prelude  The mega quizzical extravaganza The Colosseum Open Quiz Fest, 2009 was held on Sunday, October 25, 2009 at the Pragjyoti ITA Cultural Complex, Machkhowa, Guwahati amidst an overwhelming crowd. The event was organised by The Assam Tribune and Social Action Network (SAN), a North-East based NGO. The research and concept of the event was by the Neelotpal Deka & Quiz Associates. The event was inaugurated by Justice B. K. Sharma, Hon’ble Judge, Gauhati High Court. The event was conducted by Prof. Dilip Kumar Barua, Neelotpal Deka and Sailen Baishya. The winners and audience won prizes worth more than Rs.1,00,000/-, of which more than 1000 prizes were won by the most responsive audience. Amrit Pritom Chetia and Bidyut Bikash Bailung emerged champions to claim the Hari-Swarna Memorial Trophy, while the second prize was bagged by Dipankar Koushik and Biswajyoti Saikia, and H. Arnav Neog and Upakul Sarma won the third prize. During the event, The Colosseum Annual Awards, 2008 were also conferred to the best contributors of the column. The event was sponsored by the State Bank of India, Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (National Bamboo Mission, Ministry of Agriculture), HP and NEDFi, etc. The supportive sponsors were: UBISURFER, Videocon, Vivel Ultra-Pro, Classmate, Bharali Brothers, Assam Book Depot, Swiss Watch Corporation, Gold Cinema, etc. The media partners were The Eclectic, Leo Advertising, News Live, BIG 92.7 FM and the print partner was Bhabani Offset & Imaging Systems Pvt. Ltd. The event on stage is over for this year, but the journey of The Colosseum never ends, it continues in this column supported by the readers and contributors, all of whom are again vying for The Colosseum Annual Awards, 2009. E-mail your questions with answers at: only4_pol@yahoo.co.uk or post at: THE COLOSSEUM, Mosaic, Friday Supplement, The Assam Tribune, Guwahati-781003 or SMS at: 9864102417. Send your name in each SMS.

side screen  1) Picture Clue: Identify this Assamese novelist. (Himjyoti Talukdar, Sun Light Colony Ashram, New Delhi)

harmonisers  From Alakananda Medhi, Guwahati – 2) If in Assamese literature, Hemchandra Baruah is called “Sonaram Chand”,then which literary figure is called ‘Sri Sonar Chand”? 3) In Tintin comics, who is Captain Haddock’s sailor friend? 4) The great Gupta dramatist Kalidasa had written three plays. Two of them are Abhijnanasakuntalam and Malavikagnimitra. Name the third. 5) Which award winning science fiction work gave a description of a space colony?

unities  From Saroj K. Deka, Guwahati – 6) The 1956 film A Kiss Before Dying starring Robert Wagner inspired which famous Bollywood movie? 7) On which Hitchcock movie did the surrealist painter Salvador Dali collaborate, visualising the dream sequence? 8) Which American singing duo made their respective acting debuts in the films Annie Hall and Catch 22?

do-re-me  From Kamal Medhi, Mathgharia, Guwahati – 9) Name three Catholic countries which banned the bikini after it appeared for the first time? 10) Which actor entered Bollywood with a small role in the film Holi in 1984? 11) Ketan Mehta directed the film Sardar (1993). The lead role was given to Paresh Rawal. Who was the original Sardar on whom the film was made? 12) If you are a cricket fan then you are familiar with the googlies of Anil Kumble. Which personality from the advertising background wrote the book Googly – Breaking on Indian Turf? 13) The pop band ABBA is a familiar name in the music world. To which country does the band belong? 14) Love and Longing in Bombay is a short story collection. Name the writer.

crescendo  15) This well-known actor was initially named as Inquilab, inspired from the phrase Inquilab Zindabad during the Indian independence struggle. He was re-christened with a name which means the light that would never go off. Who is he? (Abhra Das, Maligaon, Guwahati)

Answers  1) Rajani Kanta Bardoloi 2) Hemchandra Goswami 3) Captain Chester 4) Vikramorvasiyam 5) Rendezvous with Rama 6) Baazigar 7) Spellbound 8) Simon and Garfunkel 9) Spain, Portugal and Italy 10) Paresh Rawal 11) Sarder Vallabhai Patel 12) Ramanujan Sridhar 13) Sweden 14) Vikram Chandra 15) Amitabh Bachchan