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)

Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Ke Baap Hai?

Tho phir Shah Rukh ko maariye goli, aur aa jaayiye BQC ke quiz mein, R-R-R-R-Rajiv Rrrai ke saath. The second quiz of the 2008 season takes place tomorrow. Details:

When: 3:00 PM, Sunday, April 27, 2008. (Be there by 2.45 please.)

Quizmaster: Rajiv Rai.

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 previous quiz are here. Newcomers are welcome to our quizzes. Teams are formed at the venue by drawing lots, so don't worry about turning up alone.

Rishi Iyengar zooms off the blocks

League champion Rajiv Rai was absent for the first BQC quiz of the 2008 season, held on April 13, but there was no dearth of quality quizzing. Samrat Sengupta, the quizmaster for the day, ran us through a largely workable quiz , and Rishi Iyengar, last year's overall runner-up, zoomed to first place. Vibhendu Tiwari and S Balakrishnan's team took an early lead, after which my team, with Sumant Srivathsan in it, led till about the halfway point, when the special topics round gave Rishi and gang the momentum to streak ahead. Good fun to begin the season.

The results:

1st with 56 points
Rishi Iyengar
Govind Grewal
Sandeep Rajpurohit
Mitul Kodoli

2nd with 50 points
Amit Varma
Sumant Srivathsan
Raamesh Gowri Raghavan
Ajay Ravindran

3rd with 48 points
Vibhendu Tiwari
S Balakrishnan
Sireesh Talluri Rao
Brian D'Souza

4th with 45 points
Anand Sivasankar
Srinath TB
Vidya Kumar
Anand Satyan

Joint 5th-6th with 42 points
Ajith Prabhakar
Amit Pandeya
Devang Ghia
Saurabh Garg

Arvind Krishnaswamy
Pradeep Ramarathnam
Abilin Mukherjee
Francis Rodrigues

7 with 41 points
Sarat Rao
Avinash Mudaliar
Nandan Krishnaswamy
Abad Eh*

8th with 26 points
Sriram Krishnan
Sritanu Chakrabarti
Aditya Agarwal
Neelabh
Kedar Sastry

(*Not sure about one name, wasn't legible in the team list I received. Do correct me...)

The people coming first get 10 points each in the league table, while the second-placed quizzers get 7 each and the third placed guys get 4 each. So those are the league standings. The next quiz is conducted this Sunday, April 27, by Rajiv Rai. More details will follow here.

Back to Square One

The phrase comes from radio commentary on football matches, as the old chestnut tells us (and which we hopefully eliminate from our quizzes by using it in blog posts).

Samrat Sengupta will kick us off on a brand new season with a quiz that he conducted at the BCQC in Pune (and coincided with our own season-ender). Much fun can be anticipated, given past experiences.

As always, details and directions below:

When: 3:00 PM, Sunday, April 13, 2008

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.

All Hail The BQC Champion: Rajiv Rai

This post must begin with an apology: in my report of the last quiz, I had referred to Rajiv Rai as 'avuncular'. Rajiv has taken offense, and has threatened to inflict unspeakable and eldritch monstrosities on me (such as the company of Govind Grewal). I am, thus, forced to say sorry for my transgression. Forgive me, O Young One.

Back to the report. The season-closing quiz of the BQC last Sunday ended fittingly, with Rajiv underscoring his year-long dominance by winning in a canter. I notched up my eighth second place of the season (pah!) to seal third place in the league table. After 26 quizzes in the season, we were all done and ready to take a break. Except that, um, quizzers don't take breaks. The season begins again one Sunday from now.

Sumant Srivathsan conducted the quiz, and threw in lots of audio and video questions, which was a refreshing change from our mostly-dry quizzes. His theme round was perhaps too high-scoring, and pretty much handed the quiz to the two teams that cracked the theme early. A similar thing happened a quiz before, when I played around with written questions that awarded every team cracking a question points depending on how many other teams didn't crack it. These rounds meant that a team that had a good five minutes could take an almost unassailable lead, and the lesson for the future is not to have rounds that are too high-scoring.

