisers committed a blunder by assuming that India and Pakistan will get through the preliminary round and planned for their clash in the Super-8s. This time though, they learnt from the experience and put them both in the same group.

So, who do you think will win the Twenty20 cricket world championship ? Take this poll and let us know.

Technorati Tags: cricket world cup cricket twenty20 cricket twenty 20 cricket

6 tips to take great photographs at music concerts

The Bryan Adams concert here in Limassol was my first music concert ever. So, it is obvious that it was my first ever attempt at taking photographs at one. Prior to this, i had attempted to take photographs of musicians on dimly-lit stages during the various festivals which happen here in Cyprus and needless to say, the outcomes were not so good. So, this time, i did a lot of ground work and i was happy with the photographs of the concert. So, i decided to pen down few tips which might help anyone take good photographs at such concerts.

• Avoid using Compact Cameras, the point and shoot type. They are slow to start up, slow between photographs and have a shutter-lag. Even the latest point and shoot cameras suffer from these drawbacks. If you want good photographs, go the SLR way. Better still, go for a digital SLR so that you can immediately check whether the photo you captured is good enough for your liking.
• Use High ISO. Most of the concerts would have sections of the stage well-lit, but the rest of the area would be dark. There will always be some kind of a spotlight on the artistes on stage. But this light is not enough to get a good exposure. So, use a higher ISO to get a good picture in spite of the little light. Avoid ISO 1600 as it can get too grainy. But, take many practice shots to get the exposure you like. A high ISO would help you get photographs like the one below where you can see the lights from the all the mobile phone cameras in use.

  

• Use Shutter Priority Mode. I have had good success with Shutter Priority mode on many low-lit situations. You can customise the shutter speed based on your capability to hold the camera still. Using the program mode will make the camera try to get the best possible picture and in most cases (for concerts), the shutter will be opens for many seconds! Override this and use shutter priority. The Big Ben photo below was shot from a running open-top bus. I used a shutter speed of around 1/20s (don't remember exactly) and ISO 1200.

  

• Use a Zoom Lens, unless you are a good friend of the rockstar and manage to get a seat on the stage. Of course, not having a zoom lens would give a different perspective of the concert like the first photo below. I carried both the 18-70 and the 70-300 lenses with me and i switched them from time to time to take different views. From the first photo, you can kind-of guess where i was seated - far away from the stages and yet, with the zoom lens (and some cropping), I managed to get some decent close-ups of Bryan Adams.

  

• Don't use Matrix Metering. If you don't understand what I am saying, then it is time you take out your manual and look up on this. Matrix metering will work for many landscape shots but will mostly fail in concert shots where a small section is brightly lit and the rest are almost pitch-dark. Switch to Spot Metering and meter for the person whom you want to take (if you want to get the rockstar in focus).

  

• Obviously, Flash is useless. Ok, in some situations I am wrong. When you want to take a photo of yourself standing in front of the dimly-lit stage, you need to switch to the night-portrait mode or if you don't have one, manually enable the flash so that you are also well-lit. But, in other situations when you want to take the photo of a far-away rockstar on a stage, a flash is useless as it can light up, probably a few feet away from you. Worse still, if you have any object close to you, it will show up in your photograph in deathly-white. When i was in egypt, i had been to the sound-and-light show at the pyramids (first photo below). At that time, i had the "relatively ordinary" Nikon Coolpix 2500. I put in on a tripod, disabled the flash and let the camera decide its own exposure and I got pretty decent pictures. There were people around me pointing their cameras at the pyramids and shooting in auto mode with the flash. All they would have got is the chair in front of them with a white colouring!

  

Even if you follow these tips, you might not get it right the first time. So, practice a lot (another reason to move to Digital-SLR cameras) when the local artist comes on stage before the main act. Find the correct exposure (shutter speed/ISO) needed to get a decent image of the rockstar.

Hope you find these tips useful. Feel free to add more in the comments. Would also love to hear about your shooting experiences in music concerts.

Technorati Tags: music concerts rock concerts bryan adams photography low light photo digital SLR

Introducing PollMummy.com - The place to take web polls

PollMummy is a new website created just for taking web polls. There is a PollMummy Blog where all the latest polls would be uploaded. There is also a Poll Directory where you can choose to take polls based on the topics you like.

