Slide 1

AcknowledgementsSpecial thanks to Abhra Das da for reviewing the set and Arindam Kashyap for giving valuable inputs.NIT Silchar Quiz club, its been a wonderful journey.All of you for turning up on a Sunday evening.

Rules:

26 questions in the prelims.All the even numbered questions are starred which are to be used to resolve ties both in prelims and finals.Each question carry equal points, in case of two part answers each carries equal mark.Top 8 teams to qualify for the finals.Test yourself, not Google.

(1) Arianna Huffington's new book The X Revolution explains why this is not just vital for our health but critical to helping us achieve our goals. Over 24 million photos on Instagram use the hashtag#Y, and if you type the words why am I into Google, the first autocomplete suggestion is: why am I so Y?Give me both X and Y that are closely associated.

*(2)XY is the first of only three swimmers in Olympic history (Krisztina Egerszegiof Hungary andMichael Phelpsof the United States being the two others) to have won individual gold medals for the same event at three successive Olympics(100 metres freestyle 1956, 1960, 1964).In 1979, a movie calledX!was made about her life and career and the role was played by Bronwyn Mackay-Payne.

(3)The filmmakers werent granted permission to shoot in the desired location , so as an alternative they chose Chandigarh- more precisely, the premises of the Punjab Engineering College and also parts of DAV College.Urban dictionary defines the term(also the films name) as a humorous way to declare an unknown time in the wee hours of the morning, which in itself is a central theme to the movie.

*(4) In Greek mythology, X links the gods tohumanity and she travels with the speed of wind from one end of the world to the other. Xis also agenusof 260-300 species of flowering plants with beautiful flowers and takes its name from Greek word for rainbow. Give me X that also lends its name to something colourful in the human body.

(5)Which company brought out this famous ad-campaign titled Builders of tomorrow based on the original photograph titled'Lunch Atop a Skyscraper' by Charles Ebbets, 1932? Many believed what were missing from the picture were girls, because the item manufactured by the company were both for boys and girls alike.

*(6)In the jet era which is being described as being from 1951 to the present age, the airlines X has had nearly zero fatal crashes- a fact that was also made famous in the 1988 film Rain Man , in which Dustin Hoffmans character, Raymond Babbitt, refuses to fly on any airline other than X because of its stellar safety record.Give me X which is also thethird oldest airline in the world, afterKLMandAvianca having been founded in November 1920.(think and answer, dont leap(another bad pun intended)).

(7)The name for this animal is quite a misnomer and doesnt come from the word X(which are like immigrants, million gets in but only one works!).The name actually comes from the substance Y( for which hunters used to kill them and which was found in its skull) and Y is a pearly white wax like substance and its coloring resembled that of actual X, hence the confusion.

*(8)X is the fourth largest cosmetics company in the world and in the local language it can be translated as praise the virtues of the earth which nurtures new life and brings forth significant values.X was the first to develop the softening lotion ( a lightweight liquid of toner-like consistency) and it was developed in response to lead poisoning, as the Japanese women used makeup based onwhite lead.

(9)The term X" derives from the old Italian term for the cowry shell due to their similar translucent appearance, informally referred by a country's name (as it was the birthplace of X making)or adding an adjective to the country's name. The country has been jokingly referred by many as the antonym of original.

*(10)Who wrote the letter(pic. next slide) and would probably vote for republicans the next time as democrats left a bad taste in the mouth(pun intended)?

(11)To celebrate the birth centenary of which person (who would probably be considered intolerant" today in India)authorities of a certain country in 1976 issued a gold stamp that carried 25 mg of 23/24 carat gold and was valued at Rs. 10.The 500 copies printed were distributed to guests and dignitaries.(its your mauka to score more points!!)

*(12)Artist Maurice Mikkers has a very unusual way of creating his work(something otherwise associated with compounds like phenacyl chloride, syn-propanethial-S-oxide) and then looks them under the microscope.He even recruited friends, and they did everything from watching films of a certain genre(Tare zameen par probably would be a good choice!), to yawning and sneezing to keep continuing his work.

(13)What "mathematical" concept that did not last even for 24 hours in Paris ,was also initiated in other cities like Mexico city, Athens, Manila etc?One of the similar earliest versions took place in Rome when Julius Casear declared the centre of Rome off-limits between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. to all except for carriages transporting priests, officials, visitors, and high ranking citizens.

