Rural IT Quiz
29 October 2006
Bangalore Palace, Palace Ground, Bangalore
Part of Bangalore IT.in 2006
Quizmaster: Giri ‘PickBrain’ Balasubramaniam

Bangalore is the IT Capital of the country and Bangalore IT. in is definitely the landmark yearly extravaganza at India’s Silicon Valley & The Rural IT Quiz seems to be the biggest crowd puller year after year.

The reason I make it a point to be present at this Quiz is not just because its yet another big quiz, but I (now) realize that I have an emotional bonding to this quiz.

Year after year, I see young children come from places as distant (wont use the word rural, at least not after I witnessed them performing) as Tumkur, Karwar, Shimoga etc and rock the Bangalore Palace with the most amazing answers!!

Let me put it this way- how many of us know that Mcorp Global holds the maximum stake in Spice Telecom and that The Founder’s Touch was a book on the Life of Paul Galvin??

Well, these students from Rural Karnataka definitely knew all these and much more.

As the clock struck 4:30, the Palace Grounds seemed deserted as every individual headed to the spacious Bangalore Palace (Audience size around 1500) to witness 12 students battle for Karnataka Quizzing’s biggest glory!

The stakes are undoubtedly high, but seem miniscule when weighed against the difficulties overcome by the students to reach this stage.

Some Stats:

Total participation this year: 9,55,000 Students (yes, Nine Lakh Fifty Five thousand)

Regional Round Prizes:

I Prize: Rs 15,000

II Prize: Rs 7,500

III Prize: Rs 4000

And all teams on stage get Rs 2000 each

After clearing three stages of Quizzing (including a complete Regional Final), the six finalists for the State finals were:

1) VB Durbar PU College, Bijapur (All girls team)

2) Forbes Academy, Belgaum (Tenth standard Boys)

3) Sarvodya PU College, Tumkur

4) Little Rock School, Udupi

5) Pragathi Composite School, Shimoga

6) St Josephs PU College, Hassan

Six rounds of Quizzing included:

1) WorkStation- The dry Questions Round

2) Cryptic IT- Crossword Round

3) Domain Expertise- Selection of Topics

4) Download IT- Team Specific 3 clue question round

5) Beyond the Obvious- Well known Pickbrain Round

6) Instant Processing- Speed Round

Winning the quiz hands down and in style (with super answers) were St Joseph’s PU College, Hassan followed by Little Rock, Udupi

Prize Money: (excluding other goodies common to all finalists)

I Prize: Rs 80,000

II Prize: Rs 50,000

III Prize- Rs 35,000

Final Standing:

1) St Joseph’s PU College, Hassan

2) Little Rock School, Udupi

3) Forbes Academy- Belgaum

Year after Year, I get emotional after the Quiz and this year was no exception

Watching these children perform so wonderfully, I look back at each one of our lives.

Competition might be tough but the luxuries are over flowing as well!

Hats off to each one of those students who not only got on stage but also to those who have participated.

Lat year’s review: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quizkrieg/message/519

Last year’s Questions: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quizkrieg/message/527

That’s all from me!

Till Next time!

Adieu Masculine

Regards

Rohit

Quiz review for Quizkrieg

Phase Shift 2006- The General Quiz @ MSRIT, Bangalore

11 October 2006

QM: Avinash Mudaliar

Phase Shift 2006 turned out to be one of the biggest General Quizzes in the campus circuit in Bangalore.

With around 95 teams registering for the prelims, (as far as my knowledge, the largest turnout for any college general quiz in Bangalore) the path to the finals was definitely a difficult one!

As the quiz was open to all streams of education, it was one of the few occasions where the post graduates and under graduates battled it for Quizzing supremacy.

After a preliminary round of 25 questions, the top 6 teams were ready to face one of the toughest general quizzes ever!

Making it to the final were 2 teams from RVCE and a team each from UVCE, BMSCE, IIM-B and the host college- MSRIT.

