2016 KQA Jan Open Finals

2016 January Open
Finals
Research By
Venkatesh S
Vivek Karthikeyan

Clockwise
 18 questions on Infinite Bounce
 +10 on direct or pass
 No negatives, part points as applicable
 Infinite Pounce
 +10/-10
 No part pounces

2016 Jan Open
The 1852 play whose
poster you see inspired
an 1853 work by an
Italian composer.
Identify the title of the
1853 work and tell us
how it connects to the
Asterix comic.
1.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
La Traviata
The Verdi opera is based on the play;
the original French title of the book was Asterix e Latraviata

2016 Jan Open
Some practitioners/experts attribute the reason for this functional
failure in India to a design decision the British took while building the
Chamber of Princes. According to them, the design signifies and
symbolises infinity and death/the afterlife, which has manifested in
the ineffectiveness of the occupants. A different design would have
helped boost productivity and been more practical.
Who are these ‘experts’? What are they talking about?
2.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Vastu experts believe that the round shape of the Indian Parliament
building contributes to its inefficiency!

2016 Jan Open
This common phrase has a medical origin. In Housekeeping in Old Virginia,
an 1879 book of recipes and housekeeping tips, there is a section on home
medicines and remedies for when doctors were inaccessible but things like
laudanum were easy enough to find. In this context, “____ _____” were a
remedy for something associated with high fevers.
How this phrase entered common slang is unclear, but the first word is
probably a derivative of “cool”, in the sense of anything from relaxed to
fashionable to great. The phrase is commonly used when someone is
asking you to not to get too worked up over things (like answering this
question, for e.g.).
What phrase is this?
3.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Take a Chill Pill

2016 Jan Open
This Geneva-based travel guild was founded in 1994 by CuChullaine O’Reilly, a
trekker who has made epic journeys across Pakistan and Afghanistan. Membership
is by invitation only and extended to people who have completed a 1,000 mile or
longer trek, adhering to guidelines set forth by the guild. These include stipulations
that the ‘vehicle’ must be given greater priority over the traveller’s welfare. Trips
are usually very long and last for many hours each day; some people use one
‘vehicle’, while others sell and trade along the way.
A typical traveller’s kit includes lightweight camping gear, food, a spartan wardrobe,
maps and a compass, a portable electric fence, a satellite beacon that can summon
help in emergencies, and books.
What is the admission criteria to this guild, or what is it all about?
4.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Long Riders Guild / 1000+ km trek on horseback /
Equestrian Exploration

2016 Jan Open
The first book in this series, The Twentieth Wife deals with the life and
times of Mehrunissa, the twentieth and last wife of Emperor Jahangir.
She truly comes to power and rules supreme in the second book,
The Feast of Roses. Mehrunnisa’s niece marries one of Jahangir’s sons,
Prince Khurram, who becomes Emperor Shah Jahan after his father’s
death. It is Mehrunnisa’s grand-niece, Princess Jahanara who takes
center stage in the third novel of the trilogy, Shadow Princess.
What is the collective name of the trilogy? Who is the author?
5.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
The Taj Mahal Trilogy
Indu Sundaresan

2016 Jan Open
Leominster, Massachusetts, a town of some 40,000 people, was once the hub of a
hugely practical industry: ____. From the time Obidiah Hills founded his first
business there in 1774, Leominster was a hub for this essential item of personal
hygiene. A Leominster ___, hand-carved out of animal horn and hooves, was the
only chance many people had to look halfway presentable.
As the horns became increasingly difficult to procure, an alternate material came
about due to the efforts of Isaiah and John Hyatt, who created a substitute for a
more expensive substance, used in a sporting craze in the US at that time.
What is Leominster famous for? What did Isaiah and John create, for which
specific use?
6.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Combs
Celluloid/Plastic as an alternate to ivory billiards balls

