This quiz was conducted by the English Language Activities Society, BITS Pilani on September 4th 2011 across fourteen venues in the counrty: Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kharagpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Pilani, Pune and Ranchi.
1. Answer Key
Do not open before end of paper.
No part points anywhere unless mentioned.
In case of doubts call :
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2. In the DC Multiverse, the Riddler has an antimatter counterpart
1. who makes up for his lack of superpowers with his incredibly high Quizmaster
IQ and knowledge of almost all disciplines. What‘s he called?
It used to be the principal port for Yemen's capital Sana'a and
famous for being the major marketplace for coffee. Coffee beans
2. Mocha
from here continue to be prized for their distinctive flavor—and
remain so even today.
In 1998, Page & Brin went to attend the Burning Man festival. Created the first Google
3.
What did they do to indicate their absence from office? Doodle
4. Campanology is the study of which musical instrument? Bells
She was the personification of memory in Greek mythology. This
Mnemosyne/Mnemonic
titaness was the daughter of Gaia and Uranus and the mother of the
5. Points for any of the
nine Muses by Zeus. Either name her or a word she has given us.
two.
You surely remember this.
This book, the sequel to the famous Three Men in a Boat, brings
back the three companions, this time on a bicycle tour through the
6. Bummel
German Black Forest. It is called Three Men on the ________. A
German word please.
The Greeks referred to this Indian region as Pentapotamia. In the
7. sacred text of Zoroastrians, this region is associated with the Punjab
ancient Land of Seven Rivers. The British called it "Our Prussia."
What dish takes its name from the past participle of a Spanish word
8. Enchilada
meaning "season (or decorate) with chili"?
A pun on a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage
9. from 264 to 146 BC is used to describe the rivalry between two Punic Wars/ Pubic Wars
adult magazines during the 60s and 70s. Name both.
He was born in New York City to Russian Jewish immigrants. He
was raised on the family's farm. He grew up to become the largest
10.* Max Yasgur
milk producer in Sullivan County, New York. Famous for an
important contribution (literally so) in the music field. Identify.
This poet makes an appearance in the 1990 alternative history novel
The Difference Engine, which also features Charles Babbage and
Ada Lovelace, who also happens to be his only legitimate child in
11. Lord Byron
real life. In a Britain powered by the mechanical computers of
Charles Babbage, he is leader of the Industrial Radical Party,
eventually becoming Prime Minister.
What word, common in Bharatanatyam, comes from Tamil for
12. Arangetram
climbing a raised platform?
This film begins with images of camera equipment and projectors
lighting up and projecting brief cinematic glimpses, including a
crucifixion, an erect penis, clips from a comedic silent-film reel and
13. Persona
the slaughter of a lamb. The last glimpse features a boy who wakes
up in a hospital, reading Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time, and
caressing the blurry images of two female faces.
Give one word that connects:
A taxon that disappears from one or more periods of a fossil
record, only to appear again later.
14. The phenomenon of seeing an unusable semiconductor Lazarus
detector fix itself at cryogenic temperatures.
The unexpected return of spontaneous circulation after
resuscitation has been abandoned.
English Language Activities Society – BITS Pilani
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3. When Robert Clive wished to pay thanks for his victory in the
Battle of Plassey, he was unable to do so in a Church because the
only church in Calcutta at that time was destroyed by Siraj-ud-
15. Durga Puja
Daulah. What was organised for the first time by Raja Nabakrishna
Deb of the Shobhabazar Rajbari of Calcutta in honour of Lord
Clive in the year 1757?
When he was thirteen, his mother committed suicide by drowning
in the river. It is claimed that he was there when her body was
16.* René Magritte
retrieved and saw her face covered by her dress, which is believed
to have inspired one of his famous paintings.
It is a 1953 Merrie Melodies cartoon by Chuck Jones, featuring
Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd. It is widely
considered among Jones' best and most important films. Its naming
17.* Duck! Rabbit! Duck!
is possibly inspired by a concept made famous by philosopher
Ludwig Wittgenstein, illustrating the difference between ‗Seeing
that‘ and ‗seeing as‘.
