Birbal was jester, counsellor, and fool to the great Moghul emperor, Akbar.
The villagers loved to talk of Birbal's wisdom and cleverness,
and the emperor loved to try to outsmart him.
One day Akbar (emperor) drew a line across the floor.
"Birbal," he ordered, "you must make this line shorter, but you cannot erase any bit of it."
Everyone present thought the emperor had finally outsmarted Birbal.
It was clearly an impossible task.
Yet within moments the emperor and everyone else present had to agree that Birbal had made the line shorter without erasing any of it.
How could this be?

In the attached figure, you can see a chessboard and two rooks placed on the chess board. What you have to find is the number of squares that do not contain the rooks. How many are there?

What goes up but never comes down?

Identify the hidden meaning behind this picture?

Use the numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5 and the symbols + and = to make a true equation. Conditions: Each must be used exactly once and no other numbers or symbols can be used.

What number should come in place of the question mark below?

Two-person want to cross a river. Only one boat is present on the riverside that can carry only one person at a time.

However, they still manage to cross the river. How is it possible?

Replace the question mark in the picture below.

John gave half of the apples he had plus one more to Jacob. He gave half of the remaining ones plus one more to James. Now, John was left with just one apple.

Can you find out how many did he have in the beginning?

John is found dead in a bare field. Nobody killed John,
John did not commit suicide.

Inspector Jacob found a bag just a few meters away from John which could save his life. What was in the bag?