If you have ever wanted to put a poll on your website or blog and didn't know which tool to use and how to use a particular tool, check out the page on all the tools to create web polls. Last, but never the least, click here to subscribe to PollMummy Polls.

Technorati Tags: blog poll web poll polls create polls pollmummy

The unknown past of a celebrity

This video uncovers it all...

I originally had the flash playing in this post, but few complained that it was too obnoxious a sound to be playing continuously whenever this page is opened.

So, I am linking to the swf file. Right-Click and then Save-as on your PC and then view it in a browser window.

Click here to download the swf file.

I came, I saw, I blogged

This was the slogan which won me the creative blogging t-shirt slogan prize at Blogging Expertise. The prize is a copy of the Color Schemer Studio from Color Schemer. I haven't checked in detail about the software, but it looks colorful! I am sure that it would be useful to me for my website design and work in photoshop.

It has been a long time since i have won anything online. The last time i won something was 6 years back. But those were the glorious days of the dot com where sites competed with each other to give away goodies. I have won items like a pair of rayban glasses, a Palm top worth 400 USD, 100 dollars in cash and even silly things like a pen. But, its a good feeling this time since its been long.

Thanks to Blogging Expertise for organising this competition.

Technorati Tags: Blogging expertise blog contest prize blog slogan

A trip to the Shipwreck near Limassol

The most famous shipwreck in Cyprus is the Xenobia Shipwreck. You can take a submarine trip to see the Xenobia Shipwreck. But, this post is not about this shipwreck. It is about another small one located very close to Limassol off the coast of Akrotiri village. Below is one photo of the wreck. If you want to see more photos, go over to the Cyprus Blog.

Technorati Tags: cyprus shipwreck akrotiri Limassol

Kelefos Bridge in Cyprus

Kelefos Bridge is a medieval/venetian bridge by the Kelefos river located in the mountains of Pafos in Cyprus. This is a very scenic place ideal for an afternoon picnic. I went there last weekend. It was terribly hot in Limassol. So, i was more than ready when Puneeth asked us to accompany him on a drive to the mountains. In fact, it was also drizzling a bit in troodos and the nearby mountains, something unheard of, in the cyprus summers.

I took lot of photographs including, for the first time, photos of crabs and some insects floating on the water. To see more photographs of this beautiful place, go to my post on the Cyprus Blog.

Technorai Tags: picnic spot kelefos bridge cyprus troodos venetian bridge

Out of the Past

I was tagged by MiddleZoneMusings to post on a new meme called "Ten of my Favourite Posts" started by William Tully Sounds like "Oprah's Favourite Things for Summer"! Anyway, the idea of this meme is to pick ten posts from the past, which will give an idea , to new readers , of what this site is about.

The title of my blog is "Thoughts of a Rambler". So, you can understand the difficulty in choosing posts to give a sample to readers. I write about "anything and everything under the Mediterranean sun" and occasionally under the other celestial objects which show up over other parts of the world.

So, here are the ten posts which i think might give you an idea of what to expect at srajaram.com(oldest to the newest). Btw, most of them are from the "humor" category, as i actually don't write about anything useful on this site!

• Bird Flu mania gripped the world, especially Asia in early 2006 and that was probably the best time to make the movie "One flew over the bird's nest".
• If you ever visit Cyprus as a tourist, one of the main tourist attractions on your itinerary should be a visit to a Cypriot Doctor (No, i don't wish you to be unwell, just go there as a tourist). If you want to be prepared in advance on what to expect, read "Quack Quack, Is the Doctor in?".
• Rules in Cyprus are different for locals than for outsiders. You should know the tricks of the trade if you want things to happen your way in Cyprus. Some theories just don't work in Cyprus - Failure of queuing Theory in Cyprus.
• Everyone, for whatever reason they may have, likes to make fun of American Politicians. So, why should i be different? God Bless America! and If America wants more oil
• How soon or late do you adapt to the modern technology surrounding you? Sometimes, even basic things like operating an ATM can become a nightmare. Read about The mystery of ATMs to find out.
• If you are from India or from the UK or from the US and have happened to attend any Indian party, you might be able to associate with my observations about Punjabi songs titles "What is it with Punjabi Songs".
• If you have had a conversation with an Indian and there was no mention of cricket for more than 5 minutes, consider yourself to be very very lucky. Why are Indians so crazy about cricket. Cricket is after-all a stupid game, a waste of time!
• The history of the Mallu Nairs. Don't read this if you are not from India, you wouldn't understand a thing!
• What i have learned from my wife. This was part of a Group Writing Project at Middle Zone Musings. Well, after Vidhya (my wife) read this post, i learnt many more lessons.
• My first ever music concert and it rocked! Photos from the Bryan Adams Concert here in Cyprus.

