??? Prelims: Yagna ‘09 at LBS Institute of Technology for Women,Trivandrum

1) We’re at a women’s college, so let’s start with something that affects them a lot.

“Sadly women still face discrimination at the workplace. For instance, only the best-dressed ones get all the attention.” Name the Indian company that used this line in its advertisement.

Ans: Shopper’s Stop.

2) Which country has an AK-47 depicted in its flag?

Ans: Mozambique.

* 3) What comes in Rehoboam, Methusaleh, Salmanazar, Balthazar, Nebuchadnezzar ?

Ans: Champagne.

4) Who advertises themselves as “Software for the most advanced microprocessor on this planet”?

Ans: Economic Times.

5) Connect: Hyderabad, Patiala, Bikaner, Mysore, Jaipur, Indore . (Answering former princely states would sadly fetch you no points).

Ans: All these places have State Bank subsidiaries named after them. The remaining two are Travancore and Saurashtra.

6) The name of Ronald Reagan’s autobiography comes from a line in one of his films wherein he is amputated and on regaining consciousness in the hospital he looks at his amputated leg and exclaims “….”?

Ans: “Where’s the rest of me ?”

7) Who is the only earthling who knows Superman’s true identity (apart from his foster parents)?

Ans: Albert Einstein.

8 ) Which Indian musical instrument’s name, translated into English, means “Royal Flute”?

Ans: Shehnai.

9) In Hollywood, who are known as Atmosphere people?

Ans: Extras.

*10) Bosons, Mesons & Muons are all subatomic particles. What is a Koan?

Ans: Zen Buddhism is taught or learned through a process of asking unanswerable questions like “What is the sound of one hand clapping”. These questions are called Koan.

11) Nike, apart from being the Greek goddess of victory is also the world’s largest sporting apparel company. Well, what or who is an Ekin?

Ans: A type of Nike employee, what the company calls a sports evangelist – they do nothing but spread the word about sports & the company – a sign of their loyalty is a ’swoosh’ tattooed on their ankles.

12) The British parliament has a guideline saying that all speeches should he relevant, non-repetitive and short. What has evolved from this guideline?

Ans: “Just A Minute” competitions.

13) Which entertainment icon – a fictional figure – has generated billions of dollars of revenue for its creators by virtue of being a curious plumber?

Super Mario.

14) . Ra, Bha, Tha and Gan are some islands in which group?

Ans: The Maldives.

15) In cricket, what do the term spectacles mean?

Ans: A duck in each innings.

16) Why was the NGO “Smile Train” in news recently?

Ans: It is an NGO that carries out free surgeries for children with cleft lip deformity . The Oscar winning documentary, ‘Smile Pinky’ was based on true life work carried out by the NGO.

*17) The Hashemite dynasty rules over which country?

Ans: Jordan.

18) Japanese scientists have developed a new use for used Oyster Shells. What is it?

Ans: For cleaning toilet water and recycling it (just”TOILETS” will do).

*19) De Beers diamond was a centerpiece of which famous Indian jewellery set?

Ans: The Patiala Necklace of the Royal Family of Patiala

20) Why was the Pearl carpet of Baroda commissioned by Maharaja Sayaji Rao Gaekwad?

Ans: For gifting it to the tomb of Prophet Mohammed at Medina.

21) What is Charles “Pete” Conrad’s claim to fame?

Ans: He’s the 3rd man to walk on moon.

22) With which object was Leon Trotsky assassinated?

Ans: Icepick.

23) In BitTorrent terminology, what is initiated when certain clients like Azureus or µTorrent try to go into a mode where they send out pieces of a new or re-seeded torrent that have never been sent out before, supposedly making the initial transmission of the file much faster?

Hint: This becomes significantly less effective and may even reduce performance when some peers have poor or limited connectivity.

Ans: Super Seeding.

24) His earliest fascination was with a short-wave radio his grandparents bought for him and he recalls that talking to people without the use of wires felt like “magic.” At 14, he printed Biorhythms at the local university and sold them for $30 each. At 16, he founded a ski club and took a group of 50-60 children to ski by his house in Buffalo every week. His meeting Mark Hurst at an office where he worked as Book Packager after leaving Spinnaker Software in 1986, led to founding Yoyodyne, one of the first online marketing companies and it was here that he came up with the concept of “permission marketing”. Identify this American author of business books and a popular speaker.

Ans: Seth Godin.

*25) Indian mythology: When Dwaraka was being destroyed, Krishna asked his cousin Udhdhava to seek the help of 2 gods and to get them to find a new location for his image which was restored in that temple. The new place that the two gods selected is named after them. Which place?

Ans: Guruvayoor.