Brain Wizz!!

1. Love, Corruption, Ambition" is a contemporary novel by which author?
Answer: Chetan Bhagat
2. Raipur is the capital of India's youngest state, formed in 2000. Name the state
Answer: Chhattisgarh
3. This young batsman hails from Pithoragarh district, Uttarakhand. He plays for Delhi daredevils in the annual IPL cricket event in India. Recently he made news for an unbeaten century against Australia in the U-19 world cup 2012 win. Whom are we talking about?
Answer: Unmukt Chand
4. Which Bollywood character was initially called “Farooque Khujli” and later “Fuse”? The team finally settled for ________
Answer: Circuit from Munnabhai series of films played by Arshad Warsi on screen
5. In 2012, X became the first non-American recipient of the National Humanities Medal. X rose to fame in 1998 as the first Asian to win noble prize in Economics for his research on Welfare Economics and Social choice theory. Who is this X?
Amartya Sen
6. X was a literary work with a collection of song offerings that was first privately published in 1912 by The India Society in London and dedicated to William Rothenstein. X contained an introduction by a renowned poet W.B. Yeats that was later published by Macmillan in 1913. Identify X
Answer: Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore, which literally means a”Song Offering”
7. Coming next summer, actor Russell Crowe would be portraying the role of Jor-El that was played earlier by Marlon Brando in 1978, while actress Amy Adams would be playing the role of Lois Lane as the protagonist’s love interest. Who is the protagonist in the movie hitting the screens next summer?
Answer: Superman a.k.a Kal-El, Jor-El is his Kryptonian dad
8. Angela Merkel, German Chancellor has been consistently topping the Forbes list of 100 powerful women since 2006 except for 2010, so has been X who is often present in the top ten and currently ranked 6th in the same list for the year 2012. Identify X
Answer: Sonia Gandhi, Current President of the Indian National Congress
9. Which famed structure, inaugurated on January 4th 2010, was into negative publicity in May 2011 after Athiraman Kannan, a 38 year old worker from Tamil Nadu, committed suicide by jumping from its 148th floor raising doubts over its feasibility and environment concerns?
Answer: Burj Khalifa in Dubai, also the tallest man-made structure in the world
10. Which renowned Indian company has been named after Hanuman, the Hindu god from Ramayana?
Answer: Maruti, the indigenous automobile company
11. Which visionary leader penned the “Green Book”, which is an account of the lives of Asians during their stay in South Africa?
Answer: Mahatma Gandhi
12. Which recording artiste had singing debut with a single “In My City” featuring Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas at the National Football League (NFL) season kick-off match in September 2012?
Answer: Priyanka Chopra
13. X entered the iOS app store as a free download for editing pictures and has managed to create a buzz, so much so that Facebook has bought it for $1 billion and has recently launched its Version 3.0 in August 2012. Identify X
Answer: Instagram
14. The 57th US Presidential election is going to be held on November 6, 2012. Who is the Republican Party opponent of Barack Obama in this election?
Answer: Mitt Romney
15. The new French president has a strange name. His first name has part of “France” in it, while the second name has a neighboring country name in it. What is his name?
Answer: François Hollande
16. Julian Assange, of Wikileaks recently escaped to find asylum in a South American nation’s embassy in London and he has been residing in this country’s embassy since June 2012, with diplomatic asylum. Which is this country?
Answer: Ecuador
17. Hofstadter, Cooper, Penny, Wolowitz, Koothrapalli are the main characters of this currently running comedy TV series. Directed by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, this was first aired in Sep 2007, and then has gone to air 5 seasons. Which is this series?
Answer: The Big Bang Theory
18. The 184th birth anniversary of Henry Dunant, the founder of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement was celebrated on 8 May 2012. Which city in Europe is home to the headquarters of the International Red Cross?
Answer: Geneva, Switzerland
19. This football club is based out of Fulham, London and was founded in the year 1905. It made history in May 2012 by becoming the first London club to win the UEFA Champions league (2011-12). Which club are we referring to?
Answer: Chelsea FC
20. X is a proprietary voice-over-Internet Protocol service and software application originally created in 2003 by Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Zennström and his Danish partner Janus Friis. Microsoft recently acquired this for 8.5 Billion USD. Name X?