Enjoy reading!

Technorati Tags: Group Writing project Blog Meme

The Best of the new seven wonders

Last week, the new 7 wonders of the world were announced to be the following monuments: Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, Christ Redeemer in Brazil, Machu Picchu in Peru, Chichen Itza in Mexico, The Colosseum in Italy and the Taj Mahal in India. According to the new 7 wonders website where these were declared:

All the New 7 Wonders are equal and are presented as a group without any ranking.

But, I am sure that everyone would be interested to know as to which the "best" wonder of the world is (from among the list above). This information has not been revealed, so lets try to decide ourselves. So, i have created a poll above with the list of the new seven wonders. Vote for whichever monument you think deserves to be called the "best" wonder of the world.

Technorati Tags: new seven wonders new 7 wonders of the world colosseum taj mahal chichen Itza Petra jordan great wall of china christ redeemer brazil machu picchu peru

Fearful Friday the 13th Group Writing Project

Last week, i had initiated a Group Writing project about Friday the 13th. As is expected for the first group writing project for a blog, there weren't many entries. Thanks to the two bloggers (Ravi and Mercury) who participated in this project. Their entries and also my half-entry are listed below

• 13 sites on Friday the thirteenth by Mercury
• 13 ways to lose a guy in 13 days by Ravi - I wonder how many from his list are from personal experiences.
• Few facts about Friday the 13th - My half-entry.
• 10 Money Superstitions for Friday the 13th by Rich (This was not submitted to the Group writing project, but i found this link through random surfing and found it interesting enough to be added to this list)

Once again, thanks to Ravi and Mercury for participating. Until the next, Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Group Writing project Blog Friday the 13th

Few facts about Friday the 13th

Today is the Friday the 13th and to "commemorate" this occasion, here are few facts about Friday the 13th and the number 13 in general. Usually, there are only myths surrounding this phenomenon, but i scoured the Internet trying to facts.

• Fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia. Now that I am in Cyprus where Greek is spoken, i can understand the root of this word. Friday in Greek is paraskevi, Thirteen is Dekathria (Deca = 10, Thria = 3) and phobia, as we all know, is fear. On a related note, fear of the number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia.
• More than 21 million Americans suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia.
• The next Friday the 13th will occur in June 2008.
• Fidel Castro was born on Friday the 13th of August 1926.
• On Friday the 13th of April 2029, asteroid 2004 MN4 will come extremely close to Earth, but will not collide, at least i hope it doesn't.
• The Year 2038 Bug will strike on Tue Jan 19 03:14:07 2038, when the signed integer used to store time in computers will reach its maximum value and when incremented, it moves to its lowest negative value i.e. -2147483648, which when represeted as time is Friday the 13th of December 1901 8:45 PM!

Some facts/myths related to the number 13.

• The house number 13 in Florence, Italy is addressed as 12 and a half.
• A Hangman's Noose has only 6 or 8 knots and not 13, as the myth goes.
• The car in which Princess Diana was traveling when she was killed, hit pillar #13 in Pont de l'Alma road tunnel.
• The American Flag has 13 stripes on it, representing the original 13 colonies which formed the US.

Technorati Tags: friday the 13

Surf's up - It's Wednesday - Edition 3

Again, missed the Wednesday. Maybe, i ought to change it to "Surf's Up - It's Thursday"!

