College level Quiz at IIFT Delhi on February 20, 2022

1. Cognoscentia ‘22
Prelims Answers
Conducted and researched by:
Rithwik Rao Harekal

2. 1
Some days in a particular month’s second half in the first quarter of every year
sees a reduction in the number of departures and arrivals at the Indira Gandhi
International Airport, irrespective of the weather.
The time window of this happening varies between 2 to 6 hours on each day.
Departures and arrivals of scheduled flights are restricted and a complete ban on
departures and arrivals of unscheduled and chartered flights is implemented
during these days.
What causes this inactivity of flights at the IGI Airport on these days annually?

3. Air show rehearsals for the Republic Day parade

4. 2
Several hotels throughout Iceland have a
unique button on their in-room telephones
along with other common buttons.
This unique button is put in place to set up a
wake up alarm call for the hotel guests. The
wake up call could come up in the middle of
the night at no specific time and is only
activated seasonally.
What is the wake up call button in the
Icelandic hotels for?

5. To not miss seeing Aurora Borealis/Northern Lights

6. 3
Species which are thought to be extinct for a long period but reappear back to
existence are referred to as the X species in conservation biology.
The species are named after X, the subject of a religious story who also lends his
name to the Arabic name of a Middle Eastern city named __-Azariya.
ID X.

7. Lazarus

8. 4
Face Lace is a facial makeup design brand whose products have been used
frequently by London Fashion Week models since 2012.
Early this month, the brand released some products in collaboration with an
individual whose own creations of joy had been making the rounds in summer of
2019 which also saw a bigger rise of popularity in recent times due to the use of
her creations somewhere.
Where else have we famously seen this individual’s creations?

9. 4

10. Euphoria

11. 5
This is an excerpt from Sunny Days, Sunil Gavaskar’s autobiography, which talks
about a particular Test match between India and West Indies in 1975.
“Gaekwad again batted very stubbornly for 42 runs and Brijesh Patel scored a
sparkling 73 not out. Apart from Holder’s bowling, the only thing of interest was a
girl running up to Brijesh and, in spite of his best efforts to avoid her, planting a
kiss on his cheek. Brijesh had a very interesting story to tell after that, but I won’t
mention it here because I do not want him to deny him the pleasure of recounting
his story if he ever writes an autobiography.”
What from the 90s was supposedly inspired by this, which has been in the news
for the past six months due to a swapped reprise of it?

12. Cadbury Dairy Milk “Kuch Khaas Hai” ad

13. 6
In the mid 2010s, this 10 storey high mural of
Nelson Mandela was painted on a building in
Johannesburg for the 25th anniversary of the
Purple Rain protest, a famous anti-apartheid
protest in the history of South Africa.
The mural was painted by an American artist
who made waves around the world six years
previously for another influential artwork of
anticipation.
What was this artwork of his?

14. Barack Obama “Hope” poster

15. 7
Among the collections of the national library of France in Paris is a locally
discovered notebook which is about 120 years old. This notebook is placed inside
a heavy metal container and is situated at an isolated corner of the library.
Who did this notebook belong to?

16. Marie Curie

17. 8
In 2003, a Canadian 12th grade student named Michael Rowe created a website
for his part-time web design business. As a joke, he created a 12-letter domain
name for his website’s URL which was the result of him adding some letters to the
end of his name.
This resulted in him to give up his website a few weeks later with an initial offer
of 10$ by a certain multinational company. Rowe was not happy with this and
ultimately went on to settle for a huge undisclosed sum of money, a new website
and some XBox games.
What was the domain name of his original website?
Note: If www.google.com is the URL, only the part ‘google’ is the domain name

18. mikerowesoft

19. 9
This bookstore in the Portuguese city of Porto was built in the late 19th century
and had its interiors built in the Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles of architecture.
In the early 1990s, the bookstore had a regular customer X who was an “English as
a foreign language” teacher in the city at the time. Captivated by the beauty of the
interiors, X decided to use their own descriptions of some of the bookstore’s
charming features in whatever they were working on at the time. X’s work turned
out to become very popular towards the end of the same decade and the use of
the bookstore’s descriptions were transformed into something legendary as a
consequence of this.
What came about in whatever X was working on because of the use of this
bookstore’s descriptions?

