# Episode 138 - Princes, Pashtuns & Pawns

An episode of [Are You Quizzing Me?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1663104901), 22 Apr 2026, 1 h 11 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/d7afa960/podcast/play/118865187/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-3-22%2Fc6eee04f-893c-a00d-9ee1-e0e32c62ade9.mp3

Do you know what massive impact on pop culture happened when after the death of Maharaja Ishan Chandra Manikya, king of Tripura from 1849 to 1862, died and instead of his son, his brother took over his throne? Do you know why a massive caravan of people marched through the Khyber Pass from Peshawar to Jalalabad in 1988? Do you know who won SuperProgChamps, a fast paced chess tournament in 2021? Tune in to the episode to find out!! You can reach us at Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/areyouquizzingme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/areyouquizzingme Email: areyouquizzingme@gmail.com Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/areyouquizzingme Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@areyouquizzingme/podcasts

## Transcript

[0:00] In 2021, chess streaming stars Andrea and Alexandra Botez ran a
[0:07] fast-paced bullet chess tournament, games under 3
[0:11] minutes per side lasting one hour on their platform.
[0:15] Who won this tournament? That's the audience question for
[0:19] today's episode, and this is one that are answered at the end of
[0:22] today's episode. Queue the music.
[0:24] Welcome to Are you Quizzing Me I am Vineet Nair with my Co host
[0:29] Aditya kashyap. This is a quizzing trivia
[0:32] podcast show. Join us as we dive deep into
[0:35] history, science, pop culture and so much more.
[0:39] Let's get quizzing Welcome ladies and gentlemen to episode
[0:42] #138 of are you quizzing your favorite quizzing enter of your
[0:46] podcast show? Aditya and I are back for
[0:49] another round of quizzing, and without further ado, let's first
[0:52] find out who was the fastest finger first in last week's
[0:56] Smack The. Person who managed to smack it
[1:00] in the last episode, which is episode 137 shall be revealed
[1:05] after I tell you what the question was.
[1:07] As always, it was a question that was a visual question.
[1:10] If you haven't seen it, go check it out on our Instagram.
[1:12] It's also on our Reddit page. The social media audits question
[1:16] or smack was a picture of an old timey painting a portrait of a
[1:23] place in Mumbai. And the question was very
[1:25] simple. What would you find at this
[1:28] historic location in Mumbai today?
[1:30] So clearly this location doesn't look the way it does in the
[1:33] painting because the painting is from centuries ago.
[1:36] What would you find at that exact spot today?
[1:39] The person who got it first is a regular Smack winner, Nathan.
[1:44] Nathan answered within like a few minutes of us posting it.
[1:48] It's insane. I am truly honored and humbled
[1:51] that people see us on Instagram and decide to spend time
[1:55] answering us to sometimes very ridiculous, stupid questions.
[1:58] So thank you, Nathan. The answer was Gateway of India.
[2:02] This is the Apollo Bandar, Apollo Bandar Bandar.
[2:06] I'm not exactly sure how it's pronounced.
[2:08] But banta bandu banter. That's how a Sobo person
[2:14] probably says it. Yeah, that's the spot where
[2:18] Gateway of India Today exists. It was built, as a lot of people
[2:21] would know, to commemorate the King and the Queen arriving
[2:24] after their coronation. And the reason I've asked in the
[2:27] last episode. So if you haven't heard the
[2:28] episode, good reason to go check it out now, because the entire
[2:31] episode was filled with bunch of Easter eggs, I guess related to
[2:35] Mumbai. This was the nice dressing on
[2:38] top of it. Good job, Nitin.
[2:40] Thank you for answering. Great job, Nitin.
[2:42] Let's start off our regular round of quizzing for today.
[2:45] Aditya, what's your question? I think it's your turn to go
[2:49] first. So the floor is yours or the mic
[2:53] or whatever. Well, thank you.
[2:55] I am truly honoured. This question will be an
[2:59] honorable question. The the segue will make sense at
[3:02] the very end of it. Maybe I don't know.
[3:05] And I'm I'm going to divide the question up into a few parts.
[3:08] So let's do it part by part and it'll all tie up together at the
[3:13] end of it. It's a one single question, all
[3:15] right. But the first part is this
[3:17] person goes by the name of Ishan Chandra Manikya, who was the
[3:20] Raja of Tripura from 1849 to 1862.
[3:24] He's part of the Manikya family, which have been ruling Tripura
[3:29] for centuries. Their origins are are shouted in
[3:33] some sort of legend, some sort of mythology, but they've been
[3:35] well documented at least in the last quite a few centuries.
[3:38] And that's been a continuous line of succession.
[3:41] However, there was, let's say, a slight deviation where the son
[3:45] did not come into power. Ishant Chandra Manikya's son did
[3:48] not come into power. Both his sons didn't come into
[3:50] power. Instead, his brother decided to
[3:51] take over the throne. So when his son, who went by the
[3:55] name of Nabad weep, didn't come into power, what happened in his
[4:01] life that led to a contribution to Indian pop culture?
[4:05] So it's quite a testament to the fact that we've spent so much
[4:13] time together that when I came across this piece of trivia, I
[4:17] framed the question almost exactly as you did.
[4:21] Almost exactly. But mine was a little more long
[4:23] winded as I tend to be and it's on my plate to ask in the next
[4:28] couple of episodes. But I digress.
[4:32] This is the origin of the Burman legacy.
[4:35] SD and Rd. Burman who transformed the music
[4:40] industry in Bollywood as always. Very well correct.
[4:43] And I think you're right, because actually quite convinced
[4:46] that you will crack this immediately.
[4:47] You'll get it very quickly. So I was not sure if I should
[4:50] ask it. But you know, it was such an
[4:51] interesting TIL for me. I had to ask.
[4:53] Yeah. It is.
[4:54] It is, yeah. Yeah, Well done.
[4:55] I don't know what else to say. Just brilliant.
[4:58] Brilliant. You are a brilliant man.
[5:00] Just some additional trivia over there.
[5:02] The person who came into power, the uncle, his name is B Chandra
[5:05] Manikya. He's considered quite
[5:07] significant in, in the development of Tripura and it
[5:10] becoming in progressing in the ways it did in the 19th century.
[5:14] He's considered the architect of modern Agartala city as well.
[5:18] And I think he was very influenced by the way the
[5:20] Britishers were doing things, the the good things that the
[5:23] Brits did back in England. So he decided to import a lot of
[5:26] those ideas into Tripura and they did benefit the state.
[5:30] People do hold him in high regard over there, but the
[5:33] brother who didn't come to power, rather the the nephews
[5:36] who didn't come to power decided to make a mark.
[5:39] I could say probably in a more emotionally resonant way because
[5:47] SD Berman, Rd. Berman's music is phenomenal.
[5:50] And the people in question about Nabadweep Chandra, Dave Berman
[5:55] was the son in question, and Andy Berman was the father of
[6:01] Sachin Dev Burman and the grandfather of Rahul Dev Burman.
[6:06] SD Burman, Rd. Burman.
[6:08] Well done. Grand grand crack over there,
[6:11] Sir. The next question has to do with
[6:13] the Indian mythology. This is Part 2 of the same
[6:15] question. All right, so I'm going to tell
[6:17] you a little mythological story, a Hindu mythological story.
[6:21] According to folklore, Lordship left Mount Kailash after losing
[6:27] a game of dice to his wife, Goddess Parvati and decided to
[6:31] settle in the jungles of Kushanthali.
[6:35] When Parvati came searching for him, Shiv transformed into a
[6:38] tiger to frighten her. Frankie sight to Lord Shiv, so
[6:44] he transformed the tiger to frighten her.
[6:46] Terrified, Parvati cried out. Translated into English, it
[6:50] would be Save me O Lord of the Mountains.
[6:53] Now this trivia might not be very easily cracked by most
[6:59] trivia enthusiasts but you Vineet because of your life
[7:03] journey I think might have a good crack at it.
[7:06] Question is what did Parvati say?
[7:09] Or rather what Parvati said led to something specific in Goa.
[7:15] What am I talking about does? This have anything to do with
[7:18] Govantak or the origin of the name of Goa?
[7:22] Very slightly warm in the sense that it is an etymology
[7:25] question, but no, it doesn't have anything to do with
[7:26] govantak. OK, anything to do with the
[7:29] Mangeshi temple? Vineet I I'm just going to tell
[7:35] for our audience, I don't think this was a conceited Vineet
[7:39] crack. This was a very educated guess,
[7:41] Vineet crack and and props to him for doing that.
[7:44] He was a very, very smart guess and I like it.
[7:46] Going to tell us how we arrived at it.
[7:47] No, I was thinking, OK, I had no clue as to where this is going.
[7:50] So I was thinking of you and you have this tendency to put up
[7:53] topical questions. Asha Bhosle Mangeshkar Lata
[7:56] Mangeshkar Mangeshi Temple. Oh man, you've already cracked
[8:00] my full question. Fine, I'll just continue
[8:02] anyways, OK, It is Mangesh Temple and this is a temple.
[8:07] Let's pretend like we need did not say the last two sentences.
[8:10] You did. OK, let's move from there.
[8:12] Let's just go back to when you just guess the answer.
[8:14] Wow Vineet, you've got the Mangesh Temple which is the
[8:19] Hindu temple in the state of Goa.
