MAHAQUIZZER

By RRA, Rohit, Prakash and Eeshit

Name: ………………………………………………………………….

Email id: ……………………………………………………………….

Are you feeling lucky punk? : …………………………………….

Rules

Time allowed: 60 minutes

Questions marked with * will resolve ties

No negative marking

No half marks for any question

When the answer is a person’s name a correct surname will do, unless the full name is specifically asked for.

A wrong first name but correct surname will count as a wrong answer.

Any attempt at skulduggery will result in immediate disqualification.

Your scores at the end of correction will be final. If you have an issue, bite me.

The first 26 Questions have answers arranged alphabetically i.e 1 starts with “A”, 2 with “B” and so on.

Q1-20 are general, 21-40 are MELA 41-60 are India 61-80 are Sports and 81-100 are Sports.

Quizmaster is the Goddamn Batman.

1* Who is Tim Bergling better known as?

2 Which region in Germany, known for culinary reasons, is also famous for wooden clocks with names

like Shield, Jockele, and Sorg–all precursors to the cuckoo clocks?

3

Considered by the Japanese as a symbol of good fortune and longevity, origami figures of this bird

are traditionally sent to the Hiroshima memorial and were also sent to fire and police stations and

cultural institutions throughout New York City soon after 9/11. Which bird?

4

The decision to convert the Annandale Ground in Shimla to a cricket stadium has caused some

controversy; in the past the ground has been used for various sports including horse racing. Which

sporting tournament was started at this Ground in 1888?

5*

Besides the black, red and gold bands, other design elements in this Ensign were the hammer and

compass in a ring of rye. Introduced in 1959, it was abolished sometime in 1990. Which country

used this Ensign?

6

The movie opens with the quote:

"This is a true story. The events depicted took place in ____. At the request of the survivors,

the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it

occurred." However this claim is entirely false. Id the movie.

7

Arising out of the 1973 oil crisis, it started in a series of informal meetings at the

White House Library between officials from the US, the UK, Germany, Japan and France, and was

informally known as the Library Group. Its official name has changed slightly as more members were

added. How do we currently know it?

8 Name the brilliant Chief Inspector in Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, also the surname of a woman

whose "cupboard was bare".

9* The Algiers Accords of 1981 were brokered by the Algerian government between the United States

& another country to end what 444-day logjam?

10 You may know his as J. Jonah Jameson from the Spiderman movies but did you know that he was

also the voice of Tenzin from Korra. Who?

11

The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer is a ceremony held in Canada, where a graduating engineer

receives an Iron Ring as part of the ritual. Which man of letters (also the first India-born person to

receive the Nobel for literature) is credited with creating this ceremony in the 1920s?

12

This word, derived from the French for "rising", originally referred to

Mediterranean lands east of Italy. It is now used by archaeologists and historians to refer to parts of

Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Palestine. What word?

13

X was written during the darkest period of Stalin's regime. The novel veers from moods of wild

theatricality with violent storms, vampire attacks, and a satanic ball; to such somber scenes as the

meeting of Pilate and Yeshua, and the murder of Judas in the moonlit garden of Gethsemane; to

the substance less, circus-like reality of Moscow. Id the book +1 for the writer.

14*

Only three countries border both China and Russia. Moving from West to East, the first two are

Kazakhstan and Mongolia. In the case of the third, some part of the border has served Russian

strategic interests by denying China access to the Sea of Japan. What is the third country that

borders both China and Russia?

15 Which famous structure completed over 1957-1973 was based on the segments of an orange?

16

The condition X is a disorder in which strongly-felt ethical and altruistic impulses are perpetually

warring with extreme sexual longings, often of a perverse nature. Also the title of a controversial

book by Philip Roth.

17

This word, derived from the Latin genitive plural form of 'who', refers to the minimum number of

members necessary for an assembly to function. A similar but unrelated word is the name of a Palo-

Alto-based question-and-answer website. Give either word.

18 X is the highest vocal range of all voice types which primarily refers to classical female singing voice.

19

One version of the story has the king giving her an extra portion; another has the other two queens

giving her half of their portions. Name the queen of Dasaratha who got the extra portion of the

divine porridge, resulting in increased fertility.

20* What type of dog, that first gained popularity as a game dog, was so named because it was bred to

burrow into the earth?