2016 Jan Open
Continuing from the previous question, Leominster’s comb businesses
picked up rapidly till it was brought to a grinding halt, since people started
adoring and following silent era star Irene Castle, who popularised many
trends. How did she adversely impact the business?
However, the infusion of plastic led to the development of the injection
moulding technology and Leominster soon became known as the “Pioneer
Plastics City”. Many prominent companies started here, the most famous
of which started in 1938; the company is best known for its unique selling
technique – conceived and executed by Brownie Wise. Which company?
7.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Her “Castle Bob” cut hairstyle cut down the need for elaborate combs
Tupperware

2016 Jan Open
Native to South America, Columbus was apparently the first European to
see this at a Caribbean village. Villagers who were welcoming of strangers
hung this outside their houses. It thus became a symbol of hospitality, and
when it reached the US, colonial houses and plantations started
showcasing the image as part of entrance architecture.
In Europe, it became a symbol of prestige, since meagre supplies meant
that only the rich could afford them. During the Napoleonic Era, political
cartoonists used this to represent extravagance. In the 1600s, the Christian
church adopted the symbol, as architect Christopher Wren began fitting
them on church finials.
What is this, claimed as a “universal symbol for hospitality”?
8.

2016 Jan Open
There is a new exhibition starting at a museum in Mitaka, Japan. A giant Clock
Tower designed by the director of the museum forms the centrepiece of this
exhibition, based on a novel called, Yureito (The Haunted Tower), which the director
had used as the basis of his 1979 film, Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro.
After ascending the spiral staircase inside the Tower, children will enter a maze
evoking a subterranean labyrinth full of hidden jewels. After the maze, visitors may
view a diorama introducing the structure of the setting of the film.
Which mystery writer, with a pseudonym in tribute to a great American mystery
writer, wrote the book?
What is the museum called?
9.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Edogawa Rampo
Ghibli Museum

List-it
 Written / open to all teams

2016 Jan Open
There are five armed police forces that come
under the aegis of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Two of them were established after the 1962 war with China.
Name all five.
+3 for a correct answer / -3 for a wrong answer
List-it

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Border Security Force
Central Reserve Police Force
Central Industrial Security Force
Indo-Tibetan Border Police
Sashastra Seema Bal

Clockwise contd…
 Infinite Pounce
 +10/-10
 No part pounces

2016 Jan Open
Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting is the title of a
satirical essay by Jonathan Swift. It contains the quotation "When a
true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that
the ____ are all in __________ against him."
Which work that was published in 1980 takes its title from the same?
The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981. What was special about the
win, an achievement only shared by A Death in the Family by James
Agee in 1958, and The Reivers by William Faulkner in 1963?
10.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
A Confederacy of Dunces
Posthumous Pulitzer Prize

2016 Jan Open
The BBC recently published a list of the best novels of the 21st century. Coming in at
ninth place, one of these novels (published in 2001) has also been made into a film
(in 2007), going on to win the Academy Award for Best Original score—the film was
also nominated in six other categories.
The book opens on a summer day in 1935, when 13-year-old Briony shows her
mother a play she’s written. That evening, Briony witnesses her 15-year-old cousin
Lola being assaulted in the darkened woods. Her testimony implicates Robbie, her
sister Cecilia’s boyfriend from Cambridge, and he is jailed.
In a second section, the author gives a panoramic account of the harrowing
evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940, with Robbie among those saved. Realising she has
ruined Cecilia and Robbie’s lives, Briony works as a nurse during the Blitz in a third
section. The book follows these characters over six decades. Name the book/film
and the author.
11.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Atonement by Ian McEwan

2016 Jan Open
This is a picture of the Da Shuhua or the Festival of Lights, an annual
tradition dreamt up approximately 300 years ago by an occupational group
who wanted to participate in the annual Chinese New Year festivities but
couldn't afford the luxury of traditional fireworks displays. In the village of
Nuanquan, located in the Hebei province, these people tossed cup-fulls of
something they use, against the city gate.
The result was a spectacular shower of blooms resembling giant glowing
flowers from which the festival (translating to mean "tree flower") took its
name. Though the tradition continues to this day, it is dying out, with very
few performers left.
Who are these people and what causes this effect?
12.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Blacksmiths throwing molten iron/metal

