Quizmaster’s Choice

Aryaman Arora, Class of 2021

This is a weekly column summarizing the 10 best questions from the quiz held by the Quizzing Society of Ashoka University on 11th of October.

Q1. “On a typical dark, wet Glasgow night, a bus driver coming off shift came in and ordered a ___. He sent it back to the waiter saying it’s dry. At the time, dad had an ulcer and was enjoying a plate of tomato soup. So he said why not put some tomato soup into the __ with some spices. They sent it back to the table and the bus driver absolutely loved it. He and his friends came back again and again and we put it on the menu.” The origins of which popular dish are being talked about here, on which a play of words has become exceedingly popular in the sporting fraternity over the last year and happened to be the 23rd most common FPL name? Give me the dish and player.

Q2. Keshia “________” Chante is a Canadian singer, songwriter, television personality, actress and philanthropist. She started as a teen star, having released three albums exclusively for Canada. In in 2012 she rose to international prominence hosting BET’s 106 & Park. Chante was given a star on the Brampton Walk of Fame for her achievements in Canadian Music and Film. She grew up with famous rapper Drake in Toronto, with the both having dated during their teenage years — Chante is also said to be his first girlfriend. According to Capital Xtra, Keshia is in news again with her nickname. What is Keshia’s nickname or FITB.

Q3. It’s not that it isn’t in X, it’s just that it doesn’t exist, period. The list goes from one-one hundred twenty three, but skips numbers in between, likely due to various changes in boundaries, closures or mergers. While X does have nine four, but the next closest number is hundred. Based on a map shown in __________, it looks like the accurate location could be Prospect Heights or more likely, Park Slope. A more realistic number to along with X could be seven-seven or seven-eight but that really doesn’t have the same ring to it. Give funda.

Q4. X’s first and only appearance came in The Punisher #1 in May, 2009. The backstory for X is that he drops out of high school to pursue a career in hip-hop. Once he gains popularity he becomes a regular at freestyle battles. After a night at one such performance, X and his bodyguards are seemingly ambushed by the Punisher who kills all of X’s guards. X is then rescued by Barracuda, a childhood friend of X’s, who teams up with him to take the Punisher out. After an intense action sequence, Punisher tells X that he needs to pay a visit to The Parents Music Council so X tells Punisher to tell them “Shady sent ya”. X’s abilities as listed on Marvel’s Wikia are his shooting and ________ skills, the latter being something for which we actually know him. Tell me who is X?

Q5. The term X, a play on words on a substance very commonly found in nature, became viral on social media very recently (August). It originated from a speech given at the 56th Convocation Ceremony of the Indian Institute of Bombay. The speech, given after awarding 3 gold medals and 43 silver medals to IIT Bombay students in various categories, talked about how innovation was the buzzword for the 21st century — but it also talked about how tea could be made using gas from a nearby drainage. This caught the social media’s attention, prompting a flurry of jokes and hashtags on the same. Identify.

Q6. In 1924, the Commonwealth of Virginia gifted Britain a replica of a statue of George Washington, the first president of the United States of America. The statue, crafted by Jean Antoine Houdon, is seen holding a bundle of 13 fasces — which represent the original 13 states of the newly created USA. It is now kept in the heart of London at Trafalgar Square. However, popular legend has it that the statue would have broken a pledge Washington took, while fighting the British in the War of Independence — to avoid that, the US authorities came up with a creative solution. What pledge, and what solution is being talked about?

Q7. CrossFit is a branded fitness regimen created by Greg Glassman and Lauren Jenai in 2000. Promoted as a physical exercise philosophy and also as a competitive fitness sport, CrossFit is practiced by members of over 13,000 affiliated gyms, roughly half of which are located in the United States. Mumbai-born Dheepesh Bhatt started what is claimed to be India’s first crossfit gym — Crossfit OM Box in Juhu catering to some of the biggest names in the Indian film industry. Bhatt, also known as Shivoham, now works full-time as a celebrity fitness trainer and is known to have helped Aamir Khan achieve his look for Dangal. However we all associate Dheepesh with Bollywood for altogether a different reason. What?

Q8. The first time he did this, he was quizzed about the curious act in 2011, he said — “I felt like an animal. I wanted to see how it tastes. It tastes good and well kept! It just came to me spontaneously really — I didn’t plan to do it.” In 2015, he was wiser, having asked the concerned authorities, saying, “I was assured it was not processed. It was gluten free, so I could do it”.

In 2018, he reminisced back. “The first time I’ve done it, it was the sweetest dessert I’ve ever tasted in my life. That experience hopefully I’ll get to taste one more time before I finish my career.” “I had a double portion this year to treat myself.”

Who and what act is being talked about here, something which may earn him the moniker of “GOAT”, but in a different way than it is usually used?

Q9. Tourism, alongside finance, education and arts is one of the major contributions to the city’s economy with $8.8 billion. According to marketing and branding consultant Gordon Hendren, X is responsible for about 5% or $440m of the total income from tourism by representing a lot of city landmarks, the Toronto Raptors and various restaurants and clubs from around the city. For instance, tourists still swarm Joso’s Restaurant in the city after X’s artwork featured it in 2011. Even, politicians have gotten proactive about using X’s brand to attract foreign investment. Toronto City Councillor Michael Thompson described how he used X as a selling point to bring a $147 million tech conference to the city for the next three years. Identify Toronto’s biggest star attraction X.

Q10. After a week of hype and anticipation on the subreddit r/___________, over 350,000 users were banned by random selection — much to shock and dismay of redditors and internet users alike. When it was set up, it was suggested as a part of the merriment that it would be funny if at some point half of the subreddit’s members were randomly banned. The moderators of r/_________ had to get permission from Reddit admins to go through with the ban, and then they had to automate the process. As word of the upcoming ban spread, hundreds of thousands of Reddit users flocked to join r/_____________________ just so they’d have a chance to get ousted. By the time ban day rolled around, over 700,000 users had subscribed — making the culling by far the largest “dusting,” or mass ban, in Reddit history. FITB

Answers:

1. Chicken Tikka Masala, Mohammed Salah (Chicken Tikka Mo Salah)

2. Keke or Kiki from Drake’s summer hit In My Feelings

3. Brooklyn’s Ninth Ninth Precinct

4. Eminem or Slim Shady

5. Mitrogen, with the substance being Nitrogen and the cheif guest at the convocation being Prime Minister Narendra Modi

6. Washington pledged to never set foot on British soil — soil was flown in from Virginia to be kept under the statue

7. Dheepesh Bhatt played the character of Franky Ramdayal in the movie Kal Ho Na Ho

8.Novak Djokovic, Eating grass off the court

9. Drake

10. r/thanosdidnothingwrong

‘The BEST Quiz Ever’ was hosted by Aryaman Arora, an undergraduate from the class of 2021, on 11th October, 2018.