CULTURALQA 03-2024-22A Allthe below QA are from QUORA DIGEST tome on 22-03-2024.
SelectedQuora answers by scholars generally interesting are included. Still they need not be 100%correct answers.. Compiled and posted by R Gopalakrishnan, 80, on 22-3-2024 Q1 What's thenicest thing anyone has ever done for you? A1 VijayaLakshmi,Retired Finance manager at Coal India Limited (A Maharatna Company) 5y Not for me but for my father. My father would always tell us this story wheneveropportunity arose. This story is of period 1950s.My father lost hisfather(my paternal grand father) when he was a teen.All the financialresponsibilities fell on my father.He left school and started studying at home. He joined as a worker in a coal mining company. Whileworking, he studied privately for Matriculation and intermediate.Inintermediate he was awarded gold medal for physics. Seeing his interest in studies, his manager offeredhim financial help for purchasing books exam fees etc for one of the mining examswhich was called ‘foreman exam’.My father being very shy, refused to accept themoney. Then the manager convinced him to take it as a loan. If one passed in that exam, he would become aforeman(a supervisor).He cleared that exam in first attempt. The manager helped him financially for the next exam,which was called second class exam. After clearing that exam one would become ‘undermanager’. He cleared that exam too and became under manager. Then his salary was good enough to support his familyand repay the loan.So he went to his manager to repay the loan. The manager said “OK do repay the loan, but not inthis form. If you find somebody in the same situation where you were few yearsback, use this money to help him/her”. So my father put that amount in a separate bankaccount and waited for the person who needed such help. Soon he came across one boy who was brilliant instudies but could not afford higher studies. My father decided to use the money he saved, forhelping that boy in his studies.The boy refused to take help and the storyrepeated.My father convinced him that it was a loan. After few years when the boy came to repay the loanmy father said the same thing which his manager said to him few years back. The cycle repeated and my father came to know thatthe boy helped another girl in pursuing her education. When she came to repay the loan, he told the samething to her without accepting the money. Then my father was transferred from that place andlost track of that girl. But he was very confident that the girl might haveutilized that money for education of some other underprivileged person’sstudies. How beautiful this world would be if these ‘nicestthings’ were passed from one person to the other! Profile photo for Silk Road Q2 Do giraffesever lay down? A2 “SilkRoad”,AI Expert11h Yes, giraffes do lie down, though it might not be thefirst picture that comes to mind. These long-necked giants face an awkward predicament:getting up and down is risky business. As prey animals, they're extremely vulnerable in thatposition, a tempting target for predators like lions or hyenas. Because of this, they've evolved to sleep primarilywhile standing, taking short naps throughout the day, totaling in only around30 minutes of sleep in a 24-hour period. However, that doesn't mean they never take fullrests. Giraffes will fold their long legs beneath theirbodies and sit for longer periods. Especially in safer environments, like zoos, youmight even get lucky and spot one completely stretched out on the ground. Young giraffes do this more often, as they're not asbig a target for predators. The most vulnerable position, and the rarest to see,is when a giraffe sleeps deeply enough to need complete rest. In those rare instances, they'll actually lay theirhead on their rump for a proper deep sleep. These fleeting periods of deep rest usually only lasta few minutes at a time– just enough to recharge the batteries before springingback to their feet, ever watchful for danger. Q3 Does memorydepend on intelligence? A3 Abhishek Ambad ,Growth Marketer | Digital marketing | SEO Feb 27 "One day, Einstein was traveling by train fromPrinceton, when a train conductor passed through the corridor, stamping thetickets of all the passengers. When he arrived in front of Einstein, thescientist searched for the ticket in his vest pocket, but didn't find it; itwasn't even there in the pants pockets; so he looked in the briefcase, but hecouldn't find it. The conductor said, “Doctor Einstein, I know who youare. I'm sure you bought the ticket. Don't worry. Einstein nodded in thanks. And the conductor continued to stamp the tickets inthe aisle. Just as he was about to move on to the next car, he turned to seethe large body looking under his seat for the ticket. The conductor turned around and said, "Dr. Einstein,Dr. Einstein, don't worry, I know who you are." This is not a problem. Youdon't need a ticket. I'm sure you bought one. Einstein looked at him and said, "Young man, Ialso know who I am. What Idon't know is where I'm going. That's why I'm looking for my ticket." Q4 What happenedafter the Mahabharat war? How long did Pandavas rule? A4 SeemaBharti, Author of Mahabharat's Stories2h After the battle at Kurukshetra, Yudhishthir wishesto retire for he feels responsible for the death of his relations andinnumerable kshatriyas. Vasudev tells Yudhishthir that giving up ownershipnecessarily doesn't free us from