BASIC GENERAL KNOWLEDGE MATCH POINT

Which is the highest civil honour conferred in India?

Bharat Ratna.
Who composed the National Anthem of India?
Rabindra Nath Tagore
Indias first nuclear research reactor is ______. Apsara.
Jnanpeeth Award is given annually for
Outstanding contribution to creative
Indian Literature.
The two highest gallantry awards conferred in India are
Param Vir Chakra and Maha Vir Chakra.
The first, atomic power station of India is located at Tarapur.
Indias first earth satellite station is located at Arvi, near Pune.
After Hindi, which Indian language is spoken by the largest number of
people? Telugu.
Which country assisted India in the launching of her first satellite
Aryabhatta? U.S.S.R. (now defunct).
Nehru Literacy Award was instituted by

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The Indian Adult Education Association.
In which year were the first Asian Games held? Where?
New Delhi in 1950.
Who designed the city of Chandigarh? Le Corbusier.
Who was the Worlds first woman Prime Minister?
Smt. Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka.
Who gave the slogan Delhi Chalo? Subhash Chandra Bose.
Who gave the slogan Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan? Lal Bahadur Shastri
What do the letters H, B & J stand for, in HBJ Pipeline?
H stands for Hazira (Gujarat),
B for Bijaipur (Madhya Pradesh) and
J for Jagdishpur, (Uttar Pradesh).
Name the Indian Army officer who had earned the sobriquet Sparrow.
Maj. Gen. Rajinder Singh.
Which is the smallest District in the Indian Union?
Mahe in Pondicherry Union Territory. (9 s km.)
Name the U.S. President who was the first to hold office for more than
two terms.
F.D. Roosevelt (1933-45).
(The term of office is four years).
Who was the British Prime Minister whose Government granted inde-
pendence to India? C.R. Attlee (1945-51)
Zimbabwe was formerly known as? Southern Rhodesia.
The Parliament of Netherlands is known as?
The States-General.
Which is the present headquarters of INTERPOL?
Lyons. (Paris was the HQ till May 1986).
 Which territory has earned the sobriquet Never Never Land?
Prairies of North Australia.
Identify the three countries that constitute the Golden Triangle.
Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Which is the seat of the World Court?
The Hague (Netherlands).
Name the three Asian countries that have been branded as the Golden
Crescent of drug trafficking.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
Who played the role of Patel in Attenboroughs Gandhi?
Saeed Jaffrey.
Who was the first Indian to receive an Oscar Award?
Bhanu Athaiah, Costumes Designer
for Attenboroughs Gandhi.
What is common to Sardar Patel, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and YB.
Chavan?
All of them had served as Deputy
Prime Ministers in free India.
6-6-66 was a significant date in the history of the Indian Rupee. How?
The Rupee was devalued on that date.
(The first devaluation came in 1949).
The Ozone layer absorbs, and prevents certain rays of the sun from

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reaching the earth. If these rays are not absorbed life on earth will be
destroyed. Name the rays. Ultraviolet Rays.
Briefly outline the selection process of the U.N. Secretary-General.
He is elected by the General Assembly, on the
recommendation of the Security Council.
The worlds largest river island (bound by the Brahmaputra to the south
and the Subansiri and Kherketia in the north) lies in Assam. Its name?
Majuli: (For the people of Majuli, the mighty Brahmaputra
is both a river of sorrow and hope. Each monsoon, the
floods carry away huge chunks of earth, scarring the
landscape; yet, once the waters recede, people
gather at the banks to pray to the river, also
their life-giver. It is an annual cycle.
Jorhat Town in Upper Assam is the
nearest link in the mainland).
What is Athletes foot!
Athletes foot is a type of ringworm in which
cracks appear in the skin between the toes.
What is arachnophobia? Fear of Spiders.
Southern Rhodesia is now known as? Zimbabwe.
A prolific English writer, alert and active, an Indian citizen but, for
some years now, a resident of London, will be completing 101 years
this year. Guess who? Nirad C. Chaudhuri
It was once called the Congo River. What is it called today?
River Zaire.
Who was the philosopher from Athens (who lived before Christ) who
wrote the Republic?
Plato (427-347 B.C). (A philosopher and educator of ancient
 Greece, he is known as one of the most important thinkers
and writers in the history of Western Culture).
Which is the third most important financial centre in Asia after Hong
Kong and Tokyo? Singapore.
What is phobophobia? Fear of fear.
Which newspaper used the word Hijack for the first time to describe the
taking over of an aircraft in February 1958?
The New York Times.
In which text did Kapila propound a theory that all matter derives from
a pure, primordial matrix of energy, Prakriti?
The Sankhya Sutra.
Australasia refers to?
Australasia refers to Australia, New Guinea,
New Zealand and other nearby islands.
To win the Swaythling Cup, what game/sport would you need to play?
Table Tennis.
Both wife and daughter of this famous nuclear physicist, seminal to
Indian nuclear programme, are eminent classical dancers. Name him.
Dr. Vikram Sarabhai.
What is a Consortium Bank?
A Bank, whose shareholders are other banks.

