PHAG

● The theme of the quiz is Politics, War and
Military History, Art and Geography.
● There are 3 rounds (24 questions) in the
quiz.
● Pass + Pounce format will be followed.

Special Thanks
● Sandipan Goswami

● Round I: Clockwise
● 8 questions.
● +10 for each correct answer.
● +10/-5 on pounce.
● No part pounce.

● Name all incumbent Indian-origin Prime Ministers around the world.
(1)

Answer:
Rishi Sunak (UK) Antonio Costa (Portugal) Pravind Jugnauth (Mauritius)

● During the WWII, a RAF gunner was captured in Germany and was interrogated
by the Gestapo for three weeks on suspiction of spying.
● Sitting in a solitary chair in a darkened room, all he could do was endlessly repeat
his name, rank and serial number. Luckily for him, his identity as a serviceman
was eventually confirmed and the interrogation ceased.
● Years later he drew on his memories of the Gestapo to create something that has
remained popular over the last five decades.
● What was his brainchild?
(2)

Answer:
BBC
Mastermind:The
long-running quiz
show since 1972

(3)
● This is an oil painting by the legendary Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma. The
painting depicts a lady playing a traditional South Indian stringed instrument that
produces soothing and melodious music. The name of the instrument sounds
similar to a very popular Indian drink which is often called the world’s first soft
drink ( you can't reject it on a hot summer’s day ). Name the instrument.
● The muse of the painting was a noted Indian Classical singer belonging to the
Bhendibazaar Gharana of Hindustani Classical music. In 1958, she became the
first woman to be awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship . Name her.

Answer:
A) Swarbat
B) Anjanibai Malpekar

● In a survey conducted by 'Mapping diversity' in 30 major European countries, Virgin
Mary tops the list.
● The rest of the top ten entries are Saint Anne, Marie Curie, Mary Magdalene, Teresa
of Avila, Catherine of Alexandria, Saint Barbara, Clare of Assisi, Saint Lucy, and
Martha. Hence except Marie Curie, rest are entirely religious figures.
● What is this survey all about?
(4)

Answer:
Streets named
after women.

(5)
● The United States Secret Service has a tradition of giving codenames to the President
and his family over the years.
● The 34th President of the US was given the appropriate code name 'Scorecard' for his
fondness for a target sport . He made great use of the sport to build relationships with
representatives from both major political parties in the US, as well as international
figures visiting the country.
● He, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, also happen to be the only US Presidents
with ____________, possibly the most magical thing that can happen in the sport.
● A) Which US President?
● B) FITB

Answer:
A) Dwight Eisenhower
B) Hole-in-one/ Ace
(Golf)

● Meldonium is a drug developed by Latvian Scientist Ivars Kalvins in the 1970s.
The drug enhances endurance and performance of the human body under extreme
conditions in high altitude mountain ranges and deserts.
● A) What purpose was the drug originally developed for?
● B) How did the drug make headlines in a completely different field in 2016 ?
(6)

Answer:
A) For the use of Soviet soldiers
during the Afghan–Soviet War
(1979-89).
B) Maria Sharapova’s failed drug
test in 2016.

● This monumental work depicts three major figure groups illustrating the
fundamental questions concerning the nature and meaning of life, explored by
the painter at a time of his personal hardship, which are posed in the title of it.
● The painting from right to left suggests the cycle of
BIRTH-EXISTENCE-DEATH.
● A) Give me the title of the painting taking the cycle as hint.
B) Who is the painter, having indirect connection with the most famous ear in
history ?
(7)

(8)
● Steve McCurry , an American photojournalist, was employed in Afghanistan during the
early years of the Afghan- Soviet war. In 1984, he stepped into an all-girls Islamic
religious school and there he took the photo of an eight-year-old student.
● The photograph became one of the most globally recognisable photographic portraits
ever taken. In light of the Cold War, the portrait was described as "The First World's
Third World Mona Lisa".
● Identify the photograph. Where did the photograph famously appear?

Answer:
The iconic ‘Afghan Girl’
photograph appeared on the
June 1985 cover of the
National Geographic.

● Round II
● Anti-clockwise
● 8 questions.
● +10 for each correct answer.
● +10/-5 on pounce.
● No part pounce.

