The P.D. Quiz

A report on the March 2009 quiz by Luis Dias.

A Wikipedia search for P.D. gives you, among other things, Peu difficile, a French grade for a moderately difficult mountaineering route.

This seemed to be the objective of our designated QM, Ameya Mardolkar.

And a Google of "A. M." gives you (4 hits down) City AM, a business paper (Business with Personality). Coincidence? :-)

The evening kicked off with a heated dispute, Seed vs Leaderboard, which seems to be still raging, although I can sense a con-sensus emerging.

(Incidentally, couldn't help wondering, at least from a purely botanical standpoint, do you have to be nuts to be seeds? I think perhaps every nut is a seed, but you don't have to be a nut to be a seed. You however have to be a seed to be a nut).

Anyway: back to the review:

Following the seedy start:
We had a maiden over from Niyati; her first foray into QMing, and a superlative effort. Knocked most of us for six. This is a QM to watch, for sure.

This quiz also featured for first time, the Double Your Money rule, which has a lot to do with the final tally. You can gather from this comment that yours truly didn't capitalise (such a decadent word) on this very much. Note to self: Pay more attention to rules, or get ruled out.

As if to underline this, A.M. pointedly familiarised us (Can one POINTedly underLINE something?) of QM rules 1 and 2, which required several repetitions as the evening unfolded.

The first round was the Pehchan Kaun round; this was followed by a whole series of brilliantly (craftily?) crafted rounds. A memorable one was the acronyms on the NYSE tickerboard, which surprisingly all teams seemed to have fared rather well. Not bad going, considering none of us has dealings with NYSE.

The break featured a steady stream of food and drink emanating from Suraiya/P.D's kitchen, and we had to tear ourselves away to get back to quizzing.

The winners, by a landslide, were the runaway TRAN team (Tallulah-Rajiv-Anjali-Niyati).

Post quiz,we had PD's birthday bash, which began with birthday bumps (oh to be sweet sixteen again!), a delectable fare, booze flowing like water, and conversation spilling late into the night.

I speak for us all when I say: A good time was had by all.

Here's to the good old Quizky, one more round, one more round...! "

Quiz 10 Results

SEQC Quiz 10, March 2009

QM: Ameya Mardolkar

1st: Anjali Sen Gupta, C. G. Niyati, Tallulah D'Silva, Rajiv D'Silva (320 pts)

2nd: Ashray Adappa, Harshvardhan Bhatkuly, Paul Gatward (230 pts)

3rd: Renuka Figueiredo, Aniruddha Sen Gupta, Jayant Karn (150 pts)

4th: Deepika Figueiredo, Mahesh Prabhu, C. G. Nitash, Vidyadhar Gadgil (80 pts)

5th: Janice Figueiredo, Soraya Mukherjee, Luis Dias, Savio Figueiredo (75 pts)

6th: Kanchan Gatward, Mariette Correa, P. D. Mukherjee, Sunil Sardessai (55 pts)

The league table, with two quizzes to go before we complete our first year, looks like this.

The next monthly quiz will be held on the 19th of April. Sunil Sardessai will QM and host us at his Caranzalem apartment.

SEQC Quiz#10 - March'09 Edition

Come March, and I was the QM again at the monthly SEQC quiz. I researched and presented the quiz for the SEQC people at PD's. Here publishing for the unlucky ones ;) who missed the live fun.

Quiz 10 - March 2009

The March 2009 quiz takes place this Sunday at Bambolim. As Vidyadhar pointed out the last time we met, this will be the fourth weekend in a row quizzing for some of us and this may be too much of a good thing. He even cited some selected Ghalib couplets to prove it, which has escaped my memory for now, but his point is well taken. There will be a general easing-off-the-pedal after the 15th to allow some of us to tackle the weightier of the world's problems, so make sure you don't miss this one.

SEQC March 2009 Quiz

Date: 15th March 2009
Time: 5.00 pm
QM: Ameya Mardolkar
Flavour: General
Venue: At the Mukherjee's, Bambolim
How to get there: Get to the Goa University campus SBI branch and look out for a signage indicating the faculty residences. PD's place is B10. Call 2456257 or 9822122083 in case you can't locate it.

Well met by moonlight...

A report on the SEQC Women's Day Quiz.

Q - If you go to an event where you end up roaring with laughter half the time, can it be called a roaring success?
A - Technically, yes.

