30. Which important sporting venue is located on a college campus and hosts First-Class cricket matches? Set amongst greenery it was described by Sachin Tendulkar as the most scenic in the country.
31. Chinnaswami Rajan first started out as a weaver in 1904. He then moved on to the leather industry, coal tar, and Oldsmobile cars as well as being an agent for Tata Steel. He then brought electricity to Kumbakonam and Nagapattinam and set up a steel rolling mill. But he had to get engineers from abroad to start his businesses. In 1944 he started something as a solution to his problem — something Dr Abdul Kalam owed a lot to. What?
32. This 45.72 m structure will soon be reopened to the public this year after having been off limits for 22 years. It is the only one of its kind in the country that is within city limits, the only one with an elevator, and the only one in which the public was not permitted to enter having been closed since May 21, 1991. What was this structure, and why was it closed?
33. Bombay suffered a plague in 1896. After this disaster the government set up an organisation (in different cities including Madras) to improve ventilation, prevent overcrowding, and provide better sanitation. It transformed into the Tamil Nadu Housing Board in 1961. Several places in Chennai however have been named after the original organisation — a nagar, a colony, and a puram. Name this organisation.
34. The geography of Chennai includes several forest areas in the city such as that within the Theosophical Society. The campuses of which two educational institutions are located in forests?
35. Which Chennaivasi and musician who was a former IIT-Madras student composed the music for the Oscar award-winning documentary Smile Pinki ?
36. Who are the only two players to have won the singles title at the Chennai Open (they did it back-to-back)?
37. In October 2011, India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C18) put four satellites in orbit. Three were: Megha-Tropiques (Indo-French), Jugnu (IIT-Kanpur students), and VesselSat (Luxembourg). 2011. The fourth was made by students of which educational institution?
38. Rev William Meston and Rev AC Hogg of Madras Christian College once graded an MA student’s dissertation titled ‘The Ethics of Vedanta’. Meston and Hogg later became principals of MCC. What became of the student?
39. Rabindranath Tagore liked the name of this place in Madras so much that he remarked that if he hadn’t already named his institution ‘Shantiniketan’ he would have picked the name of this Madras institution. What was the name Tagore liked?
40. What landmark project in India had its origin in Madras city with a 7-mile-long straight baseline marked along Mount Road between Fort St George and St Thomas Mount?
41. According to Wikileaks, Madras was supposed to have been evacuated in the 1975 but this was averted by US help involving a twin-engine Piper Comanche aircraft and 10kg of silver iodide. Why and how?
42. Which Chennaivasi holds the record of the most number of PILs (Public Interest Litigation) filed by a single person?
43. Which two Chennai residents composed the lyrics and music for M S Subbulakshmi’s hymn rendered in English for her famous concert at the UN in 1965?
44. Who founded the NGO
Udavum Karangal?
45. Which English cricket captain infamous for his “Bodyline” theory, played his last test at Chepauk in 1934?
Answers
30. Chemplast Cricket Ground inside IIT-Madras.
31. Madras Institute of Technology (our own MIT!). It was here that Dr Kalam studied Aeronautical Engineering.
32. Lighthouse on Marina Beach. It was closed following rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.
33. City Improvement Trust after which CIT Colony, CIT Nagar, and Trustpuram are named.
34. IIT Madras and Madras Christian College.
35. “Guitar” Prasanna
36. Carlos Moya (2004, 2005) and Marin Cilic (2009, 2010)
37. SRMSAT by students of SRM University
38. He became the President of India – Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan! He wrote, “South India’s debt to MCC is incalculable, and the influence of the college on other faiths has been great.”
39. Kalakshetra
40.Indian Trigonometrical Survey. The first accurate mapping of the subcontinent by the Survey of India. Initiated by William Lambton in the 19th century, it demarcated the territories of British India and measured the heights of Mount Everest, K2, and Kanchenjunga.
41. Drought in Chennai / Silver iodide was used for cloud seeding
42. “Traffic” Ramaswamy
43. Rajaji and Handel Manuel (Director of Western Music at AIR, Madras)
44. S. Vidyakar
45. Douglas Jardine