2. RULES/ LIFE ADVICE
● 15 Questions
● +10 on direct
● +10/-10 on pounce
● Blocking hints is not permitted
● Words in bold act as hints and will bring you closer to the answer
● Please be courteous and accommodating, not everyone has the same internet
speed :P
● DO NOT look up the answers on the internet. This is a ‘no-stakes’ quiz and
there are no monetary rewards. Don’t cheat yourself of some good fun.
● Don’t beat yourself over if you are unable to answer a single question. The
objective of this session to ensure that you return offline more curious, and
with a better taste in culture.
3. 1
George Harrison’s association with Indian Classical Music broadened way
beyond his friendship with Sitar Maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar after he named
his son _____, a concatenation of the penultimate and the final elements of a
prominent sequence in Hindustani Classical Music. Depending on the
pronunciation, the name might allude to the wealth his son would have
inherited but a more musical reference is what George was going for.
What did he name his son?
5. 2
Whole Earth Catalog was counterculture magazine published several times
between 1968 to 1998.
The 1974 final issue had a phrase written on the back of it which roughly
meant ‘to never be satisfied and always push yourself ‘. The phrase had a
profound impact on a then 19 year old which became part of his personal
philosophy.
What was written on the back of the final 1974 issue which is now instantly
associated with the person mentioned above?
7. 3 What is the good word?
While the term itself is Sicilian,it might as well have had Arabic roots as a result of Sicily
having been an Islamic Emirate,with possible root words being the Arabic term for
exemption from prosecution for those who paid the Jizya (which is also similar to the
Urdu word for forgiveness).
The organisation emerged as an extralegal force,settling disputes between property
owners, and in a more recent context, has enforced mandatory social measures like
lockdowns in the wake of an ineffective administration.
Over the years, this word’s relevance in popular culture has only grown, finding mention
in a variety of trends, ranging from a 1986 social deduction game, to an entire genre in
cinema, pioneered by the likes of Martin Scorsese and Coppola.
Which word?
9. 4
When asked about the incident more than 70 years later, Theodore Van Kirk,
the last surviving member of a particular crew, opined as to how an event that
he had supervised was not a mistake per se, but a necessary evil for the
greater good.
As a consequence of the aforementioned incident, and a similar incident
which occured 3 days later, Tsumoto Yamaguchi, a Mitsubishi engineer, was
dubbed the “Unluckiest Man In The World” on BBC’s comedy-cum-quiz show
QI, though from a location POV, he was extremely lucky. He is also the subject
of a Netflix documentary “Twice”. Which incident? Why is Yamaguchi
considered “unlucky”?
10. Dropping of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima.
Yamaguchi was a survivor of both the Hiroshima
and Nagasaki bombings.
11. 5
A team, led by two Bengali origin scientists, Dr. Maiti and Dr. Chakraborty,
have given their recent innovation, a COVID-19 testing strip, a very peculiar
name.
Researchers explained the nomenclature as an allusion to an iconic character
created by a filmmaker-author, who among other accolades was also the
recipient of the 1992 Honorary Academy Award.
The character, known for his legendary wit and towering intellect, first
appeared in 1965 in a short story in a children's magazine and ever since has
emerged as a pathbreaker in popularising this genre. Which character?
13. 6
To advertise their new Park-Assist technology, In September 2019, Volkswagen
decided to recreate an iconic entity from over fifty years ago. This iconic
cover also featured, among others, a very famous car from Volkswagen which
usually goes unnoticed in the background. In the recreation they decided to
move the car a bit so that it was now parked legally.
What did they recreate?
15. 7
Originally a Facebook page, this Indian start up is now worth over 600 crores,
as reported in 2016- in the light of Jio bringing forth the internet revolution.
The logo of the company actually reads ‘NIS’ in Morse which is a reference to
its previous name prior to the rebranding.
Which start-up, fairly popular among Quizzers?
17. 8
A Mumbai based startup specialising in drone technology, this company
derives its name from a fictional sport as a tip of the hit to the iconic series
that featured this sport, for a real life coverage of this sport would have
employed the same technology.
Founded in 2013, it has handled many projects like the ‘NH7 Weekender’ and
the shooting the ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’. However their most famous project was
the live streaming of an annual event in 2018.
Name the startup and the event.
19. 9 He= Famous Preacher; ____ = Animal
Comparisons between this literary character and a famous preacher have been around ever
since the books were published. However, according to the author, this character is not an
allegorical portrayal of the preacher, but rather a suppositional incarnation of the same.
In one of his last letters, the author explained his choice of a particular animal, ____ as an
incarnation of the preacher in the fictional world he had created:
“Since the fictional world is a world of Talking Beasts, I thought He (the famous preacher)
would become a Talking Beast there, as He became a man here on Earth. I pictured Him
becoming a ____ there because (a) the ___ ‘s status amongst all the beasts; (b) He is called "The
____ of Judah" ; (c) I'd been having strange dreams about ____s when I began writing the work.”
Which character and who has it been compared to?
21. 10
While this work has seen numerous adaptations ranging from stage
productions to short films, a more recent take premiered on March 30, and
has delved deeper into the details of the work by using an aptly fitting series
of Vlogs as a medium.
The timing of the release of this series is perfect since the current lockdown
situation resonates very well with the themes of the work.
Identify the work, originally published in Dutch during the mid 20th
century.
23. 11
While this unaging anime protagonist has been around for two decades,
many have theorised that his adventures were merely hallucinations of a
deranged kid who refused to grow up.
This conspiracy theory was only fuelled when a comicbook.com podcast
revealed that the original head writer for the anime was going to end the
series with the protagonist as an old man in the real world, and all his
adventures being imaginary.
Which character is being talked about?
25. 12
Abel Tesfaye has credited his stage name as being inspired by his high school
dropout status,claiming that “[He] left one _______ and never came
home”,though producer Jeremy Rose claims the name was his idea.The
spelling was modified in order to avoid trademark issues with a Canadian
band, leading to one letter being dropped.
Which artist?
27. 13
Established in 1973, the World Taekwondo Federation changed its name to
World Taekwondo in 2017 right before the start of the 2017 World Taekwondo
Championships, citing how certain negative connotations were being
associated with organisation in the wake of the "digital age", in a totally
unrelated context.
Try to read between the lines to arrive at the reason why the organisation
had to enforce a name change.
29. 14
A bioweapon that appeared first in Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, the virus has
been shown to be a weaponized strain of the Ebola virus unleashed on the
USA by Iran's former Ayatollah.
In the story a researcher named Maggie was able to successfully modify the
Ebola virus and gave it an aptly fitting name as a throwback to a deity
associated with a black-mass poison.
Interestingly a virus of a similar name finds mention in the novel Fallen Earth,
since it causes death due to dance-like convulsions.
What name was the virus given?
31. 15
Legend goes that when King James of Aragon was fighting the Moors for
control of Valencia, a creature landed on his flag, after which he went on to
win the battle. Since that day, this creature has been on the coat of arms of
Valencia, and in 1919, when Spanish football club Valencia C.F. was founded, it
naturally became a part of their crest.
However, in 2014 they were sued by Time Warner and its subsidiary over a
logo dispute. Valencia C.F. though had a patent for the design and hence, were
able to keep their traditional crest.
Which creature, a subject of great scrutiny and criticism in recent times?
What was the lawsuit about?