Challenge Your Thinking

Gandhi, A Sandal & A Train

One day Gandhi was on his way to the train station in Calcutta. As usual he was running a little late, having come from a meeting with other resistance leaders who were
trying to rest India away from colonial Britain.
When he finally arrived at the train station, many people recognized him and a crowd
soon thronged around him, hoping to hear him speak.
He explained that he was on his way to Benares, and had to catch his train, begging
their pardon and wishing them well. When he finally reached the platform with his two
traveling companions, the train was already pulling out of the station.
The three men had to run as fast as they could to catch their train. After Gandhi had
made sure his two companions were safely onboard ahead of him, he jumped up onto
the step of their third class car.
Just as he did so, the train lurched, and he found him about to lose his balance, so with
a lunge forward Gandhi grabbed onto the cars outside hand railing.
As he struggled to regain his balance, one of his sandals fell off, and rolled back onto
the stations platform. He quickly climbed the remaining step onto the car, set his bag
down, and looked back outside towards his fallen sandal.
What do you think he did next? Write your answer below.

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Challenge Your Thinking

A Simple Case of Suicide

It was a hot August afternoon when Inspector Clueso, the renowned senior
investigator from Scotland Yard, arrived at the crime scene. The uniformed officers had
already cordoned off the area around the old warehouse located along the banks of the
Thames.
Nothing has been touched inside, inspector, said one of the officers. The body was
discovered by the watchman over there about 2:45. Would you like to speak to him?
Thank you, officer. Let me examine the scene and see the body first. Ill talk to the
watchman right after, replied Inspector Clueso.
The inspector was then led to the door of the warehouse. Thank you, officer. Wait for me
here, please.
As Inspector Clueso entered the old warehouse alone, the first thing he noticed was the
emptiness of the building. The building was devoid of anything: no crates, boxes, pallots,
machinery, scaffolding, ladders, not even a table or a chair. The only thing in the entire room
was the dead man.
The inspector surmised that the deceased was a man in his early to mid thirties. The cause
of his death was obvious even to an untrained eye. There he was hanging by his neck from
a rope in the middle of the warehouse. The rope had been thrown over the buildings main
center support beam, and the noose had been skillfully tied.
The inspector did not walk directly towards the hanging body. Instead he walked around the
perimeter of the warehouse, looking for anything out of the ordinary: a footprint, disturbed
dust, anything that would show signs of a struggle. He then began to make smaller
concentric circles around the room as he gradually got closer and closer to the body.
Inspector Cluesos skilled eyes took in everything: the rooms dimensions (about 15 x 20
metres), the distance from the support beam to the ground (about 4 metres), the ropes
length (about 2 metres), the bodys distance above the ground (about 1 metre), and the area
directly below the body. The only thing peculiar was the small puddle of water directly below
the deceaseds body. After stopping to examine the fluid for a moment, Inspector Clueso
made one more circle around the hanging body, noticing how the deceaseds feet were
about level with the inspectors stomach.
Inspector Clueso returned to the warehouses entrance, stepped outside into the afternoon
heat, and found the helpful officer waiting for him. A very strange murder, wouldnt you say,
Inspector?
No, on the contrary, my good man. This is a simple case of suicide, replied Inspector
Clueso.
How did Inspector Clueso reach this conclusion?

Answers
1) Gandhi took off his other sandal and threw it towards the first, so that the finder would
have a useful pair of shoes.
2) The deceased climbed up onto a block of ice, tied the rope around his neck, and
waited until the block melted.