Cult-X 2015 India Quiz Finals by Pratyush Sinha

1. India Quiz Mains
28 March 2015
Quiz Master: Pratyush Sinha

2. • 17 Infinite pounce questions
• Clockwise
• 10 points for each

3. 1
• Rick Briggs was an engineer at RIACS (Research
Institute for Advanced Computer Science) in 1985
when he wrote a paper for the AI Magazine.
• Back then, it won him an invite to a conference in
Bangalore and some interest in Indian academic
cricles.
• However, with the advent of internet, inspite (or
because) of all the advances in AI, this paper has
remained popular in India.
• Why ?

4. Safety Slide

5. Answer
• The paper was titled
‘Knowledge Representation in Sanskrit and
Artificial Intelligence’
• Often (mis)quoted as the NASA report which
said Sanskrit is the best language for
computer programming and versions thereof

6. Safety Slide

7. 2
• Considered by many as the greatest blunder
of partition, this hilly district with about 98%
(85% Buddhist) non-Muslim population was
awarded to Pakistan.
• Armed rebellion continued through 1970’s
and 80’s resulting in major human rights
abuses and refugee crises.
• Which district ?

8. Safety Slide

9. Answer
• Chittagong Hill Tract

10. Safety Slide

11. 3
• In 2004, Jhabua district police chief Mayank Jain
was attending a seminar when he noticed that
people were looking ‘very respectfully and
pleasantly’ at 2 or 3 constables.
• This is when he thought of encouraging a certain
practice among policemen.
• Over the next few months about 1100 policemen
across the district’s 22 police stations picked it
up.
• What idea did Mr. Jain stumble upon ?

12. Safety Slide

13. Answer
• Paying an extra stipend for policemen with
moustaches

14. Safety Slide

15. 4
• During the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln’s navy
blockaded New Orleans and the Mississippi and
Manchester’s looms came to a halt, sending cotton prices
shooting.
• The Gujarati merchants on Dalal Street made fortunes
during this time of uncertainty. These early globalizers
worked late into the night when rates were wired in and
orders wired out at American and European times.
• However, by this time everyone would be quite tired and
the wives would be asleep at home.
• What cultural mainstay, with the help of some Portuguese
Jesuit settler of Bombay, resulted in order to satisfy these
traders’ needs ?

16. Safety Slide

17. Answer
• Pav Bhaji
• Loaves provided by Jesuits
• Bhaji made up of the day’s left-overs at street
stalls

18. Safety Slide

19. 5
• Freelance music directors Vinayak Salvi and
Rohan Utpat were given the chance to come up
with something interesting within a day.
• Vikas Dubey wrote the lyrics and they got hold of
a certain Alamgir Khan to sing it.
• They knew the platform was huge but didn’t
really foresee this level of success.
• What composition?

20. Safety Slide

21. Answer
• The original Ind-Pak Mauka Mauka song

22. Safety Slide

23. 6
• Madhepura (erstwhile Saharsa constituency)
is a district located in the north-eastern part
of Bihar.
• A popular political saying there goes like:
‘Rome Pope ka, Saharasa ______ Ka’
• With a bit of poetic license the blank rhymes
with Pope and refers to the fact that the area
is the strong-hold of a single pastoral
community

24. Safety Slide

25. Answer
• ‘gope’ to refer to Yadavs
• Pappu, Sharad and Lalu Prada have been MP’s
in the past

26. Safety Slide

27. 7
• Writer : Abrar Alvi
• Directorial : Raj Khosla, Abrar Alvi
• Cinematography : V.K. Murthy
• Actor(s) : Waheeda Rehman, Johnny Walker, Rehman
• Singer : Geeta Dutt, Mohammad Rafi
• Music : O. P. Nayyar, S.D. Burman, Hemant Kumar
• Lyrics : Sahir Ludhianvi, Kaifi AzmiEditor : Y.G. Chawhan
• Art Director : Biren Naag
• What were they collectively called ?

28. Safety Slide

29. Answer
• Guru Dutt team

30. Safety Slide

31. 8
• Pabuji is a folk-deity of Rajasthan in India who
lived in the 14th century in Rajasthan.
• He is widely worshipped by Rabari herdsmen
throughout the Rajasthan countryside.
• According to mythology, what is he have
supposed to introduced to Rajasthan
(strangely from Lanka) ?

32. Safety Slide

33. Answer
• Camels
• Rabaris are camel herders

34. Safety Slide

35. 9.This wasn’t expected
• The marriage contract between King Manuel I
of Portugal and Isabella of Aragon include a
clause requiring the former to introduce
something to Portugal.
• It was later introduced to India as well,
considering the deviant practices of local
converts and the number of Sephardic Jews
who had fled here.
• What was introduced ?

