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VOL. XXIV NO. 3, May 16-31, 2014
Quizzin' with Ram'nan

(Current Affairs questions are from the period April 16th to 30th. Questions 11 to 20 pertain to Chennai and Tamil Nadu.)

1. Name the two former Popes canonised on April 27th by Pope Francis in an unprecedented ceremony at the Vatican.

2. Following one of the biggest controversies in a global sport, the National Basketball Association has decided to ban Donald Sterling for life after a recording of strong racist comments made by him surfaced. Of which team is he the owner?

3. According to a recent World Bank report called the International Comparison Program, India has displaced Japan to become the world’s third biggest economy in terms of purchasing power parity. Which are the top two?

4. Name the new Chief Justice of India.

5. The Indian arm of which globally famous confectionery company recently changed its name to Mondelez India Foods?

6. In a move that has disappointed many, the European Union has imposed a temporary ban on import of which famous variety of fruit from India?

7. Name the pension and life insurance scheme, recognised by the Indian Government, for Indian workers on temporary work permit in 17 Emigration Check Required (ECR) countries, that was launched in the UAE recently.

8. For what superlative record has a tiny Californian mite, Paratarsotomus macropalpis, been recognised?

9. In a news item that made the front pages, 43-year-old Polo passed away recently in the Mysore zoo. What type of animal was Polo and what unique status did it have in the country?

10. Name the Nobel laureate, the author of the epic novels One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, who passed away recently.

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11. Which place of worship, the only one of its kind in Chennai, was built in the early 1950s on land gifted by Maharani Vidyawati Devi, the Rani of Vizianagaram?

12. What is now located at the spot where the well-known Soundarya Nursery, started by P.S. Swaminatha Iyer, was?

13. Which eminent man of arts is credited with helping initiate the ‘Madras Movement’ in the 1960s?

14. How many Shiva shrines are referred to as ‘paadal petra sthalams’ because of their being sung about by the Nayanmars?

15. One of the founding fathers of the Communist Party of India, a man from Madras, organised the first ever celebration of May Day in the country. Who was he?

16. Which eminent Chennai resident was the first player from the South to win the national tennis title way back in 1953?

17. Which 60-year-old publishing house of repute was started by Y. Thirunavukkarasu Chettiar to publish Tamil literature?

18. Who founded the Tanjore Mahratta dynasty?

19. In December 1936, Ramaswami Srinivasa Sarma was the first Indian journalist to be accorded which British honour?

20. In 1785, the Government of Madras appointed the ‘Father of Indian ophiology’ as the Company’s first ‘Botanist and Naturalist’ in the Carnatic. How is his name remembered today in the natural world?

Click here to view answers for the quiz

1. John XXIII and John Paul II; 2. Los Angeles Clippers; 3. USA and China; 4. Rajendra Mal Lodha; 5. Cadbury India Ltd.; 6. Alphonso mangoes; 7. Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana (MGPSY); 8. It has been recorded to be the fastest running animal ever found, with a speed equivalent to a person running roughly 1300 miles per hour; 9. It was the only gorilla in the country; 10. Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

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11. The Gurudwara in T’Nagar; 12. The Polygon on Mount Road; 13. K.C.S. Panicker; 14. 275; 15. Malayapuram Singaravelu Chettiar; 16. Ramanathan Krishnan; 17. Vanathi Pathippakam; 18. Chatrapati Shivaji’s half-brother Venkoji; 19. Knighthood (by Edward VIII); 20. Dr. Patrick Russell of ‘Russell’s Viper’ fame.

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In this issue

Why low voter turn-out in City?
Madras Landmarks
Confusion on heritage Conservation
A unique 77-year-old Tamil typewriter
The forgotten Harbour
EI mundo es un Paliacate
Chennai, a far cry from Madras

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