From Boys to Men

A report by Tallulah D'Silva on the SEQC Junior Mastermind First Round held in Margao on the 11th September.

Junior Mastermind debuted at Margao with a surprisingly large turnout, the largest since its inception less than a year ago. Although the number of participants from Margao were a handful for this version of the quiz, the quizmaster’s decision to have its debut in this southern town seemed to have worked well with some dropping by to see what the quss ( fuss over a quiz!) was all about. Prior to the quiz, Rajiv D’Silva briefed the contestants on stage procedures and the other nuances of the quiz, reiterating the fact that most of these kids weren’t around when the Mastermind series were televised across the country! The first group had Julian, the local quiz wiz kid and the only experienced junior to have participated in an earlier version of SEQC Mastermind held more than a year ago, beginning the proceedings so as to help others that followed get acquainted with the structure, pace and routine of the first specialized subject round. Having chosen the Asterix Comics, Julian did extremely well with just 1 pass and 19 right answers. He scored highest in the GK round too topping in his group with 31 points. Anand P S topped in the next group with Tamanna Arora close behind by only a point having scored poorly in the general knowledge round. The last group saw Atharv Joshi who chose a toughie (Einstein’s Annus Mirabilis) and one of the favourites losing to Jatan Rodrigues by 4 points although having an equal score of 11 in the general knowledge round. The kids conducted themselves extremely well and audience proved very supportive in turn. Looking forward to the next clash of the Lilliputians!