The A-Z India Quiz

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY

Quizzing Club,

IIM Raipur

ROUND 1

Naushad Ali (in the pic) was one of the foremost music directors for Bollywood films, and is particularly known for popularizing the use of classical music in films. He’s very famous for rechristening of a very famous person.

Which famous personality A owes his name to this person?

A R Rahman

• Connect to B.

Bombay

• The track "Bombay Theme” by ARR featured in:– Nicolas Cage film Lord of War in

2005– Palestinian film Divine

Intervention in 2002– Deepa Mehta’s Fire in 1996– French TV commercial

for Volvic starring Zinedine Zidane in 2000.

– The album Anokha - Soundz of the Asian Underground in 1997.

The name of the island C, comes from a word in the language of Kolis, the indigenous inhabitants of the islands, before the arrival of Portuguese.

The island, which further consisted of two smaller islands, was one of the Seven islands of B ruled by the Portuguese.

The group of islands was given by Portugal to Charles II of England as dowry when he married Catherine of Braganza.

One of the prominent visitor attractions of the C, is the Taj Mahal Palace.

Colaba

The Gateway of India located near C, was built to commemorate the visit of King George V

and Queen Mary to Mumbai prior to the D, which was held in December 1911 to:– proclaim them Emperor and Empress of India– announce the move of India's capital from

Calcutta.

Delhi Durbar

• It was a mass assembly at Coronation Park, Delhi, India.

• It was held three times, in 1877, 1903, and 1911. The 1911 Durbar was the only one attended by the sovereign, George V.

The first D was held beginning on 1 January 1877 to designate the coronation and proclaim Queen Victoria as Empress of India.

It was largely an official event and not a popular occasion with mass appeal like that of 1903 and 1911.

This was the culmination of transfer of control of

much of India from E to The Crown.

East India Company

The E purchased a piece of coastal land, originally called Channapatnam; where they

began the construction of F. It was completed on 23 April 1644, and was the first British fortress in India.

F serves as the administrative headquarters for the legislative assembly of Tamil Nadu.

Fort St. George

ROUND 2

The animal G is native to the Indian subcontinent, which is listed as Critically Endangered by IUCN.

The bulbous growth on the tip of the male's snout is called a 'ghara' (after the Indian/Nepali word घड़ा� ghaṛā - 'pot'), and is present in mature individuals.

The ghara is used to generate a resonant hum during vocalization. It acts as a visual lure for attracting females and it is also used to make bubbles which have been associated with the mating rituals of the species.

Gharial

Also called gavial and fish-eating crocodile.

The origin of the H is in India or Persia, as per different sources.

According to one source, H was invented in India in the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar by Hakim Abul Fateh Gilani, who became a physician in the Mughal court after he came from Iran to India. Gilani introduced H after Asad Beg, then ambassador of Bijapur, encouraged Akbar to take up smoking.

Following popularity among noblemen, this H became a status symbol for the Indian aristocracy and gentry.

Hookah

In the last quarter of 1906, Madras was hit by the worst financial crisis the city was ever to suffer. Arbuthnot & Co, the city's strongest commercial organization in the 19th Century failed miserably.

A key figure in its bankruptcy case was the lawyer, V. Krishnaswamy Iyer; who went on to organize a group

of Chettiars that founded I.

I commenced operations on 15 August 1907 with its head office in Parry's Building, Parry Corner, Madras.

Indian Bank

During an accidental meeting between J and Swami Vivekananda on a ship in 1893 when they had travelled together from Yokohama, the latter had inspired J to set up a research and educational institution.

Few years later, the Swami received a letter from J, requesting him to head the institution that he had set up in 1909.

But, the Swami declined the offer saying that it conflicted with his spiritual interests.

(Extra points for naming the institution)

Jamsetji N. Tata

• The institution which was set up was the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. (IISc).

The city of Kasur is located adjacent to the border of Ganda Singh Wala between Pakistan and India, and is a tourist attraction because of the daily occurring Flags lowering ceremony.

Kasur district is surrounded at north by Lahore, at east and south by India.

Which character K in Hindu mythology is related to this city?

Kush

• Lord Rama's son Kush was believed to be the founder, and ruler of a kingdom centered at Kasur in ancient times, and the present day Pakistani city still references him in name.

The Zamindari System was introduced by the Mughals in India and continued during British rule of India. The

Zamindar raised L armies to forcefully collect taxes from people.

The British introduced L as a formal weapon used in case of unruly public protests. This gave birth to the ___, a military-style rush.

L is used as a secondary weapon.

