Saarang 2016 Travel and Living Quiz Prelims, with Answers

Shankar and Vishal

Rules

• 30 questions in the prelims • Please write all your names and Saarang IDs on your answer

sheet • No negatives, feel free to guess • Teams of 3 or less • Anyone found using any illegitimate means will be immediately

disqualified • Questions 11 to 17 are starred, they will be used to break ties • In case of persistent ties, sudden death will be used

1.

• The San Bernardino alle Ossa in Milan, Italy is a church. It is famous for a side chapel that has a unique feature.

• Given that the church is partially named after this feature of the side chapel, what is the claim to fame of this church? Or rather, what is the claim to fame of the side chapel?

1. Answer

• It’s an ossuary, meaning a chapel/chamber made entirely with human bones.

2.

• On the next slide you will see the flag of Grenada. It looks symmetric, except for a flame-shaped object on the left side.

• What does this object refer to, an important export of Grenada?

2.

2. Answer

• Nutmeg

3.

• Chinese Food Syndrome, or Chinese Restaurant Syndrome is a set of symptoms that some people show upon eating Chinese food. A certain additive to Chinese food X is blamed for this, although this fact is yet to be proved.

• One possible reason that X is responsible is that it is similar to one of the brain’s most crucial chemicals, glutamate.

• What is this additive in Chinese Food X?

3. Answer

• Monosodium glutamate - also known as MSG

4.

• “One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord—the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red.I sensed a ________ passing through nature”.

• What are we talking about, or FITB.

4. Answer

• The Scream, by Edvard Munch

5.

• It initially started off as a ‘circular note’, and later became known with the name it has now due to the trademark obtained by a certain company.

• In banking, a circular note is a document requested by a bank to its foreign correspondents to pay a specified sum of money to a named person.

• What is this ‘circular note’ known as today, and which company obtained the trademark for this name?

5. Answer

• Travelers Cheques, with the company being American Express

6.

• Called the Desertron by locals, this structure in Waxahachie, Texas is said to be a scar on American _______.

• Jim Slattery, a senator in the US, gave this project the moniker ‘luxury science’ and made it his pet project to defund (not defend) it.

• He succeeded, with the US preferring to pour its defence funds during the Cold War to the International Space Station.

• What is this structure?

6. Answer• The Superconducting Supercollider

7.

• X is a thoroughfare leading from Haymarket to the Parisian boulevard.

• XY is a road junction and public space of the city’s West End. The second part of the name, Y refers to the Latin for circle.

• X got its name from a certain type of collars that were tailored there. One might also know X by its rent of 22 pounds with no houses.

• Identify the iconic location, XY.

7. Answer

• Piccadilly Circus

8.

• This painter used to heavily load his paintings with varnish, hence long after he painted this iconic picture, it had gathered layers of dirt. It was christened by the name we know it by currently, but a controversy regarding the object that provided the illumination in the centre of the picture caused a prompt change in the first name.

• What iconic painting? Name the painter.

9. Answer

• Night Watch, by Rembrandt

9.

• The image on the next slide shows the picture of a friar of the ________ order, which got its name from the fact that they were all hooded.

• A certain beverage is named after these friars along with a diminutive which put together, means ‘little hood’. Which beverage is being spoken about?

9. Answer

• The monks are called Capuchin monks, and therefore the drink is Cappuccino.

10.

• This headgear made of felt is worn in the Pyrenees region in South West France and Basque country in Spain.

• It is used extensively by elite units of the military, and rose to prominence when it was worn by a member of the “Four Musketeers”, Jean Borotra.

10. Answer

• Beret

11.

• A certain Bruce Campbell, a retired electrical engineer lives in a/an X, inside a 10 acre forest plot. Equipped with water, electricity, and sewage plus 1,066 square-feet of interior space, Campbell's X home is pretty plush for all its eccentricity. 

• About the home, he says, ‘They're incredibly strong, durable, and long lived. And they easily withstand any earthquake or storm. Their interior is easy to keep immaculately clean …’

• ‘When properly executed, the remarkable appeal of a retired X as a home springs from the magnificent technology and beauty of the sculptured structure itself.’

• ‘It's a constant exploratory adventure, ever entertaining,..’ ‘It's a great toy. Trick doors, trick floors. Hatches here, latches there. … Having lots of little toys enclosed in a very big toy is nirvana’

• What is Bruce Campbell’s X? What does he live in?

11. Answer

• He lives in an airplane

12.

• Known as the sport of kings, this sport X is very popular and also very important in the Middle East. It was traditionally a way of procuring food, but has now evolved into a sport, one that needs constant care and attention, every day of the year.

• The UAE has also pioneered a new ______ passport system, allowing easy travel of the subjects of this sport across countries.

• Hoods are used in this sport to maintain calm when not in action, and cultures generally follow a simple design made of stiff leather. Some Chinese and Japanese hoods are carved with beautiful monograms too.

• Which sport?

12. Answer

• Falconry

13.

• From this British territory, you can have a view of Africa, Europe, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Name it.

13. Answer

• Gibraltar

14.

• Free Zone is a search engine for open Xs, as well as a social network where you can share and discover Xs around the world.

• Currently, it lists over 300,000 entities from across the world. In addition, it allows you to open your own X to other users of Free Zone, when they are traveling.

• What does Free Zone cater to, i.e. what is it a search engine for? It’s a boon to travellers in these times; however, it’s coveted by non-travellers too.

14. Answer

• Free WiFi!

15.

• X’s were first kept outside homes as they were believed to drive away witches, illness and evil spirits.

• The winter solstice is the longest night of the year, and this was believed to happen because the sun god was ill.