[8:21] I believe it is the largest and definitely the most visited
[8:24] temple in Goa. The Hindu temple in Goa.
[8:26] Yes. What?
[8:27] Yes, yes, yes. I think Gautasaraswata Brahmins
[8:30] for them. It's one of their, I think
[8:32] Mulakshetras, as in they believe that their origin and that's
[8:37] their temple. So even if they're settled in
[8:39] Calicut or Mangalore or in Cochin or wherever, but they
[8:42] have you have pockets of populations of goddess artist
[8:45] for the GSBS as they call like to call themselves.
[8:47] They do actually just have performed pilgrimages to
[8:50] multiple temples in Goa, Mangesh Temple being one of the the
[8:53] primary ones. Perfect.
[8:55] Well, yeah, that's very, very succinctly summarized cultural
[9:00] relevance of this temple in Goa. And what Parvati, the goddess,
[9:05] had cried out was Trahi mum Girisha.
[9:09] I guess this is Sanskrit Trahi mum Girisha.
[9:11] Girisha, I know, means Lord of the mountains.
[9:14] And the rest, I'm assuming, means save me.
[9:16] So save me Lord of the mountains.
[9:18] Trahi mum Girisha. Mum Girisha overtime became
[9:21] Manguesh Mangesh. That's where we get the Manguesh
[9:24] temple, which is the Hindu temple in Goa.
[9:27] All right, perfect. That was Part 2, the last part
[9:30] of our question. Munir is actually literally not
[9:34] not not. Like there's no fun way of
[9:37] phrasing this question. I'm just gonna straight up ask
[9:39] you, Vineet. Of course you know of Chatapati
[9:42] Shivaji Maharaj. Do you know which clan did
[9:45] Chatapati Shivaji Maharaj belong to?
[9:48] The Thomas. All right.
[9:50] Tie up by three questions for me, Vineet.
[9:52] So you have Rd. Burman, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha
[9:56] Bhosle. Wonderful.
[9:59] So Rahul Dev Burman, Rd. Burman, the music composer was
[10:02] Asha Bhosle's husband. Lata Mangeshkar from the
[10:06] Mangeshkar family of of just stalwarts of music or definitely
[10:10] stalwarts of Hindi cinema music have derived their name from the
[10:15] Mangesh temple in Goa. Their father forgetting his
[10:19] first name, he decided to take the name Mangeshkar.
[10:22] As in from Mangesh or somebody in that clan, I guess, I don't
[10:25] know. Somebody in the family took the
[10:26] name Mangeshkar from Mangesh and that's Mangeshkar.
[10:30] And Bhosle was Asha Bhosle's first husband.
[10:33] She ended up marrying this man and she was very young and got
[10:35] separated. Wasn't a very happy marriage but
[10:38] decided to keep her name. I was assuming because as a lot
[10:40] of people discover when they're known by a certain name, they
[10:43] don't want to change it. Even if that, you know, women
[10:46] have decided to leave their husband and leave that person
[10:49] with the name, they keep the name still.
[10:51] So yeah, she kept the name and well, happy ending there because
[10:55] she met the love of her life in Rd.
[10:57] Burman, who was the first time they met apparently was when he
[11:00] was a 10 year old and he was with his father.
[11:03] And she might have been in the late teens.
[11:06] I think there is like a 10 year age gap.
[11:08] So they met at that time and he was apparently a big fan of
[11:10] hers. And then March later, it's a
[11:13] very cute story. Much later, they were working
[11:15] together and he was secretly sending her roses every day.
[11:18] And she was getting annoyed. And this one day he was there in
[11:22] the studio and she's like, who's this idiot who keeps sending it
[11:24] to me every day? And there was a mutual friend
[11:26] there who very pointedly was like this guy.
[11:32] So that's where Asha Bosley figured out that Rd.
[11:35] Burman was smitten by her and was sending her roses.
[11:38] And love story blossomed and we lost quite the treasure of
[11:43] Indian music. Recently, Asha Bosley.
[11:45] I've been listening to some of her music.
[11:47] A phenomenal pop culture recommendation.
[11:49] Go listen to Asha Bosley music. My favorite would be the second
[11:53] National Award-winning song from the movie Jazz It and that is
[11:58] Mera Kutsawan. But just the lyrics are
[12:00] beautiful, the music is beautiful, her voice is
[12:03] beautiful. Mera Kutsawan in the Jazz.
[12:05] Alright, that was my first long winded question, but Vineet take
[12:09] it away with the awe question. Oh, honourable, because she's
[12:11] just an honourable person. Oh, OK, no, I thought you were
[12:16] going with the right Honourable Rd.
[12:18] Burman because technically he is a Prince.
[12:21] Oh sure, yeah, let's go with that.
[12:23] Also, there is somewhat of a segue here, but I'm not going to
[12:28] tell you because it will be something of a giveaway.
[12:30] So I'm not going to tell you what the segue is.
[12:32] But this staple of many Western weddings is quite possibly the
[12:38] worst possible choice given its original context.
[12:42] It was popularized when Princess Victoria, who was the eldest
[12:46] daughter of Queen Victoria. Don't confuse the two.
[12:50] She chose it for her wedding. It is almost universally banned
[12:55] at Jewish weddings, but for a much darker reason.
[12:58] What am I talking about? You said staple at.
[13:02] Weddings. But staple didn't necessarily
[13:04] mean food, right? Not a staple mean.
[13:06] I'm I'm using it in the literary sense.
[13:09] Got it. I know there is some sort of
[13:11] aristocratic origin to the white dress that the bride wears, but
[13:17] I don't know if it comes specifically from the British
[13:19] royal family. It does.
[13:21] It does. Queen Victoria was the first to
[13:23] popularize white wedding dresses.
[13:26] Until then, women wore all kinds of colours, bright colours, red
[13:29] and Violet and whatnot. But she was a much more austere
[13:33] person and chose white. And since then, it's become the
[13:35] trend. Yeah, and also it wouldn't have
[13:37] made sense to wear white, especially if you didn't have a
[13:40] lot of money because it's just a very difficult obviously colour
[13:44] to keep clean and use it again and again as most people who are
[13:47] poorer would have. I doubt poor people who are
[13:49] buying one wedding dress and then never wearing it again,
[13:52] like it would make more sense. Just wear your best dress at
[13:55] your wedding, OK. If it's not the white bridal
[13:59] dress and you all said it's banned at Jewish weddings but
[14:03] for other reasons, yes. OK, let's just try process of
[14:06] elimination. If not the wedding dress, there
[14:09] is a bridal cake, there is a first dance, there is the kiss
[14:13] and there is walking down the aisle.
[14:16] Which of these could possibly be banned at a Jewish wedding?
[14:19] I would suggest you try that and try to reason through that.
[14:23] I would imagine a kiss is probably not, but I also know
[14:26] the Royals don't kiss because I've seen at least the
[14:30] highlights for the last few royal weddings.
[14:32] I'm pretty sure the both the Princess didn't kiss at their
[14:35] weddings. Yeah, I don't know.
[14:38] I've I've not watched a royal wedding so I don't know if they
[14:41] did or did not kiss but William and Kate.
[14:44] They came out on the balcony and they kissed, I think.
[14:47] And they kissed, yes. And there was a lot made out of
[14:49] the fact that she leaned in for the kiss.
[14:52] So people were like, oh, it's a love marriage kind of thing.
[14:54] And I was like, oh, I think Diana did the same thing.
[14:57] Oh man, everything cool that the British royal family is doing
[15:01] probably done by Diana much better.
[15:04] Oh yeah. But there the kiss seems the
[15:07] most logical answer, then the rest of it.
[15:09] Why would it be banned? It's not the case.
[15:11] It's not the case. It's a staple.
[15:13] It boasts Western weddings, not all western weddings, but it's
[15:16] something that you would immediately recognize.
[15:18] If it's not, one of the things that I've already said, then
[15:21] might be the throwing of the flowers.
[15:22] Does it have some sort of a negative connotation?
[15:24] The bouquet. No, it's not that.
[15:26] It's not that something much more integral to the ceremony
[15:29] itself is. It something I mentioned
[15:31] mentioned so far or should I be thinking?
[15:33] Tangentially kind of mentioned it.
[15:35] You've mentioned something that goes along with it, but not it
[15:38] itself. The father giving away the
[15:42] daughter. OK, what happens just before
[15:44] that? The father walks the daughter
[15:46] down the aisle. And what happens alongside that?
[15:50] There is music playing. OK, and and you are red hot.
[15:57] You are red hot. There's a, what's it called?
[16:04] The bridal entry music I forgot in the name man.
[16:09] It's it's called the bridal March, commonly known as Here
[16:12] comes the bride, right? And this has a fascinating story
[16:16] behind it. OK, the bridal chorus was a
[16:19] popularized as a real life world wedding song by Princess
[16:22] Victoria, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria.
[16:24] She was a known patron of the opera and she selected Wagner's
[16:28] bridal March as the processional music for her marriage to Chris
[16:32] Frederick William of Prussia on January 25th, 1858.
[16:36] Now because the British royal family held massive cultural
[16:39] influence, this immediately became a trend in down the
[16:42] general public. Now as you know, Wagner is not a
[16:47] popular choice among Jewish weddings and I'll get to why,
[16:51] but prior to that I mentioned that this piece of music is
[16:54] possibly the worst choice for a wedding.
