10Q (August 30, 2024)

1. As an anti-colonial poet, [A] is much revered in [B], his being the most translated works into the local language. Published in the newspaper Dong-A Ilbo in 1929, about which nation [B] – under foreign rule at the time – did [A] write the following short poem titled 'Lamp of the East'?
“In the golden age of Asia,
_____ was one of its lamp-bearers
And that lamp is waiting to be lighted once again
For the illumination in the East.”

2. When the Notre Dame Cathedral burnt down in 2019, which unlikely company stepped in to help restore it, donating €500,000 but more importantly making available the complete 3D model of the edifice, which it had built for one of its creations?

3. Most famously visible on the originally copper-coloured Statue of Liberty, what material has a name that comes from an Anglo-French phrase literally meaning 'Green of Greece'?

4. In general, MPs in the Lok Sabha take their oaths in the language of the state that they represent. Which 5-term MP from Andhra Pradesh / Telangana, is the only MP from the state who has consistently taken the oath in Urdu?

5. In the films of which franchise would you hear the characters speak of the following, and what are they? The Boesky, the Jim Brown, the Miss Daisy, 2 Jethro's, the Leon Spinks, the Ella Fitzgerald, the Lost in Translation, the Swinging Priest, the Crazy Larry, the Soft Shoulder, the Looky-Loo with a Bundle of Joy, the Reverse Big Store, the Billy Martin, the Gilroy, the Brody, the Irwin Allen, the Susan B. Anthony, and the Cartwheel.

6. Trust the Japanese to come up with the strangest of sporting and cultural rituals. The Yukigassen competition originated in Japan, where the 'World Championships' continue to be held in Sōbetsu, in the northernmost island of Hokkaido. There are now also annual tournaments in Kemijärvi in Finland, Vardø in Norway, Murmansk in Russia, Mount Buller in Australia, Luleå in Sweden, Anchorage in Alaska, Aparan in Armenia, and Jasper and Saskatoon in Canada. If 'gassen' means 'battle' in Japanese, what natural substance is the 'Yuki' part in the name of the competition, whose playing arena is depicted below?

7. In the 15th century, the name des Graven hage came into use for this place. The name literally meant 'The Count's Grove', with the connotation being 'The Count's Hedge, Private Enclosure or Hunting Grounds'. From the 17th century onward, this was officially shortened to 's-Gravenhage, making it one of the few place names to begin with a punctuation mark. This unusual name continues to be used in some official documents such as birth and marriage certificates. What is the more commonly used name for this global hub of international law and arbitration?

8. He has been the target of unsuccessful assassination attempts in Jalandhar in 1986, and in Bucharest in 1991, the latter while he was India's Ambassador to Romania. Who is this, whose surname is Portuguese for 'by the river'?

9. Salaf, meaning predecessors, refers to the very early practice of Islam by the Prophet Muhammad and his immediate successors. Salafism seeks to revive the practice of Islam as it was at the time of Muhammad and can be critical of too much emphasis being placed on thinkers from after this period. The 18th-century person depicted in the illustration below, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al ______, was an important figure in the resurrection of this ideology, and therefore Salafism is commonly also known as ______ism. Fill in the blanks (both blanks are the same).

10. The man in the photo below, Nasir Shaikh, claims to have made his cult films without ever leaving the city you see behind him. And yet he has managed to put the name of the city firmly in the minds of aficionados of offbeat films. Which city?

Answers
1. A: Tagore; B: Korea 

2. Ubisoft, which had mapped the cathedral for its game 'Assassin's Creed: Unity'
3. Verdigris, the green patina that covers copper over time when it is exposed to air. The word comes from 'vert de Grece'.
4. Asaduddin Owaisi
5. Types of cons in the 3 Ocean films
6. Snow – it's a snowball fighting competition

7. The Hague – the count in question was the Count of Holland
8. Julio Ribeiro
9. Wahhab
10. Malegaon – Shaikh is the director of movies like 'Malegaon ke Sholay' and 'Malegaon ke Superman'

10Q (August 22, 2024)

1. The name of this business might make you feel it has a Spanish origin, but it was simply chosen because it's a short, memorable word that can be written without taking up too much space. The origins of the business lie in a weekend roadside stall selling clothes, set up in 1973 on the Portobello Road Market by three brothers of Indian descent: Nitin, Arun and Milan Shah. What company?

