Episode 127 - Gait, Gate & Great

In Pierce Egan's 1821 book, Life in London, two young men from London become famous for their mischievous adventures, setting a cultural trend for lively, rowdy behaviour. Their names later inspired a popular festive American drink, a mixture traditionally made with agnog, brandy and spices often enjoyed during the holiday season. What are the names of these two iconic figures whose legacy is now synonymous with something else? This is our audience question for this episode. Welcome to Are You Quizzing Me. This is episode number 127. Kill the music! I am Vinit Nair with my co-host Aditya Kashyap. This is a Quizzing trivia podcast show. Join us as we dive deep into history, science, pop culture and so much more. Let's get quizzing. Okay, Aditya and I are back for another round of quizzing for this 127th episode of Are You Quizzing Me. Before we start, I have a request to make to all our listeners. We have a lot of very dedicated listeners, but I have a feeling that most of you are gate keeping this or podcasts to yourselves. Please don't be selfish. Share it to everyone and to anybody who may or may not be interested. I like it. Let's start each of our episodes by insulting our audiences like selfish. All of you guys don't donate enough to charity and don't call your mom's back and honestly just terrible people. Okay, I'm kidding. Our listeners are great and yeah, please do share and share and spread the love of trivia. That's the best way for us to grow and for you to enjoy more of our episodes. Alright, great. A great plug out of the way. Speaking of our listeners, I have questions from listeners today for two reasons. That I have a bunch of bunch of listener questions that have been sent in that I've not really had the chance to put it out there in the episode. I'm going to catch up on that and also I was like a little busy the last week. I was celebrating the beginning of 2026, haven't had the chance to prepare. So 127 is going to be me munching off of our listeners after insulting them. Yeah. Okay. So the first listener is this wonderful guy. Ayush, he has actually sent up questions in the past as well and we have used those questions. So Ayush, thank you for being such a regular dedicated listener. And thank you for this question. The first question is actually a lot of fun. And I miss HK because he's the one who actually loves this Delhi trivia usually. So this is a Delhi based trivia. Oh, this is this Delhi based location. It's called X is named after a saint who was once a nomad in the 11th century. It is notorious for being the site of a tragic demolition and subsequent massacre during the emergency period, which was around 50 years ago. It's also mentioned in William Dalrymple's book City of Jins, where he notes that some people incorrectly refer to this place or use the incorrect name, why due to the frequent presence of individuals from a certain occupation at this location. Identify the location and basically give me X and Y. When you said this name and people dying and all my immediate thought went to Khuni Darwaza. But I don't think that's what you're talking about. When you've mentioned that, you know, there have been people with a certain profession associated with this place. If I'm not wrong, Khuni Darwaza is named after Bahadusha Zafar's children who are killed there. If I'm not wrong. Children who are murdered. This is different. This place in Delhi is named after a Sophie saint and many people incorrectly assume the name comes from a certain group of people of a certain profession who congregate there. Have I got that right? If you remember, Monday green from I don't know which episode number where basically misheard lyrics, this is kind of that where you are kind of mishearing the name and hence assume it to means of anything else and it kind of makes sense because people of that profession hang out or are found at this location fairly commonly. Obviously, is this a famous place like something that we weren't afraid? It is unfortunately or infamously notoriously associated more with the massacre. So that location X massacre is actually something you could Google and you would see a fair few articles covering it. So massacre occurred during the emergency at this place in Delhi and it's famous for that. Basically, those demolition and writing and massacre perhaps maybe a little loaded word, but they definitely was demolition and writing during the emergency. The emergency some guessing this is Sanjay Gandhi related. But that won't lead you to the name I mean, of course, the emergency situation might have been because of Sanjay Gandhi possible, probable, but won't lead you to the answer X and Y. Can you tell me if it's New Delhi or Old Delhi, like New Delhi or Purani Delhi? Right. So I already told you that this is based off of somebody back in the 11th century. So it is part of the old Delhi area. I haven't told you exactly what kind of a location it is yet. No, you haven't. You would find this in the list of gates of Delhi. There is a Kashmiri gate, but that's not you are talking about people of a profession, not of a particular place congregating. Yeah. Okay. Here's how I would approach this, right? Okay. The name of the Sufi saint has given the name of the gate as well. Difficult to guess the name of Sufi saint, unless you're very well versed with the history of that particular period and era. So what I would do is I would approach Y first, right? So I told you that there is a Monday green or rather a misheard name because of a certain profession that makes sense because of the profession of the people who are there. The reason that those profession or those people or the people of that occupation hang out over there as much is because there are a lot of eateries there. So these people who perhaps need to stop at eateries for sustenance, for whatever their meals of the day. Everybody needs to stop at an eatery for sustenance. Not every profession needs you to, you know, go to an eatery and get food up. A lot of, a lot of obviously people do. Okay. It eliminates white collar workers, right? It's not going to be the engineer gate. It won't be a doctor's gate, right? Considering the condition in which aims is, I wouldn't be surprised. Don't give me hate. This is, this is humor directed towards doctors so I don't even know what sounds funny. So I'm going to laugh. Okay. No, dude. I really don't know this. I mean, like, I will have to give me some, some other clue. Try, give me something from the emergency thing. I might get something from that because I'm more likely to know that rather than. So let me tell you what happened during the emergency. That should maybe give you a hint. Okay. During the emergency, Indira Gandhi's government was trying to clear out slums and, you know, unofficial residences and people occupying certain spaces. And this has been done obviously with force and without the consent of the people. Okay. Though people at this specific location X of, I have already told you it's a gate. So dash gate, the residents of this place refused to move because they had apparently been residing in this area. This has been occupied area since the Mughal era. So they had been around for for at least a few centuries, right? There have been generations living there. So they refused to move. Okay. On 