*(14)Stephano had been a young man when he slung a rifle on his shoulder and marched into Russia with the Italian forces during the Second world war.Stephano was detained in the towns of Vladimir and Suzdal for several years,until three Russian woman helped him escape.A grateful Stephano named his daughters after the three benefactors: X, Nadia and Anushka.( Even though X accuses others of not delivering, the last time she delivered it was a disaster)

(15)Jean-Baptiste-Simon Chardins famous painting (shown in the next slide) is essentially about looking. But the question remains so as to who is doing the looking? Are we seeing the boy through our own eyes, through those of the artist, or of some notional third party, as Tracy Chevalier(best known for her second novel,Girl with a Pearl Earring) intimates in her story.Name the painting that also shares a part of its name with something iconic from the world of pop-culture.

*(16)What was the source of inspiration for the Aquatics centre built for 2012 Olympics which probably came to our popular consciousness in 2006 when a certain hunter literally took the creature to his chest?It was branded as "rank and disagreeable" in Francis Day's 1884 opus The Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland.

(17)This animal is widely regarded as a symbol of strength (just like a cheetah is known for its speed or lion is the king of the jungle), hence the name of this popular brand.The brand also shares its name with a 1933 movie that had remakes in 1978 and 2005. Also in the 19th century, European and American explorers in Africa were astounded with their first encounter with these animals, which might have also contributed to the name.Not going into the chemistry of the process which gives it the desired property, simply tell me the brand.

*(18)According toPat Chapman, afood historian, the origins of the word can be traced to a particular place in northern Pakistan, where a cast iron wok(a bowl-shaped frying pan), similar to the Chinese wok, is used for cooking.According to another version, the curry was popularised in Birmingham where it is also said to have been invented. The name of the curry also shares its name with something that is probably an integral part of hostel life.

(19)This famous tradition of MIT consisted of a bar of metallicXdropped into theCharles River, producing loud explosions due to the rapidexothermicconversion of the metal toits hydroxideand the ignition of the resultinghydrogengas. In the past, these drops occurred sporadically, initiated by impromptu groups of students from various dorms and fraternities.However , in 2007 when five volunteers cleaning up trash in the river were injured due to the explosion, the popularity of this tradition has been declining and their student newspaper has urged readers to take responsibility of injuries arising from the prank.

*(20)This bank initially concentrated on serving the X community(and thats how it took its present name) which was essentially a merchant/trading community operating acrossKarnatakaandAndhra Pradesh.In 1958, the bank was licensed by theReserve Bank of India(RBI) to expand its banking operations nationwide.2002 purchase of an equity stake in X Bank by the DutchY Group marked the first merger between an Indian bank and a foreign ban.YX has been ranked the "Safest Banker" by theNew Indian Expressand among "Top 5 Most Trusted Private Sector Banks" by theEconomic Times.

(21)Identify the musical instrument depicted on the coat of arms of Ireland(pic next slide)Thisis a stringed musical instrument which has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard, which are plucked with the fingers. They have been known since antiquity in Asia, Africa, and Europe, dating back at least as early as 3500 BCE.A similar type of this instrument is very dear to the people of Assam due to certain cultural and ethnic reasons.Name both the instruments.

*(22) Who in his first job? He probably needs to get his math right as he doesnt know to count from 1 to 10(pun intended)

(23)Apart from being the only number(say X)in English whose letters appear in alphabetical order, it also has a lot of significance in science, religion,literature etc.A typical pregnancy actually lasts X weeks.Jesus spent X days fasting in the wilderness being tempted by the devil; the great flood lasted X days and X nights; the Jewish people wandered the desert for X years.There are X spaceson a standard Monopoly board. Proving that life is a gamble, the game gives players equal odds (one in X) of going directly to jail or winning the Free Parking lottery.

*(24)The residents of China found a new way to protect themselves from the scorching heat of sun by wearing what they call as a X, that acts as a shielding head mask worn by the beach-goers.This is probably one of the best Jugaad used by them instead of spending on costly good-quality sun-screen(pic next slide)

(25)TheAltare della Patria; (English: "Altar of the Fatherland"), also known as theMonumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II("National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II") orIl Vittoriano, is a monument built in honour ofVictor Emmanuel, the first king of unified Italy, located inRome. It occupies a site between thePiazza Veneziaand theCapitoline Hill.What nickname has been given to it due to its resemblance with a certain confectionary item?

*(26)What was named after X, the synthetic intelligencecharacter from the hit game series by Bungie Inc, the famous American video game developer( you might associate the games name with a saint or holy person)?When X was asked What do you look like? the reply was Im a circle now, but I have ambitions, One day, Ill probably be a sphere.

(1) Arianna Huffington's new book The X Revolution explains why this is not just vital for our health but critical to helping us achieve our goals. Over 24 million photos on Instagram use the hashtag#Y, and if you type the words why am I into Google, the first autocomplete suggestion is: why am I so Y?Give me both X and Y that are closely associated.

