10Q (September 25, 2024)

1. While attending the Universal and Colonial Exposition in Lyon in 1894, brothers Edouard and André [X] noticed a stack of tires that suggested to Edouard the figure of a man without arms. Four years later, André met French cartoonist Marius Rossillon, popularly known as O'Galop, who showed him a rejected image he had created for a Munich brewery – a large, regal figure holding a huge glass of beer and quoting Roman poet Horace's phrase, "Nunc est [Y]", meaning "Now is the time to drink". André suggested replacing the man with a figure made from tires. O'Galop transformed the earlier image accordingly, to create the widely recognised trademark figure [Y]. What are [X] and [Y]?

2. The post-colonialist thinker Edward Said examined this term in its late Victorian framing and referred to it as an “extended prank”. He asked: Why should a century of European power conflicts over Central Asia that caused so many Afghan, Indian, British, and Russian deaths get such a ludic name? Even the phrase’s purported inventor, Captain Arthur Conolly, was beheaded in the public square of Bukhara on the orders of its King Nasrullah Khan. What term?

3. The 3-metre-tall bronze statue in the pic below was originally installed in 1960 in the garden of what used to be a Franciscan monastery in Old Goa. After the annexation of Goa into India, the monastery was converted into the Archeological Museum, and the statue moved into that, where it stands today. Whose statue is it?

4. Before becoming a professional actor, [X] was a lounge singer. After he retired from acting in 1999, he pursued a further career in singing. 'Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just For You' was his second studio album. A music video was produced for the song "Wise Guy" from the album, featuring [X] reciting his lyrics in various mob-themed settings. Who is [X]? The title of the album is named for the eponymous character from which 1992 movie?

5. In the Foreword to a special edition of a 1969 book sub-titled "The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death", its author wrote: "The Dresden atrocity, tremendously expensive and meticulously planned, was so meaningless, finally, that only one person on the entire planet got any benefit from it. I am that person. I wrote this book, which earned a lot of money for me and made my reputation, such as it is. One way or another, I got two or three dollars for every person killed. Some business I'm in." Name book and author.

6. What brand put out materials such as this with the characters Ram and Shyam on the back covers of children's magazines and comics in the 1970s and '80s? The brand name wasn't, as far as I can tell, influenced by a children's book character created by P.L. Travers.

7. The Incident at Petrich, informally referred to as 'the War of the [X]' (2 words), was the short invasion of Bulgaria by Greece near the border town of Petrich in 1925, an outcome of many disputes between the two countries in the post-World War I era. It allegedly started when a [X] wandered across the border from Greece at Demirkap, and a Greek soldier ran after it. The border was guarded by Bulgarian sentries, and one of them shot the Greek soldier, which resulted in the short skirmish. Interestingly, a famous Saadat Hasan Manto story parallels this real-life incident, transposed to the India-Pakistan border, though in the story, it's the [X] that is killed. What is [X], and what is the name of the Manto story?

8. The name by which we know this geographical feature was given by its original inhabitants, the Taínos. When Christopher Columbus landed here in 1494, he named it Puerto Grande. It was briefly known as Cumberland Bay when the British seized it in 1741, during the War of Jenkins' Ear. The name has become synonymous with extra-judicial atrocities in the past couple of decades. What place?

9. This is the new poster for an acclaimed National Award winning Kannada film originally made in 1977, which was restored in 4K and re-premiered at the Venice Film Festival this year on September 3. Name the movie and its director.

10. In recent years, [X]n iconography has gained popularity among young American men with white supremacist leanings. Infatuation with [X] first received media attention after it was discovered that Dylann Roof – the white supremacist shooter who killed 9 black churchgoers in 2015 – had a personal website called 'Last [X]n', where he posted his manifesto. [Y] – the man who led [X] from 1965 till its independence in 1979 – famously declared that “the white man is master of [X]. He has built it, and he intends to keep it.” It was a state defined by military conflicts with African people. To Dylann Roof and many others like him, [X] is a symbol of militarised white nationalism and the fantasy of a race war. What is [X] (internationally known by a different name now), and who was [Y]?

Answers
1. X: Michelin, Y: Bibendum

2. The Great Game
3. Luís de Camões
4. Joe Pesci, 'My Cousin Vinny'

5. 'Slaughterhouse 5' by Kurt Vonnegut

6. Poppins

7. Stray Dog, 'Titwal ka Kutta'
8. Guantanamo Bay
9. 'Ghatashraddha', Girish Kasaravalli

10. Rhodesia, Ian Smith