1. In 2010, a group of above 3000 dancers went into the Guinness Book of World Records performing Hindolam Thillana in Hyderabad. Which dance form did they perform?

2. Which movement from Indian won the Right Livelihood Award in 1987? Chandi Prasad Bhatt was a prominent activist of this movement.

3. Which king is believed to have introduced ‘rupee’ in India as an equivalent of 40 copper pieces?

4. Instituted in 1954, this award is shaped as a peepal leaf with an image of the sun and the name of the award inscribed in Devanagari script. Which award?

5. What is the real name of The Mother, frequently associated with Sri Aurobindo who entrusted her with the charge of the ashram in Pondicherry.

6. What was the real name of Baba Amte, the Indian social activist known for his work on leprosy?

7. Name the dance village near Bangalore which was established by Protima Bedi.

8. A significant figure in the Vaishnavi Bhakti movement, she war married to Raja Bhoj Raj but considered herself to be married to Krishna. Who are we referring to?

9. An early proponent of the Two Nation Theory, he has been awarded the knighthood and is known for his ‘ode to Hindustan’. Name the person.

10. Which animal is Bholu, the mascot of the Indian railways?

Answers:

1. Kuchipudi.

2. Chipko movement.

3. Sher Shah Suri.

4. Bharat Ratna.

5. Mirra Alfassa.

6. Muralidhar Devdas Amte.

7. Nrityagram.

8. Meerabai.

9. Sir Muhammad Iqbal.

10. An elephant.

1. Pattamadai mats, famous from the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, is made of what material?

2.Palghat Raghu, T.K.Murthy and Trichy Sankaran are considered maestros of which musical instrument?

3. Bhajan Sopori, a well known player of the Santoor, belongs to which gharana of Indian classical music?

4. Who was the director of the All India Radio from 1949 to 1956?

5. Which Rajasthani dish, created by the Maharaja of Sewar, comprised meat from a hunt cooked in ghee, salt and chillis?

6. Though grown in India, it is native only to the island of Sri Lanka. It is known as karuvapatta in Kerala. What are we referring to?

7. A British MP tabled a motion in the House of Commons asking for Glasgow to be given a ‘EU Protected Destination of Origin’ status to a dish. Which dish?

8. Which game from Manipur literally means ‘coconut snatching’?

9. Name the website launched by RBI to raise awareness on counterfeit currency notes in India.

10. Which is the only Indian PSU which creates indelible ink to be used during elections?

Answers:

1. Korai grass (marsh reed)

2. Mridangam.

3. Sufiana gharana.

4. Pandit Ravi Shankar.

5. Junglee maas.

6. Cinnamon.

7. Chicken tikka masala.

8. Yubi Lakpi.

9. Paisa Bolta Hai.

10. Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd (Mylac).

1. Who created the Bishnoi movement in the early 15th century for the preservation of animal and plant life?

2. Which mountain peak was first climbed by Joe Brown and George Band on the 25th of May, 1955?

3. In which town of Uttar Pradesh were the movies Junoon (1978) and Umrao Jaan shot?

4. Name the strip of land owned by India which was leased to Bangladesh in September, 2011.

5. Which material, popularly used to make toys in the Indus Valley, means ‘baked earth’?

6. In Jammu and Kashmir, what are crafts made using papier mache popularly known as?

7. Who took over the Chairmanship of Tata Sons from Nowroji Saklatwala?

8. Name the largest city in the state of Goa.

9. How is Hindustani classical musician Ramtanu Mishra better known as?

10. Who is the first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsasay Award, Asia’s highest civilian award?

Answers:

1. Guru Jambeshwar.

2. Kanchenjunga.

3. Kakori.

4. Tin Bigha.

5. Terracotta.

6. Kari Kamandari.

7. J R D Tata.

8. Vasco Da Gama.

9. Tansen.

10. M.S.Subbulakshmi.

1. Name the architect who has planned the city of Jaipur.

2. What was the flag of India called during the British rule? There were two versions, Blue Ensign for international events and Red Ensign for the military.

3. Who was the first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra?

4. Name the world’s oldest operational steam locomotive housed at the National Rail Museum, New Delhi.

5. What were the first set of British India notes called? They were issued in denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100, 1000.

6. Who was the only five star officer of the Indian Air Force?

7. What is the Takht-e-Tavus better known as?

8. Which store, famous for its saris, was established by Chinnasami Chetti in T.Nagar in 1928?

9. Connect – Rongali, Manuh, Mia, Mukoli, Jeng.

10. Tilaiya, Maithon and Panchet dams are part of which organization of India?

Answers:

1. Vidyadhar Bhattacharya.

2. Star of India.

3. Major Som Nath Sharma.

4. Fairy Queen.

5. Victoria Portrait.

6. Arjan Singh.

7. Peacock Throne.

8. Nalli.

9. Forms of Bihu.

10. Damodar Valley Corporation.

1. Which Indian music maestro wrote the book ‘My Music, My Life’?

2. Who directed ‘Meeting Manjit’, a documentary on painter Manjit Bawa, which went on to win a National Award?

3. Name the Pandava who was married to Hidimbi.

4. Who was the first chief and founding father of the Border Security Force?

5. In which district of Tamil Nadu would you find the town of Mahabalipuram?

6. Which Indian city’s name can be translated to ‘market place for the areca nut’?

7. Which Viceroy of India, in 1919, gave Jamshedpur its current name?

8. Name the cotton plain-woven textile which originally came from Kozhikode in Kerala.

9. Who led around 350 Bishnois in 1731 to prevent the cutting of Khejri trees by forming a chain around them?

10. Where can you find two restaurants ‘The Maharaja’ and ‘The Maharani’?

Answers:

1. Ravi Shankar.

2. Buddhadeb Dasgupta.

3. Bhima.

4. Shri K F Rustamji.

5. Kancheepuram.

6. Guwahati.

7. Lord Chelmsford.

8. Calico.

9. Chipko movement.

10. Palace on Wheels.

1. Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya founded the largest resident university in India. Which one?

