Can you take on the Brothers Rao?

BQC regulars Sireesh and Sarat Rao will conduct their first BQC quiz this Sunday. They're both quality quizzers, but quiet blokes, so little is known of their interests, which adds just a touch of drama to the quiz. Fun should come. So must you. The details:

When: 3:00 PM, Sunday, May 25, 2008. (Be there by 2.45 please.)

Quizmaster: Sireesh Talluri Rao, Sarat Rao.

Location: Pinstorm, Ground Floor, Swati House (Next to Kotak Bank on Linking Road), North Avenue, Santa Cruz (W).

Directions:

From the south: If you come north on Linking Road from Bandra to SantaCruz, you'll find a large Benetton Store on the right. At the end of that block is a Kotak Bank at the corner. Take a right and it's the next building, take the first gate and tell the sentry you've come for a meeting.

From the north: If you get on to Linking Road at the airplane park end, you'll cross a HDFC Bank. A block later, you'll see a Kotak Bank on the corner - do not cross it. Take a left at that point and it's the building next to Kotak Bank.

The results of the last quiz and the current league standings are here. Newcomers are welcome, and don't need to form teams before coming -- all attendees are drafted into teams by a draw of lots. Everybody takes part, there are no elims. Come.

The Iyengar Strikes Back

The night after Rishi Iyengar won the first quiz of this BQC season, he was woken at 3 am by a strange, acrid smell, much like the singed flesh of a horse. He sensed something on the bed. He moved his leg; his knee bumped into something; something still warm from having recently been alive. He switched on the light and realised that he no longer had a racehorse. Or rather, that it no longer had a head.

Attached to one ear was a note that said, "Rajiv Rai wasn't there."

Iyengar crushed the note in one palm. Then he crushed the head in the other. Yes, the reigning BQC league champion hadn't been present in that first quiz. But he would, sooner or later, take part in a quiz. And then Iyengar would show him, and show whoever had written this note in Govind Grewal's handwriting, what Iyengars are all about. Having soothed himself with this thought, he went back to sleep.

And ya, you've got the storyline, so I'll cut the crap. Rajiv took part in his first quiz this season, and Rishi won, ably helped by an unusually strong team. Joint-league leaders Sumant and me had an off-day, which allowed Rishi to take the lead in the league table. Prasann Potdar was the quizmaster. There were many questions on wine and Kyrgyzstan, and quite a few weren't workoutable, but a good time was had by all. Here are the results:

1st with 48 points
Rishi Iyengar
Sandip Sen
Avinash Mudaliar
Kedar Sastry

2nd with 35 points
Rajiv Rai
Mahesh Murthy
Rahul Bhaskar

3rd with 28 points
S Balakrishnan
Ajith Prabhakar
Amit Pandeya

4th with 24 points
Sumant Srivathsan
Sarat Rao
Devang Ghia

5th with 23 points
Udatta Duarah
Ameya Samant
Shiv Anant Tayal

6th with 21 points
Ananya Deb
Amit Sharma
Sriram Krishnan

7th with 18 points
Vibhendu Tiwari
Francis Rodrigues
Sandeep Rajpurohit

8th with 16 points
Amit Varma
Govind Grewal
Ajay Ravindran

The league table gets quite competitive now. Here's how it looks:

BQC Season three Standings (from three quizzes, as of May 11, 2008)

20 points
Rishi Iyengar (from 3 quizzes)

17 points
Amit Varma (3)
Avinash Mudaliar (3)
Mahesh Murthy (2)
Sumant Srivathsan (3)

14 points
Kedar Sastry (3)

10 points
Govind Grewal (3)
Mitul Kodali (2)
Sandeep Rajpurohit (3)
Sandip Sen (1)
Shrikant Narasimhan (1)

8 Points
S Balakrishnan (3)
Sireesh Talluri Rao (2)

7 points
Ajay Ravindran (2)
Pradeep Ramarathnam (2)
Raamesh Gowri Raghavan (2)
Rahul Bhaskar (1)
Rajiv Rai (1)
Udatta Duarah (2)
V Sreeharsha (1)

4 points
Ajith Prabhakar (3)
Ameya Samant (2)
Amit Pandeya (3)
Anand Sivasankar (2)
Brian D'Souza (2)
Vibhendu Tiwari (3)

The next BQC quiz will be conducted by Sireesh Talluri Rao on Sunday, May 25 -- more details will follow on this blog. But before that, there's the nationwide quiz, Mahaquizzer, being conducted by the fine folk at the KQA this Sunday. Click here for details, and do Mumbai proud.

