Mood Indigo General Quiz 2012 Prelims (with answers)

mood indigo 2012 || j ramanand || conundrums – the general quiz

Conundrumsmood indigo 2012

omnisciencethe general quiz

preliminaries

conducted by j. ramanand


BackgroundBombay Prelims

conducted at Conundrums, Mood

Indigo, Dec 2012

Highest score: 25Cutoff: 15.5


1. Whose tomb is this?


Auguste Rodin.

A cast of his celebrated sculpture “The Thinker” was placed on top of it

Image: http://flickrcc.net/art/showtitle.php?productID=665925


2. Tribute issue for whom?


2012 is fifty years since Monroe died.


3. According to Hindu mythology, the sage Vishwamitra made this tree long and straight so as to prop up his friend, the nutty king Trishanku, who had been unceremoniously booted out of heaven by Indra.

Which tree?


The coconut tree.


4. This Pondicherry born film-maker was supposed to direct the “Life of Pi” movie, before saying no.

He did so because the story's twist ending would lead to skewed expectations because of his association.

(Incidentally, in the story, Pi comes from Pondicherry)


M. Night Shyamalan


5. Which article of clothing, that has gone from Asia to the rest of the world, gets its name from the Persian for “foot” and “clothing”?


Pyjama (“Pai” + “Jama”)


6. If you made the 2300-odd feet journey up the Corcovado mountain in Brazil, you would meet Cristo Redondo at the summit.

How do we better know him?


Christ the Redeemer


7. Whose final movie?


Jaspal Bhatti


8. Whose first two lines came in a story collection titled “The Man With Two Left Feet” and were as follows:

“Mrs. Gregson to see you sir”

“Very good, sir. Which suit will you wear?”


Jeeves, in the story “Extricating Young Gussie”


9. Which musical instrument was legally declared an instrument of war in the 18th century?


Bagpipes


10. He is the first IITian to be Chief Minister of an Indian state, and graduated in metallurgical engineering in 1978 from IIT Bombay.

Who is he?


Manohar Parrikar of Goa


11. Ananda Samarakoon studied art and music at Santiniketan in the 1910s, and was influenced by Tagore. He returned to his native country, where he wrote and composed its national anthem.

Which country?


Sri Lanka


12. The first American to win an Economics Nobel (in 1970), he is also known to students of Economics as the author of an introductory book on the subject.

Who?


Paul Samuelson


13. Kaushik Basu is Chief Economist for the World Bank. He writes about an invention of his:

“I have wasted a lot of time on ____ and so developed the game of Dui-___ to help double the wastage of time by drawing two persons at a time into it.”

“I have called the game Dui-____ because this is a two-player game, ‘dui’ or ‘dvi’ in Sanskrit means two, and all such games are considered to be of no value unless they have a mysterious oriental name.”

Which game?


Sudoku


14. During a dinner with Pink Floyd members Nick Mason and David Gilmour, this radio personality made a suggestion that they title their upcoming album “Division Bell”.

In return, they made a sizeable donation to the Environmental Investigation Agency, where he had made a speech earlier that day.

Who?


The author Douglas Adams.


15. Perhaps the last time Jawaharlal Nehru wore his lawyer's robes was when he joined the team of Bhulabhai Desai along with Tej Bahadur Sapru, Asaf Ali, and Kailashnath Katju.

They were defending a trio belonging to which organisation?


Officers of the INA on trial in 1945 at the Red Fort.


16. The National Award for Best Book on Cinema for 2011 (which had an introduction by Shammi Kapoor) was awarded to a biography written by Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal. Ironically, the subject of their book never won a National Award himself, much to the disappointment of his fans.

Who is the subject?


R D Burman.


17. Who heads a faction in a political party in the Ukraine called the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform? (which conveniently abbreviates to “UDAR”, meaning “punch” in Ukrainian).


Vitali Klitschko, the boxer


18. In Japanese mythology, Takachiho is the mountain on top of which the deities live. An electronics company named itself after this in 1919.

In 1949, it changed its name to which other mountain?


Olympus


19. The name of this 1968 book written by Brigadier J P Dalvi about the Indian debacle in the 1961 war is now used as a metaphor for a massive error.

What's the book called?


“Himalayan Blunder”


20. In the books by Thomas Harris, the character Hannibal Lecter was said to have a condition called “polydactyly with mid-ray duplication”. This would have enabled him to provide the “digitus impudicus” two times over.

What did he have two of?


Middle finger


21. What is the common name of these birds, which may be a traffic hazard at times?

Image: rspb.co.uk, Animal Planet


Jays.

(Jay-walking is when someone tries to cross a street without following traffic rules)


22. Who is he inviting you to shine with (a few months ago?)



23. A demonym is a word used to denote a person from a place. Such as “Indians”, “Spaniards”, “Mumbaikars” etc.

The demonym for which place is “Mancunian”?


Manchester


24. In Latin they are:

superbia avaritiainvidia iraluxuriagulapigritia or acedia

What are they better known as?


The Seven Deadly Sins

(pride, avarice/greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth)


25. Identify this musician with the help of this anagram:

AH, PAN HALL SONG

Image: davidphilipson.com


Pannalal Ghosh


26. This British scientist was a child prodigy in physics, completing his Ph.D by age 20. He conceptualised “Mathematica”, a software program for scientific computing, and this question answering system (you see an example).Coincidentally, his last name is an alternative name for a chemical element.

Who is he?


Stephen Wolfram


27. The lady in the middle is often seen in Roger Federer's box at matches. She is the inspiration for a book (later a movie) written by her former assistant, Lauren Weisberger.

Who?


This is Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue (the American edition).


28. A 2012 commemorative coin marking what event?


Armistice/Remembrance/Poppy Day (end of World War 1)


29. The name of which place is common to this Tintin character and this type of blue cheese from Italy?

Image: tintin.wikia.com, tastingsgourmetmarket.com


Gorgonzola

(Rastapopoulos has an alter ego called “Marquis di Gorgonzola”; the cheese is Gorgonzola cheese)


30. What duology begins with an invocation to this triumvirate?


Gangs of Wasseypur

dedicated to the “Madurai triumvirate” of Bala, Ameer Sultan and M Sasikumar.Anurag Kashyap was inspired by the rooted movies made by this trio.


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Mood Indigo General Quiz 2012 Prelims (with answers)