Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Suma's solo soliloquy sans Sunil (a.k.a. The Report On The 9th Offliner)
It was westward ho for BQG's 8th offline meet, this time at Sudheendra's home. His faultless directions meant practically nobody got lost while getting to his house. Of course, Prakash did attempt to pull a fast one on the quizmaster by trying (unsuccessfully) to cook up a tale about the maze that was Vijayanagar. And to Prakash's credit, it was only when Sudheendra realized that we had reached on time that the penny dropped. One wonders if this is what prompted him
to duck into his room and change into a daring red T-shirt advertising Microsoft. (The gentleman does sell software, you see. As da marriage bureau lady said: No harm in mixing a little business with pleasure.)
Quizzers trickled in at regular intervals and since Sudheendra was unable to beat the record for attendance (24 at Anuradha Goyal's place last year, I'm told) he was eager to start the quiz while everyone else yakked away and savoured his mother's delicious cooking. Pet puja, as one earlier report said, takes precedence over almost everything else. This time, however, Sudheendra did manage to shepherd everyone into their places (some still with plates in their hands) to get the show going.
Several faces from the previous meet kept their word and turned up: Naveen, the two Ashwins (B&R), Jaideep, Prakash (but of course), Sunil (or as Prakash likes to say, my worse half!). There was also Balaji Narasimhan – journalist, author and leading authority on Sherlock
Holmes (two books on the subject and counting). Vineet too was a first-timer and joined in the fun with full gusto, taking his team to second place. Goldie was back, shoulder in sling and just about managed not to hurt it again, what with all the back thumping his team indulged in. Sandhya was back after a prolonged absence, as were Sukanya and her husband, Gururaj. Goldie introduced another member to BQG: Anuradha, who has worked as a journalist and is now with HP, marketing solutions for emerging markets (or some such hi-funda thing that is beyond the scope of my limited biz gyan. A thousand pardons, Anuradha and we do hope to see you at the next meet.) Sandhya brought along a colleague, Saudamini, who was extremely enthusiastic right up to the end. Mini, we hope to see your bubbly self next time too.
The other guest was L. Subramani, a reporter/sub-editor with Deccan Herald who was doing a story on BQG: (members, please to go and dig up the DH Metro Life supplement of 17 Jan 2005, page 2. Big spread with even bigger photo of Prakash and friends. Hmmm….) Now here's the thing: Subramani is blind but he does his work with some help from a voice-to-text software. He lost his sight at the age of 18 to a genetic disorder but new research means he can probably get it back in a few years with gene therapy. The marvels of technology and modern
medicine, as he put it. He left early and that unfortunately for yours truly, meant that Anuradha and I –leading at the end of the first few rounds, struggled to uplift the score to a not-so-decent third place.
But I am getting ahead of the events. Once everyone had settled into their places (with plates, glasses and whatnot) Sudheendra unveiled his "AV MAX" quiz aptly titled: I saw, I heard, I answered. No "dry" questions and absolutely no mythology-etymology questions either. The
latter are either the toughest or the easiest but I missed `em this time. Come back Penelope, by hook or by crook. Ashwin B (quiz master designate for the next meet) are you listening?
Also sorely missed was Prakash's mother: in her absence, there were no history-of-Bangalore questions. Come back, ma'am.
Back to Sunday, Sudheendra had managed to source some pretty good ol' photos and believe it or not, most of those questions were answered. The new photos, now, there was a challenge. I could've kicked myself for missing the link between Rani Mukherjee, Amisha Patel, Mahima
Chaudhry, Bhumika Chawla, Aarti Chhabria and who else, now? Can't recollect. Well, anyway, that ought to have been enough to tell me that they all starred in Adnan Sami's music videos!! Aaargh!! Especially because that was one of the few questions related to Bollywood, of which I claim to be a huge fan. Ignorance, though, can be an advantage, as was proved when Sudheendra put up another B&W picture of a gentleman and asked our team to identify it. Robert Duvall, who else? Not meaning to show off my knowledge but I was wondering about the fuss when Sudheendra explained that this particular picture was often mistaken for one of Jack Welch. Ah! You see, I have no clue what Jack Welch looks like. Ergo, ignorance is (and advantage and therefore) bliss.