20. 9

21. 9

22. Interiors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

23. 10
In July 2017, Roger Federer won the Wimbledon men’s singles title despite the
odds of many tennis fans claiming that age was catching up on him.
As a result of this, the Bangalore edition of Deccan Chronicle came up with an
article which had interview snippets with die-hard fans. The fans claimed he was
still the best ever in the sport with an extra edge when it comes to one particular
mode of the sport. It was thus titled “Fedex, a _____ loving ____” which was also
a nice double fit because it referred to a common consumption choice by a ____.
FITB, to complete the clever title of this Deccan Chronicle article.

24. Fedex, a grass loving GOAT

25. One pointers - Star marked

26. 11*
A particular thermoplastic polymer has been used for one application since the
1960s.
One reason why it is used here is because of its extremely high mechanical
properties compared to other plastics. High rigidity, high impact resistance and
less warping to make sure the dimensions are intact (so that the fragments don’t
mismatch) are some of these properties. Another reason is its resistance to
colour fading which is important in terms of aesthetics. However, there have been
concerns of it being a carcinogen and the fact that it being swallowed by children
could make it even worse if its carcinogenic nature is proven.
What has been its common application since the 1960s?

27. Making Lego bricks

28. 12*
In the 1940s, marriages of young Second World War veterans belonging to one
specific regiment and their fiancees, picked up this trend of long bridal wedding
gowns being made from certain sources they used during the war.
The trend sustained among the veterans and their fiancees not only because the
usual material to make wedding gowns was too expensive at the time but also
because the sources were retained by grooms as war souvenirs and were vital in
saving their lives during the war. This signified a grateful gesture to these sources
without which the marriages would not have happened in the first place. Some
wedding gowns made of these sources even had bullet holes.
What were the sources of making such wedding gowns in the 1940s?

29. 12*

30. Parachutes

31. 13*
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama TV show which centers around a
school show choir.
In one of the show’s episodes, the choir is looking for a new lead singer. The
director of the choir then turns to April Rhodes, a former member of the choir
during his school days, who joins on a trial basis and on the condition that she quits
alcoholism. However, she breaks her promise in her first gig which eventually
results in her not getting selected permanently for the choir.
What was the episode’s name, which was a foreshadowing of Rhodes’ final situation
in the episode and was a pun on a famous 20th century poem’s name?

32. The Rhodes Not Taken

33. 14*
This software engineer has been a familiar face for the last 16 years and is known
to be the co-creator of a certain ubiquitous product but has not been its owner.
Since 2013, he has publicly criticized three moves made by the concerned
company with respect to major changes to the creation which even includes a
recent one that majority of the people across the world did not like. To criticize
such moves publicly in a written form, he cleverly has been updating (and not just
posting) his criticisms somewhere in his own creation which features himself and
has been a mammoth influence on the world of tech.
Where in his own creation has he been publicly criticizing the changes?

34. 14*

35. Description of “Me at the Zoo” YouTube video

36. 15*
The following paragraph are some details of a 21st century novel by an
Indian-British author which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
The story is set in 2003 in an Indian town with the protagonist being a late
teenager who has a spinal problem leading him to walk on four legs. Characters in
the story say that the reason for this condition (that he got just after birth) of his
is same as that of the toils of the town’s residents which include the death of his
parents and the loss of lung capacity of his love interest’s father who used to be a
singer. The story also progresses with entry of some foreigners who are shown
feelings of hostility by the natives of the town.
What is said to be the cause of the protagonist’s condition and the town’s toils?

37. Bhopal Gas Tragedy

38. 16*
The US state of Ohio is home to a state park that spans across an area of around
600 acres which was in its early days the private property of a Pulitzer Prize
winning author.
Since sometime in the final decade of last century, the arguably most famous
attraction in the park has been an oak tree at its public entrance whose location
was mostly mistaken to be somewhere in the state of Maine. The piece of land
surrounding the oak tree used to be a famous venue for weddings. The tree was
brought down in 2017 after it was severely damaged by strong wind and attracted
global attention where many offered condolences to the tree on social media.
What was the claim to fame of this tree?

39. 16*

40. 16*

41. Shawshank Redemption

42. 17*
This common phrase has its origins from film studio parlance during production
for silent comedy films in the 1920s.
Inexperienced screenwriters and directors were padding silent comedy films
with unnecessary scenes which were just preceding certain climax scenes in the
films. The studio executives were not impressed by this since they thought such
scenes would bore the audience and would use this phrase to make them delete
such padded scenes and directly move on to the aforementioned climax scenes.
In today's world, this phrase is used commonly to convey that someone must
provide only the relevant or precise details for any topic of a conversation.
What's the good phrase?

