THE QUIZ OF INDIA

INDICA

QUESTIONS BY AMITABH SHARMA

HELD ON 16TH AUGUST, 2015

NOTE: This quiz presentation used 3 audio-video questions, which you might not be able to view. The YouTube link for each video/audio has been given on the relevant slide.

PRELIMS

Niyama- The Rules There will be 25 QUESTIONS, with FIVE STARRED QUESTIONS

(indicated by*)which will be used to resolve a tie. If tie still remains, sudden death will be used.

TOP 5 TEAMS will qualify for the finals, with one more team being the highest scoring team FROM FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS.

NO NEGATIVE MARKING. So feel free to guess. Hints will be provided ON REQUEST, provided NOT MORE THAN

TWO TEAMS OBJECT. The ultimate authorities right now are Google and the Quizmaster,

although all copyrights are subject to Google alone. DO NOT CHEAT. Beware the wrath of Bharat Mata !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYTZDKFIDwY

1. The ‘Dhrishti Bommai’ which features prominently in this video and which is also the logo of Chennayin F.C., is a symbol taken from Tamil culture.

Despite its Tamil roots, it is common all over India and seen by almost everyone, because of what this symbol stands for.

What does the ‘Dhrishti Bommai’ symbolize?

Removing/countering/warding off evil

2. According to the rules of taxonomy, if a species originates in India, its scientific name should normally include this word.

This word is known to all of us-• As the name of the book on India, written by the

famous Greek explorer and envoy, Megasthenes • As one of the most popular brands of IndiaWhat word?

Indica

3. This team of highly talented individuals pay a special tribute to India every year. How?

They create the annual Indian Independence Day Google Doodles

4. During her 2009 visit to India, she made it a point to visit the ITC Maurya’s famous restaurant, Bukhara, because of her love for Indian food. Murgh malai kabab, Paneer tikka, Tandoori aloo, Sikandari naan, Dal bukhara and Ras malai were some of the items she ordered. After her meal, the chefs took her permission to name the full course after her, similar to what happened when her husband and daughter toured India in 2000.What is being talked about here?

The Hillary Platter

*5. Connect- (All of them were in the news recently for the same reason)

The 2013 IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal

(The pictures are of members of the Lodha Panel and the Mudgal Committee which made rulings and investigated the case respectively.)

6. To avoid arousing the suspicions of the USA and its allies, preparations for the Pokhran II Nuclear Tests were done with utmost secrecy and code-names were given to everyone and everything associated with the tests. For example, the thermonuclear shaft was named ‘White House’ and the first sub-kiloton device was named ‘Kumbhkaran’.

What codename was assigned to Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, which was supposedly an inside joke on one of his projects?

Major General Prithviraj (Dr. Kalam headed the development of

the iconic Prithvi missiles)

7. Who is the author of this non-fiction book, which released yesterday?

Chetan Bhagat

8. According to the Mahabharata, Draupadi, furious after she was almost disrobed, cursed anyone who would drink from the River Charmanyavati, which flowed through most of Shakuni’s kingdom.Luckily for us, this curse has ensured that over the centuries, the river has remained absolutely unpolluted, and its fauna safe. However, the region near the river (also having the same name) was famous for being a hotbed of criminal activities.

How do we know the Charmanyavati better as?

Chambal

9. “Pink chiffon double-layered skirt, overlapped front, with cream embroidered flower trim; coral satin top with short sleeves and back velcro closure; pink chiffon sash with flower trim”.

This is a description of a dress, which first came out in 2005, improvising on whatever minimum description was provided by the books. Seen widely all over the world, it evoked a mixed response from fans, especially the Indian ones.

Which dress is being talked about here?

The dresses that Parvati and Padma Patil wore to the Yule Ball in the ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ movie

*10. Last year, India was host to the 3rd edition of the multi-national multi-sport Lusofonia Games, after winning the hosting rights over Brazil and Sri Lanka. Cities in Goa were chosen as the venues. Why is India eligible to participate in this competition?

Presence of a former Portuguese Colony in India

(Countries having associations with Portugal participate in this competition)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU6Ey_D2o_k

11. This song used in the hit Hutch ad campaign was one of his earliest songs.His main claim to fame, however, is a song, released in 2009, which took the whole nation by storm and which remains popular even today.Identify the singer.

Suraj Jagan

12. What is Atul Kasbekar, famous Indian fashion photographer, referring to in this recent tweet??

The controversy, regarding the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan (who played Yudhishtira in the hit 1988 TV show, Mahabharata) as Chairman of FTII

13. Entrepreneur Ajai Singh has been a crucial driving force behind SpiceJet. He created the company in 2005, led it for 5 years, and recently, he came back and helped the company escape the terrible mess that it had run into. However, he also came up with something which became wildly popular in India, last year. In fact, almost all Indians are familiar with it today.

