This document appears to be a quiz with multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions covering a wide range of topics including films, literature, history, science and pop culture. Some of the questions require identifying people, places, events, songs, films and more based on clues and contextual information provided.
15. • This Economics
graduate from the
Madras Christian
College served as
India’s Finance
minister and
Railways minister.
His nephew was the
man behind India’s
White revolution.
• Who ?
20. • The founders wanted to name their company
after themselves but then realized that the
name sounded a lot like “More noise”.
• What name did they finally adopt ?
21. • Intel founded by Gordon Moore and Robert
Noyce in 1968
• Moore Noyce was their initial choice
22. • What object (possibly a reference to the
“work of art” that first brought him/her into
the limelight) did the party founder want as
the Election symbol for the Rashtriya Aam
Party ? Also name the “work of art”.
24. • The 2 basic techniques used for this are
‘chunking’ and eliminating ‘subvocalizaiton’.
• A British woman, Anne Jones has won the
World championship for this 6 times in a row.
• Her best was an incredible score of 4251 wpm.
• What am I talking about ?
25. • Speed reading
• In 2007, the 6 time World Champion Speed
Reader read ‘Deathly Hallows’ in a stunning 47
minutes, give or take a second. That’s 4,251
wpm, or about 14 times faster than the
average reader.
26. • Calcutta X : Official between 1884 & 1906
• Bombay X: Official between 1884 & 1906
• Madras X also known as the Railway X: Official
between 1802 and 1884
• Port Blair X: Official from the early 19th century
till 1906
• What officially replaced all of these in 1906 ?
28. • During the middle ages, to make something more
interesting, a commoner's occupation was
associated with each of these.
• The occupations included:
• Gambler
• Policeman
• Innkepper
• Merchant
• Doctor
• Weaver
• Blacksmith
• Farmer
With what were these occupations associated ?
30. • What makes Dahala Khagrabari an Indian
enclave belonging to the District of Cooch
Behar the only one of it’s kind in the World ?
31. • World's only 3rd order enclave on the India -
Bangladesh border
• India in Bangladesh in India in Bangladesh
32. • In 1922 the Carlsberg brewery gave this man a
gift – a house located next to the brewery.
• It had a direct pipeline to the brewery so that
he could have free beer on tap whenever he
wanted !
• So who was this lucky dude ??
34. • According to the UN this is an exhaustive list and
not something to be proud of
35. • Only 3 countries in the world which are still
not Polio free
36.
37. • Shanti Mullick. Former captain of the Indian
Women’s football team
• The only female Arjuna awardee in Football
38. • An extremely vain man, for every great occasion
he insisted that he should be sewn into his
uniform so there would not be a single crease to
mar his appearance
• However like an Aesop’s fable his vanity led to his
downfall because when he was shot it was
impossible to unbutton his uniform and by the
time scissors had been found he had already bled
to death
• Identify this gentleman, whose refusal to wear
buttons proved to be significant for a vast
majority of humanity
39. • Archduke Franz Ferdinand whose
assassination on June 28th 1914 sparked the
beginning of the World War
40. • In the middle ages, _______ referred to a
metal cone or shield used to put out the
hearth fire in the evening.
• The word thus came to denote the end of a
day’s activities. It is this still in active use today
but slightly differently
• What’s the good word?
42. • A Jewish astronomical observer noticed a
change in the regularity of a star’s pulse as
though there had been a sudden slip
• He used the Yiddish word for ‘slip’ which now
technically refers to a sudden change in the
rotation period of a neutron star.
• Again, it’s a word which we commonly use.
What’s the good word?
44. • In 1815, Charles-Louis Didelot was a French dancer
and choreographer who devised a system for
dancers to be lifted through the air on wires and
lowered.
• The technique became so popular, that ballerinas
soon learned to apply it without the use of wires as
it gave an appearance of being weightless. Typically,
years of training and practice are required to
develop the strength to perform this technique
without wires
• What did Charles Didelot unintentionally give rise
to?