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This book, now rated to be the greatest novel of this century, created a
furore on publication for its obscene content and was banned in a num-
ber of European countries. Name the book and its author.
James Joyces Ulysses.
Name the first Asian to head the prestigious Trinity College at Cam-
bridge University. Amartya Sen, eminent Indian economist.
What is an Archipelago?
A broad expanse of sea containing many islands.
Each mythology had a goddess of love. The Romans called her Venus.
The Greeks called her? Aphrodite.
The two brothers - Indians - are famous virtuosos and as violinists-
composers have teamed up with greats like Stephane Grappelli to Frank
Zappa. Name them. L. Subramaniam and L. Shankar.
What is a Zoophyte?
A zoophyte is an animal which
resembles a plant eg a sponge.
The first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal
Karnam Malleswari
The longest-serving Chief Minister in India Jyoti Basu
A former woman Chief Minister in India who was a novelist too
Nandini Satpati
Who became Indian Prime Minister at the age of 81? Morarji Desai
The first film director to win a Filmfare Award Bimal Roy
The first Indian to receive the Magsaysay Award Vinoba Bhave
Where was Indias first steel plant set up? Jamshedpur
The pop music artist known for Like a Virgin and Material Girl.
Maradonna
 The oldest man to win the 100 metres Olympic Gold
Linford Christie
In what capacity did Vasco de Gama come to India in 1524?
Portuguese Viceroy of India
The writer who introduced the fictional village Macondo in his works
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
What volcanic island emerged off Iceland in 1963? Surtsey
What is Union Jack? The national flag of UK
What does PBX stand for? Private Branch Exchange
One of the following was not a British PM. Spot the odd man: Neville
Chamberlain, Clement Attlee, Harold Macmillan, Harry Truman
Harry Truman
Who directed Ben-Hur? William Wyler
Whose autobiography Magic was published when he was 24?
Magic Johnson, basketball player
The most-filmed play by Shakespeare? Hamlet
The film which had the song Que Sera, Sera in it?
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Who sang Candle in the Wind? Elton John
Who is the late Indian President after whom the National Labour Insti-
tute is known? VV Gri

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The French writer and actor Jean-Baptiste Poquelins more popular name
Moliere
The Nobel Prize winner who discov ered the organism that causes
cholera
In x-rays, what did x mean?
Robert Koch
unknown.
Who coined the term horsepower? James Watt
What led to a method of finding out about the motion and shape of
molecules known as Raman spectroscopy? Raman effect
Who appointed Hitler Chancellor in Germany in 1933?
President Hindenburg
How many years did Nehru spend in jails? Ten
The leader of Kenya who was born Kamau Ngengi? Jomo Kenyatta
The English film actor and director who spent 20 years in self-imposed
exile in Switzerland Charlie Chaplin
Ho Chi Minh was born in Vietnam when it was part of the French
colony of: Indochina
The name the Yugoslav leader Josip Broz adopted? Tito
The year Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901
A party or outing for women Hen party
What is common to these films: Shakespeare in Love, Titanic, The
English Patient, Braveheart? Oscar best film award winners
Spot the person who didnt win the Nobel Prize: Mother Teresa, Henry
Kissinger, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King Jr.
Mahatma Gandhi
He has been called the father of modern journalism, but he is more
famous for his novels. Who is he? Daniel Defoe
 Members of t he Br it ish polit ical par t y Peelit e were conserv at iv e
supporters of Sir .... Robert Peel
Prime Ministers Shram Awards are Shram Ratna, Shram Bhushan, ........
and Shram Shri/Devi Shram Vir
Raj Kapoors immortal film of 1951? Awara
Name two American Presidents who had the first name George
George Washington and George Bush
Oscar awards are awarded in how many different categories?
24
The year London was destroyed by the Great Fire 1666
To which political party does Tony Blair, the British PM, belong?
Labour
The election is held in November, President takes office the following
January. Where? In USA
Ever since 1301, it has been customary for the eldest son and heir of the
British monarch to be invested as Prince of Wales
Choose the correct answer: Margaret Thatcher was the first/second/
third woman PM of Britain. First
The year USA became independent from Britain 1783
A combined four-nation army led by defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in
1815. Duke of Wellington

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Spot the Republican: Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Lyndon
Johnson, John Kennedy Ronald Reagan
What is common to these people: John Cabot, Pedro Alvarez Cabral,
Rodrigo de Bastidas?
Worlds first credit card?
Explorers
Diners Club Card
Which comes first, Good Friday or Easter? Good Friday
Janamashtami is the birthday of Lord Krishna
Prophet Muhammad set out from Mecca to Medina in the year A.D. ........
622
Of which religion is the Star of David the symbol? Judaism
The Zodiac sign that comes after Capricorn? Aquarius
What is C-DOT? Centre for Development of Telematics
Where is Louvre Museum? In Paris (France)
The first woman to reach the top of the Everest Junko Tabei
How many Oscars did Gigi, The Last Emperor, and The English Patient
win? Nine each
What is the expansion of MGM, the Hollywood studio?
Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Chief Ministers of which States participated in the Cauvery Accord of
1998? Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondicherry
Who freed Scotland from English rule? Robert Bruce
The Scottish poet and novelist who settled in Samoa in 1888 hoping to
find a cure for his tuberculosis? RL Stevenson
The Dutch painter who created more than 800 paintings but sold only
one in his lifetime: Vincent Van Gogh
 An English philosopher whose gr andf at her was a Liber al Pr ime
Minister Bertrand Russell
Who is called Dharmaputra in Mahabharat? Yudhishtira
The Kathak exponent who performed continuously for 9 hrs 20 mts
Gopi Krishna
The husband and wife who were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for
Chemistry in 1935 Frederic Joliot and Irene Curie
He immortalised himself as Rhett Butler in one of Hollywoods greatest
films. Who? Clark Gable (Gone With the Wind)
What national memorial was installed at India Gate in 1972?
Amar Jawan
The two languages officially recognised in Canada
English and French
Non-Objective Art is the correct name for what is usually called
Abstract Art
If we go by the meaning of the name, venereal diseases are caused by
which goddess of love? Venus
Indias largest mineral resource Coal
South Americas main trading group? Mercosur
The biggest mosque in India Juma Masjid
Where is the city Kaduna? In Nigeria

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Britains richest non-fiction award?

