Quiz From Under The Blanket (Prelims with answers)

Quiz from Under the Blanket || 10th January, 2021

• No negative marking, take a guess.
• Questions 1-17 are 1-pointers.
• Questions 18-22 are 2-pointers.
• Total of 27 points.
• Hints are italized, final question is in bold.
Rules

• In an attempt to answer a philosophical question with the biological
relevance it deserved, a 2013 paper looked to analyze previous
definitions and come up with a definition on the basis of the
vocabulary used.
• Across all definitions, words and synonyms relating to System,
Matter, Chemical, Complexity, Environment, Reproduction,
Evolution, Energy and Ability constituted the majority.
• What was the question they were trying to answer?
1

What is the meaning of life?
1

• For a 2018 release, the producers of this film tied up an Illinois
based consumer products company whose products you would
find notably used in American college and university games, which
had fans and the media stating it to be a match made in heaven.
• For the promotion, the company also dedicated its website to
the movie, encouraging people to have a “____bration.”
• Which movie? Which company? (0.5 each)
2

Solo
2

Solo Cups
2

• Professor Takao, at Kyoto University, had been worried about the
increasing levels of tiny alumina particles that would float in the
upper atmosphere as a result of the ‘return’ of certain items.
• To combat this issue, the University in association with a company
has come up with variations of these items which would not result
in alumina buildup and would instead disintegrate on their return.
• What first of a kind items are these?
3

Wooden Satellites
3

• According to Colleen Taylor Sen’s Feasts and Fasts: A History of
Food in India, what word may have come from the ritual cooking
pot used in the Vedic kitchen to boil rice?
• It was once used mainly in North Indian cuisine, but today is
popular in almost every Indian cuisine.
4

Thali from Sthali
4

• Leicester Square is a London
underground station that is located
between Theatreland and Chinatown.
• While a seemingly ordinary station, the
interiors of the station pay tribute to its
location by making a certain addition to
the borders of the tiled walls of the
station.
• What did the architects add to the
wall/what is it meant to resemble? In the
image is a general wall from a tube
station.
5

Film sprockets OR
Meant to resemble film reels
5

• This sportsman, with a 90s product promoted and named after
him, has named all his five sons after himself. He says: “If you're
going to get hit as many times as I’ve been hit – you’re not going to
remember many names.”
• Who is this Olympic Gold winner?
6

George Foreman
6

• One of the tasks of the American CDC (Centre for Disease
Prevention & Control) is to issue advisory regarding general
preparedness and general health. To awaken general public
interest in these matters, the CDC a few years ago created a
preparedness guide for a certain event that had been the recipient
of much pop culture attention.
• While the guide contains standard procedures such as the use of
bleach and keeping plenty of water around, it has refrained from
advising the use of weapons and other maverick solutions seen in
the pop culture source.
• What was the advisory about?
7

Zombie Apocalypse
The Walking Dead
7

• The Oxford English Dictionary began including a certain word in its
2001 edition, defining it as a tedious, modestly-paid job with minimal
prospects.
• While there was no explicit naming of any company, the use of a
certain prefix left no doubt as to which company’s employees were
being characterized thus. This caused the said company to take
offence and consider taking legal action against the OED.
• What was the word, and what company? (0.5 each)
8

McJob
McDonald’s
8

• Started by an Australian film critic and journalist, this podcast
explores the stories behind the history of certain artifacts, items
and practices around the world.
• While the stories take you from Kolkata to Nigeria, and from
Australia to China, there is a strong historical connection among all
of these items. The podcast looks to delve into the dark,
unfortunate histories of items such as NZ’s Mokomokai, Pekingese
Dogs and toys of feline species.
• What connects these items? Or, what is the podcast called? (Either
part is ok for 1 point)
9

Quiz from Under the Blanket || 10th January, 2021 9

Artifacts plundered by the British
9

• Named for a village in the Murshidabad district, it started its
existence close to 300 years ago due to the efforts and patronage
of Murshidquali Khan who brought the craft from Dhaka.
• Due to flooding of the Gangetic planes, the set up had to be moved
out of the submerged village to the town of Bishnupur, from where
the industry has grown tremendously after the British rule.
• It takes close to a week to create one of these items.
• What are we talking about, which famously has depictions from the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata?
10

Baluchari Sarees
10

• With the help of Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology
(IHBT), farmers in Himachal Pradesh planted the first seed of an
integral part of Indian cooking. The plant needs cold and dry
conditions, and so the cold desert areas of Ladakh, Himachal and
Arunachal are ideal.
• This marked the first time the cultivation of this item has been
taken up in India, and IHBT has initially identified 300 hectares for
cultivation. In 2019, India imported 15,00,000 kgs of this ingredient
mainly from Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan and spent about $125
million for it.
• What ingredient is being talked about?
11

Hing/Asafoetida
11

• Rising 66 cms off the ground, this 4.55m diameter arena is freshly
prepared before each bout by the announcers of the event.
• The materials used for construction are usually a specific kind of
clay from nearby rivers and the surface is covered with sand. These
are then completed with two white lines in the center, meant to
signify starting positions.
• What is being talked about here?
12

