Friday, November 30, 2007

The J Ramanand Quiz

J Ramanand, the reigning champ of Mastermind India and Pune's resident giant quizzer, comes to Mumbai tomorrow to conduct a quiz for the BQC. The details:

Time: 3pm, Sunday, December 2 (reporting time: 2.40pm)
Quizmaster: J Ramanand
Venue: Pinstorm, Ground Floor, Swati House (Next to Kotak Bank on Linking Road), North Avenue, Santa Cruz West. (Detailed directions here.)

You can see the latest league standings here.

Note: We had earlier mentioned on the email list that this quiz would start early, at 1.30pm, because Ramanand had to leave early that evening. As it happens, he has modified his plans, and the quiz will begin at the usual time of 3pm.

Another note: Newbies are welcome to attend. You do not need to have a partner to take part, all teams are formed by draw of lots, and everybody is a part of the quiz. As I'd mentioned last time, our quizzes tend to be friendly to newcomers, with the emphasis on working out questions rather than knowing stuff. Come and see for yourself!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The Govind Grewal Rampage

Govind Grewal lurked in 10th place in the BQC league at the start of the latest BQC quiz, but served up a warning to all the so-called big guns with a resounding win. Partnering Shambhu Shankar and John Mascerenhas, he led from start to finish, winning by a handsome margin. Five other teams spent time in second place, and if the quiz was a few questions shorter or longer, the 2nd to 6th placings might have been completely different.

Arvind Krishnaswamy's quiz was exceptional, with many topical questions that were workoutable by non-quizzers. Indeed, there were no chestnuts at all, and no recycling of standard quizzing fundas that give old-timer quizzers an advantage over relative newbies. Purists could have objected to the handful of lexical connects that snuck in -- 'Velvet' being a connect in a question with images of Lou Reed, Vaclac Havel and National Velvet -- but at least they were fun, not arcane and far out.

The results:

1st with 29 points
Govind Grewal
Shambhu Shankar
John Mascarenhas

Joint 2nd-3rd with 23.5 points each
Rishi Iyengar
Vibhendu Tiwari
Ameya Samant

AP Alagarsamy
Devang Ghia
Souvik Basu

4th with 21.5 points
Amit Varma
Sarat Rao

Joint 5th-6th with 19 points each
Rajiv Rai
Udatta Duarah
Mukund Krishnan

Sumant Srivathsan
Samrat Sengupta
Anand Sivasankar

7th with 8 points
Pradeep Ramarathnam
Shiju Thomas

8th with 6 points
Ajith Prabhakar
Richa Bhargava

And now for the standings:

BQC Season Two Standings (from 15 quizzes, as of November 18, 2007)

79.5 points
Rajiv Rai (from 11 quizzes)

62 points

Amit Varma (12)
Prasann Potdar (10)

53 points
Rishi Iyengar (12)

48 points

Ashwan Lewis (8)

41 points
Sumant Srivathsan (11)

40 points
Govind Grewal (12)

35 points
S Balakrishnan (10)

37.5 points
AP Alagarsamy (11)

34.5 points
Vibhendu Tiwari (13)

32 points

Ajith Prabhakar (13)

29 points
Pradeep Ramarathnam (10)

28 points
Mahesh Murthy (6)
Kedar Shastry (9)

26.5 points
Mukund Krishnan (7)

26 points
Ameya Samant (12)

24 points
Amit Pandeya (9)
Anand Sivasankar (12)
Kartik Srivatsa (5)

20.5 points
Devang Ghia (13)

18 points
Kartik R (?)
Sarat Rao (?)

17 points
Ravi Venkatesh (6)

16.5 points

Dhananjay Shettigar (10)

14 points
Samrat Sengupta (5)
Udatta Duarah (5)

11 points
Ajay Ravindran (4)
Meghashyam Shirodkar (3)
Nandan Krishnaswamy (6)
Avinash Mudaliar (7)

10 points
Aravinda Talluri (1)
Neeraj (1)
Nilesh Jain (1)
Tanmay Sharma (2)
Gaurav Singh (1)
Raghu (?)
Sritanu Chakravarty (1)
Sowmya Ramaswamy (1)
Hansraj Singh (1)
John Mascarenhas (1)
Shambhu Shankar (?)

8 points
Hanisha Vaswani (5)
Francis Rodrigues (9)

7 points
Akshay Mahajan (1)
Rahul Bhaskar (3)
Saurav (?)
Nrupal Choudhari (?)

6.5 point
Souvik Basu (?)


4 points
Padma Sinha (3)
Pranav Kukreja (1)
Sireesh Talluri Rao (5)
Sushant Raut (5)
Chitra Raghunath (1)
Arvind Krishnaswamy (5)

The next quiz will take place at 3pm on Sunday, December 2. More details will follow on this blog, and on our email list.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Come one, come all...

