Sunday morning quiz: Rivers of the world

After memorizing the names of countries, their capitals and currencies (got stuck with the flags with one third done), tying to now learn about the Top 50 Rivers in the world (by length). Learnt some fascinating facts. There are about 10-12 rivers in the Top 50 that I had never heard the name of!!

See how many of these you might get. The answers are posted here.

1. Which is the country that has most number of rivers in it? (The answer might surprise you)
2. Which country has the most number of Top 50 (by length) rivers running thru it? (It is a whopping 11 of them!)
3. Which river runs thru the most number of countries?
4. Which is the largest country with no rivers at all? (It used to have one long time back)
5. Which is the longest river entirely in one country? (Hint: Second longest such river is also in the same country)
6. Which is the river that has the most number of country capitals on its banks?
7. Which river has two country capitals bang opposite to each other on the two banks?
8. Which river (in the Top 50) has a country capital on it that is an anagram of the river name itself (but two different words)?
9. The longest river is the Nile. The widest is the Amazon. Which is the deepest river?

And finally a controversial one… since Guinness Book of World Records withdrew this category. So I am going by the recorded length of all rivers in the world.

10. What is the shortest river in the world? (It is barely 18 meters – yes meters. Apparently, if there is a constant flowing water, it is considered a river. I could find at least 7 rivers that are not even 100 meters long!!)

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1 November 2024

The story of Australia trip is incomplete without this

While we were in the Australian Outback, Sharmila and I delved into a bit of the Aboriginal art. There were places that would bus in the womenfolk from the villages and give them all the materials for creating art during the day and get them back to their villages in the evening. We learnt a lot of their style of art.

There are a lot of dots. The dots is the way they told their stories. A stick would be used to stamp on the ground to create the dots. The shapes have stories borne out of their mythologies.

We had been eyeing a couple of paintings for a few days. This one was a large one – 3.5 feet by 6.5 feet. And the other one 3.5 feet by 3.5 feet. This one caught our eyes because of the detail and the resplendence of the colors. The other one was not as striking… at least to our eyes. But it was costlier.

We asked the folks there why the apparent dissonance. Were we missing something? We indeed were. In the rules of the Aboriginal villages, the price pf a painting was a function of the age of the painter – not the size or intricacy. A much elderly lady had painted the other painting we had our eyes on. That is how respect looks like in the villages. You do not have to buy it but it will be priced higher out of sheer deference to elders!!

Buying this was easy. Getting it to US was another adventure. Unlike the large piece of art that the handicapped folks were making in Jordan, these folks do not deliver. So, we had to get it dismantled, rolled up in a tube and then took it to our hotel room.

A bit of research showed that we were not allowed it take it as a carry on luggage!! As a last resort, we went to the Australian Post. The friendliest people ever!!! They took care of us and all custom hassles without fear or favor!

It took some time but the precious painting eventually made its way to our house. Having an artist wife has some advantages. One of them is there are folks who will do all sorts of custom framing for large stuff very cheap for you.

And then it stood in our house waiting for a handyman to eventually put it up in our bedroom. (I was not going to take a chance with this impeccable piece of art and put it up myself).

Every morning when I wake up, right there is a memory of the Aboriginals from the Australian Outback in front of my eyes!!