New Delhi, Nov 11: A rare combination that arrives once in 100 years, today's calender date 11.11.11, has been greeted with a mixture of awe, amazement and increduility with the numerical oddity dominating conversations, including in the online space and spurring people into new beginnings.
Today's date, which reads the same forward as well as backward, has been a fascinating diversion for mathematicians who point out that 2011 is a prime number - a positive whole number that is divisible only by itself and by the number one.
“Notice how it can be written as the sum of either three consecutive prime numbers or 11 consecutive prime numbers - three and 11 both being primes themselves,” says R Shukla, a mathematics professor.
Apart from maths buffs who showed off their numerical abilities, the significance of the day has not been lost on popular culture and the film world.
Two film enthusiasts - Ranjan Singh and Vikas Chandra-have produced “Project 11”, a thriller that was shot in 11 cities in the world, with collaboration of 11 directors across the globe. The film was planned for release today at precisely 11.11 am.
Filmmakers Tarsem Singh and Imtiaz Ali also planned the release of their films “Immortals” and “Rockstar” today.
In Hollywood Warner Brothers announced plans of releasing on DVD and Blu-ray disc of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”.
South Indian actress Mamta Mohandas reportedly announced her engagement on this day. Several couples planned in advance to tie the knot today to benefit from what they considered the day's lucky combination.
Many expecting mothers were also seen asking their doctors to either prepone or postpone their deliveries to take advantage of the day.
Several marketers cashed in on the unique date to showcase their company. The Union Bank of India placed an eye catching advertisement in major dailies across the country announcing the simultaneous opening of 111 new branches to commemorate its 93rd Foundation Day.
World Pen stores William Penn announced its 11-11-11 sale offering a 11 per cent discount on all its brands to celebrate the day.
Various other brands of jewelery and other marketers too carried a range of advertisements offering a range of offers and schemes.
Doomsday prophesies in blogs and discussions in the cyber world refereed to the Mexican civilisation of the Mayans whose 26,000 years old calender ends on December 21, 2012 at 11.11. Bloggers reported how they observed a minute of silence at 11.11 am to commemorate the day marking the end of World War I.
“On November 11, 1918, fighting in World War I came to an end following the signing of an armistice between the Allies and Germany that called for a ceasefire effective at 11 am- it was on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month,” commented one blogger.
On Facebook people took to congratulating those who were born on November 11.
“I was born on 11/11/42 as were my father and grandfather. I was born at 11 pm so I guess I am triply lucky. I bought a lottery ticket so I hope it is lucky enough to win,” said Deena Goldenberg Gordon in a Facebook post.
Another Facebooker Alberto posted on the social networking site, “If your attention has been drawn to clocks and watches at exactly 11:11, then read the following. Solara's and Uri's opinions: The endless reoccurrence of these hours 11:11, 11:01, 11:10, 10:01, 10:11, 10:10, 1:01 represents a positive connection and a gateway to the mysteries of the universe and beyond.”
Yet another post read, “Happy 11/11/11: It's a ‘ones' of a kind day.”
On Twitter some people greeted each other reminding followers of the date, while others pointed out about other pallindrome dates 09/09/09 and 10/10/10.
“After Dec 12th 2012, it will be 88 years before you next have to put up with status messages about date palindromes,” read one tweet.
