64 Squares {Story of a Sage who is said to have discovered Chess}

Once upon a time, there lived a cruel king who tortured people. He thought nothing was impossible for him. A sage approached him once and advised, “O king ! Do not think you are all powerful. Without the support of other people you cannot survive”. The proud and angry king shouted, “Now, you prove this or you die”.

The sage then brought him a game of chess, wherein the entire army struggled and sacrificed themselves in order to save their king.

The king was much impressed by the game. He wanted to give the sage a gift. He said, “O Rishi ! You can ask for anything you want and I shall give it to you”.
The sage humbly said, “Forget it my king. You cannot give what I want”.
“There is nothing that I cannot give, you fool”! roared the king.
The sage humbly replied, “Then cover the squares of this chess board in the following way :- Place 1 rice grain on the first square, 2 grains on the second square, 4 on the third, 8 on the fourth and so on”.

The king thought that this sage was a big fool as he did not ask for gold or jewellery. It is going to be only a few grains of rice thought the king. He ordered his men to fulfill the sage’s wish.

Within a few hours the men returned with hung heads to inform the king that even the entire stock of grains in the godowns of the kingdom were not sufficient to fulfill the sage’s wish. The king asked for forgiveness from the sage. Can you calculate the exact number of grains required to fulfill the sage’s wish ?

Are You Better Than Your Children ?

The serial “Kya Aap Panchvi Paas Se Tej Hai?”, brings to the fore the point that though we adults expect our children to be more knowledgeable and successful than others, we ourselves are unable to equal them when faced with the problems / questions of their standards, questions from topics through which we had already passed and which we are expected to be familiar with ! Isn’t this a bit absurd ? Even after fifteen to twenty years of schooling we are not capable of answering simple questions which we are supposed to be familiar with and which we should be able to face with ease ! Aren’t we putting a bit too much unwanted pressure on our children this way ?