This game uses a special glove that extends into a long pointed
Jai alai.
curved basket. Hence it is called cesta-punta in Spanish meaning
18. No points for Basque
'edged basket'. It is considered the fastest sport in the world
Pelota
because of the ball speed. It features in the 1982 cult film Tron.
This animal has the largest brain among all animals. It gets its name
19. from a milky-white waxy substance found in its head, which is used Sperm Whale
in cosmetics, leatherworking, and lubricants.
X was a gaily decorated cap, usually with a number of loose peaks
tipped with bells, formerly worn by court jesters and clowns. In the
20. Foolscap
18th century folio-sized paper had a watermark of an X on it, and
thus a paper of that size has now come to be known as Y. Give Y.
The ending of the Tintin comic The Castafiore Emerald is inspired
21. The Thieving Magpie
by the name of which Rossini opera?
X is a cylindrical cigar with both ends clipped during manufacture,
popular as an inexpensive substitute to cigars. The word X comes
22. from Tamil ‗shuruttu‘- meaning roll. This word was absorbed into Cheroot
the French language from Tamil during the 18th century and thence
into English. Identify X.
What was the name given to the supposed sunken landmass
connecting Madagascar, South India and Australia which has been
23. identified by some historians with ‗Lemuria‘, a hypothetical lost Kumari Kandam
continent posited in 19th century to account for biogeographical
discontinuities?
She was a mathematician, physicist, and author most famous for
translating Newton's Principia into French. She predicted the
existence of infrared radiation and also showed that the energy of a
24.* Emilie du Chatelet
moving object is proportional to the square of its velocity. Voltaire,
one of her lovers described her as ―a great man whose only fault
was being a woman.‖
X was a 1966 movie by Y about a photographer who accidentally
X – Blowup;
photographs a murder in a park. This plot element was repeated in
25. Y – Michelangelo
the Hindi movie Jaane bhi do yaaron, and in tribute to X the park
Antonioni
where the murder happens was called Y Park. Gimme X & Y.
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4. _______ is a Russian wartime song, composed in 1938, about a girl
longing for her beloved, who is away on military service. _______
26. is a tender diminutive from the female name Ekaterina. ________ Katyusha
also gave its name to the BM-8, BM-13, and BM-31 rocket
launchers that were fielded by the Red Army in WWII.
Born in Germany, his father was a prize-winning gymnast of Greek
ancestry, and his mother worked as a naturopath. His surname led
27. to him being taunted at school for killing Christ. He developed Joseph Pilates
what he called Contrology, a method which he believed uses the
mind to control the muscles.
It is an alternative alphabet for the English language that is used
primarily on the Internet. It uses various combinations of ASCII
28. characters to replace Latinate letters. One theory is that it was leet/ l33t
developed to defeat text filters created to discourage the discussion
of forbidden topics, like cracking and hacking.
This surname usually refers to members of the Kshatriya caste from
the hills of Nepal. They are the largest caste group in Nepal,
29. Chhetri
comprising about 15.5% of the total population. It is a colloquial
derivative of the word kshatriya.
X is a food spread made from yeast extract, a by-product of beer-
brewing. The product took its name from the French term for a
30. large, covered earthenware or metal cooking pot. X was originally Marmite
supplied in earthenware pots, but since the 1920s has primarily
been sold in glass jars that approximate the shape of such pots.
Hemlock water dropwort was a neurotoxic plant used for the ritual
killing of elderly people in pre-Roman X. These people were
intoxicated with this herb and then dropped from a high rock or
31. Sardonic grin
beaten to death. Y is a commonly used two word phrase, which was
apparently used to describe their countenances when this happened.
X is a present day Italian province. Give Y.
This German mathematician is credited with the modern formal
definition of a function, apart from other achievements. His
Johann Lejeune
32. surname is derived from French for "the youth from Richelette" as
Dirichlet
his family was from a small community called Richelette in
Belgium.
Martin Lahart, Samuel Seager, Bernard Cloonan, Lyle Chapman,
William Gardner and others, led by X were charged with bringing X – Eliot Ness;
33.
down Al Capone. They came to be known as ‗Y‘ for their Y – The Untouchables
legendary courage and incorruptibility. Identify X and Y.
