iQuizLeague

(Karthik Narayan)

The quizzing world broke into two – it was either playing for pride (Madras Day Quiz) or for the purse (Coimbatore Brahma Open Quiz), and most of us chose the former (that did’nt stop us from sending a contingent to Coimbatore, who eventually did us all proud).
 
Yeah folks, the Madras Day Quiz is’nt exactly about fundoo questions, bigtime prize money or chest thumping & fist pumping, but revels on the tradition and culture that we have come to love about our own city, Madras that is Chennai!!

The best part about the Madras Day quiz is that everyone has an equal chance of qualifying and winning; the Madras Quiz organized as part of the annual Madras day celebrations thrived on the principles of 2 S – Simple & Straight.

Little known Gokhale-Sastri Hall shot to fame as the latest venue of this Annual Quiz to celebrate namma Madras (Chennai, if you like). The questions in the prelims were more or less based on current events and news in and around Chennai. As it went, these questions were perfect for the old faithfuls and those who like the flavour of their morning newspaper to go with their morning brew of filter kaapi.

The Prelims had 25 questions (arre baba rukk – questions will be posted asap) which were a medley of the easy and difficults (Somehow we felt the starred questions were easier than those not starred!!). Each of us had our own versions of answers – especially to questions like expand DAAD, the student exchange program between a German institution and IIT Madras (which the quizmaster himself could’nt pronounce all that well and we felt it was rather arbit). There were some visuals amidst the

many dry questions in the Prelims.

The Prelims Questions were aimed at both the young and the old – a blend of questions on rock bands of Chennai, Shruti Hassan got along well with PK Srinivasan (associated with Srinivasa Ramanujam). Overall, a low scoring affair meant anybody who had got 10 or above stood a good chance to qualify.

Some regular names were seen on stage for the Finals – the favorites, Ramana and Ramkumar Shankar, Gopal Kidao & Ashwin, Swami & Krishnamurthy’s parents made amends for their sons who were’nt in town (that quizzing family certainly amazes everyone from time to time) and there was yet another familiar team (these guys are good, lemme tell you!). It was a delight, however, to see new old people on stage (yeah thats what I said – new old). There were two such teams – one an all women team, which again was good to note.
The Finals was rather long, by any standards, what with 12 rounds!! Questions ranged from culture, food, cinema to people, institutions and places. The last round with videos shot from MRTS trains was very interesting and innovative – well done guys!

Some of the questions were rather apalling and uncalled for – such as what goes into the Chinnamalai Pork Curry. Similarly, in the name of trying to be youthful, the food & party rounds left a lot to be desired – something that the quizmaster needs to maybe work on the next time around. Also, for both prelims and finals, only questions were shown on screen. Its always a nice feeling to see the answers on the slides – it registers in the mind and also leaves a feel good factor. Again a takeaway for the quizmaster,

Vincent D Souza, whose diction seems to get better everytime I see him, was the Quizmaster. For those not in the know, he happens to be the Founder and CEO of Mylapore Times, which organized the Madras Day events this year (and the years before that…). While the onstage participants broke sweat on a few questions, the audience tried their best to answer the questions in the finals in the hope of winning those cool hand drawn paintings for audience prizes.

Ramana and Ramkumar snatched the first prize under the noses of their competitors and walked away with the Rolling Trophy as Madras Quiz Winners 2008.

We already look forward to the next year’s challenge…

 

(Review by Vinodh of the Coimbatore Open Quiz by the CIT, 24th Aug 2008)

 

August 24, 2008

8.15 am IST

Hotel Room

 

The speaker of my N70 bellowed a threnody which created a “wake” in the minds of three simple souls. First was Ananth, who awoke cussing under his breath at the alarm, the next was yours truly; but I did not cuss as the alarm was my favorite tune. And finally Sana, who woke just because we woke up and started rattling the cot.

 

Brahma’08; Ah!!…the quiz where “we were given a turn to answer to GOD” as the tagline goes was the reason why were at this ill-ventilated room, cussing, complaining and squishing our eyes as we looked up at our watches and phones to discover what time it was.

 

We were the underdogs, the dark-horses at this quiz. Each spoke little as we traveled to the quiz with Ashok, a member of another team called “Tirupur Tughlaks” who was really warm and nice to offer us a pick-up and a sumptuous lunch.

