FRESHERS’ QUIZ 2014

PRELIMS

1.

This minimalist poster pays tribute to which legend?

Richard Attenborough

2. Chapters of which book?• Concerning Discipline• The Duties of

Government Superintendents

• Concerning Law• The Removal of Thorns• The Conduct of Courtiers• The Source of Sovereign

States• The End of the Six-Fold

Policy• Concerning Vices and

Calamities

• The Work of an Invader

• Relating to War• The Conduct of

Corporations• Concerning a

Powerful Enemy• Strategic Means to

Capture a Fortress• Secret Means• The Plan of a

Treatise

3. First formula for producing which product?• Herbs: purslane, Chicory, wine-grape

raisins, European white lily, blue star water lily, lotus, Borage and Coriander

• Fruits: orange, citron, pineapple, apple, berries, strawberry, raspberry, loganberry, blackberry, cherry, concord grapes, blackcurrant and watermelon

• Vegetables: spinach, carrot, mint• Flowers: rose, keora, lemon and orange• Roots: vetiver

4.

X : "At the time, I thought I was joining Manchester United from Real Madrid. I honestly wasn't aware there was another Manchester club.'‘

ID X.

5.

The word originated in 1923 by Frederick Stanley Mockford. A senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London, Mockford was asked to think of a word that would indicate distress and would easily be understood by all pilots and ground staff in an emergency.

Since much of the traffic at the time was between Croydon and Le Bourget Airport in Paris, he proposed the word “X” from the French phrase for “come help me”.

Which word?

Mayday!

6.• “X” began as a small series of comics drawn by Kris Wilson at the age of sixteen. Wilson was at home with strep throat and had doodled some stick figure comics. On his deviantART profile page, he notes that he created X in 2004 because he can't help but draw stupid looking characters to spew out his stupid ideas.• Wilson and the webmasters collaborated on the comics, where each person would contribute content. One of the earliest ”X” comics, #15, was posted online by Wilson on January 26, 2005. A variant of the comic's title is first mentioned in #121, in which one character sells cotton candy, and explains that it is made of “X", after which the other character replies: "Hot damn! I'll take 4".

Give X.

Cyanide and Happiness

7.

The useful synonym XY for a rummage sale entered English in the 1920s as a direct translation of the French phrase march’e aux puces, which began as a joking description of secondhand goods offered at outdoor sales that were rumored to attract X.

Examples for XY include Sarojini Nagar in Delhi and Anjuna Beach in Goa.

Give the term XY.

Flea Market

8.

In the next slide is the picture of a presumed torture device, consisting of a cabinet with a hinged front and spike-covered interior, sufficiently tall to enclose a human being.

Several such devices are on display in museums around the world, but it is unlikely that they were ever employed.

This heavy metal band got their name from this torture device. Which band?

9.• The first cannons developed were discharged by

placing a flaming torch to a small hole packed with gunpowder and leading to the main powder charge. This caused the main charge to explode, propelling the cannon ball to the enemy, or sometimes, blowing up the cannon and all standing nearby.

• Hence, the phrase was both a command to the torch man, and a warning to all around. Over time, cannons improved, and X became a general warning for the use of explosive weapons. It was subsequently adopted by military forces to give notice that a grenade or satchel charge was being tossed into a bunker or other enclosure.

• What phrase?

Fire in the hole!

10.

• The next slide shows the picture of the Tawang monastery, which is the largest Buddhist monastery in India.

• The name Tawang means ‘Horse Chosen’. As the story goes, the site of the monastery was chosen by the horse of Merag Lama, who had been unable to decide on a site to establish the monastery.

• What incident catapulted this place to international fame on 30 March 1959?

Dalai Lama’s escape to India

11.

Take the intestine, stomach and bladder of the yellow fish, shark and mullet and wash them well. Mix them with a moderate amount of salt and place them in a jar. Seal tightly and incubate in the sun. It will be ready in twenty days in summer, fifty days in spring or fall and a hundred days in winter.

Earliest known recipe of what?