• After the winter solstice, the sun god’s recovery would begin, and X reminded the people of the summer, as a symbol of life

• The modern X’s are believed to be the creation of a person who noticed the twinkling stars.

15. Answer

• Christmas trees

16.

• This food item is said to have originated from the Indian community in Durban, when they used a hollowed loaf of bread to carry their vegetarian curry to work.

• One story for the etymology of this food item is that it was first served at a restaurant Kapitan’s run by members of a certain Indian community, after whom it has been named (in a way).

• As an aside, Minal Hajratwala has called this as a metaphor for the first generation diaspora Indian, local from the outside but Indian at heart.

• (clue, if no one objects)

16. Answer

• Bunny Chow (with the group being Baniyas)

17.

• This place initially had the name Longacre _____. • Fireworks were used to celebrate this particular occasion

here, but were stopped in a few years being cited as too unsafe.

• What is used now to commemorate this occasion is something that is manufactured by Waterford Crystal. It is an icosahedral geodesic sphere, containing 2,688 crystals and illuminated by 32,256 LED lamps. The initial design was made with wood and iron, illuminated with only a hundred incandescent light bulbs.

• What celebration is being described here?

17. Answer

• The Times Square new year celebrations

18.

• Given the moniker ‘the richest expression of life on Earth’, X is a national park which is also believed to be a setting for much of the Mahabharata. Legend has it that the Pandavas, when driven into exile, wandered southward until they came across a beautiful, pristine valley in which they settled.

• The river in which they bathed is aptly now called the Kuntipuzha, and in the 1970s, a proposed dam on it threatened to submerge X entirely. The plan was scrapped, and two animals belonging here are listed in the IUCN red list - the lion-tailed macaque and the Nilgiri langur.

• Which national park is being talked about?

18. Answer

• Silent Valley

19.

• Which city?

19. Answer

• Cape Town

20.

• This festival is celebrated annually in England, near Pilton, Somerset, in a 900 acre spread in the Vale of Avalon. It is the largest greenfield festival in the world, and attracts audiences in excess of 175,000. It is sometimes not held in a year intended as a ‘fallow’ of sorts, to allow a period of rest for the volunteering organisers.

• Various bands have written songs referencing this festival, including U2. The 2015 edition had artists including Kanye West, Lionel Ritchie, Alt-J, Patti Smith and Motorhead.

• What festival is this?

20. Answer

• Glastonbury

21.

• X is the Irish and Scottish Gaelic word for a lake and a sea inlet. It is cognate with the Welsh word for lake llwch.

• The most famous is the one we have heard of, but there are others, namely Long, Fyne, Linnhe and Eriboll.

• The word X is also used as a shibboleth to identify natives of England, because the fricative [x] sound is used in Scotland. X?

21. Answer

• Loch

22.

• A city in Morocco, it has a population of 1.1 million. It is called the Mecca of the West and the Athens of Africa.

• The name of the city derives from the word ‘pickaxe’ in Arabic, which was used to create the outer lines (border) of the city.

• It was a major trading post in the 19th century, and was the major source of tarboosh, due to which this item was named after the city.

• Which city is this?

22. Answer

• Fez, from where we get Fez hats

23.

• A phrase is repeated twenty two times on this flag. Give the phrase and the country.

23. Answer

• Allahu Akbar, and the country is Iran

24.

• The image on the next slide shows areas of desert in Lancelin, Australia. The desert is known for its pure soft white silica and absolutely no vegetation. It is known to be a great spot for Australian adventure seekers.

• One particular sport is quite famous on these dunes. It, however, is less popular than its snow-based variant because it is difficult to create a mechanised lift on a sand dune. On the other hand, dunes are available around the year.

• What sport makes the dunes in Lancelin popular?

24. Answer

• Sand boarding, in comparison to snow boarding

25.

• Located at to the Goa-Karnataka border in the heights of the Western Ghats, this natural wonder gets its name from the similarity of its appearance to something, described here.

• Legend has it that a young princess bathing here was espied upon by a prince. To cover her lack of attire, the princess poured the contents of a jug of sugared milk in front of her. This milk is supposed to flow even now, as a tribute to the everlasting virtue and modesty of the princess of the Ghats.

• Which tourist attraction?

25. Answer

• Dudhsagar falls

26.

• Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom lead the list with 173. Other notable high-scoring countries include Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, USA, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands.

• On the low-scoring end, Afghanistan is at 28, Iraq at 31, Pakistan and Somalia at 32, and Eritrea at 36.

• What list is being described?

26. Answer

• How powerful your passport is, i.e. how many countries you can enter without a visa or with a visa-on-arrival.

27.

• The next slide has an image; just name the manufacturer of these food items.

27. Answer

28.

• An invitation issued by whom?

28. Answer

• British Airways

29.

• The Glacier Express is an extremely scenic train route in Switzerland, connecting St. Moritz and Zermatt in the Alps. Given the moniker ‘the slowest fast train’, it winds through beautiful landscape for over seven hours, with the route including 291 bridges and 91 tunnels.

• To honour the 75th anniversary of the Glacier Express in 2005, certain features were added to the train itself. This consisted of a major overhaul, and added to the tourist appeal of the train.

• What feature was added?

The old Glacier Express

29. Answer

• Panorama coaches

30.

• Primal Wellness is a spa in Colorado that is one of the first to catch on to modern ‘legislation’. Their new massage costs $95 for 60 minutes.

• They now newly use X in their massages, which is used to relax the muscles. The author of a certain article says, the massage ‘would have been blissful even without the added feel-good elements’.

• What is X, the new ingredient in the massage?

30. Answer

• Weed

• We will announce results as soon as we can, stay here for the finals that begin immediately!