● Ampelmann (literally little traffic light) is the symbol shown on pedestrian signals
in Germany. Prior to the German reunification in 1990, the West Germany had a
generic human figure and the East Germany had a male figure wearing a hat as
Ampelmann.
● The designer of the ampelmann of East Germany was apparantly inspired by a
photograph of the East German leader X enjoying the sunny weather wearing a
straw hat.
● X is also the part of the photograph of an iconic moment captured by
photographer Regis Bossu in the year 1979, where he and another famous Russian
leader were practicing a special form of greeting.
● A)Who is X? (Surname will do)
● B) Which iconic moment is being talked about here?
(9)

Answer:
A)Erich Honecker
B)The Socialist Kiss between
Leonid Brezhnev and
Honecker.

(10)
● The lady in the visual is Jocelyn Bell Burnell. She
discovered something in 1967, which was featured on
the iconic cover of the debut album of a British punk
band.
● The band borrowed their name from a slang word for
the Jewish female prisoners in the concentration camps
who were kept for the sexual pleasure of Nazi soldiers
during WWII.
● A) Identify the band.
● B) What discovery was featured on their debut album?

Answer:
A) Joy Division
B) Radio Pulsar

● The Treaty on the Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historic
Monuments is an international legal document, aimed at preserving the priceless
cultural treasures of the world. It is also known as the X Pact after the famous
Russian artist, scholar and thinker X who initiated its idea.
● In the 1970s, he became the only non - Indian to find his name on a list under The
Antiquities and Art Treasures Act passed by the Government of India. He
developed a deep and spiritual connection with India and the influence of the
Indian culture can be observed in many of his paintings.
● A) Id X.
● B) What is the list about?
(11)

Answer:
A) Nicholas Roerich
B) During the 1970s, the government of
India named nine artists whose
paintings were to be treated as
national treasures. So, Roerich is the
only non- Indian navratna of Indian
art world.

(12)
● Located in the world's second largest continent, this island was discovered by
Bartolomeu Dias in 1488. For many years, it was used by Portuguese navigators, later
by English and Dutch as a refueling station. The island was also used as an isolated
community for the people suffering from leprosy in the 19th century. The island was
declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the year 1999.
● However, the island came into prominence during the 1960s . What was the reason?

Answer: Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on
the island for 18 of the 27 years of his
imprisonment.

(13)
● This tale involves the love relationship between a mortal and a god, and is considered as one of
the great love stories of the ancient world. It comes to us from the ancient Roman novel
‘Metamorphoses’ by Apuleius, which was written in the latter half of the second century CE.
● In Assamese literature, the tale is immortalised in one of the books written by an eminent
politician, who played a very important role in the economic, socio-cultural and industrial
development of Assam in the post independence era.
● A)Which love story is being talked about?
● B) Name the famous politician.

Answer:
A) Cupid and Psyche
B) Hem Borua

(14)
● Operation _______ was a US bombing campaign conducted in eastern Cambodia
as a part of both the Vietnam War and the Cambodian Civil War.
● General Creighton Abrams planned to drop the bombs according to the timings of
an indispensible activity of human life. Due to this, the entire series of missions was
referred to as Operation _______, based on a piece of paper we recieve in
establishments related to the said activity.
● FITB

Answer: OPERATION MENU
The codenames for the missions were
breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, supper
and dessert. Hence the name.

(15)
● This is a painting from the mid-20th century, depicting a scene from a
contemporary conflict. This is one of the few explicitly political pieces by this
artist, though perhaps his most popular work would also fall under the same
genre .
● This work was influenced by another nearly century-and-a-half older famous
painting, similarly depicting the horrors of war.
● Name both the artists and the paintings. (2.5+2.5+2.5+2.5)

(16)
● The Conquered Lorikeet a Polynesian species of parrot that became extinct 700-1300
years ago.
● The scientific naming of the species is projected into the prehistoric situation in
which people came to the islands of the Polynesia region, saw the native parrots, and
then conquered them, leaving behind only the bones.
● What is the apt scientific/binomial name of this species of bird?

Answer: Vini Vidivici
A pun on Julius Caesar's epithet
"Veni, vidi, vici"
("I came, I saw, I conquered").

● Round III
● Open on pounce
● 8 questions.
● +10/-10
● No part pounce.

(17)
● N. Varadhan was the most famous barber of Ooty in the 1950s and his saloon
used to be a part of picnic tours offered to tourists visiting the hill station.
● The proudest moment of his life came in November 1955, when he was paid a
fairly good sum of Rs 100 for satisfactorily meeting the tonsorial requirements of
a group of dignitaries .
● A) Who were the dignitaries ?
● B) Why was their visit to India special?