18 April 1976, the police opened fire, I guess there was killing, there was violence. And a lot of protesters died in that process. This is also a classic emergency tactic where the media was, was muffled, was told not to speak about it. So this involved bulldozers and everything, right? Yes, exactly. They were told not to speak about it. Indian public, Indian general population actually heard about it through BBC, like it was on the main sources of information and news because Indian news media was not even covering it. I remember this, yeah. Indian news media. This was Sanjay Gandhi and Jagmohan, I think, who were blamed. There was a commission which was established after this, I'm trying to remember the name. Yeah. So when you're talking about the name is stuck somewhere behind the back of my head. I can't even say the back of my head stuck somewhere behind the back of my head. Give me a clue. Like something regarding to the name, it'll click, I guarantee you will click, give me a clue. So I told you roadside eateries, okay, this should probably be a very direct clue. Okay. Specifically, when you think of North India and you think of roadside eateries, what do you think of? And who would be the most frequent visitor, what kind of a profession, rather, would be the most frequent visitor to Adhabah? Laureate drivers, truck drivers. Yeah. Yeah. Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. You practically said the name. Okay. Now, now I get your other clue with Mr. Thurkman. Perfect. Exactly. So in William Dalrymple's book, he says that people sometimes miss here on Miss Court or Miss pronounced the name as Truckman Gate, whereas it is Thurkman Gate. Okay. And the name of the Sufi leader, Sufi saint Shah Thurkman Baya Bani, that's who it is named after. So that's the history of it. It's been around for that long, very unfortunate incident happened during the emergency. And the estimates vary from all the way from like some government sources and people say, six people killed, eight people, twenty, twelve, so somewhere in that range. And very brutally, brutally killed. There was writing. There was demolition, forced demolition. And yeah, the Thurkman Gate has a bloody history. But yes, this funny component to it is people sometimes assuming it's called Truckman Gate. Okay. I did not know the truckman part of it. I did not know that it was named after Sufi saint. And I thought, Thurkman, you know, talk because many of our people, like the Mughals and you know, there were, you know, talks coming in. I couldn't find a lot of resources about this Sufi saint. I'm assuming he might have the middle name Thurkman as a reference to where he's from. The grave of this person is actually located quite close to the gate. Oh, okay. Somewhere in the 12th or 13th century if I'm not wrong. It is located near the gate. It's named after this person. The truckman part, I assume, wouldn't be something that locals mess up would probably be people are visiting. And if you see TURK, I think your brain sometimes is prostituted in truckmen. And apparently there are a lot of eateries there. So people who are driving trucks and loties, as you said, do stop by very often to grab a meal. Okay. Very nice. Very nice. A couple of TILs with that question for me. Thank you. I wish for your question. Thank you. I wish. Yeah. You're one of our regular contributors. And that should again, I should give a public announcement on those, you know, you should not be selfish. You should share such questions with me because for every five questions or emails that Aditya receives with questions from the audience, I get like one. So I'm feeling a little left out here, people. So make my life also really easier. You know what? I have been tracking our social media, like an idiot all the time just checking how our wheels are doing. I'm very bad at it. But what I've realized in the process is initially I assume that, you know, you were the brains behind this operation. And I just came for some stupid silly jokes and for the glam quotient. And I figured out, I don't even bring the glam. It's that glorious beard of yours that is getting all the views. Yeah. So I don't know what I'm here. But I think I'm just the sounding board. Obviously. I am the audience foil. And are you quizzing me? Because I don't know. A lot of things. Yeah. The audience gets to either figure it out along with me or or you let me be like, how do you not get it? But my dad does message me the other day and he's like, how do you not get that question? And I'm like, wow, my dad doesn't even like trivia that much. Oh God. Okay. Does he speak that behavior? So moving from that to something that we usually don't kind of deal with, so which is why I'm going to that. So we don't deal with a lot of artsy, artsy questions. So primarily because Aditya is the only person who is artsy or fantasy. No. Just artsy. So, depending on what I think, yes. Okay. The question, hopefully, right up his alley, art deco, have you heard of art deco? Isn't it? Oh my god. Like it's been, it's on, I'm spending too much time on Instagram. It's on some song which is trending on Reels. You are so art deco. And I'm butchering the, the tune of the song is, but I know art deco obviously Mumbai has a lot of art deco in, in at least the down area. Okay. This is now a redundant question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Okay. You can decide whether to keep this in or not. So the question was going to be art deco is a decorative style of visual arts, architecture and product design that emerged in Paris in 1910s and flourished internationally in the 20s and the 30s, named after 1925 Paris exhibition. It is characterized by bold geometric shapes, sleek and stylized forms and the use of opulent materials and rich colors. This style, which embraced the modern machine age, is seen in everything from skyscrapers to furniture, jewelry and cars, X is home to the world's second largest treasure trove of art deco architecture right after Miami known for its geometric forms, notical motifs and pastel colors. The buildings here are a testament to a golden era of modernist optimism and koloniliera aspiration. Can you name the city that transformed its skyline in the 1920s and 40s and whose iconic art deco james stand proudly along a famous crescent shaped boulevard. Could you give me a hint? Could you give me this question, which took me a lot of time to phrase was cracked even before I asked the question, this has to be a first, this has to be first, I think. Yeah, this is a first, this is the first, like I didn't even get the question out, but yes, the answer is Mumbai, Mumbai is renowned not just for its vibrant culture and bustling streets, but also for its remarkable art deco architecture. After Miami, it holds the world's second largest collection of these buildings with over 70 structures primarily around marine drive, a long curving promenade along the Arabian sea that locals call the Queen's necklace because of the streetlights that sparkle like pearls in the night, which is weird because I've never seen pearls sparkle in the night. Most of these buildings were constructed in the 1920s to 40s when India's was still under British rule. Architects adopted the art deco style and nautical themes reflecting Mumbai's coastal location. Notable buildings include