The name ayatollah me
The Samuel Johnson Prize

Court poet of Harshavardhana and author of Kadambari

Expand COMECON
religious leader

Banabhatta
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
In 1934 a film got Oscars for best film, best director, best actor and best
actress. Name the film It Happened One Night
When was Postal Money Order service introduced in India?
In 1880
What category would you put these men in: James Cameron, Bernardo
Bertolucci, David Lean, Richard Attenborough? Film directors
At what age did Puyi become emperor of China? He was overthrown in
1911. Two
In the Saka calendar, the extra day of a leap year is added to which
month? Chaitra
Harry Clive Webb was the real name of which British singer and actor?
Cliff Richard
From whom do Teddy bears get their name?
US President Theodore Roosevelt
What does a bibliosphilist collect? Books
How is Golda Meir of Israel remembered?
The first woman Prime Minister of the country
Where do we have more English-speakers, in USA or UK?
USA
The country with the longest official name? Libya
 Al-Manlakah al-urdunniyah al-Hashimiyah. This country is known to
us as: Jordan
What is the more popular name of seppuku, a ritual suicide?
Harakiri
What is Hansens disease? Leprosy
A measure of the ability of an instrument to resolve optical images or
spectra: resolving power
Who rests at Kisan Ghat? Charan Singh
The two biggest rice-producing countries in the world?
China and India
The continent where more than 99 per cent of worlds Hindu population
live? Asia
Powerful waves caused by undersea earthquakes or volcanic eruptions
are Tsunamis
Who is popularly known as the Gandhi of Sri Lanka?
A.T. Ariyaratne
A glutton (eats/drinks/plays) too much eats
Who gave the first demonstration of television in 1926?
John Logie Baird
What do we call any creation that slips from the control of and ultimately
destroys its creator? Frankenstein monster

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An imaginary place where everything is as bad as it could possibly be

Dystopia
Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo across the _______ in 1932.
Atlantic
A situation in which a product or service of several sellers is sought by
only one buyer Monopsony
What is a koala__an animal, a drink or a fastening? an animal
The worlds southernmost city Punta Arenas
The President of India has the power of pardon. Is a state Governor
empowered to grant pardons? Yes
The meaning of Babur (the Mogul emperor): Lion
The disciple who betrayed Jesus Christ: Judas
Alpha and Omega me The beginning and the end
The three or four hours after midnight is called:
the small hours
The Cro-Magnon man lived in Europe at the end of the Ice Age. Where is
Cro-Magnon? In southern France
The highest mountain in Europe? Mount Elbrus
It was built in France in sections and shipped in 214 cases to USA in
1885 What? The Statue of Liberty in New York harbour
What is the age of an object to be considered as an antique?
60 years
One calorie is the amount of heat it takes to raise the temperature of one
______ of water one degree centigrade gram
Diana hayden was the third Indian to be crowned Miss World. Who
were the first two? Rita Faria and Aishwarya Rai
 Which tennis star is popular among family and friends as Lee?
Leander Paes
What does emcee mean? Master of Ceremonies
Which is bigger, acre or hectare? hectare
The first Olympic Games after first world war and the first when the
Olympic flag was flown Antwerp Olympics (1920)
The first scientist to receive Bharat Ratna: CV Raman
Corn normally refers to wheat in Britain, and to ____ in North America
maize
The Allies in the first world war were:
Britain, France, Russia, Italy and USA
The first West Indies player to make 100 centuries in first-class cricket
Viv Richards
The Prime Minister who was assassinated by a Buddhist monk:
Solomon Bandarnaike (Sri Lanka)
Who wrote adventure tales in the Secret Seven and the Famous Five
series? Enid Blyton
The first Indian to play for England in a Test Ranjitsinhji
How many women participated in the 1896 Olympics? None
P Gopichand and Aparna Popat play (tennis/badminton/chess)
badminton

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The lady who quit IAS and later won the Magsaysay Award

Conjoined twins are often called:

Which country has the largest Jewish population?

Aruna Roy
Siamese twins
Where is Indias National Institute of Sports situated? Patiala
USA
The first non-Italian Pope since 1522 John Paul II
The language with no script of its own (nepalese/Konkani)
Konkani
The fifth largest planet of the solar system:
The Earth
Haiti
Where was the first football World Cup held (1930)? Uruguay
Who sang My Heart Will Go On. (Titanic)? Celine Dion
The three names associated with the discovery of DNA are Dr James
Watson, Dr Francis Crick and _______ Dr Maurice Wilkins
In 1848, The Communist Manifesto was published by Karl Marx and
______. Friedrich Engels
Where did MN Roy establish the communist Party in 1919? It was the
first one outside Russia. Mexico
The first son of a Chief Minister to become the CM of the same Indian
state Shyama Charan Shukla
The Indian PM who was born on Dec 25 Atal Behari Vajpayee
In which year did Gandhi discard the dhoti and kurta? 1921
Which bank was started by unifying the Presidency Banks of Calcutta,
Bombay, and Madras? Imperial Bank of India
 The boy from an Imphal childrens home who gave India its first boxing
gold in 16 years at the Asian Games? Ngangom Dingto Singh
Louis Pasteurs discovery of the micro-organisms that sour wine and
milk resulted in the process known as: Pasteurisation
The official language of Brazil is Portuguese
Dr Jack Kevorkian is notorious of practising:
mercy killing (euthanasia)
The five Grammy awards she won was a record. Who is the singer?
Lauryn Hill
Hong Kong is part of UK/China/Taiwan. Which is correct?
China
Permanent members of UN Security Council:
China, France, Russia, UK, USA
The World Court is another name for:
International Court of Justice
UNESCO has its headquarters in: Paris
The Commonwealth was originally called:
The British Commonwealth of Nations
Who called Russia a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma?
Winston Churchill
The youngest Chief Minister in India

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PK Mahanta (Assam, 1985)

She has a sweet tooth. What does it mean? She loves sweets
The evil that men do lives after them. Who wrote these words?

