Shobhit Shubhankar

Spandan 2014General Quiz Finals

The Quizmaster is God.The Quizmaster is the only God.Sleep deprived quizmasters are liable to be

irritable and violent. DO NOT mess around! You have been warned.

Rules of the Game

Are you watching closely?+5

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To infinity... and beyond!+10-5

1) Meant for the demonstration of the conservation of momentum and energy via a series of swinging spheres, when one on the end is lifted and released, the resulting force travels through the line and pushes the last one upward. What is this device called?

1) Newton’s Cradle

2) Instead of using the GDP as a measure of progress, Bhutan uses the GNH. It is an attempt to define an indicator that measures quality of life or social progress in more holistic and psychological terms, instead of only basing it on economic parameters. What does GNH stand for?

2) Gross National Happiness

3) MS Sathyu is a leading Indian film director, stage designer and art director who received the Padma Shri in 1975. Among his most noted works is the critically acclaimed film Garm Hava, based on the partition of India. To most of us nowadays however, he would be more familiar because of a different reason. What am I talking about?

3) Google Search: Reunion

4) Who?

4) Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler

5) Locally known as Salsal and Shamama, the former stood 53 m high and the latter 35 m. They are supposed to have been representations of Vairocana and Sakyamuni, built by the Kushanas between 544-644 AD. On 26 February 2001, after consultations with a college of ulemas, a decree was issued ordering their elimination. When it was done, a spokesperson noted, “It took us twenty days; it was a trying work”. What, or who, were these?

5) The Bamiyan Buddhas

B1) It is believed that the name of this city might have come from the local version of the name Alexander, after Alexander the Great, who founded the city in 330 BC and named it Alexandria in Arachosia. A temple to the deified Alexander as well as an inscription in Greek and Aramaic by Emperor Ashoka, who lived a few decades later, have been discovered here. 

An alternative etymology derives the name of the city from Gandhara, although the city in modern times and the ancient Gandhara are not geographically identical, instead being far away from each other. Which city?

6) Teinopalpus imperialis is a rare species of swallowtail butterfly found from Nepal and north India east to north Vietnam.

For those less lepidopterically inclined, it shares its name with the title taken by Queen Victoria from 1 May 1876, and proclaimed at the Delhi Durbar of 1877, as well as a medal awarded by the British monarch between 1900 and 1947. Gandhi, awarded the medal for his contribution to ambulance services in South Africa, returned it in protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

What is the butterfly’s common name?

6) Kaiser-e-Hind

7) When Pakistan, led by Imran Khan, toured India in 1986-87, they played a one-day match to commemorate the Cricket Club of India’s Golden Jubilee at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. The CCI XI had Roger Binny and Mohammad Azharuddin among others in its ranks, while Wasim Akram, Rameez Raja and Javed Miandad turned up for Pakistan XI. While fielding, Pakistan were a few men short, and a certain member of Mumbai’s Senior League offered himself as a substitute. Who?

7) Sachin Tendulkar

8) In September, 1955 the Indian Coinage Act was amended and it came into force on 1st April, 1957. For public recognition, the new paisa coins were marked as 'Naya Paisa'. What change had been made in the Indian coinage system?

8) The decimalisation of Indian currency

9) What was Google seen to be subtly criticising through this doodle?

9) Anti-gay legislation in Russia

B2) As a protest against the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, who has written this poem?

Through love's great power to be made wholeIn mind and body, heart and soul -Through freedom to find joy, or beBy dint of joy itself set freeIn love and in companionhood:This is the true and natural good.To undo justice, and to seekTo quash the rights that guard the weak -To sneer at love, and wrench apartThe bonds of body, mind and heartWith specious reason and no rhyme:This is the true unnatural crime.

10) What?

10) Large Hadron Collider

11) This is a model of the Viraat Ramayan Mandir being built in Kesaria, Bihar. The complex will contain 18 temples, spread over 110 acres of land. When completed, it will be the largest religious monument in the world, even larger than the one it takes inspiration from. Name the magnificent monument that has inspired its construction.

11) Angkor Wat, Cambodia

12) Its designer French mechanical engineer Louis Réard named it after the group of islands in the Pacific Ocean where the United States had conducted its first peace-time nuclear weapons test. His hope was that it would create an explosive commercial and cultural reaction, similar in intensity to society's response to the nuclear test. It did, and the name stuck with the media and public. What am I talking about?