36. Safety Slide

37. Answer
• The Goa Inquisition

38. Safety Slide

39. 10
• A funny film about architecture students in
their final year of college, it was based on the
writer’s own experiences of studying in the
School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi.
• The film featuring Shahrukh Khan, Roshan
Seth, and the writer has acquired a sort of cult
status in India having inspired filmmakers like
Dibakar Banerjee.
• Which film ?

40. Safety Slide

41. Answer
• In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones
Written by Arundhati Roy

42. Safety Slide

43. 11
• Thonmi Sambhota is said to have been the
fourth of seven wise ministers of the emperor
Songtsen Gampo, the founder of the Tibetan
empire in the 7th Century, to be sent to India.
He was the only one to return to Tibet.
• King Songtsen Gampo is said to have retired
for 4 years post his arrival to master the new
discovery.
• What is it that Thonmi had brought back ?

44. Safety Slide

45. Answer
• Tibetan script based on Brahmi and Gupta
scripts

46. Safety Slide

47. 12
• A Welsh mathematician born in 1675, he was a close
friend of Isaac Newton and Edmund Halley. A lot of
people recently geeked out over some notation he
gave.
• I wouldn’t mention him in this quiz but for his son who,
though reportedly couldn’t construct a sentence in
Welsh, was some sort of a linguistic prodigy.
• Name the son. (Or the father. They had the same
name)
• Bonus– what notation did senior propagate ?
[Write it down]

48. Safety Slide

49. Answer
• Sir William Jones of Asiatic Society of Bengal
fame
• Senior started using the greek letter pi for the
ratio of the circumference of a circle and its
diameter

50. Safety Slide

51. 13
• This is one of the works first translated by Sir
William Jones. A bedrock of Hindu traditions,
it has drawn both praise and disparagement in
modern times.
• Friedrich Nietzsche deemed it "an
incomparably spiritual and superior work" to
the Christian Bible while Dr BR Ambedkar
burned a copy of it.
• What work ?

52. Safety Slide

53. Answer
• Manu Smriti

54. Safety Slide

55. 14
• Legend has it that sage Manu stepped off his
ark here to recreate human life after a great
flood had deluged the world.
• The city gets its name from a corruption of
what would translate as ‘Manu’s abode’
• Which place ?

56. Safety Slide

57. Answer
• Manali from ‘Manu-Alaya’

58. Safety Slide

59. 15
• Who is leading the Sikh Regiment in this pic
from World War I ?
• The location is somewhere in Asia Minor
• [Pic on next slide]

61. Safety Slide

62. Guru Granth Sahib

63. Safety Slide

64. 16
• A model at Udaipur’s City Palace showing a
Rajput and his Marwari horse with some
accessories.
• Why is the horse being to made to look so
unfashionable ?

66. Safety Slide

67. Answer
• Horse was fitted with a trunk so that
elephants thought of it as a baby elephant and
did not attack it

68. Safety Slide

69. 17
• Member of Parliament Jay Panda recently
tweeted this pic.
• What did we get to know as a result of this ?
• [Next slide]

71. Safety Slide

72. • Lok Sabha does not have a seat numbered 420

73. • END OF ROUND-1

74. Chakravyuh Round
• 3 x 5 = 15 Infinite pounce questions
• Counter-clockwise
• 10 points for each
• Followed by some shenanigans
• 300 points at stake
• Ask for a sheet of paper
• Further instructions explained as round
progresses

75. Safety Slide

76. 1A
• The company was started in 1923 as a paper
and newsprint trading organization. It entered
manufacturing in 1963 with the production of
industrial oxygen. Today, it is a leading
producer of industrial gases, fluorocarbons,
multiplexes and cryogenic engineering.
• Name this conglomerate whose most famous
company works in an entirely different sector.

77. Safety Slide

78. Answer
• INOX

79. Safety Slide

80. 1B
• The family hails from a Marathi Kshatriya clan.
Among the several versions of how their name
came about, the most persuasive explanation
happens to be that Nandaji, a fairly prosperous
farmer holding the headship of more than one
village was an avid cow protectionist . He came to
be known as ‘one who is ready to fight for the
cause of cow protection.’ The name stuck with
the family and over time evolved to its present
form.
• What family name ?

