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to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
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rights.
This Quiz, like Wikipedia, is released under a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Share-alike license.
Most of the content has been shamelessly pilfered from there anyways….
3. Literature
Culture Literature Entertainment
14% 9%
Arts
Science
6% Pop-Culture
Entertainment
13% Business
Etymology
5% Sports
Arts
Food and Drinks 6% History
6%
Animal Kingdom
Pop-Culture Food and Drinks
Animal Kingdom
History 17% Etymology
3%
8%
Business Science
8% Culture
Sports
5%
India
No-Geo
India
18% Asia-Pac
26%
Africa Middle East
6% America
Asia-Pac Latin America
4% Europe
Europe
21% Middle East Africa
America 5% No-Geo
18%
Latin America
2%
These graphs have been generated by a random number generator , using a Microsoft software
Believe them at your own peril….
5. Kekule: Each question has vague
and suspicious links to preceding
and succeeding questions.
Scoring: 1 point apiece
If you get more than 7 correct, a
bonus of 5.
6. NMT, AMPS, TACS, C-450, RTMI, TZ-801, TZ-802, TZ-803
All of these gradually got replaced by what generic, short and nightmare causing
(to certain quarters) term?
1
7. Writer of this comic book series – Dial
H - is a Ph.D. in international relations
from the London School of
Economics, a serious Socialist who ran
for Parliament in 2001 and has a first
name derived from the Cockney
rhyming slang for “mate”.
Just give me the Cockney rhyming
slang for mate.
2
8. The Shanghai World Financial
Centre building – the second
tallest building in the world
today (?)
By what name do locals refer
to this skyscraper?
3
10. 5
Which idea, first tried out a on a bitch named
Esmeralda, came about when Frank Gerow
walked into a blood bank that had started
putting liquids in plastic bags as opposed to
glass bottles, and “felt” a striking similarity?
11. 6
You may encounter them on Taiwanese streets, where they are known by the commodity
they peddle. So what are these beauties referred to as?
12. 7
A fast growing phenomenon in Kerala, they are called
the X gangs. Those who hire their services give them
a X. Mostly in their twenties, they roam around on
motorbikes or ill-maintained Indian SUVs. They are
ferociously protective of their territories, fight on the
streets, and operate 24/7. The state is now teeming
with them. They have also started subcontracting
part of the X to college students.
13. 8
Dr. Anu Vaidyanathan
Runs a company named PatNMarks – an IP
consulting firm.
Computer Science Faculty at IIT Ropar and
visting faculty in IIM A.
Professional in which unlikely (for her) sport?
14. 9
Oscar Pistorius aka “The fastest man on no foot!”. He is also referred to by which
“cinematic title”?
15. 22 questions
2 points apiece
(part points at my discretion)
16. Francesco Coltelli, a Sicilian fisherman of the 17th century has
two main claims to fame. One is for the fact that he is supposed
to have invented/improvised Gelato and is often called “The
father of Italian gelato”
The other more important contribution, with far-reaching
impact in the worlds of arts, literature, politics, philosophy
, music, paintings, and what-have-you-not (possibly in an
oblique way, quizzing as well), pertains to something that he did
in France in 1686 (and named after the last major historian of
the ancient age who brought to light going-ons during the reign
of the emperor Justinian)
What? 1
18. In the late 18th century, the king of Mewar started a private
postal system that was hugely successful in providing postal
services in a region infested with murderous thugs and dacoits.
What unique and intuitive feature did the wise king incorporate
into the service to ensure its success?
3
20. The two Indian gentlemen below continued
the grand tradition of something that was
started by the duo on the left in 1958.
They are the only two Indians in quite a long
list, but it is quite possible that this number
is revised upwards as the wheel of time rolls
on….
6
Puneet Gupta Nripendranath Chakravarty
~ 2010 ~ 1975
21. 7
In March 1917, this German heavy aircraft make, capable of crossing the English Channel
began bombing London directly causing widespread damage.
