asiasweep 2015 questions only
TRANSCRIPT
ASIASWEEP 2015
ASIASWEEP 2015
ASIASWEEP 2015The Arun Veembur Memorial Quiz
Researched byDibyendu Das
Arul Mani
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Rules: 100 points + occasional bonuses1. Section I: 30 X 1-pointers=30
points2. Section II: 30 X 2-pointers=60
points3. Section III: Two themes
4 X 1-pointers+1 for theme=5 points
4X1-pointers+1 for theme=5 points
No halves anywhere
>
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Section I30 questions carrying 1 point each
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Started by Yo-Yo Ma, this ensemble uses various instruments from the area, including a pipa, a duduk, and a morin khuur, among others. Name the ensemble –the choice of instruments should tell you to take a historical guess.
Qn 1.
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Iran’s professional racing car driver, Laleh Seddigh, is the only female driver who has been given permission by the authorities to race with the men. Her nickname, ‘Little ___________________, refers to which sporting great ?
Qn 2.
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It is the oldest of its kind in China, and was put up in 996 AD, during the rule of the Liao dynasty. It is usually called the Niujie, after the Beijing area where it is located. Look at the two views, and tell us what it is.
Qn 3.
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Which real-life person have all of them played on screen ?
Qn 4.
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It is said to be the ‘oldest living city on Earth’. This might be a difficult claim to verify, but it is widely believed the site has been continually inhabited for about 7000 years. The principal architectural marvel of the city is this square where Taiiyeh, a cycle of passion plays commemorating the martyrdom of the third Imam, Hossein were enacted. Name the city.
Qn 5.
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This crime thriller features a villain, Ausi, who is a gifted spin bowler. The character is loosely based on the real-life Omar Saeed Sheikh, a jihadi convicted of killing whom ?
Qn 6.
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Created by the French luxury furniture company, Roche Bobois, and designed by Hans Hopfer, what is the name given to this iconic sofa ? Use the book on the right as clue.
Qn 7.
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Considered to be the first armoured ships, these were used by the Royal Korean Navy during the Joseon dynasty from the early 15th century up until the 19th century. Their most distinguishable feature was a dragon-shaped head at the bow that could launch cannon fire or flames from the mouth. Which animal is referenced in the name given to these ships ?
Qn 8.
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Qn 9.
This stamp pays tribute to a Timurid monarch and his achievement. Just name the monarch.
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Qn 9.
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In 2012, Shinichi Mochizuki released a series of four papers, running to 500 pages, containing a claim to a proof of the ___ conjecture in number theory proposed by Joseph Oesterlé and David Masser. The official declaration of the proof is not expected before the late 2010s as the experts are still validating it. Mochizuki has estimated that it would take an expert some 500 hours to understand his work, and a maths graduate student about ten years. So far, only four mathematicians say that they have been able to read the entire proof. Fill up the blank that consists of three consecutive letters of the English alphabet.
Qn 10.
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The plot of this series is built around a historic event – the Siege of Baghdad by Mongols in 1258. During the battle, so many books were thrown into the Tigris River that the waters were said to have turned black with ink. What the Mongols did not know was that the librarians, the huras al-hikma, had hidden the library’s ancient knowledge in several mystical gemstones, called the Noor Stones. The huras then took the Noor Stones to safety in Granada. Cut to the present and these stones are possessed by young folks who hold special powers. Which series ?
Qn 11.
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The Government of a certain country plans to launch a website to crowd-source tips on the whereabouts of about 200 missing artworks that were owned by a person who left abruptly nearly 30 years ago.
This includes paintings by Van Gogh, Picasso, Rembrandt, Monet, Alfred Sisley, Raphael, Botticelli, Canaletto, and Michelangelo.
Who owns/owned these artworks ?
Qn 12.