The first woman to win an Olympic gold?

Shakespeare

Charlotte Cooper (Britain, 1900, tennis)

In Britain, traffic moves on the right or left? Left
What do we call a native of Barbados?
A Barbadian
Booker Prize winning books
Which country has most public libraries? Russia
Which of these cups/trophies are associated with cricket: Ranji Trophy,
Durand, Cup, Sahara Cup, Wills Trophy?
All except Durand Cup
Satyajit Rays last film Agantuk
Joan of Arc is the French heroine known as the Maid of ______
Orleans
Mother goddess of the Earth in Greek mythology Gaia
I got it gratis me- I got it free
In the film Surviving Picasso, who portrays Picasso?
Anthony Hopkins
Who developed the theory of white dwarf stars?
Dr Chandrasekhar Subramanyan
What is the shortened form of Association Football? Soccer
The ruler of kashmir who signed the states accession to India in 1947:
Maharaja Hari Singh
 The tower in Russia, twice the height of Frances Eiffel Tower:
Ostankino TV tower
Worlds largest animal rights organisation:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
Recording industrys most prestigious awards:
Grammy Awards
Which country has banned the sect Falun Gong? China
What was special about the Bharat Ratna awarded to Lal Bahadur Shastri?
The first posthumous Bharat Ratna
The Olympic triathlon begins with a 1.5 km swim, moves on to a 40 km
cycle ride and finishes with a ______ 10 km run
Venus Williams or Serena Williams: Who is the elder sister?
Venus Williams
Australia hosted the Modern Summer Olympics for the first time in _____
(year)? 1956 (Melbourne)
The number of black squares on a chess board: 32
To which Olympic event is coxed fours related? Rowing
Name the first Indian to win two gold at the Asiad after PT Usha
Jyotirmayee Sikdar
In which country is SLORC the seat of power? Myanmar
What do we call the citizens of Sydney? Sydneysiders

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Met Office is short for

Coxs Bazar (in Bangladesh)s fame
Meteorological office

It has worlds longest beach (120 km)

The Hindi poet known as Agyeya
Indias largest commercial bank
SH Vatsyayan
State Bank of India
In Greek mythology, Eros is the god of love. Its Roman equivalent ______
Cupid
The first European to round the Cape of Good Hope
Bartholomeu Diaz
Boston Tea Party (1773) was (a tea party/a dinner/neither)
neither
Which State was known as Magadha in ancient times? Bihar
When was Burma separated from India? In 1937
Who was the Agnes that became Teresa?
Mother Teresa (Agnes Ganxha Bojaxhiu
The irregular troops led by Italian patriot Garibaldie were known as
_________ the Red Shirts
The man who invented printing was a goldsmith. His name?
Johann Gutenberg
The country that suffered the greatest loss of life in World WAr II?
Russia
What was the name Eric the Red gave the island he discovered in 980 to
attract settlers? Greenland
The 13th century Italian explorer who came to India? Marco Polo
Tasmania is called so because _______ discovered it. Abel Tasman
 What is a ukulele? A small guitarI
The five countries that have taken part in every Summer Olympic Games
since 1896, including the unofficial Athens Games of 1906.
Australia, France, Greece,
Great Britain, Switzerland.
Of which country is Pusan the main port? South Korea
The first woman to win a Sahitya Akademi award Amrita Pritam
On April 1, 1912 the capital of India was shifted from ______ to Old
Delhi Calcutta
The first Indian woman to enter the semifinals of an Olympic event:
Shiny Wilson
The first US First Lady to be a candidate in a national election
Hillary Clinton
The Kuomintang (National Party) was founded in 1905 by
Sun Yat-sen
Name the country whose name means Little Venice.
Venezuela
The year in which Julius Caesar was assassinated 44 BC
The city that is not a capital: Canberra, Windhoek, Wellington, Dodoma,
New York. New York.
The worlds first artificial satellite was named Sputnik. What does the

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Russian word mean? fellow traveller

There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim. Who said it? He founded a new
religion
The painter who designed a helicopter in eary 16th century.

The Virgin Queen of England.

Guru Nanak

Leonardo da Vinci
Elizabeth I
John Miltons work on the Fall of Man Paradise Lost
The largest fish The whale shark
The largest snake The anaconda
A sparrows heart beat is more than _________ times a minute
500
A nautical mile is a little more/less than a land mile morees
What medal (gold/silv er /br onze) did Leander Paes win in Atlanta
Olympics? Bronze
The worlds first nuclear submarine was named Nautilus
Bureau of Indian Standards was formerly known as:
Indian Standards Institution
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was President of INC. True or False?
True
Worlds longest and the tallest masonry dam?
Nagarjunasagar Dam
Sea of Galilee is a _______ in North Israel lake
The first Indian film that was insured: Taal (1999)
Kamal Haasan acted as a woman in
Avvai Shanmughi (Chachi 420)
 Name Indias largest film city
Ramoji Rao Film City near Hyderabad
The king in Greek mythology whose touch turned everything into gold
Midas
Who composed Indias national song Vande Maataram?
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
The 189th member of UN Tuvalu
What does circa mean? about
Number of Olympic gold medals won by Carl lewis Nine
The worlds largest democracy: India
The Indian litterateur who used the pennames Dhanpat Rai and Nawab
Rai. Munshi Prem Chand
Indira Gandhis socialist slogan on poverty eradication
Garibi hatao
US basketball legend who was named Most Valuable Player five times.
Michael Jordan
The state described as the Land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel
Gujarat
How many countries are there in South America? Twelve
Highest Indian award for gallantry Param Vir Chakra