12. WHAT!?

1. January – Switching on the heater of love.2. February – Hide and seek in a small blanket.3. March – Doing what has never been done.4. April – A meeting may not happen. Need to work this

out.5. May – Pool side party.6. June – Holiday at a hill station.7. July – Romance in the rains.8. August – The whole month is fun-filled.9. September – Boy visits girl’s house for the marriage

proposal.10.October – Seeing the setting Sun together.11.November – Boy surrenders his heart this month.12.December – Marriage.

13.• Carleton S. Coon, having observed Barbary apes in Gibraltar using this gesture, hypothesised in the anthropological classic The Story of Man, that it is a mutual celebration of having _______ _______. • In modern popular culture, it is assumed that in Ancient Rome this gesture meant that the defeated gladiator should be spared. • In  medieval customs this gesture was used to seal business transactions. Over time, this gesture started symbolizing harmony and kind feelings. The gesture's popularization in America is generally attributed to the practices of World War II pilots, who used it to communicate with ground crews prior to take-off.• In Afghanistan, Iran and parts of Italy, the gesture is regarded as an obscene insult. In these places, it roughly means "Sit on my phallus" and carries the same stigma as does raising the middle finger in the west. In Australia this gesture used to signify "up yours" prior to World War II. • In Germany, France, and Hungary it can simply indicate the number one.

What is this gesture?

14.

On May 1, 2014, who did Brazilian club Corinthians pay tribute with this particular gesture?

Aryton Senna

15.

L M Singhvi, a young independent member of the Lok Sabha, who for the first time on April 3, 1963, while participating in a debate suggested the word, which was the Indian version of "ombudsman", a Scandinavian word for a "grievance man”.

Now his son Abhishek Manu Singhvi is the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for the _____________

What word?

Lokpal

16.X and Y are two famous dynasties that ruled

South India.X came earlier, and ruled from the 3rd to the

9th centuries AD. The first ruler was Simhavishnu and the last, Aparajitavarman.

Y ruled from 848 to 1279 AD, and its most famous rulers include Rajaraja Y, Rajendra Y, and Virarajendra Y.

A and B are pieces of women’s clothing and their names have been derived directly from the names of X and Y.

Give A and B, please.

A - Pallu, B - Choli

17.• He is an internationally acclaimed

motivational speaker and reportedly charges around $30,000 per speech.

•  In May 2014, at a Dubai event, he told the audience, "I’ll make this year more than I ever made in my best year as a ______.“

• He was the final owner of the luxury yacht Nadine that was originally built for Coco Chanel in 1961. In June 1996, the yacht sank off the east coast of Sardinia and Italian frogmen rescued all who were aboard the vessel.

Who am I talking about?

Jordan Belfort

18.

Love, Courage, Patience, Peacefulness, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control, Selflessness, Self sacrifice, Truthfulness, Righteousness, Justice, Mercy, Graciousness, Humility, Empathy, Sympathy, Supreme knowledge, Supreme wisdom, Supreme moral, Love for all beings, Hope, trust, or faith in the goodness of God or nature.

What are these virtues from Ancient India, represented by, in Modern India?

19.

Ravi Visvesvara Prasad is an ‘82 IIT Kanpur graduate and did his post graduation from the Carneige Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA.

He is a regular writer for the Economic Times and is a reputed IT consultant and corporate advisor in the fields of software, telecom, defence, power, etc.

However, in April 2013, he received over 10000 mentions on his Twitter account from all over the world, which later was found to be a case of mistaken identity.

Give the funda behind the sudden number of mentions.

He was mistaken for ‘Rvp’ Robin van Persie

20.• Most X, condemned to this thankless job, find no solace in

the support from the treasury benches or the brickbats from the Opposition. In fact, they turn to the bards of yore who seem to have composed verses to approve their Y.

• For a citizen not interested in the dreary pecuniary details, Y did not offer anything to look forward to then.

• This changed when coalition governments took over in the 1990s. They had no dearth of critics, ranging from alliance partners to the Opposition parties. Faced with critical scrutiny from all the sides including their own parties, X probably turned to their favourite muses.

