7. D
In a faculty meeting dated 26 November 1957, two
years before his retirement, a Professor of Anglo-
Saxon in Merton College, Oxford sketched the
following at the back of the agenda for the meeting.
Who is the talented doodler ?
19. D
In a faculty meeting dated 26 November 1957, two
years before his retirement, a Professor of Anglo-
Saxon in Merton College, Oxford sketched the
following at the back of the agenda for the meeting.
Who is the talented doodler ?
26. 1
Queen Elizabeth II used this particular phrase in a
speech to mark the 40th year of her accession in 1992. It
was a reference to the calamitous year for the royal
family, with scandals involving several members hitting
the headlines of the British tabloids.
The Queen actually attributed the use of this phrase to
her former assistant private secretary, Sir Edward Ford,
although she might well have been influenced by a John
Dryden poem, somewhat ironically titled, chronicling the
events of 1666.
Which phrase and What is the title of the Dryden poem
?
29. 2
It is remarkable that two books which are considered to
have ended the middle ages and ushered in scientific
revolution in Europe were published within the span of
one week in 1543.
One of them was written by a 70 year old, chronicling his
life’s works and published from Nuremberg. The other
was written by a young 28 year old professor of Padua
University and published from Basel.
Ironically, the contents of both books were keenly
contested – the later by the followers of the Roman
polymath Galen and the former by the Catholic church.
Who were the authors of such epochal works ??
30.
31.
32. 3
“The Revolutionists” is a brutal comedic quartet
about four very real women who lived boldly in
troubled times. Three amongst the four are a
playwright, a queen and a Haitian rebel. The fourth is
a lady who, ironically, does not find a mention in
arguably the most famous depiction of her claim to
fame.
Who is the lady and What is her claim to fame ?
35. 4
Yakutia, capital of Sakha Republic, is a part of
Siberia which has been used for a particular reason
for centuries. Kate Marsden was a British nurse who
made a daunting journey into this cold and arid place
in the later part of 19th century.
Dr. Reshethello, a Russian dermatologist met her at
St. Petersburg in 1890 and helped her earn the
patronage of the Russian Tsarina, Maria Federovna,
for her noble mission.
What was Marsden looking for ?
39. 5
Anirban Mitra and Tirtha Dasgupta have collaborated to
create an eponymous docu-drama about the life of an
octogenarian photographer in his dear city, Calcutta. The
film focuses on his works and his life , equally, with a
touching human narrative.
The sub-title of the documentary is a meta-reference to a
33 year old relationship of the protagonist and has
nothing to do with a 1998 music album by Madonna.
The film was released last month, to mark the birthday
celebrations of both the artist and his muse.
What is the name of the film ?
42. 6
“___________ - Fashion’s most magnificent disaster”, is
a book by Dennis Perellin and X, whose huge collection
of stereoscopic materials from the Victorian era forms the
basis of this book.
Many of the images mock the women having to be
helped into their huge skirts by circles of servants, and
then getting stuck in doors or blown off their feet when
they ventured out.
What is the name of this layered fashion disaster and
while, you are at it, who is Perellin’s co-author with a
royal connection ?
46. 7
The Latin name of this plant refers to its
physiological effect on the eyes. It causes dilatation
of the pupil, in order to make a woman more
attractive to men.
However, it has been infamously used for homicidal
purposes throughout history, and even finds mention
in Macbeth, who uses this to poison an army of
Danes, who were invading Scotland.
What are the English and Latin names of this
plant, the latter, a literal translation of a 1964 hit
number by Roy Orbison, famously used as a title
track of a 1990 movie ?
49. 8
Avani Lakhotia, a 24 year old Communication
designing student has recently created a new font
called, “Rong Ring”.
According to her, this font, a hybrid of traditional
calligraphy and Roman will be able to revitalise a
particular entry amongst an UNESCO list with 197
entries, that is facing challenges because of the
influence of religion, migrant labourers and changing
education.
What does she aim to resurrect and what list is it a
part of ?
53. 9
The Oxford English Dictionary will tell you that the English
word is more than a thousand years old and that, since the
mid-sixteenth century, it has been used as the slur that we’re
familiar with today.
