As my co-quizmasters lost the complete sets, I am uploading my contribution of questions for two quizzes I had hosted over the last 12 months :
1. The Edge BizTech Quiz (April 2015)
Quizmasters : The Disco Fighters (Tamal Dutta, Baneswar Sarker and Anirban Roy.)
Venue : Techno India, Salt Lake.
2. Pyaasa Gunda : The Indian Entertainment Quiz (December 2014)
Quizmasters : Tamal Dutta, Baneswar Sarker, Sayantan Guha and Archisman Das.
Venue : Presidency University.
8. 4.
• Ingredients :
Each 10 ml contains :
Akarkara 100 mg
Malla 50 mg
Malkangni 25 mg
Keshar 50 mg
Harttal 125 mg
Jaitoon Oil QS
Laung 100 mg
Tilli oil QS
• Usage :
Use 10 - 15 drops through massaging by light hand at bed time and in the
morning.
• Packaging size :
15 ml bottle.
Identify the product.
10. 5.
• X is an event that consists of a group of supposed shoppers
who congregate at a large superstore and slowly push empty
shopping carts silently through store aisles. Participants will
not purchase anything and seek to form a lengthy chain of
non-shoppers, continually weaving and whirling through a
maze of store aisles for up to an hour at a time. The
participants describe their actions as “a collective reclamation
of space that is otherwise only used for buying and selling”.
The participants seek to mimic and mock what they perceive as
the absurdity of the shopping process.
What is X?
12. 6.
• Biosyn was a research company with its headquarters at Cupertino,
California. It was headed by Bill Steingarten during the early 1990s.
Their head of product development, Dr. Lewis Dodgson involved
himself in corporate espionage schemes for Biosyn that involved
recovering developing technology from rival companies and then re-
engineering the technology in such as way as to avoid a lawsuit.
• Biosyn sent Dodgson to meet with Dennis Nedry, a computer
programmer working in their rival company InGen, and asked Nedry
to steal a certain product from InGen and to give it to Biosyn. Nedry
was going to be paid $1,500,000 for this. But Biosyn never received
the products as Nedry died in an accident soon after stealing them.
But this incident had a much more dangerous repercussion that lead
to the bankruptcy of InGen.
14. 7.
• This phrase, used often in the corporate world, has its origin in
gambling. The phrase refers to the initial amount of money that
a gambler carries with himself to a card game and which other
players have a chance to win. Carrying a lot would mean that
your contribution has the potential to enrich everybody else.
What is the phrase?
16. 8.
[SPOILER ALERT]
• In the movie Open Tee Bioscope, after the football team Koboj
defeats the team Ispat in the climax of the movie, they
celebrate by mimicking the dance steps of a famous TV
commercial.
The commercial was for which product?
20. 10.
• X is an enzyme which is released by the chief cells in the
stomach and that degrades food proteins. It was discovered in
1836 by Theodor Schwann who also coined its name from a
Greek word meaning “digestion”. X is one of three principal
protein-degrading, or proteolytic, enzymes in the digestive
system, the other two being chymotrypsin and trypsin.
• X lends its name to a famous company and its most famous
product.
ID X or the company.
23. INFINITE POUNCE PART I
• 16 Questions.
• Infinite Bounce.
• Infinite Pounce.
• +10/0 on bounce.
• +20/-10 on Pounce.
• Clockwise.
24. 1.
• Witworks, an Indian start-up
has launched Rewind as its
first product. The founders
say that they “wanted to start
by solving a small yet a very
common problem”.
• Rewind is available on major
online shopping websites at a
price of around Rs. 200.
What is the use of Rewind?
29. THE WORDS “SOCIALIST AND SECULAR” ARE
MISSING FROM THE PREAMBLE.
(BUT THIS IS THE ORIGINAL TEXT. “SOCIALIST AND SECULAR” WERE ADDED IN THE 42ND
AMENDMENT.)
30. 3.
• The company X recently announced its Race Together campaign,
which opened to an intense backlash. The campaign is aimed at
spurring a meaningful discussion about race. But X itself has played
an instrumental part in gentrification across the U.S. Since 1997,
homes near X locations have appreciated in value by 96 percent.
