iQuizLeague

(By Phone Wolf aka Sana)

When my friend mentioned about Landmark Bangalore Quiz, I immediately asked him who the Quiz Master was. When he said Derek, I was a bit apprehensive about joining him. Even though Derek’s content is good, I’m not a huge fan of his presentation skills. So, I told my friend that I had a 50-50 chance of coming. As the days rolled on, there was a confirmation that the Quiz Master had changed and that it would be Naveen Jayakumar. My joy knew no bounds. I gave a go ahead right then and there and asked him to book tickets. I told him that even if we don’t qualify, the content of the quiz would be worth the trouble and I wasn’t mistaken.

It was a very warm and sunny Saturday afternoon when I reached the venue – Chowdiah Hall. There were lots of people already waiting to enjoy the show. I registered for my team and was waiting for my team-mates to join. Kartik Ramadoss came soon and Yagneshwaran came in the last minute. The event was supposed to start @ 3:30 PM and we were all seated by 3:00 PM. A tribute concert to Freddie Mercury was being shown to keep the audience entertained. People start filing in and the hall was completely full by 3:30, but, there was no sign of the starting. The prelims finally started at 4:15 PM. There were 40 questions in all (the prelims questions and answers can be found here). Some questions which stand out are the 1000 rupee note and Here Be Dragons question. The question about the dog’s tails was completely un-crackable. Our team didn’t crack things as expected and got a decent score. We had the usual feeling that we could have done lots better. The cut-off was way above and the usual 8 team qualified for the finals. Thankfully, the waiting time between Prelims and Finals wasn’t that bad.

The Finals had the following format – 15 questions clockwise, Buzzer Round, 15 questions anticlockwise, Theme round and Buzzer round to close it. There was intense competition right through the quiz and all the teams were having a crack at the questions. At one stage, most of the teams were on the same score! The questions were exceptional. None of them were simple and it had the audiences as well as the teams on the stage guessing. Some notable questions among them, which punishment was removed from the Indian Penal Code and for what reason?, Which animal is the fastest on two legs?, Burqini.

The one which stole the show was the Kanakadasa question. I’ll explain this one coz its worth it. First video, Kannada superstar as Kanakadasa (a staunch devotee of Lord Krishna) being tied to the walls and he is singing a song. The Lord is happy and proceeds to break the walls and make himself visible to him. The second is the song “Krishna nee begane”. The Quizmaster asked the teams to connect these two things. Everyone attempted this. Some even proceeded to link this with the ongoing Metro project. The question passed to the audience, who failed to get anywhere near it. Finally, Naveen proceeded to answer it in his own style – he explained the story of how Kanakadasa being an outcast was not allowed to come inside the temple. Being tied to the pole, he sang in praise of the Lord and hence he showed to everyone how the Lord listens to everyone irrespective of caste or creed. The song “Krishna nee begane” was sung by John Higgings who is remembered fondly as John Higgins Bagavathar because of his interest in carnatic music. He also visited the same temple when he was in India. Being a foreigner, he wasn’t allowed to enter the temple. So, he stood outside and rendered “Krishna nee begane”. Soon, a huge crowd gathered outside and the priests were embarrassed and they allowed him to enter. Amazing stuff – the applause hadn’t died in the auditorium and it continued for a few minutes. I can only imagine the amount of research Naveen puts in for his quizzes. It’s just stupendous. Questions like these make the whole venture of coming to a different city to witness the quiz wholly fulfilling.

The theme was a bit of a dampener as the teams guessed the theme even before the 5^th slide. It could have been made a bit more difficult.

It was a nail biting finish in the last buzzer round as close to three teams could have won it from that stage. Finally, “We are like this Wonly” cruised through to the top by pressing the buzzer more than once in the final round.

It was wholesome entertainment from Naveen & Co. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The prelims questions are up on the blog. The finals questions will be up in a few days time. Do put in your comments after reading the review.