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The year Finland hosted the Olympic Games 1952 (Helsinki)
Largest desert in India Thar (Rajasthan)
Of the following, which one is not in Maharashtra: Ellora, Amravati,
Sanchi, Mahabaleshwar, Latur? Sanchi
Indias longest beach Marina beach, Chennai
First foreign bank in India Chartered Bank
Nag/Akash/Agni: Which of these is an anti-tank guided missile?
Nag
Indias literacy rate in 1901: 5.3 per cent
INS Vikrant, INS Viraat. Which is the older of the two?
INS Vikrant
The UP city formerly known as Prayag: Allahabad
The Indian city (the Golden City) known for its silk industry
Kancheepuram
The sportsman who became Indias first World Champion in billiards in
1958 Wilson Jones
Indira Gandhis husband Feroze Gandhi was a member of Lok Sabha.
True or False? True
Which state was bifurcated into Maharashtra and Gujarat?
Bombay
The first Asian woman to swim the English Channel
Arati Saha
First Indian Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral RD Katari
Indias first nuclear research reactor. Apsara
Who described Gandhiji as half naked seditious fakir?
Winston Churchill
 The President of Indian origin elected in Singapore in 1981
CV Devan Nair
In 1982 Barny Clark got worlds first: artificial heart
What is the expansion of CHOGM?
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
The Russian Parliament building is called: White House
What is known as garden egg? Brinjal or eggplant
The Rio Grande forms an 800-mile border between USA and ______
Mexico
The denomination of the first postage
stamp of Independent India
3 annas
Who coined the word Swaraj? Dadabhai Naoroji
The first Asian to head the International Cricket Council
Jagmohan Dalmiya
Where is Dharamshala, the place where Dalai Lama has established a
Government-in-exile? In Himachal Pradesh
Which of these is not a capital city: Silvassa, Panaji, Diu?
Diu
Shotput (is/is not) one of the five events of womens pentathlon:
is

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A break dance competition is known as a

La Marseillaise is the national anthem of:
What did Picasso and Georges Brague invent?
Pound-foolish me
battle
France
Cubism

unwise in dealing with important matters

Who was known as Little Corporal? Napoleon Bonaparte
The first President Dr Rajendra Prasad took office on Jan 26, 1950 from
whom? C Rajagopalachari
The Army rank between Colonel and Major General
Brigadier
In Space Jam, who plays basketball with cartoon characters?
Michael Jordon
Caspian Sea is worlds largest lake
The planet named after the god of the sea: Neptune
How many African countries were UN members in 1945? Four
Which country is called the Hellenic Republic? Greece
The country with more than 55,000 lakes: Finland
Lion used to be Indias national animal: True or False? True
Nationality of poet Octavio Paz? Mexican
Creator of the comic icon Batman: Bob Kane
The filmmaker who made Rashomon? He is known for his treatment of
legendary stories Akira Kurosawa
Gol Gumbaz is in (Jaipur/Bijapur/Agra) Bijapur
Dante is best known for his epic poem: Divine Comedy
 The second storey is covered by an estimated 400 kg of gold leaf and
hundreds of precious stones. Which building are we talking about?
The Golden Temple, Amritsar
The richest Hindu temple in the world
Tirupati Temple in A.P.
Bill Gatess wife Melinda
Which US political party was founded in 1792 and dissolved in 1828?
Democratic-Republican Party
The weight of the discus used in athletic competitions:
Two Kg
Irrawaddy is the chief river of Burma (Myanmar)
The system of unarmed self-defence meaning empty-handed?
Karate
The study of the characteristics of the human population
Demography
Who is known as the Mother of Indian Revolution?
Madame Bikaji Cama
Who was called the Lion of Kashmir? Sheikh Abdullah
The length of Mahatma Gandhi Road Bridge across the Ganga at Patna:
5.575 km
A country named after a tree Brazil

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Which country won the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05?

Length of the Great Wall of China

When did Indian Cinema complete its 100th anniversary?
Japan
The second European country to become industrialised, after Britain:
France
2400 km
In 1997
Who created the character Shakuntala? Kalidas
The country where the first official family planning programme was
launched India
The worlds biggest island belongs to which country? Denmark
Even after 30 years work, the book remained unfinished when the
author died. Which book? Das Kapital
India has issued a postage stamp of Rs 45 in honour of ______
Mother Teresa
Which US State is known as Empire State? New York
Aristotle was a Pupil of Plato, and _______ to Alexander tutor
A UN Secretary General later became his countrys President. Name the
country Austria
The author of The Interpretation of Dreams Sigmund Freud
The year 1963 saw the first successful (heart/lung/kidney) transplant
kidney
How old was Swami Vivekananda when he died? 39 years
Bahawat Tribunal Award is related to the utilisation of the waters of
_______
the Krishna river
The worlds busiest big ship canal The Panama
 With which state was Chandernagar, earlier under French possession,
integrated? West Bengal
The first national film award the Presidents Gold Medal went to a Marathi
feature film and a documentary film. Name the films
Shyamchi Aai and Mahabalipuram
Where is Indias first newsprint factory? Nepanagar, MP
The board game in which players build words with small lettered blocks
Scrabble
Puck, a mischievous sprite in English folklore, is also called
Robin Goodfellow
In Ramayana, who is Dashanan? Ravana
The Hindi film in which the director, his father and grandfather acted
Kal Aaj Aur Kal [Raj Kapoor (Father),
Prithvi Raj Kapoor (Grand Father),
Randhir Kapoor (Director).]
Equitation is the art and practice of: riding a horse
Hallucinations resulting from excessive consumption of alcohol are called
pink _____ elephants
Pula is the standard monetary unit of Botswana
In sororicide, who is killed? Ones sister
From which Upanishad are the words Satyameva Jayate taken?