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Every year the Tenggerese Hindu worshippers gather at the crater of Mount Bromo during the Yadnya Kasada Festival on Aug. 1, 2015, in Probolinggo, East Java, Indonesia. Offerings of food and livestock or money are made to Hindu gods at the active volcano to ask for blessings and assure a bountiful harvest. The name Bromo is derived from the Javan pronunciation of what?
Qn 13.
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Qn 13.
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Whose 108-month reign as the World No. 1 was ended by this Egyptian player named Raneem El Weleily?
Qn 14.
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What is being collected from plants of the genus Toxicodendron, for use as the principal element of a traditional craft in Japan?
Qn 15.
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A Common Man is a 2013 thriller film starring Ben Kingsley and Ben Cross and directed by Lankan filmmaker Chandran Rutnam. The film is an official remake of __ ____________, with the locations of interest being a public bus, a shopping mall, Polgoda police station, an intercity train, and the Katukurunda Airfield. Fill in the blanks,
Qn 16.
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Inspired by the author’s childhood, The Sandwich Swap tells of two girls, Lily and Salma, who are best friends. They share everything except lunch. One has a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the other a hummus and pita sandwich, and they both think the other’s food looks “gross”! They argue over this and it gets a little bit messy, but eventually they overcome their differences and embrace diversity. The book was a New York Times bestseller, reaching the number one spot for children’s books in 2010. Name the author who is a first lady.
Qn 17.
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Whose collaborations with Louis Vuitton, Kanye West and Pharell Williams ?
Qn 18.
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The point of dispute was whether the 30-year-old celebrity and her husband-to-be, a billionaire businessman, should have the airspace above their 2015 nuptials at a resort (shown below) closed to all but a fleet of five drones, two helicopters and a hot air balloon. The request by the couple sparked a series of public recriminations between the transport minister, and the aviation authority head.
Name the celebrity.
Qn 19.
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Qn 20.
In which Asian capital city would you find this statue?
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Qn 21.
The stamp pays tribute to a species that takes part of its name from the only peninsula in Asia where it is found, and part from a Greek word meaning ‘pick-axe’, a reference to its pointed horns. What is the two-word name?
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Qn 22.
Kenji Ekuan, the designer behind the Kikkoman soy sauce bottle, has written a book-length essay about a certain artifact.
Visually it offers a mandala for contemplation, while its four-part structure may also remind the user of the seasons, or even variations of landscape in the archipelago. It highlights system as a means of problem-solving, and symbolises a culture where limited space calls for the elimination of excess.
What is this artifact?
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Qn 23.
The Mongols relied on a borrowed innovation which allowed them the stability to shoot in any direction.
As Paul Theroux puts it, “The Mongols reached the eastern limits of China. They rode to Afghanistan. They rode to Poland. They sacked Moscow, Warsaw and Vienna. They had X--they introduced X to Europe (and in that they made jousting possible, and perhaps started the Age of Chivalry).“
What was this innovation X?
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Qn 24.
The objects shown here have the dual function of celebrating agriculture and harvest, and serving as reminder of days of wandering. One of them requires close scrutiny for beauty.In which festival?
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Qn 25.
Those who appear in this ad campaign should have been actual users. They get no payment—but donations to their favourite charities, and discounts on future visits.
It is a campaign of many firsts. When it was launched in 2000, it was the first to be shot digitally. The baseline refers to the logo, and to the great loyalty the celebrity feels to the business.
Those who’ve appeared in the campaign include Sophie Marceau and Michelle Yeoh, fashion designers Vivienne Tam and Christian Louboutin, author Frederick Forsyth, architect I.M. Pei, musicians Bryan Ferry and Hélène Grimaud and actress Caterina Murino. Campaign for whom?
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Qn 26.
What buzzword, often heard in connection with doing business in China, do these characters represent?
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Qn 27.
The term generally denotes a “shaking off”, as in dust from one’s feet, or water off one’s back.