• World's Brainiest - An Interesting site for quizzers and also those who want to soak up a daily dose of General Knowledge. They have loads of quizzes with the quickfire quiz of 5 questions just right for a break from work.
• Create you own Comic Strip - A very innovative site where you can create your own comic strip customising hundreds of options. If you ever want to insert jokes or punchlines in any of your web pages or newsletters, this site will help you a great deal "visualising" it. Based on an email-forward i received, i created a comic strip. Click on the pic for a better-resolution image.

• Bethann Frillman Photography: Bethann is a professional black-and-white children's photographer. She is the wife of a former Bitsian Subodh Karnik. I came across this link from the latest BITSAA (BITS Alumni Association) Summer 2007 edition of Sandpaper Magazine. The photos are amazing and i have saved many of them into my "inspire" folder hoping that, someday, i shall be able to take photographs like hers.

That's it for this week. Enjoy Surfing.

Technorati Tags: interesting links browsing surfing

Friday the 13th Group Writing Project

I have participated in few writing projects and it was fun writing about a topic given to you by someone else and then reading all the responses on that topic. Some of the projects i have participated in the past were hosted by Middle Zone Musings, Daily Blog Tips and Problogger.

So, i am starting my own group writing project. I am hoping that i get a few entries for this. The topic of this group writing project is

"13 things on Friday the 13th"

A bit more explanation on the topic. You can write on any 13 things associated with Friday the 13th e.g. 13 things to do on Friday the 13th, 13 things not to do on Friday 13th, 13 presents to gift someone on friday the 13th or maybe 13 myths about Friday the 13th. Contributions are accepted until Friday the 13th!

To participate:

• Write a post on your blog on this topic. You may link to this post announcing the group writing project.
• Your post should be on a topic related to 13 ____ Friday the 13th.
• Leave a comment in this post with the permalink to your post OR send an email to me (rajaram.sethuraman@gmail.com) with your name and the link to your post.

I shall collect all the entries and post them in a separate post of Saturday the 14th. Hope to see many entries. Thanks in advance for participating!

Technorati Tags: Group Writing project Blog Friday the 13th

What i learned from driving in India

Before i moved to Cyprus six years back, i had been driving motorbikes (or motorcycles or just bikes as they are called in India) and cars for more than 5 years then. This experience proved to be invaluable in being able to drive comfortably in Europe and the US. Driving in India is an enlightening experience, especially for any non-indian who is coming to India for the first time and lands up in any of the crowded metropolitan cities.

As part of the Group writing project currently on at Middle Zone Musings, i decided to pen down whatever i have learnt from my experience of driving in India.

• Indians are way ahead of the rest of the world in nano-technology. USA and Europe might be taking big steps in nanotechnology, but India is already light years ahead. Imagine, in the US, they have six-lane highways where you might find, if you are lucky, vehicles on four, or maybe if you are really lucky, five of the lanes. But, in India, we have single lane roads (ok, we actually don't have lanes, only roads) where, on a normal day, you will find a lorry, 2 buses, 3 cars, 4 vans,5 autorickshaws, 6 bicycles, 7 motorcycles and a few stray dogs within a range of a dozen square metres. Do you really need more inspiration for nanotechnology?
• Now i know why cars are damn cheap in India as compared to US or Europe. In fact, you can get a new car for under 4000 USD in India and in the last few weeks, many Automobile manufacturers have been announcing sub-2000 USD cars in India. Such a car would be an impossible dream in US, that even sci-fi movie and fantasy movie makers would not dare to project such cheap cars in movies lest the audience dump them for being over fantastical. So, why are cars cheap in India? To understand this, we need to look at cars being sold in the US. Cars are always released in many models, the basic one and the X-one which has many extra features like Bose Audio Systems, Rain Sensing Auto Wipers (or is this on the basic one?), anti-theft mechanism, and the like. So, you expect the X-one to be a lot costlier. In India, a similar X-model would have the following extra "fancy" features: Rear-View mirrors, Seat Belts, Rear Window Wipers, Child Lock and Air bags. The basic model is a car that runs, that's it. No wonder, they cost so less in India.
• Indians were the first in the world to introduce indicators on cars. The world was used to drivers pointing their hands in the direction they planned to take a turn. It was the same sign used in India too. But, the situation in India was different. Since the cars and other vehicles in India loved each other and travelled a few millimetres away from each other, showing a hand sign was an indication that you wanted your hand amputated. The growing number of hand amputations led the government to fund research and thus they came up with indicator lamps for the cars!