• Another issue with the campaign is that it is just plain awkward. Like
Gwen Ifill of PBS NewsHour tweeted :
“Honest to God, if you start to engage me in a race conversation before
I had my morning coffee, it will not end well.”
Identify X. And what term, a parody of a famous idiom, is the media
using to describe such attacks on the company?
33. 4.
• Starting from an early age, X wondered if the existence of God
and paranormal phenomena could be proven scientifically.
While he was still a schoolboy in Alphington, Devon, X made his
first attempt to prove the existence of the supernatural by
trying to call upon the Devil. As Anthony Hyman points out in a
biography of X, this was an ordinary enough endeavour for a
schoolboy, but the methodical way in which X approached his
diabolical experiment was quite apropos for the future
inventor.
• Even when he became famous, he remained a member of the
Ghost Club, a society of paranormal researchers.
Who is X?
36. 5.
• Last year, Hormel created a custom motorcycle that runs on 100% refined
X grease.
• Steve Venenga, Hormel VP, explained the utility of the product saying, “X
is in more households. Price increases of X are starting to slow.” Scott
Schraufnagel, from Hormel’s ad agency said that because the bike runs
on B-100 bio diesel, there are no hazardous waste materials. Around one
gallon of fuel is generated from one pound of X grease.
• The team behind the idea told The Washington Times: “If there were a X
biodiesel tanker spill in the ocean, the fuel would be safe and there will
be mouth-watering fish food. And this X biodiesel is nearly carbon-
neutral, meaning it contributes almost zero emissions to global warming.”
• Jane Wells of CNBC wrote an article on the bike titled : “America runs on
X, and so does this motorcycle.”
39. 6.
• The Latin phrase ___ ______ means “Voice of the people”.
• In broadcasting, ___ ______ is an interview with members of the
general public. American television personality Steve Allen as the
host of The Tonight Show developed such “man on the street”
interviews and audience-participation comedy breaks that have
become commonplace on late-night TV. Broadcast journalists almost
always refer to them as the abbreviated X.
• X Clothing is also an online merchandise store started by Siddharth
Taparia, a former executive director and business head of licensing
business for Walt Disney.
Identify X.
42. 7.
• The term X describes the transformation of society to resemble _____
_____. The term appears in Andre Kehoe's book, “Christian
Contradictions and the World Revolution”.
• The term is used in a negative way and implies homogenization of
consumption, merchandising and performative labour. It can be used
more broadly to describe the “processes of stripping a real place or
event of its original character and repackaging it in a sanitized
format.” References to anything negative are removed and the facts
are watered down with the intent of making the subject more pleasant.
In the case of places, this typically means replacing what has grown
organically over time with an idealized and tourist-friendly look.
Identify X.
45. 8.
• Martin Raynsford, one of the owners of Just Add Sharks, an UK-
based laser cutter manufacturer, recently created a real-life
version of the game X where he destroys the paper cut-outs of
the antagonists using a 80W laser cutter.
• The paper cut-outs have shields made of foam at the centre to
absorb the first shot. They move left to right on a modified
rotary attachment. They approach the player using a motor on
the Z-axis. The paper bursts into flames when shot with the
laser. The game is complete when all the antagonists have been
burnt.
48. 9.
• Xs are usually employees within a company who are assigned a
special idea or project, and are instructed to use the resources
and capabilities of the firm to develop it. X’s main job is to turn
that special idea or project into a profitable venture for the
company. They take innovative ideas and turn them into new
products and solutions. In many cases, their salaries are tied to
the success of their ideas. In 1978, Gifford and Elizabeth
Pinchot coined the term in an article about large companies
that were adopting this emerging trend.
What is X?
51. 10.
• It begun in November 1991 with DOS. From then onwards,
there has been at least 2500 more, from Windows to Photoshop
to Chess to Medical Ethics to Fishing to Parenting to Acne to
Breastfeeding to Star Trek to The Royal Wedding to Buying a
Property in Spain (not in any particular order).
What am I talking about?
54. 11.
• Most people credit Tomas Bata with the ideation of this practice
who popularized it in Czechoslovakia in the 1920s. But the
practice has been there much before Bata.