Lathi

M was a very famous Indian cartoonist based in the Indian state of Goa.

His creations, such as Miss Nimbupani and Miss Fonseca, appeared on a regular basis in Femina, Economic Times, and The Illustrated Weekly of India.

He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1988, the Padma Bhushan in 2002 and a posthumous Padma Vibhushan in 2012.

Mario Miranda

N was elected chairman of the Hindu University of America (HUA) in the year 2007.

HUA was started in the year 1989 in Florida, USA and has been offering various programs related to Vedic studies. The University is now known as International Vedic Hindu University since N took over.

Nithyananda

On 14 August 2004, Global Trust Bank Limited, a leading private sector bank in India that was associated with various financial discrepancies

was amalgamated into O, one of the public sector banks in India.

Oriental Bank of Commerce

• In the Indian tradition, P is a nītiśāstra. Nīti can be roughly translated as "the wise conduct of life“ and a śāstra is a technical or scientific treatise; thus P is considered a treatise on political science and human conduct.

Its literary sources are "the expert tradition of political science and the folk and literary traditions of storytelling".

• Parts of P are: Mitra-bheda, Mitra-lābha or Mitra-samprāpti, Kākolūkīyam, Labdhapraṇāśam and Aparīkṣitakārakaṃ.

Panchatantra

Bollywood actor and director Dev Anand wanted to shoot the song Dil

Ka Bhanwar Kare Pukar from his movie Tere Ghar Ke Samne inside Q.

However, the cameras in that era were too big to fit inside the narrow passage inside, and the song was shot inside a replica of the tower instead.

The site served as the pitstop of leg 2 on the second season of The Amazing Race Australia, the Australian version of the Emmy-winning series The Amazing Race.

This is the first Indian monument to have E-ticket facility.

Qutb Minar

On his first cricket tour abroad to England in 1986,

R was involved in the unique incident of 12 players on the field for one full over bowled by Ravi Shastri.

In the second test against England at Leeds, when as a substitute to K. Srikkanth, he remained on the field for an over though Srikkanth had already arrived on the field quietly, without requesting R to go back to the pavilion.

Raman Lamba

• Yes, the same unfortunate guy who died of severe brain injuries after being hit in the head by the cricket ball.

D-Company is a popular name for the criminal organization headed by mafioso ___. Several members of the gang are on the "wanted list" of Interpol and Indian police.

Among the most prominent of ___’s lieutenants were a feared duo - Maya Dolas and Dilip Buwa. They were gunned down by the Mumbai police in a very well-known incident.

Connect this incident to a movie S.

(Extra points for filling in the blank.)

Shootout at Lokhandwala

Blank - Dawood Ibrahim

T are believed to be the world's second oldest rock mountains. The meaning of T translates into Holy mountains in Tamil language.

Tirumala

The U was founded by a Scotsman, Thomas Leishman, in 1857. It took its initial lessons in manufacturing from a South India based company.

It made its initial impact by manufacturing its product in bulk for the British troops, which was transported in huge barrels or "Hogsheads“.

The Pegasus, which is the symbol of the U, first found its place as the Group logo in 1940.

United Breweries Group

V is best known for the Bhoo-dan movement (Bhoo-Land, Dan-Gift). He is considered as a National Teacher of India and the spiritual successor of Mahatma Gandhi.

In 1958, V was the first recipient of the international Ramon Magsaysay Award, which is often considered Asia's Nobel Prize for Community Leadership.

He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1983.

Vinoba Bhave

Connect the following to W

Wadia Group

One of the oldest conglomerates of corporate India. It was founded by Sir Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia in 1736.

In July 2002, during a troubled period for X after allegations of accounting irregularities by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, X disclosed that its Indian subsidiary had made "improper payments" to government officials and fictitious firms.

In May 2005 it was reported that action would be taken against the company.

Xerox Corporation

Xerox India, Originally called Modi Xerox, was derived from a joint venture formed between Dr Bhupendra Kumar Modi through ModiCorp (now Spice Group) and Rank Xerox in September 1983.

The website Y began as BigShoeBazaar.com, has a registered user base of about 1.5 million people, of whom about half a million have transacted on the site.

In May 2012, Y declared that they’re introducing "try and buy" where the shoppers can actually try the clothes and shoes they buy on the portal when it is delivered to them and return it if they are not satisfied.

Yebhi.com

Aryabhata stated that "sthānāt sthānaṁ daśaguņaṁ syāt“, which is the origin of the modern decimal-based place value notation.

He based this statement on the various

literary references to Z, what is it?

Zero