3. What’s At Stake!
1st Place – Prizes worth INR 27,000/-
2nd Place – Prizes worth INR 18,000/-
Other finalists – Thunderous round of applause
4. Rules for the Preliminary Round
1. Total of 35 Questions; 40 points up for grabs
2. Starred questions from Qn. No. 11 to Qn. No. 20 will be
used to resolve ties, if any
3. 5 ‘Doubles’ questions from Qn. No. 26 to Qn. No. 30,
that count for two points each
4. No negatives, so please guess away!
5. Top 8 teams will qualify for the finals.
5. Figuratively, this expression refers to any task that is
difficult or impossible to achieve. This expression
ultimately derives from a fable, often attributed to Aesop.
Historically, in 1482, at a meeting of nobles who wanted to
hang Robert Cochrane, Lord Gray remarked, “Tis well said,
but wha daur ____ ____ ____?” The challenge was accepted
and successfully accomplished by the Earl of Angus. In
recognition of this, he was given the nickname.
In recent years, a clever pun on this phrase has been used
in the Indian context to refer to accomplishing something
highly desirable. What phrase are we talking about?
Q1
8. In 2012, on a particular day, Google released the following
doodle, where it combined references to two occasions:
One was the 220th birth anniversary of the composer
Rossini, as the frogs shown in the doodle, played ‘The
Barber of Seville”.
What was the other reference? Alternatively, tell me on
which particular day was the doodle released?
Q2
12. In the book, “Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors”,
Lizzie Collingham says,
“___1___ ___2___ originated in Persia. In Persian, the
name implied a stew of meat cooked in butter in intense
heat (since ___1___ in Persian meant ‘clarified butter’ and
__2__ means ‘hot’)”
According to another interpretation, ___1___ is derived
from the word meaning ‘red colour’, which is the same
root for the French and Spanish word for ‘red’.
Which dish is this?
Q3
18. This was invented in the 1920s by Leo Gersentzang after
he saw his wife use a toothpick and some cotton to
accomplish a particular task. Initially, he named them
‘Baby Gays’, but later, in order to signify quality, he came
up with a new brand name.
The name is often used as a genericised trademark in the
United States (like ‘Xerox’ for photocopying).
What was the new brand name?
Q5
21. Shown in the next slide, is one of the original storyboards
from a 1965 movie obtained thanks to the “Drawing
Board” column of the DGA Quarterly.
Which movie was this a storyboard for?
Q6
22.
23.
24.
25. The central premise of the novel, “American Gods” by Neil
Gaiman is that gods and mythological creatures exist
because people believe in them.
In the book, the character ‘Mr. Wednesday’ spends most
of the story trying to get other old gods to join him in the
inevitable war.
Which mythological character is ‘Mr. Wednesday’ a
reference to?
Q7
28. Which word derives from the Latin word for ‘sand’?
In particular, the word refers to a particularly fine/smooth
sand used to absorb blood in places like
the Colosseum in Rome.
The term is sometimes used as a synonym for a very large
venue, but such a facility is generally called a ‘stadium’,
especially if it does not have a roof.
Q8
31. Shown over the next few slides, are facilities built in the
early 18th century by Maharaja Jai Singh II in various cities
like Ujjain, Jaipur etc. The most famous one is in Delhi.
Name the building/facility.
Q9
37. The idea for this book germinated with a decision to offer
a graduate seminar at the University of California,
Berkeley in 1998.
The book covers events from October 1869 till July 1914
and the author later revealed that it was revelation as to
“How formative years in London and South Africa were,
and how much he gained from these forgotten associates
and collaborators. They are a fascinating cast of
characters.”
Name the book.
Q10
41. Developed under the codename ‘Picaboo’, by Stanford
University students, it was first launched in July 2011
under this name in one of the founder’s (shown below)
father’s living room. Rather appropriately, the mascot for
this is called, ‘Ghostface Chillah’ inspired by the Wu Tang
Clan song ‘Ghostface Killah’. What recently-in-the-news
phenomenon are we talking about?
Q11*
47. He began playing volleyball late in life (pictures follow),
not until 1969 (when he was 32 years old).
