BQG Offline Meets

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Prakash's petty poetic prattle....................
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Now the Offline Quiz reviving old Desires,
The thoughtful Quizzer to Avinash's terrace retires,
Where the White Hand Of Priya on the Bough
Puts out answers, and Goldie sitting nearby perspires.

Each quiz a thousand thoughts brings, you say;
Yes, but where leaves Avinash's quiz of Yesterday?
And this first winter quiz that brings the Rose
Shall take Priya and Suma away on the podium to pose.

Well, let it take them! What have we to do
With Sunil, and Sudheendra, and Venkat Mandela too?
Let Suma and Priya bluster as they will,
Next time, we'll beat them, and by a handsome margin too!

A Book of Quizzes underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread--and Thou
Beside me quizzing in the Wilderness--
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

(Btw: The last para……………..does that sound like me or does
it sound like……..ahem! what was I saying?...................
I have lost the thread of the conversation……………..)

..................................

Has Prakash gone bonkers, you ask.

The answer is no.

Given the poetry of Avinash's quizzing,

I decided to become a poet too!

Summary: The 17th Offline Quiz was sensational. But learn all about it
from the mighty pens of my fellow -BQGers.

Cheers,

Prakash

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THE WINNERS SPEAK…………………….

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First Priya (alphabetically ahead and all that!)………………..
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A sweet win.....

I am still smiling… in fact, we are still smiling--- Suma and me, that
is. Our win at the 17th Offline meet hosted by Avinash, was a sweet
win and took me back to the thrill of winning at college competitions.
I called up Suma the next morning and we both relived the quiz moments
again. I believe Sunil commented that we were "giggling like school
girls" when we won. Well Sunil, all I can say is sour grapes. Huh!

It felt good to win a quiz that was really good in terms of questions,
the presentation pyrotechnics, location, the food (yumm!) and of
course the people! Before we started out, we were disappointed at the
poor turnout since Avinash had taken a lot of pains to organize a
projector, sound system, catering etc. Anyways, I'm sure the motley
bunch of quizzards did not disappoint him in terms of enthusiasm or
answers.

Like the food, the quiz posers were delectable. The first few rounds
warmed us up to get our grey cells ticking and work out the answers.
The Clinton-Bobbit was a gem of a question!!

By the end of the second round, the Goldie and Prakash duo were in the
lead with Rajib's team following suit. We managed to collected some 5
points change (chillre in Kannada) now and then and scraped to third
place. Never mind that in the beginning we didn't get points though
"we were on the right track."

Then it changed. The connection round was the clincher. I must
congratulate Avinash on the great questions and clues. Having a
Bollywood specialist Suma really turned things in our favor-for
example-:the Salim Khan connection question. I'll never forget that
hilarious Kannda movie clip where the B &W movie changes into
colour(multi-colour) and how!!!LOL.

Even after the last question of the quiz was asked, we still thought
that we would end up third or second. But surprise surprise, we won.
Psst…Avinash, the scores weren't rigged na? Anyways, Kudos to Avinash
and team for arranging such a wonderful quiz..

Lest I forget, Prakash's good-natured leg (shoulder/ throat in some
cases)- pulling and yarn spinning has become part and parcel of the
offline meets. Each time it's a new bakra though Goldie has been at
the receiving end most times. And now I think he's passed on the baton
to Avinash.

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Winner Suma's Spiel……………….
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"For all those who said they were coming and finally didn't turn up, I
must say this you missed one helluva quiz.

There are a lot of things I want to say about this quiz but I don't
know where to start.

Probably with the elaborate arrangements Avinash had made: the
setting, the food, the ambience, not mention his appearance. :) And
those who turned up had done so with full josh nobody bothering to
conceal that the josh had everything to do with Avinash being the
quizmaster, leaving the rest of us amateur mortals with a
more-than-fair chance of claiming first place.

But I must admit that just like the first BQG offliner I attended
where Avinash was QM this one also boasted of brilliant research and
classy execution.

Set on the terrace, the trademark Bangalore breeze provided just the
right touch, what with the rain gods gone on holiday. And what a quiz
it was. An impressive audio-visual gorgeously displayed on a large
screen introduced us to what lay ahead. I was paired with Priya once
again and rather pleased about it. The first two make that three
rounds were a washout as far as we were concerned. The questions were
"wow" but
the answers were slow in coming. According to Avinash, our team was
always on the right track unfortunately, one that always ran into a
dead end.

Sigh………………….

But we learnt a little from our mistakes and started to speak our
minds. It paid off in multiples of 5 points (out of 20) for knowing a
little quarter truths in BQG. Prakash, are you listening? Heh Heh ;)

We enjoyed our ignorance and somebody commented that we spent most of
the quiz giggling like schoolgirls.

