Hi Folks, recently prepared an India Quiz for an occasion. Here are some questions from the bunch. The answers are in the comment section. Lets get started.
1) These 7 islands were leased to the British East India Company in 1668 for a sum of £10 per annum. The Hornby Vellard a civil engineering project aimed at uniting all 7 islands into a single island was started in 1708 and all islands were linked by 1838. Name this Indian State Capital located on Salsette Island?
2) This torpedo was first devised by the British Army's Royal Madras Sappers, India, in 1912. It was extensively used in both the World Wars, notably during D-Day, primarily to clear obstacles that would otherwise require them to approach directly, possibly under fire. This torpedo was named after the place where it was first devised. How it is popularly referred as?
3) Agatti, Amini, Kadmat, Kiltan, Chetlat, Bitra, Andrott, Bangaram, Kalpeni, Minicoy & ____________.
4) The Pygmalion Point represents the southernmost point of land in the territory of India. How do we know it as now?
5) Incidentally, the name given to an Indian beach is also a common noun in English for a shore with facilities for docking small boats. Identify the beach?
6) In 1882, a young man from Bengal traveled to this Sea Shore to holiday with his brother. He arrived to find the most beautiful rendezvous of water and land he had ever seen. So bewitched was the youth, he wrote his first play, a masterpiece titled 'Prakritir Parishoota'. The Playwright is the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Identify the sea shore?
7) India's Antarctic Program opened in 1981 & Dr. S. Z. Quasim was the leader of this Expedition. The Indian Expedition team set up two stations in Antarctic, the first one was Dakshin Gangotri. What's the name of the second Indian station in Antarctica?
8) The saga of the heroic freedom struggle is brought alive in a moving Son-et-Lumiere show in this National Memorial. The construction of this building was started in 1896 and it was completed in 1906 with 698 dark rooms. The building was constructed with a tower in its centre connected to the three storeys high seven wings, spreading out like a seven-petal flower. What's this place?
9) Operation Floodlight, conceived by Collector K.R.Rajan, to make everybody between 5 and 60 years in the district literate, was a success in 1990. Identify the district?
10) This park, a World Heritage site, celebrates its centenary in 2005. It's a vast stretch of coarse, tall elephant grass, marshland and dense tropical moist broadleaf forests. It was created to preserve the rare breed “Rhinoceros Unicornis”. Identify place?
11) Canadian author Yann Martel's novel "Life of Pi" won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2002. Its French translation, L'Histoire de Pi, was also chosen in the competition, Le combat des livres. The protagonist Piscine Molitor Patel is a boy from an Indian town. Which Indian Town?
12) A 13th-century monument, now a World Heritage Site. The monument was designed in the form of a huge chariot drawn by seven spirited horses on twelve pairs of exquisitely decorated wheels. The entrance is guarded by two lions, which are shown crushing a war elephant each. Each elephant in turn lies on top a human body. The monument symbolizes the majestic stride of God. The poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote: "here the language of stone surpasses the language of man". Identify the place?
13) The original name for this town was Sohra; it holds the Guinness world record for receiving the maximum amount of rainfall in a single year (1860/61) and in a single month (July 1861). Currently its yearly rainfall average is behind only to Mawsynram in Meghalaya and a Hawaiian Island. How do we know this town better?
14) What was Bangalore's M.G.Road known as before 1947?
15) Suketu Mehta's "Maximum City" was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and won the Kiriyama Prize in 2005. It is Mehta's account of the unfamiliar by lanes of a familiar city. Which city?
Friday, March 31, 2006
Solar Eclipse
Thanks to GP for reminding me that I have one opportunity to post here! :)
This will be my first post here, and I am glad to have this chance to show you some great pictures :)
We happened to witness a partial Solar Eclipse in Cyprus on 29th of March 2006.
Please check my Flickr account for the pics of the Sun.
This will be my first post here, and I am glad to have this chance to show you some great pictures :)
We happened to witness a partial Solar Eclipse in Cyprus on 29th of March 2006.
Please check my Flickr account for the pics of the Sun.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Parthian Shot
Well how have you been? I know it’s been quite some time since I hit the blog circuit. Nope this was not a silence before some oncoming storm. Well this is what happened, the Indian Cricket team won the second test match against the English played at Mohali. A match which was clearly heading towards a draw but thanks to some splendid bowling performances by our bowlers.
With a drawn first test, everyone saw India would win the 3 test matches series. I was waiting to celebrate this moment in my next blog. The third test, all India had to do is either win or draw this test to win the series. A special test in more than one ways, this was the Indian Captain Rahul Dravid’s 100th test appearance, which makes him the 6th Indian to do so, and the master batsman Sachin Tendulkar’s becomes the player to make the most number of test appearances for India. This quite a milestone should be celebrated with a victory.