2. [A] is a 4-letter word for the introductory section of a journalistic piece in a newspaper or magazine, sometimes used for the intro piece itself. It comes from the regular English word [B] for something that comes first, but it's spelt differently because [B], pronounced differently, also refers to something more basic and technical in moveable-type printing. What are the two words?

3. Different spellings again. What name, spelt differently in each case, connects the man of Goan origin who was co-founder of the Board for Control of Cricket in India, the All India Radio commentator who spoke through the entirety of Mahatma Gandhi's 7-hour funeral broadcast, and Satish Shah's character in the 1983 black comedy film 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro'?

4. Which much-translated author of 'Ficciones' ('Fictions') and 'El Aleph' ('The Aleph'), both first published in the 1940s, said the following?
"I respect translators, and my stories have sometimes been greatly bettered by them. One of them told me so himself. Besides, I am so fond of English that I like anything better in English than in Spanish."
He was a well-regarded translator himself, having translated works of literature in English, French, German, Old English, and Old Norse into Spanish.

5. The dictionary provides these as meanings of the word [X]:
 
1 : relating to or characterized by occultism or abstruseness : recondite
 
2a : airtight

b : impervious to external influence

c : recluse, solitary
     
When it first entered English in the early 17th century, [X] was associated with writings attributed to Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom. Thoth, whom the Greeks called ______ Trismegistus ("thrice-great ______"), was believed to be the author of a number of mystical, philosophical, and alchemistic works. The obscure subject matter of these works may have made them difficult to wade through, for soon English speakers were also applying [X] to things that were beyond ordinary human comprehension. Additionally, ______ Trismegistus was said to have invented a magic seal that could keep vessels airtight. [X] thus came to mean 'airtight', both literally and figuratively. What is [X]? The blanks above are all the same, the name of the herald of the gods in Greek mythology.

6. In the picture below, taken during Mahatma Gandhi's visit to Britain in 1930-31, the robed woman to Gandhi's left was born Madeleine Slade, daughter of British Rear-Admiral Sir Edmond Slade and his wife Florence. After reading Romain Rolland's biography of Gandhi, she became a disciple of the Mahatma, and moved to Sabarmati Ashram to live as an ascetic. What name from Indian classical history did she adopt from then on?

 

 

7. The first rule of design in this field is the rule of tincture: metal should not be put on metal, nor colour on colour. This means that or and argent (gold and silver, which are represented by yellow and white) may not be placed on each other; nor may any of the colours (azure, gules, sable, vert and purpure) be placed on another colour. In the design of what are these rules of paramount importance?

 

8. Mutton-bustin' is an event held at rodeos similar to bull riding or bronc riding, but with two 'small' differences -- the rider and the ridee. The practice has been documented as having been introduced to the National Western Stock Show at least by the 1980s when an event was sponsored by Nancy Stockdale Cervi, a former rodeo queen. What does mutton-bustin' consist of?

 

9. French and Spanish sailors between the 17th and 19th centuries used a dame de voyage (French) or dama de viaje (Spanish), made of sewn cloth or old clothes. In Japan, there were 'Dutch Wives' ('dattchi waifu'), inspired by the thick rattan or bamboo bolster used to aid sleep in humid countries. What were these early examples of?

 

10. In Hindu mythology, sea god Varuna’s vahana, Jaladhi, was born from [X]'s earwax, while Paundraka, the black buffalo that Yama rides, was born from [X]’s thigh. Who is this multi-utility deity associated with storms, wildness and anger, whose name is generally translated as 'the roarer'?