2016 Jan Open
Found mainly in Malaysia, this is the Nepenthes rajah, also known as the-
king-of-the-______ _______. It is a large, carnivorous plant that contains a
lot of water and digestive fluids and eats mainly insects and ants, though
some small mammals also fall prey.
In a unique case of evolution and symbiosis, these plants get their nitrogen
content from shrews. Shrews want to mark their territory, and the shape
and size of the plants forces the shrews to do something, which in turn is
highly beneficial and provides nitrogen to the plant.
What is the common name of the plant? (3 points)
What does the shrew do? (7 points)
13.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Pitcher Plant
The shrews defecate directly into the plants’s cups, providing
them with valuable nitrogen

2016 Jan Open
Two years before he conducted his high flying experiment, this person, influenced by
Dr Archibald Spencer (who introduced him to the concept) and after trying out various
tricks and stunts, decided to throw a special party. The party would take place on the
banks of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill river. Cocktail hour would feature flaming shots, sparked
by a current that was passed through the river from a battery on the other side.
For dinner, “a Turky is to be killed... by the Electrical Shock; and roasted by the electrical
Jack, before a Fire kindled by the Electrified Bottle.” (sic) Next up was a toast to “the
Healths of all the Famous Electricians in England, France and Germany,” drunk “under the
Discharge of Guns from the Electrical Battery,” and out of “Electrified Bumpers”—special
glasses he designed that shocked would-be imbibers on contact.
Whether the party happened or not is unclear, but there is a record of him trying these
stunts out at some point.
Who and what did he do two years later?
14.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Benjamin Franklin
Kite Lightning Electricity experiment

2016 Jan Open
Identify the painting and the
painter.
It topped a list recently—what is
common to the Top 5 entries on
the list?
Which painting was #5 on the list?
15.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Birth by FN Souza
The top 5 most expensive Indian paintings
have all been sold at Christie’s auctions
The same painting had sold for $2.5 mn ranking it in 5th place

2016 Jan Open
What achievement in ODI cricket connects the following players?
Anil Kumble
Ajinkya Rahane
Gautam Gambhir
Harmanpreet Kaur
Who is the only player with a similar achievement for India in Test
cricket?
16.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
100% win record as captain
Ravi Shastri

2016 Jan Open
When introduced in Britain in the early-and mid-1800s, this wasn’t just a child’s
toy. In fact, there was a major craze for this, with adults holding it and constantly
using it while walking on the roads, oblivious to their surroundings (a la phones of
today). They were made from a range of materials like brass with embellishments
of wood or leather; some cheap ones were made of tin. Ribbons, glass pieces and
other small trinkets were involved too.
While the primary intended utility of the object was scientific, it also had aesthetic
value and found use in industries like paper, carpets, and fabric design. Over a
period of time, from being a “mobile” device, it was sold with a stand and became
“domesticated” and evolved more into a (cheap) children’s toy.
Which invention by a Copley medal winning scientist, who came up with it after
his research on a particular sub-field of physics?
17.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Kaleidoscope

2016 Jan Open
All members of this class have chromatophores in their skin that allow them to
change colours, generally to camouflage themselves, but we are now learning that
this process may be controlled by a system that could be thought of as a secondary
brain spread throughout the skin.
One of the creatures in particular is possibly the greatest colour-changers in all of
nature with the ability to change not only the colour, but also the texture of their
skin, and all this without controlling the brain. These invertebrates can also control
their most visible attribute (for which they are named), independent of the brain.
The creatures also have remarkable gene and RNA editing attributes – they can
change body molecules to adapt to external conditions.
Which class of creatures, with a name meaning “head-feet”, and which specific
order within the same?
18.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Cephalopods
Octopus

William Blake, Taxi Driver
William Blake, Taxi Driver ran in Time Out London from 2007
to 2009. The premise was that the visionary poet had
somehow been reincarnated as a London cabbie
 Written Round of 6 images
 +5 for each ID
 No Negs

2016 Jan Open4
Stalin & Trotsky

2016 Jan Open5
Vivienne Westwood

Anti-clockwise
 Infinite Pounce
 +10/-10
 No part pounces

2016 Jan Open1.
Who does not love a Khoresht that is tasty and is simple to
make? After sautéing the diced onion and minced garlic, adding spices
and the main ingredients, the first level of cooking takes about 20 min.
After a generous addition of a dried oval fruit the cooking takes
another 40 minutes.
The dish combined with the instrument shown reminds us of which
2011 work—name and creator, please?