Not so in the case of the picture of Gwen Stefanie holding an HP digital camera at its recent release. Despite a nice big representation from HP (4 people, I think), the question went
abegging. Miz Stefanie designed the shell herself. So now we know. Popstars don't fade, they become designers.
Now, since BQG can't always afford to hire a screen (considering we have no idea how many people will turn up eventually and how many will be ready to pitch in with the costs), there was much racing-to-the-screen happening, not to mention "Play it again, Sudheendra," when it came to the audio rounds. In the melee, some questions were answered out of turn and consequently cancelled. Another couple of questions were answered spontaneously by the
quizmaster's father. No harm done, except that Sudheendra ran out of questions in the end and had to come up with two at very short notice. One was again answered out of turn (wot people? In so much hurry to get home-ah?)
The quizmaster's fondness for Carnatic music was evident and manifested into bouncers for much of the janta (despite a fair chunk being South Indians and all that). But he more than made up for it with an equally big chunk of Western rock and pop. That's when Naveen came into his own and cruised through the rest of the proceedings, taking his team (including Prakash and Goldie) to first place. Pay attention people: if I ever graduate to becoming quiz master, I shall wreak my vengeance by cramming old Hindi films and film music into every possible question. As the redoubtable Ajit would say: Phirr mat kehna humne tumhe varrrning nahin dee!!
Anuradha volunteered to keep score, did a commendable job but everybody crowded round her and asking her if she needed help to tally the final scores!! According to my mathematically-challenged self, she as doing just fine and added a twist to the tail(end) by meting out `punishments'. Team 1 (in 5th place with 10 points) had to open a bottle of wine at the next quiz, which, she declared, Team 2 (in 1st place with 100 points) would get to drink. Unfortunately, that was eventually whittled down to one person from Team 1 (the gallant Gururaj, in this case) providing the venue for the next quiz (on 28th Jan at 8 pm) and Ashwin B. (also from Team1) playing quizmaster.
to duck into his room and change into a daring red T-shirt advertising Microsoft. (The gentleman does sell software, you see. As da marriage bureau lady said: No harm in mixing a little business with pleasure.)
Quizzers trickled in at regular intervals and since Sudheendra was unable to beat the record for attendance (24 at Anuradha Goyal's place last year, I'm told) he was eager to start the quiz while everyone else yakked away and savoured his mother's delicious cooking. Pet puja, as one earlier report said, takes precedence over almost everything else. This time, however, Sudheendra did manage to shepherd everyone into their places (some still with plates in their hands) to get the show going.
Several faces from the previous meet kept their word and turned up: Naveen, the two Ashwins (B&R), Jaideep, Prakash (but of course), Sunil (or as Prakash likes to say, my worse half!). There was also Balaji Narasimhan – journalist, author and leading authority on Sherlock
Holmes (two books on the subject and counting). Vineet too was a first-timer and joined in the fun with full gusto, taking his team to second place. Goldie was back, shoulder in sling and just about managed not to hurt it again, what with all the back thumping his team indulged in. Sandhya was back after a prolonged absence, as were Sukanya and her husband, Gururaj. Goldie introduced another member to BQG: Anuradha, who has worked as a journalist and is now with HP, marketing solutions for emerging markets (or some such hi-funda thing that is beyond the scope of my limited biz gyan. A thousand pardons, Anuradha and we do hope to see you at the next meet.) Sandhya brought along a colleague, Saudamini, who was extremely enthusiastic right up to the end. Mini, we hope to see your bubbly self next time too.
The other guest was L. Subramani, a reporter/sub-editor with Deccan Herald who was doing a story on BQG: (members, please to go and dig up the DH Metro Life supplement of 17 Jan 2005, page 2. Big spread with even bigger photo of Prakash and friends. Hmmm….) Now here's the thing: Subramani is blind but he does his work with some help from a voice-to-text software. He lost his sight at the age of 18 to a genetic disorder but new research means he can probably get it back in a few years with gene therapy. The marvels of technology and modern
medicine, as he put it. He left early and that unfortunately for yours truly, meant that Anuradha and I –leading at the end of the first few rounds, struggled to uplift the score to a not-so-decent third place.