In Silicon Valley, according to Siva Vaidhyanathan, a
professor at the University of Virginia whose book about
Facebook, “Antisocial Media,” is due out in September,
“_____ are technologies that generate other technologies.” It
is distinct from a ‘product’, since a product is “experienced
rather than used.”
Which good word, used eleven times by Zuckerberg in his
testimony in front of House Energy and Commerce
Committee this month ?
56. 10
A microscopic slurry of ice and water "as thin as a
bubble's skin" – reverses the dominant frictional force.
The glass on a table experiences dry friction, in which the
largest frictional force is on the leading edge. So if it's
rotating clockwise, it will go left. However, for the_______
_____, the liquid layer reduces the friction at the front so
that it is less than the friction at the back. Thus a
clockwise-turning one goes to the right.
What, yet to be solved mystery from the sporting world
does the above hypothesis by two physicists from
Northern British Columbia seek to answer ?
59. 11
North American Review July 1895 issue carried a treatise
by Mark Twain in his inimitable satirical style, called the
“___________ ________’s literary offences.” The essay
claims this particular author is guilty of verbose writing,
poor plotting, glaring inconsistencies, overused clichés,
cardboard characterizations, and a host of similar
"offenses".
Twain even re-wrote a small section of a book by the
same author, to point out how usage of unnecessary
words marred the literature.
Who was the subject of Twain’s criticism, something a
certain Biplab Kumar Deb might not approve, given, the
protagonists in the author’s more famous works ?
Which book ?
60.
61.
62. 12
Andre Breton was a neurologist who had been using
Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis while treating
patients of ‘Shell Shock’ during the first world war.
His observations lead to the development of
__________, a term he adopted from the writings of
a French playwright Guillaume Apollinaire.
Years later, on a visit across the Atlantic in 1938, he
met someone and coined that individual’s work as
“Natural __________”.
FITB with a similar word and identify the cultural
icon who was the object of Breton’s appraisal.
65. 13
“The Hindoo whale, referred to, occurs in a separate
department of the wall, depicting the incarnation of Vishnu
in the form of leviathan, learnedly known as the Matse
avatar. But though this sculpture is half man half whale, so
as only to give the tail of the latter, yet that small section
of him is all wrong. It looks more like the tapering tail of an
anaconda, than the broad palms of the true whale’s
majestic flukes…”
Whose writings are this an excerpt of ?
Which place of interest whose depiction of marine
creatures might have been goofed up with the image of a
conch/shell according to more nuanced scholars ?
68. 14
The cricketers in the next slide make an exhaustive
list with inclusion of two more cricketers, one of
whom represented Lancashire with distinction in the
late 60s and throughout 70s, while the other, came
into Indian consciousness for the first time through
his swashbuckling batting in the 2004 Duleep Trophy
game at Amritsar.
Who are they ?
What, not so lame, list do they feature in ?
72. 15
While there are different types of wine bottles of
varied shapes and sizes, traditionally wine makers
would use three distinctive bottles, as shown in the
next slide.
All three are named after three distinctive
geographical locations in Western Europe.
What are they ?
76. 16
Charles-Henri Sanson has cropped up as a troubled and
troubling figure in many works of fiction, from Dumas to
Hilary Mantel.
Most recently, he’s been transformed into the romantic
antihero of a manga series, a delicate but brilliant young
man forced by the irresistible demands of family honour
to carry out macabre duties in a world turned upside
down.
Christopher Lee portrayed this gentleman on screen in
1989. (picture next slide)
What was Sanson’s claim to fame ?
80. 17
Konkani meals, inevitably are rounded off with a
delicately fragrant, carmine coloured brew, the ________.
This is made from the dried peel of the luscious red
fruit, Garcinia, which the Portuguese brought into India
along with chillies and potatoes from the land of the Incas
and Aztecs.
It is now considered to be a fruit native to the evergreen
forests of the Western Ghats, and hence the scientific
name, Garcinia indica.
What is the common name of this fruit, bearing a
striking resemblance with the type of cuisine it is
predominantly used in and also, what are these drinks,
immensely popular on the streets of Mumbai, known as ?