Apart from the three specific events of 1987, 2000 and 2014-15 to which it is applied, it may also be used to describe events in Lebanon following Rafiq Harari’s assassination that led to Syria pulling out.
It has also been used for the 1991 uprisings against Saddam in Iraq, and for the successful bits of the Arab Spring. What term?
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Qn 28.
Leonid Kulik, who led the first team to reach the location in 1927, found that locals did not want to talk, in spite of the many years that had passed. They believed that the 1908 event was a visitation by the angry god Ogdy.
The team eventually described their arrival at ground zero in the evocative phrase ‘a forest of telephone poles’. Limbs and bark had been ripped off the trees in this area.
What event?
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Qn 29.
Her stage-name illustrates the interplay of ethnicities in the region. Born Faegeh Atashin, her parents were of Azeri origin, from the former Soviet Union. The stage-name comes from a childhood playmate of Armenian origin. She couldn’t legally take the name because it was a boy’s name, but could perform using it. What is this name?
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Qn 30.
They began in 1986, and were first held at a city that had also hosted the Olympics. The next edition, in 2017, will be held in the same city. Either name the city or identify what we are talking about.
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ANSWER
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Section II30 questions carrying 2 points each
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For Chinese college going students, succeeding in the Gaokao entrance examination is compared to this Asian fish jumping over the Dragon Gate. According to myth when this fish in the Yellow River jump over the Dragon Gate (which is a grand waterfall), they transform into dragons. Identify this fish. Also name the fictional character based on the same fish (part of a hugely popular card game and series).
Qn 1.
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In a room in the hotel shown below, which Booz Allen analyst talked to Laura Poitras over a period of 8 days and what resulted ?
Qn 2.
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Overlooking the Alborz Mountains, this region is known as the ‘Valley of the _____’. The lady on the right brought attention to the region through her travels and a book she wrote in 1934. Fill up the blank and name the lady.
Qn 3.
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The creator took down his popular game from Apple's App Store and Google Play in 2014 with this Twitter message : "I am sorry ‘___ ____' users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘____ ___' down. I cannot take this anymore.“ However, he came back with a new game later in the year called Swing Copters. Name the creator and fill up the blanks.
Qn 4.
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Considered the most formidable spy of all time by Tom Clancy and Ian Fleming, he was the leader of a Tokyo Spy Ring in the mid-1930s, passing on information to Soviet Union. But his brilliant spying career came to an end in 1941, when Japanese counterintelligence exposed his operation and arrested him, along with 34 members of his ring. He was finally hanged in 1944. Soviet Union issued a stamp in his honor – a rarity for a spy. A) Name him B) Name the manga creator who used the spy as part of his book Adolf.
Qn 5.
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Who connects all these Asian clubs and which Asian club is missing from the list ?
Qn 6.
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These strange-looking trees are endemic to which island on the Arabian Sea ? Which country is this island a part of ?
Qn 7.
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Qn 8.
The IATA code for this airport is still SGN—it hasn’t changed to reflect shifts of political power or ideology.
Which city? Explain what this is about.
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Qn 9.
When Granta asked him to write a piece about how to write about his country, he produced a list which began a) must have mangoes, b) must have maids who serve mangoes, and c) Maids must have affairs with men who steal mangoes.
Who is this author?
The title of this book of essays riffs on a famous 1929 book’s title. Name the author of that book as well.
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ANSWER
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Qn 10.
Originally applied as a racial term in Roman times for those from the Mauretania region, it exists in English as well now.
A form of the word is today applied in an Asian country to people from Sulu and Palawan, who happen to be connected by ethnicity but separated by religion.
What is the English term?Name either the Asian country, or the term used there.
