Answer: Who uses this picture?

(For people who have not read my earlier quiz post, “Who uses this picture”:- I asked readers to guess the nature of business of a commercial organization that uses the picture on the left in the logo.)

“Why are you smiling?”My wife asked me as I read my emails on my IPad.

“I am proven wrong again”, I replied.

“You are always wrong. That is not new. But why are you happy about it?”

I was pleased because readers easily solved my quiz within hours of posting. I thought I posted a picture without any information and readers would scratch their heads for possible answers. But it turns out my readers are very perceptive, thoughtful, well read, and intelligent. They can break any puzzle. That makes me happy.

The picture is from a billboard of TRASTA KOMRCBANKA (a financial institution). Here is the link to the website of this institution.

At the time of wring this post, three readers guessed it correct:

1. Kalpana Misra as she commented, “I think that the image signifies abundance. To think in a really way out manner I'd say it’s an ad to encourage some kind of investments, promising good returns.”

2. Tanvi said, “okay I will say 'financial institution' for now!”

3. Rachna’s comment, “Really I have no clue. Looks like fruits coming out of a beret. Is it an investment bank that shows that your money will multiply?”

Reader left interesting remarks that included guesses like Perfumes, Hospitality, Wine, Shoes, Carpet, Furniture and Pharmaceutical. All comments are now published with the original post.

Thanks to each and every reader for trying and congratulations to Kalpana, Tanvi and Rachna.

Who uses this picture?

While admiring traditional buildings of a European city, I captured a picture of a billboard used to advertise a commercial organization. The picture below is cut-out the same and is part of company’s logo.

 

Few more tips:-

• It is a European company with branches in at least two countries.
• The company has a website.

Can you guess the business of this company? Lore tells fruits or food but what do you think? Let your thoughts go wild and I promise no effort is futile. The goal is not an exact answer with the name of the company. The idea of is to test out the imagination for the type of business and in turn compare with the actual business.  So try not use internet to find an answer.

(PS:- Per suggestions, I am turning on the Comment Moderation and will publish all comments and answer after 2 days. If you are not able to comment, please email me at arealblogger(at)google.com.
Following the answer, I will also publish a post on the city where I saw this billboard. )

Published the answer in a new post:- Answer Who uses this picture

Where did I take this picture?

Can you guess where I took this picture?

Some clues:

• It is at the longest pedestrian shopping street of Europe.
• The street is in one of the most beautiful and environment friendly city.
• A large number of people bike to work in this city.

You can cheat and refer to Internet. Let us see who answers first.

Guess who are these people?

Let us see if you can guess who these people are and where I took this picture. Some hints. This place is popular for:

1. Relaxing vacation and beaches
2. Islands
3. Invention of a machine that made this world a small place
4. History

But then who are these people? What are they doing on this beach?

(Click on the image to see an enlarged version)

PS:- Yes. It is a picture of actors of a play. See details in my next post The Lost Colony : Outer Banks

Looks opulent: Can you guess this place?

Picture captures expensive chandeliers, luxurious furniture, golden colored plating on the wall corners and of course beautiful carpets. Can you guess where did I take this picture? Here are a few hints:

1. This place is in a beautiful city with a river flowing through the center.
2. This English speaking country has been recently in the news for two important unrelated reasons.

Let us see who can guess first!

(Update:- At the time of this update, Lord Mani, Rama, Kavita and Harman have correctly identified the picture being part of Dublin Castle correctly. See my next post here.)

Giant Gate..Can you guess the place (Updated)

This giant gate is a popular attraction in the center of a big city. The knobs or nails on the door are presumably gold. Similar to golden plate on lower end, the door has golden plate on the top end but not visible in the picture. This gate (along with other buildings of this tourist spot) was constructed more than 500 years ago. To give you an idea of the height of the gate, the person in this picture is around 6 feet tall.

Can you guess the city and/or this Heritage site?