 

 

Answers
1. Pepe Jeans
2. Lede and lead (which metal type was made of)
3. D'Mello – Anthony de Mello, Melville de Mellow, and Commissioner D'Mello
4. Jorge Luis Borges
5. Hermetic
6. Mira Behn
7. Heraldry
8. Children riding or racing sheep

9. Sex dolls
10. Rudra (half points for Shiva, whom Rudra evolved into in post-Vedic times)

10Q (June 17, 2024)

 

1. Classical authors writing in Latin and Greek referred to popular legends that this city was founded by the mythical hero Ulysses. Its name was written Ulyssippo in Latin by the geographer Pomponius Mela, a native of Hispania. It was later referred to as "Olisippo" by Pliny the Elder and by the Greeks as Olissipo or Olissipona. Between the 8th and the 12th century, it was referred to as Al-Usbuna. What is it called today? Either an international / English name or one in the local language will do.

2. The Grand Jeté is notoriously one of the most difficult of them, as it requires continuous stretching. Other types include the sauté, which involves both feet; the temps levé, which involves just one; the jeté, which is more standard; the assemblé; and the sissonne. If you were doing any of these, what would you be performing or practising?

3. It was the first name of the American journalist and poet who wrote 'The Devil's Dictionary', and of the Union general from whose surname we get the English word 'sideburns'. It's the surname of a West Indian cricketer whose first name is an adverb meaning 'in a terse manner'. What is this name, that derives from the Greek word for 'immortal', from which you also get the Greek name for the food of the gods? 

4. While he was still alive (he died in 2017), Ved Prakash Sharma was a regular confidante of and consultant for Ekta Kapoor, providing regular inputs on Balaji Telefilms' serials. But his real claim to fame was elsewhere. What was he acknowledged as 'the king of", a genre/medium in which he achieved many record-breaking feats?

5.  In classical times, the Latin word for 'sheath' was not used in an anatomical sense. But after it came, intact, into English in the 1680s, it began to be used for a part of the human anatomy. What's the word?

6. Which northern Russian port is depicted in the 18th-century icon below?

 

 

7. As the result of a grisly and as yet unexplained discovery by a forest ranger in 1942, Roopkund in the Himalayas (photo below) is known by what macabre name?

 

 

 

8. Stretching a remarkable 120km in length, it is the longest uninterrupted natural sand beach in the world. It takes its name from the nearest town, which was founded in 1869 at the site of the existing village of Palongkee, some 150km south of Chittagong. The town was named after a former superintendent of the British East India Company, known for his rehabilitation work with Arakanese refugees who came into the region in the late 18th century. What’s the name of the town / beach in the photo below?

 

 

 

9. The Ancient Romans were fond of quincunxes. Tables at large dinners were often arranged in this form, as were beds in crop fields and gardens. It was also the name of a coin whose weight equaled five-twelfths of a libra, a unit of weight similar to the modern-day pound. The name comes from the Latin roots for 'five' and 'one-twelfth'. What is the quincunx pattern? You can describe it using a common example from our pastimes.

10. This ancient structure on Rawdah Island in Cairo is known in English as a stilling well, one of several that you will find along a certain stretch in Egypt. The column in the middle has a name that directly describes its traditional function. What is it called, or what is its function?

Answers
1. Lisbon
2. Ballet – these are all types of ballet jumps
3. Ambrose – the persons referred to are Ambrose Bierce, Ambrose Burnside, and Curtly Ambrose
4. Hindi pulp fiction, having written more than 170 murder mysteries and other novels, including 'Vardi Wala Gunda' that reportedly sold 80 million copies
5. Vagina
6. Arkhangelsk. Also known as Arkhangel, the city is named for the belief that the victory of St Michael over the devil took place near there, and that Michael still stands watch over the city to prevent the Devil's return. This belief is also reflected in the city’s coat of arms, shown below.

7. Skeleton Lake – the skeletal remains of some 500-odd people are strewn around the lake, and no one is sure how exactly they got there. Research shows that the remains do not all date to the same historical period, and don’t even share a common geographic origin. This means that, many centuries apart, different groups of different peoples from different parts of the world somehow all met their demise at this same spot.