desire. Ironically lack of desire results indisinclination towards action, like studying Vedas and all. Partha is afflicted over the death of his son. It was the duty of the Pandavas to obtain the kingdomwithout thorns like Dhritarashtra's evil sons and make the earth a safe place,explains their cousin. They had ignored every appeal to stop following the pathof Adharama. Grand father VedVyasa asks Yudhishthir to perform the horse sacrifice and get King Maruttasriches for it. Arjun's still born grand son Parikshit afflicted byAshvatthama ‘ Brahmastra is revived by Vasudev to carry on the lineage of theBharatas. The Pandavas performs the horse sacrifice. Arjun wasassigned the task of protecting the horse while it travelled the length andbreadth of earth. All the neighbouring kings accepted suzerainty of thebrothers. Arjun almost died fighting with his son Babruvahanaof Manipur. But was revived by his naga wife Ulipi. It absolved him of the sinof killing relations and kshatriyas at Kurukshetra. Vasudev and all the other kings arrived for the horsesacrifice ceremony with dakshina. The horse wassacrificed by Brahmins. The entrails were plucked and roasted. The brothers inhaled the smokecleansing all their sins. The remaining sixteen limbs were offered as oblationsinto the fire. Kings, kshatriyas, Brahmins vaishyas left acceptingYudhishthir ‘s subjugation . Yudhishthir was instated as king advised by Vidhura,Sanjay and Yuyutsu. ThePandavas ruled for fifteen years. Ved Vyas, Dhritarashtra too residedwith the nephews. Bhima found it difficult to reconcile. Gandhariignored the insults but Dhritarashtra censured him for killing his son. Fifteen years after the battle, Pandu's older brothersought Yudhishthir ‘s permission to leave for the forest. He is accompanied byVidhura, Sanjay, Gandhari and Kunti. Ved Vyasa absolved Kunti of the crime, she hadapparently thought to have committed. Of being an unwed mother. The Brahmin hadthreatened to destroy Durvasa and Kunti, if she disobeyed. With the passage of time they perish. On the other hand, since close to thirty six years had elapsed, Gandhari ‘s curse that Vasudev’s entirelineage would be wiped out just like the Bharatas comes true. All theVrishnis, Yadavas, Andhakas die fighting each other on the shores of Prabhasain a highly intoxicated state. Vasudev was aware of the events likely to takeplace in the future. Time and Destiny is predetermined! Krishna is heart broken. Balaram , Vasudev ‘s brother gives up his life doingyoga in the forest. Vasudev too dies when Jara’s arrow pierced his foot. Arjun is devastated at the death of his cousin. He takes the children, old and women along with himto Hastinapur. Dwarka submerged in water. The once wielder of Gandhiva realisesthat his arms were losing their strength and so was he. Ved Vyas explained, Strength, intelligence, energy and power diminisheswith adversity. The universe is inturn controlled by Time. The Pandavas realised that it was Time they gave uptheir kingdom and eventually life and moved to the forest. It was decidedthat Parikshit, son of Abhimanyu would be king of Hastinapur. Vajra, great grandson ofKrishna would be the king of Indraprastha. Yuyutsu, Dhritarashtra's son frommaid, would be the overlord. Kripa the preceptor. The Pandavas along with Draupadi and a dog leftcasting away the sacrificial fire that burns in households into water. Q5 What is thebiggest culture shock you have ever faced? A5 Christian Jiang, Wut? I’m still too young to have interesting stories totell...Updated 6y North Koreansare not as brainwashed as we’re led to believe. Ok… This might have shocked you, too. (Yes, I’vebeen to North Korea. Read this answer to know more!) When we think of North Koreans, maybe the majority ofus will say stuff like, ‘They are all so brainwashed! Like, they think they’rethe best and that Kim Jong-un doesn’t poop and, oh my god, how brainwashed theyare!’ Well, they are brainwashed. But not as much as wethink. We are all brainwashed, by the way! So, we had a very nice North Korean girl who stayedwith us during our tour, who sang for us and told us jokes and stories.Sometimes she would talk about politics. But one day she surprised me bysaying, ‘You can see howpoor the countryside is. Yes, we know that we are an extremely poornation: we cannot deny what we see.’ As she proceeded to say that they were making theirbest efforts to improve their conditions, I sat there, surprised because ofwhat she had just said. A few days later, we were buying our tickets to getto the last floor of the Juche Tower. Since all shops are controlled by thestate, the money tourists give directly goes to the government. My father asked for two adult tickets. I’m seventeenyears old, and people have always counted me as an adult. So my father was usedto buying adult tickets for me. That girl, who happened to be near us, whispered,‘Don’t do it! He’s still a minor!’, and looked at us as if to say, ‘Don’tbother.’ If she were truly brainwashed, she would have let uspay more, because that meant more money to the government. These are somelittle signals, which suggest that North Koreans are like us, and that they’renot mindlessrobots without thoughts. EDIT: Because of many requests, I decided to startthis blog about my experiences in North Korea! Pass by if you have time! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/681850820.255884.1711114183423%40mail.yahoo.com.
