Monday, 31 May 2010

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms – 68

Thought of uploading another question today, and then start packing up my computer.

Connect the following.

1.

1

2.

2

3. Only the gentleman on the left is significant here.

3

4.

4

5.

5

Hint:

hint

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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This one remains open for the next few days.

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I think I will give out the answer now. All these sportspersons are nicknamed after animals. That was why Dave ‘The Animal’ Bautista was a hint.

Randy Orton is nicknamed The Viper.

‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin is The Rattlesnake.

Paul Adams is Gogga, described as a harmless but particularly irritating species of spider native to South Africa.

Garrincha was called The Little Bird.

Ian Botham was called Guy the Gorilla after an inmate of the London Zoo.

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 67

Back to films.

Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan have appeared together in many films. In fact, Big B has also played the role of narrator in many of his son’s films! He has also played the role of Abhishek Bachchan’s father in films like Sarkar, Sarkar Raaj, and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. The role reversed in Paa.

My question is: In which film did Bachchan Sr play the Abhishek’s grandfather?

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Meanwhile, here is something interesting. Try and find Bachchan Sr from this group photograph taken in his school.

amitabh

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Another arbitrary piece of trivia about the Bachchan Family surname. It was originally Srivastav, but Big B’s father Harivansh Rai used ‘Bachchan’ as his pen name. Amitabh simply continued the tradition and adopted it as his surname when he came into films. Apparently, he was told in his initial years that he was too tall to be a hero!!

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Lots of answers, and all correct! This was a really easy one!

The film is Delhi 6, directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Sharma. As for the photo, look at this link give by Rajiv.

Sunday, 30 May 2010

Random – 4

This is more of an announcement than a random post.

Having accepted the offer to the post of a sub-editor in DNA After Hrs in Jaipur, I will be shifting to the Pink City on June 2, and joining on June 3. during these few days, and a few days after that (depending on when and what kind of internet connection I get there), this blog may be a bit irregular. Questions may not come daily, and comments may not be moderated daily.

Please bear with me.

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 66

Sorry for the delay, folks.

Here’s today’s question…

At one point of time, it was under the control of Rani Rashmoni, who was the founder of the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple, famous for its association with Sri Ramkrishna Paramhansa.

Later, under the control of the British, it was apparently converted into a park and named after the Auckland sisters. At that point of time, even circuses were held there!

What am I talking about?

Hint: Gunga Din.

Further hint (almost as an afterthought):

what

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Yes, that was indeed the Eden Gardens in Kolkata!

Monday, 24 May 2010

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms – 65

Folks, I may not be in town for two to three days, so I am posting three questions for the maximum duration for which I may not be here.

I. This organisation has its headquarters in Bengaluru, and claims to engage itself primarily in “creating awareness about the Legal Terrorism going on in the country under the garb and paradoxical veil of Women Empowerment through various methods like television shows on news channels, protests, road shows, press conferences, article publication, online blogging to name a few.”

It also claims to help the distressed victims who are at the receiving end due to the misuse of sections 498A, 304B, 406, 506 and many other similar sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

It also claims to help wrongful victims of the various sections of the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005, Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), Section 18, 24 and 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act, various provisions of the Special Marriage Act and the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890.

Straight question. Identify the organisation. Hint: You will be really surprised by who the victims actually are!

Here’s a poster displayed by some of them at one of the marathons in Nagpur.

100_0883

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II. The following scenes may be disturbing to some people, but they are true, and taken by Ranjit Deshmukh, our excellent photographer at Times of India’s Nagpur office. He and I had gone to this ‘fair’, and which is an annual event.

Just name the event or the fair, and tell me what is so unusual about it. I promise to share my experiences when answering this one. Mind you, all these photographs have been taken from the e-paper of Times of India.

1. fair 1

2. fair 2

3. fair 3

4.fair 4

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III. Identify the breeds of these three dogs. They are not all that common.

1.

100_0770

2.

100_2334

3.

100_2513

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks! See you in three days’ time!