12) Bikini

Utterly Quizilicious!+5

1) What?

2) Who?

3) Who?

4) Why?

5) Who?

6) Who?

1) What?

1) Shashi Tharoor’s “cattle class” tweet

2) Who?

2)

3) Who?

3) Pran

4) Why?

4) Sachin being awarded the Bharat Ratna

5) Who?

5) Tarun Tejpal

6) Who?

6) Farooq Shaikh

There and Back Again!+10-5

1) Blossoming gregariously only once in 12 years, the Strobilanthes kunthiana flowers have been used by the Paliyan tribal people to calculate their age. Also, a certain mountain range supposedly gets its name from these flowers, owing to the fact that when they bloom, the entire range seems carpeted in a distinctive hue. Which range?

1) Nilgiri Mountains

2) Travelling by train to Bhopal, Indian archaeologist VS Wakankar saw some rock formations similar to those he had seen in Spain and France. On visiting the area along with a team, he discovered several prehistoric rock shelters, many with Stone Age rock paintings. Which UNESCO World Heritage Site was so discovered?

2) Bhimbetka rock shelters

3) Earle Dickson was a cotton buyer at the Johnson & Johnson company. His wife, Josephine Knight, sometimes suffered minor cuts and burns while doing housework, and  gauze stuck to a wound with tape would not stay on for long. In order to overcome this, Earle placed squares of cotton gauze at intervals along an adhesive strip and covered them with crinoline. In case of a cut or burn, the crinoline could simply be whisked off, and the patch applied on the skin. What was thus invented?

3) Band-Aid

4) This was composed by Ilayaraja in 1983 for Mani Ratnam’s directorial debut Pallavi Anupallavi, which also featured Anil Kapoor in his first leading role.

Where would you have heard it more recently?

4) Idea Cellular tune

B3) Why has a certain phrase from Spanish classical guitarist Francisco Tarrega’s solo guitar composition Gran Vals achieved worldwide ubiquity?

5) Tradition has it that the dish was invented by medieval Turkish or Persian soldiers who used their swords to grill meat over open-field fires. It derives its name from the Arabic word meaning "fry". A particular version of it shares its name with the site of a daring train robbery in pre-independence India. Which savoury delicacy is this?

5) Kebab

6) Even though it has not been officially replaced since with something less inflammatory, the Olympic Salute has generally not been used after Word War II. This is entirely because of the fact that although it requires that the hand be raised to a greater height and at an angle to the shoulder, it still bears close resemblance to a gesture now deeply reviled. Which gesture is this?

6) The Hitler Salute

7) German scientist and philosopher Georg Christoph Lichtenberg’s idea forms the basis for the standard size series, based on an aspect ratio of the square root of 2. The significant advantage offered through this system is that each entity in this series when divided into two yields the next size. Which series is this?

A) The A series of paper sizes

8) According to legend, a beautiful girl named Chang’e mistakenly ate the Pill of Immortality which made her drift away until she landed on the Moon. While she became lonely on the Moon without her husband, she did have a jade rabbit for company. Interestingly, this legend was mentioned in a conversation between the Houston Flight Controller and the  and the Apollo 11 crew just before the first Moon landing in 1969. On being told the story, Buzz Aldrin reportedly quipped, “Okay. We'll keep a close eye out for the bunny girl.”

Why was this legend in the news recently?

8)  The Yutu (literally Jade Rabbit) lunar rover forms part of the recently launched Chinese Chang'e 3 mission to the Moon

9) Which 16th century Bhakti saint’s poetry has inspired the genre-defying album No Stranger Here by Shubha Mudgal, Ursula Rucker and the Business Class Refugees?

9) Kabir

10) Khaled Mohamed Said was a young Egyptian man who died under disputed circumstances in Alexandria on 6 June 2010, after being arrested by the Egyptian police. On seeing photos of his disfigured corpse, Google marketing executive Wael Ghonim decided to create a Facebook memorial page for Said, called "We are all Khaled Said". The page attracted hundreds of thousands of followers, becoming Egypt's biggest dissident Facebook page. Support for Said rapidly spread, with many Facebook members using his photograph for their own profiles.

This is often considered to have been the inspiration for a certain phenomenon in India. What am I talking about?

