Akhand Bharat Mahaqumbh '21

1. AKHAND BHARAT
(AN OPEN INDIA
QUIZ)
By: Vedansh Ojha and Arihant Tyagi

3. FINALS

4. Rules
◦ 32 questions in total
◦ 12 clockwise + 12 anticlockwise + 8 written (Amar Chitra Katha special)
◦ Pounce : +10/-10
◦ Bounce : +10

5. Q1
◦ Talking about it, Manish Gaekwad, a film critic and historian writes , “The main source was
Kamleshwar’s Ek Sadak Sattawan Galiyan. I searched through the archives all over India, and even contacted
director’s son Hari Om Kapoor. He had no clue where it was. He had no negatives. He said the disappearance
remains a mystery. Film’s lead Nitin S. had died in 1985 and second lead Amar K. was happy to discuss the role.
After publishing the article in 2016, Hari Om Kapoor was not pleased as it had belittled his father.”
◦ In November 2019, Simran Bhalla a PhD student in film studies writes a mail to Gaekwad and
tells the 35mm negative has been found in an archive in Berlin.
◦ Which movie, which was found almost 50 years after its disappearance and why is it first of its
kind in India?

7. Badnaam Basti ; first Indian movie to show
homosexual love

8. Q2
◦ Sudha Narayan Murthy, wife of the founder of Infosys : Narayan Murthy, is an Indian author and
philanthropist. She has written several children’s books and is popular in the genre.
◦ In 1970s, whilst a student in IISc, Bangalore, she came across a job interview by a very reputed
company. In the notification for CS graduates, the bottom line of it read ‘Females need not
apply.’ An infuriated Sudha pledged to show her capabilities to the world, as she was the topper of
the department. She was interviewed by an industrial giant himself. Her unmatched brilliance with
technical knowledge made her the first to something.
◦ What was the result of the interview, first for a woman, often shadowed by her litterateur and
husband’s role? Who was the interviewer, widely respected till date?

10. First woman to be employed by Tata TELCO
Interviewer : JRD Tata

11. Q3
◦ ________ _________ is a British multinational banking and financial services company
headquartered in London. It operates a network of more than 1200 branches and outlets across
more than 70 countries.
◦ It was formed when the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China changed to ________
_________ in 1969. Interestingly, the founder of the former was a business tycoon of 19th
century about whom Karl Marx in Capital writes ‘an economic mandarin of high standing’
◦ He also founded a newspaper daily, which changed to weekly, and is known for its liberal stance
regarding political and economic issues and innovative covers.
◦ Who is the person, whose contribution to India is remembered indirectly every year around spring
time and name the bank.

13. Bank – Standard Chartered
Person – James Wilson

14. Q4
◦ Located in Gummadidala village in Medak district, this temple is the only of its kind. It is the only
known temple of Shri Ramchandra Ji without Hanuman ji. It is also the only one having the idols
of Lord Rama, Sita Mata, brothers Lakshman, Bharat, Shatrughn, and wives Urmila, Mandvi and
Shrutkeerti.
◦ As unique as it may seem, folklore has valid explanations for the temple not having Lord
Hanuman. Along religious lines, it is believed that since Hanuman ji is considered to be an avatar
of Mahadev, this didn’t go well with the Vaishnavites who patronaged the temple and thus
excluded Him.
◦ But the common folklore has a much simple reason for the same, which can be traced to the
presence of these idols. Give the other explanation/funda?

16. The temple shows the marriage time of Lord Ram, and
as he had not met Lord Hanuman till then, there is
none in the temple.

17. Q5
◦ In 1930s, French artist Bernard Boutet de Monvel was commissioned by X to paint the portraits
of the family. He had painted many personalities and families in his career but his paintings of X
and his family were considered his masterpiece. It is believed that to fund such an extravagant
lifestyle, revenue came from his fertile and industrialized kingdom.
◦ Y, an Indian painter, when asked how he developed interest towards painting, said, “…there were
two large portraits of X and his Queen.I was told it was painted by a French painter who took two years… I used
to look at them for hours….i used to think had they given me two days, I would have done a better work.”
◦ Give X and Y

19. X – Maharaja Yashwantrao Holkar
Y – MF Hussain

20. Q6
◦ X was born at Windsor Castle to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. At the age of 12, he joined
the Royal Navy and later, as the Duke of Edinburgh, X visited a city of United Provinces in 1870.
This city had gained prominence among the British after the War of 1857, and was a major
administrative and cantonment area. To facilitate the officers in living luxuriously, they built a 133-
acre big park and named it X Park, inaugurated by X himself.
◦ Roughly three score years later, Y, a certain person from Madhya Pradesh became eternally known
for his resistance to the British rule and breathed his last at the X park. To commemorate the
heroics of Y, the state government named the park as Y Park.
◦ Give X and Y

