litsoc travel living quiz 2015 - finals

LitSoc Travel and Living QuizDries

Bounce Pounce Rules

Bounce Pounce 1

1.

These people invented the bireme, a type of ship. They were famed across Rome as the ‘traders in purple’, referring to their monopoly over the trade of a rare purple dye from the murex snail.

They are also famous for their alphabet, which is considered to be the precursor of all modern alphabets. Which civilization are we talking about, of which Ekonomikrisis was a part?

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1.

The Phoenicians

2.

This is a Japanese-American comedy film, called “The X girl”, featuring Brittany Murphy. This comedy film is about a breakup, and the consolation is the food item X. The girl urges the Japanese who first serves the dish to teach her the art of making X.

X has many variants all over Japan.X was traditionally made with a certain kind of water with

dissolved salts, which imparts yellow colour. Egg may also be used for the same.

What Japanese item X?

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3.

This large game reserve in Africa is named after the local people as well as a local word that means ‘spotted’. It has a two word name. The reason for it to be named after the local people is that they ensure peaceful coexistence with the wildlife. It is contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.

It is famous globally for the Great Migration of wildebeest from July to October each year.

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3.

Masai Mara

4.

There was a classic story about how the engraving “Post Office” on one of the rarest stamps in the world was erroneously printed. The actual print was supposed to be “Post Paid”, but the messenger who had been sent to get the engraving done on the stamps forgot the words. On passing by a post office with a signpost outside, he remembered wrong.

Question is, which country issued these stamps?

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4.

Mauritius

5.

The Window of the World is quite an outrageous Chinese theme park, with it housing some 130 replicas of famous buildings and monuments from across the world.

On the next slide you will see a certain pyramid, allegedly not based on the design of the Great Pyramids of Egypt. It was designed by internationally acclaimed architect IM Pei.

Where would you find this pyramid? Or rather, which monument did the Chinese copy here?

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5.

The Louvre Pyramid

6.

It is a middle eastern headdress, with a distinct checkered

pattern. It is most famous in Palestine, and was used extensively

by leader Yasser Arafat. By what name do we know this

headgear?

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Keffiyeh

7.

It is known as Caucacus Indicus in Ancient Greek and stretches from Afghanistan to Pakistan. It separates Central Asia from South Asia.

It was considered to be the dividing line between British and Russian lines in Afghanistan during their war there.

One possible etymology is that the name means ‘kill the Hindus’, which may be relevant even now, as Wikipedia claims that Afghan plainsmen still have a smoldering hatred towards Indians.

What am I talking about?

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The Hindu Kush mountains

8.

A certain famous painting X was painted by an artist Y. Salvador Dali was a great admirer of Y and his works. Dali made 4 different paintings inspired by X. One of these 4 paintings is shown below. Give us either X or Y.

As an additional clue, X is said to be a self-portrait of Y.

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The Artof Painting

Johan Vermeer

9.

Said to have been named after the paradise for dead heroes in Greek mythology, locals proudly call this la plus belle avenue du monde, saying that it’s the world’s most beautiful of its kind.

It ends in the Arc de Triomphe, built to honor the victories of Napoleon Bonaparte. The President’s palace is also named in a similar manner, and is next to this.

Which iconic avenue is being spoken of here?

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The Champs Elysees, in Paris

10.

Operation Uranus resulted in demolition of the opposition flanks and encircling the enemy. The enemy could no longer hold out without arms and ammunition and this proved decisive.

The statue on the next slide, which is the tallest non-religious statue in the world, commemorates this.

What landmark event are we talking about? Funda will get you points.

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Battle of Stalingrad

The name of the statue in Volgograd is “The Motherland Calls”

11.

The following slide has the cover of a book called Travels with Charley, chronicling a famous author’s final trip across America. The story goes that having written many (famous) books about and set in America, he felt he didn’t have a connect with the country. At the age of 58, in 1960, he embarked on a road trip across the country in a van he named Rocinante.

1 Who is the author of the book?2 What is Rocinante named after?

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John Steinbeck

Rocinante is the name of Don Quixote’s horse

Hehe, sorry, this is definitely not TL :P

12.

The Aegean Sea was traditionally known as X, which in Greek means ‘chief sea’. In English, this word now refers to something else in the field of geography.

The next slide shows an image of the Aegean Sea, and a feature of the sea is conspicuous. This feature of the sea is the reason X is now the name for such a group.

X?

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Archipelago

13.

This Indian town is called a ghost town, on account of the violent cyclone that hit it in 1964. A tragic incident where over a hundred people died during the sinking of an entire train led to this moniker.

Its name is said to originate from the manner that Rama broke the bridge constructed from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka.

It is also home to an interesting geographical feature, called Land’s End, from which the Ram Setu is said to originate.

Which town?

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Dhanushkodi

14.

This is a map ofwhat?

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Scripts of national languages of countries in Europe

Countries of the former USSR- CyrillicGreece-GreekMost other countries- Latin

15.

In Greece, getting married in a leap year is considered inauspicious. However, to combat shy suitors, St. Brigid made a proposal to the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick.

St. Patrick acquiesced, saying that this could be done once every seven years. However, he later declared that it could be done every leap day at Brigid’s insistence. Legend has it that Brigid performed the act immediately, but was refused by St. Patrick, who kissed her on the cheek and offered a silk gown to soften the (not physical) blow.

The 2010 movie Leap Year has a related subject.

What did Brigid request to do?

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Women proposing to men

Scores

We’ll now go anti-clockwise

16.