 

C.I.T

1.30 pm IST

 

The font row seats were empty which we eagerly picked up and sat. Ananth was fiddling with his bag, Sana with his pen, and I took a jaunt to the watering-hole. We then had a chat with Ashok and team about IQL and the quizzing scene in Kovai and how we could contribute to and all that.

 

There was a small inauguration ceremony which was an invitation to Hypnos, the god of sleep. He was chased out when the bunnies appeared.

 

Bunny who…!!?!! Good Question J…they were the volunteers.

 

Dressed in white tees (I was wondering where they had concealed their long ears!!) they ushered us into our seats and handed us the answer-sheets. We then high-fived each other and waited for the QM            (a young chap with lots of prospects) to read out the questions.

 

As he read out the questions, the thought of winning or losing vanished from our minds. Our game plan was to take it question by question. We missed a few sitters, guessed a couple of ones correctly and cracked quite a few of the “tough” ones. The bunnies were there again…to take our sheets back.

 

The Finals.

 

We sat there twiddling the thumbs; as the answers were read out; we discovered that we got 10 questions wrong out of 25. Sana was very thoughtful, Ananth looked like Bogart and I was muttering something unintelligible.

 

All those thespian like visages vanished when discovered that we too had qualified!!! We parked our selves on the places meant for us and looked around to find that we were a part of 6 teams, of which 3 teams comprised of the regulars from the Chennai/Bangalore quizzing circuits.

 

Onstage. We decided to give our best shot as we had nothing to lose in terms of reputation or fame. Either we were destined to perform like Ajantha Mendis against India or like Anju Bobby George in Beijing 2008.

 

The quiz started and the CHN/BLR teams opened their accounts on the trot. When our turn came, we also answered our first direct and heaved a sigh of relief. The rounds were a slew of connects, AV’s, grid-picks and dry ones. Some questions were frankly; arbit and inane, which rustled up the veterans a bit.

 

In the midst of a chaotic and eventful first half we were unperturbed and just looking forward to the question that came to our desk, be it a pass or a direct. That sense of calmness and the silent aggression helped us a lot in the later stages.

 

When the scores were announced at the end of the 4 rounds, we were the joint leaders with the team comprising of Swami, Kapala and Samanth at 30 points. Udupa and Co from Bangalore were placed second at 25 points and Sumo, Goach and JK were placed third at 10. The teams to our left which brought up the rear rarely created a ripple. We were leading.

 

Our lead was made much stronger in the second half when Ananth cracked a strange-looking theme connect round, enabling us to score 30 points on the trot. Some more charades and protests emanated from the teams as to the nature of the rounds and questions. We do have to admit that some questions in the finals were not properly framed but the decorum on-stage went for a toss.

 

In the end and a few more questions later, in the midst of red-faced protesters and some really encouraging crowd; we were declared winners of this quiz. We proudly walked off the dais after the necessary commiserations and congratulations to the people who were game for such gestures.

 

The ruckus on-stage was continued in the prize distribution also, with one more ill-looking charade, much to the chagrin of the organizers. We gave a piece of our mind to the organizers as we exited the venue. They could have handled the situation well and tight, if not during the finals, at least after that after witnessing all the happenings.

 

Epilogue

 

Well, a quiz that was dreamy and at times filled with cheerless moments. This was a first major quiz win for IQL and we all were really missing you guys as audience. The messages and the calls from Samba, Hantan, KN and others were really memorable and sweet. Thanks guys.

 

We as a team also would like to appreciate the CIT quiz club for the efforts that they have put in.

 

To sum up, the teamwork & thought processes were outstanding; As Dhoni always says, we had a game plan and we stuck to it. Ananth was awesome and came up with some neat and fantastic answers. Sana’s contribution to this win has also been equally invaluable, as he really held the helm many times and answered some posers which were as tough to crack as a walnut would be.

 

And for yours truly, being a part of such a team and writing this report itself is a delight. If you want me to say more, I’ll end up with one line (with all due respect to Copyright laws & Queen):

 

“WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS”.

 

 

Would be posting questions and photos as soon as we get them from the CIT team.