8. Cox's Bazar Beach

9. The 5 dots on a die, or the arrangement of symbols on a '5' playing card

10. A nilometer, used as an early warning system for flooding of the Nile

10Q (May 21, 2024)

1. India did not qualify in hockey for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 but Kenneth Pereira, an attacking midfielder of Goan origin (in pic below), was there. Playing for which national team?

2. The land encompassing the village of Ossining in the US state of New York was bought from the Sintsink Native American tribe in 1685 by a Dutch trader. In the 1820s, the facility you see in the picture below was constructed on a part of the land. Derived from the name of the tribe, what is the name by which it is known?

3. When it first appeared in English in the 16th century, it meant the distance bounding the range of ordinary vision at sea – about 30 km. British author John Lyly used that sense in 1580 when he wrote, "They are safely come within a ___ of Dover." Other 16th-century writers used it to mean 'range of vision' ("Out of ___ we were ere the Countesse came from the feast." – Thomas Nashe) or 'sight' ("'Tis double death to drown in ___ of shore." – Shakespeare). Its most famous usage in poetry is perhaps in the lines "Then felt I like some watcher of the skies /
When a new planet swims into his ___", written by Keats in his poem 'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer', and often quoted in humourous contexts by PG Wodehouse. Today, however, the word almost always implies a range of comprehension, understanding, or knowledge. What word?

4. Christened Chastity Bono and now named Chaz Bono, this man has been an LGBT activist for most of his adult life. In 2008, he began the gender transition process, which took nearly two years to complete. In the aftermath, Bono made an award-winning documentary about his journey, and continued to fight for the LGBT community as an outspoken contestant on 'Dancing With the Stars'. Who are his largely mononymous parents?

5. 'The Delhi Detectives' Handbook' (cover shown below), published in 2017, is ostensibly written by Delhi detective Vish Puri. Puri is actually a fictional character created by which British journalist and writer?

6. Xs (sometimes also called X eels) are an order of jawless fish-like vertebrates, whose adults are characterised by a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. The common name X is derived from a Latin term meaning 'stone licker'. Long used as food by humans, they were widely eaten by the upper classes throughout medieval Europe, especially during fasting periods, since their taste is much meatier than that of most true fish. King Henry I of England is said to have died from eating "a surfeit of Xs." What is X?

7. Male pogonotrophy is often culturally associated with wisdom and virility. Abraham Lincoln is said to have indulged in it because an 11-year-old girl named Grace Bedell wrote to him, suggesting it. What is pogonotrophy? 

8.  You will probably know of the ancient belief that one's health and temperament are the products of a balance or imbalance of four bodily fluids, or humours: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. It was believed that a deficiency of yellow bile, or choler, the humour that governed anger, spirit, and courage, would leave a certain organ colourless or white. Someone with this deficiency would be spiritless and a coward. This is the origin story of the hyphenated 2-word term that connects a typically white flower with the organ in question. What's the term? 

9. Xstan is a mountainous region located near the Karakoram mountain range that borders Gilgit to the west, China's Xinjiang to the north, Ladakh to the south-east, and the Kashmir Valley to the south-west. It takes its name from an indigenous tribe that has inhabited the area since pre-Islamic times, and has nothing to do with a vessel commonly used in Indian households. Name the region. 

10. What 2-word term, literally meaning 'keep to eat' in French, is used for a cool, well-ventilated area in a hotel or large home where savoury cold dishes (such as salads, hors d'œuvres, appetizers, canapés, pâtés, and terrines) are prepared and other foods are stored under refrigeration?

Answers
1. Canada
2. Sing Sing Correctional Facility
3. Ken
4. Sonny (Bono) and Cher

5. Tarquin Hall

6. Lamprey
7. The growing of facial hair, especially beards
8. Lily-livered
9. Baltistan
10. Garde manger

10Q (May 8, 2024)

1. Van Bengalen is a surname that from the 17th century onwards popped up in records in Banda, Batavia, Cape Town and other places. What was the history of the bearers of that name?