the regal and eros cinemas as well as many residential apartments all showcasing vibrant pistol colors and elegant designs. In 2018, Mumbai's Victorian Gothic and art deco ensembles including those along marine drive were recognized by UNESCO as world heritage sites for the highlighting the city's architecture and cultural importance. So the next time you think of Mumbai picture not just skyscrapers and bodywoods and slums, but also sun-kissed art deco shorelines. Yeah, so that's the question which annoyingly are that they are correct even before I could get a word out. But then I have myself to blame, I shouldn't have asked him, you know, do you know what I can't take away so just ask the question, I should have stopped at the Instagram Reels song. Yeah. Now I actually love those buildings and there's a very specific iconic style of the lettering of the name of whatever the building is or the usually it's a residential building. So whatever the name of the society is, it's written and it's written in a very specific font, any designers out there who are from Mumbai and know what I'm talking about, please send it to us. I would love to know what it's called. And it's written in a specific location right right where you're entering at the foyer of the building. It's right above it. So when you're driving past, there is a sanitization of it. And yet each building is different and unique like the designs are very clearly their own. But the overall picture has a cohesion to it and it's just beautiful to drive along Queen necklace along very in drive. And yeah, just appreciate that. The names are also pretty cool. I don't know why this word has always stuck with me, Firdos. And I remember this one building that I always cross whenever I'm crossing that road, Firdos is right there. So yeah, that's a pretty lovely part of Mumbai. Okay. This was a question that was correct even before it was asked. So there was another question I had lined up for an audience question because I think I would have cracked it in two seconds. But since he's already cracked a question, let me just put it to him anyway. The next is a town near Lucknow, UP, your neck of the woods. It is infamous for a train robbery that took place between X and Alamnagar in 1925 under British rule. It's also famous for a delicious kebab that is made with minced meat and is often considered the softest kebab in the world. He's already smirking. He already knows what this is. What kebab or what place am I to what in town am I talking about? And bonus points if you can tell me who conducted the famous robbery. I don't know how to put this. It's a little embarrassing that I know this not because my well, you keep calling Lucknow, my neck of the woods I barely ever stayed spent any significant time there. But yes, my parents are originally from there. So I don't know this piece of fact because of my heritage. I don't know this fact because I am a student of history or even though I do consider myself that or I'm a food connoisseur, even though I do consider myself that I know this because of Bollywood. I know this because of my favorite movie, Randevasan. And our Khan's dialogue where he's talking about Kakuri, we're looting it, train looting it. Where's Angreza's money going? Sorry, I'll translate that. Our Khan's character is saying that he's going to be robbing the Kakuri train because the money of the Britishers is going to be going through that. And do a random passer-by or there's a little kid who's there, he literally calls that kid and he's like, "What are you going to do?" The kid doesn't know. And he's like, "Kakuri!" "Kakuri, make Kabab khati hai to looting it." So physically I'm flying that he's going to read Kabab's while he's looting the train. Oh yeah. I'm hoping that Vasanti did not fudge the facts too much. So I remember in that movie, they showed Amir Khan's character who plays Chandrashekar as that person he was there. I believe Rampasad Bismillah is also there. And here you go. I'm basing this all over Rampasad Bismillah. It is Rampasad Bismillah. Kakuri gained infamy for a 1925 train robbery also called the Kakuri Conspiracy. Try saying that five times in a row. Where revolutionaries from the Hindustan Republican Association stopped a train between Kakuri and Lucknow's Alam Nagar station in August 9th looting government treasury bag. The number eight downed train from Shah Jahanpur to Lucknow usually carried tax collection. Rajendra Lahiri pulled the train near Kakuri, allowing Rampasad Bismillah and others to seize about 4,000 to 8,000 rupees before fleeing. And talking about the Kakuri Kabab originating in Kakuri, this avadi delicacy is considered one of the softest Kababs that you can get and is made from for those who are interested. Finally minced mutton thigh meat mixed with kidney fat, spices, cashew paste, gram flour, roast petals and poppy seeds ground multiple times. Oh, that sounds delicious. I like how gram flour and roast petals, what are roast petals doing in there? I love it. Oh yeah, Lucknow's famous for using roast petals. It doesn't even roast petal biryani. You can't say these things because Lucknow is my neck of the woods, so I should be knowing it. Okay. Yeah, Lucknow is famous for roast petals beneath, there is a biryani also with the roast petals. Okay. So now that you've made minced meat out of my question, pun intended, let's go ahead with whatever it is that you've got up your kitty. All right. Okay. So speaking of Northern India, speaking of well, UP, which is also the area where Ayodhya is. Okay. So I'm going to talk to you about another audience question. And this comes from Punit, and he said this question, it's a Ramayan-based question. Oh God. Punit said this question to me to use for a Diwali episode, that's how viayid I know, dear God. So apologies, Punit, but hey, here I am doing this off season. Okay. But you know what, any time of the year is good for some lovely mythology-based trivia. Okay. So. Okay. So you know, the story goes that Hanuman had come back from Lanka, and he told Ramji that, you know what, Sita is there and you'll have to go rescue her. She's waiting for you. And of course, being the beautiful person that he was, he decided that he's going to go over. And in that process, he had to cross the ocean where he had to build a bridge or he had to get across it somehow. The Samudra God, Samudra being seas or ocean in Hindi. Samudra God refused initially, apparently refused for three days straight and left with no option. Lord Ram picks up his bow and loads the brahmastra onto it, right, because he has to get his way across. At this point, the Samudra Dev, the God of the seas, he comes back and says that, you know what, I will let you go through and he even tells him how he can do that using a bridge and, you know, get the vanarasena to help him build the bridge to Lanka. But now here's a conundrum. I will not tell you what the conundrum is yet because I feel like you'll crack it too quickly. There is a conundrum that Lord Ram faced in this moment. What was the conundrum and what was the solution that he came up with? The answer is in the description, I've given so far. But take a crack at it, see if you can figure it out. The sea God tells him, the God of the ocean tells him that, right, your name on the stones and the vanarasena can build a floating