It is hard now to believe that in 1902 a tiger was shot under the billiard table (that the big cat emerged from a circus rather than virgin rain-forest, and was shot by a school headmaster, makes the story no less exotic).

ECONOMIST: Pukkah hotels

In high school Purkayastha started a food club--called the Students for the Promotion of Exotic Culinary Experimentation--and began hosting dinner parties that featured colorful fare like duck, live sea urchin, escargot and reindeer.

FORBES: Entrepreneurs