22. X – Prince Alfred
Y – Chandrashekhar Tiwari ‘Azad’

23. Q7
◦ Sachin Tendulkar’s 200th test, also his last, was quite memorable in itself. Apart from the farewell
of the cricket giant, the series was won 2-0 against a below par West Indies side, and the newer
generation of test cricketers viz. Kohli, Pujara and Rohit were coming to the fore.
◦ Apart from SRT, the November 2013 test also proved to be the last test match of left arm
orthodox spinner Pragyan Ojha. He played 24 tests claiming 113 scalps, and was a good prospect
in the longer format of the game. However, his peak came in the last test he played, when he
became only the ninth and the first person from the whole subcontinent to achieve the feat. What
did he unknowingly achieve?

25. Ojha took 10-wickets in his unknowingly last test
match

26. Q8
◦ On 16th November 1949, when the Constituent Assembly was nearing its end, it made room for the inclusion
of a specific clause in Part IV of the Constitution of India. The assembly was heavily divided on their
opinions pertaining to this topic. When seen from the point of view of the newly formed republic, the
clause’s significance during the national movement and shades of majoritarian sentiment it carried within it, it was
a ground-breaking addition.
◦ Continuing on the majoritarian ideas of an India post-partition, X laid the foundation of an organization
using the funds he had by virtue of his industrial endeavours, which directly addressed the issue in the clause.
He noted that as the first thing, X set up headquarters in the Delhi house, formerly owned by Jinnah,
removed the green flag and hoisted the ‘sacred flag of _’.
◦ Sadhus were prepared for regular sit-ins in front of Nehru’s house, a day was dedicated for the subject of the
clause and the narrative of economic importance of the subject was spread in public consciousness. Thus,
finally after few deliberations, the clause was added.
◦ Give the clause/subject of discussion, and the person X, who had a huge role in the clause’s successful
addition.

28. Anti-cow slaughter bill
X – Ramkrishna Dalmia

29. Q9
◦ On 8th July, 1920, British right wing newspaper ‘Morning Post’ (which later merged with the
Telegraph) launched X Fund, which raised 26,000 Pounds, given to X on his return to Britain the
same year. The paper had supported his action on the ground that he “did his duty, regardless of
consequences…. His worst enemies cannot say that the result of his action was revolution; on the
contrary, revolution gaining ground on every side was crushed.”
◦ It says there are people who lived in India and whose life experience has shown them the real
question at issue and notes that joining them is “Y, the poet of the Empire.” Y donated 10
pounds(present day 500 pounds) to the fund. When X was buried in 1927, Y sent a wreath with
the inscription “He did his duty as he saw it.”
◦ Give X and Y

31. X – General Dyer
Y – Rudyard Kipling

32. Q10
◦ Writing a column in Hindustan Times, noted journalist Karan Thapar reminisces the time he first read
the book. “I think I was barely twenty…. Everyone I knew was talking about it. But not for what it contained so
much as what it didn’t. On page 153, which is where chapter 29 should have been, there was, in its place, a note from the
publisher : This chapter…. Written without inhibition in the DH Lawrence style, has been withdrawn by the author at
the last moment.”
◦ A book named India : The Crucial Years by TV Rajeswar mentions of an incident in which in 1981,
the then Tamil Nadu chief minister MGR gave him a copy of the chapter. Rajeswar adds, “I took it
without comment. On return to the headquarters I handed it over to the Prime Minister.”
◦ What was so significant about that chapter, and name the book from which the chapter was.

34. Affair of Indira Gandhi and MO Mathai ;
Reminisces of Nehru Age

35. Q11
◦ Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British historical drama film directed by Hugh Hudson. It is based on
the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics : Eric Liddell, a Scottish Christian
who runs for the glory of God and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome
prejudice.
◦ In 1925, Abrahams broke his leg, ending his athletic career. This began his career in sports
writing, journalism and later on commentary as well. His most famous moment as a commentator
came when he tipped a 19-year old underdog from a newly independent country during the final heats of
the 1948 London Olympics. Although he could not win due to an injury at the last moment, he
came mighty close to winning it.
◦ Which athlete did Abrahams tip for the gold?

