Quizzically Yours

1.He holds the distinction of being the first and only Indian to be 'something'. Who's this?



2.Connect









3.What 'nickname' did this 19th century American criminal earn for himself from a Scotland Yard detective due to his famed exploits? (Hint : British historian Ben Macintyre has penned a book about him.)

1.Claim to fame of the book?




2.Identify the controversial founder of a popular Swedish site.









3.The dargah of Sufi saint Bu Ali Shah Qalandar is located nearby this place. This place was renovated by the British in 1866. Whose simple unadorned tomb is this?

1)

"I have _______ ______, and no hatred. None of the police who have monitored, arrested and interrogated me, the prosecutors who prosecuted me, or the judges who sentence me, are my enemies. While I’m unable to accept your surveillance, arrest, prosecution or sentencing, I respect your professions and personalities, including ____ and ______ who act for the prosecution at present. I was aware of your respect and sincerity in your interrogation of me on December 3.

For hatred is corrosive of a person’s wisdom and conscience; the mentality of enmity can poison a nation’s spirit, instigate brutal life and death struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and humanity, and block a nation’s progress to freedom and democracy. I hope therefore to be able to transcend my personal vicissitudes in understanding the development of the state and changes in society, to counter the hostility of the regime with the best of intentions, and defuse hate with love....

I do not feel guilty for following my constitutional right to freedom of expression, for fulfilling my social responsibility as a _______ citizen. Even if accused of it, I would have no complaints."

Statement written by X to be read at his trial. Identify X. All the blanks are NOT the same.

2) Historically it is believed that the first ______ were staged by Megha Bhagat, one of the disciples of Tulsidas in about 1625 AD, though there are some evidence of its existence in some form before the creation of this version as well.

Some scholars believe its first appearance somewhere between 1200 and 1500 AD. Later according to some, Akbar is said to have watched a performance. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu once he got carried away while performing in ______ in Puri, thus proving the existence of _______, before it was reported in literature.

Though it would safe to conclude that its implosion into the Hindi heartland, happened only after the literature was written in the people's language Ayadhi. Earlier the text were in Sanskrit which excluded much of masses from experiencing the inspirational saga,.

What fills the blanks?

1) Liu Xiabao

2) Ram Lila plays

        connect the two.

Connect: The huge painting in Anbesivam is a reference to Diego Rivera' s Man at the crossroads.
And you all know the "fact" that Sundar.C "directed" Anbesivam

1) Note left by whom?



2) In India _____ are produced mainly in four major cities. These are Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Whenever a ____ is produced out of these cities, they put an identification mark on every ____ .

Identification mark on the _____ is :
Delhi – A dot.
Mumbai – A diamond.
Hyderabad – A star.
Kolkata – No mark.

3)________ is the largest media conglomerate in India. It is headed by brothers Samir and Vineet Jain. The company has

• eleven publishing centers
• fifteen printing centers
• fifty-five sales offices
  
• over 7000 employees
  
• five dailies, including two of the largest in the country with approx 4.3 million copies circulated daily
  
• two lead magazines (Femina and Filmfare)
  
• twenty-nine niche magazines reaching 2468 cities and towns
  
• thirty-two Radio Stations (including Radio Mirchi)
  
• two Television News Channels
  
• one Television Life Style Channel
  
• turnover in excess of USD 700 million.

Which company?

4) In the year of 1284, on the day of Saints John and Paul
on 26 June
130 children born in X were seduced
By a Y, dressed in all kinds of colours,
and lost at the place of execution near the koppen.

This is the earliest account of a tragic event in the city of X. Rats were later added to the account as it passed on through generations. People believe today the phrase, "pay the ___" arose from this event. To "pay the ___" now means to face the inevitable consequences of one's actions.The phrase is also attributed to meaning to recompense a minstrel or similar musician in the mediaeval period for services rendered. Minstrels were a significant status symbol, hence refusing payment would be great mark on the nobleman's reputation and a noticeable loss in his social standing.

Funda pls.

5) Operation ______ , was the program used to recruit the scientists of Nazi Germany for employment by the United States in the aftermath of WW-II (1939–45). It was executed in the context of the burgeoning Cold War(1945–91). One purpose of Operation _____ was to deny German scientific knowledge and expertise to the USSR and UK.

President Harry Truman's order expressly excluded anyone found “to have been a member of the Nazi Party, and more than a nominal participant in its activities, or an active supporter of Nazi militarism.” Said restrictions would have rendered ineligible most of the scientists the JIOA had identified for recruitment, among them rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and the physician Hubertus Strughold, each earlier classified as a “menace to the security of the Allied Forces”.

Werner Osenberg, the engineer-scientist heading the Wehrforschungsgemeinschaft (Military Research Association), recorded the names of the politically-cleared men to the Osenberg List, thus reinstating them to scientific work.

Name the operation.

6)Identify

7) Identify the brand being advertised.

8)Kraken Opus, works to produce definitive publications featuring the finest writers, stunning images displayed on an epic scale and presented in a beautifully-designed, luxury format. So far, Kraken Opus has successfully produced Opus-es for Manchester United, Arsenal, Burj Khalifa and Michael Jackson to name a few.

For the print version of an Opus for a famous sportsperson, they decided to go for a "blood edition". The signature page will be mixed with X's blood – mixed into the paper pulp so it's a red resin. Kraken asked for a sample of his saliva and used this to create his DNA profile, which will be printed on a two-metre gatefold in the book. The book which weighs 37kg, measures half a metre square and stretches to 852 pages edged in gold leaf. It will be out next February.

