INDIA QUIZINTERROBANG 2016

(ALSO RUN AT THE NOVEMBER 2016

K-CIRCLE QUIZ OF THE MONTH)

Prelims

TOPIC BREAKDOWNMythology

11%

Entertainment13%

Business11%

Sports11%

History16%

Politics16%

Geography13%

Science and Technology11%

RULES•30 questions•Top 8 teams in the final•Multiples of 5 are starred•Please stow all electronic devices.

1. THESE GLYPHS ARE THE EASTERN COUSINS OF WHAT TOTEMIC FIGURE?

China

Java Bali Tibet

THE OM SIGN.

2. WHAT DID HE DO THREE YEARS INTO HIS SECOND INNINGS IN THE SUBCONTINENT? Dispatched as a clerk to Madras in 1743-44 by the East India Company, this man found himself driven to suicide by the monotony of his job and the oppressive weather, but his gun refused to fire when he raised it to his head. However, it fired when he pointed it out the window, leaving him convinced he was destined for great things (he ended up killing himself with a penknife in London). He later earned accolades for his bravery as a soldier when the French attacked Fort St. George. He went home to England in 1753, but returned to Madras in two years.

ROBERT CLIVE DEFEATED SIRAJ UD DAULAH IN THE BATTLE OF PLASSEY

3. WHO IS THIS? In June 2006, he went to the Bihar state secretariat with a specific proposal but was not allowed to meet Nitish Kumar. Refusing to give up, he knocked on the doors of the chief minister’s residence a month later.

After the meeting, the chief minister took him to a chamber where he was about to address reporters. Describing him as a source of inspiration, the Chief Minister vacated his seat for a little over five minutes and asked him to sit in it saying, "This is the best I can do for your unmatchable grit.” His proposal was also accepted by the Minister who also told him that he could lay the foundation stone himself.

DASRATH MANJHI, THE MOUNTAIN MAN

4. BRAHMAN NAMAN IS A 2016 INDIAN COMEDY FILM DIRECTED BY QAUSHIQ MUKHERJEE. THE MOVIE IS SET IN 1980S BANGALORE, WITH A FOCUS ON THE LOVE LIVES (OR LACK THEREOF) OF A GROUP OF QUIZZERS. THE MOVIE ALSO CAREFULLY SCRUTINIZES INDIA'S CASTE SYSTEM.AT SUNDANCE EARLIER THIS YEAR, TO WHOM DID THE DIRECTOR AND THE CAST DEDICATE THE MOVIE TO?

ROHITH VEMULA

5*. WHAT HAPPENED IN 1981?In a speech at NYU's Stern School of Business, he spoke about an incident that changed him forever. While hitchhiking across Europe in 1974, he was arrested and locked up for 3 days without food or water in Bulgaria on suspicion of criticising the communist regime. Upon his release in Istanbul, he says, he was a changed man. "This long, lonely, cold journey forced me to deeply rethink my convictions about communism. Early on a dark Thursday morning, after being hungry for 108 hours, I was purged of any last vestiges of affinity for the Left. I concluded that entrepreneurship, resulting in large-scale job creation, was the only viable mechanism for eradicating poverty in societies. Deep in my heart, I always thank the Bulgarian guards for transforming me from a confused Leftist into a determined, compassionate capitalist! Inevitably, this sequence of events led to 1981."

NR NARAYAN MURTHY FOUNDED INFOSYS

6. WHO, OF QUESTIONABLE ETHNICITY? Her most famous work has an unquestionably Indian flavour, named as it is after a Tamil legend with an appetite for elephants. What you probably didn't know was that she herself has some Indian blood in her. She gets her name from her father, who arrived in Trinidad in the 19th century with the Hindu name Maharaj, which subsequently was contracted and corrupted to its present form. The subject continues to puzzle internet users - 600 people google "Is X Indian?" every month, and another 2400 people google "Is X African?" every month. An additional 3600 people google "X ethnicity" in a month.

NICKI MINAJ

7. IN WHAT WAY DO THE MEDIEVAL CHARACTERS BABUR, AHMED SHAH ABDALI, MAHMOOD OF GHAZNI, AND MUHAMMAD GHAURI STILL THREATEN TO RE-ENTER INDIA?

THEY ARE ALL NAMES OF PAKISTANI BALLISTIC MISSILES

8. (A) THE ANSWER TO WHAT? (B) WHERE? In 2014, a Reuters report stated that the presence of certain fires in the region might prove to be the answer for what was turning out to be a very frustrating question. While most considered it to be prime conspiracy fodder, it was later stated that if a retrieval process was set into motion, it had to be extra delicate considering the region's (and its inhabitants') famously aloof history.

(A) THE WHEREABOUTS OF MH370; (B) NORTH SENTINEL ISLAND. (ACCEPT ANDAMAN IF NOBODY GETS EXACT ANSWER.)