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Qn 11. Two excerpts from the volume Memory for Forgetfulness, his response to the traumatic events of 1982. “The sky of X is a huge dome made of dark sheet metal. The horizon is like a slate of clear gray, nothing coloring it save the playful jets. … I can, if I want, take chalk in hand and write whatever I wish on the slate. A whim takes hold of me. What would I write if I were to go up to the roof of a tall building? “They shall not pass”? It’s already been said. “May we face death, but long live the homeland”? That’s been said before. “Hiroshima”? That too has been said. The letters have all slipped out of my memory and fingers. I’ve forgotten the alphabet. All I remember are these six letters _ _ _ _ _ _.
“Yet how she resists the joining together of words, even those with similar meter and rhyme: _ _ _ _ _ _, yaqoot, taboot—“: _ _ _ _ _ _, sapphire, coffin!”: Name the writer. Also identify the city.
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Qn 12.
The name comes from a local word for ‘grinding’ and refers to a process of slow cooking, accompanied by non-stop churning/turning.
The combination of coconut milk and spices like garlic, galangal, turmeric leaves, lemongrass and ginger serves to preserve the meat from microbial action.
What is this name? Also identify the Indonesian community who perfected this method.
VISUAL follows
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ANSWER
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Qn 13.
When the New York Times asked her about this trademark preference, she said it is a gesture she makes in honor of her assassinated father, who was killed in 1947, when she was 2 years old. She apparently remembers him threading them in the head for her.
Who? What preference is this?
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Qn 14.
They take their name from the Greek for “rose tree”. Which country’s flag, by specification, must match the red of these blossoms?
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ANSWER
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Qn 15.
Small groups are found in the river Mahakam of Indonesian Borneo, the Mekong Delta of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. They are also reported in isolated brackish-water bodies, such as Chilka Lake in India and Songkhla Lake in Thailand. The species name brevirostris refers to the rather short beak that it has.
The French term for this species is also the name for the zero-emission ship designed by the firm Wallenius Wilhelmsen. This craft use sails, solar panels and wave energy converters to further extract hydrogen from water with the aid of fuel cell technology. Visual follows.
Which species? What is the alternative term?
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ANSWER
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Qn 16.
A famous prisoner once quoted these lines while talking about how he found the Himalayas inspiring:
“Flocks of birds have flown high and away A solitary cloud too has gone wandering on And I sit alone with the Ching Ting peak towering beyond We never grow tired of each other the mountain and I.”
The poet who wrote these lines used a name meaning ‘White Plum’. A later poet who admired his gifts, wrote under the pen-name Tosei, meaning “Green Peach”, in tribute.
Identify both poets, and for a bonus point, name the prisoner.
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Qn 17.
Smoked Omul fish and Baltica beer are one of the cheaper ways of dealing with the rigours of confinement, according to regulars. The Omul is found only in one water-body. Regulars where? And where is the Omul normally found?
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Qn 18.
The one ascending bears a name meaning ‘black’, and the other is known by a name meaning ‘parent’ because of its high nutrient content. Their encounter produces conditions that make life livable , in more ways than one, in the entire region. What are we talking about?
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ANSWER
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Qn 19.
Two views of a tomb devoted to a writer who may have defined his nation’s sense of self. The tomb is located in a town where the Imam Reza was martyred, and where a king with a connection to India based his capital. Name the writer and the town or the king with the India connection.
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ANSWER
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Qn 20.
The area in dark green was traditionally known by a name meaning ‘barrier’, while the other, marked in light green, was known by a name meaning ‘raised’, perhaps because it was dominated by a plateau. These names continued to be bandied about among students of world affairs til the 1930s. What are these two names?
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ANSWER
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Qn 21.
What you see is the poster for a Russian version of a 1959 socialist epic, titled Jaago Hua Savera. Directed by AJ Kardar, with cinematography by Walter Lassally, and music by Timir Baran, it was a West-meets-East venture in more ways than one. This resulted in its being a bit of a linguistic flop, according to some, though it was the first film from this country to win international recognition—at the Moscow Film Festival.
Who wrote the script and the dialogues for this film? And what well-known novel was it based on?