Which sportsperson?

9) This grisly phrase is the proper name for the death sentence. The sentence was given to others after 1790 but not carried out. It was the punishment for traitors. Women traitors were burned at the stake. The punishment was most often meted out for high treason - acts of betrayal, or actual or attempted murder of the sovereign.

The victims were first hung by the neck but taken from the scaffold while still alive. The entrails and genitals are then removed, the head cut off and the torso was chopped up. A very famous account of such an execution was when the sentence was meted out to conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot. (Robert Keyes, Guy Fawkes, etc.)

The above paras have almost everything you need to guess the phrase. Please do the needful.

Nanda, Sparky and Nabarun get it right in parts

1. Christopher McCandless ('Into the Wild' guy)

2. Indian coins

3. The Times Group

4. Pied Piper of Hamelin

5. Operation Paperclip

6. Simo Hayha (The White Death. More here)

7. Winston Cigarettes

8. Sachin Tendulkar

9. Hung, Drawn and Quartered

What is special about the happenings in this pics?

The lady is yesteryear actress Kamini Kaushal. She is receiving a Filmfare award, which is believed to be modelled on her.

While issuing tickets as a B.E.S.T. bus conductor, Badruddin used to entertain passengers aboard with some antics. These antics caught the attention of actor and script-writer Balraj Sahni  in 1950 while he was once traveling in a B.E.S.T. bus on which Badruddin, then 27, was working as a conductor. Sahni was penning at that time the script for the movie, Baazi (1951), and introduced Badruddin to Guru Dutt  as a candidate for the role of a comedian. Badruddin's screen test consisted of acting as a drunk, and he did it so well that Guru Dutt gave him the screen name, X. Later X was cast as the hero in a movie, X (1957), which was named after himself.


mysore gets it.
Johnny Walker.

The foundation of the X as well as that of modern Indian poultry industry was laid back in 1971, when Padmashree Dr. BV Rao gave shape to his vision by setting up Y - the flagship company of the Z, a Rs. 1300 crore conglomerate.

W was initially known as Western Hatcheries Limited and was established in 1976, mainly to produce day-old layer and broiler chicks for the dense poultry markets of North India.

W has over 30 units spread across India. The company's Specific Pathogen Free Egg unit is among four such units in the world and the only one of its kind in the developing world.

The Forbes business magazine ranked W as 67th among the 100 best global small companies in the year 1999-2000. Russian tennis player Elena Dementieva, also sports the W logo on her outfit. W is also a part of Z.

Id W, X, Y and Z. Tell me why they are in the news.

Nabarun is spot on...
Z=VH group
Y= Venkateshwara Hatcheries
W= Venky's

In the news because of the Blackburn Rovers takeover

In the 1970s, the government of India introduced new regulations for a certain product. The product was so popular that you had to wait around 6 months to get your hands on one. The company, thinking these regulations would lead to higher (and un-necessary ) production costs refused to budge and lost market share heavily.
Sadly, the popularity of this product faded with time and production stopped in 2009.
Stating on the emotional moment of the last day of its production, its makers famously proclaimed that the product had lost relevance in this new age just like ___________.Till date it has sold more than 10 million units.
What product and what was the regulation that killed it?

Prasanna is right....
Bajaj Scooters it is.. The regulation was introduction of indicators.

The first plan was proposed in 1832, to be set up near Chintadripet Bridge but it never materialised. In 1836, an experimental setup was established. The East India Co. tried to bring in private investors for this purpose. The companies were to work under a 99 year lease.

Later two companies were set up, GIPR and EIR in Bombay and Calcutta to establish experimental setups there. The first successful instance of the completed project occurred on 22 December 1851.

What?

Sparky gets it...

Indian Railways

Ciphers were exchanged between London and New Delhi and between New Delhi and Fort St George in Madras. Ultimately, the governor of Madras agreed to take personal responsibility for the project. He selected two reputed and loyal ____ manufacturers of  _____.They were sworn to utmost secrecy to produce the best quality ____ for a ‘burra’ sahib in England. To handle the affair, the governor required an intelligent English-speaking person as an assistant. He needed to have knowledge about _____; in fact, he had to be a ____. The normal process of post creation would not suffice. Nothing could be disclosed about the project. Hence by exercising his special powers under the Defence of India Rules, the governor created a post of an assistant, naming it CCA. It was located in the chief secretary’s secret cell. No one but the governor, the chief secretary and the incumbent knew the real meaning of CCA, and an aura of mystique came to surround the post. Many thought it stood for chief confidential assistant who dealt with ultra-secret matters.

Sparky gets it.
Its the Trichinopoly cigars.

The government of India gets about 200,000 requests per year for X. It has an alloted quota of only 171,000 though.
The cost of X has been fixed by the government as Rs. 12,000 per person since 1994 but the actual cost is about Rs. 48,000 (2007)
The government spent Rs. 7 billion on this subsidy in 2008. This subsidy is controversial as it is seen as "appeasement" as well as "charity".

Give X.

Trishul gets it right. But since he got the spelling wrong he misses the million dollar cash prize.
Its Haj Pilgrimage indeed.

Connect all of them.


Nobody guesses this too!! All of them have contested for Presidential Elections but ended up losing.

We have all seen him in famous movies sharing the screen with the likes of Superstar and Ulaga Naayagan. But apart from all those he is famous doing something of great historical importance...what?



Nanda cracks this..
Poornam Viswanathan anounced India's independence on All India Radio.