45. • En Pointe
• The Ballerina
Technique of
standing on the
tip of one’s toes
to support all
body weight
46. • On May 28, 585 B.C. the armies of Lydia and
Media were preparing for battle in Asia Minor
when a Solar eclipse occurred which led to the
two nations signing a peace treaty.
• Nothing remarkable about it, except that the
occurrence of the solar eclipse makes the event
special especially significant from a historical
perspective.
• What is so special about the battle?
47. • Due to the occurrence of the solar eclipse, it
is the oldest event which can be dated to
the exact day!
48. • 40% of this country’s population shares 20
surnames which evidently leads to a lot of
confusion
• The government of this country thus has a
computerized list of words which sound similar
to these common surnames. These words are
completely nonsensical yet the government
urges people to change their names (for
obvious reasons)
• Just identify the country which I am referring to
49. • Sweden– Surnames such as Bergkvist (Rock-
Twig) and Malmstrom (Ore-River) have been
randomly selected
50. • What reason did the famous writer Guy de
Maupassant cite for mostly eating his lunch at
the Eiffel Tower’s restaurant ?
51. • He hated the Eiffel tower and the restaurant
was the only place in Paris where it could not
be seen !
54. • On 6th April 1917, only a few months after he
assumed office for the 2nd time, this Head of
state did something which was exactly
opposite of what his re election campaign
slogan was.
• Who ? What did he do ? What was the
campaign slogan ?
56. • We have seen this in movies and TV shows
though it’s not very popular in India.
• An urban legend credits Isaac Newton with the
first instance of creating this.
• The story goes like this:
• Newton was experimenting in a pitch-black room.
Somebody in Newton's household kept pushing
the door open and letting in light thus wrecking
his experiment. Instead of simply bolting the door
shut the great man decided to create this.
• What ?
58. • Delay certificates are provided by some
transportation corporations to any passenger
who demands them when their journeys run
behind schedule.
• Delay certificates have been provided for
delays of as little as 5 minutes.
• Which are the only 2 countries in the World
where we might receive a delay certificate if
we wanted one ?
59. • Japanese railway companies and Germany's
Deutsche Bahn are the only organizations in
the World that provide these
62. • There are only 2 sovereign states in the world that
were begun by citizens of a political power as a
colony for former slaves of the same political power.
• The first country was established between 1821 and
1838 under the auspices American Colonization
Society and declared its independence in 1847
• The second country was established in 1787 by
Britain.
• Which are the 2 countries in question?
66. • Who played the role of Kedar Chatujye in a
1980 film, directed by Tarun Majumdar and
based on an unfinished work by Sharadindu
Bandhopadhyay ?
• Name the movie as well.
• People from Spanish speaking countries might
think they can do a Suarez and nibble on him
68. • The 404 or Not Found error message is a HTTP
standard response code indicating that the client was
able to communicate with a given server, but the
server could not find what was requested.
• We must have all come across this while using the
internet
• An American company which was founded in 1916
started rolling out a particular “product” on June 12,
1994
• As of June, 2014 the total number of this released is
1212
• How do we know better know the 404th number of
this “product” ?
71. • Vishal Bhardwaj films based on Shakespeare
• Omkara: Baba Omkarnath
• Haider: Haider Ali
• Maqbool: Maqbool Fida Hussain
72. • In 1996, August 13th was declared as World
…………………… Day to raise awareness about
the difficulties and frustrations a certain group
of people experience every day in a world not
designed for them.
• The day is dedicated to around 10% of the
World’s population. The 10% ratio has
remained more or less constant for the last
30,000 years.
• Fill in the blanks
74. • We can see an
object in her hand.
What is this object
and why has it
been included in
this 1583 portrait
by Metsys the
Younger ?