PS: All photographs put up in this post, except for the ones in question II, have been clicked by yours truly!

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Cracked almost unanimously.

I. This is the Save Indian Family Foundation, abbreviated as SIFF. Look ‘em up on the internet, and you will be surprised by how, sometimes, the very laws meant to protect the womenfolk of our country are being misused by them to threaten and abuse their husbands and in-laws!

Incidentally, the sufferers are not always the men! Through Mr Rajesh Vakharia, one of the Nagpur co-ordinators of SIFF, I have had the chance to meet a lady who was kept an entire day in police custody when she was seven months pregnant! And all on a single complaint against an entire family by a newlywed wife!

Through Mr Vakharia, I have also come to find out that even the police are apparently biased! They take seven days to arrest a wife who has been mentioned as the reason of her husband’s suicide in his suicide note, but arrest a husband and his entire family immediately on just a complaint of the bride’s relatives, without a single iota of evidence!

Now, I am not saying that these laws are all evil, but their misuse should definitely be curbed by harsh punishment!

II. The Gotmar Festival in Pandhurna of Chhindwara district, Madhya Pradesh. On a certain date every year, the residents of Pandhurna and Sawargaon, situated on opposite sides of a small creek, throw stones at each other. The explanations vary, but the end result is the same.

I plan to write about my experiences there very soon…

III. 1. This is a Miniature Pinscher. Somehow, it was referred to as a ‘mincher pincher’ by its owner!

2. That’s a Shih Tzu.

3. A Schnauzer.

Sunday, 23 May 2010

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 64

I have been requested to infuse a little variety into this quiz. And the topics as well.

So here’s a bit of science, movies and history mixed.

Here is a video of Russell Crowe playing John Nash in ‘A Beautiful Mind’ and giving the acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize.

Watch it, or not, and tell me what is fundamentally wrong about this scene.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!!

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Lots of answers, and all of them correct in one form or another.

However, I would not have given points in a quiz for answers like ‘Nash did not get the prize alone’ or even who stood up or not. The most fundamentally wrong aspect with this scene is that it (the entire speech) never happened in real life!

Apparently, John Nash was prescribed a lot of medicine for his hallucinogenic conditions, but stopped taking them, and had not taken a single bit of medicine since 1970! Therefore, the Nobel committee did not even invite Nash to make the acceptance speech when he won what is popularly known as the Nobel Prize in economics, because they feared for his mental condition!

Saturday, 22 May 2010

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 63

Another connect.

1.

BRO 117

2.

madhumati

3. A.

john abraham

B.

Adoor Gopalakrishnan

C.

saeed akhtar mirza

4.

hrithik roshan

As usual, I have kept the names of the pictures for easier identification. It is the connect that matters here.

Happy connecting, and have a nice life, folks!

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Cracked by several, and by Partha on second attempt.

The answer is Ritwik Ghatak, the master filmmaker who never got appreciated in India during his lifetime, despite efforts from several corners, including Satyajit Ray!

1. This is a reference to the car in his film Ajantrik, a classic in every sense of the word. In the film, the car itself plays a role in the script, which predates all those Herbie films by a long shot! The number on the car is BRO 117.

2. Ghatak wrote the screenplay for Madhumati, which became a commercial success and spawned umpteen movies on the reincarnation genre! Lore has it that Ghatak was almost broke when his brother-in-law Bimal Roy took him in and let him stay. He even gave him some good quality alcohol as a present! The ‘favour’ got Ghatak thinking how he could repay it, and he ended up writing the script for Madhumai within two to three hours!

3. A, B & C. Adoor Gopalkrishnan, John Abraham and Saeed Akhtar Mirza were all students of Ghatak during his stint at FTII.

4. Hrithik Roshan’s grandmother was a Bengali, and had apparently named him after the great director, of whom she was a great fan.

Friday, 21 May 2010

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 62

A pretty easy and straightforward connect today, especially after only one reply yesterday.

Like most of my other questions, this is a connect.