The aircraft became a feared household name.
What was its name? What other “havoc” did it precipitate?
22. 8
He died at the age of 33 in 2004.
Analysis by doctors seemed to indicate that the reasons of his death
harked back to an incident almost 14 years in the past. That incident had
resulted in a hospitalization.
For a brief period of time, an important crossing in Delhi, marked today by
a Vibhor Sogani creation, was named after him.
Which incident? And what is the name of Vibhor Sogani’s creation?
23. The ancient town of Modena is now best known as "the
capital of engines", since the factories of the famous Italian
sports car makers Ferrari, De Tomaso, Lamborghini, Pagani
and Maserati are, or were, located here.
Why culinary artifact, made traditionally from a reduction of
pressed Trebbiano and Lambrusco grapes, which is
subsequently aged for a minimum of 12 years in a battery of
seven barrels of successively smaller sizes, each made of a
different wood - chestnut, acacia, cherry, oak, mulberry, ash
and juniper, originates from Modena?
9
24. 10
In Bali, the indigenous peasant class has a naming
system in which there are only 4 first names:
Wayan, Made, Nyoman and Ketut.
What is the underlying principle? And why, according
to sociologists, did this system arise?
25. 11
• It is said that Banabhatta's X, contains the
earliest reference to Y
“Under this monarch, only the bees quarreled to collect the
dew; the only feet cut off were those of measurements, and
only from Ashtâpada one could learn how to draw up a
__________ ”
X, Y?
26. The black patches that you see in these buildings
is caused by a fungus called the Baudoinia
compniacensis. It is also called the Angel’s Share
fungus.
Why Angel’s Share?
12
27. Who is the odd man out?
Give me two reasons. 13
28. Human beings are members of a
whole
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you've no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot
retain!
the entrance to the Hall of Nations of the UN
building in New York
14
29. 15
A method of eating the creature on the left led to the naming of the artifact on the right.
30. Most Japanese public bath-houses –
the sentos – do not allow people with
tattoos to enjoy their luxurious
comforts.
Why?
16
31. 17
“the gun-toting lady in the silk scarf, dangly earrings, bright
lipstick and high heels” - Che
32. 18
The 600 odd inhabitants of Kini island today are mostly descendants of
the original 167 settlers who “arrived” here by way of Rongerik and
Kwajalein.
Referring to Biblical stories which they had learned from Protestant
missionaries, these 167 original settlers were compared to "the children of
Israel whom the Lord saved from their enemy and led into the Promised
Land” and despite repeated promptings and at least seven retakes, their
chieftain, King Juda confined his on-camera remarks to, "We are willing to
go. Everything is in God's hands.“
So which UNESCO World Heritage site did these 167 original settlers come
from?
34. 20
A Miyazaki project which never got off the ground, as he never got permission.
Someone else’s in a round-about sort of way, and in a very different format did
get off the ground, and became a world wide phenomenon. Whose?
35. • This annual classical music festival is held at the little known town of
Vadhnagar in Gujarat, home to the legendary ____ ____ sisters (it cannot
be fully ascertained if they were twins as many make them out to be)
It is said that they brought back a Raag Deepak induced “burning” Tansen
to health by their singing of the “Malhar” raag but when invited to sing in
Akbar’s court, they committed suicide, as they belonged to the very
conservative Naagar community.
Give me the name of the sisters/festival.
21
36. 22
One of the most famous unintentional
“product placements” in cinema came to an
end in 2010, after 49 years, as a media
company decided to emphasize the word
“International” in the name of a publication it
had taken over.
What was the placement format? Which
publication?
38. Carmen: You're not very tall, are you? 1
X: Well, I, uh, I try to be.
Carmen: Not bad looking. Oh you probably know it. (while
twirling and biting a lock of her hair)
X: Thank you.
Carmen: What's your name?
X: Reilly. Doghouse Reilly.
Carmen: That's a funny kind of name.
X: You think so.
