REPUBLIC DAY 2014

Written Round

Clockwise – Infinite Pounce

Written Round

Anti-clockwise – Infinite Pounce

The Montecristi Foundation grading system begins with a single number called the Montecristi Cuenta. To determine the Montecristi Cuenta, we need to count the number of rows and columns weaved, in a square inch. The product of 2 numbers is called the Montecristi Cuenta for this particular entity. The rarest and most expensive can have as many as 1600–2500 weaves per square inch. What's been graded ?

ANSWER

PANAMA HAT

This is a memorial concept created by filmmaker Can Togay with the sculptor Gyula Pauer on the banks of the Danube river in Budapest. Who is honoured through this memorial and why the shoes?

ANSWER

The memorial is for all the Jews who were killed by the Arrow Cross Nazi soldiers. Before they were shot, the Jews were asked to remove their shoes and shot, so that they would fall into the Danube and get washed away. The memorial honors the Jew victims by showing the shoes that were left behind by the victims.

In 1973, since certain people weren’t recognized/awarded on flimsy grounds, the actor Pran refused to accept the Filmfare award for the Best Supporting Actor for Be-Imaan. Who were they & why weren’t they awarded ?

ANSWER

In 1973 , the trophies had been denied to Ghulam Mohammed for the Best Music Director and Meena Kumari for the Best Actress, both for Pakeezah, on the flimsy ground that the awards could not be presented posthumously.

In 1959 Mali’s constitution, adopted a flag with equal vertical stripes of green-yellow-red with a black stylized human figure in the centre with his arms raised towards heaven. This symbol, known as the kanaga, originated with the Dogon people of Mali and was given a modern meaning by the Negritude movement of Western Africa and the Caribbean. In 1960, when Senegal and Mali split into separate countries, the emblem was dropped from the Mali flag, and the plain tricolour flag was adopted. Why was the emblem dropped ?

ANSWER

Mali is about 90% Muslim. The figure was removed due to the Aniconic beliefs of Islam, which prohibits the making of pictures with human figures.

The above patterns are named after a German scientist/satirist who is famous for his discovery of these strange tree-like patterns. Id the pattern and what “experience would help” you to get such patterns?

ANSWER

Lichtenberg Figures named after Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. The Person with scars are Lightning Survivors.

In 1941, a day before Sarat Chandra Bose was arrested by the Britishers, this Sahitya Akademi winner quit his job and joined the All India Radio. Later, he shifted to England and was honored with the title of Commander of Order of the British Empire. The CBI had investigated the role of this person in the arrest of SC Bose but kept the report a secret. In late 1967, Indira Gandhi requested the CBI to show the file on SC report but the then CBI chief DP Kohli refused, stating that the contents were extremely volatile and if the information was made public, the writer's life would be in danger. Id this writer ?

ANSWER

Nirad C Chaudhuri

When you see someone wearing such a ring, what will you infer?

ANSWER

Ringstone symbol is designed by Abdu'l-Bahá who is Bahá'u'lláh's son and successor. It is the most common symbol found on rings worn by Bahá'ís

Buddhadeb Dasgupta's “Painter of eloquent speech” is a biopic of this late Kolkata painter, showing his works and how he was inspired. Id the painter and which specific event that took place on the 9th of December 2013 brought this painter back in the news.

http://youtu.be/b0rI0tJ9b04

ANSWER

Ganesh Pyne & Christies First Auction in India (Mumbai)

Spitzen Gebel, the oldest townhouse in Bremen, was a wine house and tavern till it was taken over by the united piano movers association. The piano movers were not allowed to drink during work; however they figured out a way to drink without anybody noticing. This is now celebrated as a tradition and the same method is used to greet visitors to the place today. What is this tradition?

ANSWER

Filling a lamp with Schnapps and getting drunk.

When Ellis R. Dungan & T.R. Sundaram hired M. Karunanidhi as the writer for this movie, Karunanidhi placed a recommendation which was initially rejected by the duo citing a reason. After a few brainstorming sessions, a compromise was finally reached. Id the recommendation, disagreement and the compromise with help of this video ?

http://youtu.be/u52KzwSS5Es

ANSWER

Karunanidhi recommended that his friend MGR be made hero for the new film. Sundaram reject the suggestion mainly for MGR's non photogenic double chin. Hence MGR had to hide his chin behind a beard in order do the role.

