general quiz @ GCT

1. RULES:
• 12 QUESTIONS
• ON BOUNCE: +10/0
• ON POUNCE: +10/-10
• POUNCE ALLOWED ON ALL QUESTIONS.
• QM’S DECISION WILL BE FINAL.

3. • The Trichur Brothers, Srikrishna Mohan and Ramkumar
Mohan, are vocalists from Carnatic tradition and belong to
the Sitaram Group, a traditional business family based in
Trichur, Kerala.
• The brothers, along with a team of musicians from
Chennai, have composed a song, a teaser of which was
released in December 2014. It received over 1,000 hits
within a short span of time. On the request of the ministry,
the teaser has been taken off all online mediums.
• The brother’s composition, due to be released, is touted as
the world’s first ever song dedicated to a particular event.
• What event are the Trichur Brothers dedicating their work

6. • The brothers are rendering the world’s ever composition
dedicated to the cleaning of a river.

7. • On March 8, 2015, the international women’s day, an
NGO named Chaanv, released a fashion calendar titled
‘Bello’ which means ‘beautiful’ in Italian.
• The theme of the calendar was to ‘broaden the
interpretation of beauty‘.
• Belgian photographer Pascal Mannaerts, who shot the
photos for the calendar, could not stop raving about the
subject’s courage, adding "I am inspired, so much to
learn from them.“
• What was the subject of the calendar?

10. • The 1896 discovery of the X was one of the greatest
Jewish treasures ever found. It provided the world with
the some of the most important documents of the
medieval Middle East.
• X is a collection of some 300,000 Jewish manuscript
fragments that were found in Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old
Cairo, Egypt.
• These manuscripts outline a 1,000-year continuum (870
CE to 19th century) of Jewish Middle-Eastern and North
African history and comprise the largest and most diverse
collection of medieval manuscripts in the world.

11. • The X documents include both religious and secular
writings. The normal practice of maintaining X was to
remove the contents periodically and bury them in a
cemetery.
• But as many of these documents were written using the
Hebrew alphabet and as the Jews considered Hebrew to
be the language of God, and the Hebrew script to be the
literal writing of God, the texts were not be destroyed
even long after they had served their purpose.
• Identify X.

14. video

16. • answer.mp4

17. • X is regarded as one of the foremost Russian
physiologists.
• Studying the conditional reflexes, X came to the necessity
to isolate the experimental dog completely from any
exterior influences during the course of the experiment.
• For this purpose he made a project of a very special
construction, named “Y", with 8 sound-proof cameras,
separated by spiral staircases and passages with
noiseless covering. With the help of Prince Oldenburgsky
and Ledenzov charitable company this project was
realized in 1913-1917.

21. • The ‘urban dictionary’ defines X as an impossibly difficult
choice, especially when forced onto someone. The choice
is between two unbearable options, and it's essentially a
no-win situation.
• X is centered on a scene in Auschwitz where X has just
arrived with her ten-year old son and her seven-year old
daughter and a sadistic doctor, presumably Doctor
Mengele, tells her that she can only bring one of her
children; one will be allowed to live while the other is to be
killed.
• As a mother, X adores both of her children and can't make
this agonizing choice... until several soldiers force her and
she hastily gives her daughter to them, sobbing as they
take her little girl away.

24. • X is a form of folk music from Mexico and began as a
regional folk style originally played only with string
instruments.
• X can refer to the music, the group, or just one musician.
• The word X was thought to have derived from the French
word for marriage, dating from the French intervention in
Mexico in the 1860s, related to the music's appearance
at weddings. This was a common explanation on record
jackets and travel brochures. This theory was dis-proven
with the appearance of documents that showed that the
word existed before this invasion.

31. • Rising temperatures could have turned the Nile into a
slow-moving, muddy watercourse--conditions favorable for
the spread of toxic fresh water algae. As the organism
known as Burgundy Blood algae dies, it would have turned
the water red.
• Any blight on the water that killed fish also would have
caused frogs to leave the river and probably die.
• The lack of frogs in the river would have let insect
populations, normally kept in check by the frogs, increase
massively.
• Biting flies in the region would have transmitted livestock
diseases; a sudden increase in their number could have

32. • Volcanic eruption would have resulted in showers of rock
and fire.
• According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization
(FAO), when locusts get hungry, a one-ton horde can eat
the same amount of food in one day as 2,500 humans.
• “Hamsin", a southwest wind charged with sand and dust,
which blows about the spring equinox, would have
produced darkness rivalling that of the worst London fogs.
What set of events are the above theories describing (in
a scientific way) ?

35. • Many reports still call it "folklore" or "superstition" but X is
beginning to be considered a historical and biological fact-Y
blossoms en masse approximately every 48 years. This
particular type of Y grows throughout a large area of
Northeast India (primarily in Mizoram and Manipur States) as
well as regions of Burma (mainly Chin State) and Bangladesh
(Hill Tracts). The blossoming Y produces fruit, then dies off.
The fruit has a large seed, resembles avocado, and is packed
with protein and other nutrients. The resulting events are
known to cause X.
• X, Y ?

37. • During Mautam, Melocanna baccifera, a species of
bamboo, flowers at one time across a wide area. This
event is followed by a plague of black rats in what is
called a rat flood. This occurs as the rats multiply in
response to the temporary windfall of seeds and leave the
forests to forage on stored grain when the bamboo seeds
are exhausted, which in turn causes devastating famine.
Famines thus caused have played a significant part in
shaping the region's political history. The most recent
spate of flowering, on the bamboo species' genetically-
linked timetable, began in May 2006, and the state
government and the Indian Army attempted to prevent a
famine, in vain.

38. • The above photo shows a fashion show hosted by the
Italian designer FENDI. What is of interest is the choice
of venue for hosting this event.
• Karl Lagerfeld, whose designs were showcased,
commented, “After this, where can you go?”.
• Where did this fashion show take place?