It was one of those days, I guess. First, not one, not two, but three people land up with hilarious haircuts. Then, Mariette comes dressed as the high priestess of some misandrous cult getting ready for a ritual moonlight sacrifice. If she had walked in with a knife I think half the men there would have legged it into the woods beyond Venita's backyard and taken their chances with the wild animals. Ha! Then, Tallulah introduces a buzzer round with improvised buzzers in the form of all manner of squeaky toys, whistles, rattles and whatnots. If the sight of grown men and women falling over each other and squeaking, rattling and blowing the hell out of unsuspecting toys doesn't make you crack up, nothing will. And finally, Anjali's final round that emerged as a take on the women of SEQC was fiendishly calculated to produce guffaws.

This was the second SEQC quiz to have multiple QM's, a format that everybody seems to be warming up to quite a bit. The turnout was good - 22 people (including 3 newbies), 2 kids, 4 dogs & 1 mom-about-the-house - and Venita's moonlit backyard lived up to its promise of an enchanting quizzing venue. The quiz began with a set by Tallulah, after which yours truly stepped up to the plate to do some pinch-hitting for the men. This is when we began to realize the perils of putting two 'seeded' players in the same team, as Annie, Hash, Nitash & Deepika's team began to run away with the quiz. Venita began the post-break session with a great set of questions and Anjali rounded it all up with her set. There were some great answers from the other teams, but the Annie-Hash-Nitash-Deepika team were simply unstoppable, and no doubt both Annie and Hash will claim to have a certain level of domain expertise on "women" now.

The complete results -

SEQC Women's Day Quiz

QMs - Tallulah D'Silva, Rajiv D'Silva, Venita Coelho, Anjali Sen Gupta

1st - Deepika Figueiredo, Aniruddha Sen Gupta, Harshvardhan Bhatkuly, C. G. Nitash (22 pts)
2nd - Mariette Correa, Soraya Mukherjee, Renuka Figueiredo, Vidyadhar Gadgil (8 pts)
Joint 3rd - [Anjali Sen Gupta, Janice Figueiredo, Paul Gatward, Ashray Adappa] & [Venita Coelho, Rakesh Sharma, Kaushik Ramanathan, Savio Figueiredo] (7 pts)
Joint 5th - [Tallulah D'Silva, Jayant Karn, P.D. Mukherjee] & [C.G. Niyati, Mahesh Prabhu, Rajiv D'Silva] (6 pts.)

Next weekend sees us meeting at PD's place for our regular quiz, QMed by Ameya Mardolkar. Details soon.

Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em...sure as hell can't quiz without 'em

And so, SEQC holds a special International Women's Day Quiz this Sunday. While not quite being of the women, by the women & for the women, that fairer sex will feature quite heavily in it. This, coupled with Venita's promise of a moonlit courtyard and dinner on the house, should make this a miss-it-and-you'll-regret-it affair.

The SEQC Women's Day Quiz

Date: 8th March 2009
Time: 5 pm
QM: Multiple QM's, each doing a couple of rounds
Flavour: Strawberry
Venue: Casa Coelho, Moira
How to get there: (As provided by our gracious host herself) "If you're coming from Panjim.... stay on NH 17... resist all temptation to turn into Mapusa... go past Hotel Greenpark... next big cross roads you will have a turn into Mapusa on your left and a turn to Aldona/ Moira on your right... take the right... then immediate left... go past lots and lots of dry fields... over a little bridge... road turns to right... speed breaker... stay on road... you will in a bit see a football field and a white chapel on your right... keep on the road... it will dip downwards... on left you will see a cross... on the right you will see 'Coyote Wine Stores'... Aha - here is where you take a right... go down the road a bit... blue and white house that says 'Casa Coelho'... if lost ask for woman who drives jeep, has four dogs and got arrested..." or call Venita on 2470861. Once you get there she will no doubt satisfy your curiosity about the being arrested bit (if that has caught your attention) or the rather interestingly-named Coyote Wine Stores (that has caught mine).
Who can take part: Anybody whose idea of a good time is quizzing over a few drinks, eats and laughs. Just land up, no prior notification is required.

