FUNDAMENTALS
Jaya Krishnan Nair from Nudumbassery writes in with a question on visa. He wants to know if visa stands for ‘Valid Identity for Staying Abroad’. Well, Jaya, that’s an interesting interpretation of the word but untrue. Visa is not an acronym — the word comes from Latin ‘Charta Visa’ which literally means ‘ paper that has been seen” or ‘verified paper’. When passports were first issued in Europe around 15th century, they were simply travel identification documents for inter country travel. No visas were required. In fact, Britain even had passports for foreigners travelling within Great Britain. Later around 18th century, passports began to be issued by individual countries for their citizens and they were stamped at the borders which was the start of the visa system as we know it today.
This week’s theme is on world’s most memorable corporate mascots and characters.
Write with your questions, suggestion and cribs to senjam@gmail.com.
MASCOTS
1. The cartoon characters Snap, Crackle and Pop have been part of which product since 1941? 2. Juan Valdez, a mustachioed farmer, was created by advertising agency DDB. Over the last five decades, Juan Valdez has appeared in numerous ads, events and TV shows. Who or what does Juan Valdez represent? 3. Companies are usually very strict about the design and specifications of their mascot. However, this mascot of programming language Java, is on an open source licence, with developers and designers encouraged to play around with it. Name the character. 4. Who or what was created in 1985 when photography business owner Joanna Ferrone and art director Sue Rose met up for drinks and Susan started doodling on a cocktail napkin? 5. Two corporate mascots created by RK Laxman do not represent their brands anymore. One of them is Air Deccan’s Common Man. Name the other mascot that was created in 1954. 6. Children’s Bargain Town changed its name 1. Leela in Sanjay Bhansali’s movie RamLeela is derived from the name of Bhansali’s mother. In which movie did he use the name of his mother’s sister? (YG Chouksey, Pune) 2. Hikkim polling station in Lahaul and Spiti, Himachal Pradesh caters to 326 voters in three villages. What is special about this polling station? (Philip Joshua, Secunderabad) 3. Mughal art during the reign of Shah Jahan were primarily portraits. What was the important characteristic feature of these portraits? (U. Narasimha Murthy, Hyderabad) 4. Which city gets its name from Arabic ‘ alkahira’ meaning ‘the victorious’? (Abhijit Basak, Kolkata) 5. Herpetophobia is the fear of reptiles including lizards and snakes. What is the specific word for the fear of snakes? (Rajeev Lochan, Kolkata) 6. Several non-political personalities are making their debut in the 2014 general elections. Which constituency is cricketer Mohammed Kaif contesting from? (Sudipto Basak, Kolkata) 7. Name the Bulgarian and Aston Villa footballer whose career was cut short in 2012 after contracting leukemia. (Rajeev Pillai, Kochi)