37. Henry Rebello ;

38. Q12
◦ History is abound with stories of treachery and treason. One such incident occurred in the hinterlands of Ganga-
Yamuna doab in what today is the Sirathu town of Kaushambi district near Prayag. ‘
◦ Between 7th to 16th century, it held huge importance in the politics of the region, but after Akbar created the city of
Allahabad in 1583, it has since been ignored and now what remains is a town of dilapidated havelis, forts and
unknown monuments. Hundreds of thousands of graves lie in a diameter of 7 to 8 kilometres.
◦ About 100 kilometres from the town, a certain Tughlaq ruler founded another city during his stay there, which was
christened after the childhood name of his cousin. The city gained prominence and became an Islamic sultanate
between 1394 to 1479, ruled by the Sharqi dynasty. It had a strong military and threatened the Delhi sultanate on
several occasions.
◦ Name the town, the treachery associated with it, which floated in Hindi pop culture in 2018 and the city founded by
Tughlaq.

40. ◦ Town – Kara
◦ Treachery- Alauddin Khiji murdered his uncle Jalaluddin Khilji
◦ City/Sultanate – Jaunpur

41. Q13
◦ Unicas, first of its kind bank in the world, recently opened their third physical branch in Delhi. As
the idea of their specific field of work spreads swiftly among the populace, the bank aspires to
launch 50 branches across the country by the end of 2022. Apart from this, Unicas offers digital
loans as well.
◦ _________ _____ , a company dealing with the kind of investment Unicas specializes over, was
launched in mid-2020. Ashish Singhal, CEO of the company says, “ We are in the business of
simplifying it. For us, how we measure the success of this platform depends on whether my father
would be able to use this.” A breakthrough moment for Singhal and his team was when they
surged in popularity after the advertisements of the company were shown in ads between overs in
IPL.
◦ Name the specialization of Unicas and the company/blanks discussed.

43. Unicas is the first bank in the world to deal in
cryptocurrency.
Coinswitch Kuber for the blank

44. Q14
◦ Film producers Ramon Chibb and Anku Pande were elated when they got the rights to make the
biopic of X. Chibb, an ex-army officer is incidentally from the same (Kumaon) regiment as X.
“We are elated as a team to bring the extremely amazing story of heroism and true leadership to the
screen soon…”
◦ X, an army colonel who passed away recently, carried out reconnaissance trips to Siachin before
Operation Meghdoot. He was the first ever Indian to scale the Nanda Devi peak in 1978. X got
his nickname from a boxing match with his colleague during his army days, which is also the title
of the upcoming biopic (not to be confused with an Abhishek Bacchan venture of recent times).
◦ Name X and the nickname he had.

46. Narinder Singh ‘Bull’

47. Q15
◦ The Kannada novel Hamsageethe by TaRaSu was adopted into a hindi classical musical movie
released in 1956. As it is obvious, it was a treat for the classical music connoisseurs, where many
upcoming talents like Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosale were seen showing their prowess.
◦ One such track, based on Raga Basant and sung in Ektaal was a result of jugalbandi between two
singers, one from the Dharwad district of Karnataka, and the other from Kolkata.
◦ The first singer went on to become an exponent of Hindustani classical music, especially khayal
style, while about the other, Mohd Rafi said that out of all the singers, he prefers listening to
songs of him the most.
◦ Identify both the singers.

49. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi ; Manna Dey

50. Q16
◦ MF Hussain, apart from being a painter par excellence, ventured for a film-making experience as
he made Meenaxi :A Tale of Three Cities, which released in 2004. The film had a brilliant critical
reception, especially for its music which was given by AR Rahman. X, one of its songs, sung in
Hyderabadi accent hints of a peppy telugu number, penned down by Sukhwinder Singh, has stood the
test of time.
◦ Another not-so-popular track called Nur-Un-Ala-Noor, sung by Murtaza Khan and Qadir Khan
became heavily controversial for its lyrics, which were slightly changed by the lyricist Hussain.
◦ Identify X (the song) and why was Nur-Un-Ala-Noor not received so well among a certain section
of the society(explanation)?

52. X (song) : Chinamma Chinakamma
Controversy : Nur-un-Ala-Noor is used in Quran to
describe the beauty of Prophet, which in the movie was
used to describe the beauty of a woman

53. Q17
◦ In a movie career spanning for more than 30 years, Jayalalitha did only one English movie, made
in 1961. Though it did not do well among the masses, it was re-released in 1967, which gave her
some popularity. As releasing an already-flop movie again was not an ordinary thing, director of
the movie Shankar G, had the resources for the same.
◦ Madhoo Shah, who gained fame from movies like Phool aur Kaante and Roja, has acted in
Jayalalitha’s upcoming biopic. The role played by her is that of “utmost devotion, which
resulted in a 24-day leadership” as an article says.
◦ What was the reason that Shankar G could re-release his movie in 1967? Whose role is Madhoo
Shah playing in the upcoming biopic?