This was an extremely sought-after role during this movie‘s making
with even Eleanor Roosevelt writing to David Selznick to let her
34. Hattie McDaniel
maid play the role. The woman X who played it won an Oscar for
it, thus achieving a certain first. Identify X.
This club is based in the capital of the Russian republic of Anzhi Makhachkala
Dagestan. Due to Islamic insurgency, the players train in Moscow (Accept minor spelling
35.
and have to travel 2,000 km to play their home games. It has come variation for second
into the spotlight with the recent signing of Samuel Eto'o. Name. word)
It is one of the Mahavakyas in Vedanta. It originally occurs in the
Chandogya Upanishad in the dialogue between Uddalaka and his
36. son Śvetaketu. It can be translated as ‗Thou art that‘ and influenced Tat tvam asi
the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and is mentioned throughout
his book, The World as Will and Representation.
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5. Extract from the song ―Skull Beneath The Skin‖
‖Prepare the patients scalp
To peel away
Metal caps his ears
He'll hear not what we say
37. Vic Rattlehead
Solid steel visor
Riveted across his eyes
Iron staples close his jaws
So no one hears his cries‖
Who is being described here?
X is a method of extraction, by boiling, of dissolved chemicals, or
herbal or plant material. It involves first mashing, and then boiling
38. in water to extract chemical substances. X is also the name for the Decoction
resulting fluid. In South India, this word is used for a certain drink
prepared in a certain manner.
The Island of Port Lligat is located at the entrance of a small bay in
Catalonia, Spain. A famous painter lived here and both the bay and
39. Salvador Dali
the island have been represented in several of his paintings as a
rocky landscape background. Identify painter.
This educator and librarian was a supporter of spelling reform. He
was also active in arranging the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake
40. Placid. Most famous for introducing a new system for something, Melvil Dewey
which he devised by improving on something first outlined by Sir
Francis Bacon.
She was the last of the postwar conventional aircraft carriers
commissioned into the Royal Navy. Served as one of four Royal HMS Hermes;
41.* Navy strike carriers mainly in the Indian Ocean area until 1970 and
was made the flagship of the British forces during the Falkland No points for INS Viraat
wars. Paid off in 1985 and refitted and sold to another navy.
This word derives from the inaccurate reading of the Arabic
expression samt ar-ra's, meaning ―direction of the head‖, by
42. Medieval Latin scribes. It was incorrectly reduced to ‗samt‘ Zenith
("direction"), and later, via Old French and Middle English, gained
its current form. What's the word?
In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship is a portent of doom.
This legend has influenced various works, including supposedly
43. Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and the opera X by The Flying Dutchman
Richard Wagner. X is also a nickname given to various
sportspersons from a particular country.
In 1742 Pierre Martel visited a valley in the Alps. He attributed the
dispersal of erratic boulders to the fact that the glaciers had once
44. extended much farther. This was followed by research expeditions Ice Age
by various scientists and eventually led to Louis Agassiz's ___ ___
theory.
This word, now used mainly in an informal context to mean intense
criticism, is an abbreviation from the German ‗Flugabwehrkanone‘
45. Flak
meaning (anti-)aircraft defense cannon, possibly as a metaphor
derived from intense bursts of fire from the same. Identify
It is a medium blue-green color. It is named after a member of the
duck family, whose eyes are surrounded by the color. The post-
46. Teal
2004 redesigned version of the United States $100 bill features this
as its primary background color.
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6. Before he was born, his parents had three sons and a daughter, with
all three boys dying in their infancy. Fearing a curse that targeted
male children, he was brought up as a girl for the first few years of
47. Nathuram Godse
his life, including being made to wear a nose-ring, because of
which he came to be called by a certain nickname. This nickname
stuck and he is still famous by this name. Who?
Also known as Japanese horseradish, this plant is a member of the
family which includes cabbages and mustard. Its root is used as a
48. condiment and has an extremely strong flavor which is a result of Wasabi
complex chemical mixtures from the broken cells of the rhizome.