If you commute a lot to work daily and feel stressed out by this, take a vacation in India and drive around the cities. When you go back to your country (unless you are from Thailand!), you will feel as if you are driving in space with the whole highway built just for you. Enjoy!

If you are interested to participate in another group writing project, check out the Friday the 13th Group Writing Project.

Technorati Tags: India, driving in India, cars, traffic

Surf's up - It's Wednesday - Edition 2

Okay, its thursday this time. I started this post yesterday, but couldn't find time to complete and post it.

• Make Faces! Make a Flash Face by choosing various components of a face like head, hair, eyebrows, eyes, nose etc. Look below at the face i created. Not exactly a masterpiece, but a piece of work nevertheless! Have hours of fun making faces.

• Ok Tata Bye Bye: I love travelling and one way to vicariously enjoy the pleasure of travelling is by reading travelogues and this site has got loads of them. I particularly liked the travelogue of the 32 day solo ride through Ladakh called Freya's Diary.
• Smashing Magazine: This site is truly smashing, to say the least. This has to be the one-stop shop for any one involved with any aspect of website design or anything artistic on the web. Enjoy this site. There are hundreds of informative articles.

Some of the articles on this site which i found to be well-compiled:

1. 50 Beautiful web-designs
2. Freebies: Icons and Buttons
3. 21 Fresh and Usable Wordpress Themes

That's it for this Wedbesday's edition. Enjoy Surfing!

Technorati Tags: interesting links browsing surfing

EU Laws for safety equipments in private cars

Yet another disadvantage of Cyprus joining EU! EU laws state that even private vehicles including your car and mine have to have first aid kits, warning triangles, fire extinguishers and fluorescent jackets. Just as is the trend in Cyprus, various departments in the government have totally different interpretations of the law.

According to the Nicosia Police Department, "The law does exist, but that it only affects public use vehicles, such as buses and taxis, which are required to carry first aid kits and fire extinguishers." According to the Cyprus Automobile Association, "private vehicles were also affected, but were only required to carry safety triangles".

It seems that having all four items is an EU law that has been around for several years, and that the police have the right to ask the owner of any parked car permission to search for them. So, to avoid paying the 60 Cyprus pounds fine, never ever park your car in any parking lot, as the law applies to only parked cars. As long as the engine is running, you can always argue that the car was not parked and is in fact moving forward at the rate of few millimetres an hour.

I am sure that Cyprus, as with any other law, would introduce an customisation in the EU law, stating that as an additional safety feature, the driver of the car should know to shout "help" and "stop" in greek, so as to safely come out of situations which require the help of locals.

But, I am not worried as i already have all the required safety features

• We have an old almost empty bottle of amurtanjan in our dashboard, which qualifies as a first aid medicine. If the police questions questions me on this, i shall give him a bit to apply and then explain that it burns so much that you would forget the rest of the pain you have.
• Warning triangle is not a problem, as i have the entire cricket kit in the boot if my car. I have enough bats and stumps to even form a warning hexagon behind the car. In fact, any other local driving past would definitely stop, as they would have never seen any cricket equipment in the past.
• I always keep a bottle of water in my car which according to latest scientific research done by the American Fire-Safety board is the best way to extinguish fires.
• My friends from the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh (in India) had gifted me a t-shirt for my birthday few years back. Even after many washes, it still retains the fluorescent colour, as it was so bright and clourful when i received it. I shall make it a point to always keep this in my car.

So, you also better be prepared with all the safety equipments or be ready to shell out 60 pounds.

Source: Cyprus Mail

Photos from the Bryan Adams Concert in Cyprus

The Bryan Adams Concert in limassol happened last Friday. Off late, Cyprus has been seeing a surge in the number of big concerts being held. This was my first-ever live concert and surprisingly, i liked it. Surprisingly because, I am not the listening-to-music kind. I enjoyed the concert thoroughly. The ambience was excellent with his fans singing along to most of his popular numbers like Summer of 69,(Everything i do) i do it for you, Please forgive me and 18 till i die.