bridge all the way to Lanka. Correct. And at this point, Lord Ram faced a conundrum and your question is what that conundrum is? Exactly. Some face the problem, a conundrum, there was something that was an issue that he needed to resolve. What is the issue? How did he resolve it? Did he not have any writing material? I think that part of the story comes a little later, not yet. Okay. I've already told you actually the part of it that is a conundrum, I've already mentioned it in the description. You don't have to think about Ram and from anything else or any other part of the story. There is so much rich mythology there, but you don't have to worry about any of that. Whatever I've mentioned so far, the conundrum is in it. I can't think of any conundrum, honestly speaking, because he came there. He knows where Masita is. He knows he has to get there from point A to point B. And he was initially like, how do I cross? Now he knows how we can cross it. He has the manpower. He has the logistics. So what conundrum is he facing? Okay. So before some of the dev related and the reason probably that he relented because he did not want to face the consequences is what the problem was rooted in. What happened before some of the dev related? He prayed first and then he did the Brahmastra thing. Correct. So in the second part of what he just said is where the conundrum lies, the Brahmastra part of it. Oh, that once you wheeled the Brahmastra, you have to let it go. You have to release it. Perfect. Once the Brahmastra is loaded and again, not very clear how that mechanics of it work. But yes, once it is in that position of being fired, it is prepared and prepped. It has to be used. It cannot not be used. Okay. That is a problem. Now because some of the dev has relented and he, a lot of time has a solution to get to all Sri Lanka, how would he then or where would he rather use the Brahmastra? So where did Lord Ram use the Brahmastra that he had loaded and that he had threatened Lord Varuna with? Right. That's the question. Correct. He didn't discharge it. I don't remember. He discharged it. As the rules dictate, he had to, he had to use the weapon. He did use the weapon. Now, but he'd use it later, right, in the Ramayana. Well, as the mythology goes, there are obviously multiple versions of this story or the small slide nuances that change from one version to another. Okay. Perhaps, I don't know which specific version this listener question is from. But yes, in this case, this part of mythology at least says or states that Lord Ram had to fire the weapon and so he did. So he must have fired at some place and that would have caused something to be created or some place to get its name or something like that? Yes. You are right. Not the name part, but a someplace that was created in that moment. Wow. Rameshwaram seems too easy to say. Obviously not that. No. It's where legend says it was created when Lord Ram discharges Brahmastra, the clue. Okay. So because it's a powerful weapon, it obviously yields so much strength. It's going to cause something significant, right? It would imagine like it would be a massive crater or something like that. In this case, I'll ask you to focus on the fact that he is near the ocean. Okay. To do something in that area, in that specific region, I guess. So it's not going to be like, I don't know, like in the photos of Himalayas, right? It's going to be in that area. Wow. Dhanushkodi. Oh. Interesting. What is that? I don't know. It's not the answer, but what is Dhanushkodi? No. Dhanushkodi is a village around the, like, it's on the border of Tamil Nadu, like, it's right on the ocean. It's a, it's a ghost town now after the famous cyclone of the 1960s. But, yeah, Dhanushkodi, for a second, like, I will, like, Dhanushkodi, I don't know. No, it's not. It's not. Is it something to do with it? Like, you know, there are no deserts, because see, I'm assuming that when the Brahmaastra strikes, it's going to be like total devastation. So you're going to talking about destruction, something, but there are no deserts anywhere near that place. Okay. Now, so I was going to tell you the second thing that you can focus on. I said, "Ocean, the first thing, second thing you could focus on is the etymology of this name." But, like, this place had not even heard of the ghost on the dimension. I had not heard of it. This place, everybody in India has heard of, right? Okay. The etymology of the place kind of relates to the repercussion of using Brahmaastra. Okay. When the Brahmaastra was used in that place, something happened. And what happened is literally the etymology of the place. Good. What something happened? The last thing I'll tell you, and this is part of the question that listener has sent, that he kind of fired it in the opposite direction. So not not exactly when it degrees, but if you know where Sri Lanka is, and where you would be if you were the southern tip of the country, what would the opposite direction look? To a still ocean based, not not towards the mainland. Did he send it to this Arabian sea? Very good. Very good. Very good. Where was there? Is this luxury? Exactly. So, luxury deep, where the etymology obviously means thousand islands, apparently it was one giant landmass, and because the Brahmaastra landed on it, it split up into thousands and thousands of small islands. Wow. Okay. That was the power of Brahmaastra. And that's where the name Laksudiv comes from, which means thousand islands. Laksudiv was, according to this lovely piece of mythology, it was formed because Laudram had to use Brahmaastra once, it was loaded, and he did not want to use it towards the samadhar wave. So he chose to go in the opposite direction towards this, well, back then apparently uninhabited island, and then he split it up into a thousand parts. Wow. I did not know. Laksudiv, wow. I know, right? Sometimes our listener questions are so good, like I'm just like, oh, where do you guys come from? It's such a good time. Yeah. This is just fascinating. Wow. Okay. That was embarrassing. I should have known that, which I did not. Let me try to redeem myself by asking a similar mythology related question. An ancient Buddhist text, I am probably going to murder this pronunciation, but okay. An ancient Buddhist text, Sadharmapundarika Sutra, also known as the Lotus Sutra, List X, as one of the eight great dragon kings. X gained cult status in China and Japan for rain making rituals, embodying devotion and power. Okay. However, long before all of this, X existed in early religious texts on the Indian subcontinent. In modern times, the name resurfaced far from scientists, applied it to a newly discovered prehistoric species found in India. The choice was deliberate. The creature that was discovered, it's immense size and presumed dominance echoed the symbolic structure that X had in ancient belief systems, so I wanted to identify X. Prehistoric creature? Did you say that? Yes. So, scientists discovered prehistoric species in India and so they named it after X. Okay. Is it a dinosaur? Some sort of dinosaur that was found in India? In the same… I wouldn't say family, but I forgot my lineage classification. Yeah, it's a prehistoric big thing, big creature. Yeah. It's very simple. Would this be appropriate to use in a Jurassic World movie or would it not? That's how you classify