The quiz definitely set new standards of General Quizzing and bid goodbye to the age-old Engineering Circuit ‘Tradition’ of repeating Archive questions.

The extremely audience-friendly, Audio-Visual and well researched quiz kept both the finalists and the jam-packed auditorium mind-blown (with fundaes) and entertained.

The quiz had a good mix of Business, Science & Technology, Entertainment and Literary topics but dint touch too much on Sports.

The quiz was convincingly won by BMSCE, followed by UVCE and IIM-B respectively.

A great experience- all in all!!

That’s all from me

Till next time!!

Adieu Masculine

Regards,
Rohit

1) Who says-Aus Liebe zum Automobil ?

Ans: Volkswagens- Aus Liebe zum Automobil literally translates to “For the love of the car” or “For Love of the People’s Cars” and Volkswagen is German for ‘People’s Car’

2) Believed to be scientifically formulated, this drink is whey-based, protein drink containing electrolytes, vitamins and minerals in easy to digest form unlike imported energy drinks, which are, carbonated sugar drinks. Priced at Rs 12 per pack of 200 ml, it is also endorsed by the Apollo Hospitals. Name India’s first indigenous energy drink.

Ans: Stamina from Amul

3) Who says- “The most reliable opinion on Risk”?

Ans: CRISIL (the ratings organization)

4)‘We do not show even a single page to users who find copyrighted books through this program (unless the copyright holder gives us permission to show more). At most we show only a brief snippet of text where their search term appears, along with basic bibliographic information and several links to online booksellers and libraries’ This was a statement a company passed when the program was sued by the author’s guild. Name the company and the program.

Ans: Google and Google Print

5) “I knew it was over when I downloaded______,” Michael Powell, chairman, Federal Communications Commission, explained. “When the inventors of KaZaA are distributing for free a little program that you can use to talk to anybody else, and the quality is fantastic, and it’s free – it’s over. The world will change now inevitably.” Identify the program. ( I’d framed this ages back- never got to use it)

Ans: Skype, the Global P2P Telepone company which was recently sold to eBay

6) Telstar Durlast, Tango Durlast, Tango Espana, Azteca Mexico, Estrusco Unico, Questra, Tricolore, ________, _________. Fill the last two blanks.

Ans: Fevernova and Teamgeist.. These are the names of the Adidas balls used at the FIFA World Cups since 1970

7) The rebranding was engineered by the Lambie- Nairn design agency, which developed the idea of the company supplying services that were essential, much the same as ______ is essential for life. Fill the blank or give me the brand. (Almost the same)

Ans: The brand’s O2 and the blank was Oxygen

Suggestions, comments and feedback to: rohit.s.nair@gmail.com

Phase Shift 2006- The General Quiz

Venue: MSRIT, Bangalore
QM: Avinash Mudaliar

Prelims:

Q1 Who founded the St. Stephens College Quiz Club in the early 1970’s?
A Shashi Tharoor

Q2 Gopal, Lucky, Mahadev and Laxmi got together to do what?
A Golmaal. These are the names of the four protagonists from whom the movie derives its name.

Q3 In 1926, she left for Hollywood to pusue a career as a screenwriter. Cecil B. DeMille gave her a job, first as an extra, then as a script reader. She sold her first screenplay ‘Red Pawn’ to Universal Studios in 1932 and also staged her first play ‘Night of January 16th’ on Broadway.Who?
A Ayn Rand

Q4 They have been measured at 102.12 decibels — apparently as loud as a police siren. causing a lot of distraction.Complaints regarding this aspect of this person’s behavior has been reported as recently as the month of July, this year. What are we talking about?
A Maria Sharapova’s on-court grunts - Elena Dementieva, Sharapova’s opponent in the Wimbledon 2006 quarter-final, is the latest player to complain about the distraction it causes.

