Prelims and finals of 'The General Quiz' conducted by me in the recently concluded Guwahati Quiz Fest. This is one half of the quiz, the other half being conducted by Mr Abhra Das.

1. GQF 2: THE GENERAL QUIZ
The following presentation contains my part of
questions from ‘The General Quiz’ at Guwahati
Quiz Festival. It contains ten questions in the
prelims (out of twenty overall) and all the
questions from the final round.
Audio and Video Clips have been removed.
Please feel free to leave your feedback at
vinaydr@gmail.com or in my facebook inbox.

2. DISCLAIMER
All questions used here have been plagiarized
mostly from Wikipedia and other portals, as
well as from some books. The information was
cross-checked wherever possible.
No new information, facts or figures were created.
We just took them from various sources and
framed the questions.
Images, audio and video clips used here are
property of respective copyright holders. Not
used for commercial purposes.

3. RESEARCH (Part I of the quiz)
Bhaskar, Pratik and Vinay

4. YOU ARE HERE

5. THE GENERAL QUIZ
PRELIMINARY ROUND
With Abhra Das
& daktar Vinay

6. RULES
• Six teams go to the finals.
• No negative marks.
• In case of a tie, sudden death will be resorted
to.
• Mobiles switched off.
• As is well known, QM is the hero. This time
there are two.

7. 1
Audio clips removed.
Song 1: Tum to thehre pardesi
Song 2: Aasmaan pe hai khuda aur zameen pe hum
(Movie: Phir Subah Hogi)
These songs were the first and the last to be heard
by us. Where? Or put funda.

8. ON PK’S TRANSISTOR

9. 2
What has been obliterated in this camera roll
contact sheet? (Bigger visual next slide)

11. Guerrillero Heroico
(Heroic Guerilla Fighter) by Alberto Korda

12. 3
This is the family crest of a
fictional family known for
their criminal antecedents.
The father and son share the
same name (with the son
being called second of the
name- a name taken from
Greek myth). The family
motto means ‘Gold is power’.
Which family am I talking
about?

13. THE FOWL FAMILY
The anti-hero being Artemis Fowl the II

14. 4
This item of clothing- a part of the national attire
of a country- takes its name from the fabric from
which it is made. The fabric, in turn, derives its
name from the capital of another country where
it is said the traditional weaving and design styles
originated. Interestingly, there is a designer in
India whose surname is same as that of the fabric
(the surname is probably derived from the name
of the clan to which the designer belongs). Give
me the name of the item of clothing.

15. DHAKA TOPI

16. 5
The lesser known ones are Siva Tau which is
native to Samoa, Fiji’s Cibi and Kailao from
Tonga.
Name their more well known counterpart.

17. HAKA FROM NEW ZEALAND
They are all war dances native to the
aforementioned countries.
These dances are also performed by the rugby
teams of these nations prior to every match.

18. 6
This item is manufactured exclusively by the inmates of Buxar
jail, a practice which has been taking place since 1930.
Its manufacture requires 67% relative humidity in open air.
The Buxar jail is located near the Ganga and the ideal
atmospheric condition enables it to produce the perfect
specimens. Its ideal length should be around 1.6 times the
height of a human body.
The jail contains one machine for its manufacture and eight
prisoners use the twist and torque technique to make it for
which they are paid Rs 121 each as their daily wage.
After the manufacturing process is done, ripe banana is applied
to it continuously for two days so as to smoothen it.
What item is this?

19. The manila rope used to hang convicts in India.

20. 7
Just identify this police officer who is better
known for something else.

21. CHEKROVOLU SWURO
Arjuna Awardee

22. 8
Who, in the Indian Armed
Forces, would be wearing
such an epaulette?

23. GENERAL
This being a General quiz

24. 9
Audio clip removed.
The song is ‘Yellow Flicker Beat’. The singer
please.