K KUNDAN

Founder of the Internet Mail Service, Hotmail

Japans highest peak is:
Mundaka
Drinka pinta milka day. What is the unit of volume mentioned in this
slogan? Pint
Sabeer Bhatia
Fujiyama
A party to celebrate the occupancy of a new home
Housewarming
The year in which India joined the UN 1945
The first India-made motor car Hindustan 10
Roman number CM is equal to: 900
The year Tagore was made Bharat Ratna
Tagore is not a Bharat Ratna
The year Coca-Cola was introduced 1886
Who was Indias first woman candidate (in 1926 elections)?
Kamaldevi Chattopadhyaya
W ho won t he most t ennis singles championships in gr and slam
tournaments? Margaret Court (Australia)
Honsu, Baffin and Victoria are: islands
Agatha Christie wrote her first novel, while working as a _______ during
WWI nurse
On Oct 19, 1987 the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points.
The day is known as: Black Monday
The father and son who won the Dada Saheb Phalke award
Prithvi Raj Kapoor and Raj Kapoor
Strategic Defence Initiative is nicknamed Star Wars
The country whose name means equator Ecuador
 The first (it was a Maharaja) to switch on an electric light in India
The Maharaja of Bikaner (1896)
Helen danced the first rock n roll number in an Indian film in 1957.
The film? Baarish
The first Indian Air Chief Air Marshal S. Mukherjee
In red wines, the entire grape is used. In white, only the _____
juice
The many-headed monster in Greek mythology Hydra
the British equivalent of the Oscar awards:
BAFTA (British Academy of Film and TV Arts) awards
The author of Moon Walk Michael Jackson
The number of rooms in the Buckingham Palce 602
In which state is the hill sation Mount Abu? Rajasthan
The oldest University in UK Oxford
Valentine Tereshkova orbited the Earth abroad the spacecraft ____
Vostock 6
He thought it was Asia, but it was the West Indies. Who was this
explorer? Christopher Columbus
What scale is used to classify wind speeds? Beaufort scale
The first Indian technicolour picture? Jhansi Ki Rani

K KUNDAN
The city where worlds first underground railway was constructed
London
The three women who shot into fame in the 40s as exponents of Carnatic
music
MS Subbulakshmi, DK Pattammal,
ML Vasanthakumari
The old name of Harare Salisbury
Where was the first national exhibition organised by the Govt. of India?
Delhi (1958)
The sturdy porters, guides and skilled
mountaineers living in Nepal in
the shadow of the Himalayas
The Sherpas
The first spacecraft to reach another world
Luna 2 (The space probe crashed
on the Moon, 1959)
Where was the Earth Summit held in 1992? Rio de Janeiro
How many border countries does China have? 14
Where is the language Kirundi spoken? In Burundi
The kind of cooking named from a Spanish word meaning a framework
of sticks Barbecue
Where do we find the Blue Room, the Red Room, the Green Room and
the Rose Room? In the White House (USA)
The second largest continent Africa
Botulism is a form of: (cooking/food poisoning/volcanic eruption)
Food poisoning
How many storeys has the tower of Pisa? Eight
 The first man to reach the North Pole Robert E Peary
Bobby is a nickname for the English policeman
Movies is a short form of ______. Motion Pictures
Snakes (have/dont have) movable eyelids dont have
Which country is not in West Africa: Guinea, Niger, Togo, Djibouti, Mali
Djibouti
What was bought by US Secretary of State in 1867 at 2 cents an acre?
Alaska
The Hindu goddess who is the personification of the infinite
Aditi
How are Deenanath and Hridayanath related to Lata Mangeshkar
Father and brother, respectively
Indias first 3-D film My dear Kuttichathan
The German physician who first described the Alzheimers Disease in
1907 Alois Alzheimer
Termite is also called white ant
Who won Gold in the same event (discus throw) in four consecutive
Olympics? Al Oerter
The oldest football club in India Mohan Began
The Mahabharata chronicles the battle between the children of two

K KUNDAN
brothers. Name the brothers. Pandu and Dhritarashtra
What is common to the residential addresses of Sonia Gandhi and Tony
Blair? House No. (10-Janpath and 10-Downing Street)
Europes longest bridge The Oresund Bridge
The two names by which the author of Arthashastra is known
Kautilya and Chanakya
Another name for Latin America South America
Inventor of saxaphone? Adolph Saxx
The first Indian musician to win Magsaysay Award
M.S. Subbulakshmi
The Rajasthan woman who committed sati in 1987?
Roop Kanwar
The scientist who was decorated with Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan
and Padma Vibhushan and was a Union Minister
MGK Menon
When was Coca Cola banned in India? 1977
What was first manufactured by the Bessemer Process? Steel
Which country built the first nuclear power station? Russia
Numbers that can be divided only by themselves and one are
prime numbers
The American term broil is the same as the British term grill
Where were the first railways built? In Britain
Whom does the biggest postage stamp issued by India depict?
Rajiv Gandhi
The resolution of a computer indicates
The quality of the picture on the screen.
 The highest efficiency award in judo Shihan
The first country to have a motorway Germany (1921)
Dr E Jenner injected people with cowpox germs to stop them getting
___ __ smallpox
Lotus for India, maple for Canada, ______ for UK Rose
Whales are mammals. True/False? True
The longest frontier is the border between USA and Canada
In Hindu mythology, Ratis husband Kama
Meaning of the title Genghis Khan Ruler of the Oceans
The Swastika was hated as the emblem of the Nazi Party. The word
comes from Sanskrit and means _______ well-being
Height of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour 46 metres
What is Yomiuri Shimbun? Worlds largest daily newspaper
Which country has the largest Muslim population? Indonesia
The countries that were referred to as the Big Three in 1945?
UK, USA, USSR
Quiet volcanoes dont explode because gases and steam can easily
escape from runny ______ that they contain. magma
The largest stars are the supergiants while the smallest stars are called
______. dwarfs