• One theory says that it may have originated due to shopkeepers
of mid 1800s trying to ambush each other with cutthroat
pricing. Another theory says that it was an early form of loss
prevention, inventory control and accounting. It was done to
prevent the cashier from pocketing the money a customer paid
and forced them to open the register. Also, it made counting
the number of items sold in a day much easier.
Which practice is being discussed?
57. 12.
• In the third season of House of Cards, President Frank Underwood
appears on The Colbert Report to promote his proposal for a
controversial job-generation scheme called America Works. Here is a
part of their conversation:
Underwood: Look, I don't let polls like that bother me. I think that once
the nation sees AmWorks in action, they will change their attitudes.
Colbert: I'm sorry, “AmWorks?” I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was called
AmWorks. Is that like X? Is it a pyramid scheme? Is that what you're
selling to the American people?
Underwood: No, it's actually just an abbreviation to make it easier to
say.
60. 13.
• The YouTube channel PewDesiPie has uploaded a video that is
going viral at present. It is a mash-up of two videos. One is a
social awareness initiative X by the company Y, based on a
piece written by Kersi Khambatta. The other is the song Z from
the 1997 movie Gambler picturized on Govinda.
Identify X, Y and Z.
63. 14.
• It is being hailed as “the greatest Easter egg of all time”.
Experts are predicting that, if it becomes a permanent feature,
this is going to cost the loss of a massive number of work
hours.
• According to a Forbes article, Washington DC, Boston, Brussels,
Milan, Phoenix, Paris, Saigon, Baghdad and Tokyo are “The Best
Places to Play X on Y.”
Identify X and Y.
66. THE HONEST SLOGANS ROUND.
• Written Round.
• 8 Honest Slogans of business and technology
related identities.
• Name them.
• +5 for every correct answer.
• +20 for a full house.
94. PYAASA GUNDA :
THE INDIAN ENTERTAINMENT QUIZ
BY TAMAL DUTTA, BANESWAR SARKER AND ARCHISMAN DAS.
95. 1.
• When there was a little controversy about the name of the 2014
movie X, the cast and crew of the movie said the name came from a
line of the poem Jhansi Ki Rani by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan :
“Chamak uthi san sattavan mein, yeh talwaar puraani thi,
Bundeley Harbolon key munh humney suni kahaani thi,
Khoob ladi X woh toh Jhansi wali Rani thi.”
ID X.
98. 2.
• “The moment which u can only dream of. The only man to beat
@usainbolt in 100 meter race.”
• “World’s fastest ;)”
Whose tweets on September 2nd, 2014?
104. 4.
Connect :
• The 2006 German drama film that marked the debut of director
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck and won the 2006 Academy
Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
• The Jadavpur University alumnus who won the Vodafone-Crossword
Book Award in 2008 for his debut novel.
110. 6.
• This is Shakun Batra. He was an assistant
director in movies like Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na,
Rock On!! and Don 2.
• In 2012, he debuted as a director with Ek
Main Aur Ekk Tu.
What did he direct in 2014, that has described
as a “brilliant PR stunt” by many online
113. 7.
• At the inauguration of the Indian Super League, guest performer Priyanka
Chopra joked that Sourav Ganguly bought a football team for a particular
reason, which she thought was legal in football, but not in cricket.
• She was in for a surprise, perhaps, when she realised she was wrong as
Atletico de Kolkata’s Arnal Carbó was yellow-carded in the match that
followed for the same reason.
What is the reason being talked about?
116. 8.
• X is a Marathi film that released in 2004. It was India's official entry to
the Academy Awards and was ranked 6th in the Academy Award for Best
Foreign Language Film category (according to Wikipedia, among other
websites).
• The IMDb plot description reads :
“This story is about how an old man tried to show his grandson the
preciousness and beauty of life in a no win situation such as cancer. It is
about keeping a positive attitude towards life.”
ID X.
119. 9.
• J.B. Bernstein is the CEO of Access Group, an athlete management firm
and Chief Marketing Officer of Seven Figures Management, a sports
marketing and athlete representation firm.
• Bernstein set up an Indian reality TV contest in 2007 called X which was
aired on Zee TV. The winner received a prize of $100,000 with an
opportunity to win $1 million US dollars in a bonus round afterward.