What is it commonly known as?
It is a term for a motivating element in a story that is used to drive
the plot and serves no further purpose. The term was popularized
49.* by Alfred Hitchcock, who described it as ―In crook stories it is McGuffin
almost always the necklace and in spy stories it is most always the
papers". A Scottish name gives you the answer.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
50. Jabberwocky
And the mome raths outgrabe.
The first stanza of which famous poem of nonsense verse written
by Lewis Caroll as part of his novel ―Through the Looking Glass‖?
―________ charges‖ was the term applied to human wave attacks
by the infantry of the losing Imperial Japanese Army during the
51. WWII when surrender or death were the only options. The Japanese Banzai
word ________ literally means ―Ten thousand years‖ and is a
common exhortation of long life or celebration in Japan.
This word is the feminine passive past participle of a French verb
meaning ―to melt‖. It is used as a noun and was first attested in
52. French in 1735, in Vincent la Chapelle‘s ―Cuisinier Moderne‖. Fondue
Today used to describe dishes where food is dipped into a
communal pot of hot liquid.
He was a general of the Russian army during the Napoleonic Wars.
He features in Tolstoy‘s War and Peace. He led the left wing at the
Battle of Borodino, where he constructed a number of fleches. He
53.* Pyotr Bagration
was mortally wounded in this battle. An operation in WW2 which
cleared the German forces from Belorussian SSR and eastern
Poland is named after him.
The term "XY" might have originated in Pennsylvania in 1888,
when an Act raised the state's fee for a saloon license. Kate Hester
refused to pay the new license fee and wanted to keep from
54. Speakeasy
drawing attention to her illegal business. So when her customers
got too rowdy, she would hush them by whispering, "X Y, boys! X
Y!". Give XY.
Give one word for:
The British English term for a high spiral slide
A song from the album ―The Beatles‖ (better known as The
55. Helterskelter
White Album)
The term given by Charles Manson for an apocalyptic war
which he believed would arise between whites and blacks.
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7. The ______ effect refers to the phenomenon in which the greater
the expectation placed on people, often children or students and
56. employees, the better they perform. It is named after a Cypriot Pygmalion
sculptor in a narrative by Ovid in Greek Mythology who fell in love
with a female statue he had carved out of ivory. Fill in the blank.
This animal, colloquially called the Tasmanian Tiger or Tasmanian
Wolf, was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern
57.* times. Native to continental Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, Thylacine
it is thought to have become extinct in the 20th century. It was one
of only two marsupials to have a pouch in both sexes.
X is a 1973 American sci-fi film directed by Richard Fleischer. It is
set in a dystopian future. Much of the population survives on
58. processed rations including X, which, advertised as being produced Soylent Green
from "high-energy plankton" turns out to be processed human meat.
Identify X.
X, German for ‗Night of (broken) Glass‘ was a pogrom against
Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on November
59. 9–10, 1938 and was triggered by the assassination of German Kristalnaacht
diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a German-born
Polish Jew in Paris, France. Give X.
"Little twines", "Little worms", "Rifles", "Cooking Pot", "Large Pasta (varieties
60.
canes", "Pens" and "Squashed" are some of the famous types of? translated to English)
He was the inventor of the first portable fully automatic machine
gun. He also laid a claim to inventing the light bulb and
61. Hiram Maxim
experimented with powered flight. He is also the inventor of the
ubiquitous mousetrap.
X's wheel was invented in 1150 by Indian mathematician X, in an
attempt to create a perpetual motion machine. The wheel consisted
62. of curved or tilted spokes partially filled with mercury. Once in Bhaskara
motion, the mercury would flow from one side of the spoke to
another, thus forcing the wheel to continue motion.
He was the son of Helios and Clymene. Seeking assurance that
Helios was indeed his father he obtained his father's permission to
63. drive the sun chariot as proof. He failed to control it and the Earth Phaethon
was in danger of burning up when he was killed by a thunderbolt
from Zeus to prevent further disaster.
When the crew of Apollo 8 became the first humans to see the far
64. side of the moon in late 1968, they were tempted to radio back the Monolith
discovery of a large, black _______.
