1. IISER BHOPAL QUIZ CLUB
PRESENTS
IBQC OPEN QUIZ - 2017
Quizmaster :
Sreepadmanabh M
2. ACHTUNG, BABY !
• The team beside you has written the wrong answer . Don’t bother peeking.
• Do not engage in Cybernetic Investigations of any kind .
• 1 point per question , 2 points per starred question . No negatives .
• Starred questions serve as tie-breakers . If not , then sudden death.
• Do NOT leave questions un-attempted . Doing so shall attract a penalty of -1.
• Guess wildly . Almost every question here can be worked out .
• You absolutely CANNOT write “Justin Bieber” “Donald Trump” “Kamaal R Khan “ or
“Bigg Boss” as the answer to any question. Doing so , shall attract a penalty of -2
points
• 42 might be the answer to life , the universe and everything else other than the math
end-sem paper , but no , its not the answer to any question here.
5. 2. A matter of detail
The following slide shows 2 paintings by Raja Ravi Varma.
Both feature watershed scenes from Indian Mythology .
Find the common connect .
8. 3. Color me green
The monuments built by most Islamic dynasties around the world
have the colors green and white largely significant in their
architecture.
However , a large number of Mughal era mosques do NOT
adhere to this pattern. Eg. Juma Masjid
The predominant usage of which particular building material
during that period is considered the reason for this ?
12. ** 5 . Were you awake ?
The following slide shows 5 photos of a few things which can be used
to make connections to particular places , events or people or
whatever.
Basically I am just giving cues . ( NOT clues . That’s on-spot , if you ask
me nicely enough )
Connect these to a particular event which took place pretty recently
and was a major talking point .
You’ll get it if you have been reading the papers for more than
Angelina Jolie’s breakup . (Though I read that too) .
13.
14.
15. 6. Say the Word
In ancient Rome, two men taking an oath of allegiance held each other's
testicles, and men held their own testicles as a sign of truthfulness while
bearing witness in a public forum.
The Romans found a word X to describe this practice but didn't invent the
practice itself. Other primates like male baboons had already been doing this
for millions of years. This behavior has nothing to do with sex but it's a social
ritual that primatologists call a "greeting."
The behavior of ancient Romans and male baboons can be explained by the
Handicap Principle, an evolutionary theory according to which the most
effective way to obtain reliable information about a partner's commitment in a
relationship is to impose a cost on the partner and assess the partner's
willingness to pay it.
16.
17. 7. Know your GK ?
Apart from the most recent one, this strategy had already been
tried by the Indian government on two prior occasions—once in
1946 and then again in 1978.
In all these cases, the goal was the same. In 1946, it was the pre-
independence government and in 1978, it was the Janata Party
coalition government.
What is being talked about here?
18.
19. 8. A bit too far ?
United Colors of Benetton ( UAB ) came out recently with a remarkable
advertising campaign tht ruffled more than a few feathers.
In fact , the Vatican itself issued a notice demanding a formal apology as well
as rollback on specific segments / versions of this particular campaign .
The people featured included : President Obama , Hugo Chavez , Angela
Merkel , Pope Benedict , a senior Egyptian imam , Nicolas Sarkozy etc.
What was the ad / What was the controversy ?
23. **10. Specificities
The Reserve Bank of India issued the following set of notes in
1959 for a particular purpose.
Identify the reason .
Clue : NONE of the Mughal emperors would’ve got those notes
had these notes been issued even from the 16th century onwards
26. 11. Man of the moment
Here’s a direct one :
The Time Man of the Year in 1982 was awarded to _________ .
Steve Jobs is reported to have cried when he read that particular
issue of the magazine , allegedly because he expected to see himself
on the cover .
27.
28. 12. Say my name (NSFW)
A particular adult website was forced to put up a notification in 2014
stating :
“Please stop uploading videos of X ….. Our Public Humiliation category
is full”
What event was being referred to here ?
You most probably must’ve read it , it was THAT big a news .
29.
30. 13. My least favorite question
“Hello Thailand . Thank you all so so much for the support . I’m really
glad that you like X “ said the artist of X.
The X appeared on a popular Thai Facebook page and very quickly
spread all over the globe gathering an army of fans and haters
(including me) alike.
The critics want it to be banned and have even signed petitions to
social media websites in this regard. Identify X .
31.
32. 14. With malice towards one and all
The following slide features a sonnet written by Vikram Seth
as a tribute to someone who recently passed away.
Identify this remarkable personality , who was one of the
foremost of his profession in India .
