Bengal - A Treat to Behold! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bangladesh

Bengal was divided into East and West Bengal, the latter still existing in India. East Bengal, later East Pakistan during the Partition of 1947, is now known as Bangladesh due to the large number of Bengali speakers there. The Bengali culture is as vibrant there as it is in India.

Answer: Dhaka

Dhaka was the unofficial capital of East Bengal during the days of the British rule, and has been the capital of Bangladesh ever since it was partitioned. After Bangladesh gained independence in 1971, Dhaka was officially designated the capital.

Answer: Burdwan

Burdwan was and is famous for its grains. The British reportedly increased the grain growing capacity of the state by modern machinery in the 1900s. Now ultramodern tools have made agro-chemical industries self-sufficient, and very prosperous.

Answer: Sutanoti

Before the British came to the region, Kolkata, rather Sutanoti, was just a hamlet of small villages, a far cry from the modern city we admire today. The British somehow liked the place, and they set up their camps in the early 1800s. That was the start of Kolkata's rise, and it is safe to say that the rise has not stopped even today.

Answer: Hooghly

A common mistake is to think the answer to be the Ganges. The Hooghly river is geographically the river associated with Kolkata, while the Ganges flows miles away from Kolkata.

Answer: Darjeeling

Darjeeling has everything - a picturesque valley situated at an excellent location, overlooking the forests of Kalimpong. Tourism is the biggest industry here, and it provides views of Himalayan peaks such as Kanchenjunga.

Answer: Sunderbans

Sunderbans, literally meaning 'the beautiful forests' mainly consists of mangrove forests, but is also home to numerous swamps, inland rivers and small deltas. It houses a large forest (now a national park) having a wonderful diversity of flora and fauna.

The legendary Bengal tiger also calls this place its home. Sunderbans Delta is another name for the Ganges Delta, the largest in the world.

Answer: Uttam Kumar

Arun Kumar Chatterjee, better known to the world as Uttam Kumar (1926-80). The name says it all. He is one of the greatest sons of Bengal. An entire quiz can be created about him. Perhaps no one will ever surpass his records which broke all barriers. Equally famous in both the Bengals as well as the rest of India, he acted in 202 films, in which almost 156 were either award-winning or super hits, breaking box-office records.

Answer: Padma

The Ganga-Padma delta runs through the whole of Bangladesh, and is home to a fertile landscape, full of rich alluvial soil. Padma is the main distributary of the Ganges, and meets with the Meghna river before flowing into the Bay of Bengal. Padma is also the Sanskrit word for the lotus flower.

Answer: I am well

Obviously, these three words are very commonplace in the Bengali language, which is the 5th biggest language in the world if you look at number of speakers. It was voted the sweetest language in Asia by a survey by "The Times of India". No wonder it is so well followed.