The conditions favored the Indian players, Rahul Dravid won the toss, and elected to field. That’s it, after this, everything went England’s way. England won the third test and that too how, with a margin of 212 runs. A daily printed a cartoon after the test, on Indian Captain Rahul Dravid’s 100th test appearance the entire team scored 100 runs. Probably there should have been someone to warn the Indian Captain of the “Ides of March” before he chose to field.
Well the problem here is consistency; the Indian Cricket team has never been consistent over the period of time. The lack of it made it lose the opportunity to leverage the top position they were in during the test series. The main reason being the failure of the formidable batting line-up the team had. Sachin and Shewag regarded as run machines were totally out of touch through out the series.
Things were starting to look good when the new coach Greg Chappell took over few months back, but now the age old problem of consistency has started creeping up all over again. Hope they bounce back during the 7 One Day series starting March 28, 2006.
A loyal but disappointed,
Indian Cricket Fan
With a drawn first test, everyone saw India would win the 3 test matches series. I was waiting to celebrate this moment in my next blog. The third test, all India had to do is either win or draw this test to win the series. A special test in more than one ways, this was the Indian Captain Rahul Dravid’s 100th test appearance, which makes him the 6th Indian to do so, and the master batsman Sachin Tendulkar’s becomes the player to make the most number of test appearances for India. This quite a milestone should be celebrated with a victory.
The conditions favored the Indian players, Rahul Dravid won the toss, and elected to field. That’s it, after this, everything went England’s way. England won the third test and that too how, with a margin of 212 runs. A daily printed a cartoon after the test, on Indian Captain Rahul Dravid’s 100th test appearance the entire team scored 100 runs. Probably there should have been someone to warn the Indian Captain of the “Ides of March” before he chose to field.
Well the problem here is consistency; the Indian Cricket team has never been consistent over the period of time. The lack of it made it lose the opportunity to leverage the top position they were in during the test series. The main reason being the failure of the formidable batting line-up the team had. Sachin and Shewag regarded as run machines were totally out of touch through out the series.
Things were starting to look good when the new coach Greg Chappell took over few months back, but now the age old problem of consistency has started creeping up all over again. Hope they bounce back during the 7 One Day series starting March 28, 2006.
A loyal but disappointed,
Indian Cricket Fan
L'OREAL UNESCO AWARDS
Found this great piece of information in the Sunday Papers. Good to know that Women Scientists and Researchers are recognised unlike the hits and misses that happens with the Nobel Prizes.
[+] Unesco Women and Science
[+] WISE
[+] The original articles;[StarWomen1],[StarWomen2]
[+] A Malaysian Scientist who was awarded withthe fellow ship grant. Only 15 such grants were awarded for this years awards. Only when I read the news did I realise that her lab at the uni was just a stone's throw away from mine!
Saturday, March 25, 2006
A journey to the unknown...
Whatever be the cause for us to actually stay pledged to the cause to blog till 2050, the need of the hour is to stay focussed on the work at hand, that of being successful individuals while charting our own road, and developing India into a strong independant nation, not being free in name, but being truly being free in the democratic sense, that of being able to decide who should rule us, about what decisions should be taken, and what faith we should follow, not just in the political arena.
By which, I mean that we should have a clearly charted road as to why we should take stands when there is a dispute which needs to be decided upon. I feel that the worst stand that anyone can take with respect to any dispute is no stand at all. Fence sitters are not what we need.
However, there are some things that need to be looked into. Taking sides or putting forth of ideas is what gives birth to new ideas. Whether it be the newest international policy that the Indian High Commissioner takes, or it is the doping scandal that has newly rocked the Indian Athletic scenario, everyone should have their say, and, more importantly, put forth their views without the need to feel afraid for doing so.
The point of the whole diatribe is to encourage dialogue among the denizens, so that there is a bigger and better tomorrow that our future generations can look at. I genuinely feel that there is a need for the fear of the authority to be removed.
However, I do not say here that the authorities should be blatantly abused or disregarded. I am not advocating an armed revolt. What I am saying is that there are people who want to put their thoughts across to the world. But they do not do so because they are under a mistaken belief that sanctions may be placed on them, and they may be shunned.
Break these shackles of inhibition, I say. Come out from this mistaken belief that there would be sanctions. If not anything else, scream in the anonymity of the web. There would be people who would listen and take up your cause. Have a substantial output, something meaningful to add to the confused voices that would provide some direction to the meandering processes.