2. The city [X] has been known by many names in the past -- Wiryeseong (during the Baekje era), Bukhansangun (during the Goguryeo era), Namcheon (during the Silla era), Hanyang (during the Northern and Southern States period), Namgyeong (during the Goryeo era), Hanseong (during the Joseon era), and Keijō or Gyeongseong (during Japanese rule). What is it called now?

3. Ever since they met as first-year graduate students at Princeton University in 1970, Steven Zucker and David A. Cox wanted to author a scientific paper together. They finally did so, in a 1979 article in 'Inventiones Mathematicae', titled "Intersection numbers of sections of elliptic surfaces". The algorithm described in that paper is known by their names. Why had they been keen to co-author a paper, even before they had any idea what they would be studying or working on?

4. Meaning lacking in adult sophistication or immature, this 6-letter word originally meant 'bald' in Old English. By the 17th century, it had come to mean 'without feathers' and was applied to young birds not yet ready for flight. The term then began to be used for those who hadn't yet spread their wings in a figurative sense. What's the word?

5. It is the most frequently translated literary product of India, and its stories are among the most widely known in the world. There is a version of it in nearly every major language of India, and in addition there are 200 versions in more than 50 languages around the world. The earliest known translation, into a non-Indian language, is in Middle Persian (Pahlavi, 550 CE) by Burzoe. One version reached Europe in the 11th century, and before 1600 it existed in Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, German, English, Old Slavonic, Czech, and perhaps other Slavonic languages. What work, attributed to a teacher and scholar named Vishnu Sharma born somewhere between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE?

6.  The picture below shows workers with the Compagnia Vecchi Sminatori or Company of Old Miners based in Mantua, one of Italy’s 30-odd private companies specialising in a certain activity. These firms together continue to recover some 60,000 items every year, even though it's been close to 80 years since those items stopped being deployed. What are they looking for?

7. Much more than demons or spirits, the race of Xs are described as intelligent, free-willed creatures who live close to nature and are endowed with magical powers. The race is filled with different types – shaitan, nasna, ghul, ifrit and marid. What are Xs?

8. Shown below are a couple of the large number of 'benchmarks' that you will find on the Las Vegas Strip. What purpose do they serve?

 

9. This multi-peaked mountain range near Barcelona takes its name [X] from its saw-toothed appearance. It is the site of the Benedictine abbey, Santa Maria de [X], which hosts the Virgin of [X] idol. In 1493, Christopher Columbus named a Caribbean island after the deity. With a Lusophone spelling, it is also the surname of a Goan politician. What is [X]?

 

10. The current issue of 'Marg' magazine (cover below) features the ‘Risha’, which was accorded the geographical indication (GI) tag in March this year. The Risha is a part of the traditional attire of which Indian state?

 

 

Answers
1. People from Bengal enslaved by the Dutch East India Company and taken to work in their colonies or, in a few cases, back home in the Netherlands – the painting below shows the 10-year-old Filander van Bengalen serving at a party at his masters' home in Dokkum in Friesland

2. Seoul
3. In order to have the punny Cox-Zucker attribution in a serious scientific publication. The algorithm is now referred to as the Cox-Zucker machine, and no doubt elicits giggles whenever it comes up.
4. Callow
5. Panchatantra
6. Unexploded ordnance from World War 2
7. Jinn – marid are usually the ones we find imprisoned in bottles
8. To identify possible dangerous changes caused by the weight of the buildings surrounding them. Besides serving as absolute position markers, these benchmarks also help surveyors determine if the ground under the strip is stable with the weight of all the casinos surrounding it. Every decade or so, the points are measured to see if they have moved. If they have moved, this information is researched and the issue is corrected to ensure the safety of the guests and the buildings that line the strip.
9. Montserrat, meaning 'the serrated mountain'
10. Tripura

10Q (May 2, 2024)

1. In Middle Persian, it was known as Spahān, but since New Persian did not allow initial consonant clusters such as 'sp', a vowel was added in front of the name. In Ptolemy's 'Geographia', it appears as Aspadana, which translates to 'place of gathering for the army'. It is believed that Spahān derived from spādānām 'the armies', the Old Persian plural of spāda. What is this place called today? Also, what related word came through Persian into Urdu from the same root?