(Answer:- Most of you are right. It is indeed Forbidden City, Beijing, China. I guess I am dealing with a set of well traveled, well read and intelligent people. Added a posted on the Forbidden City - here)

Obvious is not so Obvious: Answer to Lovely Lake Quiz

(Before I start this post, I would like to thank everyone that commented on my earlier post.  I truly appreciate the encouragement and spirit.)

A Lebanese American artist, Kahlil Gibran’s quote reads “Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed.”  By chance, this photograph attempts to prove the same but not completely. Fog masks the houses and surroundings and hides the reality to a certain extent. 

It is a picture of a small man-made lake behind our house. It is nice but nowhere close to any tourist spot of Kashmir, Tamilnadu, China, Japan or Brazil.

Knowing it is not unusual to build housing subdivisions with lakes in America, NRIGirl picked up the obvious answer. Usha analyzed the picture and used the simplest interpretation of “Whenever I travel back here, I feel happy” to deduce the answer. Kiran, being in love with her hometown, made an understandable assumption that most beautiful place on the earth has to be my hometown. She is right.

Missing the obvious is not uncommon. Lack of information, too much or too little thinking can make you miss the obvious. Initially by not supporting common devices like printers and other non IBM equipment, IBM’s OS/2 could not penetrate personal computer market while Microsoft sold millions of copy of MS Windows. The Japanese did not see the obvious flaw in attacking Pearl Harbor. Here is an interesting article on The Science of Missing the Obvious.

My conclusion, it is either Art or Science; sometimes obvious is not so obvious.

(Author’s Note: - Typically I stick to one theme in a post but this time like a Bollywood movie I tried several unrelated topics like deception, photography, Art, Science and technology. Therefore I am looking forward to more comments.)

Lovely Lake - Where is it?

This is a beautiful lake with a fountain. Can you guess where is it -City/Country?.

Few hints:-

1. It is the most beautiful place on the earth.

2. Whenever I travel back here, I feel happy.

2. You probably come across this place in my blog before. 

Old Salem

(Sonu solved an earlier quiz ‘Who is the photographer?’ and now quickly figured out this one too.)

Old Salem is around 100 miles from our home in Cary, North Carolina. North Carolina, around 250 miles south of the US capital Washington DC; is a picturesque state with the Smoky Mountains on the west, beautiful beaches on the east, scenic walking trails, numerous lakes and parks in all three geographic regions.

Old Salem is a little town in Piedmont region. Old Salem Historic District is a National Historic Landmark.

Originally built in 1700s by Moravians who emigrated from Moravia province of Czech Republic, the town has been restored by recreating shops, houses and church showcasing the culture of Moravians settlement in 1800s. Besides the buildings, it is working town with costumed people making furniture or baking bread using earlier period techniques. In the Old Salem Museum, the visitors can interact with the living history skilled blacksmiths, tinsmiths, bakers and carpenters practicing their skills.

Old Salem provides a unique, creative and an effective method to learn history by watching (or living) it firsthand.

Quiz Time: Where is this place?

Always looking for unusual places for summer travels, we found this quaint town. Located in a technological advanced country, the town reminds us the history and culture. Most buildings are old and original. Sugar cakes and coffee are great. Adults as well as kids find this place very interesting.

Where is this place? Which city / country?

Any guesses?

For answer, details and more pictures, please wait for my next post.

Answer to "Guess what is this picture" and a difficult question

Yes! Everyone got it right. It is a picture of two live human beings enacting as statues to earn a living. In Rio de Janeiro, a city of oil, media, and telecommunication companies and with the largest recipients of tourists in South America, they stood like still images in a hot, humid and sultry summer day near a famous monument to bring in some cash. Unfortunately we have millions of people like them in India too.

This brings up a difficult question in my mind.