[16:57] Do you know why? Because you said it's part of an
[17:01] operatic piece, Is there some part in the opera where the
[17:05] bride dies or something? Oh, very close.
[17:07] OK, so this is part of the Opera Long Grid.
[17:12] I hope I'm pronouncing it right. It's LOHENGRIN Lingren, and this
[17:17] is a song that plays as a prelude to a spectacularly
[17:22] doomed marriage. In the opera, Lingren, who's a
[17:26] mysterious knight, agrees to marry Elsa, the heroine of the
[17:31] Peace, on one strict condition, that she must never ask him his
[17:35] name or where he comes from. Almost immediately after the
[17:39] bridal chorus ends in the opera and the attendants leave them
[17:42] alone in the bed chamber, Elsa's anxiety and paranoia take over,
[17:47] and before they even consummate the marriage, she breaks her Wow
[17:50] and asks the forbidden question. Just as Elsa asks the question,
[17:55] an assassin, Count Tell Ramund bursts into the bridal chamber
[18:00] to attack Longren. Longren strikes the man dead
[18:03] with a sword. Right there in the bedroom.
[18:06] His identity as a knight of the Holy Grail is revealed, and he
[18:11] announces that he must now leave Elsa forever and departs on a
[18:15] boat pulled by a swan. Elsa, heartbroken and
[18:18] overwhelmed by grief, collapses and dies.
[18:21] When the song was played at the 1885 royal wedding of Princess
[18:25] Beatrice many years later, a prominent music critic at the
[18:29] time noted a more inappropriate selection could hardly be made.
[18:33] For in Wagner's opera, the newly varied couple are parted on
[18:37] their wedding night, never again to meet on earth.
[18:41] Pieces almost universally banned the Jewish weddings, but for a
[18:45] much darker reason. As Aditya already knows, Wagner.
[18:49] Wagner was a virulent, outspoken anti semite who published essays
[18:55] claiming Jewish people lacked artistic capability.
[18:58] Decades after his death he became the favorite composer of
[19:01] 1 Mr. Adolf Hitler and his music was heavily Co opted by the Nazi
[19:06] party to promote argan cultural greatness.
[19:10] So because of this, it's never played at Jewish weddings, but
[19:13] you do find in many Western weddings and if you've never
[19:17] heard the piece, this is it. Insane.
[19:44] I yeah, you're right. I, I think the moment you, you
[19:48] told me or, or you figured out the answer is the bridal song, I
[19:51] immediately thought it must be a Wagner composition because man
[19:56] has there never been a person who has better personified the
[20:00] idea of separating the art from the artist.
[20:03] Because God, he was so problematic.
[20:05] But my God, his music is so good.
[20:07] And I remember the first time I encountered his name I had of
[20:12] course. I heard of his composition is
[20:13] one of those things that you absolutely could not have missed
[20:16] if you have indulged in pop culture, especially Western pop
[20:19] culture. I heard his name was in a
[20:21] Stephen Fry interview and he was literally talking about this and
[20:23] he was like, I, I abhor the man, but I can't help but be moved by
[20:28] his music. Like, it's not even you can't
[20:31] intellectualize it. At some point you hear the music
[20:34] and it just moves you. And I get it because you hear
[20:36] the music and it moves you. How could you possibly be like,
[20:41] no, I'm going to hate this music cause 'cause he was a terrible
[20:43] man. He yeah, best, best
[20:45] personification of that age-old question of art and the artist.
[20:49] But yeah, very nice question. I had no idea of this history.
[20:52] And that isn't surprising 'cause this, this should be one of
[20:56] those things, you know, one of those trivia that you come
[20:58] across that you're like, how does everybody not already know
[21:00] this? Yes, and the connection between
[21:04] your question and mine twice fold both the royal connection
[21:07] and the music connection and a composer.
[21:10] There we go, There we go. Well, as.
[21:12] Well, as. Fantastic.
[21:14] Perfect segue time as well, because we were talking about
[21:17] somebody German. So I'm going to just move over
[21:19] and talk about somebody Austrian and not at all this particular
[21:25] gentleman. XX was an Austrian physicist and
[21:30] philosopher who contributed to the understanding of physics in
[21:34] the late 19th century. Through his criticism of Isaac
[21:39] Newton's theories of space and time, he foreshadowed Albert
[21:43] Einstein's theory of relativity. So of course, Albert Einstein
[21:48] the the genius, genius man that he was, there were other people
[21:50] who were also kind of on the same track and maybe might have
[21:54] ended up at the same point as he did.
[21:56] As a philosopher of science, he was a major influence on logical
[22:00] positivism and American pragmatism, so his his reach
[22:06] extended beyond just pure physics.
[22:09] He was also into philosophy. And for anybody who doesn't
[22:12] know, pragmatism or American pragmatism is a philosophical
[22:15] tradition that views language and thought as tools of
[22:19] prediction, problem solving, and action, rather than just
[22:23] describing or or mirroring reality.
[22:26] So it has a purpose. It endows language with the
[22:30] purpose of problem solving rather than just description.
[22:33] It's a pretty interesting go look at it if you are curious.
[22:36] Tell me Vineet, what is named after X?
[22:40] And this is a very simple science unit etymology question.
[22:47] Which unit is named after him? Austrian physicist who was also
[22:52] a philosopher and a proponent of American pragmatism.
[22:58] That's right. And he has an unit named after.
[23:01] Himself. You know what?
[23:02] This could be a first hint. It's not exactly a unit, it's
[23:04] more of like a quantity. OK.
[23:07] So more of a quantity. OK, I don't know.
[23:11] I my mind goes to Gauss, but but I think that's much earlier when
[23:16] you said quantity, so not sure. I'll need some kind of clue here
[23:20] because I think I'm floundering in the dark a little bit.
[23:24] OK, cool. So I'm going to give you a
[23:25] little bit more context as to what his work was, which is
[23:28] relevant to the number in question.
[23:31] His work as a physicist also and led to the understanding of the
[23:36] physics of shock waves. Shock waves as in Sonic booms?
[23:41] Yeah. Is this what was his first name?
[23:44] His last name is Mark, as in Mark 3 or Mark 20 or Mark 10 as
[23:51] Tom Cruise apparently did, but I don't remember his first name.
[23:54] But that guy is Mark the Sonic Boom Shockwave fellow.
[23:58] Couple of questions right there. Well done, amazing, awesome as
[24:01] always. I'm bored of saying that, but
[24:03] firstly, well, you even kind of had an inkling as to his first
[24:08] name. I would have guessed Mark, but I
[24:10] would have absolutely no clue as to his first name because this
[24:13] would be completely out of the blue so.
[24:15] No, I don't know his first name. That was my.
[24:17] That was the point of my entire rant.
[24:18] You were, but you were even like trying to guess it, like if I
[24:21] was going to go for it. I basically means that you have
[24:23] come across this trivia at some point in the past.
[24:25] You are. Not well.
[24:26] Yeah, I know the guy's name because I know the scientist
[24:29] who's didn't Shock waves and supersonic motion.
[24:32] That exactly exactly. But I have no idea what the
[24:35] philosophy. We are.
[24:36] The 2nd and more pertinent question is why was Tom Cruise
[24:40] in your Top Gun sequel played by Arnold Schwarzenegger?
[24:46] Why was it Mark? That's a mark.
[24:49] Mark three, yeah. Oh, I know why because he says
[24:52] I'll be back and you made the mark.
[24:55] Mark. Oh God that is so numb that
[24:59] that's why your brain worked with.
[25:01] I'll tell you something. I for some reason, I don't know
[25:04] why, my algorithm has been pointing me towards certain
[25:08] German comedians. And I also simultaneously for
[25:14] some reason had seen a clip on Instagram of the original
[25:19] recording of Hercules in New York.
[25:22] So if you if you've seen Hercules in New York, which was
[25:25] Arnold Schwarzenegger's first ever movie.
[25:28] I've I've heard of it, I haven't seen it.
[25:30] Yeah, his voice is dubbed over by an American.
[25:33] It's very weird. The cognitive dissonance is
[25:35] deafening. Like, literally, it's that bad.
[25:38] When you watch the movie, it's like it doesn't compute.
[25:41] And then I saw a clip recently of him actually saying the
[25:46] dialogue and then the dubbed version.
[25:48] So he's been on the front front of a mind.
[25:51] And so when you said Austrian, obviously the most famous
[25:54] Austrian after that house painter is Arnold
[25:58] Schwarzenegger, at least for current day people.
[26:01] Most famous Austrian? Yeah, probably.
[26:06] Schwarzenegger is a very close contender for the top spot.
[26:10] All right, amazing. Very well.
[26:12] Correct. Very impressive as always.
[26:14] This was just a question because I remember last episode you
[26:16] asked me the barn and I wanted to do a unit question, though
[26:20] let me clarify. Mark is not technically a unit.
[26:23] The mark number, which is just usually just called mark, is a
[26:26] dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics, which represents the
[26:31] ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of
[26:35] sound. Sounds complicated, but it
[26:38] literally means that mark one is the speed of sound in air.
[26:41] When a plane is flying in the air, then if it teaches the
[26:45] speed of sound in air, which is around 330 meters per second,
[26:50] that would be mark one and then multiples of it.