2. Who founded the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti to demand the creation of the state of Maharashtra?

3. Which city is located around the Haroa river?

4. Which famous Marathi dish did Sanjay Dutt sell in the movie ‘Vaastav’ before he became a criminal?

5. When Rabindranath Tagore said ‘here the language of stone surpasses the language of man’, what was he referring to?

6. Who is the official deity of the royal family of Jodhpur and Bikaner?

7. Which musical instrument is associated with Krishna’s Rasa Lila?

8. For which movie did Sushmita Sen win the Best Supporting Actress at the Filmfare awards?

9. The name of which place means ‘the place of five mirages’.

10. Inside which historical structure can you find ‘Diwan-i-Am’ and ‘Diwan-i-Khas’?

Answers:

1. Benaras Hindu University.

2. Keshavrao Jedhe.

3. Agartala.

4. Pao Bhaji.

5. Sun Temple, Konarak.

6. Karni Mata.

7. Bansuri (flute).

8. Biwi No.1.

9. Pokhran.

10. Red Fort.

Each question refers to an Indian movie personality. You need to identify him or her.

1. I studied at the J.J School of Art in Mumbai, and my movie was shown in Coronation Cinema as early as 1913.
2. I am a nephew of actor Dev Anand. I was once directing a movie called ‘Time Machine’ with Amir Khan in a lead role but the project was abandoned midway.
3. Prakash Kaur is my mother and I was once the hero in ‘Dacait’ which also had Meenakshi Sheshadri as the heroine.
4. I won a National Award for the movie ‘Thevar Magan’ and am a recipient of the ‘National Order of the Legion of Honour’ from France.
5. I have won the National Award for Best Actor thrice, and once starred in an English film which was a biography of B.R.Ambedkar.
6. My last name is Behl and my first film was ‘Hamari Beti’.
7. I am distantly related to Guru Dutt and one of my films starring Shashi Kapoor, Raj Babbar and Rekha won a Filmfare Award in 1982.
8. My first film was ‘Aakhri Khat’ and was once an MP representing the Congress.
9. My name is a combination of the names of my parents and I adopted two girls Pooja and Chhaya when I was single.
10. I was the assistant director of films ‘Karan Arjun’ and ‘Koyla’ and first acted in a 1980s movie called ‘Aasha’ as an extra in a dance scene.

Answers:

1. Dadasaheb Phalke.
2. Shekhar Kapur.
3. Sunny Deol.
4. Sivaji Ganesan.
5. Mammootty.
6. Nutan.
7. Shyam Benegal.
8. Rajesh Khanna.
9. Ravina Tandon.
10. Hrithik Roshan.

1. Name the spongy steamed rice cake in Goan cuisine, often considered to be the Goan version of idli.

2. Satyameva Jayata (‘Truth alone triumphs’) is inscribed in the national emblem of India. Which Upanishad is the source of this phrase?

3. Name the tourist circuit comprising the cities of Agra, Delhi and Jaipur.

4. How is Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu better known as?

5. Name the freedom fighter who also designed the Indian National Flag.

6. After which famous event were the National Security Guard, also known as the Black Cats, formed?

7. Which organization was formed on 15 July 1948 based on a recommendation by the committee headed by H.N.Kunzru?

8. Which event is held at Ahmedabad on January 14 every year, on the occasion of Makar Sankranti?

9. What was the original location of the Eastern Higher Technical Institute, which later became IIT Kharagpur?

10. Which article of the Constitution of India lays down guidelines for its amendment?

Answers:

1. Sannas.

2. Mundaka Upanishad.

3. Golden Triangle.

4. Mother Teresa.

5. Pingali Venkayya.

6. Operation Blue Star.

7. National Cadet Corps (NCC).

8. International Kite Festival.

9. Esplanade.

10. Article 368.

1. Name the weekly journal where the poem ‘Saare Jahan Se Achcha’ was first published by Muhammad Iqbal.

2. With which event or festival would you associate the terms Nandighosa, Taladhwaja Dwarpadalana?

3. A small scale replica of an Indian monument has been constructed in Bahadurabad near Karachi, Pakistan. Which monument?

4. The 99 names of God in Islam are inscribed on the sides of whose tomb?

5. It is 17.5 metres long, around 2 metres wide, manufactured by the Burn Standard Company and runs on 550W DC power. What are we describing?

6. What are tithi, vaar, nakshatra, yoga and karana?

7. What was launched on 26 Jul 2009 to commemorate the Kargil War victory by Gursharan Kaur, the wife of Manmohan Singh?

8. What was featured in a postal  stamp issued by the Indian Postal Service to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Times of India?

9. Which Indian organization was originally called Crown Representative’s Police?

10. Who is the only Indian recipient of the ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’?

Answers:

1. Ittehad.

2. Rath Yatra in Puri. They are the names of the three chariots.

3. Charminar.

4. Mumtaz Mahal.

5. A tram car in Kolkata.

6. The five components of a day in the Hindu calendar.

7. INS Arihant, India’s first nuclear powered submarine.

8. The Common Man, a creation of cartoonist R.K.Laxman.

9. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

10. Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian in space.