FUNDAMENTALS

As India prepares to celebrate its 71st Independence Day, this week’s quiz is about some little known trivia of India’s freedom movement. Write in with your suggestions, questions (with answers) to senjam@gmail.com

FREEDOM MOVEMENT

1. The date of 15 August as the date for transfer of power was chosen by Lord Mountbatten. Why was this date chosen? 2. In 1947, how many rupees would an average Indian citizen need to buy one US dollar? 3. Maulana Hasrat Mohani was an Urdu poet who has several literary works to his credit. He also penned the lines Chupke Chupke Raat Din later sung by Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh. What is his immortal contribution to the independence movement? 4. Which store with outlets in six cities, known for ethnic chic, traces its history back to freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak? The first store came up in 1905 and sold only sold only indigenous items. 5. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay is celebrated as the first woman to be arrested by the British regime. What was the offence for which she was arrested? 6. BBD Bagh in Kolkata (formerly Dalhousie Square) commemorates three young men who in 1930 stormed into Writers Building and shot dead the Inspector General of Prisons, N.S. Simpson. Deabbreviate BBD. 7. What happened when Major General Syed Ahmed El Edroos surrendered his army to Major General J.N. Choudhuri on 18 September 1948? 8. Several prominent personalities including Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Prime Minister of Canada, PM of Australia sent messages of best wishes on 15 August, 1947. The following message was read out at the Constituent assembly — “At this time when India and Pakistan become independent Dominions and take upon themselves the full responsibilities of selfgovernment, on behalf of the Christian people of this country, I send you my greetings and good wishes.” Who sent it?

ANYTHING GOES

1. David Ogilvy of Ogilvy advertising started as a door to door salesman for this company and wrote a guide for its salesmen which Fortune magazine later called “probably the best sales manual ever written”. Name the company? (P. Harish, Bengaluru) 2. Pranav Dhanawade, the Bombay schoolboy, became the first person to score more than 1,000 runs in one innings in an officially recognised match. He scored 1,009 not out, from 327 balls, while playing for his school. Name the school. (P.S. Nivritee Sreelekha, Secunderabad) 3. What is common/ unique about the Hindu mythological greats Parasurama, Hanuman, Jambavan, sage Durvasa and Lord Shiva? (U.N. Murthy, Secunderabad) 4. In a cricket match, the score is 8 for no wicket after the first over. This over consisted of four dot balls and then two run scoring shots. At the end of the over, both the batsmen were on four not out. How did this happen? (B.K. Harinath, Mysuru) 5. The bird in social networking site Twitter has a name. What is the name of the bird? (Philip Joshua, Secunderabad) 6. Painter filmmaker Julian Schnabel started his filmmaking career with Basquiat, on painter Jean-Michel Basquiat. He is now making a movie titled At Eternity’s Gate on another painter with Willem Dafoe in the lead role. Which painter? (Rajeev Pillai, Kochi) 7. For the 1948 Nobel prizes, T.S. Eliot won it for literature, Paul Muller for medicine. Who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that year? (Cdr G.R. Balakrishnan (Retd), Chennai) 8. What does a comiconomenclaturist love doing? (Partha Sarkar, Kolkata)