25. LORDE
ELLA MARIJA LANI
YELICH-O'CONNOR

26. Video Clip removed. Clip from the movie
‘Penguins from Madagascar’.
Who provided the voiceover for the character
of Agent Classified?
10

27. BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

28. FINALS FOLLOW

29. LONG ANSWER CONNECT

30. RULES
• Written round.
• Seven questions. Answers linked by a theme.
• Inexhaustive list. There are many more items in
this list. Theme related to Assam.
• Theme on pounce. Marks decrease with
successive slides. Marks mentioned in the slides.
• Individual answers for 10 points apiece.
• Total 105 points on offer.

31. 1
The right hand is held
upright, and the palm is
facing outwards. It is a
gesture of reassurance
and safety, which dispels
fear and accords divine
protection and bliss to
the devotee. Just name
the mudra that you see
in the adjoining picture.
+35/-30

32. ABHAYA MUDRA

33. 2
Audio Clip removed.
Chupke Chupke raat din aansoo bahana yaad
hai…
The singer is Ghulam Ali of course, the movie
being Nikaah. Who is the music composer?
+30/-25

34. GHULAM ALI himself

35. 3
Just the English name of the painting please.
+25/-20

36. A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La
Grande Jatte

37. 4
Video Clip removed.
Scene from the movie ‘Life is Beautiful’ where Guido is
watching Dora while they both watch a play. The
musical piece playing in the clip was composed by
Jacques Offenbach. Such songs are generally associated
with Venetian boatmen.
You have to identify the musical piece that is playing in the clip.
+20/-15

38. BARCAROLLE
By Jacques Offenbach

39. 5
It has been described as being "a fine, flake-like thing"
like the frost on the ground, arriving with
the dew during the night and which had to be
collected before it was melted by the heat of the sun.
The name is said to derive from the question from
the Aramaic, seemingly meaning "What is it?” What
edible substance is being talked about?
+15/-10

40. MANNA
from heaven
The question being “Man hu?”

41. 6
The most common styles include formal upright,
informal upright, slanting, semi-cascade,
cascade, raft, literati, and group/forest. Less
common forms include windswept, weeping,
split-trunk, and driftwood styles.
Of what art form, are these the styles of?
+10/-5

42. BONSAI

43. 7
With what discovery in the
year 1897 is this
gentleman associated?
+5/-0

44. ELECTRONS
The gentleman being J. J. Thomson

45. THEME- STORIES BY SAURAV KUMAR
CHALIHA
• Abhay
• Golam
• Duporiya (Afternoon)
• Barcarolle
• Manna
• Bonsai
• Ashant Electron

46. MIXED BAG (20 questions)

47. 1
“Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe
how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is. I
mean you may think it’s a long way down the
road to the chemist, but that’s just peanuts
to space. Listen…”
The introduction to which book, published by
Megadodo publications begins thus?

48. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE
GALAXY

49. 2
“My dad came from a literary background and
taught English Literature at Shantiniketan. My
mom who was doing her Bachelor's degree there,
was expecting me then, and was about to give her
exams.” That is how, says X, Tagore gave him his
name. He is a well known actor on Television and
does mostly character roles in movies.
He shares his name with a Hindu mythological
character, who was named so because he was
born in similar conditions.
Just name the actor.

50. PARIKSHIT SAHNI

51. 3
A clip from the movie ‘Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar’ (Video
removed). The film dealt with the plight of migrants
in Mumbai. Following the release of the movie, the
director of the movie was attacked by a mob and
something was done to him. The director
incorporated this event in the biopic of another
person he was to make later. In fact a set of posters
incorporated this incident. Which scene from a 2013
movie are we talking about?

53. 4. Time for some Medical
Lessons!
Normally, it is the Circle of
Willis (in black circle) that
makes news. However, the
vertebral artery (in red
circle) superseded it briefly.
How? Or put funda.
Circle of Willis

54. PHIL HUGHES
He died of Vertebral Artery dissection (tear)- a rare occurrence.
Mostly, aneurysms and haemorrhages occur in the circle of Willis.