Let us take India to the next level, whether it be the standard of living, or it be the way in which we are being governed, or the tax rate that we are being subjected to.
And the India that we live in would be a much better place to live in.
Love, laughter n keep the Faith
S
By which, I mean that we should have a clearly charted road as to why we should take stands when there is a dispute which needs to be decided upon. I feel that the worst stand that anyone can take with respect to any dispute is no stand at all. Fence sitters are not what we need.
However, there are some things that need to be looked into. Taking sides or putting forth of ideas is what gives birth to new ideas. Whether it be the newest international policy that the Indian High Commissioner takes, or it is the doping scandal that has newly rocked the Indian Athletic scenario, everyone should have their say, and, more importantly, put forth their views without the need to feel afraid for doing so.
The point of the whole diatribe is to encourage dialogue among the denizens, so that there is a bigger and better tomorrow that our future generations can look at. I genuinely feel that there is a need for the fear of the authority to be removed.
However, I do not say here that the authorities should be blatantly abused or disregarded. I am not advocating an armed revolt. What I am saying is that there are people who want to put their thoughts across to the world. But they do not do so because they are under a mistaken belief that sanctions may be placed on them, and they may be shunned.
Break these shackles of inhibition, I say. Come out from this mistaken belief that there would be sanctions. If not anything else, scream in the anonymity of the web. There would be people who would listen and take up your cause. Have a substantial output, something meaningful to add to the confused voices that would provide some direction to the meandering processes.
Let us take India to the next level, whether it be the standard of living, or it be the way in which we are being governed, or the tax rate that we are being subjected to.
And the India that we live in would be a much better place to live in.
Love, laughter n keep the Faith
S
IT is very beautiful. Isn`t it ? ..............
The greatest motivational act one person can do for another is to listen. - Roy E Moody
Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. - Sherlock Holmes
When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world. - George Washington Carver
The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved. - Victor Hugo
There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there. - Indira Gandhi
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage. - Lao-Tzu
Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right. - Henry Ford
Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do. - Isaac Asimov
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go. - Oscar Wilde
Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. - Sherlock Holmes
When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world. - George Washington Carver
The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved. - Victor Hugo
There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there. - Indira Gandhi
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage. - Lao-Tzu
Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right. - Henry Ford
Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do. - Isaac Asimov
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go. - Oscar Wilde
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Bridging the gaps
If you have heard of Ramayana, then you have definately heard of the bridge that was made between India and Sri-Lanka by the "Vanara Sena". It is known as Adam's Bridge by the NASA.
Here are few magnificent NASA Shuttle pictures of the same :
Here are few magnificent NASA Shuttle pictures of the same :
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Google Mars!
GOOGLE GOES TO MARS!Where next? I bet they're looking to map Titan...just maybe.
[+] Read the release from GoogleBlog;[GoogleMars]. Google Mars was launched to commemorate the anniversary of Percival Lowell.
[+] Their past endeavors; [GoogleMoon] and [GoogleEarth]
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
International Women's Day
The 2050 Project wishes everyone a Happy Women's day. May we never loose sight of the fight for equality and also liberty for every soul on earth and never loose respect towards every women who sacrificed their lives in building this civilization. Gender equality should forever mean that we believe in charting a future together, building from the basis forged by our predecessors and creating a world safe to all human. Truth, Believe and Love stands above everything else in our society and we shall make this our culture and goal for eternity.
[+] IWD by HSBC
[+] IWD in Wikipedia
Monday, March 06, 2006
Unexpected Comet Pojmanski Now Visible
Credit & Copyright: Chris Schur
Explanation: Have you ever seen a comet? Comets bright enough to be visible to the unaided eye appear only every few years. Right now, however, a new comet has brightened unexpectedly and is visible as a faint streak to the unaided northern observer in the eastern morning sky just before sunrise. Binoculars may help. Comet Pojmanski, officially designated C/2006 A1 and discovered only in January, now sports a turquoise tail several times longer than the full moon. Comet Pojmanski's ion tail is due to gas particles expelled by the comet being pushed away from the Sun by the solar wind, the same wind that ionizes gas in the tail causing its blue tint. Pictured above as it appeared only last week, Comet Pojmanski has now begun to fade as its orbit around the Sun takes it further from the Earth.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
State of the Planet, 06
The Earth Institute at Columbia University will convene the fourth biennial State of the Planet Conference to discuss the feasibility of sustainable development for billions worldwide.
Internationally renowned scholars and opinion leaders will lead discussions, present ideas, and outline research throughout this two day forum, which seeks to explore the fundamental requirements of science, economy, governance and human behavior needed to achieve sustainable development.
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