Carmen: Uh, uh. What are you? A prizefighter?
X: No, I'm a shamus.
Carmen: What's a shamus?
39. 2
“Nohkalikai Falls, Cherrapunjee” by Pankaj Kaushal. Why was this suddenly in the
news in early May 2011?
40. 4
• In many African countries, Wabenzi was a
term used to refer to members of the
new, and more often than not, corrupt, ruling
class who superseded the colonial regimes.
• Why Wabenzi?
41. 5
• Operation X , was the overall United States term for the development of
techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes.
This derives ultimately from a phrase in the Book of Isiah in the bible :
They will beat their ______ into ___X____and their spears into pruning
hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for
war anymore. — Isaiah 2:4
42.
43. 7
• During the time of Saladin, the Muslim
families of Goudia and the Nusseibeh, were
assigned specific responsibilities. Inexplicably
enough, this arrangement has persisted into
modern times and the descendants of these
families continue their family tradition.
• What arrangement?
44. 8
• His achievements included:
– Role of ATP in muscular activity
– Folic acid (Vitamin B9) synthesis
– Development of Methotrexate – one of the very first chemotherapy agent
– Discovery of Hetrazane – used by WHO for filariasis treatment
– Discovery of the world’s first tetracycline antibiotic, Aureomycin
• Any one of these achievements should have been enough to guarantee him a
professorship at Harvard. But he was a foreigner, a reclusive, nocturnal, heavily
accented vegetarian who lived in a one-room apartment downtown, befriended
only by other nocturnal recluses.
46. While some say that these
names that you see on the
map refer to the names of
mistresses of one Christian de
Castries, others say that they
merely represent the
alphabets.
That aside, layout of what?
10
47. • The earliest pan European student
exchange program was called the
“European Community Action
Scheme for the Mobility of
University Students”. This has since
been replaced by the Socrates
program and the Lifelong learning
program.
• How was this program more 11
popularly known as?
48. Sahyog (co-operative)
12
Darshani (on-sight)
Muddati (time-bound)
Jokhim (conditional)
Jawabi (acknowledgement)
are considered the main (but non exhaustive)
variants of what?
49. • Suhura Ismail is Ethiopia’s
“Businesswomen of the year” and is a
highly respected entrepreneur in that part
of the world. Ms Ismail owns an airline
company “Suhura Airlines” but her
business empire is founded not on cheap
air-tickets, but on the 30,000 to 40,000
kilograms of “cargo” ferried daily on a fleet
of 40 trucks that she owns, from highlands
of eastern Ethiopia, around Awaday.
What is the basis of Suhura Ismail’s
business empire? 13
50. 14
…… is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it
requires an exclusive devotion as hard a
preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work;
for what is the having to do with dead canvas or
dead marble, compared with having to do with
the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine
Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts.
Who about what?
51. 15
What “concept” was probably first
implemented by the Annalakshmi Janatha
Restaurant in Singapore’s Chinatown?
And in which Delhi establishment, named
after an important pass in Himachal, would
you encounter something similar?
52. 16
An excerpt form Pliny’s Naturalis Historia, 77 A.D.
translates thus:
After the defeat of that mighty monarch, Mithridates, Gnaeus
Pompeius found in his private cabinet a recipe for an antidote
in his own handwriting; it was to the following effect: Take
two dried walnuts, two figs, and twenty leaves of rue; pound
them all together, with the addition of
a _____(a phrase)______; if a person takes this mixture
fasting, he will be proof against all poisons for that day.
53. Amongst the many uncommon musical instruments used
by this “group” include: 17
The Chapman
Stick
The Cimbalom
Airpoles
The Tubulum and The Drumbone
The Shaker Gong
54. • Play is free, is in fact freedom.
• Play is not “ordinary” or “real” life.
• Play is distinct from “ordinary” life both as to locality and duration.
• Play creates order, is order. Play demands order absolute and
supreme.
• Play is connected with no material interest, and no profit can be
gained from it.
