Fame Trivia Quiz

Answer: Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray was a man of many talents. Apart from being an author and filmmaker, he was also known for his work as an illustrator and music composer. His first film "Pather Panchali" followed the hard life lived by two child protagonists, Apu and his elder sister Durga in a small Indian village.

The film was widely acclaimed and also won the award for the Best Human Document at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. He also created the character of a young detective called Feluda in his short stories and books. Among the many honours he received were the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, an honorary doctorate from Oxford University and the Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement.

Answer: Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu joined the Indian movement for independence in the early 20th century. In 1925 she became the president of the Indian National Congress, the first woman to hold the position. She was part of all the major independence movements including the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Quit India Movement.

After India won independence, she was appointed as the governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. She was also a well known poet earning the nickname of the "Nightingale of India".

Answer: Srinivasa Ramanujan

In this case, Srinivasa is the family name while Ramanujan is the mathematician's given name. Despite having no formal educational training in the subject, Ramanujan made important contributions to the fields of number theory, infinite series and continued fractions.

He took up correspondence with G. H. Hardy, an English mathematician at the University of Cambridge, to further explore these subjects and was then invited to England to study them. He died young at the age of 32 due to ill health. A 2015 film "The Man Who Knew Infinity" was based on his life and was adapted from his biography of the same name.

Answer: Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor spent most of his career at the United Nations. He joined the institution in 1978 working for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and eventually worked his way up to the position of Under-Secretary-General. In 2006 he stood for the position of UN Secretary-General but lost to Ban Ki-moon.

This led him to return to India and join politics as a member of the Indian National Congress. Apart from writing columns for various Indian and international publications, Tharoor has also authored several books.

He won the Commonwealth Writer's Prize for his book "The Great Indian Novel".

Answer: Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar first played international cricket in 1989 when he made his debut in a Test match against Pakistan at the young age of sixteen. With a career spanning over two decades he went on to break and create multiple records in the game. Some of these include becoming the first player to score a double century in One Day International cricket and the first to score a 100 centuries taking both forms of the game combined (Test and One Day Internationals).

Answer: Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza was the first female tennis player from India to make an impact on the international scene. Her debut at the Grand Slam tournaments was at the Australian Open in 2005 where she reached the third round only to be beaten by Serena Williams. She also made it to the third round of Wimbledon the same year before losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Her peak rank in the singles games was no. 27 but persistent injuries meant that she could never reach her full potential. Instead she switched her focus to the doubles game partnering with fellow Indian Mahesh Bhupati in the mixed doubles games.

Their team won the Australian Open in 2009 and French Open in 2012. She also partnered with former world no. 1 Martina Hingis in the women's doubles and the duo won both Wimbledon and the US Open in 2015 and the Australian Open in 2016.

Answer: Subhash Chandra Bose

Subhash Chandra Bose was a key figure in the Indian independence movement. Nicknamed "Netaji" which means leader, he was initially a part of the Indian National Congress. Over the course of time, his views on how the struggle should progress came to differ vastly from those proposed by Gandhi. Bose wanted to take a more military approach and was not averse to using violent means.

This led to him being ousted from the Congress and he instead took charge of the Indian National Army, an armed force of nationalists. Bose also sought help from the Germans and Japanese during World War II to help defeat the British.

He is believed to have died in a place crash in Taiwan in August 1945 having refused to surrender along with the Japanese after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Answer: Saina Nehwal

Saina Nehwal was first noticed by the Indian media when she became the under-19 national champion in 2006. Mentored by another Indian badminton great, Pullela Gopichand, Saina soon began winning tournaments at the international level. By 2009 she was ranked no. 2 in the world.

She became the first Indian to win an Olympic medal in badminton when she won bronze at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2015, she finally achieved a world ranking of no. 1.

Answer: Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), India in 1947. He did his early schooling there before moving to the UK. His first "Grimus" was published in 1975 and went largely unnoticed. The second one "Midnight's Children" propelled him to the limelight winning the Booker Prize.

The book followed the life of the protagonist who was born at the stroke of midnight when India became independent. Incorporating elements of magic realism, the book was a hit with both critics and readers. It was also adjudged the Best of the Bookers at the 25th and 40th anniversary of the prestigious award. Rushdie was knighted in 2007.

Answer: Sushma Swaraj

Sushma Swaraj qualified as a lawyer and briefly worked at the Supreme Court before moving to a full time career in politics. As a member of the Janata Party, she first held a Cabinet position in 1977. Later she moved to the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), briefly holding the position of Delhi's first female Chief Minister. One of the national leaders of the BJP, she was appointed as India's Minister for External Affairs in May 2014 and is one of the few ministers to have admirers from all sections of the political spectrum.