1. While working on production design of Gully Boy (2018), Zoya Akhtar and designer Suzanne Caplan Merwanji chose to go with warm and earthy colours such as terracotta, ochre, and the occasional green. What feature did they eliminate—ironically, given the film’s location—a defining visual sign of Mumbai from the air?
2. Since 1994, a government has been trying to get the Western media to write city names in local versions rather than the more common version derived from a neighbour who is an invader and coloniser. In 2018, thanks to a huge influx of international visitors, the country’s capital launched an initiative to highlight its correct name. Which city is this, which is back in the news in more recent times?
3. Ingahild Grethmar is the pseudonym of an artist who has illustrated, among other things, editions of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen (seen in image) and Wild Swans, and a special edition of The Lord of the Rings. What is her day job, at which she is the longest-serving living incumbent?
4. How was the territorial dispute between India and Bangladesh over ownership of New Moore Island (aka South Talpatti in Bangladesh) resolved in 2010?
5. According to the Mauritshuis museum at The Hague, the most popular painting in their collection is not one of their many Vermeer works but one by his teacher Carel Fabritius. This 1654 painting plays a key role in a 2014 Pulitzer-winning novel and its cinematic adaptation. Name the painting.
6. On April 3, 2018, Spotify went public on the New York Stock Exchange. What went wrong, as shown in the image?
7. In 2018, the University of Notre Dame played a college football game against Syracuse University at Yankee Stadium, New York City. To honour the venue, the ND uniform was modified to include the university name in the Yankee script along with what other signature design feature of the NY Yankees?
8. (), or Svigaplatan (The Bracket Album), by the Icelandic band Sigur Ros, consists of eight tracks: the first four are “optimistic” and the latter four are “melancholic”. The fourth and fifth tracks are separated by a 36-second silence. Why?
9. In Greek mythology, Hades abducted Persephone, the daughter of the fertility goddess Demeter, and took her to the Underworld. Through Zeus’ intervention, a compromise was arrived at whereby Persephone would spend a third of a year in the Underworld, leaving Demeter in sorrow and neglecting her duties. How does this manifest in the real world?
10. Zuzutto is a concept in Japanese cuisine and involves a process that enhances the distribution of aromas into the retronasal passage to improve the experience of a meal. However, in Western culture, it is considered poor etiquette. What is zuzutto, which is encouraged while eating foods such as ramen?
Sumant Srivathsan has a day job as a digital marketer, but his true calling is disambiguating football and soccer on the Internet.
Answers:
- The iconic blue tarpaulins of Dharavi
- Kyiv, instead of the Russian-derived Kiev
- Ingahild Grethmar is the pseudonym of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
- New Moore Island was fully submerged because of rising sea levels
- The Goldfinch
- A Swiss flag was used instead of the Swedish one
- Pinstripes, from the Yankees uniform
- The time taken to change sides of a record
- Change in seasons: Demeter’s sadness represents winter
- Slurping while eating