... for the Arvind Krishnaswamy quiz! Arvind will conduct the next BQC quiz this Sunday, and you're invited. The details are below. Infants are welcome.

Time: 3pm, Sunday, November 18 (reporting time: 2.40pm)
Quizmaster: Arvind Krishnaswamy
Venue: Pinstorm, Ground Floor, Swati House (Next to Kotak Bank on Linking Road), North Avenue, Santa Cruz West. (Detailed directions here.)

The current league standings are here.

Note to newcomers: The Bombay Quiz Club prides itself of quizzes that are friendly to newcomers. Questions are generally workoutable, and not you-know-it-or-you-don't. That makes every question an exercise in problem-solving, rather than in remembering arcane trivia.

Also, you don't need to have a team to take part: all attendees are randomly distributed into teams by draw of lots, which ensures an even spread of the experienced quizzers through the field.

So if you enjoy quizzing, or think you might, drop in!

Sunday, November 04, 2007

Udatta unleashes unspeakable horror

The BQC met yesterday for an excellent quiz by Delhi's Udatta Duarah. The quizmaster, a frequent visitor to Mumbai, has consumed many tender infants with the BQC. While his enthusiastic participation has ensured that he will be among those Eaten First, he has never before been a Master of Ceremonies. Yesterday, he served up a quiz that even the well-known cannibal Jackie Chan would have approved. For three hours of unspeakable horror, the quizmaster systematically explored human depravity from infant sacrifice to foot fetishes. With ingenious questions and plenty of experiments, it was certainly one of the best quizzes to be held this season. Those fortunate enough to attend ensured the damnation of their souls. Those who didn't will have to put in long hours of community service, Jackie Chan style, with a chainsaw. The competition was similarly exciting. In a brutal battle, Amit Varma and Ajith Prabhakar triumphed over the monstrously strong team of Vibhendu and Prasann Potdar. Sumant and Francis were also in the race until the very last question.

1st with 42 points
Amit Varma
Ajith Prabhakar

2nd with 41 points
Prasann Potdar
Vibhendu Tiwari

3rd with 38 points
Sumant Srivathsan
Francis Rodrigues

4th with 32 points
Govind Grewal
Anand Sivasankar
Sarat Rao

5th with 22 points
Rishi Iyengar
Arvind Krishnaswamy
Ajay Ravindran

6th with 18 points
S Balakrishnan
Devang Ghia


BQC Season Two Standings (from 14 quizzes, as of November 4, 2007)

79.5 points

Rajiv Rai (from 10 quizzes)

62 points

Amit Varma (11)
Prasann Potdar (10)

48 points

Ashwan Lewis (8)

47.5 points
Rishi Iyengar (11)

41 points
Sumant Srivathsan (10)

35 points
S Balakrishnan (10)

32 points

AP Alagarsamy (10)
Ajith Prabhakar (12)

30 points
Govind Grewal (11)

29 points
Pradeep Ramarathnam (9)
Vibhendu Tiwari (12)

28 points
Mahesh Murthy (6)
Kedar Shastry (9)

26.5 points
Mukund Krishnan (6)

24 points
Amit Pandeya (9)
Anand Sivasankar (11)
Kartik Srivatsa (5)

20.5 points
Ameya Samant (11)

18 points
Kartik R (?)
Sarat Rao (?)

17 points
Ravi Venkatesh (6)

16.5 points

Dhananjay Shettigar (10)

15 points
Devang Ghia (12)

14 points
Samrat Sengupta (4)
Udatta Duarah (4)

11 points
Ajay Ravindran (4)
Meghashyam Shirodkar (3)
Nandan Krishnaswamy (6)
Avinash Mudaliar (7)

10 points
Aravinda Talluri (1)
Neeraj (1)
Nilesh Jain (1)
Tanmay Sharma (2)
Gaurav Singh (1)
Raghu (?)
Sritanu Chakravarty (1)
Sowmya Ramaswamy (1)
Hansraj Singh (1)

8 points
Hanisha Vaswani (5)
Francis Rodrigues (9)

7 points
Akshay Mahajan (1)
Rahul Bhaskar (3)
Saurav (?)
Nrupal Choudhari (?)

4 points

Padma Sinha (3)
Pranav Kukreja (1)
Sireesh Talluri Rao (5)
Sushant Raut (5)
Chitra Raghunath (1)
Arvind Krishnaswamy (5)

1 point
Souvik Basu (?)

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Sunday's Quiz

Details of the next BQC quiz:

Time: 10am, Sunday, November 4 (reporting time: 9.40am)
Quizmaster: Udatta Duarah
Venue: Pinstorm, Ground Floor, Swati House (Next to Kotak Bank on Linking
Road), North Avenue, Santa Cruz West. (Detailed directions
here
.)