K KUNDAN
Watergate was a political (party/leader/scandal) of the 1970s.
scandal
The beauty whom Baseball star Joe DiMaggio married?
Marilyn Monroe
Lhotse and Makalu are mountains in which range? Himalayas
What are the official languages of the UN?
Arabic, Chinese, English, French,
Russian and Spanish
The full name of World Bank?
International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development
How many members are there in the European Parliament? 626
The organisation that unites Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and
Sweden. The Nordic Council
The organisation that has a membership of 1.7 billion people, and
represents over 30% of the world population. The Commonwealth
Of which country is Baku the capital? Azerbaijan
The old name of Burkina Faso? Upper Volta
The language spoken by the largest number of peoople in the world?
Mandarin
Name the person who became the first PM of his country in 1947, and
was assassinated in 1951. Liaquat Ali Khan
In which city do you find the twin Petronas Towers?
Kuala Lumpur
The person who won Nobel Prize, Magsaysay Award, Templeton Award,
Jawaharlal Nehru Award and Bharat Ratna? Mother Teresa
 The American plane that dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima.
Enola Gay
With which sport is the world body FINA associated? Swimming
The first Filmfare best actress award was won by _______ for her role in
Baiju Bawara. Meena Kumari
Where is the dam Cabora Bassa situated? In Mozambique
Which world-famous artist was known as the King of shadows?
Rembrandt
What gave prosperity to the island of Nauru? Phosphate
The second largest island in the world? New Guinea
The only American President who won back presidency after losing it.
Cleveland
The holy franc is the name given to the currency of a country. Name the
country. Switzerland
Somalia is part of the Horn of _______ Africa
Althing is the Parliament of Iceland
Crops sown in Oct-Nov and reaped in April are called: Rabi/Kharif
Rabi
Badrinath is dedicated to _____ Lord Vishnu
Monegasque is a citizen of Monaco

K KUNDAN
Who created the Phantom and Mandrake the magician?
Lee Falk
What is the Everest called in Nepalese? Sagarmatha
What is common to ostrich, emu and kiwi?
They are fightless birds.
Who is the only Indian woman who has climbed the Everest twice?
Santhosh Yadav
Worlds largest non-capital city? Shanghai
The last of the Ptolemies, the dynasty which reigned over Egypt from
323 BC to 20 BC. Cleopatra
English is the official language in 58 countries, French in 32 countries,
and ______ in 25 countries. Arabic
Worlds largest opium producer? Afghanistan
Creation of Euro is described as the most important economic event
since the ______ conference of 1944. Bretton Woods
It was used for the first time on May 6, 1840. What?
The first postage stamp.
(Penny Black of Britain)
First soldier of the Indian armed forces to be awarded Param Vir Chakra
Major Somnath Sharma
(4th Battalion, Kumaon Regiment)
Who got a football scholarship from Sports Authority of India at the
age of 9? Baichung Bhutia
Who directed Mississippi Masala? Mira Nair
The first person to cross the magical figure of 2800 points in rapid
chess? Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand
 Who defined genius as one per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspi-
ration?
Thomas Alva Edison
Citius, Altius, Fortius is the Olympic motto in Latin. What is the En-
glish equivalent?
Swifter, higher, stronger
The writer associated with Rally for the Valley (Narmada):
Ms Arundhati Roy
The name for the group consisting of China, Russia, Kazakhst an,
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Shanghai Five
The second President of the Indian origin in Singapore?
SR Nathan
Pakistan became a republic in 1956
The first Indian feature film to be dubbed.
Harischandra (1944). From Kannada to Tamil
In 1996, India had three Prime Ministers. Names?
Narasimha Rao, AB Vajpayee and HD Deve Gowda
The first woman leader of a Muslim nation.
Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan
The three Pacific island states that were admitted to UN in Sept 1999?
Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga

K KUNDAN
What is dating in archaeology?
Assessment of age of remains
What is common to Adolf Hitler, Charlie Chaplin and Jawaharlal Nehru?
Born in 1889
The military expeditious of European Christians in 11th, 12th and 13th
centuries to recover the Holy Land from Muslims? Crusades
The war whose general cause was Anglo-Russian dispute especially over
the control of Dardanelles. Crimean War
It floats in the sea. Normally only one-ninth of the total mass is visible
above the surface. A hazard to shipping. What is it? An iceberg
The world body founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1946.
League of Nations
Where did Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin meet in 1943 to outline places
for the invasion of Europe? At Teheran
The phrase for a political barrier existing between China and other ma-
jor powers, especially during the leadership of Mao Zedong.
Bamboo Curtain
For which city is The Big Apple a nickname? New York
What does blue blood mean? Noble or aristocratic descent
Name the British explorer who discovered the Hawaiian islands.
Captain James Cook
Playing time of the full version of Indian National Anthem
52 seconds
With whom did Alexander Fleming (discoverer of penicillin) share the
Nobel Prize? Florey and Chain
The most powerful supercomputer ever made in India.
Param 10000
 Why is August 11, 1999 unique?
Because of the centurys last solar eclipse.
Of which country is the island Viti Levu a part? Fiji
Who directed the film The Godfather? Francis Coppola
The state that was the home of Bharat dynasty, which gave the name
Bharat to India. Haryana
The Nobel Peace Prize winner who was appoint ed UNs goodwill
ambassador in 1993. Rigoberta Menchu
Ali Sardar Jafri, Firak Gorakhpuri, and Qurattulain Hyder are Urdu
writers. Which award did they all win? Gyanpith
The name Golkonda is derived from the words golla meaning shepherd
and konda meaning ________ hill
What is common to Dr DK Karve, Dr B.C. Roy and P.D. Tandon?
Recipients of Bharat Ratna
Who discovered benzene in 1825? Michael Faradey
The Soviet cosmonaut who died in an air crash? Yuri Gagarin
The astrophysicist who is a victim of a degenerative nerve disease and
can communicate only through a computer: Stephen Hawking
He was working in a fruit shop. Devika Rani made him a great film star.
Name the actor. Dilip Kumar

