History
Order these by the year they happened: Operation Blue Star, the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the Anti-Sikh riots, Rajiv Gandhi becoming PM.
The Hindi word for "tomorrow" and the Hindi word for "yesterday" are the same. What is it?
Kal
biryani, the city, and Chowmahalla/Falaknuma Palace
Hyderabad
Which doesn't belong: Idli, Dosa, Vada, Samosa.
Samosa — the other three are South Indian; samosa is North Indian/Punjabi (originally Central Asian)
Charminar, Gateway of India, India Gate.
All three are arched monuments built to commemorate something — Charminar (1591, to mark end of plague), Gateway of India (1924, to commemorate King George V's visit), India Gate (1931, war memorial). All three are also located in the heart of major metros and serve as the iconic landmark of their city.
Order these Telugu superstars by birth year: Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Balakrishna.
Chiranjeevi (Aug 1955) → Nagarjuna (Aug 1959) → Balakrishna (June 1960) → Venkatesh (Dec 1960)
The English word for a colorful tie-dyed cloth, from Hindi
Bandana (bāndhnū)
Connect: 1983, 2007, 2011, 2013.
Years India won ICC cricket trophies: 1983 (World Cup), 2007 (T20 World Cup), 2011 (World Cup), 2013 (Champions Trophy)
Which doesn't belong: Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam.
Marathi — the other four are Dravidian languages; Marathi is Indo-Aryan
"Vande Mataram," "Jana Gana Mana," "Saare Jahan Se Achha."
All three are patriotic songs — but the trickier connection: each was written in a DIFFERENT language by a DIFFERENT poet. Vande Mataram (Bankim Chandra, Bengali/Sanskrit), Jana Gana Mana (Tagore, Bengali), Saare Jahan Se Achha (Iqbal, Urdu).
Order these Prime Ministers by when they FIRST took office: Indira Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Rajiv Gandhi.
Indira (1966) → Rajiv (1984) → P.V. Narasimha Rao (1991) → Vajpayee (1996, briefly; full term 1998) → Manmohan Singh (2004)
The English word for a tropical storm, from the Hindi/Urdu word
tūfān." → Typhoon
Clue 1: I composed my first film score at 25. Clue 2: I have won 6 National Film Awards. Clue 3: I'm the only Indian to win two Oscars in one night.
A.R. Rahman
Which doesn't belong: Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Pehlwani, Cricket, Mallakhamb.
Cricket — the other four are indigenous Indian sports; cricket was brought by the British.
Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai.
All four are tech/IT hubs — but the deeper connection: all four were British military cantonment cities, and all four have a "Secunderabad-style" twin: Pune-Khadki, Bengaluru-Cantonment, Hyderabad-Secunderabad, Chennai-St. Thomas Mount. Alternative answer: all four are cities where a major Indian defense/aerospace institution is headquartered (DRDO, HAL, DRDL, etc.)
Order these films by release year: Sholay, Mughal-e-Azam, DDLJ, Mother India, Baahubali
Mother India (1957) → Mughal-e-Azam (1960) → Sholay (1975) → DDLJ (1995) → Baahubali (2015)
The English word for a soft, smooth fabric, from the city of Kashmir where it was originally made from goat wool.
Cashmere
Connect: Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram, Yashwant Sinha, Arun Jaitley.
All have served as India's Finance Minister
Which doesn't belong: Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Rabindranath Tagore, C.V. Raman, Amartya Sen, Kailash Satyarthi.
Mahatma Gandhi — the other five all WON a Nobel Prize. Gandhi was nominated five times but never wo
The number 555, the date October 2, the color saffron, the spinning wheel.
All four are associated with Mahatma Gandhi — 555 = the number of days Gandhi spent in jail during his final imprisonment (or alternatively a Gandhi-era reference); October 2 = his birthday; saffron = the top stripe of the flag he advocated for, representing courage/sacrifice; spinning wheel (charkha) = his symbol of self-reliance, originally on the Indian flag before being replaced by the Ashoka Chakra.
Order these Indian states by the year they were formed/carved out: Telangana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand.
Chhattisgarh (Nov 1, 2000) → Uttarakhand (Nov 9, 2000) → Jharkhand (Nov 15, 2000) → Telangana (June 2, 2014)
The English word for an unstoppable, destructive force, from the name of a Hindu deity whose chariot is pulled in a massive annual festival in Puri, Odisha.
Juggernaut (from "Jagannath")
Connect: Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, Priyanka Chopra.
All three are Bollywood actresses who won Miss Universe or Miss World before becoming film stars
Which doesn't belong: Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble.
Kapil Dev — the others are all known primarily as batsmen or bowlers in conventional roles; Kapil is the only true all-rounder of the group.
Kalpana Chawla, Vikram Sarabhai, Homi Bhabha
Pioneers of Indian space/nuclear programs who died in tragic accidents (Chawla = Columbia disaster 2003; Sarabhai = sudden death 1971; Bhabha = Air India plane crash 1966)