81. Safety Slide

82. • Gaekwad from ‘gae-kaiwari’

83. Safety Slide

84. 1C
• An American and British structural biologist,
he is soon going to take over a position held in
the past by the likes of Isaac Newton and
Ernest Rutherford.
• Who and what position ?
[Part points]

85. Safety Slide

86. Answer
• Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
• President of the Royal Society

87. Safety Slide

88. Infinite pounce resumes from 2A
• Connect 1A/1B/1C
• Write it down on a sheet of paper
• Call this C1
• Keep the sheets with you until I tell you next

89. Safety Slide

90. 2A
• Map showing the presence of what outside
India ?
• I am pretty sure most of you would have seen
it hung on a wall at some mall or some such
place.
• [Next slide]

92. Safety Slide

93. Answer

94. Safety Slide

95. 2B
• Film critic Anupama Chopra wrote that during the
making of this film, the love-struck hero would
often, during some intimate scenes, pay lightboys
to disturb the lighting so that mutiple shots
would be required.
• He did end up successfully wooing and later
marrying (though not without controversy) his
co-star.
• Who are the actors involved whose names I have
not told yet ?
• [no part points]

96. Safety Slide

97. Answer
• Dharmendra and Hema Malini
• ‘Tumne apna naam nahi bataya’
[Dharmendra goes into the connect]

98. Safety Slide

99. 2C
• Spen Valley was a parliamentary constituency
between 1885 and 1950 in the valley of the River
Spen in West Yorkshire.
• Shaukat Usmani, a founding member of the
Communist Party of India contested the 1929
general elections from this constituency as a
candidate of the Communist Party of Great
Britain.
• What was so unique about his candidature ?
Perhaps the only such example ever.

100. Safety Slide

101. Answer
• He contested the elections while residing in
India
Why was he residing in India ?
He was in jail for the Meerut conspiracy case
[Shaukat Usmai goes into the connect]

102. Safety Slide

103. • Connect 2A/2B/2C
• Write it down on a sheet of paper
• Call this C2

104. Safety Slide

105. • X is an Ottoman Turkish word meaning
military personnel and

106. Safety Slide

107. 3A
• In an interview to The Hindu a few years ago,
he mentioned that he receives 3 letters from a
paanwallah in Allahabad every year.
• One on New Year’s, one on his birthday and
one on the anniversary of his almost 8 day
journey.
• Who is this Ashok Chakra winner ?

108. Safety Slide

109. Answer
• Rakesh Sharma

110. Safety Slide

111. 3B
• The classical musician (lets call him U) was pretty
adamant that he wouldn’t sing for a film. The story
goes that to dissuade a certain director from pursuing
him further, he demanded INR 25000 per song when
the going rate for top playback singers was less than
INR 500.
• To his surprise the director agreed immediately. U, thus
voiced one of the most famous musicians from Indian
history.
• Give me the musician and the character from history.
• [Hint – So much frivolous wastage for a movie. Guess,
guess.]

112. Safety Slide

113. Answer
• Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan voiced Tansen in
Maghal-E-Azam
• [Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan goes into the
connect]

114. Safety Slide

115. 3C. Blatant wiki rip-off. Sorry guys.
• Known for his courage and determination, he
was the original ‘comeback king’ of Indian
cricket.
• He had numerous conflicts with the
establishments and he once famously called
the selectors a ‘bunch of jokers’
• Interestingly, he is also the only international
cricketer to have been out both handling the
ball and obstructing the field

116. Safety Slide

117. Answer
• Mohinder Amarnath

118. Safety Slide

119. • Connect 3A/3B/3C
• Write it down on a sheet of paper
• Call this C3

120. Safety Slide

121. 4A
• In 1986, while still at college, he set off to follow
on foot the outward route of Marco Polo from
Jerusalem to Mongolia and wrote a highly
acclaimed bestseller about the journey.
• He subsequently wrote 3 more travel books- on
Delhi, on the demise of Christianity in the Middle
East and on trouble in South Asia before
switching genres to history
• Which well know literary figure ?
• If it helps, he is distantly related to Virginia Woolf

122. Safety Slide

123. Answer
• William Dalrymple

124. Safety Slide

125. 4B
• Pandit Ravi Shankar
• Zakir Hussain
• TH Vinayakram
• ________________
• AR Rahman, H Sridhar, PA Deepak
• Ricky Kej
• Fill in the blank and complete the list.

126. Safety Slide

127. Answer
• Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
• It’s the list of (more or less) all Indian Grammy
winners
• [Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt goes into the
connect]

128. Safety Slide

129. 4C
• After a few recent high profile incidents of
violence against women, a number of
companies in India in a certain sector have
introduced a colored variety of their service.
• Similar such services across the globe from
London to Puebla to Melbourne.
• What service that you may definitely notice if
you roam around Delhi a bit ?

