General Knowledge

Soumya Sarkar

Sudarshan Fakhir was the first Bollywood lyricist to have won a Filmfare Award for the very first song he

wrote. He composed. lyrics like “Woh kagaz ki kashtii”, “Ye daulat bhi le lo, ye shoharat bhii le lo”

and was the favorite poet of Begum Akhtar.

He also composed a song X for an Indian organization Y, that’s sung to this day with much fervor.

Identify X and Y

1

Hint

X – National Cadet CorpsY – “Hum Sab Bharatiya Hain…”

Company X was formed by the 1995 merger of

the three Swiss companies: Geigy, Sandoz

Laboratories and Ciba. Y was formed in 2000 by

merger of X Agribusiness and Zeneca

Agrochemicals

Name X and Y

2

Hint !• X and Y are/have been Infosys clients

Novartis and Syngenta

Identify the Company• The psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) were discovered at ______

in 1943 by Arthur Stoll and Albert Hofmann. ______ began clinical trials and marketed the substance, from 1947 through the mid-1960s, under the name Delysid as a psychiatric drug, thought useful for treating a wide variety of mental ailments, ranging from alcoholism to sexual deviancy. ______ suggested in its marketing literature that psychiatrists take LSD themselves, to gain a better subjective understanding of the schizophrenic experience, and many did exactly that and so did other scientific researchers.

• The ______ product received mass publicity as early as 1954, in a Time Magazine feature. Research on LSD peaked in the 1950s and early 1960s. ______ withdrew the drug from the market in the mid-1960s.

• The drug became a cultural novelty of the 1960s after psychologist Timothy Leary at Harvard University began to promulgate its use for recreational and spiritual experiences among the general public.

THE REST IS HISTORY3

SANDOZ

The First married Christina, the daughter of a Scandinavian sea

captain, Eric the Rover. The Second married Marabella, the

granddaughter of Christopher Columbus. Another is supposed

to have married William Shakespeare’s niece and still another

took a Mongol princess as his bride.

Who?

4

The Phantom

Oscar de La Renta (recently deceased) clothed some of the most powerful and beautiful women in the world and found his own label. He was however under the tutelage of another fashion great early on in his career where he learnt his ropes.

Who?

Jacqueline Kennedy

HillaryClinton

MichelleObama

NancyReagan

BettyFord

Audrey Hepburn

Queen Sophiaof Spain

6

Cristóbal Balenciaga

________ was a rishi in Hindu mythology. He was son of Bhrigu and is

known for his rejuvenation through a special herbal paste known

as __________ , which was first prepared for him some 10,000 years

ago, at his Ashram on in modern day Haryana. According to the

Mahabharata, although very old, he was powerful enough to

oppose the Vajra of Indra due to the effects of this herbal paste.

Identify the rishi and the herbal paste

7

Rishi Chyavana (Sanskrit: च्यवन, Cyavana) Chyawanprash

In 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, the managing director of the ____X____

________, went on a hunting trip with friends in Ireland. Though he

considered himself an excellent shot, Beaver was unable to bag

any golden plovers. Wounded, Beaver suggested the bird might be

the fastest in Europe. Sir Beaver did not sit quiet and started a

chain of events to put an end to unresolved pub betting.

What did he do?

8

He commissioned the Guinness (X) Book of World Records

Once Vishnu was reborn on earth to take back

Lakshmi who had come away after a fight. In

that birth he needed money to marry her and

he borrowed it from Kubera since he had none.

What Hindu tradition has started over this mythological loan?

9

CONTRIBUTING MONEY/VALUABLES to the HUNDI at temples to repay the loan from Kubera.

According to Phantom legend, The Phantom had two rings.

>> One has a pattern formed like four crossing sabres, "The Good Mark",

that he leaves on visitors whom he befriends, placing the person under his

protection.

>> The other, "The Evil Mark" or "Skull Mark" has a skull shape, which

leaves a scar of the corresponding shape on the enemies he punches with it.

He wears the Good Mark on his left hand because it is closer to the heart,

and the Evil Mark on his right hand. The Skull Ring was given to the first

Phantom by Paracelsus. The original owner of the Skull Ring was Emperor

Nero of the Roman empire.According to the same legend, what was the Skull Ring made of ?

EVILMARK

GOODMARK5

From nails that hung Jesus to the cross