A reviewer reviewed

A report on the August 2010 monthly by Annie Sen Gupta

A little bird -- actually, quite a big one -- told me a little story about the SEQC August 2010 monthly. I will retell it, with apologies to the bird and to his informant for playing a little fast and loose with the facts.

The mantle of responsibility for setting the quiz had been draped over the shoulders of our Little Master, Sachin Chatte, at the previous meet. So, this bird called up Sachin a few days before the current monthly was due, and enquired how things were shaping up. The answer was sufficiently non-commital and vague for the bird to assume the worst -- that Mr Chatte had not yet got going on it. Further probing on the subject revealed as much.

"So what's the problem?" the bird enquired.

"It's not very easy," was the response. "You guys are used to it."

"But you did fine the first time around," the bird reminded the recalcitrant QM, referring to Sachin's previous foray on the SEQC proscenium.

"Yeah, but that time I was motivated."

I was told this tale while we waited for Sachin to make an appearance, as a warning that perhaps our QM was going to be a no-show. Thankfully, however, Sachin pulled no such stunt, and reported for duty, perhaps a little late but with laptop full of questions. The bird and I breathed sighs of relief.

In case you didn't know this, Sachin's thing in life is to watch movies first-day first-show, and then make fun of them on television, radio and the odd newspaper (a very odd newspaper, in fact). Watch Prudent TV on Sunday night, and you'll know what I mean. His quiz, he announced early on in the evening, would naturally contain a fair bit of filmology, some music (oh yeah, he's also an RJ on an FM channel) and some cricket.

As Sajan complained after the show, the cricket component seemed to consist exclusively of questions about Bhausaheb Nimbalkar. One question that we realised Sachin had missed out on was what Nimbalkar's first name was. To illuminate, it was Jack -- his full name being Jack B. Nimbalkar. If you don't get the joke, you don't know your nursery rhymes.

All in all, it was a rollercoaster quiz -- some questions as inaccessible as the moon being succeeded by ones completely down to earth. But a lot of fun was had, and there was applause for many questions, even though there was no claque. Must have been a clique. Turnout was a little low, perhaps due to the rain, but there were participants from Margao, Vasco and perhaps further afield.

The end game was cliff-hanging, with Rajiv's answer on 'Smoke on the Water' (from a description of the circumstances by Deep Purple during an interview with Sachin himself) ensuring a tie for the first place -- the first time that this has happened at an SEQC monthly.