9. WHAT CITY IS THIS, THAT BEGOT A “NEW YEAR’S PRESENT” TO INDIA IN 2000? One hypothesis of this city's name suggests that it has evolved from the local dialect version of the name of Alexander The Great who founded the city in 330 BC. Ibn Batutta mentioned the region in the 14th century by describing it as a large and prosperous town three nights away from Ghazni. It has also been mentioned extensively by Mughal Emperor Babur and others. An alternative etymology derives the name of the city from the name of an ancient Buddhist kingdom. Ernst Herzfeld claimed that this city perpetuated the name of the Indo-Parthian king Gondophares, who re-founded the city under the name Gundopharron.

KANDAHAR

10*. IT WENT BY THE NAME OF FRONTE IN JAPAN; TICO IN SOUTH KOREA; MEHRAN IN PAKISTAN. ONE VARIANT IN CHINA IS KNOWN AS THE CITY BABY, BUT MOST CHINESE EXAMPLES GO BY THE NUMERIC DESIGNATION 7080. HOW DO WE KNOW IT IN INDIA?

MARUTI 800

11. A CHENNAI HOTEL RECENTLY MADE THIS CAKE ON THE EVE OF A ROCK SHOW. FOR WHOM?

FARHAN AKHTAR, FOR WAZIR

12. WHICH MYTHOLOGICAL CHARACTER'S NAME LITERALLY TRANSLATES TO 'THE ONE WHO IS STEADY AT WAR'?

YUDHISTIRA

13. FILL IN THE BLANK. In the 1962 general elections, one of the most talked about contests was in North Bombay, between VK Krishna Menon and Acharya Kripalani. One of Kripalani’s chants went like this: I do not hold with all these cracks and mockery At Krishna Menon. It is his virtues I would rather pin on. For instance, consider his skill with crockery: What could be finer Than the loving care with which he handles _____.

CHINA

14. WHOSE INPUTS WOULD’VE HELPED BENGALURU FC DEFEND FREE-KICKS?

RAHUL DRAVID

15*. THREE STATE PARTIES IN INDIA USE THE BICYCLE AS THEIR SYMBOL. IF THE JAMMU & KASHMIR NATIONAL PANTHERS PARTY IS ONE OF THEM, NAME THE OTHER TWO.

TELUGU DESAM PARTY; SAMAJWADI PARTY

16. WHAT WAS BEING TRACED? After detailed research and inquiries at various levels to trace it, it was revealed after a decade-long quest that no recordings were made. While there are ‘recordings’ available on the Internet, which claim to be it, their authenticity has been questioned on three counts:

a) it is known that no recordings were made as per studies conducted by Marie Louise Burke, a researcher who studied the impact of his visit;

b) that he was introduced not by a woman as found in some of these recordings, but by Mr. Barrows (as written by him in a letter to his admirer Alasinga Perumal on November 2 of the same year); and

c) that the technology at that time did not allow this.

VIVEKANANDA’S PARLIAMENT OF THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS ADDRESS

17. WHO WAS REPRESENTING MEDAK IN THE LOK SABHA? Medak is one of the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana. After the elections in 1980, a horde of industrialists and politicians descended here and an ambitious five-year plan - which no other district in the former Andhra Pradesh state had - was drawn up. However, all of this was not able to materialize successfully especially considering that the constituency holder was only able to come here a mere five times.

INDIRA GANDHI

18. A) WHO WERE X AND Y? B) IN WHICH 2007 FILM DID WE SEE A RE-ENACTMENT OF THIS FIRE SCENE? On 1 March 1957, an accident occurred during the fire scene in this film when the wind direction changed and the fire grew out of control, trapping X. She was saved by Y, who quickly grabbed a blanket, plunged inside, and rescued her. Shooting halted temporarily as both had sustained injuries. Y was hospitalised for the burns and X helped nurse him. The two fell in love and while X wished to marry soon, the director protested that the real-life marriage of the onscreen mother-son would be disastrous for the film. Owing to their relationship, X also found it difficult to perform a scene where she had to beat Y with a lathi.

SUNIL AND NARGIS DUTT; OM SHANTI OM

19. NAME THE SISTER. (OR) WHAT FESTIVAL RESULTED FROM THIS INCIDENT? One of Hiranyakashyapu's attempts to kill Prahlada was to have him sit on a burning pyre with his (Hiranyakashyapu's) sister, who had a fireproof cloak. However, after she sat on the pyre, the cloak flew from her and encased Prahlada, leading to her death. Prahlada, who kept chanting Lord Vishnu's name all the while, came out unharmed.

HOLIKA; HOLI

20*. BIOGRAPHY OF WHOM?'The Edge of Time: The Authoritative Biography of X' is a book written by Jean-Pierre Harrison, released at the Punjab Engineering College in 2011. The book contains chapters like 'India', 'Arlington', 'Boulder', 'Sunnyvale', and 'Houston'.Harrison had also previously accepted the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award on behalf of X from Atal Behari Vajpayee. (Image follows)

KALPANA CHAWLA

21. WHILE BRAHMA SAT IN PENANCE, LORD SHIVA APPEARED IN FRONT OF HIM FROM THE 'EARS OF A COW', THUS LEADING TO THE PLACE GETTING ITS NAME.WHICH TOWN IS THIS, WHERE THE MAIN TEMPLE HOUSES WHAT IS BELIEVED TO BE THE ORIGINAL IMAGE OF THE ATMALINGA?