86. A
In the poem, ‘If’, Kipling urges the young man to
force his heart and his _______ and _______, to
continue putting in the effort, even if the opportunity
has passed him.
Which two body parts were Kipling referring to,
which essentially helps us maintain coordination in
our daily activity ?
87. B
In real life, the item gifted was “man in the arena”
passage from Theodore Roosevelt's “Citizenship in a
Republic Speech”.
However, the fictionalised account took cinematic
liberty and showed a different gift to inspire the
recipient.
What ?
88. C
This still image is from a 1970s movie about a
peasant boy in Medieval Europe and his mission to
capture and kill a dragon.
What is the name of the movie and whose literary
creation inspired its nomenclature ?
89. D
Sahir Ludhianvi was a realist and he would compose
poetry regarding day to day life rather than the
beauties of nature and beyond. However, in 1958, he
composed a poem named, Mere Ahd Ke Haseeno
(Beauties of my generation), in his tender, beautiful
verse.
Though this seemed to many as Sahir digressing
from his style of contemporary poetry, the fact
remains that even this poem was a lyrical tribute to
the human race overcoming a natural barrier.
What was Ludhianvi’s subject of appraisal ?
92. A
In the poem, ‘If’, Kipling urges the young man to
force his heart and his _______ and _______, to
continue putting in the effort, even if the opportunity
has passed him.
Which two body parts were Kipling referring to,
which essentially helps us maintain coordination in
our daily activity ?
94. B
In real life, the item gifted was “man in the arena”
passage from Theodore Roosevelt's “Citizenship in a
Republic Speech”.
However, the fictionalised account took cinematic
liberty and showed a different gift to inspire the
recipient.
What ?
96. C
This still image is from a 1970s movie about a
peasant boy in Medieval Europe and his mission to
capture and kill a dragon.
What is the name of the movie and whose literary
creation inspired its nomenclature ?
98. D
Sahir Ludhianvi was a realist and he would compose
poetry regarding day to day life rather than the
beauties of nature and beyond. However, in 1958, he
composed a poem named, Mere Ahd Ke Haseeno
(Beauties of my generation), in his tender, beautiful
verse.
Though this seemed to many as Sahir digressing
from his style of contemporary poetry, the fact
remains that even this poem was a lyrical tribute to
the human race overcoming a natural barrier.
What was Ludhianvi’s subject of appraisal ?
101. 18
This peculiar coat of arms
for the Stenungsund
municipality of Sweden
was adopted in 1977, as a
hat-tip to a flourishing
source of economy for that
region.
What is the generic
object in the coat of arms
and what industry is the
lifeline of this region ?
104. 19
These are two small knives, known as karda and
chakmak. While the chakmak is used to polish and
shine something, the karda smugly fits into a
groove/notch of that very object.
Which object, frequently encountered in the
heraldry of a particular nation is this ?
What is the purpose of keeping this groove in that
object, according to religious beliefs of the group of
people who use this object ?
107. Kukri, Groove resembles teats of a cow, hence
forbidding a Nepali to kill one with his Kukri
108. 20
Which terminology in Architecture derives from the
Old English word meaning to “shoot” or a ‘stalk of
grass’ ?
Which architectural formation involves the former
on top of a lantern and a belfry ?
111. 21
During the First opium war, clippers, a kind of fast-
sailing, agile ship became very popular in the British
colonies.
One such clipper called Ariel was seized by
Commissioner Lin Zexu during the opium standoff
with private traders in Canton in 1839, while another,
Mavis, was struck by lightning in 1842. Needless, to
say, both of them were carrying huge stocks of
opium from India, the owner, thereby incurred heavy
losses.
Who was this unfortunate owner ?
114. 22
The animal on the following slide has an anatomical
feature closely resembling another pachyderm. This
explains its naming.
Which animal, that might remind us of an
unpleasant, ill-tempered female lead by Elizabeth
Taylor ?
118. 23
A recent editorial in the Montevideo newspaper El
País put it, that Uruguayans cling to the idea of a
hero who is “more warrior than technician, more
gutsy than elegant”.