A

1

B

2

C

3

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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All of you seem to have got this one, except Pablo, who got only part of it correct.

A: Jack Dorsey, creator or Twitter.

B: Orkut Buyukkokten, creator of Orkut.

C: Mark Zuckerburg, creator of Facebook.

Connection: All three are creators of popular social networking websites!

Thursday, 20 May 2010

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 61

A straightforward question.

Identify this court poet.

court poet 2

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

PS: It is also nice to note that by the time I get around to posting the links on facebook, at least one or two entries have already landed in my inbox for moderation! And yesterday, it was three! This is the kind of stuff that is keeping me ticking nowadays.

Oh, and another thing. If any of you need a quiz to be conducted somewhere, please think of yours truly. I will be ready at the drop of a hat!!

Also, thanks to Neiladri ‘Neil’ Dash for pointing out that the initial photo showed the name of this person. Duly noted and changes made, man. Thank you!

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PS: I was also pointed out the mistake by a very special friend, as well as Aditya, who was the only one who had answered this question. However, like a truly honest quizzer, he too has informed that he had seen the answer in the filename.

The gentleman here is Matt Harvey, the first ever person to be appointed as the official poet at Wimbledon! The ‘official’ news is available all over the internet, including here.

Wednesday, 19 May 2010

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 60

A series of clues to identify a single person.

1. Just the airbrushed person.

1

2. A + B is the clue.

A.

2a

B.

2b

3.

3

4.

4

Happy connecting, and have a nice life, folks!

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Cracked unanimously, but many of you did not seem to get the last clue correct. But lets get to things one by one.

1. A not-so-rare photograph of Albert Einstein and Rabindranath Tagore.

2. A + B. Tagore is the only person in the world to have composed the national anthem of two countries. India has ‘Jana Gana Mana’, and Bangladesh has ‘Aamar Sonar Bangla’.

3. This is a scene from the film ‘Chokher Bali’, based on Tagore’s novel of the same name.

4. Many of you got this one wrong. This is the Jalianwallabagh Memorial. Tagore denounced his knighthood after this incident. What many are also not aware of is that he even penned a song to ‘explain’ the burden of the knighthood, and why he denounced it. Here is a rendition of it in the golden voice of Hemant Kumar (Hemonto Mukhopadhyay).

Tuesday, 18 May 2010

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 59

A much simpler one for the day.

X was a famous scientist, and a prankster and a witty genius as well!

I. He once got one of his school seniors to faint when he answered a riddle even before she had completed asking it! Apparently, this was at the school ball, where he had answered every riddle she had asked. It was at the last riddle that she fainted.

II. His wit was so legendary, that he was reputed to have fixed radios ‘just by thinking’! Actually, all he did on this one instance was change the order of the valves or electrodes, because they were being heated up in the reverse order.

III. On another instance, he fooled a Chinese guy by speaking Chinese even though he didn’t know a word of Chinese! Apparently, the original Chinese spoke Cantonese, and assumed that our friend, the scientist, spoke Mandarin!

IV. He was once asked at Prince ton University if he would have his tea with cream or lemon. He replied, '”Both.” The polite yet sarcastic response of the hostess to this answer became the name of one of his non-scientific books.

Simple. Identify X.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Cracked by all five here, and Neil on Facebook.

The answer is Nobel prize winning scientist Richard Feynman!

A pic of him:

OT0004H

And in response to Aditya: I happened to read the book in my second year of college, which was six years ago. However, by some miracle, I managed to retain some of the info more than half a decade later! Meanwhile, if you are really interested in reading the book, try here. It’s a pretty engaging read!

Monday, 17 May 2010

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 58

Another double question.

Connect the four pictures, and give me the odd-one-out. Also, tell my why it is the odd-one-out.

A

1

B

2

C

3

D

4

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Need I say more? There’s no fooling all of you! These are all April Fool pranks, three of them by Google and one by no less than BBC itself!