21

A doubly landlocked country is one which is surrounded on all sides by other landlocked countries.

Only 2 such countries exist in the world today. If one is Liechtenstein, which is the other, substantially

larger country, which was the cradle of an illustrious 332-year-old dynasty?

22 By introducing the British edition of which magazine in 1916 did Conde Nast become the first

publisher of an overseas edition of an existing magazine?

23

This self-deprecating neurotic filmmaker had an affair with his then-girlfriend's adopted daughter -

who was 35 years his junior and ended up marrying her. We all know who this guy is. Id the woman

of his dreams.

24

An educational institution in the north of Westchester County, New York has a Latin motto which

literally means "by changing those things which have to be changed." Who are the primary occupants

of this institution?

25*

It was a magnificent building surrounded by a vast water-filled trench called Vaitamee. Opposite its

south door there were four pits for sinners. Three other doors were for the good people. Which

grandson of Vishwakarma was the resident?

26 What five-letter word stood for a country and its currency, both dropped in 1997? (no other name

accepted).

27

“When I did Green Arrow, I went with X for a villain, just because I loved that word, and it kind of

formed the character inasmuch as he would say sounds out loud. It only kind of works – I think –

on a comic book page because if you have a gun going off, they usually write BLAM! And then you

can have, you know, the character saying "BLAM!" in a word balloon, but like if you tried to do

that cinematically you can't really rock it.” Which villain.

28

Everybody in film noir is always smoking, as if to say, "On top of everything else, I've been assigned

to get through three packs today." The best smoking movie of all time is X in which Robert

Mitchum and Kirk Douglas smoke furiously at each other. At one point, Mitchum enters a room,

Douglas extends a pack and says, "Cigarette?" and Mitchum, holding up his hand, says, "Smoking."

Id the movie

29

The painting X shows a farmer standing beside his spinster daughter in front of a house now known

as X house. The figures were modeled by the artist's sister and their dentist. Id the famous painting.

Id the painting

30*

Hafthór Júlíus "Thor" Björnsson is an Icelandic strongman who was the runners up in the 2014

World’s strongest man competition. However, you may know him more for his acting skills. Where

might have you seen him?

31

The film is also said to have popularized two things:

a) Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". Its use in the film propelled the song to #2 in Billboard singles

charts nearly 20 years after its first release. b) “That’s what she said”. Id

32

A Wikipedia search of the said name confuses it amongst an Indian musician, an Indian president,

an Indian actor, an Indian Cricketer, a Pakistani cricketer and a Pakistani hockey played. Id the said

name.

33

The X is the largest non-religious statue in the world and is significantly complex from an engineering

point of view, due to its characteristic posture with a sword raised high in the right hand and the

left hand extended in a calling gesture.

34

This legendary movie director is said to have made only three films the last of which was fully

colored and portrayed the epic story of Laila Majnu. However his legendary status comes from his

second movie which was the first black-and-white Hindi film to be digitally colored, and the first in

any language to be given a theatrical re-release. Id the movie

35

She was regarded as the greatest Mother of all times in Bollywood having being cast as a mother

in many Hindi movies all thanks to Vyjayanthimala who refused to play the role of Amitabh

Bachchan's role in a certain classic. Id.

36* “A Simple Method to Demonstrate the Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen from Sugar" is a scientific

paper coauthored by which Hollywood actor.

37 The name of the band X is a reference to users of the drug amphetamine, a British expression for a

speed freak.

38 The 1962 Nobel Prize in literature is said to be "one of the Academy's biggest mistakes" to the

extent that recipient himself acknowledged later that he did not deserve the honor. ID the laureate.

39*

X attempted matriculation twice at the Vienna Academy of Fine Art; once in 1907, along with 133

other applicants, and again in 1908. To his chagrin, he failed both admissions examinations into the

Academy. Identify this lesser known artist.

40 Name the collaborative website for Harry Potter fans launched by its creator J.K Rowling.

41 How did the Twitter user ‘@ReallyVirtual’ make global news?

42 In which T.V serial, produced by B.R Chopra, did Ashok Kumar play the title role?

43 Which French Engineer was behind the construction of Suez canal?

44 Which country has all the vowels in its name?

45 Maria Salomea Sklodowska is the maiden name of whom?

46* What is the name of the Persian new year?