But I am getting ahead of the events. Once everyone had settled into their places (with plates, glasses and whatnot) Sudheendra unveiled his "AV MAX" quiz aptly titled: I saw, I heard, I answered. No "dry" questions and absolutely no mythology-etymology questions either. The
latter are either the toughest or the easiest but I missed `em this time. Come back Penelope, by hook or by crook. Ashwin B (quiz master designate for the next meet) are you listening?
Also sorely missed was Prakash's mother: in her absence, there were no history-of-Bangalore questions. Come back, ma'am.
Back to Sunday, Sudheendra had managed to source some pretty good ol' photos and believe it or not, most of those questions were answered. The new photos, now, there was a challenge. I could've kicked myself for missing the link between Rani Mukherjee, Amisha Patel, Mahima
Chaudhry, Bhumika Chawla, Aarti Chhabria and who else, now? Can't recollect. Well, anyway, that ought to have been enough to tell me that they all starred in Adnan Sami's music videos!! Aaargh!! Especially because that was one of the few questions related to Bollywood, of which I claim to be a huge fan. Ignorance, though, can be an advantage, as was proved when Sudheendra put up another B&W picture of a gentleman and asked our team to identify it. Robert Duvall, who else? Not meaning to show off my knowledge but I was wondering about the fuss when Sudheendra explained that this particular picture was often mistaken for one of Jack Welch. Ah! You see, I have no clue what Jack Welch looks like. Ergo, ignorance is (and advantage and therefore) bliss.
Not so in the case of the picture of Gwen Stefanie holding an HP digital camera at its recent release. Despite a nice big representation from HP (4 people, I think), the question went
abegging. Miz Stefanie designed the shell herself. So now we know. Popstars don't fade, they become designers.
Now, since BQG can't always afford to hire a screen (considering we have no idea how many people will turn up eventually and how many will be ready to pitch in with the costs), there was much racing-to-the-screen happening, not to mention "Play it again, Sudheendra," when it came to the audio rounds. In the melee, some questions were answered out of turn and consequently cancelled. Another couple of questions were answered spontaneously by the
quizmaster's father. No harm done, except that Sudheendra ran out of questions in the end and had to come up with two at very short notice. One was again answered out of turn (wot people? In so much hurry to get home-ah?)
The quizmaster's fondness for Carnatic music was evident and manifested into bouncers for much of the janta (despite a fair chunk being South Indians and all that). But he more than made up for it with an equally big chunk of Western rock and pop. That's when Naveen came into his own and cruised through the rest of the proceedings, taking his team (including Prakash and Goldie) to first place. Pay attention people: if I ever graduate to becoming quiz master, I shall wreak my vengeance by cramming old Hindi films and film music into every possible question. As the redoubtable Ajit would say: Phirr mat kehna humne tumhe varrrning nahin dee!!
Anuradha volunteered to keep score, did a commendable job but everybody crowded round her and asking her if she needed help to tally the final scores!! According to my mathematically-challenged self, she as doing just fine and added a twist to the tail(end) by meting out `punishments'. Team 1 (in 5th place with 10 points) had to open a bottle of wine at the next quiz, which, she declared, Team 2 (in 1st place with 100 points) would get to drink. Unfortunately, that was eventually whittled down to one person from Team 1 (the gallant Gururaj, in this case) providing the venue for the next quiz (on 28th Jan at 8 pm) and Ashwin B. (also from Team1) playing quizmaster.
The generous Prakash again invited everyone to a movie-cum-quiz on a weekend at the Jain International Residential School (where his wife is a teacher) in Kanakapura. At a distance of 44 kms, it'll be a nice drive down to the beautiful campus. (although I believe that's an understatement.) Now that's what I call something to look forward to.
See you soon, everyone!
See you soon, everyone!
# posted by THE SEVENTH SENSE @ 11:13 AM 
