Dempo Biz Quest

Date: 6th January 2010
Time: Registrations open at 9.30 am. Prelims will begin at 10 am.
QM: Harshvardhan Bhatkuly
Flavour: Business
Venue: SS Dempo College of Commerce, Altinho, Panaji
Participation: College students, both post-graduate and under-graduate, in teams of two. No pre-registration required.
Prizes: 1st - Rs. 10,000/-, 2nd - Rs. 8,000/-, 3rd - Rs. 6,000/-

A Brand New Year

'Tis the season, after all. The hordes of It's Better In Goa T-shirt wearers, the party-hopping wolf-packs, bumper-to-bumper traffic, clogged phone networks, and a season in which it is easier to get laid than find a parking spot for your car in Panjim. Lucky for us, while people around us run about like headless chickens, SEQC continues normal programming, with Navin Pai putting on his blue suede QMing shoes this weekend.

SEQC January '10 Quiz

Date: 3rd January 2010
Time: 5 pm
QM: Navin "Sweety" Pai
Flavour: General
Venue: 2nd Floor, CCP Hall, Opposite Cafe Central, off 18th June Road, Panjim
Participation: Open to all. Even the It's Better In Goa hordes.

SEQC Mastermind Semi-finals: A quiz with a view

It might seem unfair to praise the venue of a quiz over its content, but in this case one would have to reserve the first words for the location. The Divli Lawn at the International Centre Goa (ICG) was the excellent setting for the semi-finals of the SEQC Mastermind event, conducted in partnership with ICG. Our quiz standards are quite high, so good content is no longer a surprise. But the venue, and the arrangements -- including the high-backed black hot seat and the spotlight on the contestant -- added that touch of class that tipped the event into something special.

In that respect, it was a worthy setting for the level of quizzing -- nine of SEQC's best fighting tooth and nail for the three spots in the finals. It was evident that the semi-finalists had come well-prepared. Tough subjects were tackled with elan, and obscure questions shot out of the sky with ease. The specialised subjects chosen by the contestants were quite revelatory, in some cases drawing oohs and aahs of surprise and delight from the audience. Which, by the way, was substantial and for the most part exemplary in its behaviour (the parts that were not will remain unnamed).

Only one of the three semis eventually was a close one, with Harsh Bhatkuly losing out by two points to Abhishek Jha. In the other contests, Amit Shet and Vidyadhar Gadgil got through without too much of a challenge.

The finals will now see these three go up against each other, in the same sublime setting, some time in February. Watch out for that announcement.

The results

SEMI-FINAL 1
Winner: Vidyadhar Gadgil (specialised subject: The Films of Satyajit Ray) -- 16 correct answers in the specialised subject (SS) round + 9 in the general knowledge (GK) round = 25 total
2nd: Adish Talwadker (History of the United Nations) -- 8 (SS) + 7 (GK) = 15 total
3rd: Navin Pai (Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron) -- 6 (SS) + 6 (GK) = 12 total

SEMI-FINAL 2
Winner: Abhishek Jha (The Param Vir Chakra and its Recipients) -- 13 (SS) + 7 (GK) = 20 total
2nd: Harshvardhan Bhatkuly (Fundamental Rights under the Constitution of India) -- 11 (SS) + 7 (GK) = 18 total
3rd: Leroy Veloso (Life and Achievements of Eminent Goans) -- 5 (SS) + 6 (GK) = 11 total

SEMI-FINAL 3
Winner: Amit Shet (The Films of Aamir Khan) -- 13 (SS) + 6 (GK) = 19 total
2nd: Chirag Mutgi (History of the State of Israel) -- 4 (SS) + 10 (GK) = 14 total
3rd: Anjali Sen Gupta (The Life of Che Guevara) -- 6 (SS) + 5 (GK) = 11 total

The three finalists: Abhishek Jha, Amit Shet and Vidyadhar Gadgil

Wait until dark -- and then there was light...

Annie, as expected, provided a rare quizzing treat on the evening of 18 December 2009 at the Goa Open Quiz. Meant for teams of two members, it was truly an ‘open’ quiz – age, sex, caste, creed, religion no bar.
The quiz itself was a cracker (see for yourself), and the lawns of the International Centre in Dona Paula provided a pleasant setting. There was a glitch about the schedule – due to being held in the open air, the quiz could not start till the sun went down, due to projection problems. So we actually began only at 6pm. But after that it was two hours of pure fun, with Annie shedding light on some interesting nuggets of information, presented in an innovative manner.
Sixteen teams took part, a rather small number, but these teams really battled it out in the prelims, leaving six teams to go through to the finals.
The finals had five rounds – straight questions, buzzer rounds (which would pass if no buzz or wrong answer), a theme round, etc. All very exciting fare. One problem though was that since the quiz was done by the ‘infinite bounds’ system, the buzzer rounds passed a little chaotically. But then Annie always experiments, and sometimes the experiments don’t go perfectly, but there’s always something new...
The winners were, inevitably, Rajiv D’Silva & Harshavardhan Bhatkuly – by the inevitable wide margin. Drastic measures will have to be taken if this team is ever to be defeated. I have procured some voodoo dolls and am busy sticking pins in them – everybody is invited to contribute their mite.
In second and third place were two young teams – Joshua Fernandes & Nathan Fernandez in second and Amit Shet & Suraj Kamat in third. Let’s hope this trend continues and middle-aged fogies are knocked into the dustbin of history, where they rightfully belong.
Nandini Sahai, Director of ICG, was a gracious host, and kindly offered ICG as a venue for other SEQC quizzing events in future, an offer that will certainly be taken up, with the Mastermind semi-finals slated to be held there. Broadway Bookstore generously provided the prizes.

SEQC Mastermind: On to the semis

About two months have passed since the original 27 contestants battled it out in the opening matches of the SEQC Mastermind competition. Now, it's time for the nine winners of those matches to fight it out for the three places in the finals.

There is much excitement in store for the semis. The biggest revelation is that the semi-final matches will be held in the exquisite setting of the Divli lawns at the International Centre Goa (ICG). The ICG has kindly offered the venue for us to use, at no expense to the club. And it's a beautiful location -- the Goa Open Quiz was held there, and was quite a hit, not least because of the setting.

To recapitulate, the nine contestants who won their first-round matches are Abhishek Jha, Adish Talwadker, Amit Shet, Anjali Sen Gupta, Chirag Mutgi, Leroy Veloso, Navin Pai, Vidyadhar Gadgil and Vivek Krishnan. In case any of these nine are unable to attend, their place(s) will be filled by the non-qualifying contestant(s) who had the highest total scores in the opening-round matches.

There will be three semi-finals, all to be held on Sunday December 27, the first one starting at 6pm. All three contests should be done by about 8pm at the latest.

The first-round matches were exciting enough. The semis should take things up quite a notch. This is not an evening you should miss. Be there!