A)The leaders of the Russian
Communist Party including the
then Soviet Prime Minister Nikolai
Bulganin and the then Communist
Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev.
B) This was the first official visit of
the Soviet leaders after India’s
Independence. It was also the first
time since the start of the Cold War
that Soviet leaders were visiting a
developing country that was not
socialist.
Answer:

● This colour was named after a village in Northern Italy, where a battle was fought
between the Franco-Sardinian Army and the Austrian Army in the mid 19 th
century, resulting in forty thousand casualties.
● The colour was named so because the dye of the color was discovered shortly after the
battle and supposedly the color represented how the battlefield appeared.
● Horrified by the suffering of the wounded soldiers left on the battlefield, a
compassionate humanitarian started campaign that eventually led to the
establishment of a world famous entity.
● A Give me the name of the Colour/Village/Battle.
B)Which world famous entity?
(18)

Answer:
A) Solferino (Solferino and Magenta are the only
two colours named after battles)
B) International Committee of Red Cross.

(19)
● Sportivo Pereyra is a football club from Barracas, a neighbourhood of Buenos
Aires.
● In 2014, the club decided to renovate their playing arena in a certain manner,
as they considered it a sacred temple of football . Noted graphic designer
Santiago Barbeito was tasked with this job.
● What did Barbeito do, which went viral four years later in 2018?

Answer: Created ‘The Sistine Chapel of Football’ (also
known as ‘The Creation of Football’), modelled on ‘The
Creation of Adam’ and featuring Maradona as father god
and Messi as his son, among other footballers.

● In Pre-Incan mythology, X was the God of rain and wind that
came from the North. He was a son of Inti (the sun god) and
Mama Killa (the moon goddess).
● In Maori mythology, Y is the first man ever on Earth.
Y also refers to stone or wooden carvings in humanoid form.
● How can we connect X and Y with an adventurous Journey by
certain Thor Heyerdahl and his team in the 1940s ?
(20)

Answer:
X:Kon
Y:Tiki
The Kon-Tiki expedition was a
1947 journey by raft across the
Pacific Ocean from South
America to the Polynesian islands,
led by Norwegian explorer Thor
Heyerdahl and his team. The raft
was named Kon-Tiki after the old
name of Inca god Viracocha.

(21)
● Born in 1894 in Jorhat, Lokheswar Baruah (vis) was inspired by Gandhiji’s
ideals and joined the freedom movement while doing graduation from Cotton
College.
● After completing graduation, he returned to his place Charigaon and continued
his fight against the British rule.
● During the Swaraj Movement in 1942, he dared to do something which went
on to become revolutionary in the context of the British ruled India.
● What did he do ?

Answer:
He declared the tiny Charigaon mouza as an
independent nation and himself as its
President in 1942.

● The factory of this multi-industry company was bombed twice during WW2 and
was virtually destroyed. The steel needed to rebuild the factory was not available as
it was being used for the weapons. But, the persistent and resilient founder of the
company found another way to rebuild his empire for which he thanked the then
US President Harry Truman .
● A) Which company? (5 letters)
● B) Why did the founder thank President Truman ?
22)

Answer:
A) Honda
B) US Airforce pilots threw away their used gasoline cans to get
rid of the weight. Honda collected the discarded gas cans
and used the steel to repair his factory which he called
‘little gifts from President Truman’.

(23)
‘Man Proposes, God Disposes’ is an 1864 oil-on-canvas painting by Edwin Landseer.
The work was inspired by the failed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain
Sir John Franklin which disappeared in the Arctic after 1845.
The painting has been hanging in the picture gallery at Royal Holloway College,
University of London ever since the institution was founded in 1886. But the authority
has to cover the painting with a Union Jack during certain times of the year for a very
funny reason. What reason?

Answer:
There is a legend among the
students that anyone sitting
in front of the painting
during an exam would fail it.

(24)
● The earliest known history of this food in Western Asia comes from the 10th
century Arabic cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh (The Book of Dishes) .
● According to some sources, its story began in Persia with an asymmetric floral
coil-patterned dessert made with honey and rose water.
● Which enormously popular food item is being talked about here?

While on patrol on the night of April 5, 1943, US Navy’s most decorated destroyer USS
O’Bannon made RADAR contact with a surfaced Japanese submarine, the RO-34 at a
range of 9,000 yards. Fearing an attack, the US Soldiers tried to elevate their deck guns to
the level of the sub, but failed due to the close distance.At last,the crew of the O’Bannon
began hurling an object at the RO-34 which the Japanese mistook for grenades . With
their enemy distracted, the O'Bannon sailed out into range of its deck guns and opened
fire and sank the submarine.
What was used by the US Soldiers as secret weapon that might remind you of a famous
painting by Vincent van Gogh depicting peasant life ?

PHAG

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