33. King of the Columnists and prince of hosts,
Hero of cats (twenty at least) who feed
Under your aegis, trencherman of toasts —
Scotch, naturally, not French — God knows we need
Humour and courage, tolerance and wit
When hope is scarce and murder’s blessed by prayer,
And every bully, oaf and hypocrite
Nurtures his flock on hatred and hot air.
Threats to your life have not made you less bold.
Sexcess can’t spoil you. May you scatter your words
Inimitably on for decades more —
No less amused and generous than your old
Grandmother, standing by the courtyard door,
Halting her prayers to feed and chide the birds.
34.
35. **15. What do these have in common
USA Bolivia Saudi
Arabia
Seychelles Colombia Marshall
Islands
Venezuela Mauritius Nicaragua Philippines Rhodesia Saint Lucia
Dominician
Republic
San
Marino
El
Salavador
Georgia Kiribati Liechtenste
in
Solomon
Islands
Swaziland Uzbekistan St. Vincent
and
Grenadines
Sao Tome
and
Principes
Saint Kitts
and Navis
37. 16. Last man standing
In biology , Gause’s Law (a.k.a the competitive exclusion principle) states that if
two species compete for the same resources, then assuming all other ecological
factors are kept constant , one of them WILL be driven to extinction.
A group of organism, however , seem to grossly violate this law. This continues
to remain one of the biggest unsolved problems in Biology , and is known as
the paradox of the ______.
Hutchinson , who pointed it out , believed that the conditions in which the
various species existed were not exactly the same since there could be different
gradients of light or turbulence.
Symbiosis , commensalism , differential predation etc. could also be possible
explanations .
Identify the group of organisms.
39. 17. Elementary hai bhai
Greek Poet Simonides was at a banquet when he received word that two young
men were requesting an audience outside. The moment he stepped out of the
palace , the whole structure collapsed. The young men were apparently divine
beings who had saved him out of appreciation for his work.
During the excavation of the rubble later , Simonides was called upon to
identify the dead bodies, which had been crushed out of recognition. He
achieved this gruesome task by correlating their identities to their positions at
the table before his departure.
This is the story behind the origin of the name of a famous mnemonic device ,
which has become popular these days due to its usage by several beloved
fictional characters. Name the technique.
40. Mind Palace , featured in Sherlock ,
The Mentalist and so on .
41. 18. Love is a force of Nature
Brokeback Mountain is a 2005 movie , directed by Academy Award winner Ang
Lee (remember Life of Pi ?) , starring Heath Ledger (yes , The Joker) and Jake
Gyllenhall (the Donnie Darko guy whom you otherwise don’t know).
The plotline is basically the secretive and forbidden relationship between two
cowboys . Ang Lee reportedly said that while designing the poster for the film
, they looked at the posters of the 50 most romantic movies ever made , NOT
posters of Western Films.
The following slide shows the poster for the movie . Which iconic romantic
classic served as the inspiration for this poster ?
42.
43.
44. 19. The movie within ( 1 each ) – get
any 3
A wealthy white man with daddy issues sleeps and dreams with other men and
a woman to solve his internal struggles .
A few members of the African-American community suffer a horrendous
disaster after escaping together , discover their true selves ,and ultimately
decide to accept themselves.
Catapulted to TV stardom after she is selected from a local contest , a poor but
plucky girl teenage girl , who’s outrageously hot ( YES ) tries to survive in the
spotlight as she balances boys , murderous kids etc.
An entrepreneur whose inventions promise to empower the public is ruthlessly
hunted by an elite team that wants power to remain in the hands of those
superior by birth .
48. 21. The Italian Stallion
After winning the silver in equestrian dressage ,
Swedish equestrian Bertil Sandstrom was demoted to
last position even though he asserted that it was a
creaking saddle making a particular sound .
What was the reason for his demotion ?
49. He was making clicking noises to
encourage his horse to speed up
50. 22. It’s a symbol yo !
Identify the organization from the description of its logo :
Kamadhenu represents auspiciousness.
Sun is the source of knowledge and vitality a living force.
India is the mother country.
Conch within the map of India symbolizes the voice of the people and used
for announcing the news.
Lotus for purity and independence.
Blades of grass stand for multiplicity and fertility
Elephant represents strength and power
54. 24. Not really a great idea
Recently , Microsoft received flak after its rather negatively oriented
customer diversion tactics.
It basically consisted of a pop-up message appearing on Windows operating
systems stating that using a particular Microsoft app could help save around
33% more battery than a popularly used app developed by a company Y .
A very famous person Z , was the vice-prez of the product management
division for the product mentioned above when he joined Y in 2004.
Which IIT did Z graduate from and what’s his basic degree ?