A man named Edward Hargreaves who returned from California to this country in 1849, was working in a gravelly path near a creek, when he bent down and exclaimed “There it is!I shall be a baronet, you will be knighted and my old horse will be stuffed and put into a glass case and sent to the British Museum”.

The irony was that Hargreaves couldn’t find luck in California

but found it here. Why the excitement? Rather, what did it lead to?

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17.

A/An X is a whole herring that has been split in butterfly fashion from tail to head along the dorsal ridge, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold-smoked over smoldering woodchips.

They are enjoyed for breakfast in many regions around the world and enjoyed a prominent role in British high tea or supper treats before World War Two.

They are sometimes referred to as red herrings, and they were, during wartime, dyed using a dye called Brown FK (with FK = for X)

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Kipper

18.

Connect with a single word:i) A cocktail composed of the cream de menthe and

Amarula, which is made from fruits of the marula tree, called Elephant tree in Africa as elephants love the fruits

ii) An African antelope that can jump extremely fast

iii) A rugby team known for its green and gold colours

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Springbok

19.

Also called the Overland, what is this route that is being described in the next slide? It is named after the people who primarily used it.

It was most popular in the 1960s and 70s. The route was lined with hotels, cafes and restaurants that catered exclusively to Westerners.

Another picture follows, which may help.

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Hippie Trail

20.

X is a border town that was an important destination in the Haj pilgrimage from Damascus to Mecca. It is now a major archeological site and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Y is a town in a neighboring country which lies at the mouth of

the main waterway. We know it as children from a traveller’s tales.

X and Y are very similar in spelling. Give either.

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X- Bosra, Y-Basra

21.

Known as the city of Prime Ministers, it’s original name comes from Sanskrit, meaning ‘place of offerings’ owing to its location.

Seven PMs of India out of fifteen have origins to this city, which precisely include : born here, were alumni of X university, or were elected from X constituency.

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Allahabad

22.

The Battle of Las Salinas was a battle between two conquistadors- X and Diego Almagro. Diego Almagro ruled from Cuzco, a city in southern Peru, a UNESCO Heritage site. Cuzco was the capital of the Inca Empire.

X also conquered a major part of the Inca empire with the aid of his brother Gonzalo. X inflicted a crushing defeat on Almagro in Las Salinas and executed him. However, Almagro’s son assassinated X, and the brave X was laid to rest in the nearby city he founded. Give X and the city.

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X- Francisco Pizarro

He founded the Peruvian capital city, Lima

23.

The next slide has an image of a dish from a restaurant called Spice Klub in Mumbai.

You take the misty liquid and pour it over the _____ paste in the cups to create _____.

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The misty liquid is liquid nitrogen, which is poured over kulfi paste to create kulfi at your own table. Neat!

24.

1348-1352 was a terrible period for the world, particularly Europe. This film is set in this period in England, and as people fall one by one, there are rumours of a savior in a village in the marshland, which is untouched. The head of the village can bring the dead back to life, and the protagonist is ordered to set out for this village.

Many communities such as the Jews were exterminated in European cities. People with skin diseases like leprosy and acne were murdered, under the false notion that they were responsible.Short question: Name the movie.

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25.

Shown is the Villa Peet, a house in Netherlands. It was designed to give anybody entering and walking through the house “a series of contrasting spatial experiences”.

The house gives continuous anticipation, even the height of the roof keeps changing, sometimes very low too.

What inspired this house?

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26.

The central region in present day France was called X in Roman times before Julius Caeser renamed it Gallia (Gaul).

The coloured areas in present day form the X league, since all these regions are united by the X language.

X?

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The region in France was called Celtica.

27.

Named after the phenomenon of strange light flickering over peat bogs, Xs come into popularity in some regions of the world once a year. Xs are made with turnips, mangel wurzels, and _______s, with the latter being the most recognisable and iconic.

The purpose of X originally was to ward off evil spirits or represent the supernatural.

The next slide has one such slightly unrecognisable X.

What is X?

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Jack o’Lantern

28. X?

X is a traditional Chinese tea (woot) produced through a unique process including withering the plant under the strong sun and oxidation before curling and twisting.

In Chinese, it was originally called Black Dragon Tea. The degree of oxidation varies from 8 to 85%. It is most popular with Chinese connoisseurs and expatriates living in Southeast Asia.

According to a certain Anxi theory, X tea had its origin in the Anxi oolong tea plant, which was discovered by a man named Wuliang.

Another tale speaks of Wu Long discovering the tea, when the tea speedily oxidised upon exposure to air.

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Oolong tea

29.

Who used this route from his residence in the Marpo Rimountains?

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This was the escape routeof his holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama

30.

The next slide shows a superhero styled in the form of an Indian food item. What food item? Plenty of clues in the picture.

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Fin

Rejects/Tiebreaks

1.

X uses mainly vermillion, which in turn is derived from cinnabar, an ore of mercury. The intrinsic properties of mercury make X control blood pressure and increase sexual drive.

X is a central part of Indian culture, and has found its way as parts of dialogues in many Bollywood movies.

27.

It is a single-takeout tiffin box in Japan. What is it called?

3.

The problem with Russian names is that first names have endless diminutive forms. For example, Elena becomes Lena, Lenulia, Lenusia etc.

Surnames also follow certain patterns, with common surnames ending with -ov, -in, -oi, -ii or -enko.

There is yet another element, a patronymic, which a person derives from _ _ _ _. They can be considered as a portmanteau of two elements - a name and a typical form. The typical form is slightly different for males and females.

What do the patronymics derive from, and what is the difference between them, something that is clearly visible in Russian middle names?