55. 5
The Latin word for ‘swiftness’ is supposed to be the
reason for using something to denote something else.
In fact, that something is part of another something
that is now one hundred years old.
A 1959 essay by Isaac Asimov is said to be the first
reference to the Latin word for swiftness being used in
this context, though he didn’t cite any evidence for it.
The Latin word probably also gives the name to a car
manufactured by Maruti Suzuki, and introduced in
February 2014.
Give me the Latin word and tell me what was derived
from it.

56. CELERITAS
c= denoting speed of light
E=mc2

57. 6. Around a million Indians served in World War I, but the
flames of the conflagration touched it directly only once.
This happened when a German warship (X), in 1914, sailed
unnoticed into Madras, turned its 10 four-inch guns on the
port, and opened a furious fusillade. The ship first blew up
the Burmah Oil Company’s petrol tanks along the seafront
and then proceeded to shell Madras for the next 30 minutes,
averaging one shell every 15 seconds. Despite only five
causalties, this attack resulted in public panic, rioting,
looting, an exodus from the city, and the calling out of police
reserves to maintain order. Meanwhile, popular Tamil songs
were composed about the ship’s (X) exploits, and mothers,
for years afterwards, would hush their children with threats
that ‘X’ would come and get them. The ships name has
seeped into various languages, including Tamil, Sinhalese
and Malayalam, denoting shades of meaning from ‘daring’,
and ‘intimidating’ to ‘audacious’ and ‘terrifying’. Also the
name of an RK Narayan short story from Malgudi Days,
name this legendary ship.

58. S.M.S. EMDEN

59. This neighborhood just south of the Northern Ridge in
Delhi is also home to a well known legal establishment
of the same name. It takes its name from the size of an
army of Sikhs under military general Baghel Singh’s
army which encamped here in 1783, prior to attacking
Delhi. Name it.
7

61. 8. The Sri Lankabhimanya is the highest national
honour of Sri Lanka awarded by the President of Sri
Lanka on behalf of the Government. It is the highest civil
honour and is conferred upon "those who have rendered
exceptionally outstanding and most distinguished service
to the nation“
In the 2005 two persons received the award. One was a
diplomat and a former foreign minister, Lakshman
Kadirgamar.
The other recipient of the award, X, who was not originally a
citizen of the country, received the honour for his
“visionary concepts”.
According to a Reuters report, X first came to the island in
the 1950s for diving. He had said he became a resident
after he “fell in love with the place”. Identify X.

62. ARTHUR C CLARKE
In this Associated Press
picture on the right, he
is seen having a word
with Sri Lankan
President Chandrika
Kumaratunga after he
was given the honour.

63. 9
India and Nepal have an open border policy. Thus the
relationships between the two countries start not at
the official, bureaucratic level, but right from the
common man on the ground.
So, with this policy of open borders, rooted in shared
history, geography and culture, daughters are often
married off between both sides while goods and
essential supplies also pass between each other.
This close-knit relationship has been referred to many
times by several political leaders and commentators by
a particular colloquial term. What?

64. Roti-Beti ka Sambandh

65. 10
Bhanubhakta belonged to a wealthy family in Tanahu
district of Nepal. Once he met a ‘ghansi’ (a person who
cuts grass and sells it). On conversing with the ghansi, he
came to know that the poor man aspired to make a well
for travellers from his savings, so that he could leave
behind a legacy. This set Bhanubhakta thinking. “If a poor
grass cutter like this person can think of such things, what
am I, who has all amenities available to me, doing?
Whatever I have is within the four walls of my home.
What legacy shall I leave behind?”
Thus inspired, he went on to do something- a first of its kind
in Nepal for which he was even jailed. What did he do?
We have our equivalent of Bhanubhakta in Assam as well as
other parts of India too.