130. Safety Slide

131. Answer
• Pink Cabs for women
• [Pink goes into the connect]

132. Safety Slide

133. • Connect 4A/4B/4C
• Write it down on a sheet of paper
• Call this C4

134. Safety Slide

135. 5A
• Y is a stew made of wheat, barley, lentils, and meat and
is quite popular in Middle East, Central and South Asia.
• It requires slow cooking over 8 to 12 hours to get a
paste like consistency and gets its name from the
Iranian word for ‘patient and merciful’.
• Z is a variant of Y popular in the sub-continent
especially as a breakfast during Ramazan. Z sounds
very much like the masculine of a traditional Indian
dish of rice and lentils.
• Give me Y and Z
• [Part points]

136. Safety Slide

137. Answer
• Y – Haleem
• Z – Khichra
• [Haleem goes into the connect]

138. Safety Slide

139. 5B
• Anand Narasimhan along with Tina Sharma Tiwari
often host the Newshour in Arnab’s absence.
• They started the trend #ShameinSydney last
week after India’s exit from the World Cup.
• This later backfired and was panned throughout
social media.
• Such a ridiculous stance from the duo was very
surprising considering Narasimhan’s background
in sports broadcasting.
• What ESPN-Star TV show was his first claim to
fame?

140. Safety Slide

141. Answer
• He was the winner of ‘Harsha ki Khoj’
• [Harsha Bhogle goes into the connect]

142. Safety Slide

143. 5C
• A Chinese journalist from Tianjin, Tseng sailed to
India in 1937 to meet Mahatma Gandhi. He
stayed several months in India during which time
Gandhi was quite taken in by the young fellow,
giving him the nickname ‘Shantidoot’.
• Tseng came back to India in 1977 and died here
leaving behind a grand-daughter who would
marry an Indian.
• Who would be Tseng’s fiery great grand-daughter
?

144. Safety Slide

145. Answer
• Jwala Gutta

146. Safety Slide

147. • Connect 5A/5B/5C
• Write it down on a sheet of paper
• Call this C5

148. Safety Slide

149. Differential scoring
We will now evaluate C1 to C5
• 1 Team: 25
• 2 Teams: 15
• 3-5 Teams: 10
• 6-7 Teams: 5
• Exchange sheets

150. Safety Slide

151. Answer
• C1 – Baroda
– INOX is based in baroda
– Gaekwad’s ruled it
– The scientist was brought up and educated in the
city

152. Answer
• C2 – Bikaner
– Haldiram’s started in Bikaner
– Dharmendra was MP there
– Shaukat Usmani belonged to Bikaner

153. Answer
• C3 – Patiala
– Rakesh Sharma and Mohinder Amarnath were
born in Patiala
– Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan belonged to the
Patiala Gharana

154. Answer
• C4 – Jaipur
– William Dalrymple is the co-founder and co-
director of Jaipur Lit Fest
– Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt belongs to Jaipur
– Pink city

155. Answer
• C5 - Hyderabad
– Hyderabadi Haleem is quite famous
– Harsha Bhogle and Jwala Gutta are from
Hyderabad

156. Differential scoring
• Connect C1 through C5
• [Hint – It’s a residential connect]

157. Answer
• Hyderabad House, Baroda House, Patiala House,
Jaipur House and Bikaner House are the 5
buildings in the Princes’ Park around the statue of
King George V at the end of King’s Way
• Give points for Princes’ Park, Delhi, Rajpath,
George V, King’s Way or anything that suitably
conveys that these 5 princely states got the prime
most land possible to Indians in Lutyen’s Delhi

158. LVC
Question No. Points Negatives
1 40 -20
2 35 -20
3 30 -15
4 25 -15
5 20 -10
6 15 -10
7 10 -5
8 5 0
8 slides
Non-exhaustive
No connect within the slides

159. +40/-20

160. +35/-20

161. +30/-15

162. +25/-15

163. +20/-10

164. +15/-10

165. +10/-5

166. +5/0

167. Safety Slide

168. Answer
• Indian Geographical Indications

169. Madhubani
Paintings
Mysore
Paintings
Thanjavur
Paintings
Cheriyar scroll
Paintings
Nirmal
Paintings

170. Banarsi Saree Chanderi Saree
Sambalpuri Saree

171. Puneri Pagdi Lucknow Chickan
Embroidery
Bagh print

172. Bikaner Bhujia Guntur Sannam Chilli

173. Phulkari
Blue pottery of Jaipur

174. 15/-10
Mysore Sandal Soap
Feni

175. 10/-5
Tirupathi Laddu

176. 5/0
Darjeeling Tea