things. Just don't overthink it. Similar kinds of movies like Jurassic Park, but not Jurassic Park. Oh, God. It's a Godzilla. God. Yeah. It's not Godzilla. It's Gojira. Well, since we are in India, not in Japan, I assume that's not the right answer. Sorry. Could you repeat the information about the name? Commonly known as the Lotus Sutra. Lists X as one of the eight great dragon kings. It's just so annoying that I don't even know the name of a single dragon king that I would be even remotely close to figuring out how you know this by the way. No, I'll need a hint. Long before the Buddhism part, it existed in early religious texts on the Indian subcontinent. This particular character was seen in religious texts on the subcontinent. But I will tell you the texts. It's been mentioned in the Rigveda. It's been mentioned in the Mahabharat and many other similar texts. Hello? They look frozen. Yeah. No, no. For a second, I'm sorry. We are meditating. As if the answer would come to you if you meditate it hard enough. Yes. Yes, I was invoking the gods. And since they have not answered, I'll have to figure this out on my own. It was in the Rigveda. Yes. As what? Like it's a dragon king according to Buddhist literature. I'm not going to tell you exactly what the translate is to in the Hindu literature because that would be giving away the answer. Oh, okay. Because I was just wondering. I don't remember a dragon king's featuring in the Hindu texts. So I'm assuming there is a variation on that or there is some sort of a modification for it. Okay. One last clue. Okay. The depiction of this creature, I would be highly surprised if I did not find it at your parents' home or in most Hindu households. And this is one of those like, I remember going through a whole episode and seeing that ranch question. I'm like, how should I not know that? Yeah. Right there in front of you. Oh, this is right there in front of almost everybody. Okay. I've already told you once the Rigveda and Mahapartha. So the connection is obviously originated in the Hindu lore or the Hindu mythology. And then was appropriated or borrowed into Buddhist mythology and then traveled from India to China and Japan and whatnot, right, the mythological being or the astrological creature that I'm talking about is highly depicted in photographs and iconography in India. Most Hindu households usually have a depiction of this creature in their home. They may not, however, realize it or it may not get that much attention. I have definitely not realized it. Okay, and then any other hint, any other clue. Okay. So the next clue I would give you is, what's the difference between a western dragon and an oriental dragon? This is based off of the depictions that I remember from, from whatever Chinese pop culture. Western dragons usually like have, have some sort of a limb situation. Chinese dragons don't, they just are like the serpentine thing with the head of a dragon breathing fire. Yes. You've kind of got near the answer and you're just in what we just said right now. So serpentine. So like a nagaraj thing, but like nagaraj representation that is there everywhere, I can't think of that. So normally people would like, this is one specific snake. Now that I've come to the point that it's a serpent, it's a serpent. So this is one specific serpent and which serpent would you find depicted in almost any Hindu household. Okay. Clearly, I've not weighed too much attention. Oh, you're going to kick yourselves. When you say snake, the one thing that does pop up in my head is a birth of Krishna. Yes, Krishna was protected when he was being transported by Vasudeva. Yeah. That was the Sheshnag. Sheshnag. Yeah. Yeah, but this is not the Sheshnag we're talking about because, yes, the Sheshnag has a lot of iconography, but you're not going to, you're not likely to find it in almost every Hindu household. Right. Did I say nagaraj? But the nagaraj is a superhero comic line. Nevermind. No, I thought you were being literal as a king of the snakes. So, yeah, let's pretend that that's what I'm going to say. I was going through the nagaraj comic series and it's a second mad. No. So, yes, Sheshnag, but that's not a common depiction. You're right. Oh, then there's the other one which is, which is, I think it's, I want to say a lot of Vishnu, who's who's resting and there's a snake under whom he's resting, right? Yes, yes. Again, I mean, yes, common enough in some depictions, but like universally, I don't think of it. It's not as universal as the depiction that I'm talking about because most of the time you have Vishnu in his various other forms being depicted throughout the house. Correct. Correct. Yeah. I don't think it's like the Anant Pashayana image of him reclining on a snake. The cause of the snake is not like the universal depiction, but what I'm talking about is a universal depiction in which you find the snake. People are screaming the answer to their stop it, please, please stop screaming. It's very loud. Just please, guys. I'm not able to think. Stop yelling at me. No, I'm, you know, put me out of my misery, tell me about the answer is, OK, so the answer is Vasuki. I'm not fully embarrassed because I mean, I'm a partially embarrassed because this does ring kind of a bell. But again, I feel like this is a blind spot. So tell me more. Vasuki, if you don't know, was one of the king of the Nagas. OK. He was used famously by the gods during the Samudra Mantra. Oh, my God. That is, how did I not think of that? That's one of actually one of my favorite like methodological stories, Samudra Mantra. Oh. And I am embarrassed fully now. Yes. Now, can you guess as in what depiction of Vasuki is found in almost every Hindu household? Yeah. Actually, that's what I was wondering. I was thinking of like the puja gar in a lot of Hindu households in certain images of gods that are there. And I couldn't think of a single like a specific universal snake-based representation. Vasuki, I know the story, I know that used the mountain and Vasuki was kind of, kind of facilitating the month and with the mountain. He was used as the rope to churn the ocean. But that is not a depiction that we see everywhere. Brace yourself for this. OK. Who do you think is the snake around Lord Shiva's neck? That is Vasuki. That is Vasuki. I know, God. Oh, God. This is so stupid. Yes. Of course, there is a snake around Shiva's neck and I know that he was the one who, and then in Svother Mantan and then Shiva drank the freaking poison as well. Oh, my God. This is stupid. Yeah. I'm more than fully embarrassed to have crossed that. I'm so satisfied that, you know, I've managed to stump one question today because you've been literally running through all my questions like a freaking freight train. For all our listeners who may or may not be familiar with this, so I'm going to give you a complete explanation. Vasuki is a giant serpent who originates in Vedic scriptures like the Rigveda, also seen in the Mahabharata as the sovereign of the Nagas or the King of the Nagas, what's happened to you? He was famously used as the rope by the gods to churn the ocean, an episode in the Purana in the Hindu Puranas. Revured in Hinduism also as Shiva, Lord Shiva's neck ornament, Vasuki symbolizes control over ego or poison. Vasuki was named among the eight great dragon kings. Now the depiction