1. What four letter word connects the acronym of a terrorist organisation in the Middle East with an ancient Egyptian goddess?
2. Which capital city of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, hosted the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in 2015? PMs Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif held an important meeting on the sidelines of this conference.
3. If the collective noun for a group of lions is a “pride of lions”, what is the collective noun for a group of owls?
4. If King Lear is one of William Shakespeare’s four tragedies, which are the other three that have been made adapted to Hindi cinema by director Vishal Bharadwaj?
5. And can you now name the Hindi films of Vishal Bharadwaj based on three of Shakspeare’s tragedies?
6. Who was awarded the Business Standard Award for making which organisation the ‘Most Innovative Company in India’ for the year 2008?
7. What does SABR stand for in the world of tennis?
8. What phrase describes the point in a bullfight when the matador makes the kill? It is used as a phrase in English that means ‘an occasion when something important happens that tests someone or something.’
9. Shortly after completing this work, Michelangelo overheard someone remark that it was the work of another sculptor Cristoforo Solari prompting Michelangelo to carve ‘Michelangelo Buonarotti Florentine Made It’ on the work. Name the work that is the only one signed by the artist.
10. When telephones were invented in 1876, (a) who suggested the word “hello” to start a conversation, and (b) what word did it replace as a greeting on the telephone?
11. In medieval maps places that were unknown territory had these words written on that area, ‘Here be ______’ . Fill in the blank.
12. Which attendant of Shiva instructed Bharata (author of the Natya Shastra) in the use of Angaharas and Karanas, modes of Shiva’s cosmic dance? Some scholars consider he must have been the author of an earlier work on the dramatic arts, which was incorporated into the Natya Shastra.
13. Which innovative Indian vehicle is marketed as the G-Wiz in UK and qualifies for exemption from the “London congestion charge” because of its unique nature?
14. By what familiar name do we know the All India War Memorial?
15. What is the French word for the flower called the mallow, which is known to us because of its distinctive colour?
Answers
1. ISIS
2. Ufa
3. A parliament of owls
4. Hamlet, Macbeth and Othello
5. Haider (Hamlet), Omkara (Othello) and Maqbool (Macbeth)
6. BCCI (Lalit Modi)
7. Sneak attack by Roger (Federer)
8. Moment of Truth
9. The Pieta
10. a. Edison, b. Ahoy
11. Dragons
12. Tandu, after whom the Tandava is named.
13. Reva – India’s electric car
14. India Gate. It bears the names of 90,000 Indian Army soldiers who died in the campaigns of World War I, the Northwest Frontier operations of the same time and the 1919 Afghan fiasco.
15. Mauve