Quiz#1 – Diwali mini-quiz

1) Diwali is celebrated for many reasons. Rama defeating Ravana, Krishna defeating Narakasura….etc. It is common knowledge that diwali is celebrated on different dates each year. Can you give me the indicator that says diwali has arrived?

 2) Diwali is celebrated one day in advance in south India. Can you give me a possible reason for this? (Actually Diwali is celebrated for 5 days. I am interested in Choti Diwali and Badi Diwali as such.)

3) In which Indian town are the majority of crackers you buy made? (Hint: If you look at the wrapper, you should find out if you already don’t know)

 4) Dhanteras (If you saw the Tanishq print ads featuring Asin) is celebrated on the 13th day of the second half of the lunar month. It is also regarded as the birthday of a God who came out during the churning of the great ocean by Gods and the demons. (Hint: Dhanteras by itself is a clue.) Name the God. (This is being revised and was earlier missing)

5) Ok this one is a bit not on diwali. In Harry potter style (I have a feeling Rowling could even have borrowed from this), Ravana is foretold that a child would be the cause of his death. Who would this child be who is prominently featured in Ramayana?

Answers are welcome in the comments section. Answers will be published next Diwali 😉 (Well depending on the number of replies)

Scheming cell phone schemes!!

Cough, cough, hutch!! No, I don’t have a cold. It’s just the Diwali time cell phone schemes and tariff revisions that’s making me sweat and swear (Grrrrrr….)!! 25 paise for a message, as if the 5 paise they are already charging isn’t bad enough. I’d rather call and speak for exactly 1 minute. (With a bit of rehearsal on what you want to say, it’s possible.) With my friends I can even talk a full 2 minutes instead (10 paise per call scheme).
 

The reason behind the 5 paise plan was that people were misusing SMS. But the 25 paise scheme makes me wonder. Is sending Diwali messages to friends and family misuse? What warrants the 25 paise per message? That people like wishing each other and maybe they (cell phone service providers) can make money from it? I understand this offer if we all had free messages because Indians as such tend to misuse any facilities you provide, but I don’t think it makes sense to further raise the SMS rates especially after already having paid smses….
 
Two thumbs down (and probably some other finger up) to my cell phone service provider!!