Let’s clue you in on what transpired last week
Prizewinners, high-fliers, failed blogs and one new sculpture that no one can quite describe
1 Laurence des Cars will make history in September, when she becomes the first woman head of a 228-yearold museum. Sorry, Dan Brown. She doesn’t head a secret society. She’s not fostering Jesus’s descendant. Mon dieu! She’ll jump the queues to see the Mona Lisa. Name the museum.
2 Of the 48 Indians who’ve been awarded the Bharat Ratna, four are still alive: Lata Mangeshkar (2001), Sachin Tendulkar (2014), CNR Rao (2014) and this Nobel Laureate. An RTI inquiry this week showed that he is the only awardee to avail of free Air India journeys, extended to the elite group. He flew 21 times in 4 years. Who?
3 In March, Lea Rose Fiega bought a $30 scratch-off lottery ticket from a store in Massachusetts, USA. She didn’t scratch it off completely. Then Abhi Shah, whose family owns the store, found the ticket, scratched the last bits off and discovered it was a $1million winner. What happened next?
4 When Juhi Chawla was at a virtual court hearing last week, someone disrupted proceedings several times. He first sang Ghoonghat Ki Aad Se Dilbar Ka and was removed. He retuned to sing Lal Lal Hoton Pe Gori Kiska Naam Hai. He’s clearly a fan. But what was Chawla’s court hearing about?
5 Uh oh! Google users discovered last week that the answer to the search query: ‘What is the ugliest language in India’ incensed speakers in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Goa. Google apologised and fixed its algorithm. Name the language.
6 Before Twitter banned him in January. This US politician had 88.7 million followers. His blog has been less popular – he shut it in just 29 days. The site was called From the Desk of ______ _ _____. Fill in the blank or… “You’re Fired!”
7 Italian artist Salvatore Garau thought his sculpture, titled Io Sono (I Am), would sell for €6000 to €9000 at auction. It fetched €15,000. There are no photos or descriptions of it anywhere. Why?
8 A girl’s name, popular in the USA since 1932, saw its ranking plummet to its lowest level in 2020. Name the name – it’s a pejorative term for a (usually White) woman acting entitled, making demands, and asking to see the manager. Or just name the singer who led The Carpenters.
9 To avoid confusion and stigma, the WHO has renamed regional variants of Covid-19 virus from letters from the Greek alphabet. The fourth letter represents the strain first found in India. The triangle symbol. Its name?
10 Zyklon B, a German-made pesticide invented in the 1920s, was infamously used by Nazis during the Holocaust. Its hydrogen cyanide was used to murder approximately 1.1 million people in gas chambers. Now, the US state of Arizona plans to use it in its Department Of Corrections. For what?
ANSWERS
1. The Louvre
2. Amartya Sen
3. The family returned the ticket to Fiega, and has gained national fame.
4. Radiation risks posed by 5G telecom
5. Kannada
6. Donald J Trump
7. The invisible sculpture exists only in name
8. Karen
9. Delta
10. To execute inmates on death row