Planets/ Grihas in Jyotish

Planets	Grahas	Day ruled of the week	Significance in astrology	Connected with	Color	Gem	Metal	Direction	Time taken to transit a sign
Sun	Surya	Sunday	King	Father	Red	Ruby	Gold	East	1 month
Moon	Chandra	Monday	Queen	Mother	White	Pearl	Silver	North-East	2.5 days
Mars	Mangala	Tuesday	Commander	Brother	Red	Coral	Copper	South	45 days
Mercury	Budha	Wednesday	Prince		Green	Emarald	Bronze	North	About a month
Jupiter	Guru	Thursday	Deva Guru (guru of the Gods)	Children	Yellow	Yellow Sapphire	Gold	North-East	About a year
Venus	Shukra	Friday	Daityaguru (guru of the demons)	Spouse	White	Diamond	Silver	South-East	About a month
Saturn	Shani	Saturday	Servant	profession	Blue	Blue Sapphire	Iron	West	about 2.5 years
North Node	Rahu	-			Black	Hessonite (Gomedh)	Mixed metal/Lead		about 1.5 years
South Node	Ketu	-			Brown	Cat's-Eye	Lead		about 1.5 years

Amazing Chess Sets at Red Fort

As a chess enthusiast, i am always on the lookout for good quality chess sets. In a diverse land like India, you get to see beautiful variants of chess sets, esp. in museums and heritage shops. They are either not available for buying or way too costly. I had recently been to Jaipur, Shimla and Mussorie and my search continued. But i didn't meet with any luck.

A couple of days back, i had been to Delhi. The day started with Connaught Place (CP) where i collected a stitched business suit from the famous Iqbal brothers. It is a beautiful city and you tend to make plans on the spot. Post that me and my wife decided to move on to Andhra Bhawan for a sumptuous lunch...then to chandni chowk for a bit of shopping and finally to the Red Fort !

Once you enter the Red Fort, there is a covered market place..akin to a veil for the Red Fort. You will find the most amazing chess sets, reasonably priced, at almost all the shops. When you are in Delhi, Red Fort is a must visit. Spare some time to have a look at the chess sets displayed at the shops.

Mount Abu - An amazing romantic getaway !!

Happy New Year to one and all !

Me and my lovely wife Priyanka spent some time at Mount Abu in the last week of December'13.

We dreamt of a quiet vacation, enjoying the mountain chill and visiting places of tourist interest. We were served a bountiful spread, beyond measure ,of all that we wished for !

Sometimes things just fall in place and render a wow experience. We stayed at Kishangarh House, a heritage property belonging to the Maharaja of Kishangarh and Roopangarh. It was a royal treat throughout with amazing views, well-manicured gardens, awesome service, enchanting serenity and closeness to the market and Nakki Lake. Gaumukh, Sunset Point, Trevor Tank, Bhrahmakumari properties ...the whole beat.  Mount Abu is the best hill station i have visited till date.

We also took out a day to visit Ambaji, gabbar Hills and the centuries old jain temples near Ambaji.

Nice to end the year on such a high note !

logical reasoning - cube problem

read this on pagalguy ... nice one !!

A cube is given with an edge of unit ‘N’. It is painted on all faces. It is cut into smaller cubes of edge of unit ‘n’. How many cubes will have ‘x’ faces painted?

In these types of questions, the first thing that we need to figure out is the number of smaller cubes. For this, we look at one particular edge of the big cube and figure out how many smaller cubes can fit into this. It will be N/n. So, the number of smaller cubes will be (N/n)³

A cube has 6 faces and none of the smaller cubes will have all faces painted. As a matter of fact, none of the smaller cubes will have even 5 or 4 faces painted. The maximum number of faces, which will be painted on a smaller cube, will be 3. This will happen only in the case of the smaller cubes that emerge from the corners of the big cube.

So, number of smaller cubes with 3 faces painted = 8 (Always)

For 2 faces to be painted, we will have to consider the smaller cubes that emerge from the edges of the big cube (leaving out the corners). So, the smaller cubes on every edge will be (N-2n)/n. There are 12 edges in a cube.

So, number of smaller cubes with 2 faces painted = 12 * (N-2n)/n

For 1 face to be painted, we will have to consider the smaller cubes that emerge from the face of the big cube (leaving out the corners and the edges). So, the smaller cubes on every face will be [(N-2n)/n]². There are 6 faces in a cube.

So, number of smaller cubes with 1 face painted = 6 x [(N-2n)/n]²

For no face to be painted, we will have to consider the smaller cubes that emerge from the inside of the big cube (leaving out the outer surface which was painted). Imagine this as taking a knife and cutting a slice of width ‘n’ from every face of the cube. You will be left with a smaller cube with an edge of ‘N-2n’. Number of smaller cubes that you can make from the resulting cube is [(N-2n)/n]³

So, number of smaller cubes with 0 face painted = [(N-2n)/n]³

Let us take an example to elucidate this type of problem.

Example,

A painted cube is given with an edge of 15 cm. Smaller cubes are cut out from it with an edge of 3 cm each. How many cubes will have 3 faces painted, 2 faces painted, 1 face painted and no face painted.

Solution,

Total number of smaller cubes = (15/5)³ = 125

3 faces painted = 8 cubes.

2 faces painted: Consider an edge of size 15 cm. We have removed the corners that take away 3 cm from each corner of the edge. Now our edge is of 9 cm. 3 cubes of 3 cm each can come from it. There are 12 edges. So, there will be 3 * 12 = 36 cubes.

1 face painted: Consider a face. If we have removed 3 cm from each edge of the face, we will be left with a square of side 9 cm or area 81 sq cm. There can be 9 smaller squares that can be formed on that face with an area of 9 sq cm each. These 9 will be the cubes which will have 1 face painted. There are 6 faces. So, there will be 9 * 6 = 54 cubes.

No face painted: Cut slices of 3 cm each from each face of the cube. We will be left with a smaller cube of edge 9 cm. Number of smaller cubes that can be formed from it is (9/3)³ = 27. So, 27 cubes will have no faces painted.

You can use this to verify the formulas above and also note that 8 + 36 + 54 + 27 = 125. This means that there is no need to find out all four using the formula, just find any three of them and the other would emerge by using the total. In an exam, this might save you some valuable time.

Remembrance

Independence day just went past. In my patriotic fervor, i request you all to maintain 2 minutes silence and remember all those who struggled against the British ..... Dhoni, Tendulkar, Sehwag.....

Philosophy

If she vaunts herself, I abase her,
If she abases herself, I vaunt her;
And contradict her always,
Until she comprehends
That she is an incomprehensible monster.

Aamir & Anand !!

On winning the World Chess Championships in 2000, Anand was extensively felicitated across India. I happened to visit one such function organized, in his honor, at Bandra. Aamir Khan was the guest of honor along with Sunil Dutt, who was present as the felicitation was in his constituency . Aamir Khan is reputed to be a brilliant chess player. Anand analysed one of his games on a demo board for the benefit of the ecstatic crowd. All the time Aamir was standing and listening to each and every word of Anand's wisdom with attention. I clicked this photo just before the game analysis started.

Sunil Dutt, who was using a walking stick to support himself, also stood for the entire length of the game analysis. I presume this to be a mark of repect for the genius of Anand.

Anand was to be felicitated on the same day by the Maharashtra Govt. too (in the evening). The government felicitation was a joke. Anand was presented a cheque of Rs. 500000. Small change for Anand. He donated the amount then and there to the Prime Minister's earthquake relief fund.