X: Sleep; Y: Tired

*(2)XY is the first of only three swimmers in Olympic history (Krisztina Egerszegiof Hungary andMichael Phelpsof the United States being the two others) to have won individual gold medals for the same event at three successive Olympics(100 metres freestyle 1956, 1960, 1964).In 1979, a movie calledX!was made about her life and career and the role was played by Bronwyn Mackay-Payne.

Dawn Fraser

(3)The filmmakers werent granted permission to shoot in the desired location , so as an alternative they chose Chandigarh- more precisely, the premises of the Punjab Engineering College and also parts of DAV College.Urban dictionary defines the term(also the films name) as a humorous way to declare an unknown time in the wee hours of the morning, which in itself is a central theme to the movie.

*(4) In Greek mythology, X links the gods tohumanity and she travels with the speed of wind from one end of the world to the other. Xis also agenusof 260-300 species of flowering plants with beautiful flowers and takes its name from Greek word for rainbow. Give me X that also lends its name to something colourful in the human body.

Iris(It is also the colored part of the eye, that gives it the distinctive black, brown, blue color etc.)

(5)Which company brought out this famous ad-campaign titled Builders of tomorrow based on the original photograph titled'Lunch Atop a Skyscraper' by Charles Ebbets, 1932? Many believed what were missing from the picture were girls, because the item manufactured by the company were both for boys and girls alike.

*(6)In the jet era which is being described as being from 1951 to the present age, the airlines X has had nearly zero fatal crashes- a fact that was also made famous in the 1988 film Rain Man , in which Dustin Hoffmans character, Raymond Babbitt, refuses to fly on any airline other than X because of its stellar safety record.Give me X which is also thethird oldest airline in the world, afterKLMandAvianca having been founded in November 1920.(think and answer, dont leap(another bad pun intended)).

The poor quality pun was a reference to Kangaroo(logo of Qantas is called flying Kangaroo) who leaps!

(7)The name for this animal is quite a misnomer and doesnt come from the word X(which are like immigrants, million gets in but only one works!).The name actually comes from the substance Y( for which hunters used to kill them and which was found in its skull) and Y is a pearly white wax like substance and its coloring resembled that of actual X, hence the confusion.

X:Sperm,Y:Spermaceti,the creature being Sperm whale

*(8)X is the fourth largest cosmetics company in the world and in the local language it can be translated as praise the virtues of the earth which nurtures new life and brings forth significant values.X was the first to develop the softening lotion ( a lightweight liquid of toner-like consistency) and it was developed in response to lead poisoning, as the Japanese women used makeup based onwhite lead.

(9)The term X" derives from the old Italian term for the cowry shell due to their similar translucent appearance, informally referred by a country's name (as it was the birthplace of X making)or adding an adjective to the country's name. The country has been jokingly referred by many as the antonym of original.

Porcelain , referred informally as China or fine China comes from Italian word Porcellana.

*(10)Who wrote the letter(pic. next slide) and would probably vote for republicans the next time as democrats left a bad taste in the mouth(pun intended)?

Monica Lewinsky

(11)To celebrate the birth centenary of which person (who would probably be considered intolerant" today in India)authorities of a certain country in 1976 issued a gold stamp that carried 25 mg of 23/24 carat gold and was valued at Rs. 10.The 500 copies printed were distributed to guests and dignitaries.(its your mauka to score more points!!)

Mohammad Ali Jinnah

*(12)Artist Maurice Mikkers has a very unusual way of creating his work(something otherwise associated with compounds like phenacyl chloride, syn-propanethial-S-oxide) and then looks them under the microscope.He even recruited friends, and they did everything from watching films of a certain genre(Tare zameen par probably would be a good choice!), to yawning and sneezing to keep continuing his work.

His own tears!He caught a tear as it rolled down his face, and decided to take a closer look at it, under a microscope.Salty tears crystallise when they are left to dry out, and form patterns that look a bit like snowflakes.

(13)What "mathematical" concept that did not last even for 24 hours in Paris ,was also initiated in other cities like Mexico city, Athens, Manila etc?One of the similar earliest versions took place in Rome when Julius Casear declared the centre of Rome off-limits between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. to all except for carriages transporting priests, officials, visitors, and high ranking citizens.

*(14)Stephano had been a young man when he slung a rifle on his shoulder and marched into Russia with the Italian forces during the Second world war.Stephano was detained in the towns of Vladimir and Suzdal for several years,until three Russian woman helped him escape.A grateful Stephano named his daughters after the three benefactors: X, Nadia and Anushka.( Even though X accuses others of not delivering, the last time she delivered it was a disaster)

(15)Jean-Baptiste-Simon Chardins famous painting (shown in the next slide) is essentially about looking. But the question remains so as to who is doing the looking? Are we seeing the boy through our own eyes, through those of the artist, or of some notional third party, as Tracy Chevalier(best known for her second novel,Girl with a Pearl Earring) intimates in her story.Name the painting that also shares a part of its name with something iconic from the world of pop-culture.