[26:53] So in top ten, the sequel, in the very beginning scene for
[26:56] anybody who remembers, I think he hits mark 10.
[26:59] So he's 10 times the speed of sound and then he goes overboard
[27:03] and crashes the plane, yada yada yada.
[27:05] That's that's the mark number. I think the fastest ever that
[27:11] the SR-71 blackboard the Lockheed Martin SR-7771
[27:16] blackboard which if you're interested please go.
[27:18] There are multiple documentaries available online which talk
[27:21] about the feat of engineering that the SR-71 was.
[27:25] I think that ever only reached around mark 3 or 3.3 or
[27:28] something. You're right, it is interesting.
[27:31] So they were they took that was of a creative liberty.
[27:34] No, technically the IT had that record has been broken
[27:37] technically because when the space shuttle re enters the
[27:41] atmosphere it can be going as fast as mark 8 or mark 10 or
[27:45] something that mark 20 or something I don't remember
[27:47] exactly but it can it goes substantially faster when it's
[27:50] re entering the atmosphere, the space shuttle.
[27:53] But but it's not a human generated speed.
[27:56] It's not. It's not, it's not.
[27:57] That's basically gravity doing most of the heavy lifting.
[28:00] Interesting. I'm surprised.
[28:02] I had no idea what the record was.
[28:04] But to take that big creative liberty to go from 3.3 to 10
[28:09] acre, I think it is just 10.2 or 10.3.
[28:12] That's quite the leap, literally.
[28:15] All right, fantastic Vineet, go ahead and break my mind.
[28:21] No, that doesn't make any sense. Let me try that again.
[28:23] Go ahead and go past the speed of Nope.
[28:26] Let me try one last time. By the way, the WIP is the first
[28:32] human made object that. Object.
[28:33] It's to probe the sound barrier. Sound barrier.
[28:36] OK, let me try one last time. Vineet go for your question.
[28:43] OK, so in 1988, a massive unarmed crowd crossed from
[28:49] Peshawar, Pakistan into Afghanistan's Jalalabad via the
[28:54] Khyber Pass without border documentation as officials from
[28:59] both nations waved entry requirements.
[29:02] Soviet forces and Mujahideen fighters of the Soviet war was
[29:07] going on at the time halted combat for 24 hours to permit
[29:12] this rare transit. Despite the halt in hostilities,
[29:17] blasts claimed over a dozen lives amid the gathering.
[29:21] What event prompted this exceptional cross-border
[29:26] allowance and temporary ceasefire?
[29:28] When was? This 19881988 Pakistan to
[29:34] Afghanistan across the Khyber pass.
[29:37] Those regions do get affected by earthquakes though.
[29:42] I don't remember if there was an idiot.
[29:44] Was it a natural disaster? Was it earthquake?
[29:46] Was it a landslide? No, it was not a natural
[29:48] disaster, no. No, this is not ringing any
[29:51] bells at all. Please give me a hint.
[29:52] So the hint I would give you is that this was not a natural
[29:58] disaster, but the end of a force of nature.
[30:03] I'm pretty proud of that. Even though it might be stupid
[30:06] to some people, I don't care. I'm proud of it.
[30:08] Let's say that again. Let me let me pay attention to
[30:10] your inflection. No.
[30:11] So I'm saying it wasn't prompted by a natural disaster, it was
[30:16] prompted by the end of a force of nature. 1988 I don't know how
[30:20] much climate change related snow cap melting was was clearly
[30:27] evident. Well, you're taking it way too
[30:28] literally. OK, I was going to say something
[30:31] like, did I pass suddenly open up and they decided to let
[30:35] people go through a kind of. No, no, no.
[30:38] No, yeah, no, no idea at all. Normally the the the phrase
[30:42] force of nature is used in mainly 2 contexts, right?
[30:46] 1 is where you have a powerful natural phenomenon.
[30:49] What is the other? Like the more literary use of
[30:53] this phrase. Assumed you weren't talking
[30:55] about an actual natural occurrence, in which case of a
[30:59] force of nature sometimes used to to describe people also right
[31:03] like he's a specific person is impressive.
[31:07] Now think of my clue. Now think of my clue again, I
[31:10] said. It's not a natural disaster, but
[31:13] it was prompted by the end of a force of nature.
[31:16] Man I wish I knew Pakistani or Afghani politics better.
[31:21] I'm trying to think of what in 1988.
[31:25] It's the time frame that's kind of throwing you off, because if
[31:28] I had told you this had happened 20 years prior, you probably
[31:31] would have go given me the answer by now.
[31:32] So somebody passed away I'm assuming in 1988?
[31:35] Yes, Yes, somebody prominent passed away in 1988.
[31:39] Somebody Pakistani? No, they did pass away in
[31:43] Pakistan, but they were not Pakistani technically.
[31:46] Oh, interesting, interesting, interesting.
[31:49] Curious Sir and curious Sir, give me, I think I'm going to
[31:52] crack this. Give me one more hint.
[31:54] This is a giveaway, but this person, because we've already
[31:57] established the death of a person, was awarded the highest
[32:02] civilian honor by India. A Bharat Ratna?
[32:06] What? Wow.
[32:07] What? Oh, I was.
[32:08] I was then completely off the mark.
[32:10] Somebody was given a Bharat Ratna.
[32:12] Oh, wait. This doesn't make any sense.
[32:15] Is it? What is thinking of frontier
[32:21] Gandhi, Bacha Khan, Khan Khan? Yes, this is Khan Abdul Rafa
[32:27] Khan. Wait, what?
[32:28] He he passed in 1988. Yes, I told you this is the the
[32:34] time frame is throwing you off. If I had said 1968 this would
[32:37] have been the first answer on your in your mind right?
[32:40] I would. Have I'm sorry, I don't know why
[32:42] again, because the close association to the independence
[32:45] movement, everything. I assumed he passed away in like
[32:47] the 50s, sixties. I would like that's the cohort.
[32:49] I thought he was part of 88. Is like 4 years before I was
[32:52] born. What?
[32:53] Yeah, I was going to be 3 years old.
[32:55] He literally died 2 days, three days before my third birthday.
[32:58] Oh God. Oh yeah, that that blows my
[33:01] mind. OK, I would not have guessed
[33:02] that, but I also don't know the context as to why the kyber pass
[33:05] is related to. Please explain.
[33:06] So the answer for the audience who may have not understood was
[33:10] that the event that I was talking about was the funeral
[33:13] procession for Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan also known as the Frontier
[33:17] Gandhi or Bacha Khan Khan. Abdulga Farhan was a revered
[33:20] Pashtun leader and disciple of Mahatma Gandhis nonviolence
[33:24] philosophy. He died in on January 20th,
[33:28] 1988. He was.
[33:31] His hometown is Afghanistan. Yes.
[33:34] Did they transport his body there?
[33:36] Yes, I'm getting to that OK. Oh, sorry.
[33:38] He died in on January 20th, 1988 in Peshawar, Pakistan at the
[33:43] ripe old age of 97. His final wish?
[33:47] For burial was that he should be buried in Jalalabad, which was
[33:52] his birthplace. This drew around 150,000 unarmed
[33:57] mourners on January 21st in a procession from Peshawar through
[34:01] the Khyber Pass without passports or visas.
[34:04] This so-called caravan of peace bearing messages of love from
[34:08] Pashtuns east to West of the Khyber prompted an extraordinary
[34:11] 24 hour ceasefire by the Afghan government but which was backed
[34:16] by the Soviets and the US supported Mujahideen rebels.
[34:19] Even then there were two bomb blasts during the rights,
[34:21] killing around 15 people. Even more surprising, Indian
[34:25] Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi made a historic unannounced one hour
[34:30] visit to Peshawar on January 20th, the first by an Indian PM
[34:35] in 28 years, to pay respects to Khan at his bedside.
[34:40] Before his death, he was reportedly accompanied by his
[34:44] wife Sonia Gandhi. And this I could not find
[34:47] whether it's true or not, but some accounts do say that Rahul
[34:49] Gandhi was also with him. Rajiv Gandhi hailed Khan as the
[34:52] last of the towering giants of India's freedom struggle.
[34:56] And as you know, if you don't know, please go read about
[34:59] Khan's Hodaikatmatgar movement which was allied with Mahatma
[35:03] Gandhi's non violence movement in the British rule.
[35:06] India also observed an official five day mourning period with
[35:09] Vice President Shankar there. Sharma publicly recalling Khan's
[35:13] lifelong bonds to India. Yeah, and the history is
[35:17] interesting. The history is intriguing.
[35:19] This man, I think, embodied the best of the Indian independence
[35:23] movement, like he was perhaps Gandhi's philosophies better
[35:28] embodied. And I would go as far as to say
[35:30] that maybe even better than Gandhi himself did it, and
[35:33] that's saying something. So I was truly an inspirational
[35:36] man and I guess that's that's his legacy.
[35:39] And the reason I also knew of him a little bit more than maybe
[35:45] what I remember from school is because of a lovely, lovely Amit
[35:48] Varma seen in the Unseen episode.
[35:51] Go check it out. Pop culture recommendation
[35:53] episode 276. It is the incredible curiosities
[35:57] of Mukulika Banerjee because she has written a book about the
[36:00] Kodaikidmatgars and those who still survive.
