Gandikota Fort in Andhra Pradesh is known for its spectacular gorge formed by the Pennar River. It was ruled by the powerful Pemmasani Dynasty and features over 40 foot high bastions. Due to its striking natural beauty, it has been called the Hidden Gem of India. [END SUMMARY]

2. EXCELSIOR ‘17
PRELIMS

3. ■ 20 Questions
■ 1,5,10,15 & 20 – Starred Questions

4. 1
■ Gandikota is a small village in the Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh
that is known for its spectacular gorge formed by river Pennar that cuts
through the Erramala hills. It was ruled by powerfulTelugu dynasty,
the Pemmasani Dynasty and was one of the most prominent forts in the
country.The features of the fort include a gorge that stands at about
300 feet above the river and comprises 101 bastions, all over 40 feet
high. Due to its striking features, this handsome piece of nature’s
architecture has come to be known as the Hidden _____ _____ of
India by travelers who visit it and get bewitched by its beauty.
■ FITB.
■ Images follow

8. ■ Answer is..

11. 2
■ _______ Lock-Up, nicknamed Prince Rupert'sTower or Prince Rupert's
Castle is a an 18th-century structure which is one of two Georgian lock-
ups that still survive in its city; the other being inWavertree. It is likely the
name arose because the area was historically where preparations were
made by Rupert, the commander of the Royalist cavalry of Charles I, to
attack the Parliamentarian garrison holding the Castle in the city. In May
1997, X gave £15,000 for renovating the structure and in February 2014
_______ Lock-Up was permanently illuminated in blue. FITB or where
have we seen this tower ?
■ Image follows

13. ■ Answer is..

15. 3
■ According to his family, X majored in marine biology in community college
and after starring in the marine-set 2005 movie Into the Blue, he became
involved in leisure-time ocean activities and in 2006, he joined the board of
directors ofThe Billfish Foundation(Image on next slide). He fulfilled a
lifelong dream by starring in a National Geographic
Channel series Expedition GreatWhite (later retitled Shark Men), which
premiered in June 2010.He spent 11 days as part of the crew, catching and
tagging seven great white sharks off the coast of Mexico.
■ Few years ago, his daughter announced the launch ofThe X Foundation,
which aims to support wildlife and ocean life.The foundation gives away
the X Ocean Leadership award presented by the Monterrey Bay Aquarium.
■ Who am I talking about ?

17. ■ Answer is..

19. 4
■ He was named after an Oscar winning
Hollywood director. In a life that spanned 6
years and 11 months, he completed close to
25,000 artworks which on a usual scale
takes years of experience and study.At the
age of 5, he secured first place in a
competition held for painters below the
age 18. All this led to director Harikumar to
direct a film, X, based on the life of this
child prodigy.
■ Thus, the movie X was released on 11
August 2017. Master Alok plays the title
role as X, while Unni Mukundan and Rima
Kallingal play as X's parents. Who is
personality after whom a road in Kochi is
named ?

21. ■ Answer is..

23. 5
■ _______ Inc. is a privately owned investment holding company founded
in 2014 by Roberto( Image follows) with Olof K. Gustafsson who serves
as its CEO. Recently, the company filed a suit against X , seeking US$1
billion.
■ In a discussion with Financial Post, Olof said : “Well let me put it this way
– a reverse answer to the question. Nobody’s doing anything like this
about Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe for a reason. If you do, you get
sued. Now we were a little bit busy doing other things, then we saw this
______ thing – it became the biggest show in the world.They made
US$18 billion on their stock price. We talked to our senior analyst, and
we had our attorneys review it for over a year. And they determined
that we should be able to get at least a billion dollars out of this thing.”
■ FITB or what is this all about ?

25. ■ Answer is..

27. 6
■ Shown here(Image follows) is the website ofVstarr interiors, a full-
service residential and commercial design firm founded in 2002.
Formerly a residential-focused firm,V*Starr began designing for
commercial clients in 2009 and has created spaces forThe Related
Group, Buffalo State College in NewYork, and the chain of
Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts.Who is the CEO/Founder ofVstarr ?
■ Image follows

29. ■ Answer is..

31. 7
■ The image on the next slide shows Barrack Obama trying to recreate something from
the 20th century.Who/what ?
■ Image follows

33. ■ Answer is..

34. Rosa Parks

35. 8
■ DI Corporation (Dongil Corp) is a South Korean company involved in
the manufacture and supply of semiconductors test equipments and
computer chips headed by ParkWon-ho who is also the controlling
shareholder. In September 2012, its market capitalization surged to
113.5 billion on the main Seoul bourse, making it the 459th most
valuable stock measured by size. In October 2012, Bloomberg
L.P. reported an almost 500 percent rally in shares of DI Corporation.
The Economist compared its remarkable surge in share prices with
stock market bubbles such as the 17th centuryTulip mania. By the end
of 2012, shares of DI corporation have surged eightfold.
■ What caused the sudden increase in the value of DI ?

36. ■ Answer is..

37. Park Won-ho is Psy’s father

38. 9
■ What is
blanked
out ?

39. ■ Answer is..

41. 10
■ In 2014, A photographer in India was speechless after he spotted a
common stink bug while trying to click butterflies in his home.The
snapper was getting some pictures of the local wildlife in his back
garden when he spotted the bug had an incredibly peculiar design on its
back. Subbu Sullia, from Bangalore, noticed the markings on the
insect's back and kept trying to get the bugs best side, but was unable
to capture it's most ______-like pose because it kept running away.
■ Insect is usually found in hot countries, sometimes nestling in herb
gardens. A similar bug was snapped in Kluang in Malaysia in 2011.
■ FITB or why was Subbu Sullia dumbstruck ?
■ Images follow

44. ■ Answer is..