K KUNDAN
The nationality of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis:
Austrian
The Hundred Years War was a series of wars between ______.
England and France
What did Willem Einthoven invent? Electro cardiogram
What is the study of fossils called? Palaeontology
The land of very tiny people in Guillivers Travels Lilliput
The Union Territories that have Chief Ministers.
Pondicherry and Delhi
Who is Indias first Nobel Prize winner? Rabindranath Tagore
When was the first international film festival of India held?
Jan 24, 1952
The Australian cricketer with 11,174 test runs to his credit.
Allan Border
Four cities that are known for international film festivals are Cannes,
Venice, Karlovy Vary and Montreal. In which countries are these cities
situated (in that order)?
France, Italy, Czech Republic, Canada
Indias first STD was between ______ and _____ (1960).
Lucknow and Kanpur
The worlds first test tube baby was born on July 25, 1978. The babys
name: Louise Brown
Where is the Lakshmibai Nat ional Inst itute of Physical Education
located? Gwalior
One billion is equal to ______ crore. 100
The state of Karnataka was known as ______ until 1973.
Mysore
 On 21.1.1972, the States of ______, ______ and Union Territory of Mizoram
were inaugurated. Manipur, Tripura
The first scientist known to have studied the mechanism of heredity:
Aristotle
The first state to achieve 100 per cent electrification of the villages:
Haryana
The first 5-star Deluxe hotel in India: Ashok Hotel of Delhi
The first public corporation in India:
Damodar Valley Corporation
The original gold Ranji trophy, donated by the Maharaja of Patiala, is
now in _______. Pakistan
When did bicycle make its first appearance in India? 1890
W it h which Ashr am is Mr s Mir a Richer (f or mer ly Mira Alf assa)
associated? Sri Aurobindo Ashram
The expanded form of FEMA?
Foreign Exchange Management Act
What do we call a woman whose husband is habitually or temporarily
absent? Grass widow
The date India became smallpox free July 5, 1995
Hedonism is the doctrine that _____ is the highest good.
pleasure

K KUNDAN

The country that has three official names, in three different languages.

The original name of poet Tulsidas?

plum tree.
The main sources of commercial sugar?
Switzerland
Rambola
Chewing gum was originally made from _____, the gum of the sapodilla
chicle

Sugarcane and sugar beet

The country with the largest postal network in the world India
Which city is the diamond capital of the world?
Kimberley, S Africa
Which city is called Australias front door? Darwin
The worlds population in A.D. 1? 200 million
First Gyanpith award winner? G. Sankara Kurup
Indias first Deputy Prime Minister? Vallabhbhai Patel
The first man to walk in space Alexei Leonov
First Asian woman to cross the English Channel? Aarti Saha
First foreigner to receive Bharat Ratna?
Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan
First Indian actress to win Padma Shri? Nargis Dutt
Indias first woman ambassador? Vijayalakshmi Pandit
First Indian to win Oscar? Bhanu Athaiya
Who wrote If I am Assassinated? ZA Bhutto
The country whose national flag is plain green. Libya
The German politician who was known as the Iron Chancellor:
Bismarck
Stars produce energy at their centres by converting hydrogen, their main
 constituent, into ______ helium
George Eliot and George Sand were novelists. What else was common to
both? Both were women
The year women athletes were admitted to Olympic Games? 1900
Which was the first full-length cartoon film?
Walt Disneys Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs
The 5 events in the womens pentathalon:
Long jump, high jump, shot-put,
80 m hurdle race, 200 m race
The highest denomination of the Indian postage stamp Rs 50
What is a chukker in polo? A period of play
The first man to run a mile in 4 minutes (1954):
Roger Bannister of Britain
Where do you find Angkor Wat? In Cambodia
The two countries linked by the Teen Bigha corridor:
India and Bangladesh
The three sisters who became famous English novelists?
The Bronte sisters: Anne, Charlotte and Emily
The weight of an ostrich? About 150 kg
The great scientist who was born in Germany in 1879 and died in USA

K KUNDAN

in 1955?
The smallest unit of length?
Who coined the word robot?
Albert Einstein
Attometre

Karel Capek, a Czech playwright

The year was 1938 and the man Lasalo Biro. What was the invention?
The ball-point pen
What is an analgesic? A painkiller
Who created the detective Hercule Poirot? Agatha Christie
The first communications satellite: Score
Where does space begin?
About 160 km above our heads
The lift was invented solely for the use of a king. Which king?
King Louis XV of France
Mark Twain was the first famous author to use an invention. What was
it? The typewriter
The first dog in space. Laika
The first animal to be sent up in a rocket.
Albert, a male rhesus monkey
What makes Mushtaq Mohammad Well-known?
The Pakistan cricketer who played
test cricket at the age of 15
Gagarin, Titov, Glenn, Carpenter: Who are they?
The first men in space
The longest railway platform in the world?
Kharagpur (West bengal)
The first electric train service in India was between Bombay and _______.
Kurla