43. Cut to the chase

44. 18*
Several sportsmen chose to not participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics this
month, due to their concerns with COVID or regarding disputes with China such
as our Indian contingent.
However, one fan-favourite who has a history of representing his country (which
occupies an area less than 1000 sq km) for both Summer and Winter Olympics,
announced a day before the opening ceremony that he would not participate
though he would have loved to. Although, COVID was a factor, the major reason
behind his decision was because he wanted to stay back to help his countrymen
recover from something that also found a place in the news globally.
What did he want to help his countrymen to recover from?

45. 18*

46. Tonga volcano eruption/ tsunami

47. 19*
A certain municipality is located 20 kms from a famous European coastal city
located on the eastern coast of its country, The municipality is known to house
affluent people of the city and was also the host to a Summer Olympic event
sometime in the second half of the 20th century.
The municipality is a no-fly zone for environmental reasons which is one the
reasons why many affluent people have their houses here for privacy. However,
for the past one and a half decades or so, the reason for it being a no-fly zone had
been mistakenly attributed to someone’s need for privacy from attention who
famously resided here until six months ago, when he vacated his house.
Who?

48. Lionel Messi

49. 20*
This art form is a GI tagged craft from northwest of India that involves sculpting
statues out of a special type of terracotta (the baked mud clay usually used to
make plant pots) and painting these statues.
The terracotta is known for its distinctive shade of colour and is sourced from a
place X just a few kilometres south of the GI tagged location.
ID X, the place that sources the terracotta for this artform, which was famously
the venue of a certain historic event.

50. 20*

51. Haldighati

52. Two pointers

53. 1
This particular museum can only be visited after military permission is granted.
The theme of the museum is an area that has had various proposals of making it a
national park for over 50 years with the museum being close to the same area.
Although most of the exhibits in the museum are local, one of the few foreign
ones is an artwork which makes use of something that was donated to the
museum by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. Considering what the artwork was
created out of, it was symbolically apt to place it in this museum.
Which area is the theme of the museum? What was used to create the mentioned
artwork?

54. 21

55. Korean Demilitarized Zone
Fragments of the Berlin Wall

56. 22
Introduced to Indian masses by an executive and an artist in the mid 1940s, he
was an epitome of independent India’s desire to reach great heights.
He was described him to be a Jack of all trades by being capable of entertaining
the Queen of England, being a sumo wrestler, a vendor of naughty postcards or
even a cricketer batting in Australia among many other talents. In 2018, a certain
Union minister of State mentioned that his original elite status was being brought
back after being a beggar for long. This was a reference to the proposal of a move
which finally came to complete execution this year.
Who is being talked about? What was the move that described it as him being
converted back to an elite member after being a beggar for so long?

57. Maharajah of Air India
Tata Group rebuying Air India

58. 23
The occurrence of two different actors winning Oscars for portraying the same
role has happened only twice in the history of the awards.
This happened for the first time sometime in the second half of the 20th century
when two different actors played the role of X in subsequent films of a famous
franchise with the movies being released 2 years apart. This happened for the
second time in the 21st century with the actors winning it for the role Y 11 years
apart, one of which was posthumously awarded.
ID the extremely iconic male characters X and Y.

59. Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro)
Joker (Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix)

60. 24
During the festival of Raksha Bandhan, a particular trend is followed by many
people throughout the country. This usually involves making humongous
self-made rakhis which are much more lengthier than the usual ones.
However, contrary to tradition, the “sisters” make a vow to protect their
“brothers” instead in these cases. The trend was supposedly kick started towards
the end of last century by a group of women. These women had been in the news
nationwide for kick starting a similar trend of sorts two decades prior from when
they kick started the rakhi trend and were subsequently embraced by Indians.
What Raksha Bandhan trend am I talking about? Who were the supposed
kickstarters of this trend?

61. Tying rakhis to trees
Women of the Chipko movement

62. 25
The Bastille Day Parade in 2017 had Donald Trump as the chief guest. It caught
the eyes and ears of the world because of a certain military band performance.
The whole performance contained two tributes. The start of the performance was
a tribute to a pleasant French city that faced a tragedy on the previous year’s
Bastille Day. However, the unconventional second tribute is its global claim to
fame. This 3-minute tribute was dedicated to a “couple” who “broke up” almost
one year ago.
Which city was paid tribute to in the early part of the performance? The rest of
the performance was dedicated to which “couple”?

63. 25

64. 25
Video removed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhQkku7jLfo

65. Nice
Daft Punk