47 Which sea lies between Israel and Jordan?

48 What is Afrikaans word for ‘apartness’?

49

X was an Indian scholar who is supposed to have constructed and flown India's first

unmanned airplane in 1895, 8 years before the Wright brothers. Give the name of that airplane as

well as X for bonus points.

50 What was built by Quli Qutub Shah to commemorate the end of plague in his city?

51 It has been inscribed on the World Heritage List as "an expression of the astronomical skills and

cosmological concepts of the court of a scholarly prince at the end of the Mughal period". What?

52*

X as spelt in later Sanskrit, means "deformed or monstrous" or "ill-shaped one"; indicating his

deformities. The scriptures describe that X once ruled Lanka, but was overthrown by his demon

stepbrother Ravana, later settling in the city of Alaka in the Himalayas. Descriptions of the "glory"

and "splendors" of X’s city are found in many scriptures. Identify X.

53 Who is regarded as ‘The father of Cricket’?

54 Who is regarded as ‘Father of Yoga’?

55 How do we better know Harikrishna Giri Goswami?

56 Who is the current captain of Indian hockey team?

57

X designs, develops, implements and maintains most of the important information systems of Indian

Railways including IRCTC. It is located in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi. X was established in 1986 by

the Ministry of Railways of India.

58 From which constituency Kiran Bedi is fighting current election in Delhi?

59 Which Persian instrument literally means 'little bow'? It is a precursor to both the rebab and the

bowed lira of Byzantine times. Kamancha

60 Which bank, now headquartered in Calcutta, is the oldest joint stock bank in India? It was founded

in 1865 by a group of Europeans in UttarPradesh.

61 Alistair and Jonathan ________ are British triathlon world number 1 and 2 respectively having

won the gold and silver at Olympics’12, CWG’14.

62* R______ is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet

qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round.

63

The ____ ruling is a European Court of Justice ruling in favour of Maroš ____ . It declared

that citizens of countries which have signed EU Association Agreements have the same right to

freedom of work and movement within the EU as EU citizens.

64

A _____ is an artificial feature creating extra turns in a road, used in motor racing and on streets

to slow traffic for safety. For example, a short S-shaped turn, requiring the driver to turn slightly

left and then right again to stay on the road.

65 Shakoor Rana, a Pakistani umpire had many infamous run-ins with captains of various teams. He

was a major factor in bringing about a change by ICC. What?

66*

The __ (3 words) are an Irish pop group formed by Neil Hannon of The Divine

Comedy and Thomas Walsh of Pugwash. It is also the title of the group's first album. A concept

album about cricket, the album has 12 tracks, one of which is an instrumental.

67 Veteran shooter X at 60 yrs competed at his 6

th Games at Glasgow and won a bronze to be all time

leading medal winner with 18 medals.

68 ____ was the first official Olympic mascot created for the 1972 Munich Games and was designed

to represent the attributes required for athletes — resistance, tenacity and agility.

69 An American, she is considered as the fastest woman of all time. A Barbie- issue was inspired from

her outfit- a purple skin-tight dress bearing only right leg.

70 Born in Prague (Czech), this former World no. 1 in amateur tennis, became an Egyptian and then

citizen of GB. Till date, he is the only player with African citizenship to win the Wimbledon

71 112 official ___ ___ s (equal to 147 points) have been achieved in pro competitions with X

leading with 13, followed by Stephen Hendry with 10. Blank and X.

72 ___ (literally "goat dragging" in Persian) is the Central Asian sport in which horse-mounted

players attempt to drag a goat or calf carcass toward a goal. It is the national sport of Afghanistan.

73 The X-Y ____ race occurred in Toronto, in 1997 to settle the dispute regarding who was the

world's fastest man among X from Canada and Y from US.

74 A ___is a device often used in sports programs that allows its operator to draw a freehand

sketch over a moving or still video image

75 X (also known as "free heel skiing") is a form of downhill skiing using bindings where the boot is

attached only at the toe as opposed to Y with fixed heels.

76* Introduced in Olympics 2012, this cycling event derives its name from Latin, focusing on ‘all’ round

performance in events including time trial , flying lap, individual pursuit etc.

77 Name of the team developed by L. Armstrong, a leading electronic franchise store in US, Europe,

South America.