Ahem, well, that's more or less right, so let's leave it there, shall
we? It kept our minds off the fact that we were trailing a
d-i-s-t-a-n-t third to Prakash-Goldie and Sudheendra-Rajib.
Thankfully, the trickle of 5-pt gains didn't dry up. Unlike the city's
water supply, it got better with rounds related to entertainment. One
delectable "connect" question linking Salim-Javed (but how exactly,
asked Avinash, so we could get a tonne of points). And then Priya made
another fantastic connection Illaiyaraja by listening to some ads
composed along his film tunes.

Also correctly guessed the connection between the three gents after
whom cricket stadiums have been named. Felt terrible about missing the
Bimal Roy connection, not that we could crack too many of the others.
But we trudged along. And finally, it was time for Avinash to announce
"with-that-we-come-to-the-end-of…" Just before the
scores came up, Priya and I wondered aloud: "Third? Or second you think?"

…."Second, I hope."

But the scorer had some happy news for us we had scraped past with a
15-point lead and won!! So we did a little jig and beamed. And we
shall continue to remain as pleased as Punch till the next offliner.
Of course, with Avinash returning to our midst, the fight just might
return to the claim for second place. However, I have a feeling that
everyone is raring to go and there might just be an upset victory
around the
corner."

Regards,
Suma

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Now, the losers……………in alphabetic order…………………

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Goldie…………………………
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It was a 'Perfect' day! I mean if given a choice, I would love to
spend most of my sundays like the one on which last offline was held.
Have a nice lunch at my friend's place (in this case dear friends were
Sunil and Suma, who were hosting myself and Priya), spend time with an
over-enthusiastic 3-yr old kid (that's Shreyan, Su-nil/ma's son), take
a nice nap, and then set out with the rest to an evening filled of
exciting questions, some yummy food for thought as well as for stomach.

Needless to talk much about the quizzing quality when Avinash is at
the helm of affairs. Must say, when he does things, he makes sure he
does it in style. And that was more than obvious in the whole setting
of the 17th offline.

Generally, I don't rue losing out in the offline quizzes. But this
time, I certainly did. Simply, because I myself didn't follow the rule
I had set for myself: Always listen to ur intuitions. On two questions
(which would have fetched us 40 marks and made us the winner), I
almost gave the right answer and then before could spell it out, chose
a wrong one.

The questions with answers: Monalisa and Atlantic were so much on my
mind, but somehow the devil inside me forced me to say things unwise.

As usual, looking forward to the next offline... and it better be soon.

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Poornima………………………
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Hadn't been to any of the quizzes Avinash conducted but had heard so
much about them. Well, the show was more than I expected. Avinash
outdid anything else that I have seen. Better than even the stuff on
TV. The big screen, the mike, the works. Even the Light refreshment
which actually turned out to be more than dinner. I wish more people
could have been there to enjoy this experience, because it was
definitely that, more than just a quiz. Anyways, it was just this
small cozy group on the great big terrace and a great smashing quiz
with lots of lovely information. Esp. loved the question of the
`Country that changes its name once every year'. There was also a
dedication to the Strong, Silent man of the group, Sunil!! Waiting for
the next one.

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Sudheendra…………………………..
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It was that evening,
when we do quizzing.
On the terrace we were,
while the lights were fading.

In the bright light of the neon bulb,
we started to vanquish,
the idli, Halwa and the chutney.
Spicey and tasty they were,
so everyone said "yeh dil maange more"

For a change it was the Indestructible,
who conducted the proceedings,
giving us mortals some satisfaction,
of having to compete for the first place,
instead of the usual second.

Questions came in like lightning,
and had everyone scurrying.
Still everyone manage,
a count of hundred and odd,
only to find Suma and Priya
pip the others at the post.

So ended the starry evening,
with "The Indestructible" scratching his beard
and thinking "I shall be back and rule
for another 6 months" while the others just
sighed and said "Oh, no, not again" !!!!

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Sunil…………………….
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Finally an Avinash quiz and another PVR-style big screen. It was a
great quiz and I had loads of fun even though I finished last!
(Getting my voice back seems to have done me in remarked someone) The
hospitality was great too and the first round was a yummy one of Pet Puja.

The thing I like about Avinash's quizzes is that you have to think,
think and think. In most quizzes, it's just that either you know it or
you don't. At best you can guess. Not so here. For example in one
question, I thought of Male (the capital of Maldives) instead of the
Isle of Man(n). Not that way of the mark, or so I thought. Mullah
Naseeruddin was another gettable one, the donkey was a big getaway,
but we didn't get it either. But the best round of all was the visual
"connect round" and the most enjoyable clip was the colorful Kannada
movie one where a black and white film went technicolor right in front
of our eyes! The attendance was pretty low, but that really didn't
bother me. Even 8 serious quizzers is enough to have a great evening.
Kudos to Suma and Priya for coming first. The Illyaraja and Bollywood
answers were pretty cool.

Anyway, it's not every time that one has a question dedicated to
oneself. I won't forget that. I won't also forget the meaning of
"Aphasia" thanks to that.

So Avinash, hope your next quiz won't come after too long a gap.

Cheers!
Sunil

======================DA END. FINIS. KHALAAS.==================