2. Shown below is the patent drawing for a rotoscope, a device/ technique invented by Max Fleischer, a Polish-American animator, inventor, film director and producer, and studio owner. Fleischer used it in his series 'Out of the Inkwell' starting around 1915, using his brother Dave dressed in a clown outfit. What is rotoscoping used for?

3.  The [X] Estate in present-day Kolkata consists of [X] House (in pic below) and the 30-acre grounds surrounding it. The estate originally belonged to Mir Jafar Ali Khan, who became Nawab of Bengal after siding with the British to oust Siraj-d-Daulah in 1757. He gifted the estate to Warren Hastings, then Governor-General of  Bengal, after which it became the seat of the Governors-General of India. After the capital moved from Kolkata to Delhi in 1911, it served various functions until, in 1948, it became the home of the National Library of India. The word [X] comes from a combination of two Italian words that mean 'beautiful' and 'view'. What is [X]?

 

4. The list of first-class cricket scores of 400 or more has 11 items, with two names appearing twice each, one at #s 1 and 11, the others at #s 5 and 6. Name them both. Also, name the latest cricketer to join the list, which he did in July 2022, during a match between Glamorgan and Leicestershire.

5. The flower known as 'viola' and 'violet' in English is also commonly known by a name that is derived from the French word for 'thought', as the flower was regarded as a symbol of remembrance. What is that name, which in the 20th century also went on to become a derogatory slang word for an effeminate man?

6.  Traditionally, an uchiwa is made of bamboo. Today many uchiwa are made of plastic but still keep the shape of the original bamboo item. It's not uncommon to receive plastic uchiwa printed with advertisements, distributed free in the streets. One report suggests that an average of 36,000 uchiwa are produced every day, some 90% of them by craftsmen in Marugame city, in the Kagawa prefecture of Japan. What is an uchiwa?

7. Satras are institutional centres or monasteries associated with the Ekasarana tradition of Vaishnavism, particularly in the Indian state of Assam and neighbouring regions. In what isolated location specifically are Assamese saint Sankardeva and his disciple Madhavdeva said to have set up the first of them, having taken refuge there in the 15th century? The place continues to house 20-odd extant satras, down from a one-time count of 65.

8. The company [X] got its start as Chouinard Equipment, selling the climbing gear that Yvon Chouinard was making for his friends. Its first venture into apparel was equally functional, designed to resist rock: sturdy corduroy trousers, stiff rugby shirts like the ones Yvon brought back from a climbing trip in Scotland. When the clothing started to take off, they decided to separate the garments from the gear; they just needed a good name. As Chouinard explained: “To most people, especially then, [X] was a name like Timbuktu or Shangri-la—far-off, interesting, not quite on the map.” Using a name coined by Magellan in 1520 for an area populated – according to members of his expedition – by giants, what is [X]?

9. A study whose results were published online in the April 2017 journal of JAMA Dermatology, found the following dermatologic characteristics in the subjects studied:
-- Alopecia, or hair loss (30 percent)
-- Dark under-eye circles (30 percent)
-- Wrinkles (20 percent)
-- Facial warts (20 percent)
-- Facial scars (20 percent)
What subjects were they scrutinising, to try and find common patterns among them?

10. Remove one letter from the name of the brand shown at left below, and you will have the name of the language whose alphabet in the Baybayin script is shown alongside. Give me the names of the brand and the language.

 

Answers
1. Isfahan, sipahi
2. Converting live action into animation or compositing real-life and animated characters
3. Belvedere
4. Brian Lara, who neatly brackets this records category with scores of 501* for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994 and 400* in a 2004 Test match versus England, respectively the highest individual first-class and Test scores; and Bill Ponsford, who scored 437 and 429 for his home state of Victoria against Queensland (1927) and Tasmania (1923), respectively. The latest on the list is Englishman Sam Northeast.
5. Pansy, from 'pensée'
6. A Japanese hand fan

7. Majuli Island on the Brahmaputra in Assam
8. Patagonia
9. Hollywood movie villains
10. Tagalong / Tagalog