10) I Am Anna Hazare

11) The daughter of a shepherd, Sampat Pal Devi taught herself to read and write. When she was 12, she was married off to an ice-cream seller and by 20, she had five children. One day in her village in Uttar Pradesh, she saw a man beating his wife; Devi begged him to stop but he refused. The following day, she returned with a small group of women, all carrying sticks, and beat him like he had beaten his wife. Which organisation was thus started?

11) Gulabi Gang

12) He was a noted Urdu poet, and wrote a large number of Urdu ghazals. While some part of his opus was lost or destroyed during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, a large collection did survive, and was later compiled into the Kulliyyat-i-Zafar. Even in defeat, he is believed to have said:

Ghāzioń méń bū rahegi jab talak imān ki; Takht-e-London tak chalegi tégh Hindustan ki

As long as there remains the scent of faith in the hearts of our Ghazis, so long shall the Talwar of Hindustan flash before the throne of London

Who?

12) Bahadur Shah Zafar

B4) Tujhse milna purani Dilli mein Chhod aaye nishani Dilli mein Ballimaran se Daribe talak, Teri meri kahani Dilli mein

When Gulzar sahab wrote these lyrics, which “most excellent” poet, whose haveli still stands in Ballimaran in Old Delhi, was he probably paying a tribute to?

Pick Your Pill+10-5*x/-5

History Geography

Literature Art

Entertainment

Science & Technology

Business Politics

Q) Shah Jahan’s eldest son and the heir-apparent, he was favoured as a successor by his father, but was defeated by his younger brother Aurangzeb in a bitter struggle for the imperial throne. A patron of the fine arts, music and dancing, he possessed decidedly Sufi leanings and strove for greater understanding between Hinduism and Islam. He translated the Bhagwad Gita and 50 Upanishads from Sanskrit to Persian, and the library that he founded still stands in Delhi. It is often conjectured that had he prevailed over Aurangzeb, the course of India’s history would have turned out very differently. Who?

A) Dara Shikoh

Q) As a result of this island's long isolation from neighbouring continents, it is home to an abundance of plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. Approximately 90 percent of all plant and animal species found here are endemic, including the lemurs, the carnivorous fossa and many birds. This distinctive ecology has led some ecologists to refer to it as the “eighth continent”. Which island?

A) Madagascar

Q) The inspiration for this book came on a boat ride that the author undertook on July 4, 1862 with Robinson Duckworth and the three young daughters of  the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University Henry Liddell: Lorina Liddell, Alice Liddell and Edith Liddell. The members of the boating party that first heard the tale show up in the work: Alice Liddell herself is there, while the author is caricatured as the Dodo. The Duck refers to Canon Duckworth, and the Lory and Eaglet to Alice Liddell's sisters Lorina and Edith. Which enormously influential classic is this?

A) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Q)  The artist was 14 when his mother committed suicide by drowning. He witnessed her body being fished from the water, her wet nightgown wrapped around her face. Some have speculated that this trauma inspired a series of works in which he obscured his subjects’ faces. He himself disagreed with such interpretations, denying any relation between his paintings and his mother’s death. “My painting is visible images which conceal nothing,” he wrote, “they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, ‘What does it mean?’ It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable.” Who?

A) Rene Magritte

Q) The song is meant to immortalise the destruction of House Reyne who rebelled against their liege lord, a man perceived as being weak by his own vassals. To restore the family’s dominance, his son marched against the upstart Lord Reyne. By the end of the rebellion, all members of House Reyne had been executed and their castle burnt to the ground. What am I talking about?

A) The Rains of Castamere

Q) Who?

A) Buckminster Fuller

B5) What are these symbols on the margins of stamp sheets called?

Q) Published in 1998,The Polyester Prince, an unauthorised biography by Hamish McDonald, was never sold in India since the business family whose story it chronicles threatened legal action. Nevertheless, it continues to be popular as an accurate portrayal of one of the most controversial and brilliant Indian businessman. Who is it about?

A) Dhirubhai Ambani

Q) In late 1949, as India prepared to transform itself from a ‘dominion’, where the British monarch was head of state, to a full fledged republic, Nehru and Patel had a major disagreement as to who should be the first president of independent India. Much to Nehru’s annoyance, Patel ensured that his close friend Rajendra Prasad became the new head of state, even though Nehru had already promised the presidency to somebody else. Who?

A) C Rajagopalachari

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B1) It is believed that the name of this city might have come from the local version of the name Alexander, after Alexander the Great, who founded the city in 330 BC and named it Alexandria in Arachosia. A temple to the deified Alexander as well as an inscription in Greek and Aramaic by Emperor Ashoka, who lived a few decades later, have been discovered here. 

