Saraswat Quiz

Date: 28th February 2010
Time: Prelims - 9 am, Finals 5.30 pm
QM: Harshvardhan Bhatkuly
Part of: Saraswat Food & Cultural Festival
Flavour: General & Saraswat trivia
Venue: BPS Club, Margao
Participation: Open to students of Std. VIII & IX from the Saraswat community

SEQC Mastermind finals

Date: February 28, 2010

First up: Fourplay Open Quiz

Time: 5 pm (prelims); 5.30 to 7pm (finals)
QM: Rajiv D'Silva
Flavour: General
Venue: International Centre Goa, Dona Paula
Participation: Open to all. No entry fee or registration.
Details: Prelims to be answered individually. Top eight finishers in the prelims will go on stage for finals.

Main event: SEQC Mastermind finals

Time: 7 pm to 8pm
QM: Aniruddha Sen Gupta
Format: Specialised subject round, followed by General knowledge round, as in BBC Mastermind

Venue: International Centre Goa, Dona Paula
Participation: Three finalists, based on qualification rounds held in October 2009 and February 2010 -- Abhishek Jha, Amit Shet and Vidyadhar Gadgil.

Come participate in Fourplay, then stay to watch who is crowned SEQC Mastermind 2010.

SEQC February Quiz Content

SEQC Mastermind enters final stage

It all began in October, with 27 contenders. These were whittled down to nine semi-finalists, who battled it out in December. And now, there are three -- three knights of the quizzing realm, who will fight for the right to be called champion.

The SEQC Mastermind competition for 2009-10 enters its culminating phase, with the finals slated for February 28. The championship battle will be fought in the sublime setting of the Divli lawns at the International Centre Goa. The three finalists are Abhishek Jha, Amit Shet and Vidyadhar Gadgil.

Venerable Goan litterateur, musicologist and Mensa member Victor Rangel-Ribeiro will be present to give away the Mastermind trophies.

The opening attraction of the evening will be a Grand Slam quiz, conducted by Rajiv D'Silva, which is open to all. Planned with a special format that will be revealed on the day by Rajiv, this quiz should be an exciting precursor to the main event. The Grand Slam quiz will commence at 5pm, and should be over by 7pm. The Mastermind finals are slated to run from 7pm to 8pm.

This is going to be the big evening of this year's SEQC calendar. Mark it on yours now!

On the record

A report on the SEQC February 2010 quiz

Okay, so this report's rather late, but then, so was the quiz. All the same, it was great. Rajiv set a new record for delayed starts to an SEQC monthly quiz, thus also managing the record for late finishes. Numerous new entrants, particularly young quizzers from the various school and college quizzes we've been organising, made for a record attendance for an SEQC monthly. And this report, perhaps a record for the longest duration between an SEQC quiz and its report. On the whole, quite a record-breaking quiz.

The quiz itself was a tough one, even by Rajiv's standards, but one that served to remind one why Rajiv is among the most popular and most respected quizmasters in Goa. The big crowd made for some noisy quizzing, especially given the raucous and confrontational BITS contingent.

The battle for positions seemed to have gone a little off-form in the opening rounds, with our team not scoring for three whole rounds. But then, with us putting in a late surge, the finish managed to become a cliffhanger thing, as we came within a question of catching up with the leading team of the evening -- the one spearheaded by Gadgil, Tallulah and two of the BITS boys. Rajiv's innovative last-round format, a way of building in a fair deal for all teams, added to the excitement. Eventually, though, the best team won, thanks to a moonwalking bird spotted by Tallulah, a video question and answer that brought appreciative aahs from everyone in the room.