prelude  The Pariharesvara Shiva temple of Dubi village in Kamrup district was built during the Ahom rule. The temple was endowed with three families of bayan, gayan and nati, brought from the Dergaon Neghariting Shiva Doul, for providing music and dances at appointed hours, the natis had to perform twice each day – at the hours of noontime puja and evening arati. Dances were also performed outside the temple on such occasions as the Pausha and Chaitra Samkrantis. These natis wore the same dress as mentioned in our last edition. In recent times, the dancing girls used to wear plain dress and multi-coloured sadis and jackets. Ornaments of gold and silver were profusely worn: galpata, galmadali (necklaces), sona (knobs to pin to the earlobes), nak-phuli (nose pins), silver waistband, muthi (bracelet for the arms), rings for the fingers and toes and bharikharu (bracelet for the ankles) working as payeli. Of the two programmes of dancing before the Lord, the evening one is totally lost to us, because there is no one living who could reproduce the intricate music patterns pertaining to the arati dance on the khol. Among the different movements of the body, the most important are khat (somersault), tangalmochara (slowly moving the upper part of the body backward), and khud (bowing down with the hands stretched forward). E-mail your questions with answers at: only4_pol@yahoo.co.uk or post at: THE COLOSSEUM, Mosaic, Friday Supplement, The Assam Tribune, Guwahati-781003 or SMS at: 9864102417. Send your name in each SMS.

side screen  1) Picture Clue: What are the lines in the map trying to show? (Maharnav Gogoi, AEC, Guwahati)

harmonisers  From Alakananda Medhi, Guwahati – 2) What was the past profession of Andry Rajoelina, the newly appointed President of Madagascar? 3) What did Vicenzo Peruggia steal on August 21, 1911? 4) Which Nobel Laureate for Peace has written the book The Universe in a Single Atom? 5) Kavya Shivashankar from Olathe, Kansas, USA has won which prestigious competition in 2009?

unities  From Jayanta Kumar Nath, Tezpur – 6) What is so significant about these six short films – Entry of Cinematograph, The Sea Bath, Arrival of a Train, A Demolition, Ladies and Soldiers on Wheels and Leaving the Factory? 7) For what will KC Dey, Parul Ghosh and Suprabha Sarkar always be remembered ? 8) Name the playwright whose 1972 novel, in which a group of men swap their wives for look alike robots, inspired the Hollywood flick The Stepford Wives, starring Nicole Kidman.

do-re-me  9) What is special about the McArthur Awards, also known as Genius Grants? (Prosenjit ‘Piklu’ Dutta, Aryapatti, Tezpur) 10) An abnormal and persistent fear of cats is known as? (Manas Pratim Sarma, Lacitpur, Nagaon) 11) Which film has the tagline “Nothing on Earth could come between them”? (Sonmani Das, Nalbari) 12) What is “Mad Money” as far as women is concerned? 13) Saavedra was the last name of which Spanish author? (Manjil P. Saikia, Darrang College, Tezpur) 14) There are five beautiful temples built at Mount Abu in Rajasthan. How are these temples known as? (Munmi Debi, Chapar, Dhubri)

crescendo  15) To whom, in his own words, did Rudyard Kipling dedicate his collection Plain Tales from the Hills? (Jahnabi Goswami, Sivasagar).

answers  1) The route of the Palace On Wheels 2) Disc Jockey (DJ) 3) The painting of Monalisa 4) The Dalai Lama 5) The National Spelling Bee Competition, 2009 6) They were the first silent short films shown in India by the Lumiere Brothers on July 17, 1896 at Watson’s Hotel in Bombay 7) They were the first playback singers in Indian films (Bhagya Chakra, 1935) 8) Ira Levin 9) The awardees cannot apply for the award or be nominated. The award is given on the basis of research done by highly qualified anonymous nominators 10) Ailurphobia 11) Titanic 12) The cash carried by a woman when she goes out on a date, to ensure that she can return home on her own if she gets ‘mad’ or angry 13) Miguel de Cervantes 14) Dilwara Temples 15) ‘To the Wittiest Woman of India’