Dohyo
Sumo Wrestling
12

• Roguelike video games are a subgenre of video games that feature a
‘dungeon crawl’ – which means travelling through a series of complex
environments, defeating enemies and avoiding traps as you go along.
• In the 1980s, a University of Oklahoma professor decided to create a
roguelike game whose objective was to kill a monster who dwelled
inside an underground labyrinth. He took the inspiration for both the
monster and the labyrinth from a famous section of a work of
literature and decided to name the game after the labyrinth from the
books.
• What is the name of the game?
• Alternatively, give me the work of literature for 0.5 point.
13

Moria from Mines of Moria
Lord of The Rings
13

• On the right are the lyrics to Ill Wind
(You’re Blowin’ Me No Good) sung by the
famous jazz singer Adelaide Hall.
• When the song debuted at the Cotton Hall
in 1934, the organizers used what is now a
common piece of technology in stage
production to intensify the effects of the
song further. This was the first time this
technology had been used on the stage
and found much appreciation among the
patrons.
• What technology was introduced at the
Cotton Hall?
14

Fog Machines
14

• Translating into ‘four gates’ these four lofty arches were
constructed near this famous monument in the 16th century. Meant
to be a gateway to other royal structures, on the west was Daulat
Khanae Ali, on the East was Naqqar Khana, and the Central area of
the arches was referred to as the Jilau Khana.
• Close to which monument would you find these arches?
15

Char Minar
The arches were called Char Kaman
15

• Malik Ambar was a Siddi military leader in the Deccan
region of India who was sold as a child by his parents, and
was brought to India as a slave.
• He became a popular Prime Minister of the Ahmadnagar
Sultanate, and is also credited with carrying out a revenue
settlement of much of the Deccan, forming the basis for
subsequent settlements.
• A figure of veneration to the Siddis of Gujarat, he regarded
as a pioneer in a tact in India which has seen Chhatrapati
Shivaji use against the Mughals, and Kerala Varma Pazhassi
Raja against the British East India Company.
• What are we talking about?
16

Guerilla Warfare
16

• What is the name of this aptly titled
documentary series, a play on a two word
phrase used to denote precision, with a
slight modification to incorporate an item
integral to the subject of the series?
17

On Pointe
17

• A little over 5 decades ago, an outbreak of a variant of conjunctivitis was
reported in Ghana, and was given a certain moniker due to the timing
coinciding with another landmark event over 8000 kms away.
• A few years later, there was another outbreak of the same in Nigeria,
launching rumours blaming the earlier event for kicking up the dust that
was causing the condition, while in fact the dust was from summer winds
from the Sahara desert.
• What was the event after which this condition is named? (1 point)
• It spread through India too, and a got a name originating from a slogan
from a couple of years later, used in a certain state and its neighbouring
country, because it was thought to have been transmitted by the refugees
of that country. The disease continues to be called that in that language
• What name? (1 point)
18

Apollo Conjuctivitis
Joy Bangla
18

• Mercurius was a priest who lived in the 6th century, and when he
was elevated to a post 2 years before his death, he made a personal
change, which started a tradition which has been followed
continually since 1555.
• What tradition? (1 point)
• What necessitated this personal change? (1 point)
19

Regnal Names of Popes
Name honoured Mercury, a Pagan God, hence
was changed
• The first pontiff to take a new
name, Pope John II, after being
elevated to the Papacy, and started
the tradition of Regnal Names
• Birth name of Mercurius was
thought to be inappropriate as it
honoured the pagan god, Mercury.
19

• This Norwegian fishing village was on the edge of ruin. That is, until the
1980s, when fishermen began hoisting up these crabs (image).
Unknown to the fishermen, these crabs had travelled 60 or so miles
across the Barents’ sea and landed up in their nets.
• These crabs got a local name borrowed from another fearsome entity
(7,3,4), owing to their starting point and their appearance. What name?
(1 point)
• The Guardian released an article about how this migration of crabs
turned around the economy of the village, but at the cost of a lot of native
fauna of the area, since the crabs were near the top of the food chain.
• What literature inspired punny title was given to this article? (1 point)
20

Stalin’s Red Army
Crab 22
20

• Shown in the next slide is an artwork comprising of replicas of a set
of items sharing a certain commonality. Take a look at the items
and figure out what unfortunate misidentification connects them
leading to devastating outcomes. (1 point)
• The inspiration for this artwork was from an article in Harper’s
magazine based on these items. What was the article aptly titled,
also a two word term which is commonly used as a preface to
potentially distressing material? (1 point)
21

Mistaken for guns
Trigger warning
21

• Tweet from the 28th of October, 2018:
• 2 questions I get asked all the time. Here is one answer for them!
a) Whom do I wish to cook for in the World?
b) Who inspired Chhoti’s rope-walking character in ___ ____ _____.
Answer - The Great Frenchman X. The man who said “There is no
why”.
• Who tweeted this? Who does he want to cook for? Also fill in the
blanks with the name of a film. (1 point for 2 parts, 2 points for all
3).
• The film had theatrical release in India only last month.
22

Vikas Khanna
Philippe Petit
The Last Color
22

Quiz From Under The Blanket (Prelims with answers)

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