Quiz 6

This quiz is from Rahul Girish Kumar, currently warming the benches of Satyam Technologies, Hyderabad :)
Please send in your comments, suggestions and answers to rahulgirishkumar@yahoo.co.in
(posted on August 18, 2007)

1. This man really had the luck of the devil..He was the only European to survive a major debacle. A part of his skull had been sheared away by the bad guys in the 'debacle' mentioned. He later survived the Siege of the Lucknow residency during the 1857 revolt,in which he was badly wounded. He has inspired a famous painting by the Victorian artist, Lady Elizabeth Butler,. He is also the inspiration behind a very popular literary character. Which character? (Name the real life person as well, for a bonus!)

2. Connect the Krupps arms factory based in Essen,Germany to the cricketer Clive Lloyd.[Hint : the connect is a piece of hardware ! :D ]

3.This city was briefly named 'Ferozabad' by a muslim ruler who captured it. But he was unable to hold on to the place for long, and soon after,its name was changed back to the original. The native rulers of this place had a title which means "one who has the ocean as his border". Which place?

4. Here's one for the military-special ops freaks... This guy was incredible..joined the defence Forces of his nation in 1964 and excelled in the Officer Training Course. He was eventually given command of a paratroopers company in june 5, 1967, during a major battle in his country's history. After the war, he went to Harvard on a scholarship. He took classes in Philosophy and Mathematics. He excelled in both and was on the Dean's List at the end of his first year.In early 1969, he decided to leave his studies and return to the army to protect his country. In 1973,following another war, he was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service,the highest military honour in his nation. He was killed in action in 1976 while commanding the forces in an event which is considered one of the greatest raids of all time. Who?

5. He was awarded the nobel prize in physics for his work in Electro weak- Theory which provides the mathematical basis for interactions between Electromagnetic and weak interactions, the latest stage in the effort to provide a unified description of the four fundamental forces of nature.The validity of the theory was ascertained through experiments carried out at the Super Proton Synchrotron facility at CERN, particularly, through the discovery of the W and Z bosons.He was also the founder and director of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) ,Trieste,Italy. Who?
Hint: He was the first and till now, the only, Nobel laureate from his country.

6. Latin American or 'Laevo American' politics .Who is the founder of the Communist Party of Mexico? (He was an Asian :))

7. At the age of fourteen he formed his first band, "Les Cinq Etoiles" (French for "The Five Stars"), and began playing at wedding parties and local cabarets. He recorded his first solo single, "Trigue Lycée" ("Road to High School"), at age fourteen and soon became involved with the early-1980s changes in the Raï sound, incorporating western instruments and studio techniques with the traditional Rai style of music( "khalbali... " in RDB belongs to the Rai genre)
In 1992, he released his self-titled album which made his reputation - in particular, through a song which is mainly about eve-teasing. He is also probably the most famous Algerian alive. who?

8. Legend has it that a 17th century captain named Bernard Fokke is the model for the captain of the _________. Fokke was renowned for the uncanny speed of his trips from to Java and was suspected of being in league with the devil to achieve this speed..Another version says that the inspiraition behind ________ is Captain Hendrik van der Decken.He was a staunch seaman, and would have his own way in spite of the devil. For all that, never a sailor under him had reason to complain; though how it is on board with them nobody knows. What is being described here?

9. "There was a man in Paris who made the experience of hypnotism public. Every day, some 60 people used to gather at his residence and it was rare among these, that there were not at least five or six people who were susceptible to fall into a hypnotic trance. He would openly declare that he did not possess any secrets nor any extraordinary powers, and that everything he achieved was dependent on the will of the persons he was performing upon."
Which famous indian (Indo-Portugese, to be exact) is being talked about here?
(He also inspired a character in a famous literary work)

10.Legends vary as to the methods used to induct members into this quasi-religious political organization. One such legend , as recorded by Marco Polo ,is that future _________ was subjected to rites similar to those of other cults in which the subject was made to believe that he was in imminent danger of death. But the twist was that they drugged the person to simulate a "dying" to later have them awaken in a garden flowing with wine and served a sumptuous feast by virgins. The supplicant was then convinced he was in Heaven and that the cult's leader, was a representative of the divinity and that all of his orders should be followed, even unto death. Which cult/sect is being described here?

11. Created by enslaved Africans during the 19th Century, this art form has 3 main styles - 'regional' , 'Angola' , and the less-well defined "contemporânea".
This was originally a kind of courtship dance used by young men to impress the women. later on, it was banned by the Portuguese but the slaves practiced it in secret and disguised some moves to look like harmless dance moves.The game is marked by fluid and spectacular acrobatic play, feints, subterfuge, and extensive use of groundwork, as well as sweeps, kicks, and headbutts. Less frequently, elbow-strikes, slaps, punches, and body-throws are used. Name this art form.

12. __________ was a cousin of the twenty-second Jain Tirthankara, Neminatha. His story is also mentioned in the Jataka tales in Bddhism in the Ghatapandita Jataka, as a prince and legendary conqueror and king of India.
Bahá'ís believe that he was a "divine manifestation" or "one in a line of prophets who have revealed the Word of God progressively for a gradually maturing humanity". A certain sect of the Islam believes that he was a prophet of the god. He was canonized by Aleister Crowley and is recognized as a saint in the Gnostic Mass of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica. Who ?

"SHAMBO MAHADEVAAAAAAA!!"

-RGK

Answers:

1. Dr. William Brydon, the only survivor of the Afghan war inspired the character of Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes series.

2. Big Bertha. It was the nickname of Lloyd's bat. The weapon of the same name was manufactured by Krupps.

3. Calicut/Kozhikode. Saamoothiri or Zamorin, literally means, "one who has the ocean as his border".

4. Jonathan Netanyahu, brother of former Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. Jonathan died during the Israeli raid on Entebbe airport in Uganda.

5. Dr. Abdus Salaam of Pakistan.

6. M.N.Roy

7. Khalid of "Di Di" fame.

8. The Flying Dutchman.

9. Dr Abbe Faria, the psychiatrist. He was from Goa and inspired the character in "The Count of Monte Christo."

10. Assasins/ Hasheesheens.

11. This is Capoeira...popularly known as a Brazilian martial art, seen in Vengaboyz.

12. Lord Krishna.

Scores will be displayed shortly.