He was called the "Atom Smasher", and the man who "held the
key" to atomic energy. The invention that brought X to
65. international fame started out when X was once intrigued by a Ernest Lawrence
diagram which proposed to produce very high-energy particles by
means of a succession of very small "pushes."
This indigenous tribe is found mostly in Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Their name is derived from a word meaning "piece of land" or
66. "field". Their mural paintings are famous and similar to those done Warli
between 500 and 10,000 BCE in the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka,
in Madhya Pradesh.
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8. X emerged as the lead character in Hogan's Alley, drawn by
Richard F. Outcault. X was a bald, snaggle-toothed boy who wore a
67. The Yellow Kid
nightshirt and hung around in a ghetto alley filled with equally odd
characters, mostly other children.
Which webcomic generally characterized by the juxtaposition of
whimsical childlike imagery or fantasy with morbid, sudden or The Perry Bible
68.
unexpected surreal humor, takes its name from the name of a Fellowship
church in Maine?
The author of this book has emphasized that the book is not about
mathematics, art, and music but rather about how cognition and
69. Gödel, Escher, Bach
thinking emerge from well-hidden neurological mechanisms.
Identify the book.
While with the French Resistance during World War II, this
director adopted a pseudonym as a tribute to his favorite American
author. Jean-Luc Godard used him as a minor character in
70. Jean Pierre Melville
Breathless. When Godard was having difficulty editing the film, he
suggested that he just cut directly to the best parts of a shot, which
inspired Godard to use the extremely famous jump cuts.
It is the practice of having more than one intimate relationship at a
time with the consent of everyone involved. The infinity heart, a
red and white heart combined with a blue infinity is often used as a
71. Polyamory
symbol by people who practice this. The French philosophers Jean
Pierre Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir were famously involved in
such a relationship.
In 1726, Jonathan Swift described tensions in Lilliput and Blefuscu: Endianness
whereas in Lilliput people cracked open a soft-boiled egg at the Accept little Endian/Big
72.
small end, inhabitants of the rival kingdom of Blefuscu cracked it at Endian; Endian is the
the other end. What term, used in computing, derives from this? key word.
Marcus Garvey, Jr. was a 20th century Jamaican journalist and
orator. A staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-
Africanism movements, he founded a shipping line which promoted
73. Black Star Line
the return of the African diaspora to their ancestral lands. This line
derived its name from a well-known shipping line, whose success
Garvey felt he could duplicate. Name the line.
In music, X is a motif or phrase which is persistently repeated in
the same musical voice. X is to classical music what a riff is to
74. popular music, though a riff doesn't necessarily have to repeat. The Ostinato
term X comes from the Italian word for "obstinate", owing to the
phrase's unwillingness to leave.
Xs are referred to by the Chinese as Yuan-yang, where yuan and
yang respectively stand for male and female Xs. In the eyes of the
75. ancient Chinese, Xs form a life-time couple, unlike many other Mandarin Ducks
species. Hence they are frequently featured in Oriental art and are
regarded as a symbol of conjugal affection and fidelity.
X was a French-Italian cardinal, diplomat, and politician. He was a
noted collector of art and jewels, particularly diamonds, and he
76. Mazarin
bequeathed the "X diamonds" to Louis XIV in 1661, one of which
featured in a Sherlock Holmes case.
He is a great King of the nagas and is known in Chinese and
Japanese mythology as being one of the "eight Great Naga Kings".
77. Vasuki
During Samudramanthan, he was used as the churning rope to
extract the ambrosia of immortality from the ocean of milk.
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9. In an 1865 speech in Oakland, California, Rev. W. B. Brown of
The sun never set on the
New Jersey, in a satirical reference to a famous phrase, quipped that
78. Empire; use discretion
the reason the ___ ___ _____ ___ __ ___ ______ was that God did
for minor variations
not trust the British in the dark. Gimme a seven word phrase.
X and Y were both authors and lifelong friends. X based the
character of Idabel in Other Voices, Other Rooms on Y, and was in
X – Truman Capote;
79. turn the inspiration for a character in Y‘s 1960 Pulitzer Prize
Y – Harper Lee
winning novel. Y was also X‘s research partner in X‘s most famous
book, a journalistic work about the murder of a Kansas farm family.