The ‘Spaghetti grows on trees’ prank is 53 years old, and was run as a BBC documentary, and apparently, it still has a lot of people convinced! This is the odd-one-out, because it is the only one given here not run by Google.

Meanwhile, check the answers for more details.

Sunday, 16 May 2010

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 57

A double connect.

1. Connect the characters to a person.

A.

lallan

B.

jodha

C. The second person from right has his face circled.

king

2. Connect to a geographical location.

A.

what 1

B. Just concentrate on the fruits.

what 2

C

what 3

Now, connect 1 & 2.

Happy connecting, and have a nice life, folks!

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The connection for 1 is Sonu Sood, the actor. He has played a brother to all the three people mentioned here, and is even in the poster of Singh is King!

To quote Partha’s Answer:

1. A. He played the role of Gopal Singh, the elder brother of Lallan Singh (Abhishekh Bachchan) in Yuva.
B. He played the role of Sujamal, the elder brother of Jodha Bai (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) in Jodha Akbar
C. He played the role of Lakhan Singh (AKA Lucky) in the film who was the brother of Mika Singh (Javed Jaffrey) in the film Singh is Kinng.

And here’s some more info about Nagpur (2). It is known as the Orange City (clue B). It has the Zero Mile (clue A) in it, which is supposed to be the centre of India as calculated during British Rule. It also has Deekshabhoomi, (clue C) the shrine from where Dr B R Ambedkar started off the trend of neo-Buddhism, converting thousands of Dalits to the religion of the ‘Enlightened One’.

And yes, Sonu Sood is from Nagpur.

Saturday, 15 May 2010

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 56

Another quickie…

what

I will be honest. The credit does not go to me for this question. I 're-used’ or ‘re-cycled’ this question from somewhere else.

Simply tell me: which company or organisation’s initial advertisements are these?

Happy identifying, and have a nice life, folks!

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Five replies, and cracked.

Although I was looking for just the ‘Finnish Rubber Factory’, I will accept Nokia too. Further info in Rajiv’s comments.

Friday, 14 May 2010

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 55

 

A literary connect.

1

1

2A

2a

2B

2b

3

348c9b24fcafb25e_large

Happy connecting, and have a nice life, folks!

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Cracked almost unanimously, although ‘sibi’ got it right at the second go. Also, ‘Dijo’ did not get the ‘eaters of the dead’ part.

The connection is indeed Beowulf, the epic alliterative poem written by someone whom we have lost in the annals of history.

1: Angelina Jolie played the Grendel’s mother in the 2007 Robert Zemeckis film 'Beowulf’, based on the original poem.

2A: Michael Crichton wrote ‘Eaters of the Dead’ as part of a challenge with his friends, where he claimed that he could give a twist to Beowulf and make it his own. Indeed, he portrayed the Grendel as a lost and hitherto undiscovered chain of Neanderthals who still inhabited the Earth towards the end of first millennia AD, long after they had supposedly stopped to exist.

2B: Antonio Banderas was ‘The 13th Warrior’ in the film of the same name, inspired by Crichton’s novel, which was his own interpretation of Beowulf.

3: Christopher Lambert played ‘Beowulf’ in the 1999 film of the same name, which was a sci-fi interpretation of the poem.

Thursday, 13 May 2010

QR – Cure – Quizzing Realms - 54

 

Another connect for the day. Connect the pictures to another lady.

A

who 1

B

who 3

C

who 2

The connect is pretty specific, and should leave you silent when you get it.

Happy quizzing, and have a nice life, folks!

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Either this one was a real toughie, or no one even bothered to answer it!

The connection is Jiah Khan, the actress.

A: This is Rabiya Ahmad, Jiah’s mother, now settled in London.

B: Gia Carangi, a supermodel played by Angelina Jolie in a biopic. Jiah Khan took her screen name from this lady.

C: A vague connect. Jiah was first approached by Mahesh Bhatt for ‘Tumsa Nahi Dekha’ when she was only 16. She refused, and later debuted in ‘Nishabd’. After she refused TND, Bhatt cast Dia Mirza in the film.