ID X.
125. 11.
• Both the movies 18.11 : A Code of Secrecy and Velayutham are guilty of
ripping off posters of popular video games.
• People who have seen the movies and played the games say that the
similarities do not end there. Some elements from the games and even
some videos from the games have been copy-pasted in these movies.
ID both the video games.
128. 12.
• Which word is defined by Merriam-Webster as :
“Personal confidence or courage that allows someone to do or say things that
may seem shocking to others.”?
131. 13.
• Anandabhadram was a 2005 Malayalam romantic fantasy film based
on the novel of the same name by Sunil Parameswaran. The film was
the first Malayalam film to be directed by Santosh Sivan. The film was
inspired by the paintings of X.
• Santosh Sivan went on to play the painter X in the 2011 Malayalam
romantic drama film Makaramanju which was written and directed
by Lenin Rajendran.
ID the painter X.
134. 14.
• The upcoming 2014 film X is the remake of a 1982 Basu Chatterjee
film starring Ashok Kumar, Utpal Dutt, A.K. Hangal, Mithun
Chakraborty and Rati Agnihotri.
• The name of the remake is the “plural form” of the name of the
original.
ID X.
137. 15.
Connect :
• A social gathering attended by members of a group of people who
have not seen each other for some time.
• The two-word warning message that comes up on screen when
someone lights a cigarette in a film.
• A small, usually heart-shaped, flat piece of wood equipped with two
wheeled castors and a pencil-holding aperture, used to facilitate
automatic writing.
• The goddess of retributive justice or vengeance in Greek mythology.
140. 16.
• In the new YouTube video by The Viral Fever, called TVF Talk Show - Barely
Speaking with Arnub : SRK, which performance did Shah Rukh Khan rate as
his “best action performance” as he could “abuse and use bad language
openly in front of kids who are very impressionable and scar them for life” ?
143. 17.
• While promoting her new film Super Nani on an Indian TV show,
actress X said :
“Thappad se darr nahi lagta. Pyaar se bhi nahi lagta, who toh main
bahut de sakti hoon. Darr lagta hain toh bas Y se.”
• She realised her mistake and was quick to rectify seconds later that
by Y she was referring to Z. But the media did not let her slip of
tongue slide and started speculating whether X was still not over Y
even after so many years.
ID X, Y and Z.
152. 20.
• The opening credits of the movie X shows different couples publicly
displaying affection as Lata Mangeshkar and Hariharan sing Y in the
background.
• Some famous couples appear in the video, including Yash and Hiroo Johar,
who squabble like a regular couple after she snatches away his cordless
phone, and Sanjeev Kohli (the erstwhile CEO of the movie’s production
house) and his wife.
• The director Z himself appears at the end of the credits with his wife Pamela,
embarrassing her with an impromptu hug.
ID X, Y and Z for full points.
ID X and Z for half points.
153.
154. X – DIL TOH PAGAL HAIN,
Y – EK DUJEY KE VAASTEY, Z – YASH CHOPRA.
155. 21.
• On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his novel X, author Y
was in Kolkata last week. On being asked by journalists if he
could have set the novel X in the present political scenario, Y
said:
“I do not think we live in epic times anymore. I do not see The
Mahabharata fitting into what we see of contemporary politics. I
think Mr. Modi, certainly within the BJP, looks like Gulliver among
the Lilliputians.”
ID X and Y.
158. 22.
These are the tracks from the
album X by Shayan Chowdhury
Arnob that released in 2006.
• Bakshey Bakshey.
• Tomar Jonyo.
• X.
• Tui Ki Janishna 1.
• Bhalobasha Tarpor.
• Tor Jonyo.
• Shomoy Kate.
• Chalak Tumi.
• Muhoorto.
• Prokreeto Jol.
• Shwobdo.
• Tui Ki Janishna 2.
ID X.
164. 24.
• In early 2015, Anand Tiwari will join a list that
includes Shailen Mukherjee, Rajarshi Mukherjee,
Debdut Ghosh and Anindya Chatterjee among
others.
[ Two of the most popular names have been
excluded.]
What list am I talking about?