of dragons in western mythology is more dry, you know, dinosaur life and the depiction in East Asian countries is more serpent like right, right, right, right. And finally enough, the eight great dragon kings were caught in Nagarajas in the Lotus Sutra, which is a core Mahayana text. These dragons protect or proclaim the Sutra, Vasuki, also known as Vasuki Tsu, in Japanese gained cult status in China, Japan for rain making rituals. Wow. In 2024, IIT Rurki researchers unearthed what we now call as the Vasuki Indicus fossils from Gujarat. So this was a 11 to 15 meter long, one ton weighing snake, python-like ambush predator, which ruled the swampy coasts and they named it after the mythological Vasuki for its size and dominance. I'm not sure if it's the largest, because I think the Titanoboa and a few other like very large, I don't know the figures off my top of head, but anyway, in any case, they found a really large snake in India, which would have been huge. So they named it after the king of the serpents in Hindu mythology, it's called the Vasuki Indicus. Wikipedia, sir, tells me that Vasuki Nag, or Vasuki, is a second king of snakes after Sheshnag. Who is Vasuki Nag's elder brother? So Sheshnag under whom Lord Vishnu is resting is the elder brother of the snake, the who's around Lord Shiva, that's pretty cool, I like it, so your question. All right, so speaking of things we all should know, and sometimes we don't because we are also a little sleepy, this has to do with the story of Alexander the Great, one of those things that is perhaps beyond just ancient Greece, right, like it has been told and re-told across the world. So Alexander the Great is a story that has been told through the eras, through the countries, through the world, but the first ever depiction of that story in film was in X, okay, tell me what X is, where was the first ever depiction of Alexander the Great on film, you will have to give me a clue. So interestingly enough, this film was in 1941 and was then remade in 1965 in Eastman color. In the case of the 1965 remake, the person who played Alexander the Great in 1941 played a different character was in the 1965 remake as well, but played a different character in 1965. I don't know if this leads you to the answer, but yeah, nope, it does not read me to the answer, I have no clue what this is going to be about. In 1940, and in 1965, for a clue what I would tell you is a little bit to do with the cast of the films, right, I mentioned that the lead or the person who played Alexander the Great in the 1941 film played a different character in the 1965 film. In the 1965 film, the person who played the character of Alexander the Great was an actor who didn't start off with acting as his profession or as his career was actually in the sporting arena. So this person who played Alexander the Great in the 1965 remake started off with the career in the sporting arena is no longer around, but you obviously know these people also. But eventually moved to the acting phase and that's where the later half of their life first spent. Okay. The person who played Alexander the Great in 1941 film and a different character in the 1965 film. The person is one of the greatest actors of that generation. Somebody played Alexander in the 1965 film who came from sports, correct. The person who played Alexander the 1941 film played a different character in the remake of the 1965 remake. Correct. So as for one of those, Cecil Demeel kind of movies, this old Hollywood studio movies can't remember anything specifically with Alexander. Because like from the early times of cinema like from the 1910s onwards, now the first, the first trend in movies was all mythological epics. So you had like Ben Hur made like twice or twice medieval kings in Robin Hood and those kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Can he grant or somebody played Alexander? I know. Okay. I love this question. It's not a question. Shout out to Roshni. Thank you so much for sending this question. Okay. Let me give you a little bit more about that person who played the 1965 Alexander. Okay. He went to Singapore in 1947. Okay. And he worked in a drum manufacturing mill. And that's where somebody looked at his physique, he was six feet two, I believe, and told him that he should actually be a wrestler. So that's the sporting space that he started off from. This is Dara Singh. Oh. Very well done. Yes. So Dara Singh plays Alexander the great in the 1965 film. Wanna take a guess? In the name of the films, maybe 1941, 1996, my films, maybe you don't know. Those are names are very, very easy to get. But do you want to take a guess to who played 1941? Alexander. Sir guessing he's also Indian. Perfectly cracked. Yes. That's why I love this piece of trivia. The first ever representation of Alexander the great story, which is against something that a lot of people across the world know was in India, was in World Bollywood cinema. So I'm guessing this is Indian. So this would be Sikandar. Perfect. Yes. That's the name of the 1941 film. And I'll tell you the name of the 1965 film, which was remade. It is Sikandar Aasam. 1941 is too early for Raj Kapoor, right? You're like one step away from the answer. And step away from Raj Kapoor, Prithviraj Kapoor. Exactly. I was going to give you a hint. I'll tell you what the hint was. But yes, you're right. Prithviraj Kapoor played the character of Sikandar in the first ever film made about Alexander the great in which he played Alexander the great in 1965 when this was remade. Do you want to take a guess to who Prithviraj Kapoor played in that remake? We're talking about Indian adaptation. And the singer was Alexander in the remake, Prithviraj Kapoor would play somebody else equally prominent. He wouldn't play a side role. So then I'm guessing he played the Indian side of the equation. Pooro. Perfect. My man knows his dream. I did. Well, you are smart enough to figure it out. You even didn't know it. He did play King Poros or Parvava. Okay. That was the switching characters in the remake 24 years later. The hint I was going to give you by the way. And this is something where I first came to Bombay. It was such a, one of those just memories that stuck with me. I moved to Bombay like four years, five years ago. Oh, okay. I love theatre. I love cinema. I went to one of the best theatres in Mumbai, one of the most repeated spaces. People in Mumbai would have heard people who are into the arts and they would know. It's called Prithvir theatre and literally named after Prithviraj Kapoor. I went there and I was like, you know what? I want to come watch a show. I saw what was playing and I picked a random show. I went to the ticket counter. I'm like, can I get a ticket? Look at the ticket. I was going to pay and I was new to using UPI app so I brought out my phone and I scanned the QR code. It literally says pay to Prithviraj Kapoor. Oh. Wow. It doesn't use the Prithvir theatre or whatever. Yeah. I love that. I don't know. Both thought of that little touch. I think it just makes it somehow more magical for me. So I paid money to Prithviraj Kapoor and I got and watched a play at Prithvir theatre. Wow. I don't know where Roshni found this beautiful piece of trivia, but yes, turns out that India was the first place. Shabash Roshni, that's a fantastic piece of trivia. I