[36:03] And there are very few because there were people who followed
[36:06] Bacha Khan put it till the end of his days.
[36:09] And then eventually because of political pressures, that
[36:11] movement completely died out. And but the great episode, go
[36:15] check it out. Sorry, I digress.
[36:16] It's just one of my favorite podcast episodes from that
[36:18] podcast. And Khan, Abdul Rafa Khan,
[36:21] truly, truly an inspirational man.
[36:23] Very, very impressive man. Also very tall.
[36:26] I believe extremely tall. Yeah, yeah.
[36:29] I mean, like, the Pashtun people are quite tall.
[36:33] And again, it's too much to go into in our episode, and
[36:36] frankly, I'm not enough of an expert to expound on it, But the
[36:39] entire culture of the Pashtun people is.
[36:43] It's fascinating culture. They're a code of honor.
[36:46] Pashtun Valley, I think it's called.
[36:48] If you do get a chance, please go read about it.
[36:50] The Pashtuns are home week, also the Pathans.
[36:52] So again, there's a lot of digressions from this, which are
[36:57] fascinating to say. The Beast.
[36:58] Right, Random, random, random sidebar.
[37:00] He was around 6 feet 5 inches, so really tall.
[37:03] OK, I'm going to give a disclaimer at the beginning that
[37:10] it's one of the annoying pieces of trivia that I've not found a
[37:12] very credible source for, but so take this as more of an urban.
[37:17] Legend. My favorite kind.
[37:20] Take this as a potential urban legend.
[37:23] There is the Deck and Gym Khana Club in Pune, which has a long,
[37:28] long history. It has been around for more than
[37:32] 100 years. It was started almost as a
[37:36] cultural point where people could gather, could, could
[37:39] convene, could participate and talk about Indian independence.
[37:44] And there were some important people from the Indian
[37:46] independence movement who were involved in its establishment.
[37:50] This place was also the origin of X.
[37:54] Why a very important Indian independence movement
[37:59] personality is said to have written the book on X?
[38:04] And I say said to have written because I'm just missing a very
[38:08] credible source for it. So let's take it as maybe an
[38:11] urban legend. But why potentially wrote the
[38:14] book on X? Vineet, can you identify what
[38:19] very Indian thing which is X originated at the Deccan
[38:25] Gymkhana club in Pune? What originated in the Deccan
[38:28] Gymkhana Club in Pune? And somebody who was an Indian
[38:32] independence fighter apparently wrote a book on X, not.
[38:37] A book wrote the book, as the phrase goes.
[38:40] OK, coincidentally I am talking from Pune right now, but I have
[38:44] never visited the. So there is this piece of trivia
[38:50] which I remember from many years ago.
[38:53] Was this regarding a game? Is this this is a game I think
[38:56] you're talking about. Nicely done.
[38:58] Nicely done. Yes, it is.
[39:00] I remember vaguely that there was some game that was for a
[39:04] long time called Puna because it was from Puna.
[39:07] I mean like it, it was popularized in Puna or was
[39:09] popular among those things. They they had called it Puna.
[39:12] I think it was Badminton, Apollo or one of the two of those, I
[39:14] don't remember. Then you might be thinking of
[39:17] another game because I don't think Puna features in the
[39:20] history of this game. But yes, it is a game and it's
[39:23] not badminton. And you said this is exclusively
[39:25] Indian? Or very much Indian in its
[39:27] identity. But would I be right in saying
[39:30] that India is no longer the champion of the sport?
[39:33] If you're thinking kabaddi, it's not the answer.
[39:35] OK, OK, yeah, OK, OK. No, I need some other clue.
[39:41] Well, get up for one of my favorite kind of clues and
[39:44] that's a Hindu mythological clue because Oh my God, the rich
[39:47] histories in the Hindu mythological texts and we are
[39:50] talking, OK, one of the greatest.
[39:53] I think we need already knows the answer.
[39:54] But for the uninitiated, here's the hint.
[39:57] Mahabharat involved the great battle.
[40:01] At Krukshetra, which waged for 18 days in that on the 13th day
[40:06] of war, Guru Dronacharya who was the teacher to both Pandavas and
[40:11] Korwas but was fighting for Korwas device the chakra view.
[40:17] It was supposed to be an impenetrable war formation which
[40:20] unless broken would have resulted in the Pandavas losing.
[40:23] And spoiler alert, Pandavas did win.
[40:25] So they did break the chakra view.
[40:28] Here's the deal. There were very few people who
[40:30] could crack the Chekhovy who knew how to break it, and fewer
[40:34] still who knew how to escape from it after they had broken
[40:37] it. There was one person who only
[40:39] knew the former, did not know the latter.
[40:41] There's a lovely, lovely piece of mythology attached to how he
[40:45] only came to know one part of that knowledge.
[40:47] I let our listeners figure that part out.
[40:50] But Vineet that is the mythological origin for, let's
[40:55] say, the the ancient version of this game.
[41:00] Tell us what the answer is. When I was guessing either
[41:04] Kabati or this game, I ruled out this game because I was like no
[41:08] this is a very old game. Like people have known this for
[41:12] like thousands of years. At least it's mentioned tonight.
[41:15] I've heard this is similar kind of thing where Chariots are
[41:18] rearranged according to what not or not, but I believe the answer
[41:22] is Coco. Well done Coco is the game in
[41:27] question. Very well cracked, very well
[41:30] done. But how does it relate to the
[41:33] Deccan Gymkhana Club? Because this is a very, very old
[41:37] game, because it was popularized there.
[41:40] Like why? Why is it a great question?
[41:42] So at this point we are still pretty much in a well documented
[41:46] part of the trivia question and the fact that it is roughly
[41:51] related to the Mahabharat. The chakra view.
[41:54] Breaking of the chakra view, as you said, Arjun's son Abhimanyu
[41:58] was the only one who knew how to who was available or or was not
[42:01] caught up in battle elsewhere. And so he was able to go and
[42:04] breakthrough, but he was not able to exit and he died a
[42:06] valiant death. Oh my God, I know my absolute
[42:09] goosebumps stories from Mahabharat.
[42:10] Love it. Absolutely love it in any case.
[42:13] That you want to tell people why he did not know how to get out
[42:17] of it and how he knew only one part of it.
[42:19] You're, you're you're indulging me.
[42:20] I'm going to say it. I'm going to.
[42:21] I love the story so much. So as people might know, the
[42:25] Pandavaga brothers had a few wives.
[42:28] Arjun one of his wives was Subhadra and Subhadra and Arjun
[42:33] had a son who went by the name of Abhimanyu.
[42:36] When Subhadra was with baby in womb, there was a moment where
[42:42] they were both lying in bed, Arjun and Subhadra man and wife,
[42:46] and Arjun was telling her just narrating how the chakravyu can
[42:52] be broken. He was, he was just narrating
[42:54] the story and Subhadra, who was obviously interested but was
[42:58] also pregnant at some point, was just tired and fell asleep the
[43:03] young young fetus in the womb as he was.
[43:07] Abhimanyu managed to hear the part where Arjun describe how to
[43:11] break into the chakravyu. But then somebody fell asleep
[43:14] and I assume the fetus falls asleep when the mother falls
[43:17] asleep. So Abhimanyu fell asleep and was
[43:19] not able to hear the rest of the story, was not able to imbibe
[43:23] the rest of the story, and he did not know how to come out of
[43:26] the chakravyu. Arjun narrated it after she had
[43:28] fallen asleep. I my God I swear the Mahabharat
[43:32] is such a beautiful, rich text. Absolutely one of my favorite
[43:37] military pieces of all time. Love it.
[43:41] I would love to see a version directed by s s Rajamouli.
[43:44] Throw money at him, get completely new faces.
[43:47] No established stars at all. Let's forget this whole fanfare,
[43:52] this thing of oh let Aamir Khan play Krishna or let heritage
[43:55] cross and prayers. However, let's get completely
[43:58] new faces. Do it as an 18 part movie.
[44:02] I was I was just gonna say just make it, make it the Game of
[44:05] Thrones. Like just put a whole lot of
[44:07] money and make it like a multiple season lock series.
[44:10] Don't do films on it. Just do series.
[44:12] Yeah, cuz oh God, it was so good.
[44:15] Yeah, and there was a recent animation series, though I was
[44:19] not a fan of the animation itself, I was a fan of the
[44:21] storytelling of it. On I think the show is called
[44:25] Kurukshetra. Was this the fully agent rated
[44:27] version? No, not that, no, that that's a,
[44:29] that's a don't. Let's not even talk about that
[44:31] abomination. This is a like a traditional
[44:35] animation and it goes through the different days of the war,
[44:38] but it doesn't follow the usual linear storytelling.
[44:41] It doesn't start start from King Bharath onwards and on.
[44:44] It starts from the first day of the war and then flashbacks and
[44:47] flashes back and forth and whatnot, but the animation is
[44:51] not, It was quite distracting for me because I'm used to a
[44:54] certain level of animation. And Abhimanyu, obviously that is
[44:58] his character. The name Abhimanyu itself, It's
[45:00] it's it's. You can't help but associate
[45:03] just some valiant person with that name because it's just such
[45:07] a good name. The story is so good and I I I
[45:10] again shout out to Uncle Pai Amar Chitra Katha Namachitra
[45:14] Katha which told the story of Abhimanyu.