78 Chess on ice’ with this terminology: burned stone, slider, brush (broom), bospiel (name of a

tournament).

79 Inarguably the fastest sport, what is played with a ball called a “pelota”, travelling at speeds up to

300 kph, and a hand held extended wooden frame. It’s popular in the Basque region.

80

This famous multi-use stadium in Zambia was razed off to build a new one, which never got built

due to budget issues. It was named after the former Swedish Secretary General of UN (1956-61)

‘worshipped’ in Zambia, who died here in a plane crash.

81

Darrell Winfied, the X, died on the 12th of January, 2015; aged 85. Over the years, all sorts were

tried by the Philip Morris company including a navy football coach, a fencer, and an actor in police

dramas, athletes and models. None of them typified masculine vigor as X. Id X.

82

X is a third-party online payment platform with no transaction fees. It was launched in China in 2004

by Alibaba Group. X has the biggest market share in China with 300 million users and control of just

under half of China's online payment market in February 2014. Id X.

83

X is the author of the best-selling book Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2013), which

emphasizes the themes of his work on wealth concentrations and distribution over the past 250

years. The book argues that the rate of capital return in developed countries is persistently greater

than the rate of economic growth, and that this will cause wealth inequality to increase in the future.

Id X.

84*

A X is any system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects; including road

barricades and traffic stops, widespread DNA tests, and general increased police alertness. The term

derives from a fishing technique of dragging a fishing net across the sea bottom, or through a

promising area of open water. Id X.

85

X is a robotic space probe built and launched by the European Space Agency. It shares its name

with a granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt in 196 BC on behalf of

King Ptolemy V. Id X.

86

In 1999 Nature (the journal) began publishing science fiction short stories. The brief "vignettes" are

printed in a series called X. It is also the name of a type of financial contract. (This quizmaster

strongly recommends Nature’s X series to sci-fi fans). Id X.

87

Adjusting for inflation, X’s fortune upon his death in 1937 stood at $336 billion, accounting for more

than 1.5% of the national economy, making him the richest person in history. X is often quoted

saying "The growth of a large business is merely a survival of the fittest”.

88

X is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, America’s biggest life

insurer. The company went public in 2000. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, X holds leading

market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia’s Pacific region, Europe, and the

Middle East.

89

MIT economist X is the “architect” of Obamacare and, previously, Romneycare in Massachusetts.

He sparked a furore some weeks ago after a video surfaced of his talking about the “stupidity” of

the American people, among other insults aimed at the voting public. Id X.

90

X is often referred to as "Superman" in Hong Kong because of his business prowess. X was named

"Asia's Most Powerful Man" by Asiaweek in 2001. His companies make up 15% of the market cap

of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Id X.

91

X is an American multinational investment management corporation based in New York City.

Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, X is

the world's largest asset manager with over $4.59 trillion in assets under management. Id X.

92

The X is a service that helps users tired of Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, to "commit

suicide in social networks", by automatically "removing their private content and friend

relationships", (but without deleting or deactivating their accounts). Id X.

93 What is the new name for the institution that replaced the Planning Commission of India?

94*

The company was founded by Nick Woodman following a surf trip to Australia in which he was

hoping to capture quality action photos of his surfing but could not because amateur photographers

could not get close enough. At its 2014 IPO price, the company was valued at $2.95 billion. What

company?

95 Which country has decided to include drug trafficking, prostitution and drug smuggling numbers in

its economic output numbers from Oct 2014?

96 The X effect is the when the announcement of a later model under development leads to a fall in

the sales of the current model. This led to the drop in sales of their earlier model.

97

Mark Waugh when on a tour to the Indian subcontinent was highly unsuccessful in scoring runs and

ended up with four consecutive ducks which read 0000. What nickname, did he earn due to this

incident?

98 Throughout history we have presented pictures in a yellow box. Whose tagline is this?

99* In recent days, many products like biscuits, bread etc. have TJ's imprinted upon them. Where are

these products likely to be made?

100

X is a German multinational software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business

operations and customer relations. X is headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, Germany,

with regional offices in 130 countries. X’s competitors are primarily in the Enterprise Resource

Planning Software industry.

----------------------------------------------------------That’s all folks!------------------------------------------------------