This Australian came to Mumbai to meet Parveen Babi whilst
awaiting a work permit to work in Muscat. He got his first break as
a type-cast villain in the Hindi movie Abdullah in 1980. His film
80. Bob Christo
career restricted him to be typecast and portray stereotypical roles
such as a henchman, prisoner, the villain's sidekick or a British
officer in pre-war related movies.
He studied medicine and worked at the Department of Obstetrics
and Gynaecology at the University of Kiel, where he published
Ernst Gräfenberg;
81. papers on cancer metastasis and the physiology of egg
The G in the G Spot
implantation. He also developed the first intrauterine device in
1929.
Give one word:
a historical term for pawn shops or moneychangers in the
Middle Ages
a musical rhythm, especially used in Baroque music
82. a phenomenon in which a speaker or singer involuntarily Lombard
raises his or her vocal intensity in the presence of high
levels of sound
a medieval alliance of some 30 cities in Northern Italy
formed to counter the Holy Roman Empire's Frederick I
_______ (hate), Akheron (sorrow), Kokytos (lamentation) and
83. Styx
Phlegethon (flaming), Lethe (forgetfulness). Just fill in the blank.
This British actor won the academy award for best supporting actor
twice – for Spartacus and Topkapi. He was unintentionally a part
84. witness to the assassination of India's Prime Minister Indira Sir Peter Ustinov
Gandhi. She was on her way to be interviewed by him for a
documentary for Irish television when she was assassinated.
A X, also known as a X helmet or ski mask, is a form of cloth
headgear that covers the whole head, exposing only part of the face.
85. Balaclava
The name comes from a Ukrainian town of the same name. It‘s
commonly called a monkey cap in India. What is it?
A fellow of the Royal Society, he made pioneering studies in
anthropometry in India. He founded the Indian Statistical Institute,
86. and contributed to the design of large scale sample surveys. He is PC Mahalanobis
perhaps best remembered for a multivariate distance measure,
named after him, which is independent of measurement scale.
He is one of the earliest Indian playwrights in Sanskrit. His works
were discovered in 1912 by Ganapati Shastri, a Sanskrit Scholar in
Kerala. His plays do not follow all the dictates of the Natya Shastra,
87. Bhasa
which has been taken as a proof of their antiquity. His plays are still
very much popular in Kutiyattam, the only surviving Sanskrit
drama tradition in Kerala.
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10. An army of 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150
cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits, was
88. Terracotta Warriors
discovered by farmers in 1974. The purpose of this army was to
guard an emperor in his afterlife. Which army?
The name of this town is an Iroquois word, meaning either "two
moccasins tied together", "bag tied at the middle", "where the fish
are taken out" or "jumping fish." It lent its name to an adult
89. Chautauqua
education movement featuring lectures, plays, and musical
performances, which Theodore Roosevelt described as "the most
American thing in America."
Norris McWhirter came to particular public attention while
working for the BBC as a sports commentator. On 6 May 1954, he
The Guinness Book of
90. kept the time when Roger Bannister ran the four-minute mile.
Records
Which famous publication did he go on to co-write with his
brother?
____ is a strategic board game, invented by French film director
Albert Lamorisse and originally released in 1957 as La Conquête
91. du Monde ("The Conquest of the World") in France. The object of Risk
the game is "to occupy every territory on the board and in so doing,
eliminate all other players." What is it?
Once popular throughout the North American region, its numbers
declined rapidly owing to the bio-magnification of DDT in its prey.
92. The DDT resulted in abnormally thin egg shells. However, with Bald Eagle
restrictions on DDT use, its population has stabilized once again.
What creature are we talking about?
He was a Spanish priest who wrote one of the first definitive books
about modern chess in Europe. Considered by many to be the first
93.* unofficial world chess champion, he is today remembered as having Ruy Lopez
studied in detail an extremely popular chess opening, named after
him. Who?