[45:15] The animation is beautiful because the last few panels are
[45:18] of him just fighting and apparently he's he's been and.
[45:21] Wielding that the. Charity, the chariot wheel,
[45:24] because he is, he's been reduced to using just whatever is lying
[45:28] around him. There been he's been surrounded
[45:29] and he's a young young boy, eventually 16 years old or
[45:32] something. A lot of text.
[45:34] Describes him, yes. Yeah, according to the text he's
[45:36] around 16. And what adds is another layer
[45:39] to the story is that this 16 year old boy eventually fell and
[45:44] died after multiple maharathis. I think it was thrown, Karna, a
[45:50] few others also, all of them, Kripa, Kripacharya, all of them
[45:54] had to attack him together, which was against the rules of
[45:57] war at that point of time, just to get him to set it to, you
[46:01] know, to fall in battery. It was.
[46:04] It's just a goosebump. Story because because again, you
[46:07] said this, I'm just going to we're drifting so much.
[46:10] But you said that you would love to that that this version of the
[46:12] show of of Mar Bharat was flashbacks while the main
[46:17] storyline was just the war. I would I wouldn't even mind if
[46:20] each episode just featured on one character.
[46:23] Like if you just saw him a new story from beginning to end.
[46:25] And then you saw cunt story. There is Arjun's story or
[46:28] whatever. Because yes, cunt comes across
[46:30] as this like this absolutely evil human being in this.
[46:34] And then you read cunt story and you're like Oh my God what a
[46:37] complex beautiful character he is.
[46:39] I have read Duryodhan story and I'm like a man.
[46:41] I can empathize with this character.
[46:43] Also it is such an amazing text. I think Mahabharat is just
[46:47] phenomenal. Which which is which is the
[46:49] entire point of the text. Towards the end, after the
[46:52] Pandavs, they give up their Kingdom and they're in their
[46:57] Vanaprastha and then they leave the Kingdom and they're climbing
[47:00] the mountain. They die 1 by 1 by 1, and then
[47:03] Youthishta reaches heaven and he sees Duryodhan sitting in
[47:06] heaven. Right.
[47:09] Yeah. So then then the entire question
[47:11] of, you know, what is morality and how it's relative as in.
[47:15] You endow your most righteous character with a crippling
[47:20] gambling addiction where he's willing to wage his own wife.
[47:23] I come on. That is insanely good writing.
[47:26] Mad. That is some insanely good
[47:28] writing. He is the most righteous
[47:30] character that has ever been written, and he has a gambling
[47:34] addiction. Oh, God.
[47:36] Oh my. You know what?
[47:37] I'll, I'll just. Look at the rest of the
[47:39] characters, right? You have Bhima.
[47:41] Who is the? Stalwart he is the I mean like I
[47:45] would encourage again pop culture recommendation.
[47:47] Mt Vasudevan Nayar is novel Randa Murim which is which
[47:51] literally translate to 2nd to 2nd turn.
[47:53] Its focus is on the Mahabharat. From the point of view, Mukima,
[47:56] he's always second, second in line to drop of these
[47:59] affections, he's always the second in line.
[48:02] So it's called Second Turn, a fascinating novel.
[48:05] We should definitely read it. So he's a complex character.
[48:08] Then you have Arjun. I mean like the guy is gifted
[48:12] beyond belief and he has amazing risk.
[48:17] I mean, like every woman who falls meets him, falls for him
[48:20] immediately. I think the only person who has
[48:23] more risk than him in the Mahabharat is Lord Krishna.
[48:26] I mean God give it to give it to Krishna.
[48:29] Man just shows up and it's like, it's one of those entries where
[48:32] you're like, all right, OK, we got the epic entry music.
[48:35] I can just picture this show already in my head.
[48:37] Just make it. Somebody please just make it.
[48:39] Whoever is making it, I know you're not going to be listening
[48:41] to me. You're not even going to be able
[48:42] to know my opinion on this, but I'm just putting it out of the
[48:44] universe. If anybody's ever going to make
[48:46] the Mahabharat, please don't make it with known faces.
[48:50] It is impossible for people to relate to such a character if
[48:55] you put somebody's face in that. Like Aamir Khan desperately
[48:59] wants to play Krishna. I appreciate that he wants to
[49:02] because he's an actor and he wants he finds that role
[49:05] fascinating or for whatever reason.
[49:06] But I cannot look at that and not remember Rancho or PK.
[49:11] So please don't, don't do that. Yeah, no, I gotta give it.
[49:16] On but wow, we deviated long enough but might keep this in
[49:19] the entire episode. In any case, you know what
[49:22] released it as an extra special. But coming back to coming back
[49:26] to the question, Coco finds its mythological origins in the
[49:34] Hindu mythological epic Mahabharat in the battle of
[49:37] Kurukshetra in the Chakra view. And there are there are stories
[49:41] and legends of how it is called Ratha, which means basically
[49:44] chariot, right? So there was a version of it
[49:46] which was played with Chariots. And of course, as people know,
[49:48] Coco is not played with any sort of a vehicle or chariot.
[49:52] It is played with people on the field and two teams and it's a
[49:54] running game more than anything else.
[49:57] You asked me what the connection is and you still have an answer
[49:58] to who? Why is the Indian independence
[50:00] movement figure? Oh, that's the part which is
[50:02] contentious. That's the part which I don't
[50:03] have any solid evidence for. Take it as take it with a grain
[50:06] of salt. But the the origin being at
[50:09] Pune's Deccan Gymkhana Club, you asked me.
[50:11] That's where it kind of was codified.
[50:14] The modern version of the game was codified.
[50:16] That's where it was. Let's say the modern version
[50:18] originated and was popularized from.
[50:20] So tell me, which person do you think was associated to that
[50:25] geographical region, which person came from that region and
[50:29] would have been maybe involved in writing the book on Coco?
[50:34] I honestly can't think of anybody who's sports.
[50:36] Inclined in the Indian independence movement.
[50:40] OK, this is Pune, this is Maharashtra.
[50:44] So Baal Gangadhar Tilak indeed. Again a very good.
[50:48] Educated guess Baal Gangadhar Tilak is the person in question,
[50:53] and I will once again emphasize that there is no solid proof for
[50:58] this piece of trivia. Please take it to the huge grain
[51:00] of salt. Wikipedia was my best source,
[51:03] but Wikipedia says the first rule book of Coco was written by
[51:08] Balgangadhar Tilak. Yeah, I OK then.
[51:11] Here's Here's where it gets interesting, because the Pune's
[51:15] Deccan Gymkhana Club association is pretty strongly documented to
[51:18] Coco. Balgadhar Tilak's association to
[51:21] the Gymkhana Club is also fairly well documented.
[51:25] The connection between him and Coco is not the most well
[51:29] documented, so take that part as maybe conjecture, but in any
[51:33] case, the rest of it was very much solid trivia.
[51:36] Where Coco is its origins. Mahabharat was codified in early
[51:41] 20th century as 1914 I believe in Pune's deck and Gymkhana club
[51:47] and its history then went on to being displayed.
[51:51] Some of the Indian sports were displayed, were exhibitioned, I
[51:55] believe that is the right term at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
[51:59] So including Kabaddi Coco, a bunch of these were on
[52:03] exhibition at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
[52:06] Currently almost 25 countries have their own national Coco
[52:09] teams. So who knows, might become a
[52:12] pretty significant world sport and that is Coco.
[52:16] I've played Coco in school and. I've always found it slightly
[52:20] better version of catch and release, but I would encourage
[52:23] people to go watch professionals play Coco because it's a
[52:26] completely different animal. So so fun to watch it.
[52:29] Yeah, it's so fun. It's a.
[52:31] It's a. It's a.
[52:31] Fantastic audience spectator sport.
[52:33] It's it's almost as fun as watching professionals play tag.
[52:38] Such a cool story. Yeah, all of that is
[52:40] fascinating. Fascinating.
[52:41] That again, pop culture recommendation.
[52:44] The movie tag, which is based on a true story.
[52:47] Yeah, fun, fun movie. I'm not going to mention.
[52:49] Segues but. Moving on the earliest recorded.
[52:54] Recipe for this appears in. Epicius, an ancient Roman
[52:58] cookbook, though comparable preparations existed in China
[53:02] even earlier. Variants of this dish are found
[53:05] across numerous global cuisines and can be made using such
[53:10] techniques as baking, boiling, frying, simmering, or steaming.
[53:15] While this food is known by different names worldwide,
[53:18] several South Asian, especially Indian, forms include items like
[53:23] Farah, bidi, and muthia. One specific variant, Y, is
[53:29] typically prepared using coconut and jaggery.
[53:32] It closely resembles Kangi Don, which is offered to the deity
[53:37] Kangi 10, the Japanese counterpart of X.
[53:41] Despite the visual naming differences, comparable
[53:44] conceptual link exists between X in general and to the specific
[53:49] form. Yi want you to identify X&Y.
[53:52] Why is the food item we are talking about and X is the
[53:55] deity. Oh, so OK, OK, OK, OK, you said.
[53:58] Farah, right? Farah.
[53:59] Yeah, I've had Farah. I don't.
[54:01] Like Farah. I've had Farah.
[54:04] No, no, these are all variants. Not exactly the same thing.
[54:07] OK, All right. OK.