He helped form the International Volleyball Association
(IVA) in 1975 as a team owner. He ended up trying to keep
the league afloat. His star appeal was great enough that he
was able to get the IVA’s All-Star Game televised on NBC.
For his efforts, though, he was inducted into the Volleyball
Hall of Fame, and thus is one of the few people to be part
of the Hall of Fame in two sports. Identify this person.
Q13*
51. Paresthesia is a sensation of tingling, tickling or burning of
a person's skin with no apparent long-term physical effect.
It happens when people have sat with legs crossed for too
long, or fallen asleep with an arm crooked under their
head, i.e. when sustained pressure is placed on a nerve,
thus inhibiting its functioning. The feeling quickly goes
away once the pressure is relieved.
Also referred to as a limb ‘falling asleep’, what tautological
phrase is used to refer to this condition due to what the
person feels?
Q14*
54. In December 2011, Google acquired a company named
‘Clever Sense’, the creator of an app that makes
recommendations on where to eat based on places that
the user already enjoy. Venturebeat.com perhaps
appropriately calls the app, a ‘robotic concierge’.
Which fictional character is the app named after?
Q15*
57. The Worshipful Companies of London are 108 professions
which have been given the title that is added to their
professions. Each of these companies has a motto. For
example,
Worshipful Company of World Traders: Commerce and
honest friendship with all
Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers: Truth is the
Light
Which profession has the motto “Crecy, Poitiers,
Agincourt”?
Q16*
63. Which global investment company has the NYSE ticker
symbol ‘BEN’?
It was chosen because the founder Rupert Johnson was an
admirer of the person in question.
Incidentally, his name is also a part of the company’s
name.
Q18*
66. In Athenian democracy, any citizen could be expelled from
the city-state of Athens for ten years. In order for this to
take place, citizens would vote by using broken sherds
(pieces) of pottery as a voting token (since earthenware
was easily available and papyrus was available only in
Egypt).
The presiding officials counted the sherds submitted and
sorted the names into separate piles. The person whose
pile contained the most sherds would be banished
Which word derives from this broken pottery sherd that
people used for voting?
Q19*
70. In 2002, San Jose-based company, ‘TiVo”, which allows
users to pause and do instant replays of live television,
started using its technology to measure audience behavior
among 20,000 users.
In 2004, which incident was the most TiVo-ed piece of
footage in that year, beating clips of the Summer Olympics
held in Athens and other clips?
Actually, in the immediate aftermath of the incident
35,000 people are said to have enrolled for the TiVo
service .
Q20*
73. This cultivar in the Gemmifera group of cabbages, were
believed to have been cultivated in Italy in Roman times,
and possibly as early as the 1200s in Belgium. The
modern variety that we are familiar with was first
cultivated in large quantities in Belgium as early as 1587.
During the 16th century, they enjoyed a popularity that
eventually spread throughout the cooler parts of Northern
Europe.
The French coined the name for the cultivar in the 18th
century as it was common to put a landmark on a food.
What are we talking about here?
Q21
76. Coal miners in Britain used to carry the object shown and
its content(s) inside the pits.
Toxic gases such as Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide and
Methane were quickly detected by the ‘content’. This
helped the miners escape without getting affected. It has
also given rise to a phrase to refer to something that gives
an early warning to coming crisis.
What is the ‘content’ being talked about?
Q22
80. Recently, the French ‘maintenance and hygiene’ company
IPC-SA was in a huge scandal and retracted its line of
detergents. Rabbi Menachem Margolin director general of
the European Jewish Association (EJA) said, “This is
doubtless the dirtiest name that a company could think of
for a product aimed at projecting cleanliness and hygiene.”
Officially, the company said that they meant no offense
and that they wanted the latter part of the name to
represent the product's biologically friendly
characteristics.
What was this rather ‘stormy’ affair all about?
Q23
83. The producer, Ketan Maru says that the movie is named so
because all the characters in the movie were “_____
Shaane” (someone who tries to act too smart).
Another unit member confesses to what is the most likely
explanation for the name as he says, “Thoda different hai.”
Abhishek Chaubey on the other hand offers a very
interesting explanation, stating, “The first was a 60ml
drink, this is a Patiala peg.”
