There was a time when you needed a fortune to buy an encyclopaedia. Only the affluent people had stuff like the Encyclopaedia Britannica (don’t know if there was an Encyclopaedia Americana or Indica ever!) on their bookshelves. The elegant tomes of knowledge bound beautifully in leather would instil confidence in the veracity of every statement made therein due to their reputation, and due to the fact that there was no other credible source of knowledge! Today we have all the information that we want on a click of the mouse or a touch on the screen. 

Wikipedia is supposed to be an open source encyclopaedia inviting entries from the general public. Undoubtedly, it is an invaluable source of information and the first place where the web leads us to whenever we want to be elucidated about any topic. It turns fifteen now, and is hustling and bustling with information, though the authenticity of the information has to be taken with some caution....

Only once I tried to make an entry into wikipaedia. During my conversations over the radio with my ham radio friend, the late Derek Jeffries of Bombay (VU2 BEJ), I learnt that the word “Tombola” is of Indian origin, probably from the days of the Raj! The housie game got the aforesaid name from the native “Tum Bola!” It implied the shout which a player gives as soon as he/she has completed a row, house, etc. and wants to claim a prize. It means, “You called!” I put up that version on Wikipedia, but ran into a headlong online fight with an Italian in whose name the original entry for Tombola was credited. He insisted that the word came from the Italian word “tombolare” meaning, a raffle, and would not countenance any other version being put up there. After that, I was informed through email that the matter has been referred to an adjudication panel of Wikipedia. I never bothered to pursue it. It appears I lost, and the Italian guy won.... The version given to me by Derek never got published permanently on Wikipedia! Who knows what the truth is?

So, in the end, the stuff put on Wikipedia has to be taken with a pinch of salt.... 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombola_(raffle)