WIZBIZ 2009 results

From a media release by GIM

On the ninth year of WIZBIZ, one comes to realize how small initiatives can go on to become legacy events in continuation with this legacy Goa Institute of Management (GIM) organized the annual corporate quiz, ‘WIZBIZ 2009’ on the evening of 28th February at the Laran Lawns of the International Centre in Dona Paula.
Wiz Biz brought together members of the corporate world from various sectors across the country for an evening of fierce intellectual competition, providing them an ideal platform to harness their talents. The event saw a participation of 16 teams from some of the most prestigious establishments in the country, providing the audience with an evening high on learning and enjoyment.
Quizmaster Avinash Mudaliar, a former secretary of the Karnataka Quiz Association and a veteran of 1200 quizzes across the country himself, left no stone unturned in jazzing up the proceedings by getting the audience involved with his wry wit and inimitable style. Popping off the cuff questions simply on whichever topic the audience themselves suggested, this charismatic reservoir of trivia made WIZBIZ 2009 a night to remember. Finally, 4 times WIZBIZ winners Savoir Faire, represented by Harshvardhan Bhatkuly and Rajiv D’Silva stamped their superiority by winning this year too. Giving them an absolute run for their money were Infosys, Hyderabad, represented by Shailesh V Ranjan and Ashwin Alexander, who stood 2nd. Coming in third were the motley duo of seasoned journalists, their team aptly named “Feni, Vidi, Vici”, comprising of Aniruddha Sengupta and Vidyadar Gadgil . The quizmaster later declared that Feni Vidi Vici had given some of the finest answers of the quiz. This landmark event has created a brand recall for itself in the minds of serious quizzing aficionados through its unique format and the enthusiastic participation from both the participating teams and the audience. An event that started with the motive of bringing the students closer to the industry and fostering better ties between the two, the journey has come a long way. This was the ninth edition of WIZBIZ and over the years, there have been tremendous improvements in the size, scale and quality of the event. Some of the companies who participated this year are, Savior Faire, Synapse, Bajaj Alliance, IMS, Fomento, and Infosys.
The quiz was highly interactive and ensured that everyone was on their toes. There were lots of attractive prizes won by the participants’ as well as the audience members.WIZBIZ is already a legacy in the GIM fraternity and it’s their dream to make it the largest corporate quiz conducted by a B-school in India.

SEQC goes to Pune

A report on the SEQC road trip to the Landmark Quiz 2009 by Anjali Sen Gupta.

Day 1 started innocently enough. Little did we realise that we would soon OD on quizzing! We started off from Panjim at 1:30 pm, and had just settled down for the ride when out came lots of quiz books… ‘Hot chips’ and snacks were passed around as the questions flowed. The roads were good, not too much traffic. We reached Pune after 11-and-a-half hours, got to Hotel Kismet Residency (where rules, strangely, forbid you to peep through your window!) and tumbled into bed. The next morning we were off to VAMNICOM, the biz quiz of the Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management. Ameya and Chirag made it to the final 8. After the first few rounds, the QM suddenly started rushing through the questions. He had got special requests from most of the teams there, who were also going for the Landmark quiz in the afternoon, and had asked him to hurry up. Our guys played well and came (I think) fourth.

While the oldies were busy quizzing, Vikram had a fun time too. He got thoroughly wet in the sprinkler systems in the lawns, and picked up a lot of flowers and interesting shiny stuff – all handed over to mama for safekeeping!

After grabbing a really quick lunch of sandwiches and shakes, we were ready for the biggie. Chirag couldn’t eat a bite, what with the excitement of a good quiz looming ahead. As it was inching past registration time, a frantic call was made to the organisers, and we were assured that they were waiting eagerly for the Goa teams.

Gadgil, who has cut his “question everything” teeth in the city, became our (very able) guide. He made us take all the left turns to get to the right places! Nehru Stadium, the Landmark quiz venue, was packed. There were about 265 or so teams – from schools, colleges and organisations, from Bombay, Bangalore, Madras, Goa, Pune… . Lots of ushers, well-ordered seating arrangements and spotlights inside; chai and vada-pao outside – a show of this magnitude managed well. Eight teams made it to the stage after written prelims (38 questions). SEQC did not qualify for the onstage finals but we scored one victory. The all-girl team of Tallulah, Ulrike and Anjali got the award for the best team name (suggested by Venita) – the Consortium of Loose, Forward and Quiz-going Women. The other Goa team names were ‘Feni, Vidi, Vici’ and ‘Goa Ghotala’.

By the time the quiz ended, it was time for dinner. Everybody (except Gadgil, who had had to go home) trooped off to Blue Nile. Chirag was more or less kidnapped by the group and taken along. (Chirag, you seem to have had a rough time!) And what a dinner! Delicious biryani and tandoori chicken – and lots of it.

Then it was back to the hotel. While some in the group slumbered, a small group played Trivial Pursuit – yep, more quizzing – into the wee hours of the morning!

Sunday morning… the ride back home started. And so did the quizzing. Rajiv, I think, then had the bright idea of doing a Mastermind style quiz – one specialised and one general round. We took a break (from the quizzing) at lunch, at Kolhapur. Quizzing continued as we started off, continued during our tea break (at a small shack somewhere on the highway) and after. When it got too dark to see the written word in the car, the cabin light came on so that the quiz could go on. We finally staggered into Goa, and staggered out at our respective destinations. I believe Harsh had withdrawal symptoms the next day!