Wrapped up

Christmas time is all about good governance and gifts. This quiz is about famous presents from the past.

1 Which wonder of the ancient world was created as a gift by a famous ruler for his wife Amytis, who was terribly homesick for her homeland in Iran?

2 Whose 70 carat diamond ring present to his wife in 1969 was auctioned off in 1978 to pay for a hospital in Botswana. According to the seller, “They need one badly and I certainly don’t need another ring!” If it helps, the wife is even better known.

3 The first of these was ordered by a ruler for his wife in 1885. The wife was so delighted that even after the original gift-giver passed away, his son continued it as a yearly tradition for his mother and his wife. What was the unique gift?

4 Which musician gifted away, at last count, more than a 100 Cadillacs and Lincolns, some to complete strangers?

5 The Hindu pantheon of gods and demigods inevitably felt obliged to give boons and curses that would haunt them in the future. Parashurama, on discovering that Karna was a Kshatriya and not a Brahmin as he originally claimed, cursed him that he would forget the prayers needed to use the Brahmastra when he most required it. But which boon did Parashurama also bestow on Karna after casting this curse?

6 In 2014, in which Indian city did Palki Savjibhai Dholakia, the owner at Hrishikesh exports, give away 455 Fiat Punto cars, 207 flats and 570 pieces of jewellery as Diwali bonus?

7 “Having made this present, I had to curtail some of the festivities. I could not have the electric lights I had intended, nor the military band, and the ladies of the house were despondent at it. But to me the wedding feast was all the brighter for the thought that in a distant land a long-lost father met again with his only child.” Last lines of a very famous Indian short story. Name the story or the author.

8 The Greatest Gift , written by Philip Van Doren Stern in 1939, was the basis for which classic Frank Capra film released in 1946?

9 In this royal wedding in 1661, Catherine got military support against Spain and liberty of worship. In return, Charles II got Tangier, trading privileges in Brazil and the East Indies, commercial freedom in Portugal, two million Portuguese crowns and which other extremely important gift?

10 What started with a gift given by Ramachandra Reddy on April 18, 1951, in Pochampally district in Andhra Pradesh?

Answers

1. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, made by Nebuchadnezzar for his Iranian wife, which was destroyed in an earthquake around 2BC.

2. Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor

3. The Faberge eggs, probably the most famous pieces of jewellery ever created, originally presented by Tsar Alexander III to his wife.

4. Elvis Presley. On July 27, 1975, he gave away 14 Cadillacs in a single day.

5. He blessed Karna with his bow Vijaya. Also, with immortal glory and everlasting fame. Will accept either answer.

6. Surat. They operate in the diamond trade, and I do not have a contact number!

7. Rabindranath Tagore’s Kabuliwala

8.It’s a Wonderful Life

9. The seven islands of Bombay

10. Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan movement. More than a million acres have been donated since.

Joy Bhattacharjya is a quizmaster and Project Director, FIFA U-17 World Cup

Follow Joy on Twitter >@joybhattacharj