Sunday, August 23, 2009

Madras Quiz 2009

I am just back from the annual Madras quiz that is conducted as a part of the Madras Week celebrations. The quiz this time was conducted by the Indian Quizzing League.  The quiz master for the day was Sylvian Patrick.

The event started off with a 30 question prelims. There were some thought-provoking questions from various aspects of Chennai, ranging from the Chennai Metro to the Ergo. On the whole, the prelims were not too tough. A lot of the questions were guessable. Couple of questions from the top of my head

What did Gandhiji establish in Chennai in 1918 recognising the importance of the whole nation speaking one language?

Who is the most famous grandson of Rajagopala Bhagavadar who excelled in Hari Katha kathakalakshebam?

Six teams made it to the finals, which comprised of 5 rounds of Madras Intensive questions. Jayakanthan and his teammate managed to surge ahead wresting the rolling trophy from V.V. Ramanan and Ramshankar who were lacklustre today. There were some quality answers from all the teams. I don’t remember the name of the team who finished second.

Overall the quality of the questions in the finals was passable. I personally believe the Indian Quizzing League need to find themselves some quizmasters. I attended their India quiz and there again, the quizmasters were found wanting.