The Prelims

Researched and conducted for AFMC by : Major Chandrakant Nair

37 questions 11-20 starred, will resolve the ties

In 2010, X was placed under house arrest to prevent a partyhe had organized to protest the planned demolition (whichhappened in Jan 2011) of his newly built studio by thegovernment. As a result, the party took place without X’spresence, with his supporters making a strong statement byeating 10,000 Ys. The government had announced a goal ofconstructing a "Harmonious Society" in 2004, which wascited as the reason for censorship. As a result, Y, whichsounds similar to ‘Harmony’ in local lingo, is used as aeuphemism locally to stand up to censorship.

X andY?

Image of the demolition in the next slide.

The word for all practical purposesrefers to a thin rhombus, i.e. arhombus with acute angles of 45°,but is also used as a synonym forany type of rhombus. A particularform of medication used to relievesome of the effects of certain upperrespiratory tract infections takes itsname from the fact that the first ofthese were rhombus-shaped.

What word?

This freedom fighter from AndhraPradesh fought the TelanganaRebellion against the Nizams andalso the Razakars, who were againstHyderabad state to be integratedinto independent India. He was theMinister of Revenue in the 1959Neelam Sanjeeva Reddygovernment and later becameDeputy Chief Minister of AndhraPradesh in 1969.

Which luminary, who has a district inAP named after him for his efforts?

This is the USS Harry S Truman, the eighth Nimitz-classaircraft carrier of the US Navy, in service since 1996.

What is the motto of the vessel?

Formed in Calcutta in 1975, this pioneering music act is oneof the legitimate claimants for the title of India’s first everrock band. They take their title from a poem by the greatmodernist Bengali poet Jibanananda Das.

“_______ _______ ghash khae Kartiker jyotsnar prantorey”

Featured is one of their greatest hits Prithibita naki whichwas remade as Bheegi Bheegi by Pritam for Gangster.

Identify the group.

It was supposed to a tribute to the United StatesConstitution’s Bicentennial on the Sep 17, 1976. However, aletter-writing campaign forced the then President GeraldFord overrule the official suggestion and reveal that he was alittle partial to the suggestion that came in via the letters.

What are we talking about?

Privacy International is an organisation established in 1990and dedicated to defending the right to privacy across theworld and fights surveillance and other intrusions intoprivate life by governments and corporations. They are thefirst organisation to campaign at an international level onprivacy issues. Every year Privacy International awardsgovernment agencies, private companies and individualswho have excelled in the violation of privacy. The nextawards ceremony is scheduled to be held in Amsterdam inMarch 2012.

What are these awards called?

Image in the next slide.

How do we better know the words Mene, Mene, Tekel u-Pharsin (meaning numbered, numbered, weighed, divided)from Chapter 5 of the Book of Daniel?

Widely regarded as the world’s most isolated continentalcity, this place X got the nickname ‘The City of Lights’ on 20Feb 1962, because the city residents decided that every lightshould be left on in the city to give Y, passing over X in hisspacecraft Friendship VII, a birds eye opportunity to checkout the city. 36 years later, in 1998, X repeated this feat as Ypassed overhead once again in the Space shuttle Discovery.

X andY please.

Pictured are round flatchocolate drops with the uppersurface coated with nonpareils(decorative confection of tinyballs made with sugar andstarch). They get their popularname from their resemblanceto clusters of concentratedmelanin seen in certain partsof the human body.

What are these called?

This plant is poisonous to the animal referenced in its nameand hence there is considerable confusion regarding theorigin of the name.

One theory states that this animal came to be associated inthe 15th century with coarseness, roughness, or large size,alluding to the large size of the animals (referenced here) ofthat time. Therefore, the larger, more pungent of theseplants came to be known by the name we know them today.The other theory states that the name is derived from themisinterpretation of the German Mahrrettich, where Mahrstood for the female species of the animal.

Identify the plant.

• This phrase was first spoken by the character Antony in Englishpoet John Dryden's 17th century play All for Love :

“They look on us at distance, and, like cursScaped from the lion's paws, they bay far off

And _______ _______ ______ , and faintly threaten war”

• The phrase has definite medical significance and scientific proof toback it . The cat shown in the pic is fitted with a device known asElizabethan collar to avoid potential pitfalls of the medicalrelevance of this phrase .

• Which phrase?

Saliva has properties and substances that aid wound healing.

Excessive wound licking by animals can lead to lickgranulomas .

Pictured (next slide) is Ian Charleson playing the role of X inGandhi. X, probably (in Ramachandra Guha’s words), was theonly close aide to address Gandhi by his first name and wasintimately associated with St.Stephen’s College, Delhi.

Which location in Delhi is named after him?

CF Andrews Andrews Ganj

This 2011 film is the first ever Dutch 3D feature film and isabout the last journey of a famous explorer X (after whommultiple geographic regions have been named) in 1596-1597in his effort to discover the North-East passage. The moviedescribes (and is named after) the events on an archipelago Ythe expedition was standed on. Y was the site of the October30, 1961 explosion of Tsar Bomba, the largest, most powerfulnuclear weapon ever detonated. Also, Cape Flissingski on Y istaken to be the easternmost point of Europe.

Identify X andY.

Image in the next slide.

The usage of this word to refer to alcoholics suffering from DeliriumTremens was popularised by this 1934 Cab Calloway song:

If you'd like to be aX,First thing you must do is get a jug,Put whiskey, wine and gin within,And shake it all up and then begin.Grab a cup and start to toss,You are drinking ______ sauce!Don't you worry, you just mug,And then you'll be a X!

Its most popular use, however, is to refer to a swing dancer or varioustypes of swing dances. What?

The doll owned by Morticia Addams in The AddamsFamily is named Anne Boleyn.

What is Wednesday Addams's doll named?

Available in a worldwide Limited Edition of 388 fountainpens and 38 rollerballs, the promotional article on this seriesof pens from Krone goes as thus:

“Crafted out of genuine horn, the cap displays handsomestriations of the natural material. The cap is topped withsterling silver, which encapsulates two exceptional historicalartifacts; a fragment of X’s personal powder horn and afragment of bead from one of Sitting Bull’s camps. The barrelfeatures the boldly hand painted scene of Y, depicting Xsurrounded by Indians”

Gimme X /Y (Image in the next slide).

Predominantly employed in light bulbs and cameramounting, it is a fastening mechanism consisting of a maleside with one or more pins, and a female receptor withmatching L slots and springs to keep the two parts lockedtogether. The concept gets its name from the fact that themechanism was originally used by infantry soldiers in a hurryto mount something (no pun intended).

What is it called?

This building in an Indian city is famous for its musical andtheatrical performances and is built to resemble a giganticseven stringed violin, complete with the strings, keys, thebridge and the bow. It was built in 1980 in memory to afamous violinist and is named after him. A noted actor-former MP-former MoS for Information and Broadcasting inthe central government is the violin maestro’s grandson.

Name the building/violinist and his grandson.

Image in the next slide.

Expurgation is a form of censorship which involves removinganything deemed noxious or offensive, usually from a workof art. The corresponding term for books is Bowdlerization,named after Thomas Bowdler, who in 1818 published anexpurgated version of Shakespeare’s works which heconsidered suitable for women and children.

The question is, what popular name is given to workssubjected to expurgation (after an old practice whichsupposedly made works of art presentable for publicviewing)?

These are frames fit under and around the neck of cattle andenable them to pull together on a load, usually whenworking in pairs.

What geographical term is named after these contraptions?