75. • It is a sieve
• The sieve was included to show that Queen
Elizabeth was a Vestal Virgin ( somebody who
could carry water in a sieve without spilling a
single drop )
76. • This company was founded in 1971 by Frederick
Smith by investing his own fortune of $4 million
and raising another $90 million from investor’s
• It ran into financial difficulties due to rising costs
of fuel and at a point of time the company had
only $5000 in it’s name.
• Mr. Smith emptied the company’s account, took
the money with him to Vegas, played blackjack
for a night and won $32,000 which helped keep
the company afloat.
• Which company’s colorful history ??
78. • The Chilkur Balaji Temple near Hyderabad, is
more popularly known as the X Temple
because most devotees come here for a
particular reason.
• A large number of the devotees are IT sector
employees.
• What is X ?
79. • Visa temple
• Devotees come here with the wish of going
abroad
80. • This great boxer once dreamt that he would kill
his opponent in his next fight. He wanted to
back out of the contest but his trainer and a
priest convinced him to fight.
• He won the fight and his opponent Jimmy Doyle
died a few hours later from injuries sustained
during the fight.
• The proceeds from his next 4 big fights all went
to Jimmy Doyle’s mother.
• Who was this great boxer ?
82. • The association AOTT sprung up a few years back in
Mumbai to provide insurance for a certain group of
people.
• Because it is borderline illegal, the AOTT has no
headquarters, holds no official meetings and will not
feature officially in any Google search result. The
only way to join the association is through
recommendations by a friend who is a member.
• A monthly premium of Rs. 100 or an annual
premium of Rs. 500 are the subscription fees for this
kind of insurance.
• More people are expected to join this association
after the announcement of this year’s budget.
• Expand AOTT
83. • Association of Ticketless Travelers
• It refunds the fines paid by member Ticketless
Travelers who get caught and have to pay a
fine to the Railways
84. • These 2 famous songs from 1977 and 1980 have
been used by the American and British Heart
foundations to help doctors and paramedics
with CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).
• The songs both have 103 beats per minute
which roughly equals the number of chest
compressions per minute recommended by
these heart foundations for CPR.
• The 1977 song has a very apt title when used as
a CPR guide whereas the 1980 song sounds very
wrong as a CPR guide. Give me the 2 songs
85.
86. • In 1995/96, what did Outlook magazine
humorously describe as "the biggest sex
change operation in independent India“ ?
87. • The renaming of Victoria Terminus to
Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai
88.
89.
90. • Hindu mythology:
• Vidyutjinn was a senapati in the army of the
King of Kalkay. X fought a battle with Kalkay in
which Vidyutjinn died.
• Vidyutjinn’s grieving wife Y cursed X by saying
that she would be the cause of X’s death
• Give me X & Y
92. • X Pink is a naval camouflage
colour resembling greyish
mauve. It was first used by the
British Royal Navy during World
War II. After noticing a Union-
Castle Line ship with a similar
camouflage colour disappearing
from sight, X applied the colour
to his own ships, believing the
colour would render his ships
difficult to see during dawn and
dusk.
• Give me X
94. • Alexander Graham Bell suggested the word X
should be used to answer telephone calls but
eventually Edison’s ‘Hello’ became the most
popular.
• A character Y in a TV series uses the word X
while answering the phone. This was done to
highlight the character’s advanced age (100
plus).
• Give me X & Y
98. • Give me
an 8
letter
term that
connects
these
women
99. • Trimates
• Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall and Biruté Galdikas
are often referred to as 'Leakey's Girls” or the
'Trimates.'
100. • Monks in Japan referred to this practice as
Sokushinbutsu. A diet made up of salt, nuts,
seeds, roots, pine bark and urushi tea was
recommended for this practice. It was banned
in Japan towards the end of the 19th century.
• Modern examples of this practice having been
followed are sometimes seen in Tibet and
South East Asia.
• What was the basic aim of practicing
Sokushinbutsu ?
102. • On 4th Feb 2008 which was their 50th
anniversary, NASA beamed this song into
space so that it might travel across the
Universe. If Aliens exist this might be the first
human song they listen to.
• The band and the song ?