This trophy features a stylised version of the Olympic God Hermes by Giovanni Da Bologna as a silver figurine astride a winged wheel. It is given to the winner of an annual event that is made possible due to provisions accorded in the Act of Tynwald. Which event and name the Trophy.

http://youtu.be/zYDdc_qrN6E

ANSWER

Isle of Man TT

Marquis de Mouzilly St. Mars

Snake worship, is an old religion that predates Buddhism in Kashmir. Jahangir's memoirs include notes on snake worship in this town and the spring was used as a sacred site long before Emperor Jahangir selected it as his own retreat. It was originally enclosed by a circular wall and the emperor Jahangir had the shape changed to the favored Mughal octagon in 1620. It is believed to be the starting point of the 725 kilometer journey taken by Goddess Vitasta. Id the spring/the town which is approximately 80 km from Srinagar and how do you better know Vitasta :-

ANSWER

Verinag Spring and Jhelum

Despite the fact that this award was presented to only players of European nationality until 1997, the award was presented to two players who represented the Argentine National team before 1997.

Which award?

Who are the two players?

How were they awarded this, despite playing for Argentina?

ANSWER

Ballon D’Or

Omar Silvi

Alfred Di Stefano.

European countries allowed dual citizenship , due to which both of them played for european national teams as well. Omar -- Italy , Alfred for Spain and were thus eligible as European citizens as well.

In 1897, When the first Blackwall tunnel & subsequently other

tunnels in London were built under the Thames, they had to be

curved, rather than straight. Why ?

ANSWER

It was designed mainly for horse-drawn carts and carriages

& the horses would bolt if they saw the light at the end of

the tunnel. The Curvature prevented horses from seeing

daylight at the end of the tunnel, too early.

Pure animal instinct !!!

The Hebrew word means "flood, stream," or "ear of corn". It was the password used by the Gileadites to distinguish their own men from fleeing Ephraimites. What’s the good word and connect it to following scene :-

http://youtu.be/TkCFlHMpCqA

ANSWER

Shibboleth and that ‘s how German count 3...

Its origin is rooted in ancient times, when a group of visiting artists peeved by the demands of the local settlers killed them while they were engrossed in watching their performance. Since then it is performed as an act of atonement for that past event. It is a ritualistic folk theatre based on mythological stories from Ramayan and Mahabharat and performed in the Sattari Taluka of North Goa and Sanguem Taluka of South Goa. Also in border villages of Karnataka & Maharastra. Set against a backdrop of singers who stand in a straight line to form the actual backdrop, with traditional musical instruments like the ghumat and kasale, the act begins with a ‘naman’ where different gods are invoked. Id this performing art, which derives its name from the local word for "battle" and "torch" that’s used as a source of light during the performance ?

ANSWER

Ranmale 'Rann’ which means battle and ‘Male’ the traditional torch

Tiger moth/Bertholdia trigona have evolved to hear a bat closing in on them. They take evasive action, often resulting in a dramatic aerial acrobatic contest between the predator and prey which most often the bat would win. Over a period, the moths got smarter and evolved what defensive trait?

ANSWER

This tiger moth, Bertholdia trigona, is the first animal known to defend itself by jamming the sonar of bats. They emitted the sound back to the bat, often emitting as many as 450 clicks in 1/10th of a second. Such action effectively jams the bat’s sonar and confuses them, allowing the moth to fly.

One of his famous paintings featured a crowded hexagonal domed room in one of the offices for the Florentine magistrates, which earned him the displeasure of Queen Charlotte. He found himself out of favour and new commissions were not forthcoming. In search of a job, he landed in India in September 1783. For six years he travelled between Calcutta and Lucknow, producing a vast number of canvases and sketches that provide an intimate look at the complexities of British rule in India in the 18th century, like the picture shown in next slide. Id the artist and the famous controversial painting that literally put him out of business :-

ANSWER

Johan Zoffany , Tribuna of Uffizi (Uffizi means Office)

Id this Cricketer :- What highly coincidental events happened on his birthday December 10, 1988 and Oct 30, 2013 ?

ANSWER

Dhawal Kulkarni, Sachin Tendulkar's last Ranji Trophy partner was born on day SRT made his debut.

CLOCKWISE ENDS

1. From what we know there will be 133 actors playing major political figures in this upcoming TV series, the cast includes Neeraj Kabi who was seen earlier as the monk Maithreya in The Ship of Theseus as MK Gandhi, Tom Alter as Maulana Azad, Utkarsh Mazumdar as Sardar Patel, Dilip Tahil essaying Pandit Nehru and Sachin Khedekar reliving Babasaheb Ambedkar.

Id the TV Series and what is this about?

2. Which photographer immortalized in a 1968 song took this picture

3. Traditionally this delicious dish would be made with a

small round iron called the salamander which was

heated and placed on the dish. The use of the

salamander is supposed to have caused the dish to

burn slightly rather than merely cook it.

What dish is it?

4. The word was originally used by sailors to denote big clumsy birds such as the albatross. After the appearance of the pictured character and her tribe in Popeye comics it was used to denote a slow witted but good natured person.