We're having it in the morning because some of the guys want to attend some
business quiz in the afternoon. Pah!

Newcomers note: You don't need to show up as part of a team, just come on
your own. Teams are decided at the venue by draw of lots. Newbies are
welcome.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Thursday is now Samedi

In a shocking violation of human rights, Samrat Sengupta pitilessly interrogated the members of the BQC on October 21, 2007. The UN condemned the incident and deputed a resentful Thor to head the peacekeeping taskforce once the UN Security Council and the Norse Gods stop squabbling and get Ragnarok over with. The UN Human Rights Committee expressed "grave concern" over questions linking a torch, a dynamo, red-bearded king and a marine mammal. "He just kept smiling", a survivor said through pain-bleared eyes. "He kept smiling, but he didn't stop, he just didn't stop. He even threatened us with a History of the American People. All five volumes of it!"
Amit Varma, a well- known user of candlesticks and quiz survivor, recalls, "Sumant, the BQC....treasurer succumbed quickly and told on his comrades, cheerfully betraying them and leading throughout the quiz."
Other eyewitness accounts speak of S. Balakrishnan. "Bala just took everything Samrat had to offer and then some", said Prasann Potdar, "He skillfully avoided the traps set for him by Sengupta."

The incident provoked an immediate response from administrations across the globe, with Gordon Brown, High Chancellor of Britain, countering rumours that the state-sponsored NHS had anything to do with the state of Samrat's teeth. "We firmly condemn all such instances of unauthorized human rights violations. There is also absolutely no substance to the rumour that the NHS actually works and was responsible in any way for Samrat Sengupta's teeth."

The list of survivors is published below.

1st with 51 points
Sumanth Srivathsan
Udatta Duarah
Kedar Shastry
Hansraj Singh

2nd with 44.5 points
Amit Varma
Prasann Potdar
S Balakrishnan
Nrupal Choudhari

3rd with 44 points
AP Alagarsamy
Govind Grewal
Arvind Krishnaswamy

Tied 4th with 37 points
Rishi Iyengar
Meghashyam Shirodkar
Praveen Mohan

Ajith Prabhakar
Souvik Basu
A Subba Reddy
Suchintan Chatterjee

6th with 31 points
Ashwan Lewis
Vibhendu Tiwari
Dhananjay Shettigar
Francis Rodrigues

7th with 26 points
Ameya Samant
Mukund Krishnan
Devang Ghia

8th with 25.5 points
Pradeep Ramarathnam
Avinash Mudaliar
Shambhu Shankar
Nandan Krishnaswamy

And the standings:

BQC Season Two Standings (from 13 quizzes, as of October 21, 2007)

79.5 points

Rajiv Rai (from 10 quizzes)

55 points
Prasann Potdar (9)

52 points
Amit Varma (10)

48 points

Ashwan Lewis (8)

47.5 points
Rishi Iyengar (10)

37 points
Sumant Srivathsan (9)

35 points
S Balakrishnan (9)

32 points

AP Alagarsamy (10)

30 points
Govind Grewal (10)

29 points
Pradeep Ramarathnam (9)

28 points
Mahesh Murthy (6)
Kedar Shastry (9)

26.5 points
Mukund Krishnan (6)

24 points
Amit Pandeya (9)
Anand Sivasankar (10)
Kartik Srivatsa (5)

22 points
Ajith Prabhakar (11)
Vibhendu Tiwari (11)

20.5 points
Ameya Samant (11)

18 points
Kartik R (?)
Sarat Rao (?)

17 points
Ravi Venkatesh (6)

16.5 points

Dhananjay Shettigar (10)

15 points
Devang Ghia (11)

14 points
Samrat Sengupta (4)
Udatta Duarah (4)

11 points
Ajay Ravindran (3)
Meghashyam Shirodkar (3)
Nandan Krishnaswamy (6)
Avinash Mudaliar (7)

10 points
Aravinda Talluri (1)
Neeraj (1)
Nilesh Jain (1)
Tanmay Sharma (2)
Gaurav Singh (1)
Raghu (?)
Sritanu Chakravarty (1)
Sowmya Ramaswamy (1)
Hansraj Singh (1)

8 points
Hanisha Vaswani (5)

7 points
Akshay Mahajan (1)
Rahul Bhaskar (3)
Saurav (?)
Nrupal Choudhari (?)

4 points
Francis Rodrigues (8)
Padma Sinha (3)
Pranav Kukreja (1)
Sireesh Talluri Rao (5)
Sushant Raut (5)
Chitra Raghunath (1)
Arvind Krishnaswamy (4)

1 point
Souvik Basu (?)