The prelims of the India quiz I conducted at Christ University.

1. Presents
India Quiz
By Sathvik Ashok

2. Each team can have no more than three people.
30 Questions, written prelims.
Please attempt all questions.There is no negative
marking.
Please do not Google.This is a quiz.
Please switch off your cell phones/put them on
silent mode.
Good luck!

3. X India is the Indian subsidiary of X
Corporation. OriginallyYX, the business was
derived from a joint venture formed between
Dr Bhupendra KumarY throughY Corp (now
Spice Group) and X in September 1983.
YX is a very common phrase one would find
on Indian footpaths or on shop boards (at
least in the late 90’s and early 2000’s).
YX ?

5. Neha Kapur (born 1984) is an Indian who
won Femina Miss India in 2006 and represented
India at the Miss Universe pageant that year.
She represented India at the Miss Universe 2006
pageant held on July 23 in Los Angeles,
California, United States and reached the top 20.
However us geeks who don’t closely follow the
pageants know her for another reason. Give
funda. (Pic next slide)

8. The Retreat Building was built in 1850 and it was a
part of theViceroy of India property. Located on the
hill top of the Mashobra, the building was taken over
during 1895 by theViceroy.
It is located 10 km away from Shimla and is a
thousand feet higher than the Shimla RidgeTop.
The architecture and the picturesque surrounding of
the place make it a major tourist attraction inShimla.
The outstanding feature of this building is that it is
purely a wooden structure with dajji wall construction.
This building is the official residence of whom ?

9. The President of India

10. Her recent rise to
stardom has
nothing to do with
those good looks or
her celebrity
boyfriend.
Who ?What did she
achieve of late ?

11. Dipika Pallikal
Won a gold medal at the Commenwealth
Games.

12. "Darshan –The Embrace" a film on the life of X, was
officially selected for showcasing at the
2005 Cannes Film Festival.
Jan Kounen, an award winning filmmaker who was
born in Netherlands and is based in France, directed
the film. Manuel De La Roche of France, is the
producer.
The crew began shooting the footage for the film in
2003 during the fiftieth birthday of X.

13. MataAmritanandamayi

14. She is the author of over
100 books and sold more
than 3 million copies.
A Padma Shri
Awardee, she was also
awarded Women of the
Year by Indian Merchants'
Chamber in 2005.
Which famous author ?

15. Tarla Dalal

16. Set up in 1844, X is currently India’s oldest surviving
bookshop.
"Among the many elusive and indescribable charms of life
in Madras City is the existence of my favorite bookshop,
X on Mount Road. Altogether a delightful place for the
casual browser and a serious book lover," said Lord
Trevelyan, Governor of Madras, to Lord Macaulay in
1859.
X was appointed as the "Official booksellers to His Royal
Highness, the Prince ofWales" during the latter’s visit to
India in 1875. It is now a part of the Amalgamations
Group, and consists of a chain of 22 outlets spread
across South India.

18. A BlackBerryTorch
A SamsungTab
A box of chocolates from the Grand Hyatt
A box of Lindt Swiss thins
A box of mini cupcakes
Vicenzi's Mini Snack puff pastry rolls filled with hazelnut cream
A maroon ______________ mug
Gourmet ground coffee
A small bottle of Nescafe Classic
Bailey's Irish Cream
A scented candle
A small bottle of Leonidas chocolate spread
A bottle of Burberry Sport for women
These items are collectively found inside the _____________ .

19. Koffee with Karan Gift Hamper

22. For someone like H D Deve Gowda or
S.Bangarappa or S.M.Krishna, it would be
Chamarajnagar.
For someone like Kiran Reddy orYSR Reddy, it
would be Guntakal.
For someone like AkhileshYadav or Mulayam
SinghYadav, it is Noida.
For someone like Jayalalithaa or K.Karunanidhi,
it would be a part of the Thanjavur
BrihadeeswaraTemple.
What?

23. Inauspicious locations
These politicians consider it unlucky to visit
these places before an election.

24. The only recognised ( by the constitution ) flag of an Indian
state. Which one ?

25. Jammu and Kashmir

26. Only two people to have a certain privilege in
India.
X --- > Because of the relationship between
India andTibet
Y --- > On the recommendation of the ministry
as a special case as he is married to a SPG
protectee, in consultation with central security
agencies.
Who are X andY and What privilege is accorded
to them ?

27. X – Dalai Lama
Y – RobertVadra

28. Govinda’s is a chain of pure vegetarian
restaurants, found in different cities around
the world, offering a variety of cuisines such
as Indian, Italian, Mexican, Chinese andThai.
Which international owns this restaurant
chain??