Enough. Here are the results:

1st with 45 points
Rajiv Rai
Kedar Sastry
Rahul Gaur
Amit Sharma

2nd with 30 points
Amit Varma
Sandip Sen
Rangraj Setlur
Francis Rodrigues

3rd with 26 points
Pradeep Ramarathnam
Udatta Duarah
Ananya Deb
+ 1?

4th with 23 points
Vibhendu Tiwari
Arvind Krishnaswamy
+ 2?

5th with 21 points
Prasann Potdar
Mukund Krishnan
Nandan Krishnaswamy
Shujodeep Ghosh

6th with 18 points
S Balakrishnan
Ameya Samant
Sarat Rao
Abilin Mukherjee

7th with 16 points
Ajith Prabhakar
Amit Pandeya
Kaushik Chatterjee
+ 1?

8th with 13 points
Rishi Iyengar
Devang Ghia
Aditya Agarwal
Shivanant Tayal

As you can see, there are some blanks there I'll duly fill in once participants are tortured and information extracted. And now (ta da!) for the final BQC League standings of 2007-08:

Final BQC Season Two Standings (from 26 quizzes, as of March 30, 2008)

150.5 points
Rajiv Rai (from 20 quizzes)

98 points
Rishi Iyengar (22)

86 points
Amit Varma (22)

75 points
Sumant Srivathsan (21)

72 points
Kedar Sastry (17)
Prasann Potdar (20)

67.5 points
Vibhendu Tiwari (23)
AP Alagarsamy (19)

59 points
Ajith Prabhakar (18)
Govind Grewal (19)

48 points
Ashwan Lewis (8)
Amit Pandeya (13)

47.5 points
Mukund Krishnan (14)

47 points
Pradeep Ramarathnam (16)

44 points
Anand Sivasankar (19)

43.5 points
Souvik Basu (?)

42.5 points
Devang Ghia (23)

42 points
S Balakrishnan (17)

40 points
Ameya Samant (20)

31 points
Shambhu Shankar (?)

28 points
Mahesh Murthy (6)

26 points
Sarat Rao (?)

25 points
Udatta Duarah (10)
Francis Rodrigues (13)

24 points
Kartik Srivatsa (5)

18 points
Avinash Mudaliar (9)
Kartik R (?)
Sandip Sen (5)

17 points
Ravi Venkatesh (6)

16.5 points
Dhananjay Shettigar (12)

14 points
Samrat Sengupta (7)
Sritanu Chakravarty (4)
Arvind Krishnaswamy (8)

11 points
Ajay Ravindran (4)
Meghashyam Shirodkar (3)
Nandan Krishnaswamy (7)
Atulya Bharadwaj (2)

10 points
Aravinda Talluri (1)
Neeraj (1)
Nilesh Jain (1)
Tanmay Sharma (2)
Gaurav Singh (1)
Raghu (?)
Sowmya Ramaswamy (1)
Hansraj Singh (1)
John Mascarenhas (3)
Vaibhav Devanathan (1)
Sameer Nair (2)
Movin Miranda (1)
Aditya Agarwal (3
Rahul Gaur (1)
Amit Sharma (?)

8 points
Hanisha Vaswani (5)

7 points
Akshay Mahajan (1)
Rahul Bhaskar (3)
Saurav (?)
Nrupal Choudhari (?)
Harshil Shah (1)
Devangshu Datta (1)
Kaustubh Chakraborty (1)
Rangraj Setlur (1)

4 points
Padma Sinha (3)
Pranav Kukreja (1)
Sireesh Talluri Rao (8)
Sushant Raut (5)
Chitra Raghunath (1)
Sandeep Randery (1)
Kishalaya Bhattacharjee (1)
Brian D'Souza (1)
Ramesh (1)
Arnab Bhattacharya (?)
Ananya Deb (1)

The first quiz of BQC Season 3 begins on April 13. Prasann Potdar will conduct. The slate is clean, and the possibilities are endless...