Boy building a house of cards.

*(16)What was the source of inspiration for the Aquatics centre built for 2012 Olympics which probably came to our popular consciousness in 2006 when a certain hunter literally took the creature to his chest?It was branded as "rank and disagreeable" in Francis Day's 1884 opus The Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland.

Stingray(due to the stadiums resemblance with its body and wings). It also infamously killed crocodile hunter Steve Irwin .

(17)This animal is widely regarded as a symbol of strength (just like a cheetah is known for its speed or lion is the king of the jungle), hence the name of this popular brand.The brand also shares its name with a 1933 movie that had remakes in 1978 and 2005. Also in the 19th century, European and American explorers in Africa were astounded with their first encounter with these animals, which might have also contributed to the name.Not going into the chemistry of the process which gives it the desired property, simply tell me the brand.

*(18)According toPat Chapman, afood historian, the origins of the word can be traced to a particular place in northern Pakistan, where a cast iron wok(a bowl-shaped frying pan), similar to the Chinese wok, is used for cooking.According to another version, the curry was popularised in Birmingham where it is also said to have been invented. The name of the curry also shares its name with something that is probably an integral part of hostel life.

Chicken Balti,the placed talked about in the question is Baltistan.

(19)This famous tradition of MIT consisted of a bar of metallicXdropped into theCharles River, producing loud explosions due to the rapidexothermicconversion of the metal toits hydroxideand the ignition of the resultinghydrogengas. In the past, these drops occurred sporadically, initiated by impromptu groups of students from various dorms and fraternities.However , in 2007 when five volunteers cleaning up trash in the river were injured due to the explosion, the popularity of this tradition has been declining and their student newspaper has urged readers to take responsibility of injuries arising from the prank.

Sodium drop, reaction of sodium with water produces sodium hydroxide and hydrogen along with lots of energy that creates the explosion.

*(20)This bank initially concentrated on serving the X community(and thats how it took its present name) which was essentially a merchant/trading community operating acrossKarnatakaandAndhra Pradesh.In 1958, the bank was licensed by theReserve Bank of India(RBI) to expand its banking operations nationwide.2002 purchase of an equity stake in X Bank by the DutchY Group marked the first merger between an Indian bank and a foreign ban.YX has been ranked the "Safest Banker" by theNew Indian Expressand among "Top 5 Most Trusted Private Sector Banks" by theEconomic Times.

*(21)Identify the musical instrument depicted on the coat of arms of Ireland(pic next slide)Thisis a stringed musical instrument which has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard, which are plucked with the fingers. They have been known since antiquity in Asia, Africa, and Europe, dating back at least as early as 3500 BCE.A similar type of this instrument is very dear to the people of Assam due to certain cultural and ethnic reasons.Name both the instruments.

The musical instrument on the coat of arms of Ireland is Harp.Theother instrument is gogona(Assamese:) which is a type ofjaw harp, a vibratingreedinstrument that is used primarily in the traditionalBihumusic in Assam.

*(22) Who in his first job? He probably needs to get his math right as he doesnt know to count from 1 to 10(pun intended)

(23)Apart from being the only number(say X)in English whose letters appear in alphabetical order, it also has a lot of significance in science, religion,literature etc.A typical pregnancy actually lasts X weeks.Jesus spent X days fasting in the wilderness being tempted by the devil; the great flood lasted X days and X nights; the Jewish people wandered the desert for X years.There are X spaceson a standard Monopoly board. Proving that life is a gamble, the game gives players equal odds (one in X) of going directly to jail or winning the Free Parking lottery.

*(24)The residents of China found a new way to protect themselves from the scorching heat of sun by wearing what they call as a X, that acts as a shielding head mask worn by the beach-goers.This is probably one of the best Jugaad used by them instead of spending on costly good-quality sun-screen(pic next slide)

Facekini(which is probably borrowed from Burqini, a type ofswimsuitfor women and is intended to comply with theQuranic admonition for Muslim women to dress modestly)

(25)TheAltare della Patria; (English: "Altar of the Fatherland"), also known as theMonumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II("National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II") orIl Vittoriano, is a monument built in honour ofVictor Emmanuel, the first king of unified Italy, located inRome. It occupies a site between thePiazza Veneziaand theCapitoline Hill.What nickname has been given to it due to its resemblance with a certain confectionary item?

Wedding Cake!

*(26)What was named after X, the synthetic intelligencecharacter from the hit game series by Bungie Inc, the famous American video game developer( you might associate the games name with a saint or holy person)?When X was asked What do you look like? the reply was Im a circle now, but I have ambitions, One day, Ill probably be a sphere.