The Indian community in the USA raised and spent thousands of dollars to install statues of already famous, well respected and beyond prizes Mahatma Gandhi, in several metropolitan areas of the USA including one in Raleigh. Assuming Gandhi could see us, the thoughts in my mind are:

“Would not we make Gandhi happier if we use the same money to uplift the poor so that they don’t have to enact statues? Would not the father of Indian nation approve spending the same money to feed hungry children instead of making his statues? Would not we make, the theist saint who prayed in his Ashram, proud if we use the same resources to educate underprivileged instead of constructing buildings to worship the God, which presumably exist everywhere?”

It is not hard to guess my answer. 

What is your answer? Please do leave in the comments. Thanks.

Guess what is this picture?

While roaming on the streets of a famous tourist destination of a fast growing economy, I took several photographs including this one. Photographs of buildings, landmarks and natural beauty are good but this picture signifies a particular and unique fact of life. What is it? Can you guess?

Gandhi's statue

Most people in the world recognize that it is a statue of unparalleled Mahatma Gandhi. Sitting in a moving car, I took this picture on a hazy day. Located at one of the busiest intersection of a large city, the statue pays tribute to India’s great leader in a foreign land that does not have a large population of Indians. Situated on a coast, this city is a very popular tourist destination.

Let us see who can guess this city.

Answer of the "Who is the photographer?" Quiz

(Post updated on 4th May 2010 11:30PM EST USA Time.
Sonu solved this quiz in no time. The excerpts from Sonu's email have been added at the end of this post. Please do read that.)


We came across an enthusiastic photographer while admiring the wax figures of the world leaders, the Hollywood and the Bollywood stars at Madame Tussauds museum, London. She was taking her own sweet time to complete the shot. Like several other courteous spectators, we stopped for her to complete the shot. The flash never turned on. The camera would not click. Careful examination of the girl revealed the deception. She was a wax figure. Slightly embarrassed, we smiled and I took the picture of the wax figure of the photographer. I found this to be the most intriguing and creative method to demonstrate the talent of the creators.

I tried the same method to show the beauty of the wax figures but ‘Sonu’ clearly caught me.

Sonu, great job. I am very interested to know how you figured it out. Please email me if you can and I will publish it here or capture in the comments.

My email address is :- arealblogger@gmail. com

Some more pictures from the museum.

Recently one of my friend emailed with this link of a wax museum in India. I think it is pretty good. Check it out and decide yourself.





Excerpts from Sonu’s email

"Armed with engineering background, strong analysis skills and a wise professor’s advice to be observant, I examined the key object i.e. the picture in the quiz. Careful observation of the picture exposed unusual shine in the fingers. Zooming and reviewing enlarged view of the abnormal fingers confirmed my suspicion and I ‘cracked’ the quiz."

Quiz: Who is the photographer?

Let us see if it is easy to identify the photographer in this picture.

She is always surrounded by a lot of people. People wait around her to complete her shot. She always uses the same camera. She never uses the flash though she has one attached to the camera. She lets casual photographers take her pictures. Living in one of the most beautiful city in the world, she never travels. She does not talk to anyone yet can be deceptive.

Guess who is she?

Sundial Quiz

I took lots of pictures in my last visit to a foreign land. This country is full of history and technological advancements. Situated in the downtown area of a big city, this tourist spot attracts many visitors from all over the world. A sundial, located in the heart of this beautiful place, is captured by millions of digital cameras. Try to guess where this sundial and place are. This quiz is open to readers around the world.

Scenic Street

Driving home at dusk, a scenic view cheered me up. Luckily I had my camera in the car and the light was just enough to take some pictures. I am sharing this with my fellow bloggers to have a glimpse of Cary, North Carolina. It is beautiful. Is not it?


To all RTP readers, I have a quiz for you. I will give you some hints:


“There are no shops, malls or strip malls on this street. You will not find any gas station or bank. No day care, doctor’s office or restaurant. Yet it is a well traveled street. A large number of Cary, Morrisville and Apex residents come here frequently with children. Occasionally you see people from Chapel Hill, Durham and Holy Springs.”


Guess this beautiful street and win a prize.