66. HE WENT ON TO WRITE THE NEPALI RAMAYANA
He was jailed for writing it in the simple Nepali
language rather than the Dev-bhasa (Sanskrit)
The picture above is that of the well made by the
grass cutter.

67. 11
This person from Assam has
created something that has
etched its name in the
Limca Book of Records.
Name the person and his
creation.

68. PRABAL BARUAH

69. 12
This word, commonly used in medical science,
derives from the Latin word meaning
exemption (specially from military services, tax
payments or other public services). In usage
other than medical science, the word is
generally used in conjunction with another
word to give two word terms that qualify the
area/field to which it is associated. One such
two word term was in the center of a major
controversy during the last part of 2013 and
early 2014. Just give me the original word.

70. IMMUNITY FROM IMMUNIS
Referring to the Devyani Khobragade incident-
Diplomatic Immunity

71. 13
Audio removed. Song ‘Motumaster’ from movie
Udaan.
His debut as a lyricist. Just name the lyricist.

72. ANURAG KASHYAP

73. 14
The adjoining picture shows
Charles and Ray Eames. They
were American designers
with major contributions to
modern architecture,
______, industrial and
graphic design, fine art and
film. Quizzers however will
probably remember them for
being the designer of
something which they
aspired for as well as feared.
What contribution of theirs
to the quizzing world am I
talking about?

74. MASTERMIND CHAIR
The chair is an Eames Soft Pad Lounge Chair
designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1969.
Today these chairs are made under licence
by Vitra.

75. 15
H. L. Mencken called it "the only American
invention as perfect as the sonnet" and E. B.
White called it "the elixir of quietude". A
popular theory suggests it evolved from a
cocktail called the ______served sometime in
the early 1860s at the Occidental Hotel in San
Francisco, which people frequented before
taking an evening ferry to the nearby town
of ______. Alternatively, the people of
_______ (The three blanks being same) say
the drink was first created by a bartender in
their town or maybe the drink was named
after the town. Which drink?

76. MARTINI (from Martinez)

77. 16
The origins of X can be traced to 2005 in
the USA where the Monday following the
US thanksgiving was used for a specific
purpose by a ‘certain set of people’. In
India, it started in 2012, and Google
played a big part in it. Now, it has become
bigger, and according to some, better.
What recent ‘phenomenon’ am I talking
about?

78. GREAT ONLINE SHOPPING FESTIVAL

79. 17
“____ ZIG REQUIRES GIG” proclaimed a
poster in a movie shop in England. Thus
resulted a band which first called
themselves ‘The Polka Tulk Blues Band’,
after a brand of talcum powder, then,
‘Earth’ before being named what they are
called now. What famous band am I taking
about?

80. BLACK SABBATH

81. 18
He is an American artist best known for his tattoo work
and his eponymous apparel and accessories brand. He
was a student of Sailor Jerry Collins and, through his
association, was able to study tattooing in Japan in
1973 with the Japanese classical tattoo master
Horihide. He became recognized for
incorporating Japanese tattoo aesthetics and
technique into his American style work. Who am I
talking about?

82. DON ED HARDY

83. 19
According to author Dilip Kumar Dutta, Gorky’s books
on peasants and their struggles (written after he had
worked his way across the length and breadth of
Russia at the age of twelve after receiving a beating
and leaving home) rather than Mark Twain’s books
(which stood for white Americans essentially and
contained nothing about the struggles of African
Americans or the common man), were part of the
inspiration behind the creation of X. Both authors are
referenced in X.
Just give me X.

84. The song “Moi eti jajabor’ by Dr Bhupen Hazarika.
“Mark Twainor homadhit bohi Gorkyr kotha
kolu…”

85. 20
Video removed. Clip from the song
‘Kilimanjaro’ from Robot/Endhiran.
Where was this song picturised?

86. MACHU PICCHU

87. Thanks for viewing
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