Month: April 2007

Definition of Lateral Thinking – Lateral thinking is a term coined by Edward de Bono, a Maltese psychologist, physician and writer. It first appeared in the title of his book The Use of Lateral Thinking, published in 1967. De Bono defines lateral thinking as methods of thinking concerned with changing concepts and perception. Lateral thinking is about reasoning that is not immediately obvious and about ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic. Source: Wikipedia

Lateral Thinking Puzzle for the Week

An old man read a report in the newspaper about a wealthy woman who had died of old age. “She was murdered!” he thundered. Then carried on reading the rest of the newspaper How did he know that it was a murder and why did he do nothing about it?

While you are at it, why not read about the 10 Strangest Unsolved Murders in History

Update on the Lateral Thinking Puzzle

The Answer I was looking for

The old man was priest. He was sitting alone while reading the newspaper (some lady once said, before marriage my husband promised to lay down his life for me but after marriage he doesn’t even lay down his newspaper!). Only the previous day a man had confessed to him that he had murdered his aunt for money. The priest realized that the woman mentioned in the newspaper was the murder victim. The ‘seal of confessional’ (priests aren’t allowed to reveal what is said during a confession) meant that he couldn’t report the murder to the police.

Other Good Answers That Came Up

Answer 1: The old man reading the paper had murdered her (probably for her money) and thats how he knew it was a murder! And that is also why he din’t do anything about it.

By Ambiga

Answer 2: The old man reading the newspaper might have given a “supari” to a professional killer, who had succeeded in making it look like a natual death.

By Wrong One

Answer 3: The old man must have been the person who had done post mortem on this wealthy woman. But before the post mortem report was given out the press assumed and declared that she had died of old age. He might have discovered during the postmortem analysis that she was murdered and didn’t die of natural causes. However, he did nothing about it because the investigation (or the post mortem analysis) was going on and he was looking for some conclusive evidence to be given to the police as solid proof.

By Mahesh Nayak

Answer 4: The old man was reading one headline after another to his short sighted and hard of hearing wife. “She was murdered” was probably another headline he read out aloud.

By Bobby

Barbers & Their Tricks

I now have very closely cropped hair. Only because my barber didn`t having Rs 10 to give back.

He asked me for Rs 40, for a close enough cut. I handed him a fifty rupees note and waited for him to give back the change. The deft barber – I know for only a few minutes back he had tried to sell medicinal oil from Kerala which would make my hair grow like Jack`s magical beans – looked in his cash box for long before saying he didn`t have Rs 10 to give me. He meant business.

“Now, what?” I asked.

“I can give you a shave.” The barber replied. He had a glint in his eyes, which roughly translated meant “MONEY”.

“No…I don`t want a shave. I had one only this morning. Can you give me a massage?”

“Massage for ten bucks? I didn`t accidentally cut the blood supply to your brains or did I?”

Saloon Business

We continued our argument before the barber came up with a classic offer. He said he could compensate by cutting my hair ‘shortest` so that I wouldn`t have to spend money on my haircut for another two months. I agreed because initially I had only requested for ‘shorter`. Now we were going for ‘shortest`.

Before you agree to such a deal with your barber, let me warn you it is a dangerous thing to do. People around you look at you as if you were an anti-social element. The movie directors of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and the 90s…should be blamed for this. In all movies their villains had to be abnormal and what inexpensive way to stand out than by tonsuring the villain`s head? There was no risk either – the hair would grow back again.

Hair – Part Of The Body That Grows Back

Now, you know why there is such a huge line of devotees in front of Tirupathi`s tonsuring center. I am yet to meet a person who stood in front of Tirupathi (or any other temple) and said: “Wow…am so happy…I am going to sacrifice my right arm today. It was something my mother promised when I was sick and everybody thought I was going to die but I lived on.”

At this juncture, let me state that I believe in God and will soon be having a tonsuring ceremony for my daughter (and might have one for myself too, for I have heard it works out cheaper!).

Scaring Away the Clients of Indian Railways

Right now I am in a train – on my way back from Kerala and thanks to this stereotyping of the villains (remember the bad man ‘Shetty`…who always died in the climax because the hero pulled out a live wire and placed it on his bald/tonsured head)…two young girls (and their pretty mother) have been regarding me with suspicion.

When the Traveling Ticket Examiner came, I heard the mother whisper to the TTE: “Can you move that dangerous looking man to another compartment please? My daughters are scared.”

I dug deeper into my book but continued to eavesdrop. The TTE said: “What? Him? He seems to be only 4 feet tall and you are scared of him?”

“Yeah. I won`t be able to close my eyes if this man (at this time she was pointing at me) is sitting so close to my daughters.”

The TTE seemed to be a determined person. He said: “Do you realize that your younger daughter – the one you say is eight years old – is taller than him?”

I swallowed the insult with a dose of PG Wodehouse (that`s what I was reading) and continued to listen. Luckily there was no more talk of my height. After the TTE left, I smiled at the lady and she smiled back. Looked like the smile I would give a class X bully. I didn`t pursue the case. No man worth his salt can ever get angry on a pretty lady. Even if she is a mother of two.

Nothing much happened thereafter…but I still think the movie directors should try out different types of villains – like the one-handed one, the one-legged one…and the one with no large intestines.

Till then, I pity all the Peters of the World. Wasn`t that the name of all the villains` right hand men? Remember: “Peter, mujhe who chahiye… zinda ya murda.”

*I tried to look really scary while the photographs were snapped. You have to tell me if I succeeded.

Other Funny Stories

# Enrolling for driving lessons can be a crime
# My trip to Hyderabad
# Home alone for Jammy
# My wife wins. Again
# I love you, my dear wife

A man waved a cloth and another man died. Why?

Update:

Answer 1: The man waving the cloth was announcing the start of a duel. As soon as the cloth was waved, the fastest of them shot the other man down.

Answers which came out of all the comments the readers left:

Answer 2: The man waving the cloth was a station master and when he waved the cloth (a flag, if you insist on the right term) the train started and a man standing on the tracks died a gruesome death.

Answer 3: A man waving a piece of cloth was the signal for a firing squad to shoot down the man standing in front of them.

Answer 4: Here is the bullshit-est of all the answers. A man standing behind a matador in a bull ring waves a cloth and enrages the bull. The angry bull attacks the matador when he is not looking and kills him.