We were seated on the stands. Good that we didn't choose the cheaper standing option. Yeah, it might have been more close-to-the-action, but i don't think i would have lasted for 3 hours standing amidst that massive crowd. I had also taken my 70-300 Nikkor lens along with my usual lens. This was helpful as Vidhya used it as a binocular to watch the action on the stage. I took a lot of photos, though most were experimental with various shutter speeds and ISO levels.

For more photographs, head over to my other blog exclusively about Cyprus - Cyprus Blog.

Technorati Tags: bryan adams concert Limassol Cyprus Tsirion Stadium

Three puzzles to puzzle you

Time to take a break from going through all the blogging related (I assume they will all be so) entries for "Number Three" posting contest at Daily Blog tips.

Read also about the three lessons you can learn from Driving in India.

I have always been fascinated by puzzles based on logic rather than pure mathematics. How these puzzles are different from the usual mathematical ones is that at some point in time of solving the puzzle, you have to use your logical part of the brain and eliminate some answers and not just keep doing some calculations to reach the answer. Below are three such puzzles which are extremely interesting to solve (in my opinion). The answers are written in white just after the puzzle. So , to see the answer, highlight the empty area after the puzzle. Enjoy!

Puzzle 1:

A census-taker(CT) (one who counts the population) goes to a house and knocks on the door. A woman(W) opens the door. Given below is the conversation they have:

CT: Ma'am, how many children do you have ?

W: Three

CT: Can you please tell me their ages ?

W: I won't tell you their ages, but i can give you clues.

CT: wow, a puzzle! Ok, give me the clues.

W: Clue No 1: The product of my kid's ages is 36.

W: Clue No 2: The sum of their ages is equal to my door number.

CT looks at the door number, thinks for a while and says "i need more clues".

W: Okay, one more clue. My eldest plays baseball.

CT: Thank you Ma'am. I know their ages now.

Now, all you have to do is to find their ages with the above information.

Solution:

The woman has three children. The product of their ages is 36.

First, write down the possible combinations. They are 36/1/1, 18/2/1, 9/2/2, 9/4/1, 6/6/1, 6/3/2 and 4/3/3. Now, try to do what CT would have done i.e. take the totals of the ages which respectively are 38, 21, 13, 14, 13, 11 and 10.

The CT knew the door number (he can see it). If one of the totals matched the door number, he would have solved the puzzle. But, he asked for more clues. That means that the door number appeared as the total of more than one combination, which in our case is 9/2/2 and 6/6/1 whose total is 13.

The next clue was "My eldest plays baseball". This clue may seem weird, but it is actually a very intelligent clue. When the woman refers to "my eldest", it means that her eldest kid is unique which is not the case with the twins of 6/6/1. So, the answer is 9/2/2.

Puzzle 2:

There are 37 students in a classroom. What is the probability that at least 4 of them would have their birthday in the same month? Though this looks like a mathematical question, it is actually to be solved logically.

Solution:
Assume the worst case of the students' birthdays being split right across all the months. If there were 36 students in the class, then 3 of them would have their birthdays in each month(36/12 months = 3 in each month). If a 37th student appears, this his/her birthday could be in any of the 12 months. What that means is that, for sure he would be at least the 4th person to have a birthday in any month. So, the probability is 1 (one) i.e. surely in a class of 37 students, at least 4 would have their birthday in the same month.

Puzzle 3:

Form a meaningful sentence starting with “the” from the grid below. The only condition is that a move from one word to another can only be like a knight/horse used in Chess. i.e. a ‘L’ shaped move.

e.g. if you are on “solve” (1st row, 2nd column), the next word can be either “this” (3rd row, 3rd column) or “to” (3rd row, 1st column) or “only” (2nd row, 4th column)

Solution:

The only way to solve this puzzle is to move like the horse that moves around on a chess board.

Hope you enjoyed the puzzles. If you liked them , you can check out more puzzles from the Logic Puzzle quiz which i conducted some time back.

Technorati Tags: puzzle logic quiz logic puzzle blog tips