30. The coding scheme ( in pic ) is used by which
organisation ?

31. Dabbawallas

32. Sociologist M.N. Srinivas’ [born in Mysore in 1916] did his Ph.D.
at Oxford, for his thesis did his fieldwork in a peasant village not
far from Mysore, which he named “Rampura”.
In a long essay he wrote for a seminar organised by the
University of Chicago. “The Social System of a MysoreVillage”:
The word “party” has become a Kannada word. Every
administrator and politician speaks of “party politics” in villages,
and even villagers are often heard saying, “There is too much
‘party’ in such and such a village”.The coming of elections gives
fresh opportunities for the crystallization of parties around
patrons. Each patron may be said to have a “____________”
which he can place at the disposal of a provincial or national
party for a consideration which is not mentioned but implied.The
secret ballot helps to preserve the marginal affiliation of the
marginal clients.”

33. Vote Bank

34. Identify this “famous” singer.

35. Vennu Mallesh

36. “I'm a chilled out dude.When I was younger I did
some pretty wild things with the limited options I
had. I had some crazy friends, girlfriends too.We
had our share of parties and drunken escapades as
well. Once when in college I ran out of money and
had to sleep at a bus stop. It was fun as all of us on
Delhi's Hindu College campus, were happy children
of the Beatles' generation. Now, I spend my
evenings with the children, watch movies, go for
holidays and have a few drinks on the side.”

37. Alok Nath

38. He was the first person from his state to stake
claim to an achievement.
Who is he andWhat did he achieve ?

39. Parvez Rasool
Is the first cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir to
represent India.

40. This is a 2005 book of fiction.The book has 13
chapters. Each chapters name is prefixed with a
number, which are:
• 1000
• 2000
• 5000
• 10000
• 50000
• 100000
• 200000
• 500000
• 1000000
• 10000000
• 100000000
• 1000000000
Which book?

42. When the name was changed in 1996, Outlook
Magazine called it “The biggest sex change
in the History of Modern India”.
What am I talking about?

43. Change of name fromVictoriaTerminus to Chhatrapati Shivaji
Terminus

44. The ________ Express is a category of long
distance trains run by the Indian Railways.The
special feature of these trains is that they run
non-stop from source to destination, barring
technical halts.
All ________ Express trains can be easily
recognized by the characteristic yellow-green
livery of their passenger coaches.The _________
Express trains are projected to be the fastest
trains between the particular pair of cities they
serve. ( pic on the next slide )

46. Duronto Express

49. "We have the math, finance and data skills that
are extremely important for this trade”, says
Rohit _______.
As a sub-sect of the Aggarwal community, the
_______ are known for running a tight ship when
it comes to business and entrepreneurship.
The five ______ with their four companies that
have set up shop within the last seven years
control about 85% of this industry in India.

51. Catering to the nation, this is the logo of
which corporation ?

53. The only time that the Ashok Chakra, the
peacetime equivalent of the ParamVir Chakra,
has been awarded to foreigners was on April
11th, 1984 when Yuri Malyshev and Gennady
Strekalov were honoured.
Who was the third award presented to, along
with them?

54. Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma

55. When asked why she had returned her _____ ,
this octogenarian replied,
" I’m not the first one to do this! Besides, we have
seen how things get stolen or misplaced in India.
Over the past years, famous paintings have been
stolen that have never been retrieved. Even
RabindranathTagore’s Nobel medal wasn’t
spared. Not many people can claim to have held
______ in their hands and I want that feeling to
stay alive."

56. Bhanu Atthaiya

57. In 2003, this Bangalore resident and writer of
such books as "TheWorld of Homosexuals" and
mystery stories such as "Perfect Murder" caused
a ruckus by claiming some doctors had admitted
her to hospital to steal her brain.
Who?

58. Shakuntala Devi

59. They can originate from only one place in India. In
April 2004, to mark a 400th anniversary, about 150 of
them made the journey from this place to Canada, to
be distributed to various organizations across the
country.
They were carried on the head on a four-km journey
to the airport, and each one was provided with its own
linen-draped seat and pillow on the airplane.
Something similar happened in 2011, this time about
450 of them making the journey to Italy.
What are we talking about? Why separate seats on
the plane for each one?

60. Guru Granth Sahib
Every book is treated as an individual, and
hence the seats.

62. Beaches in Gokarna

63. “In the beginning, in 1975, just how big a star he was,
today’s generation does not know. He was an even bigger
star in 1975 than he is now. I had just entered the cinema
industry then. For those (my early hits) films, if he had said,
‘Don’t cast him,’ nobody would have taken me. I got Ilamai
Oonjal Aadukirathu solely on his recommendation.
So I acted in all these films and then, after I became a big
actor, one day he called me and said -Only if you act alone
will you get your own space. If you say no, the cinema
world will use us, and you won’t be able to grow. After that
I worked on my own.”
Who (A) about whom (B) ?

64. A – Kamal Hassan
B- Rajnikanth