Prelims of the Ge quiz conducted in the Quiz Fest of Hansraj in 2011.

1. 1
In Muslim Society, they used to hold respectable positions.
They were especially suitable to guard sacred relics and
great sanctuaries. The shirt of Mohammed in Cairo was
guarded by them as was the The Great Mosque in Mecca.
Hajjis would kiss their hands on their way to see the Ka’ba.
They soon rose to positions of power in Mameluke Egypt,
Ottoman Turkey and most prominently in Mughal India.
According to the Venetian traveller Niccolao Manucci,’All
people of quality have them in their service and all other
officials, servants and slaves are bound to account to them
for all they do.‘ As officials and as singers, dancers and
conjurors they continued to be prominent figures in
Safdarjung’s Delhi. Who are ‘they?’

3. 2
• Eugène de X is a fictional character from La Comédie humaine series of
novels by Honoré de Balzac. He appears as a main character in______
(1835) and his social advancement in the post-revolutionary French world
depicted by Balzac can be followed through X's various appearances in
other books of the series.
• X is initially portrayed as an ambitious young man of noble (albeit poor)
extraction who is at times both envious of and naive about high society.
Although he is ready to do anything to achieve his goals, he spurns the
advice of Vautrin (the series' dark criminal mastermind) and instead uses
his own wits and charm (especially through relationships with women,
such as his cousin madame de Beauséant) to arrive at his ends. His
eventual social success in the fictional world of the Comédie humaine is
frequently contrasted with the tragic failure of another young parvenu in
the series: Lucien de Rubempré (who accepts the aid of Vautrin and ends
his life by his own hands).
• In French today, to refer to someone as a X is to call them an ambitious
"arriviste" or social climber.

5. 3

7. 4

8. Alberto Korda

9. 5
• X is slang for a low-paying, low-prestige dead end job that requires
few skills and offers very little chance of intracompany
advancement. X was in use at least as early as 1986, according to
the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which defines it as "An
unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, esp. one created by
the expansion of the service sector." Lack of job security is
common. The term was coined by sociologist Amitai Etzioni, and
appeared in the Washington Post on August 24, 1986 in the article
"X are Bad for Kids". The term was popularized by Douglas
Coupland’s 1991 novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
Culture, described therein as "a low-pay, low-prestige, low-dignity,
low benefit, no-future job in the service sector. Frequently
considered a satisfying career choice by people who have never
held one.

11. 6

13. 7
• Z is a variant of "that’s what she said.” Instead of
referring to sexual connotations, it is used to refer to
spending a lot of money, making a mess, or fucking up
very badly.
• X: Oh man, I really screwed the pooch on that one.
Y: Z!
X: It's going to take me all day to clean this mess up.
Y: Z!
X: I'm paying tonight. The sky is the limit.
Y: Z!

14. That’s what BP said!

15. 8
• X is one of Lavoisier’s assistants, who was among
the people who physically defended King Louis
XVI and Marie Antoinette from a mob during the
French Revolution. After his father narrowly
escaped the guillotine and the family house was
burnt down, he escaped with his family to the
United States. In his new home, he used the
expertise he had gained under Lavoisier in nitrate
extraction to set up a gunpowder manufacturing
unit. What was his name (just the surname will
do), under which he set up this company?

17. 9

19. 10
X crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly
associated with detective stories, distinguished
by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and
sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John
Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell
Hammett over the course of the decade, and
refined by Raymond Chandler beginning in the
late 1930s. X?

20. Harboiled

21. 11
For the role of X, Y advertised in newspapers
looking for boys of five to seven years
age. Several boys turned up in response, but
none of them met the expectation of the
director. Finally, Y’s wife spotted a boy in their
neighbourhood as a possible candidate. This
boy, Subir Banerjee, was eventually cast as X.

23. 12
• The word was originally two Latin terms, "locum"
meaning in place of, and "teneris" meaning
holding, together the phrase applied to anyone
"holding in place of" someone else. Over time the
word ‘locum’ developed into what it is today. It is
possible that when the English heard the French
pronounce the compound word X, they perceived
a slurring between the first and second syllables.
Today, most English speaking nations except the
United States pronounce X the way the English
do.

24. LIEUTENANT

25. 13
• The ancient name of the city refers to it as a "place of sacrifice",
and is believed to be the spot where Brahma offered his first
sacrifice after creating the world. For Hindus of India, Y was an
important part of their territory. The area became a part of the
Mauryan and Gupta empires of the east and the Kushan Empire of
the west before becoming part of the Kannauj Empire. X became a
part of the Mughal Empire after their invasion of India in 1526. The
Mughal emperor Akbar built a magnificent fort in X. The city was
the scene of Maratha incursions before colonial rule was imposed
over India. In 1765, the British established a garrison at Fort X. The
annual convention of the Indian National Congress was held on the
extensive grounds of Darbhanga Castle, X in 1888 and 1892. Identify
the city X.

26. ALLAHABAD

27. 14
• X Stadium in Chofu, Tokyo, Japan is the home of the F.
C. Tokyo and Tokyo Verdy 1969 soccer teams. X’s
signature product, Y, was first marketed in Japan in
1909, having been discovered and patented by Kikunae
Ikeda. He found that the most important compound
within seaweed broth for common use was actually a
____ salt, which seemed to give out a unique taste
sensation. Incidentally, Y is known more widely as X!
The literal translation of X is “Essence of Taste,” used as
a trademark for the company’s Y. As of Feb 2009, X
produces around 33% of the world’s Y. Identify X and Y.

29. 15

31. 16

33. 17
• X is an English diver, who specialises in the 10 metre platform
event and is currently the FINA World Champion. He started diving
at the age of seven, and is a member of Plymouth Diving Club. He
has made an impact in national and international competition at
age 9. He represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics,
where he was Britain's youngest competitor, the youngest
competitor of any nationality outside the sport of swimming, and
the youngest to participate in a final. In the first post-Rome 2009
World Championships edition of the FINA World Diving Rankings for
the ten-metre platform, he reached a new career best ranking of
number one. He lives in Plymouth with father Robert, mother
Debbie and two brothers, William and Ben. He won two gold
medals for England at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, in the 10
metre synchro diving (with Max Brick) and the 10m Individual
Platform competition

35. 18
• XY is an idiom for the bottom of the sea: the state of death
among drowned sailors. It is used as a euphemism for death
at sea. The origins of the name are unclear and many
theories have been put forth, including incompetent sailors,
a pub owner who kidnapped sailors, or that X is another
name for the devil. This nautical superstition was
popularized in the 19th century.
• The earliest known reference of the negative connotation of
X occurs in the "Four Years Voyages of Capt. George
Roberts", by the author Daniel Defoe, published in 1726 in
London.
• “Some of Loe's Company said, They would look out some
things, and give me along with me when I was going away;
but Ruffel told them, they should not, for he would toss
them all into XY if they did.”

37. 19

39. 20
+
=?

41. 21
• This practice dates back to the Middle Ages and
includes Christmas wassailing. X resembles the late
medieval practice of souling, when poor folk would go door
to door receiving food in return for prayers for the dead
on All Souls Day . It originated in Ireland and
Britain, although similar practices for the souls of the dead
were found as far south as Italy. Shakespeare mentions the
practice in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of
Verona (1593). Almost all pre-1940 uses of the term X are
from the western United States and Canada. X spread from
the western United States eastward, stalled by sugar
rationing that began in April 1942 during World War II and
did not end until June 1947..

43. 22
"Wow, India has now joined the elite club of
China, Iran, North Korea and suchlike in the area
of Internet censorship.“
- Who? About what in mid 2009?