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi

2016 Jan Open2.
Surrounding the borders of Barcelona’s old city is the Eixample
district, a grid of some 900 similar city blocks planned by the architect
Ildefons Cerda (1815–76). It is rich in public space art and is home to
buildings such as Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia.
Every one of the manzanas or city blocks is designed in a particular
way at the corners, giving the district a very unique feel—an idea that
planners of other cities have also adopted since then.
What did Cerda do, and what was it intended for?

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
All the street corners have a 45 degree chamfer.
Cerda imagined that trams will be the future of transport—the angle
accommodated the turning radius of the trams

2016 Jan Open3.
What is the connect-(hic)-ion?

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Wine bottle shapes
Onion, Corset, Mallet

2016 Jan Open
In January this year he received a gift from Matteo Renzi (If Renzi
knew the guy well he would probably have chosen something else to
give). The guy promised to use it when a major problem he is going
through is solved. Seeing how things are, the gift is likely to remain in
the drawer for a while longer.
At his swearing-in he broke with tradition by refusing to take a
religious oath, saying it was against his atheist principles. He has two
kids, one of whom is named Orpheas Ernesto, after Che.
Who is this, and what was the gift?
4.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Alexis Tsipras
A necktie

2016 Jan Open
Lenny Henry is a stage performer of note. Helped by his scriptwriter
Richard Curtis he has regaled audiences world over for over three
decades. In 1985, Lenny and Richard started a charity in response to a
problem that also had Bob Geldof doing his bit at the same time. Their
organisation has since raised more than £750 million for
disadvantaged people worldwide.
What triggered them to action, and what is the name of their
charity?
5.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
The famine in Ethiopia
Comic Relief

2016 Jan Open
A captained India 14 times during 1951–1953. A was captain when
Trueman on his debut was breathing fire, and India was 0/4. When World
War II put a stop on tours, he along with B must be credited with keeping
the game alive as they drew crowds in domestic matches.
B’s success earned him selection as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1936,
prompting C. B. Fry to exclaim: ‘Let us paint him white and take him with us
to Australia as an opener.’
C captained India in Pakistan in 1954-55. His bowling was almost wholly
responsible for India’s victory over England in 1952.
Name A, B and C (all have domestic tournaments named in their honour).
6.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
A – Vijay Hazare
B – Vijay Merchant
C – Vinoo Mankad

2016 Jan Open
This is a promotional poster for a Scandinavian crime series created by
Hans Rosenfeldt. It started in 2011 and has run for three seasons. The
plot begins with the discovery of the body of a female politician.
Where, exactly, was the body found?
7.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
On the border between Sweden and Denmark, on the Øresund
Bridge which connects Copenhagen and Malmo

2016 Jan Open
While men in other parts
of the country wear ear-
rings, those in Kutch,
Rajasthan and some parts
of Sindh have a tradition
of wearing studs with
diamonds in them, or
large ones like those
shown here. Why this
practice?
8.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
So that if they get lost in the desert or marshland, the reflection
off the studs can alert others and help save them

2016 Jan Open
One can witness this
sight once every year,
on the roads
surrounding
Bannimantap in
Mysore.
What is happening?
9.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
A high-powered magnetic device clearing sharp objects on the
road in Mysuru, before the Dussehra Jambu Savari

Uncle Oscar
 Written / open to all teams

2016 Jan Open
In 2013, illustrator Olly Moss recast the Oscar statuette to reference
every Best Picture winner from the last 85 years.
Identify the five movies shown.
+3 for a correct answer / -3 for a wrong answer
List-it

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
It Happened One Night
On the Waterfront
West Side Story
Deer Hunter
Annie Hall

2016 Jan Open
Chai and tea are essentially the same. Both come from Chinese.
So, how did ‘chai’ become popular in India, and ‘tea’ in Europe?
10.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Chai is from a Mandarin word. It spread from Northern China
through overland routes to Central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula.
Tea comes from Min Nan Chinese, spoken in Fujian, Malaysia
and Indonesia, and spread to Western Europe, including Spain,
France, Germany and Italy through Dutch traders.