Somewhat contrary to this, on the wall of his house
in Montevideo an individual has printed a line
attributed to Che Guevara: “You must toughen
yourself without losing tenderness.”
Who is this person, an architect of a modern
Uruguayan dream, according to many, who
nowadays walks with an aid/ limp in his public
appearances ?
121. 24
6,6-Dibromoindigo is the chief isolate in the mucous
secretions from the hypo- branchial glands of the
sea snail spiny-dry murex. These sea snails are a
part of the fauna of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea
whose neighbouring areas are involved with the
isolation of this chemical compound.
What is the name of the object whose principal
constituent is 6,6-Dibromoidigo and also, tell us how
this object would be used to distinguish between
Julius Caesar and the other Roman magistrates ?
125. 25
This is from the sets of a 1954 historical film where
Brando played the male lead. This visitor during the
shoot hailed from a different country in the Southern
Hemisphere, whereas the character of the leading
lady was from a country in the Northern Hemisphere.
What are the three countries involved ?
128. 26
The map shows two subsets of countries who
together could have been connected to one common
‘weight’.
What are these two subsets depicting ?
132. 27
Ranada Prasad Dasgupta, the founder and
professor of Jubilee Art Academy in Calcutta paid a
visit to the head of an institution in 1901. He was
astonished with the artistic brilliance of this man who
asked Ranada Babu his opinion regarding the
emblem, he had designed.
The emblem was a blend of five elements with a
serpent encircling it and immediately was approved
by the veteran art professor.
Which emblem, who was the artist and what did the
coiled up serpent signify ?
135. 28
In the 1941 film, Jhoola, the male lead Ramesh rents a room
next to his lady love. Once, when she’s on the balcony of her
house, he rushes inside to compose a song about her. His
charpai breaks but he’s not ruffled. Until he decides he
needs to have a bath. The cold water makes him shiver, and
so the song that was sung relatively melodiously until now,
becomes more of ‘gasping’ than singing.
This song was recreated for another film nearly three
decades from the original, including the gasping sequence,
albeit triggered by a fierce rivalry, rather than the cold water
in case of the latter.
Which film and which song ?
138. 29
Lord Trevelyan, Governor of Madras, in a letter to
Lord Macaulay in 1859 wrote, “Among the many
elusive and indescribable charms of life in Madras
City, is the existence of my favourite…… on Mount
Road…”.
This institution was in fact a first of its kind in modern
India. Brainchild of a Jew, they were involved in a
unique venture in the aftermath of Queen’s
Proclamation in 1858, that helped them earn the
patronage of the British Civil society.
Which institution and what did they do ?
139.
140. Print the Queen’s Proclamation in English
and Tamil and distributed it all over Madras
141. 30
This is the present day Queen’s
Hotel, in Brighton. A couple of
centuries ago, this place was
home to a bathhouse by a
certain, Dr. Brighton who
claimed his baths have the
ability to cure diseases such as
asthma, paralysis and
rheumatism.
Who is this Doctor Brighton and
what other establishment at
Portman Estate, Westminster
was also his brainchild ?
144. 31
This breed of horses are thought to
have been descended from native
Indian ponies crossed with Arabian
horses, and possibly with some
Mongol influence.
They were renowned for their
bravery and courage in battle, as
well as their loyalty to their riders.
What is the name of this breed and
which act of camouflage was
performed by its riders to fool the
enemy ?
147. 32
This image was a part of
the coat of arms of
Corsica, an island in the
Mediterranean since the
14th century. In 1755, the
Corsican people gained
independence from the
Republic of Genoa and
that prompted a change in
the heraldry.
What change resulted and
what is this symbol called
?
155. 34
The story goes, that street hawkers of a South
Calcutta locality started this practice around 2006,
which would begin from 11 am, but, it is only after
4pm that the crowd came to the spot. On an
average, you will find about 20-30 people calmly
while away time engrossed in their passion, almost
as if ‘their profiles are interlocked with vectors
radiating from the centre representing the intense
intellectual activity’.
What unique activity is being discussed and how
has this innocuous activity started out by street
vendors become synonymous with the above
description of a 1911 work of art ?