 

 

(A first hand experience by Priyanka Parthasarathy, with the usual two cents from KN)

 

We had our meeting at the Brio Bistro, at the Crossword Store with the usual fervour and enthusiasm that is associated with IQL meets. And being new to this, let me tell you that quizzing over a cup of coffee is truly an energizing and refreshing experience. The day of the meet was a day after the world celebrated the “madras day” (hyperboleJ). And that became the perfect reason for questions on Madras to be featured in the quizzing rounds. And it also happened to be the first meeting in T.Nagar, after the much awaited inauguration of the Usman road fly over. (Those unfamiliar with Chennai as we chennaiites proudly call ourselves – please excuse!)

 

The perfect beginning was evident from the fact that for the first time ever, we had a table reserved exclusively for a quizzing crowd of almost twenty. And at stroke of 15.30 hours, in came the crowd. People at the meet:kn,achu,jk,pantan,hantan,Mamba,sana,priyanka,subs,prabhakar, ramkumar (aka Kabala), harish, vinodh, aravind, yagneshwaran (two noobs), vijay (The photographed one) and Venkatesh aka matti (again a first timer).

 

The quizzing rounds began with Pantan, with his usual set of questions on Current Affairs. KN goofed up a bit by not bringing his laptop (and more importantly, the quizzes by Rajimuth, Prateek and Varun), so we wont be able to see those questions until next time. Subhashree took over and did a series of stunning questions, which were no match for the gang. KN came back with a bang by showcasing a set of questions on Madras, then it was JK & Vinodh who stole the thunder right under our noses presenting their awesome set of questions. Finally Matti did a quiz in the good old fashioned way – he didn’t have fancy Powerpoints, but took out his piece of paper and started asking sports questions.

 

The theme of the meet was a bunch of motley questions by & for a motley crowd. The topics ranged from papa phobia to the current craze sudoku. The Madras Masala Quiz was another highlight. The quiz-o-maniacs were at their best, with most questions being answered. The quiz sessions not only provided food for thought but were accompanied by some witty one liner that brought out the fun side of the group.

 

The “crew” at the Brio were rather irksome, asking us to order more food & drinks to bring up a sizeable bill, but we were too involved in the quizzing that we forgot all about the eating!! Though this is getting a bit on our nerves, we are toying with the idea of sticking to this venue for now, until we get a better one…

 

With all the questions out of the kitty (and some left over for next time), it was time for everybody to bid good bye. After wishing good luck          to the teams going for the Coimbatore open Quiz, we all left for the day. And so do they say “all that begins well, ends well”.

 

Interestingly, I do not feature in any of the photos below  

 

 

 

 

Vedic Institute is an institute that caters to the development of aesthetic faculties of children, and they held a cultural fest on August 18th for Schools in and around the Tambaram area. The venue was Annai Arul Mandapam. It was their second cultural fest and IQL organized two quizzes on behalf of Vedic. The first one was for the kids of standards 3-5 and the second was for students from standards 6th to 10th.

The quizmasters for the day were Vinod(Malcaluffin) and Hantan(myself). I conducted the kids quiz and am starting to love it. There were four teams of three each and we had three rounds of quizzing. It was pleasurable watching the kids as they get tense when they dont know the answer to a question and i jumped along with them when they became euphoric after the cracking one. The kids got to learn a lot and also got tips as to how to be updated with current affairs as they grow up.

Vinod, then conducted the second quiz and there were nine teams this time. A man of few words, he was an able quiz master and was very composed throught the quiz. Watching him conduct the quiz was a lesson in quiz hosting. Thinking on his feet and adapting to the noisy background he deftly finished the quiz in a calm and composed manner. Great job.

Lack of props was sorely felt. We were hosting the quiz at a room adjacent to the main stage where a dance competion was taking place and conducting a quiz at such a noisy environment is a hard thing to do but we didnt complain. We had a job to do and we saw to it that we executed it well.  The children were also unamused by the extra noise that disturbed their concentration. Vinod kept his calm throughout the quiz and we were relieved after the quiz got over. But it is too much to ask for from an institute that conducts a cultural fest with high intentions with focus on orphans and underprevilged children. Great work by Mrs. Sindhu, director of Vedic, for organizing such a lovely fest.