Q5 Throughout his presidency, he has hosted the live talk show known as Aló Presidente (”Hello, President!”). The show broadcasts in varying formats each Sunday at 11:00 AM. The show features him addressing topics of the day, taking phone calls and live questions from both the studio and broadcast audience, and touring locations where government social welfare programs are active.Who?
A Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

Q6 The Amount:4,223,500.00 USD The date: November 27, 1895. What are we talking about?
A The last one was written on November 27, 1895—a little over a year before he died. He signed it at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris on November 27, 1895.So in his will, Alfred left 94% of his worth (31 million kronor or 4,223,500.00 USD) to the establishment of five prizes.

Q7 The first was built with borrowed wood near Pasadena by two brothers, who wanted to pursue a career in Hollywood. There is one at the North Pole, and a floating one on a steamer at St. Louis. What are we talking about?
A Mc Donalds

Q8 On the official website of Bloomsbury books, there’s a section dedicated to the Harry Potter books. This particular section can be browsed in two different modes. What modes?
A Muggle and Wizard Mode

Q9 What is Swahili for “cramp-like seizure caused by an evil spirit”?
A Dengue Fever

Q10 According to folklore, the Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship that can never go home, but must sail “the seven seas” forever.But who is endearingly named “The Non-Flying Dutchman” and why?
A Dutch footballer Dennis Bergkamp suffers from severe Aviophobia, and is endearingly named “The Non-Flying Dutchman

Q11 George Lucas has said on multiple occasions that his portrayal of a particular character was one of the primary inspirations for the Indiana Jones character.Who and which caracter?
A Sean Connery’s potrayal of James Bond, a reason Connery was chosen for the role of Indiana’s father in the third film of that series.

Q12 The earliest inhabitants of the area were Khoisan hunter-gatherers. They were largely replaced by Bantu-speaking tribes during Bantu migrations. The present area emerged as a single polity (state) under Paramount chief Moshoeshoe I in 1822; it was recognized by Britain on 13 December 1843.Which place?(in the news very recently)
A Lesotho

Q13 Vishwamitra took Rama and Lakshmana with him to slay the demoness Tataka. During the journey, they slept on the banks of Sarayu river. Vishwamitra did something to wake Rama up every morning before dawn so that he could complete his rites. What?
A He sung the Venkateshwara Suprabhatam

Q14 In 2006 she has released a new book called “In the Wonderland of Numbers” with Orient Paperbacks which talks about a girl Neha and her fascination for numbers. The book is in the form of story and will excite the readers about numbers and number theory. Who?
A Shakuntala Devi

Q15 Modern Times ‘was claimed to be a remake of a French Movie ‘A nous la liberte’ by Rene Clair. Since it was made under a German banner J Goebbels wanted to sue Chaplin but couldn’t as Rene Clair refused to support him. Why?
A Rene Clair refused saying that he was honoured to have inspired Chaplin!!

Feedback and comments to: rohit.s.nair@gmail.com

Questions for Quizkrieg

Chanakya- The Business Quiz

Venue: St Josephs College of Commerce, Bangalore

Date: 30 September 2006

Quizmaster: Mitesh Agarwal, KQA

Content Content and more Content!

The Easiest way to describe the 5 hours of Quizzing at Chanakya- The Business Quiz @ St Josephs, Bangalore.

The quiz reminded me of the good old days of KQA quizzing (not that I’ve been a prolific KQA quizzer myself) where everything was passion and the greed for money was more than absent…

At Chanakya, content took center-stage; there were no ads, no flashy technology- just hardcore quizzing!

The format of the quiz was also different and definitely brilliant!

A common prelim for both the corporates and college students, (Mixed corporates allowed but students had to be from the same college) would select the top 6 corporates for the Mega Finals directly and would shortlist 6 college teams who would battle it out in a Mini Final from which the top 2 teams would proceed to slog it with the corporates in the Mega Final.

The six College teams that were short listed for the Mini final were CMS, SBMJC (2), Sri Kumarans (I think they were PU Students), Icfai Business School (Prelim toppers), Vijaya College and UVCE.

