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!

Tata Crucible Campus - Goa Round Results

The inaugural foray of Tata Crucible Campus into Goa took place on the 24th of February 2009. The turnout was good (49 teams) considering it was the quiz's first time here, and teams came from as far away as Belgaum, Karwar & Surathkal. (Which are not that far away, I know). The 20-question prelims were a tad on the easier side - even for a college quiz - but I suppose being a first time venue, Greycaps were unsure of what kind of quality to expect. The cut-off was 16, and six teams qualified for the Wild Card round -
1. Nitiksh & Pratyush (Goa Institute of Management, Ribandar)
2. Sagar & Ishant (Padre Conceicao College of Engineering, Verna)
3. Abhishek & Pooja Kamath (GIM)
4. Sunit Thomas & Joshan Cherian (Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Zuarinagar)
5. Ankush & Nishanth (GIM)
6. Shalini & Surabhi (BITS)

The wild card round saw Abhishek & Pooja (GIM) and Sunit & Joshan (BITS) join the four direct entrants into the final -
1. Srijit Kumar & Joel Pires (Dyanprasarak Mandal College, Mapusa)
2. Abe Joseph & Pavan (GIM)
3. Varun Nair & Sharan Basavraj (National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal)
4. Sridhar Ramachandran & partner (BITS)

In the final, the NITK team took an early lead with some good answers and kept that lead throughout to emerge winners. The team from GIM (Abhishek & Pooja) finished runners-up.

Questions & Answers:
Prelims: (20 questions)

1. Visual – Kamal Nath
2. Raj Kundra was in the news recently for acquiring a stake in which IPL team? – Rajasthan Royals
3. Glucon D is a brand owned by which company? – Heinz
4. Visual of print campaign featuring Beyonce Knowles – L’Oreal
5. Kasturi & Sons are the parent company behind which famous newspaper? – The Hindu
6. “Better Sound Through Research” – Bose
7. Logo – Obama Campaign
8. Frito Lays, Quaker Oats, Gatorade are all owned by which company? – Pepsico
9. Whose book is Straight From The Gut? – Jack Welch
10. Logo (Tux the penguin) – Linux
11. Aveo is a car from which global giant in India? – Chevrolet
12. Ngultrum is the currency of which country? – Bhutan
13. Visual of cover of Newsweek. – Donald Trump
14. Visual – Varghese Kurien
15. If Samsung is to Chelsea, who is to Liverpool? – Carlsberg
16. Visual of an online banner ad. – Bharatmatrimony.com
17. Kings and Leela’s Rio are new entrants into which business in Goa? – Casinos
18. Which airport in India operates from a military airbase called INS Hansa? – Dabolim/Goa Airport
19. TVC – HSBC
20. TVC – LIC

Wild Card Round: (8 questions on the buzzer, +1/-1)
1. If CD is Compact Disc and DVD is Digital Versatile Disc, what is BD? – Blu-ray Disc
2. “Seedhi baat, no bakwaas” – Sprite
3. It was created for 35$... – Nike Swoosh
4. This brand had a problem because the name they chose clashed with that of a move in wrestling. The move in question was called ‘shuffle’. Which brand? – Apple iPod
5. Which unlikely company manufactures a soap brand called Santoor? – Wipro
6. Which company built the Lotus Temple and the Bridge on the River Kwai? – L&T
7. Expand SEBI – Securities & Exchange Board of India

FINAL
Round 1 – The A-Mazing World (6 questions on D&P, +10)
1. In 1997, and Indian entrepreneur convinced Antoine Bagche from Vienna to invest in his ‘bread business’ in India, thus creating a well-known brand in the food business. Which one? – Pizza Corner
2. What term comes from the Latin phrase meaning “course of life” and the French for “summary”? – Curriculum Vitae/Resume
3. In 1925, an architect named Arthur Heineman designed something that started of a new concept in the travel and hospitality business. What? – Motel
4. In 1982, an accountant named Ramachandran was carrying out chemical trading for his clients, when he was left with unpaid bills and unutilized stock. What company did he create to utilize the chemicals that he was in possession of? – Jyothi Laboratories
5. Connect – 1971, Cambridge – Massachusetts, Bolt, Bernach & Newman – The first email
6. Which TV campaign was shot in Capetown, South Africa at a cost of 2.5 crore and used racers named….? – Bajaj Pulsar Mania

Round 2 – A-Mazing Identity (6 visual questions on D&P, +10)
1. Visual of some coins which created a problem in some parts of India and RBI had to take steps to take them out of circulation. – They were Portuguese era coins that came from Goa and were sold by weight to people in Gujarat who used them to throw into the Narmada as part of some cleansing ritual.
2. Visual – Naina Lal Kidwai
3. Print ad – Durex
4. Print ad – United Colours of Benetton
5. Logo – Salgaocar Group
6. Statue of a man sitting with Minnie Mouse – Roy Disney

Round 3 – Tata World (4 questions on the buzzer, +5/-5)
1. “Spoil Yourself” – Tata Indigo
2. If B. Muthuraman is the CEO of Tata Steel, who its its Chairman? – Ratan Tata
3. 36 Indian actresses were considered, until they found the ‘perfect Raga’. Who? – Rani Mukherjee
4. “Jaago Re India” – Tata Tea

Round 4 – Reason A-Mazingly ( 4 connect questions on the buzzer, +10/-10)
1. Book cover of The Argumentative Indian, Bharat Ratna award, Nobel Prize medal, scene from Black – Amartya Sen
2. Logos of Air India, VSNL, Corus, Daewoo, song from Bose, A Forgotten Hero – House of Tatas
3. Acuvue, Clean & Clear, Hippocratic symbol, visual of founder – Johnson & Johnson
4. Sania Mirza, Apache Indian, Star, M. S. Dhoni – TVS

Round 5 – A-Mazing Deductions (3 three-clues questions, +15,+10,+5/-10)
1. i) It was started in 1965 as a vision of Lal Bahadur Shastri
ii) It pioneered the White Revolution in India
iii) Its founder Chairman was Dr. Varghese Kurien - National Dairy Development Board

2. i) It was originally hand-drawn using architectural equipment, blueprinted and pasted onto a wooden board.
ii) Its first factory was in Doddington, Connecticut.
iii) It was originally named Lexico. - Scrabble

3. i) This device was originally used on aircraft to guide missiles to their target. - The joystick