General Quiz

1. To mark 52 years of cooperation and friendship Nepal and Israel issued joint commemorative maps showcasing a Nepali mountain peak and an Israeli water body. What are these geographical entities? What is their peculiarity?

2. Who or what is a Denisovan?

3. Connect

1. 
   
   4.       Why are Aryabhatta and PSLV C 21 special missions for ISRO?
   5.      Identify the man.
   
   6. Why is the Buddhist Statue “Iran Man” unique?
    [Comicbook fans, re-read its Iran Man not Iron Man #sly]
   7. What distinct record did Hilary Mantel create when she won the Man Booker Prize 2012?
   8. Why was Shinichi Mochizuki in news recently?
   9. Identify the discoveries.
   
   Answers
   1. Mount Everest and Dead Sea – Highest and Lowest points in earth.
   2. Denisovans are a group of ancient and long extincted humans. Recently researchers reconstructed the entire genetic make up of a Denisovian girl who lived and died in a Siberian cave more than 50,000 years ago.
   3. Grunenthal is a West German Pharma company that had created the drug Thalidomide, which is the reason for birth defects in children born during late1950s andearly1960s. The incident is described as “one of the biggest medical tragedies of modern times.”
   4. 1st and 100th Missions of ISRO.
   5.He is Chris Stevens, the former US Ambassador to Libya, who was killed by terrorists in Benghazi.
   6. Iran Man,a Buddhist statue of Vaishravana, discovered by the Nazis in Tibet while searching for the origins of Aryan race, is the only such statue made out of a meteorite.
   7. Hillary Mantel became the first British author to win the Man Booker Prize twice consecutively for sequels of her novels – Wolf Hall(2011) and Bringing Up The Bodies (2012).
   P.S. – Excellent time pass for History buffs.
   8. She released a proof for the abc conjecture.
   9.
   i. Ada Lovelace – an English mathematician and writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s early mechanical general-purpose computer

   ii. Linus Pauling – one of the founders of the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular biology.

   Pauling is the only person to be awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes, one of only four individuals to have won more than one (Marie Curie, John Bardeen and Frederick Sanger are the others) and one of only two people awarded Nobel Prizes in different fields (the Chemistry and Peace prizes), the other being Marie Curie (the Chemistry and Physics prizes).*burn*

   iii. Benoit B. Mandelbrot  – Fractal Geometry
   (try to read it inWiki)

   iv. Alexander Graham Bell – credited with inventing the first practical telephone.

   v. Charles Darwin – originator of the theory of biological evolution by natural selection

   vi. James Clerk Maxwell – formulating classical electromagnetic theory. (My favourite Engineering subject) *Yeah, I am bragging, So what? *

   vii. Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper – She  developed the first compiler for a computer programming language, which led to the development of COBOL.

   viii. Richard Phillips Feynman – path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics

   ix. Alan Turing –  highly influential in the development of computer science, giving a formalisation of the concepts of “algorithm” and “computation” with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general purpose computer. Also onsidered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence.

   x. Gregor Mendel –  Mendel demonstrated that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants follows particular patterns, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance. Father of genetics.

   xi. Rosalind Franklin – best known for her work on the X-ray diffraction images of DNA which led to the discovery of DNA double helix.

   xii. Isaac Newton – The name says it all.

   xiii. Michael Faraday- an English chemist and physicist who discovered electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism, and laws of electrolysis. His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became viable for use in technology.

   xiv. Marie Curie – pioneer in the field of radioactivity, as well as the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes in both physics and chemistry.

   xv. Thomas Alva Edison – third most prolific inventor in history, holding 1,093 US patents in his name. Edison developed many devices including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and direct current (DC) power.

   xvi.  Nikola Tesla – one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity, inventor of alternating current electric power systems, wireless power transmission, the AC Motor, radio, x-ray, and contributor to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science.

   xvii.  John Bardeen – American physicist and inventor of the transistor – a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals – which basically makes all of our technology today possible!

   xviii. Albert Einstein – known for his theories of special relativity and general relativity.

   xix. Niels Bohr – made fundamental contributions to understanding atomic structure and devised the Bohr model of the atom, the theory that electrons travel in discrete orbits around the atom’s nucleus.

   xx.  J. Robert Oppenheimer –  American physicist and scientific director of the Manhattan Project, which led to him being remembered as “The Father of the Atomic Bomb”

   Visit – http://www.meganleestudio.com/ for the source picture. Interesting !

    

Mythology Quiz

Source

1. How is the Mahabharatha introduced to the readers? More specifically who narrates the story and where? P.S – I am not asking about Veda Vyasa and Ganesha .

2. Bhagavad Gita can be considered as a part of a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna or as an advice given to a confused Arjuna by Krishna. When this conversation was going on, it is said that time froze and hence not all were able to listen to the discourse.  Name those people in the epic Mahabharatha who actually heard this. 

3.