GOKARNA

22. HOW DO TEAMS FROM DELHI AND MAHARASHTRA GET MORE TRAINING TIME THAN THOSE FROM LADAKH? For fairly obvious reasons, India never really had a strong presence on the world's ice hockey stage. Beginning in the 1970s, however, the Army stepped in to promote the game by setting up teams for outfits such as the Ladakh Scouts Regiment and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. Apart from Army support, the sport also received generous funding from the Canadian High Commission, which donated equipment regularly.

Today, the Senior National Ice Hockey Championship is held every winter in Leh, where the frozen Karzoo reservoir provides a solid ice sheet. At the national tournament, most of the players are from Ladakh, but a common complaint is that they are unable to train adequately, and that the whipping boys of the tournament such as Delhi and Maharashtra end up getting the most training.

INDOOR SKATING RINKS AT MALLS

23. WHAT WOULD YOU USE PROF. GIRDHER’S DESIGN FOR? In its 2013 decision in People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India, the Supreme Court declared that a sign had to be designed that needed to be “simple and unambiguous, denoting disapproval”. In light of this ruling, Prof. Tarun Deep Girdher and his team at NID, Ahmedabad were tasked with creating such a sign. In September 2015, his design – a rectangle superimposed with a cross – was granted official approval.

NOTA OPTION ON ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES

24. FITB WITH SOMETHING THAT SITS ON SAFDARJUNG ROAD AND HAS A PENCHANT FOR TAX EVASION. In motorsports, _______ events can feature obstacles such as cones, tires, and barrels. The driver/rider must maneuver through a predetermined "track" performing many different techniques. What separates _______ from traditional autocross events is that the _______ requires drivers to perform reversals, 180 degree spins, 360 degree spins, parking boxes, figure 8s, and other advanced skills. These events are named for the equestrian event that inspired them, which in turn gets its name from the establishments in which it was evolved.

GYMKHANA

25. WHAT JOB DOES HE HAVE?

HE SERVES IN THE INDIAN ARMY

26. WHAT TERM? It was used for the first time, by Jyoti Prasad Saikia (then a journalist in a national daily) in a radio talk as an inspired description in 1972 on the occasion of the inauguration of Tripura as a state (till then a Union Territory). It was later adopted by Sarat Chandra Sinha, the then Chief Minister of Assam, in 1976 to relations in the context of a border dispute between two constituent entities.

SEVEN SISTERS

27. WHAT IS COMMON TO THE ALPINE/PLAIN BACKED THRUSH, THE HIMALAYAN FOREST THRUSH, THE FRUIT BAT WHICH IS A RARE MEGABAT SPECIES IN THE MONOTYPIC GENUS LATIDENS?

THEY ARE ALL NAMED AFTER SALIM ALI.

28. WHO IS THE BEACH NAMED AFTER? ______ Beach is a fishing village in the Malappuram district of Kerala. The coastal hamlet shot into prominence when it was renamed after X. The villagers here have been particularly vocal about their admiration of X and his 'anti-imperialist' stance. The area has also witnessed many anti-American and anti-British demonstrations with goods made in these countries generally boycotted and thrown into the sea.Many of the villagers who had work in Gulf countries were forced to return here as their jobs were lost due to the aftereffects of the Gulf War, further increasing animosity towards the West. The beach also saw angry demonstrations taking place towards the end of 2006.

SADDAM HUSSEIN

29. IN WHAT WAY DO WE SEE MEHRA'S LEGACY COMING UP IN THE NEWS EVERY YEAR?As Harish Chandra Mehra recalled four decades later, the drama and attention ended for him at the age of 14. After his brief celebrity status, he had visualised an excellent career for himself, but was seen behind the desk of an upper division clerk.Back in 1959 when the whole nation spoke of it, newspapers published profiles and interviews of Mehra. A documentary depicting his daredevilry was screened at cinema halls across the country. The owner of Novelty Cinema, where Mehra lived, made it free for anyone wanted to come and see the film. All India Radio invited him for a ten-minute talk.

NATIONAL BRAVERY AWARDS

30. WHERE HAVE YOU RECENTLY SEEN THIS TAXI? Taxi Fabric, headed by Sanket Avlani has, for close to a year, been working to make the seats of Mumbai taxis a canvas for their art. The goal is to bring art to the streets, and into a Mumbaikar’s daily commute, one taxi (and now even rickshaw) at a time. Last August, just a few months after they had started off with a crowdfunded Kickstarter campaign to enable their project, the collective was contacted to provide one of their taxis. Created by Karachi based designer Samya Arif, the design they provided is titled Monad (meaning an indivisible entity), and explores commonalities in different hand gestures that are culturally common to India and Pakistan.

COLDPLAY’S HYMN FOR A WEEKEND VIDEO.

FINALS TO FOLLOW