Connect with a word: Potatoes, Tomatoes, Eggplants, Tobacco and
Belladonna. Most likely, albeit ironically, the name comes from the
94. Nightshade
perceived resemblance that some of the flowers bear to the sun and
its rays.
Give two words for:
Indian Cobra, Russell‘s Viper, Krait and Saw Scaled Viper
Deloitte Touche (M.E), Ernst & Young, PwC, KPMG
95. Big four
Alberta cattlemen Patrick Burns, George Lane, A. E. Cross
and Archie McLean who together founded the Calgary
Stampede
The term __________ (Greek for "having four letters") refers to the
name of the Lord of Israel, YHWH, used in the Hebrew Bible.
96. Tetragrammaton
Observant Jews write it down but do not pronounce it as it is
considered too sacred to be used for common activities.
The etymology of this phrase, used as a euphemism for having died
in war is unclear, but it has been theorized that the death benefits
97. paid to the beneficiaries of soldiers who died in battle were often Bought the farm
enough to pay off the mortgage of the family home or farm, hence
the deceased was said to have "________ the ______".
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11. Probably the greatest Brazilian footballer to have never won a
World Cup, he was described as the most rugged footballer of the
Cold War era. Name this attacking midfielder who was noted for
98. Socrates
being an intellectual, and was a co-founder of the Corinthians
Democracy movement, wherein the players took over the
management of the club.
X was formed in 2001, and based in Moyock, North Carolina as a
company that would train US Navy SEALs for combat. X later
99. Blackwater
evolved and diversified, and claims to have been absolutely
successful in certain theatres. ID X.
Which famous book has chapters such as "On the Arrangements of
a House, and Household Furniture", "Of Different Kinds of Gain",
100. Kama Sutra
"How to Begin and How to End the Congress" and "On Pressing or
Marking with the Nails"?
X: They came in or, you know, told him or they must have spoken
to him and Prime Minister spoke to him.
Y: No. Prime Minister did not. I was the one who was talking with
101. him. I was on the phone and he – Prime Minister said a few words, Kanimozhi
that‘s all. And see, Prime Minister can‘t talk on a phone to dad and
convey, there is obviously… Prime Minister is also, you know,
very soft spoken and dad can‘t hear that clearly also.
Just gimme Y.
This drink is believed to get its name because it was made for the
workers in a steel works in Glasgow. These workers were dying
102. from the large amounts of beer drunk to quench their thirst from the Irn Bru
heat of the steel works and this was introduced as an alternative by
A.G. Barr.
X, sometimes called "the father of algebra", was an Alexandrian
Greek mathematician and the author of a series of books which deal
103. Diophantus
with solving algebraic equations. It was while studying these that
Pierre de Fermat formulated the famous Fermat‘s Last Theorem.
When Erle Stanley Gardner created this fictional attorney, he
borrowed the name of the company which published his favorite
104. childhood magazine. Name this fictional character, who famously Perry Mason
described himself as "I'm a specialist on getting people out of
trouble".
_______ _____ is a common name for over 1,000 species of
flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae. The seeds of many
of these contain alkaloids such as the hallucinogenic ergonovine
105. Morning glory
and ergine (LSA). The seeds of at least two species are used as
psychedelics and can produce a similar effect to LSD when taken in
the tens.
This animal was brought to prominent European attention by
speculation on its existence in popular press reports, where it was
106. called the ‗African unicorn‘. Remains of a carcass were later sent to Okapi
London by the English adventurer Harry Johnston and became a
media event in 1901.
X was a Parisian punch-cutter and publisher. He was one of the
leading type designers of his time. The French court adopted X‘s
107.* Claude Garamond
Roman types for their printing and their influence spread across
France and Western Europe. Give me X.
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12. A photo album with pictures of X was recently discovered in Y‘s
compound. During X‘s visit to Y‘s country, Y presented X with a
diamond ring, a lute, a locket with an engraved likeness of himself X – Condoleeza Rice;
108.
inside and an inscribed edition of "The Green Book," a personal Y – Muammar Gaddafi
political manifesto that explains his "Third Universal Theory for a
new democratic society." Gimme X and Y
A controversial figure among cricketers, he was well known for his
dislike of Australian players and crowds and was unpopular in
109. Douglas Jardine
Australia. He was the captain of the English team during the 1932-
33 Bodyline series. Who?
Sir Francis Galton defined it as "the study of all agencies under
human control which can improve or impair the racial quality of
110. future generations". It advocates the use of practices aimed at Eugenics
improving the genetic composition of a population. It has been
called ―the self-direction of human evolution‖. What?