Prasann Proposes, Potdar Disposes

Prasann Potdar is the quizmaster for tomorrow BQC quiz, and if you quiz and are in Mumbai, you are advised to turn up. Or else... or else! The details:

When: 3:00 PM, Sunday, May 11, 2008. (Be there by 2.45 please.)

Quizmaster: Prasann Potdar

Location: Pinstorm, Ground Floor, Swati House (Next to Kotak Bank on Linking Road), North Avenue, Santa Cruz (W).

Directions:

From the south: If you come north on Linking Road from Bandra to SantaCruz, you'll find a large Benetton Store on the right. At the end of that block is a Kotak Bank at the corner. Take a right and it's the next building, take the first gate and tell the sentry you've come for a meeting.

From the north: If you get on to Linking Road at the airplane park end, you'll cross a HDFC Bank. A block later, you'll see a Kotak Bank on the corner - do not cross it. Take a left at that point and it's the building next to Kotak Bank.

The results of the last quiz and the current league standings are here. Newcomers are welcome, and don't need to form teams before coming -- all attendees are drafted into teams by a draw of lots. Everybody takes part, there are no elims. Come.

A Close Fought Battle

A close fought battle resulted in a win for the extremely strong team comprising Amit Varma, Sumant Srivatsan, Shrikant Narasimhan and Mahesh Murthy. Avinash Mudaliar and co. also performed well and were the only team to crack the second theme. The quiz was fairly easy by normal BQC standards. This did not detract from the interest, quality and workability of the questions, though. Amit Varma and the Jew lead the league table at this very early stage in the season. Normal services will be restored once Rajiv Rai returns to do battle from this weekend on.

At this point there are no seeds, with teams being formed through random draws. If the first two quizzes are any indication, this BQC season is going to be extremely competitive with little to differentiate teams not containing Rajiv Rai. The top five league positions could be occupied by just about anyone. Several new faces have added to the overall strength and diversity of the league, while many of the younger quizzers who joined us last season have become increasingly dangerous. It just goes to show that a steady diet of infants and a sharp battleaxe are all that is needed to thrive in the league.

Ia! Ia! BQC fthagn!

1st with 135 points (on tiebreaker)
Amit Varma
Sumant Srivathsan
Mahesh Murthy
Shrikant Narasimhan

2nd with 135 points
Pradeep Ramarathnam
Udatta Duarah
Avinash Mudaliar
V Sreeharsha

3rd with 130 points
Kedar Sastry
Ameya Samant
Anand Sivasankar
Sireesh Talluri Rao

4th with 120 points
Vibhendu Tiwari
S Balakrishnan
Sandeep Rajpurohit
Abilin Mukherjee

Tied 5th-6th with 105 points
Rishi Iyengar
Govind Grewal
Samrat Sengupta
Aditya Agrawal

Amit Pandeya
Francis Rodrigues
Mukund Sridhar
Mitul Kodali

7th with 90 points
Raamesh Gowri Raghavan
Sritanu Chakrabarti
Brian D'Souza
Neelabh

8th with 70 points
Ajit Prabhakar
Sarat Rao
Devang Ghia
Sriram Krishnan

The league standings are calculated with 10 points going to each member of a winning team, 7 to each runner up and 4 to each of the quizzers coming third. At the end of two quizzes, the standings are:

BQC Season three Standings (from two quizzes, as of April 27, 2008)

17 points
Amit Varma (from 2 quizzes)
Sumant Srivathsan (2)

10 points
Rishi Iyengar (2)
Govind Grewal (2)
Mitul Kodali (2)
Sandeep Rajpurohit (2)
Mahesh Murthy (1)
Shrikant Narasimhan

8 Points
Sireesh Talluri Rao (2)

7 points
Raamesh Gowri Raghavan (2)
Ajay Ravindran (1)
Pradeep Ramarathnam (2)
Udatta Duarah (1)
Avinash Mudaliar (2)
V Sreeharsha (1)

4 points
Vibhendu Tiwari (2)
S Balakrishnan (2)
Brian D'Souza (2)
Kedar Sastry (2)
Ameya Samant (1)
Anand Sivasankar (2)