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ANSWER
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Qn 22.
While the two terms refer to unrelated items from neighbouring cuisines, they may be etymologically linked.
One school holds that a Pali term for bringing disparate elements together is the source, while another believes that a Tamizh word meaning ‘to grind and make a paste out of’ is the link.
In English, the two terms usually have at least their first four letters in common. Name both.
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Qn 23.
Who does this stamp pay tribute to? What event does it also refer to?
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Qn 24.
This community forms one of the stray remnants of a once-proud religious and intellectual tradition. They are found in small numbers today in Iran and Iraq, and take their name from the Aramaic word for ‘knowledge’.
They are usually a persecuted religious minority since they choose to revere Adam, Seth, Noah, but don't accept Abraham, Moses or Jesus as authority-figures. Name the community. What Greek equivalent of the Aramaic term would once have been applied to them?
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Qn 25.
In tribute to Abu Jafar Mohammad ibn Musa, a statue with his visage stands outside the Mohammad Aminkhan Madrasa, named after the ruler who had the ambition of building the biggest Madrasa in Central Asia.
How do we know Abu Jar ibn Musa better? Which city in Central Asia paid tribute to him thus?
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Qn 26.
He won the James Tait Black prize in 2015 for his first novel In the Light of What We Know. Characters in the book share a fascination for this idea: "Within any given system, there are claims which are true but which cannot be proven to be true.” Reviewing the novel in The New Yorker, James Wood wrote that this elegant proof hangs over the novel like an intellectual rainbow.
Name the writer. How do we better know this idea?
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ANSWER
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Qn 27.
This dainty creature is both the logo and the shape and name of the award given out at a film festival held religiously every year from 1 Feb to 11 Feb in honour of events precipitated by the arrival of an Air France flight in 1979.
Which film festival? What is the award/logo based on? And for bonuses, what did Air France do?
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ANSWER
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Qn 28.
The partnership between this actor-director duo began with a 2009 film that takes its title from a rite of passage that involves making a journey .
Name either actor or director. Also name the 2009 film. For bonuses, name the martial art style that their films brought international recognition to.
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ANSWER
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Qn 29.
The 19-century strategist who coined the term meant it to apply only to modern Iran.
Valentine Chirol, who made it popular, applied the term to Iran, Iraq, the east coast of Arabia, Afghanistan, and Tibet.
Around World War I, as a survey of Churchill’s letters might reveal, the term indicated the Suez Canal, Sinai, Arabia, and the newly created states of Iraq, Palestine, and Trans-Jordan.
What term? Who was the strategist who coined it?
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Qn 30.
He writes under the name Shobashakti. His autobiographical first novel, Gorilla, features an alter-ego named Rocky Raj who lives in a European city, washes dishes in fast-food joints, and works in supermarkets.
Who? Why has he been in the news otherwise?
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Section IIIThemes
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Qn 1.
Which series does this book bring to an end?
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Qn 2.
What name has been blanked out here? What historical event do these panels purport to represent?
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Qn 3.
What empire, in its heyday around AD 850?
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Qn 4.
Identify this species, often considered the biggest freshwater fish in the world. Two-word answer required.
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ANSWER theme under Q. no 5
Qn 5.
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Theme II
Qn 5.
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Qn 1.
A Greek term meaning ‘things chosen’ has come to be the default name for a volume whose title Lunyu, would translate as ‘edited conversations’.
What is this Greek term? Who wrote the Lunyu?
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Qn 2.
A province in the Philippines shares, quite accidentally, its name with an ancient kingdom in India’s east. What is this name?
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Qn 3.
This 15th century king has the title ‘the great’ attached to his name. Probably well-deserved, for he took an unusual step in 1446 to unify his country. Who? What did he do?
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Qn 4.
Portugal issued this stamp to honour the 1000th anniversary of his Canon of Medicine. Who?
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ANSWER theme under Q. no 5
Qn 5.