2016 Jan Open
Making up lengthy titles with self-praise was a nice royal pastime. It
continued in modern times with Idi Amin and his references to
Scotland.
It is rare to see a royal beating the drum having done something
decent/useful. Fateh Ali Shah, the second Qajar to rule Persia, was an
exception. In 1797, Fateh Ali received a gift. After spending months
over it he extended his royal title to include “Most Formidable Lord
and Master of the ________ ________”.
Fill in the blanks.
11.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Encyclopaedia Britannica

2016 Jan Open
Our well-read friend from Q11 was also a patron of the arts. Much of
his reign was marked by the resurgence of Persian painting.
One of the most fascinating pictures of the man is this one—an
equestrian portrait showing him hunting with twenty-two of his sons.
An Italian painter, Colonnello, took inspiration from this painting and
extended its forest theme with four more hunting scenes.
Why should Indians be aware of this painting?
12.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
It is on ceiling of the Ashoka Hall at Rashtrapati Bhavan

2016 Jan Open
When the painting In Memoriam, by
Joseph Noel Paton, was first unveiled in
1858 at the Royal Academy, it caused a lot
of outrage and he was forced to redo
parts of it.
In Britain, the events surrounding the
painting were looked at as Christian
heroism, and it was not a done thing to
portray some other suggestive and
sensitive stuff.
What did Paton have to change?
13.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
The original painting showed sepoy rebels coming upon the women.
This would suggest that the women would be subject to molestation.
Paton had to change the painting to paint over the natives and depict
Scottish highlanders coming to the aid of the women.

2016 Jan Open
Connect and explain.
14.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Tate Britain is built on the site of what was formerly Millibank
prison, from where convicts were shipped to Australia

2016 Jan Open
If you search online you will find more than a few musical instrument
shops, music magazines and sites with information on a particular
music category, all named ‘Sound Post,’ or talking about ‘soundposts’.
What is a ‘soundpost’ and what are these sites/shops catering to?
15.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
String Instruments
The sound post is a small piece of wood between the top and back plates
of a violin (viola, cello, or string bass), situated under the treble side of the
bridge. It has both structural and tonal importance.

2016 Jan Open
The body of the athlete has perfect proportions, based on a
mathematical system called ‘the canon of Polykleitos’. The pose of the
athlete was a major innovation. Older ones of people at rest look stiff
and lifeless. By slightly bending the left leg and by turning the left foot
a bit to the outside—the so-called ‘contrapposto’-pose—Polykleitos
made the person look very relaxed.
What are we talking about, of which the original bronze is lost, but
several Roman copies are preserved?
16.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Doryphoros
The ‘javelin thrower’ or ‘spear carrier’

2016 Jan Open
Many athletes suffer from allergies which impedes their ability to play
their game effectively. Lleyton Hewitt was known to be allergic to
grass, as did the golfers Jesper Parnevik and Jill McGill.
Some are extreme, like Ugandan steeplechaser Dorcus Inzikuru’s
allergy to “weather”. He once finished a 2005 race in Doha bleeding
profusely from the nose.
The guy we are interested in, has won five Olympic golds, the most by
any Australian. Who and what allergy did he suffer from?
17.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Ian Thorpe
Chlorine

2016 Jan Open
“It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of
the fate of unrequited love.” is the opening line of Marquez’s book.
Based on the line, what do you think has happened?
18.

2016 Jan OpenAnswer
Someone was poisoned with cyanide—it smells like bitter
almonds.

2016 KQA Jan Open Finals

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