BCQC – March and April 2009 newsletter

Obligatory question: In a list of his favourite Holmes short stories, Arthur Conan Doyle had The Dancing Men at #3, and the Red-Headed League at #2. Which story, from the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, did he rate as his best?

Quizzes

The most recent BCQC Open Quiz Day was held in April and consisted of a Western Entertainment quiz by Aditya Gadre and a General quiz by Meghashyam Shirodkar and Aniket Khasgiwale.

The previous week, Aniket had a successful outing at COEP's solo quiz Abhimanyu by becoming the first COEPian to win the title twice. A similar mark was achieved by Yash Marathe who triumphed for the 2nd year in becoming the BCQC's College Quizzer of the Year.

This was also the season of high-profile business quizzing in Pune: the college version of Tata Crucible was won by the SCMHRD pair of Gaurav & Amneet, while Savoir Faire of Goa once again triumphed at the local Brand Equity round. They will participate in the finals to be held on 10th May in Mumbai.

The Landmark Quiz show hit Mumbai for the first ever time, on Maharashtra Day. A couple of teams with Pune affiliations successfully made it to the top 8 beating over 150 teams to the finals.

As ever, there were several BC sessions on weekends: some by visiting BC alumni, some involving new formats. Never been to a BC session before? There's a session this Sunday afternoon at the COEP (directions).

Upcoming Quizzes

* The next BCQC Open Quiz day will be held on the 17th of May, featuring two general quizzes. The details will be announced in a couple of days. As usual, there are lots of prizes: each finalist wins a prize, as do the best college/school/newbie teams.

* India's biggest solo quiz 'Mahaquizzer' will be held on the 24th in several centres, including Pune. Here are all the details for participants in Pune. Do register early! This time, the BCQC will be sponsoring additional prizes for school & college students.

* Tata Motors are organising their annual open general quiz this Saturday: the details can be found here.

Answer to Obligatory Question: The Speckled Band

Previous BCQC newsletters here.

BCQC – January and February 2009 newsletters

Obligatory Question: If you were wearing the 'mustard & tomato', what would you be?

The first two months of 2009 were so frenetic that there was hardly any time to put a newsletter together. Here's how January and February turned out for the Boat Club Quiz Club:

Quizzes

The January BCQC Open Quiz Day saw two general quizzes, one by Pradeep Ramarathnam of the BQC and the other by Suvajit Chakraborty and Yash Marathe, both leading college quizzers from Pune. Local colleges VIT (Quiz-o-Mania), AFMC (Shyam Bhatt Memorial Quiz), Fergusson College (Inquizzition 8), and MIT (Axlerate) held their annual general quizzes in these two months.

AFMC also held several theme quizzes as part of their annual fest, as did Symbiosis Law, who also had a general quiz called Jigyasa (a quiz that was set and conducted by the BCQC).

Clearly, this packed quizzing season saw an abundance of themed quizzes, with sports quizzes at Sinhgadh College of Engineering and COEP. But the most novel of them was Quiztronomy, an Astronomy quiz for students that was held as part of the COEP Astronomy Club's effort to mark the International Year of Astronomy. The response was very good and the members have promised to be back next year as well.

The biggest quiz of the season in these parts was the Landmark quiz in Pune, which had several new elements to it this year. If you missed out, there's going to be one in Mumbai on the 1st of May.

There were several BC sessions, with a Requiem for a Theme English Music quiz by Aditya Gadre, and contributions by Yash Tamaskar, among others.

Upcoming Quizzes in March-April

The next BCQC Open Quiz day will feature a Western Music-Entertainment-Literature-Arts (MELA) quiz by Aditya Gadre and a General Quiz by Meghashyam Shirodkar and Aniket Khasgiwale. This quiz will probably be held towards the end of March or beginning of April, so if you have exams or any preferences, you should write in to me.

We also plan to have an open quiz for first year students of local undergraduate colleges, as well as the (already dreaded) BCQC College Quizzer Championship that began last year.

Requiem for a Theme at the BC will feature a unique medicine quiz sometime in the next four weeks.

I've started so I'll finish

* If you are organizing a quiz and want to let people know about it, write into us ("contact"-at-"bcqc.org") with the salient details and we'll put it up on our website.

* We love to hear comments about quizzes, especially those that we do. Use the comments sections on our blog posts to do so, or write to us.

* Finally, we leave you with this interesting story from the UK surrounding Gail Trimble on this year's University Challenge quiz show who was dubbed the Greatest UC contestant ever and provoked a lot of comment about her looks and her brains. (Link thanks to Harish).

