Quiz

Chhota Quiz

If Copy, Gopi (a name) and Gobi (the vegetable) all sound the same when pronounced in the local tongue, where are you?

Prize: Free trip on the next Mangalyaan (Mars tripper)

Hint: Not in the same place where Bus and Boss would sound the same (bonus for guessing both- a free CD of all of Arnab Goswami debates to carry with you on the free trip, so you don't miss home)

General Knowledge Quiz on Cities

This is an original quiz to test your GK about cities. You have to differentiate between the named locations (describe them) and name the cities too. Prizes will run into millions of derivative-linked bonds (if there is such a thing).

1. Tarbund and Tank bund

2. Shaniwarwada and Tulsibaug

3. Sector 1 and Sector 2

4. Tollygunge and Ballygunge

5. Kilpauk and Chepauk

6. Hinjewadi and Balewadi

7. Crawford Market and Opera House

8. Fashion Street and Fergusson College Road (hint: not in the same city)

9. Malaparamba and Kunnamangalam (hint: very Zimble)

10. Itwari and Bardi (also spelt Buldi, don't know why)

Keep the coming!

A Quiz- Bollywood Music

What is common to these songs?

1. Baharon ki baaraat aa gayi, khushi ko leke saath aa gayi- from Yakeen, starring Dharmendra

2. Pukarta chala hun main, gali gali bahaar ki- Biswajeet (in Mere Sanam)

3. Chala jaata hun kisi ki dhun mein dhadakte dil ke, taraane liye- Rajesh Khanna in Mere Jeevan Saathi

4. Mere sapnon ki raani kab aayegi tu- Rajesh Khanna in Aaradhana

5. Babuuuu, samjho ishaare, horn pukaare pum, pum, pum,..from Chalti ka naam gaadi with Kishore, Ashok and Anoop Kumar.

6. Kaun hai jo sapnon mein aaya, kaun hai jo dil mein samaaya..from Jhuk Gaya Aasmaan

Guesses welcome. Grand Prize- a trip for two on Kingfisher Airlines.

General Knowledge Gets Tough

In the old days (as in my school or college days), I used to be a quizzer. One had to be thorough with the number of states India had, their Governors, Chief Ministers, locations of all UN Head Offices, and a few sundry country names and capitals, and you were OK for about 80% of the questions. But it can be quite a trauma for today's G.K. quizzers, I can see.

You need to still know all the above (which gets tougher with more states and wannabe states getting added on), and what's more, you need to know all the major goings on in the EPL, the IPL, and everything in between. Who got charged with molesting X, Y, Z, could be the question, and more likely than not, it would be an IPL player. So you have to be in the know, you see. Or, who got into a brawl at Wan-khede? The answer to that would be the Khan without a hit- what a 'misfit' for a brawl! Being used to hits, this was the only way to get a sure thing. Gotta excuse him his minor fracas.

Or, take the latest. You also may get asked- Who Decided to Get Down to Their Birthday Suit to celebrate the victory of Kolkata Knight Riders? Oh, the things you need to keep abreast of. And after all that, if you do win the thing (the quiz, in case you are now distracted by irrelevant things), you may have to be mentally prepared, coz someone may do the Full Monty to celebrate that!

The Author-answer to the quiz

The two long passages that I quoted in my last blog were by a fairly ancient author not too many of us would be currently aware of. Marcel Proust is his name. He was French, lived a fairly long time ago and wrote a very, very long novel which ran into many volumes, among other writings.

His thoughts on living and various aspects of life have been summarised by Alain De Botton (not Bottom, please note) in a marvelous book called "How Proust Can Change Your LIfe." I would recommend this to anyone who has the time. Proust's views on original use of words by a writer (rather than cliched expressions) is indeed eye-opening for an occasional author like me. So are his thoughts on what could make love successful (apparently, its denial), and many such gems that probably require savouring. His take on kissing was so funny as to be an ROFL, to use Facebook jargon.

I think I had read another book by Alain De Botton on Philosophy and Status before this, which was also good.

Guess the Author

"That abominable and sensual act called reading the newspaper, thanks to which all the misfortunes and cataclysms in the universe over the last twenty-four hours, the battles which cost the lives of fifty thousand men, the murders, the strikes, the bankruptcies, the fires, the poisonings, the suicides, the divorces, the cruel emotions of statesmen and actors are transformed for us, who don't even care, into a morning treat, blending in wonderfully, in a particularly exciting and tonic way, with the recommended ingestion of a few sips of cafe au lait."

Who is the author of this? Answer will follow in my next blog. Hint- the following passage is also his.

"There are few things humans are more dedicated to than unhappiness. Had we been placed on earth by a malign creator for the exclusive purpose of suffering, we would have good reason to congratulate ourselves on our enthusiastic response to the task. Reasons to be inconsolable abound: the frailty of our bodies, the fickleness of love, the insincerities of social life, the compromises of friendship, the deadening effects of habit. In the face of such persistent ills, we might naturally expect that no event would be awaited with greater anticipation than the moment of our own extinction."