• In 1991, Victor Hugo was invoked, and in 1997, Thiruvalluvar, Dinkar in 1998, AB Vajpayee and Kautilya in 1999 and Thiruvalluvar again in 2014.

X and Y please.

X – Finance Minister, Y – Union Budget

21.This is the Amazing

Spiderman Vol. 1 #121 issue, and is one of the most popular comic books in history.

It owes it popularity to a certain twist in its plot, which came to light this year.

What?

Death of Gwen Stacy

22.

This term was coined in 1688 by Johannes Hofer. Hofer introduced ________ or mal du pays for the condition also known as mal du Suisse (Swiss illness), because of its frequent occurrence in Swiss mercenaries who in the plains of lowlands of France or Italy were pining for their native mountain landscapes.

Cases resulting in death were known and soldiers were sometimes successfully treated by being discharged and sent home.

What term?

Nostalgia

23.

The Dal lake of Srinagar became famous as the birthplace of houseboats when the English resorted to living on the lake as the Maharaja of Kashmir denied them the right to purchase land.

Dal lake was once again in the news in November 2003 for another one-of-a-kind achievement.

What?

First Wi-Fi enabled lake

24.

• X was an early French aviator and a fighter pilot during World War I. X was born in Saint-Denis, Réunion, and studied at the Lycée Janson de Sailly and HEC Paris.

• In honour of his war contributions, the international airport at La Reunion is named after him. Peugeot Car Mfg. named special editions of their 106, 205, 206, 207, 306 and 806 after him.

• He is most remembered for a place he attended frequently in the 1920s, a place eventually named after him.

• ID X.

Roland Garros

25. Currency of?

Antarctica

26.

X in various forms has existed since the Neolithic period. 5,000-year-old X made from bark tar, with tooth imprints, has been found in Kierikki, Yli-Ii, Finland.

The tar from which the X’s were made is believed to have antiseptic properties and other medicinal advantages.

Modern X was originally made of chicle, a natural latex. By the 1960s, chicle was replaced by butadiene-based synthetic rubber which is cheaper to manufacture.

What is being talked about?

Chewing Gum

27.

With an ultra powerful Quad Core 1.5Ghz CPU, 6589-T quad-core processor, the Next Generation Android Mobile Odyssey has a 5 Inch IPS Touchscreen, 2GB RAM + 32GB ROM and a 13 MP Camera.

The company has announced two smartphones, namely Smart ____ Saffron 2, Saffron 1. While the Saffron 2 is priced at Rs 24,000, the Saffron 1 smartphone will come in two variants for Rs 23,000 and Rs 18,000.

The report claims that Smart _____ phone will cost Rs 16,000 at launch. In addition to the smartphones, team ____ also plans to introduce feature phones starting from Rs.1,000.

Connect the above data to a personality.

‘Namo’ i.e. Narendra Modi

28.

• Confusion prevailed over the exact number of participants in a significant historical event during India’s independence struggle.

• Many records mentioned that 78 people were involved, however two more were discovered - Kharag Bahadur Singh Giri from Nepal and Satish Kalelkar from Maharashtra, which completed the profiling of 80 unsung heroes for an art memorial, opened for public display within IIT Bombay premises in February 2014.

• Which historical event was commemorated with an art memorial within IIT Bombay in February 2014?

The Dandi March

29.

It was founded in Austria in 1923. Following Austria's annexation by Germany in 1938, the organization fell under the control of Nazi Germany, and the Commission's headquarters were eventually moved to Berlin in 1942.

From 1938 to 1945, all the presidents were from SS. The most notable Nazi among them was Reinhard Heydrich who the headed Reich Main Security Office, the umbrella organization of Gestapo, SD and Kripo.

After the war, the allies revived it with officials from Belgium, France, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom.

Now it is headquartered at Lyon in France. What?

Interpol

30.

Pro Kabaddi League teams

• Jaipur Pink Panthers• Patna Pirates• Dabangg Delhi• Bengaluru Bulls• Telugu Titans