Which movie are we talking about?
Q24
84.
85.
86. In 1969, during civil unrest, he was driving his
Volkswagen Beetle when he had to swerve to avoid a
group of protesting students. He lost control of his car and
it landed in a ditch, trapping him. He was freed out of the
car but the accident left him quadriplegic.
He was operated on at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital
(!) in England and his condition improved to paraplegic. At
the insistence of his trainer, he took part in the 1970
International Paraplegic Games held at Stoke Mandeville
(picture shown on next slide).
Who is this legend?
Q25
91. This Marathi poet (picture on next slide), writer
and activist was born in 1949, in a village near Pune. He is
a winner of the Padma Shri and the Sahitya Akademi
Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 1972, he founded an organization which according to
him was meant to include all ‘oppressed people’. Later, he
also held office in the Indian Republican Party.
a.) Identify this person.
b.) What did he found in 1972? Alternatively, name the
revolutionary organization in the US active from 1966 to
1982 that inspired him.
Q26
92.
93.
94. a.) Namdeo Dhasal
b.) Dalit Panther movement, inspired from
the Black Panther movement
95. Dakshayani took birth at the bidding of Lord Brahma,
whose wish was that she would please Lord Shiva and
wed him. She was born as the daughter of Daksha
Prajapati and Prasuti. Through intense penance, she
managed to convince Lord Shiva to wed her. When she
returned home to tell her parents the good news, Daksha
Prajapati received her coldly and insulted Lord Shiva. She
then called up a prayer that she would be born in her next
birth to father whom she could respect
a.) Consumed by rage, what did Dakshayani do?
b.) What was she reborn as?
Q27
98. Shown in the next slide are pictures of La Pedrera, also
known as Casa Mila, in Barcelona.
a.) Identify the architect.
b.) What, in the world of movies, did this inspire?
Q28
103. Q29
Which two capital cities from Africa were founded by:
a.) Slaves released from captivity by Britain
b.) Slaves released from captivity by France
The second city in fact was named as an imitation of the
first.
106. In November 1996, in a duel that was billed as ‘Finally’,
saw a much awaited match between two Americans. In the
sixth round, a head butt from the challenger opened a cut
over the champion’s left eye. The referee deemed this to
be accidental. In the seventh round, there was a clash of
heads which had the champion in agony, but again it was
deemed accidental by the referee. The champion
ultimately lost the bout and his title.
a.) Name the two boxers involved in the fight.
b.) What did the dethroned champion do in the rematch
held in June 1997?
Q30
107.
108. a.) Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield
b.) The ear-biting incident
109. Which famous piece of music has been made use of, for
this ad?
Video
Q31
112. The Kray twins, Ronald and Reginald were two
English gangsters who were the foremost perpetrators
of organized crime in the East End of London during the
1950s and 1960s. They were involved in armed robberies,
arson, protection rackets, assaults, and murders.
The story goes that in London, one didn't talk about them
because retribution was so brutal and bloody. This
inspired a certain practice followed with respect to a
fictional character.
Name the fictional character / Identify the practice.
Q32
113.
114. Lord Voldemort being referred to as ‘You
Know Who’ or ‘He Who Must not be Named’
115. This person recently revealed to the media, that he has
started to learn painting as a hobby. The painting shown
in the next slide is of his dog, Barney, who died of
lymphoma at the age of 12.
Who is the painter?
Q33
119. James Watt formed a partnership with Matthew Boulton
to capitalize on the improved steam process Watt had
designed. The major use of steam engines was for the
pumping of water, water from the mines around Cornwall,
or to refill mill-ponds in dry summers, or to remove water
from fields and canals.
However, the intended audience already had other means
to do the same.
Watt came up with something else to overcome the same.
What did James Watt come up with?
Q34
122. In 1973, there was a news item widely reported in India
and Britain that caught the attention of a famous Indian.
The news item said that a young Englishman out shooting
near Calcutta had been killed in a particular manner.
The victim was Hugh Munro, the only son of General Sir
Hector Munro, who had commanded a division during Sir
Eyre Coote’s victory at the Battle of Porto Novo in 1781.
Rather pleased at the turn of events, what did the Indian
commission?
Q35