As enshrined in a 1938 book by Johan Huizinga, these are the five
principles of “play” .
Which group of like-minded people on the internet take their name
from the title of this book?
18
55. 20
Mr. Aris Kindt was convicted for armed robbery and
sentenced to death by hanging.
He was discussed in the 1999 novel The Rings of Saturn by W.
G. Sebald, and plays a significant role in Laird Hunt's 2006
novel "The Exquisite.“
“Where” would we have encountered Mr Kindt?
56. The Tower of Qabus was built in the
eleventh century by a king whose
body was supposedly suspended in a
glass casket at the top of the tower.
In the early part of the 20th
century, few Westerners had seen
the tower located in the
spectacularly remote Golestan
region of Iran.
Enthralled by this description and
determined to overcome the
difficulties enroute, which classic of
travel literature (according to some
critics : what Ulysses is to the novel
between the wars, and what The
Waste Land is to poetry,) was written
by one Robert Byron?
21
57. Discover magazine once remarked that
it was quite possible for a postal letter
to be addressed to this person using
only the names of his discoveries and
for this letter to be easily delivered!!!
Who would the letter have been
addressed to?
22
58. 10 Questions
Points: - +3/-2
Once the question is completed, I will
provide a 10 sec window to all teams to
decide if they want to answer the question
or not.
If you want to answer, then raise your hand
and WRITE down the answer.
60. Children all over the world
play cook and imitate the
culinary practices of
adults, in however crude a
manner.
What is this practice called
in Japanese, which is
incidentally, also the name
of a restaurant in Delhi?!
2
61. 3
While it is instinctively associated by us with the Mughals, it’s foundations
were actually laid by Praversena II in about 100 AD.
Praversena had built a cottage to facilitate his frequent visits to the
hermitage of a local saint named Sukarma Swami, at the northeastern
corner of a lake, and had given it the name meaning "Abode or Hall of
Love”.
The cottage felt into disuse but in turn lent its name to the surrounding
locality.
Locate and Name this original, which later did give rise to many spin-offs.
62. Cyanoacrylates were invented in 1942 by Dr. Harry Coover
and Fred Joyner of Kodak Laboratories during experiments to
make a transparent plastic suitable for gun sights.
Although not appropriate for the gun sights, they did find that
cyanoacrylates possessed another interesting property which
led to this invention being converted to a useful product – still
very much in use. What?
4
63. What got coined when Robert Kemp, a playwright and
journalist, wrote in 1948: ‘Round the _____ of official
drama, there seems to be more private enterprise than before
… I am afraid some of us are not going to be at home during
the evenings!’.
5
64. This small city located on the Delhi-Shahranpur highway has
three main claims to fame:
– Setting for a Ruskin Bond short story
– Providing the inspiration for the plot of Madhuri Dixit’s comeback
movie
– Night-halt for Lord Krishna while trying to negotiate a truce between
the Kauravas and the Pandavas (from which it probably derives its
name)
6
65. 7
It originated as a patent medicine around 1876 by Dr. Augustin Thompson
of Maine. Thompson claimed that it contained an extract from a
rare, unnamed South American plant, which had supposedly been
discovered by a friend of his, Lieutenant _____ who had used it as a
panacea.
Today in addition to being the state beverage of Maine, it is also a slang
term meaning courage, nerve, or vigour.
What are we discussing?
66. 8
They are not long
The weeping and the laughter
Love and desire and hate
I think they have no portion in us after We pass the gate.
They are not long,
___ ____ __ ____ ___ _____
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.
- Ernest Dowson (1896)
67. 9
Strategic sea corridor with considerable Chinese influence starting from Hainan Island and
extending till Bab el Mandeb. By what “fashionable” name is this corridor more popularly
referred to?
68. One theory says it originates from the large
number of dairy farms in the region which
was the cause for much happiness, other
theories say that it is so because cheese
moulds sold in the region were shaped like
one.
What? 10