After an hour of Quizzing (with some very good questions) UVCE and Vijaya College topped the Mini final and made it to the Mega Final.

The Six Corporate finalists were all the Badhshahs of Business Quizzing in Bangalore; the teams were as follows:

1) Prasad Shetty (Kotak)+ Ajay Kasargod (WYSE)

2) Ramesh Babu (hp) + Sethu (IBM)

3) Avinash Mudaliar and Gopal Srinivasan (3xUS media Solutions)

4) Arul Mani and Mr Vijaykumar (Need no intro in Bang quizzing)

5) Vivek (LB or GS) and Naveen (BEQ Winner)

6) Venky (Sasken) and Arjun(Lowe)

The Quiz was a loooooooooooong one with around 64 questions (excluding a 21 clue connect question), but definitely a quiz worth every minute you spent.

The quiz had a low share of Current affairs and even those questions which were relative current affairs were framed wonderfully.

Prasad Shetty and Ajay Kasargod, finally won the Quiz(on the last question) closely followed by Arul Mani and team.

I personally enjooooooooyed the Quiz and hope to see the KQA do many more biz quizzes.

To conclude, I’d like to congratulate Josephs on keeping the quiz open and fair in every possible way… They even shared the registration fee amount amongst all the teams on stage, underlying the fact that they can definitely have a larger heart than many larger organizations/institutions, who restrict all their cash inflow to the winners and their own pockets!

Thats all from Me,

Till next time!

Adieu Maculine

Rohit

Me on Orkut

Quiz Review exclusive to Quizkrieg

Jigyaasa- The Business Quiz @ TISS

28 September 2006

QM: Giri ‘Pickbrain’ Balasubamaniam

In Giri’s own words- ‘ As I entered TISS, I felt I was gonna conduct the Tata Crucible national finals all over again’ and that was the best way to put it!

Although the event was preceded and followed by Celebrity talks (Prahlad Kakkar and Rahul Bose respectively), the Business Quiz was undoubtedly the biggest programme at Manthan 2006.

The 25-question prelim (which is a pleasant change- hopefully Giri’ll stick to it) at Jigyaasa was a surprise when we were handed a paper with the questions.

I guess it’s the first time that Giri personally dint conduct the prelims.

The rules were set clear and the stage was to be occupied by 3 College teams and 3 corporate teams.. The teams could be mixed but a corporate and college student could not make a team.

The six finalists on stage were

1) Sify- Lombard (both chennai)

Vishwajeet

Aravindh Ramaih

2) UVCE, Bangalore

Rohit Nair

Chetan TV

3) BanBay

Mitesh Agarwal- Sun Micosystems, Bangalore

Rajiv Rai- Deutsche Bank, Mumbai

4) SIBM, Pune

Rohit Jain

Nikhil Narayanan

5) The Lion, the Witch and the Wadrobe Malfunction

Amit Pandeya- Questa Software

Dhananjay Shettigar- UTI Bank

6) KJ Somaih, Mumbai

Sandeep

Shameen

The finals had five rounds of quizzing. The rounds were as follows

1) Keep Walking- Dry round

2) Four Play- 3 clues (15,10,5 pts respectively)

3) Think Aloud- Dry Round

4) Think Beyond- Connect round

5) Speed Round

Although there was a close battle for second and third place, the first place was won with ease by the Banbay team comprising Mitesh and Rajiv… The brilliant Amit- Dhananjay team followed.

I personally feel that the standard at Pickbrain quizzes keep increasing as he reverts to more dry questions (which were absolutely fantastic at Jigyaasa). The use of technology (uncovering photos by parts and so on) usually spoils quizzes and brings down standards.

This is just a personal feeling as I’m sure there’ll be a large number of quizzers disagreeing with me.

Anyway, that’s all from me as of now…. Till next time

Adieu Masculine

Regards

Rohit

Quiz review exclusive to Quizkrieg