[54:08] Because it it's. Basically I think if I'm not
[54:10] wrong it's some flour and fried flour dish which which not my my
[54:15] cup of tea. Again, I mentioned that this
[54:18] particular dish. Are variances.
[54:20] This family of dishes can be made by baking, boiling, frying,
[54:23] simmering, steaming. Initially I thought you were
[54:25] talking about dumplings. But I think that has a more
[54:28] Asian origin than so I did mention that this earliest.
[54:32] Recorded recipes in a PCs, which is a Roman cookbook, but
[54:36] comparable preparations existed in China even earlier.
[54:39] OK, then dumplings does make sense.
[54:41] I'm trying to think. Of what else it could be?
[54:43] No, I'm there. I'm going to go with dumpling.
[54:44] Dumpling dumpling makes sense, yes.
[54:46] But again, I want the specific answer for this one because.
[54:49] Dumpling is a huge family of dish, which I mean like you'll
[54:51] find a variance of dumplings in any country in across Europe,
[54:56] Central Asia, Southeast Asia. OK, so I want to repeat one
[54:59] portion of the clue again. So one specific variant of this
[55:03] dish, Y, is prepared using coconut and jaggery.
[55:07] It closely resembles Kangi Dan, which is offered to the deity
[55:12] Kangi 10. Kangi 10 is the Japanese
[55:16] counterpart of X, and despite regional naming differences,
[55:20] there is a comparable conceptual link between X in general and
[55:26] the specific form of the dish. Why you're asking somebody who
[55:30] lives in Mumbai? I have.
[55:32] Had my fair share of modak. I know you're talking about
[55:35] modak because of the coconut and the jaggery part.
[55:37] Modak is associated with Ganpati Lord Ganesha.
[55:41] I'm assuming then Kangiten is, but Japan has a their own
[55:47] version of Ganpati. OK, so yes, so this X is.
[55:51] Ganesha and Y is technically it's Ukadije Modak again, my
[55:57] Marathi is horrible, but let's say I'll accept Modak.
[56:00] So yeah. So this is again, fascinating
[56:03] piece of history and cultures, you know, colliding and
[56:06] coinciding. So the ancient Roman cookbook
[56:09] PCs from the 4th and 5th century CE features early recipes like
[56:13] the Isiya Omentata which are meat filled pouches, Chinese
[56:17] versions like the Gioc or wanton predated from the Han dynasty
[56:21] somewhere on 200 BC. There are many methods and many
[56:24] names. It's steamed, boiled, fried,
[56:26] baked, simmered worldwide. It's called the kyotza in Japan,
[56:30] the ravioli in Italy, the pirogi in Poland, Momo in the
[56:34] Himalayas. In South Asian you have the fara
[56:37] within Bihar, PD from Kerala, Muthya from Gujarat.
[56:41] The specific version we are talking about is the Okadhiche
[56:43] Moda which is the Maharashtrian steamed rice flour dumplings
[56:47] filled with grated coconut and jaggery spiced with cardamom nut
[56:50] baked poppy seeds and it is the favorite prashad of Lord
[56:53] Ganesha. Kangi Dhan which is the fried
[56:57] dough ball with sweet fillings, usually red bean and honey is
[57:01] offered to the Japanese deity Kangi 10.
[57:04] Kangi 10 is the Japanese Buddhist form of Ganesha,
[57:08] depicted as an elephant headed deity symbolizing joy,
[57:12] prosperity and wait for it, obstacle removal.
[57:16] Classic. Classic Ganpati behavior, yes.
[57:20] Yes, so you have the MODOK. And Lord Ganesha in Maharashtra
[57:25] and you have the Kangi Dhan which is a fried dough bar with
[57:28] sweet fillings offered to Kangi 10 who is the Japanese Buddhist
[57:32] version of Ganesha depicted as an elephant headed deity,
[57:36] civilizing joy, prosperity and obstacle removal.
[57:39] Now Aditya, you have to tell me what was the segue which I
[57:44] skipped. We were talking about
[57:46] Balgangadhar. Tilak, we are talking about
[57:49] Ganapati. I'm wondering if he had a hand
[57:53] in making Ganesh Visarjan a big deal because I know it was part
[57:56] of the Indian independence movement.
[57:58] Yes, yes though Ganesh Chaturthi.
[58:00] Was celebrated has been celebrated for hundreds of
[58:03] thousands of years. The act of making the Ganesh
[58:06] Visarjan a citywide festival was Baal Gangadhar Tilak's idea.
[58:13] He used that to. Kind of unite.
[58:15] People bring together and right now it is one of the base best
[58:19] experiences you can have in the city of Mumbai.
[58:22] And again, Modocs are a big part of that celebration.
[58:27] So that was the segue, which I did not want to say anything
[58:30] about because I don't want to give away because I was, I
[58:32] really wanted you to try and guess from Kangitan and
[58:35] Kangitan. That was brilliant question.
[58:37] I think the giveaway. Was the coconut and jaggery just
[58:39] because I I get I literally had more that like I think a week
[58:42] ago I was out for dinner with friends and I had some other and
[58:46] you also mentioned what dumplings are called in
[58:47] different parts of the world. I'll tell you about what it's
[58:50] called in Georgia. It's called Kinkali.
[58:52] And I'm only going to give you a piece of advice.
[58:53] Please go to Georgia. Amazing country.
[58:55] I had such a great time last year when I was there.
[58:57] But when you eat Kinkali, the top part of it the the the peak
[59:01] of the mountain as it were, you are not supposed to eat it
[59:04] because very often times it's even raw flour over there is
[59:07] supposed to eat the rest of the supposed to hold it to the top.
[59:10] And I have this very overwhelming urge to not waste
[59:13] food. So I for the first few days was
[59:15] eating the top and by the like midpoint of my trip I had a
[59:18] massive stomach ache. When I googled it and you were
[59:21] like this is raw flour It's supposed to be just supposed to
[59:24] discard it. So do they like boil it?
[59:27] By just, you know, dipping part of it in water or something like
[59:30] that. I think the steam it and it
[59:32] steamed entirely. And The thing is, it is the top
[59:34] of the knob or the peak or whatever it is, is very thick.
[59:37] It's literally just, and it's a big dumpling.
[59:39] It's not a small dumpling. So the knob becomes even thicker
[59:42] because of the way it's made. And that means that it's not
[59:45] cooked through. It is, it is raw on the inside.
[59:48] I was eating raw four days on it.
[59:53] Yeah, the the gluten digesting parts of the body were were
[59:57] overworked and at some point gave up.
[59:58] I think so. One other variant is the.
[1:00:02] Kolkata which is a breakfast as a snack item you find in Kerala
[1:00:06] which also uses coconut and jaggery.
[1:00:08] Some people use coconut and sugar filling varies but it's
[1:00:12] also a rice flour dough which is steamed stuffed with this.
[1:00:17] My grandmother used to make some excellent Kolkata.
[1:00:20] Very cool. OK, so that's all the.
[1:00:22] Regular. Questions we have for our
[1:00:24] regular round of quizzing Aditya.
[1:00:25] There is the matter of the audience question, which I had
[1:00:27] asked at the beginning of today's episode.
[1:00:29] In 2021, chess streamers Alexandra and Andrea Botez ran a
[1:00:35] fast-paced bullet chess tournament, games under 3
[1:00:38] minutes per side, lasting just one hour on their platform.
[1:00:41] Who was the winner of this particular tournament?
[1:00:45] I guess. I'm making an assumption that
[1:00:47] you are a little bit like me and do some topical questions.
[1:00:50] So why is it by any chance? The man.
[1:00:54] Who is trending on social media a fair bit right now?
[1:00:56] Sam Arena. Yes, it was Sam Arena.
[1:01:01] So the Bote sisters, Alexandra and Andrea hosted his one hour
[1:01:05] Bullet Arena tournament on May 5th, 2021 via chess.com.
[1:01:09] It was sponsored by Cash App Indian comedian slash chess
[1:01:12] YouTube Sam Arena up the standings with 115 points, 32
[1:01:16] wins, 3 losses and two draws. Wow, the Tunderman he's.
[1:01:22] Clearly a very smart guy. Say what you will about who he
[1:01:25] is as a person, and honestly, what do we even know?
[1:01:29] People are have multitudes. But he's a good entertainer.
[1:01:33] He is a solid storyteller, and he's a smart man, like business
[1:01:37] and otherwise. Yeah.
[1:01:38] Oh, yeah, I'm not surprised. Yeah.
[1:01:40] Yes. OK.
[1:01:41] And now, what's your audience? Question or the smack that for
[1:01:45] next week, might I also tell you that we have a.
[1:01:48] Request and by none other than Ashwin Maskarinas himself, that
[1:01:52] I release the version of you singing smack that as a
[1:01:57] standalone video on social media.
[1:02:00] Because he is. Yeah.
[1:02:03] And for those who don't know, our Reddit page was initiated
[1:02:07] and is very actively run by Ashwin.
[1:02:10] He's been a long time listener and friend of the podcast.
[1:02:13] And if he says it, we have to do it because without him there is
[1:02:16] no Reddit. So I will be able to.
[1:02:21] You know what we might make? It like a just for our special
[1:02:25] regular listeners we'll find out how what we'll release it only
[1:02:28] to them send send us a good question.
