Derek O'Brien

Political Science was one of my favourite subjects in Plus II. However, a chapter which always gave me nightmares was the one on how Americans elected a President. Electoral college votes, blue/red/swing states? You’re never too old to learn, they say. That’s why I planned my annual holiday to coincide with the US elections. It was too late to impress Sir, but I hope the wife (who I stood with in the voting queue for two hours for ‘people watching’ in New York) was happy. For it is not every morning that you can wake up and say “I saw history being made”.

YOUR QUESTIONS

1 Which game, more than a hundred years old, was once called Mintonette?

Shankar Ghosh, Calcutta

2 What is the name of the bard-cum-schoolteacher in Asterix comics?

Kamalika Haldar, Calcutta

3 What are named in alphabetical order with alternating male and female names?

Prannay Das, via e-mail

4 Who was the youngest winner of the Booker Prize?

Parvinder Bhatia, Jamshedpur

5 Which English word has been derived from the Sanskrit word for ‘rob’?

Tripti Roy, Calcutta

6 Prince Philip of England was the first president of which environmental organisation?

Biplab Bhattacharya, Midnapore

7 A great view of which natural phenomenon is obtained from Prospect Point (US)?

Ketaki Sen, Calcutta

8 Kanji and kana are characters used to write which Asian language?

Ankur Jain, Calcutta

9 Which famous Hindi film director worked in Calcutta as a telephone operator?

Srabana Sengupta, via e-mail

KNOW & GROW WITH DEREK

John McCain was born in Coco Solo Naval Air Station, Panama Canal Zone, Panama. At that time Panama was under US control.

ANSWER AND WIN

Which weapon got its name from the French word for pomegranate?

Send in your Q & As with your full name and address to:

graphitiquiz@gmail.com

WINNER of the Answer and Win quiz published on 2.11.2008

Srabana Sengupta, Hooghly.

The answer was Hyderabad.

Name this actor

POINT OF VIEW

1. Identify this politician

2. Name this shuttler

ANSWERS

1 Volleyball
2 Cacofonix
3 Hurricanes
4 Ben Okri
5 Loot
6 World Wide Fund for Nature
7 Niagara Falls
8 Japanese
9 Guru Dutt

WHO AM I? Gul Panag
POINT OF VIEW1 Dmitry Medvedev
POINT OF VIEW2 Anup Sridhar