What?

The “Ab ki baar, Modi Sarkaar” Slogan

14. Roshanna Chatterjee is a new DC comics character from the Prime Earth Universe. She was born in India, where a display of her powers caused people to call her a witch. She later moved to the USA, and after a tragic accident, she joined a team of vigilantes, known as The Movement.

What special powers does Roshanna have (which also gave rise to her superhero name) ? The events of 2015 should give you a hint.

She can create earthquakes (Her superhero name is Tremor)

*15. The following people are the only Indians to be given this honour. Name the missing person or identify the honour-

• Hamsa Padmanabhan, Vishnu Jayaprakash, Anish Mukherjee, Debarghya Sarkar and Hetal Vaishnav (Student scientists who came up with innovative ideas to save the environment, and won competitions by Discovery and Intel)

• Sir CV Raman • Akshat Singhal, an engineer who developed a system to automatically

categorize documents and find relations between them using AI and Madhab Pathak, who improved the ease of writing in Braille for the blind

• Rabindranath Tagore• Sainudeen Patthazhy, a zoology professor, Vishnu Reddy, an

astronomer and Meenakshi Wadhwa, a meteorite researcher• ______

All of them have MINOR PLANETS named after them.

The missing person is Indian chess god, Vishwanathan Anand

16. Ad by which company?

Garnier

17. FITB -Popular legends say that the Nizam of Hyderabad once sent a message to one of his fiercest foes, a general named _____. The message was- “Ek _____ , aur sab Paji” (meaning there is only one _____ , the rest are all rogues!)

_____ in turn sent back a reply with a similar retort- “Ek Nizam, aur sab Hazaam” (meaning there is only one Nizam, the rest are all barbers!)

Baji (Bajirao Peshwa I), one of the titular characters of the upcoming movie, Bajirao Mastani

18. CommonFloor is an Indian real estate portal, created by a group of three engineering graduates in 2007. Within 8 years, it has become India’s leading real estate platform with funding from Google Capital, and now even provides apartment management systems and mobile apps. In 2014, it associated itself with something that went viral in India. Looking back, this association can be seen as quite appropriate, considering the nature of services that CommonFloor provides.

So what did CommonFloorassociate itself with?

TVF’s hit web series, Permanent Roommates. The CommonFloor Mobile App even appeared on the show

19. Oscar winning documentary maker, Louis Psihoyos and his team recently collaborated with American visual artist, Andrew ‘Android’ Jones, to create a very unique type of video, entitled ‘Projecting Change’. It aimed at generating environmental awareness throughout the world and remind people of the dangers of extinction and ecological damage. The video included images of many endangered species along with that of Cecil, the lion that was recently killed brutally.

Why has the video caught the attention of Indians?

The video, which was projected onto the Empire State Building, ended with graphic images of the Goddess Kali, to illustrate the need to fight a fierce war against ecological damage

*20. What specifically do these characters have in common?

New set of characters developed by Tinkle.

21. The photo on the next slide is of the prestigious Charleville Hotel, located in Mussourie. It has had the honour of being patronized by Queen Mary (the Empress Consort of India and wife of King George V) during her visit to India in 1906.

However, after independence, the hotel closed down and became home to an institution of crucial importance to our country.

Which institution?

The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, which trains officers of the Indian Civil Services

22.The women from the Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh have an interesting tradition of disfiguring their faces by using facial tattoos, nose plugs and making small perforations in their earlobes, where they stick pieces of bamboo. From the 1970s onwards, this practice thankfully stopped.

Why did this tradition originate?

To prevent the women from being targeted by men of other tribes

(Apatani women are renowned for their beauty, and this practice ensured that people from other tribes did not come and kidnap them)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HML8-bjqFI

23. In what will be wonderful news for Indian gamers, a portion of the latest installment of this blockbuster game franchise will be set in India !

Name the SPECIFIC installment, NOT THE FRANCHISE.

Assassin’s Creed - Chronicles

24. Funda?

The Vyapam Scam

*25. Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon was an officer of the Indian Air Force and a member of the 18th Squadron, popularly known as the ‘Flying Bullets’.

During the 1971 Indo-Pak War, he, almost single-handedly defended the Srinagar airport from a Pakistani aerial attack. Fighting against six planes, he destroyed two, before being killed. In fact, his courage was praised by the enemy pilot who shot him down.

He possesses an unique distinction amongst members of the armed forces. What?

He is the only Param Vir Chakra recipient, till date, not belonging to the Indian Army

THE END