46. 11
■ “To creatively capture the essence of this remarkable, historic moment,
inspiration was drawn from both ______’s rich artistic tradition and its
history of bold achievement and innovation. Above all, ______’s
pioneering in space was a truly captivating theme.The shape is
universally recognisable, while the bold use of red, gold, black and blue
in the its colour palette was inspired by centuries-old techniques seen in
world-renowned _______ art dating back to the earliest icon paintings.
The magic ball at the top puts the worldly love for the game into the
spotlight. ”
■ This is the offical description of something taken from its website. What
am I talking about ?

47. ■ Answer is..

49. 12
■ Ali, 65, one of the security guards, has a standard response to phone
calls. “____, 11:30!" he rattles off before you can even say hello. For the
past two decades, Ali has answered "lakhs" of phone calls enquiring
about timings. But a couple of months ago, Ali had to re-orient himself.
For the first time in over two decades, there was a change in the daily
routine and Ali was happy about it. "It was a change for us.We got to
meet filmstars.We had to put up a notice outside saying that it is
cancelled.” , Ali said.
■ What is Ali talking about/What was the two decades old routine that
came to a halt?

50. ■ Answer is..

51. For the first time in 22 years, the DDLJ’s
matinee show was cancelled for the trailer
launch of Shraddha Kapoor’s Haseena
Parker.

52. 13
■ There are different versions of how the city got its name.The most
popular being the name being coined from two Malayalam
words, _______ and ______ , which together mean a group of ten
families settled on the banks of the river. Another account suggests that
the name was derived from the Malayalam word for ”town” and finally
acquired its current name .Which city which is often called the pilgrim
capital of Kerala ?

53. ■ Answer is..

55. 14
■ Some claim that Robert Grebler may have built the tallest
_____ ever at 402⁄3 levels. Grebler built it in 1985 while playing
with an original _____ set produced by Leslie Scott in the
early 1980s.Which game, developed by Leslie Scott and
marketed by Parker Brothers, derives its name from the
Swahili for "to build" ?

56. ■ Answer is..

57. JENGA

58. 15
■ After leaving school, he briefly considered joining the Indian Army and
hiked in the Himalayan mountains of Sikkim andWest Bengal and
eventually joined theTerritorial Army. In 1996, he suffered a freefall
parachuting accident which partially crushed three vertebrae. On 16 May
1998, he achieved his childhood dream of climbing to the summit of
Mount Everest, 18 months after breaking three vertebrae and was at the
time among the youngest people to have achieved this feat. Other
achievements include : Circumnavigation of UK , Longest indoor freefall ,
Paramotoring over the Himalayas and so on.
■ Who is this person, familiar to all of us, from the world ofTelevision ?

59. ■ Answer is..

61. 16
■ With several hundred chocolatiers and over 2,000 stores, people from this
country consume an average of 8 kilos of chocolate per person and per
year. Most of its production is destined for export, making it one of the
symbols of quality worldwide. Praline, chocolate filled with a caramelised
sugar based truffle and coated in dark, white or milk chocolate, is one of the
most well-known chocolate specialties from this country.
■ Which exact place/location in this country sells the most chocolates in the
world, estimated to be 800 tonnes a year, at an average of 1.5 kg per minute?

62. ■ Answer is..

63. BrusselsAirport

64. 17
■ The Party at Kitty and Stud's is a 1970 American softcore adult film and
is Sylvester Stallone’s film debut and first starring role, for which he worked
two days and was paid $200. The film deals with the sex life of a young New
York City woman, Kitty and her boyfriend, Stud. According to him, film's
owners later asked him for about US$100,000 in exchange for the film not
to be released, but then he "wouldn't buy it for two bucks".Thus, the
“Sylvester Stallone porno movie" evolved over the years into a minor urban
legend.
■ However, in 1976 after his breakthrough film for which he gained
worldwide fame, the film was edited and re-released as _______
________ to capitalize on its now-famous star.
■ What was the new name of The Party at Kitty and Stud's which was a
“reference” to one of his characters ?

65. ■ Answer is..

67. 18
■ Born to a Sikh father and a Hungarian-Jewish mother, X was a renowned painter
and came to be known as India's Frida Kahlo because of the "revolutionary" way
she blended Western and traditional art forms. She has also been crowned as the
most expensive woman painter and ruled at par with the artists who brought
forth the Bengal Renaissance.
■ The Indian cultural center in Budapest is named the X Cultural Center.
■ Identify the painter who has a very prominent road named after her in Lutyens
Delhi ?

69. ■ Answer is..

70. Amrita Sher-Gil

71. 19
■ Shown here is the Allianz
Arena in Germany which
serves as a home ground to 3
teams and the lighting is
done with respect to the
team’s kit colors.
■ Identify the 3 teams.

72. ■ Answer is..

73. ■ Red – Bayern Munich
■ Blue - 1860TSV Munch
■ White – German National FootballTeam

74. 20
■ ______, Latin for “eye”, is a circular opening in the centre of a dome or
in a wall. It is also known as an œil de boeuf from the French, or simply a
"bull's-eye". The ______ was used by the Romans, one of the finest
examples being that in the dome of the Pantheon. Open to the weather,
it allows rain to enter and fall to the floor and thus keeps the bulding
cool during summer.
■ However, this feature of Roman architecture shares its name with a
company founded in 2012 in California.The old logo of the company
depicted an eye while the newer logo reads an “O” which in turn looks
like two open domes connected.
■ What is the architectural feature or which is the company ?

77. ■ Answer is..