swear, the quality of questions that our listeners have provided. Yeah. May embarrass me here. Teen TV is a bit trick. Because all three questions have been so good. Yeah. All right. So let me wrap up today's episode with the final question. Yeah. The word for a fundamental mathematical function come from Sanskrit, where it means bow string. It traveled from ancient Indian mathematics through Arabic translators who confused its name leading to its modern English form, meaning curve. Its partner, meaning the chord of a complimentary angle, shares the same journey. What are these two key mathematical terms which share its origin from Sanskrit? So it has to do with the bow string, bow and arrow string, but it has been mis-translated to something to do with the user curves, circles, chords, yeah? Yes, curve, curve or fold. And it's used in the mathematical context, basically, in mathematics, yes. It's an English word. It's more a Hindi word or a both. What is it? You know the Latin form of the word. Something is it curve or fold, arc, arch. Nope. Nope. No, that doesn't make sense. Mathematical. No. So code will more technical. Radiant. Degree. You're in the right ballpark, but wrong terminology. Circumference. The radius diameter. I would suggest that you focus on the factor I said that there is this term and then there's a complimentary term. Which are mentioned side by side in math differentiation integration plus or minus now give me some hint. Okay. I'm going to give you a mathematics hint. I literally did this for my 10th standard exam. Okay. You would write root of zero by four, root of one by four, root of two by four, root of three by four, root of four by four. Okay. And I would give you a set of values that you don't have to remember. You don't have to buy heart. You just get the values from that like in two seconds. This is nothing to do with the value of pi, right? No, it's nothing to do with the value of pi. I would suggest solving for what I just mentioned. You just said root of zero by four. Yes. Like square root of zero by four. Yeah. It's a, it's a mnemonic. So obviously I had to, you have to make mnemonic consistent for them to work. Right. Square root of zero by four is square root of zero, which is zero. Okay. root of one by four, then root of two by four and then root of three by four and root of four by four. One by four is root of one by four is one by two, root of two by four is one over root two. Mm hmm. The root of three by four is root three over two. What? Do not do that. You have these things. That does not ring a bell. No, what? What? No, nothing at all. Zero. One by two. One by root two. One by root three over two. You know what? No, nothing. Oh, dude. You are going to kick yourself. You are so going to kick yourself. Oh, how much do you want me to kick myself in this one? Okay. I really thought that you would get this one. You know what? I used to, I used to, at least at some point I remember being good at math. So I, I'm a little mad as I'm not going to get it yet. This is suppose. Oh, it's silent cause. This is silent cause. This is a, oh my god. This is 90 degree, 30 degree, 60 degree, and about 90, 60, 30, zero. And if the first value is zero, then that is, I want to say, sin zero is zero. Yeah. I think cause zero is once. Yes. We never got to one. Oh, we were stopped at root three by two. Okay. Okay. So we did zero. We did 30, 45, 60. We didn't know 90. Got it. Okay. Okay. I mentioned 90 root of four by four. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I never used this in the morning. That's probably it didn't strike me. But interesting. That is, that makes so much sense. Yeah. And you're saying that this has to do with sin and cause has to do with something to do the boasting. Yes. Okay. So this is fascinating. By the way. Okay. The words, sin and cosine started in ancient Indian mathematics with the Sanskrit term Jya. Okay. So, sin which means boasting, describing how a chord in a circle behaves. Of course. It's a chord, right? Yeah. Yeah. Traveled into Arabic as Jiba. So Jya became Jiba. Okay. Later, mistranslated into Latin as sinus meaning curve or fold. I don't know. That is what the word means. But okay. Interesting. So, sin is the English form of this Latin word. So it went from Jya to Jiba. It was mistranslated from Jiba into Latin as sinus. And from sinus, we got sin. Okay. Cosine comes from the Sanskrit. Coti Jya. Oh. Oh. Interesting. Meaning the chord related to the complimentary angle. Right. Right. Both words reflect centuries of mathematical knowledge moving from India through Arabic scholars to Europe. Right. Sign and cosine have their origins in ancient Sanskrit. Coti Jya sounds closer to quotangent, caught, but okay, maybe probably over years and mistranslation probably got to cost. Yeah. That makes a lot more sense. Yeah. That's really cool. There are two things that scholars mentioned together. For those who are interested, if any parents are listening and their children are struggling with trigonometry, the easiest way to remember the trigonometric table is very simple. Very columns of zero, 30, 45, 60 and 90. You start with sin, cos, and then tan in your rows. For sin, you start with root of 0 by 4, root of 1 by 4, root of 2 by 4, root of 3 by 4, and root of 4 by 4. Those values give you the sign values of those particular angles. Reverse that order for cos, divide sin by cos and you get tan. And that's it. Your kid never has to remember trigonometry table ever again. They can just work it out in like two seconds and just do the reverse of that and you'll get cos second and secant and cotangent as well. cotangent yes. Since you're sharing this trivia, do you know where sin, cos and the third thing you didn't mention, where is the etymology of that from? Oh, this is going to be some silly joke. I can just see it from the smoke on your face. So people in Europe noticed that people in South Asia were much darker. And they're like, oh, that looks like a good tan. Yeah. Okay. It's offensive or so many levels. I'm an Indian. I can make this joke about us brown people. Yeah. I just don't know what to do with you. I want to thank my math teacher. Yeah. Jamila Mason Shekhar sir, who drilled this into me when I was in 9th and 10th. And I still remember it. I can still write out a trigonometer table, what, 30 years later. Hmm. They did a good job. My math knowledge is going to be in the end, so shorter to make a math and Thomas, sir. I'm sure there are a lot more along the way, but these two come to mind. So. Yeah, thanks. Yeah. Okay. So I think that's the end of today's regular round of quizzing. What's left is for us to now answer the audience question, which I had asked at the beginning of today's episode. In Piers, Egan's 1821 book Life and London, two young men from London become famous for their mischievous adventures, setting a cultural trend for lively, rowdy behavior. Their name later inspired a popular festive American drink. A mixture traditionally made with agnog, brandy, and spices often injured during the holiday season. What are the names of these two iconic figures whose legacy became synonymous with something else? Are they there? Do you have any idea? London, it became a drink and then a legacy, which is entirely unrelated to either of those two things somewhat related to, but not completely, but in a completely different field. So are these common English names or with these very obscure English names? Very common English names. This can't be the origin of Tom Dick, then Harry or track down to it. You are one third right, Tom Dick or Jerry. With Jerry? Oh my God. Tom and Jerry. Yes, this is the origin of Tom and Jerry. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Yes. So Tom and Jerry were characters in the book. After Piers, Egan's book popularized the names as symbols of mischief and adventure. He entered popular culture, inspiring the Tom and Jerry cocktail. That is insane. Yes. When the animation studio was developing their famous cat and was duo, they held an internal contest to rename the characters who were originally called Jasper and Jinx. I know that. Yes. Jasper and Jinx. Animator John Carr suggested Tom and Jerry drawing on the cultural familiarity and playful spirit associated with the names. The studio embraced the suggestion, recognizing that the names would resonate with audiences and he wrote the same kind of mischief and adventure found in Egan's book and associated with the cocktail. This connection helped cement Tom and Jerry as iconic figures in animation. Yes. I should have guessed, I think another smart guess would have been Laurel and Hardy or something. Oh yeah. Tom and Jerry makes a lot of sense as well. So that's all we have for today is quizzing before we wind up this episode. Aditya, any pop culture recommendation? Okay, so pop culture been watching a fair few things, taking full advantage of December and so I have quite a few things lined up to recommend over the next few episodes. For today's episode, I'm just going to recommend two films that I watched recently. Both were a lot of fun from a genre that went done well, can be so satisfying, but often is done poorly. So very glad that in these two scenarios, it was done superbly. The first one is an older film. It's a Hitchcock film. I'm talking about dial M for murder. Classic? Yeah. So murder mystery, just so good I had not seen it before. I realize that you can see it on a notedee platform. I think you have to pay on some of them, but it's a nominal fee. So if you are interested, go check it out. Dial M for murder. Great film. Great. Great film. Like, generally, no comments. Hitchcock. Good job. And the other film, since I spoke of film from more than a few decades ago, I'm going to talk about a very, very recent film. I think it's not been a month. And that is the third film in the Knives Out series. I don't know if I've recommended the first two, but in case I haven't, those two count that as well. Both were a lot of fun. The first one is brilliant, glass Indian, not as good, but still a strong, strong film in the genre. And the third one, a lot of critics have said is the best out of the trilogy. I would put it definitely at par with the first one. And somehow, I think it resonated deeper with me, like the third film. The first one was a great film. So much fun. The third film just had a stronger heart, I would say to it. And that the name of the film is Wake Up Deadman. A Knives Out mystery. I think that's what it's called. Wake Up Deadman Knives Out mystery. It's a very recent film, and I'm for murder, it's an old Hitchcock film. Both of them from the thriller, murder mystery department. And just beautifully done. Ryan Johnson, Alfred Hitchcock, people who clearly know what they're doing and shout out to Daniel Craig. So good. Okay. I would have to disagree with you a little bit here because I would rank the original Knives Out movie as being much better plotted than Wake Up Deadman, though it was quite intriguing. I would say the plotting wise, the original Knives Out takes the cake. I agree with you. So I said, so when when a critics was saying that this is the third one is the best of the series, I wasn't totally sold on that because the core of like, oh my god, what a brilliant plot that I felt much was wrongly in the first one that I did in the third one. So I get what you're very coming from. Yeah. Okay. I would definitely like to echo Aditya's recommendation of Dilem for murder. It's a fantastic murder. I would also like you to check out a perfect murder, which was a remake we're starting Michael Douglas and Vigo Morthinson, which can come by the few characters, but it's still fantastic more. And I don't know if you know about Hamras, starring Bobby Dior and Akshay Khanna, who's the flavor of the month, was also a remake of Rodley's was partially inspired by Dilem for murder. Oh, okay. And so was the movie New Year, which was part of our New Year quiz, which I had posted on our subreddit, great, great, great quiz. The great weekly question top, top marks to you. You know what, Ran Johnson, Alfred Hitchcock, Vinith Nair, haha, little too much. You can now definitely check those out, but what I personally consider, this is just a personal opinion to be a slightly superior Hitchcock film, which is rope, which is infinitely more tense. It's short as to be in real time. The audacity, the hootspot to be like, I'm going to shoot the entire film in single film where I think each reloads only 10 minutes long back then. So you could literally not have a scene for longer than 10 minutes. And it's like, I'm going to shoot a full film like that is is just good as to that man. So I think I'll say the edits are so blatantly jarring and obviously that it's like it takes me out of the film a little bit. The film is solid, film is tight, it's a great film, but the edits are a little funny. That's all I would say unintentionally funny. But see, this was a movie shot in the 40s. So we'll have to give it a shot. I'm sure when it came out, it's the same thing, like when you see it for the first, like Star Wars today. Looks very janky. Obviously, it doesn't feel like revolutionary CGI. Yeah. Looks very janky. So one other movie that I would recommend is a recently released sequel called Rath Akali had the Bansal murders. I really enjoyed the original Rath Akali had and I also enjoyed the sequel, Navazdhin Siddiqui and Rathika Apte among others. I wouldn't call it a great film, but it's definitely a great OTT watch. So definitely go check that out. And because I have to be the solo flag bearer of southern Indian movies, I will now recommend Sarvam Maya, which is a very fun, very light ghost story. Like I have no other way to put it. It's like the lightest, most feel good ghost stories that you've seen. So go check it out. It's running in theaters now. Okay. Interesting. And that's all we have for today's episode. Thank you all for listening in. You can reach out to us on our socials, which are there in the episode description. Please like, share, follow, subscribe based on whichever platform you are seeing or listening to us too. And go join our community on subreddit. On Reddit. Subreddit is our slash. Are you quizzing me? It's got a burgeoning community there. We post daily questions and encourage listeners and members of the subreddit to also post your questions. Plus there is a slightly bigger question every bigger question said every Thursday. Can check that out as well. See you guys next week. And now it has nothing to say. I want to do this to me every single week money that I am going to see you next week. Okay. Not if I see you first and I have the last laugh.