Answer: Skype
21. “Wings” in 1927 was the first silent feature film to win an Academy Award for the Best Picture, which was the last silent feature that won the coveted prize?
Answer: The Artist won an Academy Award for the Best Picture in 2012
22. Appropriately enough, scientifically speaking whose epitaph reads “He lies here somewhere”?
Answer: Werner Heisenberg, the one who propounded the “Uncertainty Principle” in Physics
23. Guor Marial participated in the Full Marathon event at the London 2012 Olympics as an independent athlete since his native country did not have a dedicated Olympic association for sponsoring his participation. Which country does the athlete belong to, which happens to be the youngest independent nation in the world?
Answer: South Sudan
24. Oxydol, later acquired by P&G, was a laundry detergent in the early 1900s whose sales went soaring after it sponsored "Ma Perkins", a successful radio programme. What term actually resulted from this that has changed our lives forever?
Answer: The term “Soap Opera”
25. Which person has maximum appearances in films by Alfred Hitchcock?
Answer: Alfred Hitchcock, he himself always used to play a cameo in each of his films
26. Synchronized swimming and Rhythmic Gymnastics are the only two sports in the Olympics competed by women only. Likewise, there are two sport disciplines in the Olympics that are gender neutral (men and women compete against each other for the same medal. One of them is Sailing, which is the other?
Answer: Equestrian
27. X seized power in a bloodless military coup from King Idris in 1969 and served as the country's head of state until 1977, when he stepped down from his official executive role. He was a leading advocate for a United States of Africa and served as Chairperson of the African Union (AU) from Feb’09 to Jan’10. X was killed in 2011 after a joint attack by NATO and the country’s National Liberation Army. Name X?
Answer: Muammar Gaddafi (Former Libyan President)
28. “The News of the World” was a UK newspaper that got closed in 2011 for phone hacking scandal. Owned by which famous Media business magnate during the time of closure?
Answer: Rupert Murdoch
29. X was born to a Bengali Kulin Brahmin family at Mirati in the Bengal province of British India. X’s father, Kamada Kinkar, was active in the Indian independence movement. X was also a member of West Bengal Legislative Council between 1952 and 1964 as a representative. Identify X?
Answer: Pranab Mukherjee
30. Nicknamed as "The Serpent" and "The Bikini Killer, how is Hotchand Bhaonani Gurumukh well known?
Answer: Charles Sobhraj
31. Complete the lines
"Vintery, mintery, cutery, corn,
Apple seed and apple thorn,
Wire, briar, limber lock
Three geese in a flock
One flew East
One flew West
..................."
Answer: One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
32. The bigger the size of the bird, the better achievement was the logic in inventing the terminologies for this game. Ostrich, Condor, Albatross, Eagle and Birdie are all the Terminologies of which sport?
Answer: Golf
33. What Raja Todarmal was to Mughal Emperor Akbar, who "is" to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh?
Answer: P Chidambaram
34. Father Busoni, Sinbad the Sailor, Lord Wilmore and Monsieur Zaccone are the aliases assumed by which literary fictional character?
Answer: Edmond Dantes or Count of Monte Cristo
35. If the Chancellor of the Exchequer knocks on his neighbor, whom does he expect to meet?
Answer: Prime Minister of UK or David Cameron
36. Which city located in the Hazara region of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in Pakistan was in the headlines where the US Navy Seals captured Osama Bin Laden?
Answer: Abbottabad
37. Other than the known animals, which country’s emblem has the Lion of the north, the Elephant of the east, the Horse of the south and the Bull of the west?
Answer: India
38. What was originally written in Ghazal style of poetry and was published in a weekly journal Ittehad on 16th Aug 1904?
Answer: Saare Jahan Se Accha
39. Which country had Internet in it before Television and uniquely measures "GNH" (Gross National Happiness) as a measure of national progress?
Bhutan
40. Which company, founded by 3 ex-PayPal employees in 2005, distributed a piece of videography called “Me at the Zoo” shot at San Diego Zoo by Yakov Lapitsky and narrated by Jawed Karim that was described by The Observer as "poor-quality"?
Answer: Youtube