Review of the Margao April monthly by Assis Sequeira
For reasons not entirely clear, the regular Last Sunday Quiz at Margao draws fewer participants than the First Sunday Quiz at Dona Paula. It reminded me of the Port town of Vasco da Gama in the late 1990s, when shops, bars, and restaurants would remain deserted for the last few days of the month. But as the calendar page turned and salaries disbursed, these locations would spring back to life.
Margao quiz has its own charm, the huge auditorium, with great acoustics and lighting and the promise of a samosa that Dona Paula cannot match in texture and taste. With his trademark smile, Srijit, ably assisted by Vilas, shuffled participants into four evenly matched teams. Another hallmark of Margao monthly is its ability to attract fresh faces. This time, Gurjot with charming Poonam and the Phadtes (husband-wife duo of doctors from BITS Pilani) joined the fold.
The young quizmasters, Omkar Bhurke and Karan Dhingra, wasted no time in setting the pace. The opening written round featured ten clever questions—each tied to an IPL team through wordplay or picture clues, with bonus points for spotting the overarching connection. Only one team managed a perfect score; few others did crack the overall link.
The main rounds included a grid box challenge and two sets of Infinite Pounce questions. The grid comprised 16 boxes labelled Place, Animal, Name, and Thing, each numbered 1 to 4. The twist? Every answer was a single word beginning with one of just four letters. As the round unfolded, we realized with delight that the letters spelled QUIZ, each used exactly four times.
After a spirited tea break, with the customary samosa rush; the final round of four connects proved to be the true test. Tough to crack, yet immensely satisfying when solved, they had participants muttering, “I should have guessed that sooner!”
And that, to me, is the hallmark of a great quiz: one that keeps you on edge, challenges your instincts, and rewards persistence. This one certainly did. Thanks to the masterly shuffling by Srijit there was a winner no doubt, but the other teams were not too far behind.
Hats off to Karan and Omkar — what a knockout performance!
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