55. Shankar Giri was the son of former President VV
Giri; VN Janaki Ramchandran

56. Q18
◦ At 8:45 am in her office, she would be instructing her team in her soft but precise manner on placing orders
with lampshade suppliers, curtain manufacturers, carpenters. Her lampshade maker was given the sizes and
the fabrics to custom-make each shade. Selecting from a range of lampstands provided by the leading lamp
companies for each category of room, she made sure that unique pieces were selected. Swiss by birth, her
European sensibility was quick to appreciate Indian aesthetics. A lover of Indian antiques, she constantly
visited her favourite antique shops to scout for treasures, be it Chor Bazaar or AK Essajee in Mumbai. she
would stay in the city for a month or two and go around sightseeing its monuments and market squares,” says
Nazim Shums, who worked with her for 30 years. “She had an eye for beautiful aesthetics and would absorb
influences to replicate in the hotel interiors. During her stay at Kolkata and Lucknow, she would visit private
homes and notice their beautiful furniture, chandeliers and antiques and would enquire where in the city they
could be purchased.
◦ This is an excerpt from an article about E Kerkar. Reading this, guess what is she known for?

58. Interior designing at Taj hotels all across India

59. Q19
◦ Bumbro Bumbro is an iconic song composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy from the movie Mission
Kashmir. Filmed on Hrithik Roshan and Preity Zinta, it shows an elated mood in the backdrop of
a troubled Kashmir Valley. Its lyrics heavily uses metaphors, which is unique for such a peppy
song, which made it stand out of all the songs.
◦ This lyricist has a PhD in Urdu Mushaira and a couplet of his became hugely viral about an year
ago. Also finally in news 7-8 months ago, name the poet and what was the couplet which made
rounds all over social media and used multiple times in memes?

61. Bulati Hai Magar Jaane Ka Nahin ; Rahat Indori

62. Q20
◦ Swami ____ Ji Maharaj, born as Har Narayan Ojha in Pratapgarh was a monk in the Hindu
Dashanami monastic tradition. He was a disciple of Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath Swami
Brahmanand Saraswati and a proponent of Advait Vedanta tradition. He was named so because
he would only eat as much as would come in his palm, when made as a bowl shape.Apart from the
spiritual prowess, Swamiji had a political ideology as well, which took shape when he founded an
organization just after independence, which led agitation for a Hindu code Bill and later anti-cow
slaughter movements were also initiated by his organisation. What was the name of Swamiji and
his organization?

64. Swami Karpatri ji Maharaj ; Ram Rajya Parishad

65. Q21
◦ As there has been a regular practice in the central government, a new union ministry was made of
an existing department within the Ministry of Transport in 1986. The new ministry, as said back
then, had the heaviest load in all of transport sector, thus the creation.
◦ Rajesh Pilot was the first minister(independent charge). Since the subsequent governments
realized the redundancy of such a ministry, it was bifurcated into Ministry of Shipping and
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Name the now-defunct ministry.

67. Ministry of Surface Transport

68. Q22
Born in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, he has been a peace activist for all his life, having written
commentary on Quran and translating it into English. He has been listed in the 500 Most Influential
Muslims of the world.
Demeurgius Peace International Award, started under the patronage of an influential and
important world leader, was given to him for his outstanding achievement in strengthening peace
among the countries.
Give the personality and the world leader under whose patronage the award is given.

70. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan ; Mikhael Gorbachev

71. Q23
Set in the order of precedence, what are they? (Put funda)
1. Sher-e-Hind
2. Sardar-e-Jung
3. Vir-e-Hind
4. Shahid-e-Bharat
5. Tamgha-e-Bahaduro

73. Precedence of honours/awards given in the Azad
Hind Fauj

74. Q24
______ ______was a bianuual delibirative assembly (on the same lines as parliament in a direct
democracy) of the Sikhs held at Amritsar in Punjab during the 18th century. It literally translates to
"entire Sikh nation" but was a meeting of Dal Khalsas, Sikh X(confederacies) and the legislature of
Sikh empire. It was first called by the tenth Guru Gobind Singh.
X, historically preceded by Durrani Empire and succeeded by Sikh Empire, were 12 in number. The
13th X, called Nehkalank was a nomadic one, consisting of Y Sikhs, traditionally known for their
bravery and ruthlessness in the battlefield.
Give the blank, X and Y

76. Sarabat Khalsa ; X – Misl ; Y – Nihang/Akali

77. AMAR CHITRA
KATHA
(WRITTEN ROUND)

78. Rules
◦ 8 questions, to be written in the chat box and pm to Shailya / Mohita
◦ +10 for each correct, no part points, +20 for full house
◦ Answer needs to be sent as soon as the last question ends. No extra time to be given
◦ Ignore the numberings

87. Submit sheets!!!