5. This is the cover of M S Subbulakshmi’s Surdas

Bhajans. She gave away the proceeds from the sale of the

cassettes and CDS to a certain organization.

Identify the organization

5. Where was it shot ?

http://youtu.be/96Ja4RMwzW8

ANSWERS

2. Julian Lennon

3. Crème Brulee

4. GOON

5.

6. Nalanda

This Australian player was famous for a cricketing first which involved Tom Kendall & Alfred Shaw. Wisden & Co claims George Pinder of Yorkshire, Tom Plumb of Buckinghamshire and Dick Pilling of Lancashire are some of the early players to perform a brave act before this Australian Player. ID him, the cricketing first and the brave act.

ANSWER

○ Jack Blackham ○ Made the first Test-Match stumping, when he

dismissed Alfred Shaw off the bowling of Tom Kendall. ○ Close-up wicket keeping for Quicks

The Element X was supposedly separated from pitchblende residues left by Marie and Pierre Curie after they had extracted radium. It was christened with the Greek equivalent of radium. In 1917 the German physicist Lise Meitner isolated a more stable isotope Y of another element and chose a somewhat awkward sounding name which was eventually abbreviated. The name she chose refers to the fact that this element is the ancestor of the above radioactive element X, which is formed when the element Y decays via the loss of an alpha particle. Id the both elements.

ANSWER

Proactinium , Actinium It was earlier called Protoactinium (later Protactinium, the progenitor of actinium).

ANSWER

ANSWER

http://youtu.be/vgbNrwSe0P8

ANSWER

http://youtu.be/Wzjhb6B7MpE

ANSWER

ANSWER

http://youtu.be/GMC9TxQdBXk

The picture above is of a UNESCO World Heritage site in France, an island commune which was built over centuries and incorporates different architectural styles. Additionally the island is situated in a bay which is the theatre for the greatest tidal changes in Europe. All this has helped this island get a nickname. The nickname lends itself partially to a 2013 film, which is also famous for being the last in someone’s long career which began in 1967. Give the nickname, the 2013 film and whose career.

ANSWER

Mont St. Michel which has the nickname ‘The Wonder of the Western World’.

The nickname lends itself in the title of Terrence Malick’s 2013 film ‘To the Wonder’ which was the last film reviewed by Roger Ebert.

Mont St. Michel also inspired the design of which fictional

city, which was brought to life in the movies?

ANSWER

ANSWER

Crowd funded movies.

Amma Ariyan by John Abraham was funded by screening Charlie Chaplin’s the Kid in villages.

Where would you have heard the lines spoken in this Apple ad ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jiyIcz7wUH0

ANSWER

Dead Poet’s Society- what will your verse be scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_zsMwCOoEs

John Buntin, the writer of “LA Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City “ on which the Frank Darabont TV series Mob City is based, thinks that along with post-war pessimism, the presence of Hollywood, the mob and X were the main factors which made Los Angeles an ideal setting for most film noir, and hence the association of the city with Noir itself.

X was identified as major problem in early to mid 20th century in the major cities of the world. So what is X?

ANSWER

Smog

Says Holmes in the Sign of Four “To the trained eye there is as much difference between the black ash of a X and a white fluff of a bird's eye as there is between a cabbage and a potato" Give X named after a south Indian city which was one of India's biggest export to the world in Victorian Times.

ANSWER

Trichinopoly cigars

Scholars have long held the view that the Ramayana was a text written by a single author and the Mahabharatha compiled over the years.

Author Bibeik Debroy suggests that this could be substantiated by the usage of two terms which appear in the respective epics, the sanskrit meaning of one of which means trunk or solidity signifying single author and the sanskrit meaning of the other which denotes limbs or joined thereby signifying multiple authors.

Give the two sanskrit terms.

ANSWER

The Ramayana is divided into Kaands/Kaandams

The Mahabharatha is divided into Parvas/Parvams

“Lived in London” by Emily Cole is a book that traces the history of which scheme believed to be the oldest running in the world.

ANSWER

The London Blue Plaques

The meaning of this phrase is to be in a bad condition but just managing to get the job done. The origin of this phrase might have been influenced by bombed WWII fighter planes completing their missions and limping back home. Give the phrase.

ANSWER

On a Wing and a Prayer

Buzzfeed recently hired Isaac Fitzgerald as its books’ editor. Buzzfeed will now do book reviews, but have categorically stated that they will not be publishing negative reviews and wasting words in sniping down books and authors

To achieve this, Fitzgerald would follow something which he calls as the X rule, where X is a 1942 animated film. But online pundits were quick to point out that it was actually called the Y principle/rule/law, where Y is a supporting character in the above mentioned animated film.

So what is the Y principle and also give X.

ANSWER

X : Bambi Y : If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all Thumper’s principle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGt9jAkWie4