QM: Annie Sengupta
Margao Mela
In an increasingly unpredictable world, we cherish the few things that remain constant. That the first Sunday of the month quiz is conducted at Panaji and the last Sunday of the month at Margao is adhered to more strictly than the Monroe Doctrine. But we live in interesting times and an unhindered run to a VVIP gains priority over any Monroe-Donroe shenanigan.
The first round was titled ‘We Tour Thailand’ – the ‘We’ standing for Annie and his better half Anjali. The questions and the answers revealed very ancient Indian historical and cultural linkages with this country some 2,000 kms away. It also revealed how good Annie is in absorbing and retaining like a sponge so many facts and trivia on subjects, ranging from religious iconography to the pictorial representation in a menu.
The QM then led a mela tour, allowing the participant teams to choose from the dozen stalls, displaying either Media, Entertainment, Arts or Literature. Answering correctly the chosen stall ensured a bonus of 5 points. He followed it up with a round titled ‘Wandering Around’ featuring questions from different geographies. Often, teams do not state the answer, if it appears too facile. So when ‘Malacca’ looked like the obvious answer, five teams got it wrong. They assumed that Annie would never ask a question with so easy an answer. Team no 6, with Shaswat Salgaonkar, stated the obvious to get full points.
After wandering around, the prodigal did return to Goa with questions on literary work of Manohar Sardessai and the scholarship of the Kossambi family. It’s a pity that most teams could not link the towering achievements of three generations with the Kossambis.
Ira Prem shared a delicious cake during the tea and samosa break. After the break Annie got us in an identification parade of presently politically incorrect people. This was followed by another round of Mela. I recollected attending shows conducted by P C Sorcar. His standard act was pouring water from a jar that never seemed to go empty. He would call it water of India. Annie also just keeps on retrieving question after question. Each question thoughtfully crafted and designed.
It is a good augury for the Margao monthly when enthusiastic participants like the scholarly JK, the elegant Pradhans and Maharaj 69 take the trouble to cross bridges and travel miles to attend the quiz.
The ultimate proof that it was a great quiz is in the fact that when Annie announced that due to time constraint, he would skip the final round, all participants remained seated for a few minutes. All the more surprising since there was no surprise as to the winners. Shaswat led Team no 6 to the pole position by a wide margin.
By Assis Sequeira
Teams and Results
1st : Team 6: 270 points
Shashwat Salgaocar, Utsav Banerjee,Cosme Araujo, Shiv Nadkarni, Anirudh K, Melchior Teles
2nd: Teams 3 and 4: 185 points
Team 3: Srijit Kumar, Maria Barreto, Magali Vaz, Bonny Furtado, Devika Shetty
Team 4: Upesh Pradhan, Ishan Kakodkar, Rajiv D'Silva, Srishti Maruca, Anjali Sengupta, Ruchira Porob
4th: Team 5: 150 points
5th: Team 2: 140 points
Ira Prem, Dr. Ira Almeida, Angeline Pradhan, Kaivalya Karkare, Swati Parab
6th: Team 1: 125 points
Nikhil Sirsat, Terrence Almeida, J Krishnamurthi, Mervyn Fernandes, Raunak Nevgi