In Mahabharatha, only once does Shri Krishna become ferociously angry and try to attack a person, even though he had taken an oath that he will not be using weapons to attack any one. Whom did Lord Krishna try to attack?

4. _________ and ___________ did not join either side in Kurukshethra war. Fill up. I repeat “did not join either side, in thoughts and action” , not just on the war field. Dhritarashtra and Vidura are excluded since they are very obvious.

5. Who is Uloopi, Babruvahana, Chithrangada, Iravan and how are these people related?

6. Who is the only person who switched sides at the beginning of the war?

7. If Krishna was Parthasarathy who was Karnasarathy ? 

8. True or False.

• Arjuna laid Bhishma on a bed of arrows.
• Bhishma had got the power of “ichcha-mrityu” from his father Shanthanu.
• Bhishma is the 8th of the Ashta Vasus who is born as a human due to a curse.
• Before his death Bhishma advised Yudhisthira on “Raja Dharma”.
• A pre-condition for Bhishma’s confirmed presence in the war was that Karna will not participate in the war while he is in the war field

9.Match the following : –

10.Something is common to the role these 5 people played in the war. What is that? – Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Shalya, Ashwathama

12.Emperor of Nishada Kingdom, Nala is considered to be an extremely efficient chef. His story is so interesting that even in Kathakali there is a separate work called “Nala Charitam” which runs for 4 days. What forced Nala, a Kshatriya king, to become a chef and a charioteer?

13.Who are the two vulture demi-gods who helped Sri Ram at some point or the other in his pursuit for Sita ?

14. Why is Ganga known as Bhagirathi?

15. Kalidasa’s Raghu Vamsha, among many kings, also deals with Emperor Raghu, great grandfather of Sri Ram, had an empire vast enough including Transoxiana ; the ancient name used for the portion of Central Asia corresponding with modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Kyrgystan and southwest Kazakhstan. What does Kalidasa’s another work Shakunthalam deals with? How does this story lead to Mahabharatha?

16. How is Hanuman’s only son related to Ravana’s one of the most prominent sons?

17. Indra’s vajrayuda is made up of ?

18. In 1947, the TIME Magazine cover depicted a self-hurting Kālī as a symbol of the partition of India. Like all husbands we find Lord Shiva falling on the feet of his wife, a ferociously angry Kali, in certain illustrations. Any explanations?

19.    Connect Lakshmi, Airavata, Parijat, Halahala . A single connection.

20.    Connect – Man with 10 Heads and the man with a 1000 arms.

Answer

1.The Mahabharata states that it was first recited to Janamejaya at the sarpa satra (snake sacrifice) by the sage Vaishampayana, who is the student of the original author Veda Vyasa. This incident is narrated by Ugrasrava Sauti in the conclave of sages held in Naimisharanya or Naimisha Forest.

2. Hanuman, Arjuna, Sanjaya and Barbarika, son of Ghatotkacha.



3. Bhishma.



4.Rukmi of Vidarbha, Balarama

5. Uloopi , the Naga princess and Chitrangadha, the Princess of Manipura are Arjuna’s wives, whom he married during the exile period. Iravan and Babruvahana are their sons from Arjuna respectively.

6. Yuyutsu, the Kaurava’s step brother and Dhritarashtra’s only son who survived the war.

7. King Shalya.

8. All true.

9. 1-A, 2-C, 3—D, 4-B, 5-E

10. Chronological of Commander in Chiefs of Kaurava Army.

11. Drona helped retrieve the ball of the Kuru Vamsha kids from a well along with his own ring which he had thrown in, uusing grass leading to his appointment as their guru.

12. Nala, Emperor of Nishada Kingdom (current day Aravalli ranges), was affected by demon Kali since he was not able to mary Damayanti, Nala’s wife. Nala – Damayanti is one of the prominent love stories in the puranas. 

13. Jatayu and Sampati

14. Rama’s one of the forefather’s Bhagiratha brought Ganga from heaven  to earth for purifying his forefathers. The term “bhagiratha prayatna” is often used to denote an impossible, strenuous task.

15. Dushyanta and Shakuntala. Bharatha is their son whose descendants are the main characters of Mahabharatha epic.

16. Makaradhwaja , Hanuman’s only son was the main gaurd of Mahiravana’s (Ravana’s Son, King of Patala World) empire. Mahiravana had abducted Rama and Lakshmana so that he can give them as “bali” to Goddess Kali.

17. Dadichi Maharshi’s Bones.

18. After killing the evil demon Raktabija, who duplicates every time his blood falls on earth, a delirious Kali start dancing in rage on the corpse of the evil demon. To calm her down Shiva lies down on the floor/falls on her feet.

19. All emerged from Churning of the Kshir Sagar / Paal Aazhi

20.The man with ten heads, Ravana, before meeting his end at Ram’s hand was a powerful king since he had got blessing from Lord Shiva. The only human king who is said to have defeated him is Kartavirya Arjuna, King of Mahishamati (who was later killed by Parashurama). He had a 1000 hands.