He is one of the Trinity in Carnatic music. At a young age, he was
also exposed to the music of the Western bands at Fort St. George.
He composed some forty songs to several western folk tunes. This
111. Muttuswami Dikshitar
corpus is now known as Nottuswara Sahitya. The influence of
Celtic and Baroque styles in these compositions is quite evident.
Who?
This astronomer, according to legend, died of complications
resulting from a strained bladder at a banquet as it was considered
bad etiquette to leave the table before the meal was finished. This
112. Tyco Brahe
version of events has since been brought into question as other
causes of death (murder by Johannes Kepler, suicide, and mercury
poisoning among others) have come to the fore.
He was the father of the Devas, Asuras, Nagas and all of humanity.
He married Aditi, with whom he fathered Agni, the Adityas, and
113. also Vamana. With his second wife, Diti, he begot the Daityas. He Kashyapa
received the earth, obtained by Parashurama's conquest of King
Kartavirya Arjuna.
The Sealed Air Corporation was founded in 1960 by inventors
Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes. Their most famous product
114. Bubblewrap
was created by sealing two shower curtains together, which they
originally tried to sell as wallpaper. What product?
In psychology, the X effect is a demonstration of the reaction time
of a task. When the name of a color is printed in a color not denoted
by the name, naming the color of the word takes longer and is more
115. Stroop
prone to errors. The effect has been used to create a psychological
test (X Test) that is widely used in clinical practice and
investigation. What is X?
Sarah "Saartjie" Baartman was a Khoikhoi woman who became
famous after being exhibited as a freak show attraction in 19th
century Europe under the name ________ _______, owing to the
116.* Hottentot Venus
unusual bodily features she possessed. Since 1994, Baartman has
become an icon in South Africa as representative of many aspects
of the nation's history. Fill in the blanks.
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13. Give one word:
In Cambridge, a student who has completed the third year of
the mathematical tripos with first-class honours
a profession of handling animals, especially horses and
117. Wrangler
cattle
a clothing brand owned by the VF Corporation
an SUV and off-road vehicle manufactured by Chrysler
under its Jeep marquee.
______ ______ is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin.
Its eponymous protagonist has served as the model for a number of
118. Eugene Onevin
Russian literary heroes (so-called superfluous men). The novel
served as the basis for Tchaikovsky‘s 1879 opera of the same name.
X is an early electronic musical instrument named after its Russian
inventor. It consists of two metal antennas which sense the position
119.* of the player's hands. So it can be played without being touched. It Theremin
features in soundtracks of movies like Spellbound, The Machinist,
The Day the Earth Stood Still among others.
It is a form of propaganda where a few people attempt to give the
impression that mass numbers of enthusiasts advocate a specific
120.
cause. It gets its name from the fact that it is often in support of a Astroturfing
political or corporate agenda but is designed to give the appearance
of a "grassroots" movement.
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14. This quiz is conducted by the English Language Activities Society, BITS Pilani.
Quizmasters: Srisha Haridas, Nachiketa Adhikari, Pavan Bharadwaj, Mayank Kowshik
We would like to express our immense gratitude to the following people:
Dr. Anurakshat Gupta, International Quizzing Association
Karnataka Quiz Association
Odisha Quiz Association
The Coimbatore Quiz Circle
QFI, Chennai
Kutub Quizzers, Delhi
SEQC, Goa
Vivek Krishnan
Odyssey Bookstore, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad
IIT Kharagpur Quiz Club
Mr. Gautam Ghosh, Kwizmaniax, Kolkata
Quizzing Commoners, Lucknow
The Bombay Quiz Club
Mr. Ramanand of the Boat Club Quiz Club, Pune and Mr. Amit Patil
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