Bringing in the quizmaster- Rs 35000
Entry fee per team- Rs 30
Stage setup(read lanjam)- Rs 1000+
The result- One priceless kick-ass quiz
For me, the thrill lies not in knowing the answer but when my guesses end up being right. I thought I would miss all the fun when I was entrusted the responsibility of 'Event co-ordinator' but trust me, I was as wrong as the one who said the earth is flat. What's better was I got my own private quiz backstage before it all started! Gopal Kidao rocks. Seriously.
"Kid" as his friends call him, is a very simple man. I went to pick him up at the railway station and was surprised to see a simple man with an unassuming smile walking up to me. Kid(if I may call him that) finds pleasure in small things. Right before his entry on the stage he requested us to play a soundtrack as a cue. Kid is an amazing quizmaster. You'll be almost done with giving the right answer and you'll never find out from his face whether you are on the right track. Kid has a very friendly air about himself. Kid is patient. Kid rocks.
From the quizmaster to the teams. Ah, the teams. Waat lavuly teams. Mindblowing answers which made me swear into the microphone (which thankfully was switched off). Answers which make you look up in awe because you never thought one could possibly know that answer. Ejjitement all around. Funny moments galore. A picture perfect "Thomas mason affair" hunched up beside the screen looking closer for hidden clues. Rival school teams( from S.B.O.A. Rock on da's and di's) going at each other just for the fun of it. Rival PSG teams going at each other as well. Teams 1 and 5 stole the show. Quizzing as it should be done.
The audience. Whatever questions you throw at them they have an answer waiting. Myriad people of various ages, gasping, sighing, cheering, whippee-ing at all the right times. Whatya sight to begold....
The scorers. Couldn't have gotten three better people. Nithya,vasuki and ranjith, were awesome company. The volunteers. Couldn't have done it without them.
Nutty and varun. I wish they weren't in fourth year.
Mouli anna. All in all alaguraja!
Quiz over. Late night drive to city tower. And food after 14 hours. Food had never tasted better. Pangs of guilt when I thought about niveditha's broken laptop screen. I wish I'd been around.
Intercollegiate quiz next day. Funny time at the prelims. Paired up with shiva for the first time. Wracked our brains for the craziest guesses possible, got 4 on 25 and still had the biggest grins as though we had aced through 'em. Boring prelims but mindblowing finals!
The missing key caper followed. A very tired and irritated-by-his-poor-memory nutty lying sprawled on the stage in the Ac hall. A very tired me, varun and hari accompanied him. Carefree hour. Comic relief on finding put what happened.
Root(kriya) had achieved what Kriya on the whole had failed to. Success beyond measure. The turnout was amazing. The questions, better. The answers we got- the best. My class guys rock!
Enter Jimmy wales. Excellent choice of words is all that I can say. Later that evening we were invited to a dinner with Jimmy Wales a the residency. I could appreciate the goodness of the man who at there answerng our questions as though nothing else was his priority. To quote a few of his words..
Question : Was wikipedia just an effort to spread knowledge to others, a sign of your altruism?"
Answer: (not the exact words but almost) I'm zero percent altruistic. I like having fun and I like being challenged intellectually.
Question: If Steve jobs came to you and offered 50 Million for wikipedia would you sell it?
Answer. Oh gosh no. If I were selling it, I would start the bid at 1 billion! Moreover I don't think Steve has that much money! (lol)
Question:What were your thoughts when you saw an article about you on Wikipedia?
Answer: In the first few months when wikipedia was founded there wasn't an article about me. People started asking questions and frankly any encyclopedia without an article about its founder is useless! (Casual and smooth!)
And when a video was screened from a system running windows and it so conveniently crashed "This is why I use linux. The transition from windows to linux is too slow in my opinion."
Excellent three days. Made me realise how much I loved eating and how much more I missed doing that. I traded a cozy sleep in my room for a night at a friend's place where we all had to stay awake the whole night thanks to the mosquitoes who were rather too upbeat that night. Night out on the terrace gazing up at the stars. Life hain to aisi??
Nice long talks with Hari and Erin. There was a point when i thought I would not have time for blissful talks, sitting on chairs in all the ways they are not meant to be sit on. I'm glad I was wrong.
P.s : I love rain.
