What is Qwikipedia?
Ever been on Wikipedia to look up an article? More often than not, we start with one topic, click on a few links and within no time are reading about something else.
Qwikipedia is a game that tries to quench this curiosity in us. The objective is to get to a particular wiki page, starting from a specific article, using minimal clicks. There is no single correct answer, so we might surprise ourselves by finding new routes each time!
Friday’s Free rider
>Kobe Bryant —> >Punjab region
Kobe Bryant
On Tuesday night, Kobe Bryant went past the 32,000 career points mark in NBA. He is now the fourth highest scorer in NBA history. Considering he was the youngest player to reach 30,000 points when he did it a couple of years back, you might place a bet that those in the top 3 cannot take their place for granted any more. Especially since Bryant is the highest among active players.
Bryant started his NBA career in 1996. Having been around for 18 years, you might expect him to have played in a few teams in this period. But no, it has been with Los Angeles Lakers that Bryant has been throughout. And in that period, Bryant has won five NBA championships with them. Lakers, however, have had a really tough start early in the season this year.
China
Yao Ming, a retired professional Chinese basketball player, took part in the NBA from 2002 till he retired in 2011. He was not only hugely popular in China, but the entire world took notice of him; at 7 foot 6 inches, it is hard to go unnoticed.
But tell you what: despite Ming's popularity and the fact that he hailed from China, Bryant's NBA jersey became the top-selling in China throughout 2006-07 season. So whenever Bryant does make his way to China, he ends up being mobbed by thousands of his loving fans.
Did you know that China, along with Russia, are the only two countries that shares its border with 14 other countries? Considering their size and location, it might not actually come as a surprise though.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan is one of those countries that share a border with China. A landlocked country in central and south Asia, Kabul is the largest and capital city of the country.
Punjab region
The geographical region of South Asia that comprises parts of eastern Pakistan and northern India is known as the Punjab region. The word Punjab literally means (The Land of) Five Waters.
The Punjab region has a varied ethnic background. Apart from the natives of the region, settlers from Mongolia, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan were also integrated into the Muslim Punjabi society with the advent of Islam.
Puneetinder Kaur Sidhu has penned a book "Experience Punjab on the road" that takes the reader on a drive through the popular and lesser-known destinations in Punjab.
So the path that we have traversed today is:
Kobe Bryant —> China —> Afghanistan —> Punjab region
Three clicks! Hop over. It’s time for the next question:
Monday’s Marauder
Send in your paths for the above to school@thehindu.co.in with the subject “Qwikipedia”.