[1:02:31] Maybe I'll I'll privately send you a YouTube link.
[1:02:35] We need sending smile. There are like 2 seconds of me
[1:02:38] doing that. How do?
[1:02:38] You plan to monetize those two? I will stretch it out.
[1:02:41] I don't want to monetize it. This should not be.
[1:02:43] Monetized. I do not believe in gatekeeping
[1:02:45] good art. It's not good art.
[1:02:48] It's. Humiliating at Ashwin Baba,
[1:02:53] please. OK, for our smack question, the
[1:02:59] social media audience question, I am going to be giving you a
[1:03:03] document in visual form. It's going to be a visual
[1:03:07] question as always. This is an official document.
[1:03:10] It is a general declaration. It's a customs declaration form.
[1:03:15] You look at it, tell me who signed or who filled out this
[1:03:19] customs form and why. That is a question that you need
[1:03:24] to answer. More will be evident once you
[1:03:29] just look at the image itself. But it's a very interesting and
[1:03:32] important piece of history. It's a customs form and how
[1:03:35] often can you say that? How often can you say that This
[1:03:37] is an important piece of history in the form of a customs form?
[1:03:41] Look at it, tell us who filled it out and why on our social
[1:03:45] media pages. Looking forward to it.
[1:03:47] The first person to do so will get a shout out.
[1:03:50] That is the smack of episode 138.
[1:03:53] OK, nice. And Aditya, what are your pop?
[1:03:55] Culture recommendations for this week, my pop culture
[1:03:59] recommendation is going to be. Again, topical.
[1:04:01] I have to recommend For All Mankind.
[1:04:06] This is an Apple TV show. I was quite actively jonesing
[1:04:12] for. A space.
[1:04:13] Related thing to watch So I've seen my I love a bunch of these
[1:04:19] movies. These are side recommendations.
[1:04:21] If you haven't seen any of them, please go watch.
[1:04:23] You can watch Moon, watch Sunshine.
[1:04:26] Absolutely do watch Arrival. I'm sure I've recommended
[1:04:29] Martian in the past. Contact is great, Interstellar,
[1:04:34] obviously phenomenal project. Hail Mary, recently saw it,
[1:04:37] loved it, all of these phenomenal films, but I was
[1:04:39] like, Oh my God, I need something more.
[1:04:41] I've seen all of these in the past.
[1:04:42] I've seen some of them multiple times.
[1:04:44] So I came across for all Mankind.
[1:04:47] This is an Apple TV show and this is an alternate history
[1:04:51] show, which immediately was intriguing.
[1:04:53] Turns out that it references the plaque that Neil Armstrong and
[1:04:59] Buzz Aldrin left on the moon when they first landed there.
[1:05:01] And it said something along the lines of that we are taking this
[1:05:04] step in, in science and progress and whatever for the world, for
[1:05:09] all mankind. And in this alternate version,
[1:05:13] they have not landed on the moon first.
[1:05:15] Somebody has beaten them to it. It is the so right surprise that
[1:05:20] it is the Soviets have gotten there. 1st.
[1:05:24] Which means the plaque was never really planted on the moon
[1:05:26] because they didn't get there first.
[1:05:28] So it's it's just a sort of like a no, I want you to call it a
[1:05:31] Mcguffin. It's just some sort of a pop
[1:05:33] culture iconic thing that that exists in the timeline of this
[1:05:37] show. And what happens because the
[1:05:40] Soviets get there first is that now the Americans are doubling
[1:05:43] down on their space race efforts.
[1:05:46] So it doesn't stop after those fewer Apollo missions.
[1:05:49] In fact, they keep going on and on and on, and that's the few
[1:05:54] seasons of it. So every season is a decade jump
[1:05:57] so far. So I'm on Season 3 now.
[1:06:01] She's in the last season. I believe sixth season is going
[1:06:03] to come out next year. So yeah, I'm looking forward to
[1:06:06] all of it. It's such a good show.
[1:06:07] I'm enjoying it so much. For All Mankind.
[1:06:10] I've already recommended a couple of things on the show.
[1:06:13] They have recommended Mt Vasdevanaya's second turn or
[1:06:18] Andar Borum as it is in England in Malayalam.
[1:06:21] I've also recommended the movie Tag which is a kind of fun
[1:06:25] movie. It didn't make waves when it
[1:06:27] came out, but very cool Jeremy Renner performance.
[1:06:31] And I would also like to recommend a series of movies and
[1:06:37] shows from the Predator franchise.
[1:06:39] So I'd like to recommend Predator Prey, which is an
[1:06:43] amazing take on the Predator concept but kept among Native
[1:06:47] Americans in the early 1800s or something like that.
[1:06:52] Then there is a Predator Badlands which is really cool.
[1:06:56] Again we see something from the point of view of the Predator
[1:06:59] rather than the the Prey. And then finally, Predator
[1:07:02] Killer of Killers, which is an animated series again, really
[1:07:07] good. I mean, like, I'm generally in
[1:07:08] love with the Predator franchise, even though there
[1:07:12] have been some stinkers along the way from the Alien versus
[1:07:16] Predator and Predators and whatever that shit thing with
[1:07:21] Adrian Brody was. But let's forget all of those.
[1:07:24] Just think of the original Predator and then come to
[1:07:27] Predator Prey. Hold up, did you just call
[1:07:30] Alien? Versus Predator and Alien versus
[1:07:32] Predator. Requiem Bad films because as she
[1:07:37] happens. I.
[1:07:39] Was introduced to both those franchises through AVP.
[1:07:43] Oh my God, you. And you stuck.
[1:07:49] With it. So that's the.
[1:07:50] Surprising thing. Yeah.
[1:07:51] I was like, wow, this one film. Came up with these two very
[1:07:55] different concepts and I had no idea of a crossover thing and I
[1:08:01] was like this is some interesting.
[1:08:02] I didn't think the story that was great, but I was like, you
[1:08:04] know what some great thought went into and design went into
[1:08:07] the aliens look and feel and how different it is from Predator.
[1:08:11] And I was like just one film came up with two very like most
[1:08:15] films do one Aliens, they did two.
[1:08:17] I was very impressed. Vineet I watched both the films.
[1:08:19] I was very impressed and then it was an embarrassingly long time
[1:08:24] after which. I realized that these.
[1:08:25] Were independent franchises, and probably the worst of the lot of
[1:08:28] them that had been introduced to me.
[1:08:30] Really. Trust me, they were they.
[1:08:32] Were the worst of the lot. In my head I always thought an
[1:08:34] AVP. Anybody who's not?
[1:08:35] Watched it, at some point alien is fighting Predator and in that
[1:08:38] predator is the good guy for some reason and aliens are the
[1:08:42] bad guys I guess whatever made sense to them.
[1:08:45] So in my head, Predators are always good.
[1:08:48] So that I finally came across the franchise.
[1:08:50] I was like, oh, wait a minute, Yeah, it was misled, but they
[1:08:54] have officially merged. Both universes, but AVP is not
[1:08:59] the one I would recommend. If you want to watch a merged
[1:09:01] universe, I would recommend you watch Predator, Briar Badlands,
[1:09:05] the way the Nutani Foundation. Is.
[1:09:07] Part of it and if you've seen the first Aiden movie, there are
[1:09:12] callbacks and things that it's it's a great I mean, like much
[1:09:15] better version of what you wanted to actually watch.
[1:09:18] So yeah, those those are my pop culture recommendations for this
[1:09:21] week and that's all the time we have for today's show.
[1:09:24] Thank you all for listening in and we hope you learned
[1:09:26] something new. Please follow us on Instagram,
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[1:09:31] listening to us on. Take 2 seconds out to just, you
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[1:09:37] the notification or bell icon to know when our episodes come out.
[1:09:40] And please, if you want to have questions asked on the show,
[1:09:43] send us those questions at areyouquizzingme@gmail.com with
[1:09:46] the name of the quiz master in the subject line.
[1:09:49] If you want to interact with other fans of the show,
[1:09:51] including those who stabbed me in the back, I'm pointing my
[1:09:55] finger at you. But yeah, so you can, you know,
[1:10:01] talk with those Brutuses on Are you at R slash?
[1:10:04] Are you quizzing me, Which is R subreddit, which is ably managed
[1:10:07] by the biggest Brutus of them all, Ashwin Mascarinas.
[1:10:12] But it's all in good fun. And yeah, so that's all the
[1:10:15] housekeeping from my side. Aditya, I'm giving you the space
[1:10:20] to sign off in whichever the madcap way you are thinking of
[1:10:23] today. You know what this one thing to
[1:10:26] say. It was his predator.
[1:10:28] No, no, no, no, no, no. So.
[1:10:31] OK. This is going to be a call back
[1:10:33] to a podcast, which many of you may not listen to, but Geostorm,
[1:10:39] OK, so the it's OK, leave it at that.
[1:10:42] Leave it at that. OK, if anybody knows which
[1:10:45] podcast I'm talking? About Comment under this video
[1:10:47] or comment on our Instagram or send us Adm or comment on credit
[1:10:51] send send Vinita Snail. Mail.
[1:10:55] Send him a poster. See you guys next week.
[1:11:12] And if you never heard of Vagner?
[1:11:15] I guarantee you you have heard his ride of the Valkyries, which
[1:11:19] is this?

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