An alternative etymology derives the name of the city from Gandhara, although the city in modern times and the ancient Gandhara are not geographically identical, instead being far away from each other. Which city?

B1) Kandahar

B2) As a protest against the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, who has written this poem?

Through love's great power to be made wholeIn mind and body, heart and soul -Through freedom to find joy, or beBy dint of joy itself set freeIn love and in companionhood:This is the true and natural good.To undo justice, and to seekTo quash the rights that guard the weak -To sneer at love, and wrench apartThe bonds of body, mind and heartWith specious reason and no rhyme:This is the true unnatural crime.

B2) Vikram Seth

B3) Why has a certain phrase from Spanish classical guitarist Francisco Tarrega’s solo guitar composition Gran Vals achieved worldwide ubiquity?

B3) Nokia Tune

B4) Tujhse milna purani Dilli mein Chhod aaye nishani Dilli mein Ballimaran se Daribe talak, Teri meri kahani Dilli mein

When Gulzar sahab wrote these lyrics, which “most excellent” poet, whose haveli still stands in Ballimaran in Old Delhi, was he probably paying a tribute to?

B4) Mirza Ghalib

B5) What are these symbols on the margins of stamp sheets called?

B5) Traffic Lights

Differentials+5*(8-x)-5

1) When the Hollywood Walk of Fame project was being conceptualised, it was realized there were many more people who were leaders in their fields who would never earn a star on Hollywood Boulevard. It was decided that this situation should be rectified with the creation of an award given by the music industry similar to the Oscars and the Emmys. Initially, the working title for the award was the Eddie, to honour the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. But eventually the name of Emile Berliner’s invention was chosen. Which award?

1) The Grammy Awards

2) Which book?

2) The Hindus

3) This is a map of the Mississippi river system drawn in the pioneering style of Harry Beck. What did Harry Beck first design?

3) The London Tube map

4) Which Mars brand used to be sold under the name Marathon in some markets until 1990?

4) Snickers

5) This word entered the English language during the Irish Land War, derived from the name of an unpopular land agent who, upon attempting to evict eleven tenants from the land, faced social ostracism being shunned by everyone in the locality.

The word has come to mean an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. Which word?

5) Boycott

6) This is an image taken at the French alpine resort of Meribel. What has been shown here?

6) Michael Schumacher’s route

7) The name comes from an Arabic word meaning “imagination”, and it is the dominant genre of classical singing in north India. This style was popularised by the uncle-nephew pair of Sadarang and Adarang, both of whom were musicians in the court of Muhammad Shah Rangile. The bandish is generally composed in a variant of Urdu or Hindi, and sometimes in Persian, Marathi or Punjabi, and these compositions cover diverse topics. What is this style of singing called?

7) Khayal

8) In maritime usage, it refers to the parts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean affected by the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a low-pressure area around the equator where the prevailing winds are calm. These parts are also noted for calm periods when the winds disappear altogether, trapping sail-powered boats for periods of days or weeks. Colloquially, the word has come to be used to denote a state of inactivity, mild depression, listlessness or stagnation. Which word?

8) Doldrums

9) Penned by Udai Pratap Singh, a former Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, and sung by Bollywood playback singer Javed Ali, it has been adapted from Billy Joel’s hugely popular song “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, whose rights were bought by a certain organisation in 2013. Which song is this?

9) Man Se Mulayam

10) An excerpt from Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford University in 2005:

“Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “____ ______. ____ _______." It was their farewell message as they signed off. ____ ______. ____ _______. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.____ ______. ____ _______.”

Which famous phrase?

10) Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

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Tie Breakers

Q) "Bud, that's crazy!", I told him. "We've hardly even started yet. There's no way we can get it done by then.“"I know," he responded, in a low voice, almost a whisper."You know? If you know the schedule is off-base, why don't you correct it?“"Well, it's Steve. Steve insists that we're shipping in early 1982, and won't accept answers to the contrary. The best way to describe the situation is a term from Star Trek. Steve has a ______ __________ _____.“"A what?“"A ______ __________ _____. In his presence, reality is malleable. He can convince anyone of practically anything. It wears off when he's not around, but it makes it hard to have realistic schedules.

Which famous three word phrase?

Q) Whose grave?

Q) Name the author.

1) Reality Distortion Field

2) Rodin

3) Raghuram Rajan