Answer to Oblig Question: A member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (their club colours)

Previous BCQC newsletters here.

BCQC – December 2008 newsletter

BCQC – December 2008 newsletter

After his first Grand Slam victory, asked if he was 6"3' tall, his mother replied he was 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4. Name this Olympic champion.

Happy New Year, or like some of us like to call it, Happy Great Gregorian Calendar Convention Conspiracy.

A cold December saw subdued activity at the BC, but there are a couple of things to mention. Here goes.

Quizzes

1. IIT Bombay's Mood Indigo (20-23 Dec) Some of the BCQC College quizzers took part in several quizzes at Mood-I 2008. Most notably, they won both the General Quiz (Aditya Gadre & Suvajit Chakraborty) as well as the Sports Quiz (Aditya Gadre again, this time with Aniket Khasgiwale).

2. BC “Requiem for a Theme” Business Quiz Suvajit conducted the Business Theme quiz as part of "Requiem for a Theme". A tough elims and a somewhat undercooked final resulted from it. The next set of themes are likely to be on English music, History, and Geography, depending on availability of quizmasters.

3. BC Quizzes
BC quizzes were conducted by Suraj Menon, Yash Tamaskar, Aditya Gadre, with contributions from others.

Upcoming Quizzes in January

1. BC Infest 2009 – Jan 4th: Quizzes on Religion, Science and Philosophy (Ganesh Hegde), Comics and Cartoons (Yasho), and General (Aditya). Details here.

2. SIIB Clairvoyance 2009 – Jan 10-11th: As part of Ignisense 09, the Symbiosis Institute of International Business is organizing a business quiz for B-School students and to be conducted by Dhananjay Shettigar. Two member teams from the same college. See their website for details.

3. VIT’s Quiz-o-Mania – Jan 30th: VIT’s Annual General Open Quiz. Watch this link for details. Previous quiz reports here.

4. The next BCQC Open Quiz is likely to be held on the 1st of Feb. Please let us know if there are other quizzes/exams scheduled around that time.

I've started so I'll finish

* Questions from the making of Balls, Ballots, Bollywood are now available. Read this to know how to get them.

* The next edition of the Pune Landmark Quiz is scheduled for the 21st of February. We’ll keep this post updated as details emerge.

* The Odyssey Quiz, one of the biggest open quizzes in India, was scheduled to be held on the 26th of Jan in Chennai. The event has been cancelled.

* The industrious Rohit Nair has a bigger list of upcoming quizzes from around India.

* If you are organizing a quiz and want to let people know about it, write into us ("contact"-at-"bcqc.org") with the salient details and we'll put it up on our website.

* We love to hear comments about quizzes, especially those that we do. Use the comments sections on our blog posts to do so, or write to us.

Happy third day of January to everyone!

Answer to Oblig Question: Boris Becker (after his 1st Wimbledon; he won the Olympic doubles gold with Michael Stich in 1992)

Previous BCQC newsletters here.

BCQC - October and November 2008 newsletter

Oblig Question: (1637, Original) French: "Je pense, donc je suis"; Latin: ?

A round up of the last two months of BCQC quizzing. October saw several quizzes, including a BCQC Open Quizzing Day, while November was very, very quiet thanks to a lot of people having to answer more boring questions in exams and such-like.

Quizzes

1. Oct 02 – Oct 04: Mindspark

Mindspark is the College of Engineering, Pune (COEP)'s annual science and technology college fest. Three quizzes, set and conducted by COEP quizzers, were held as part of this, its 2^nd edition.

a. Chakravyuuh: The 9^th edition of Chakravyuuh was held on the 2^nd of Oct. This, an open general quiz, is COEP biggest quiz of the year. Read this report for results.

b. Torquest: This is a Science and Technology quiz only for college students which was won by Abhishek and Raghav. A summary of results here.

c. Barqing Mad!: The report of this open Entertainment quiz can be read here.

2. Oct 12: BCQC Open Quizzing Day

Every two months or so, the BCQC organizes two open quizzes in a formal setting. The morning quiz is usually based on a theme, or is specifically for schools or colleges, or is simply just unconventional. The afternoon quiz is an open General quiz. A list of all these BCQC Open quizzes is available here on our website.

As part of this series, two quizzes were conducted in October.

a. Balls, Ballots, Bollywood: This was an India quiz on politics, cricket, and Hindi films, conducted by J. Ramanand. A full report and analysis can be read here. The quiz-creator assures that the questions will be made available before the year is done! :-)

b. BCQC October General Quiz: A report of this quiz conducted by Apurva and Akhil can be read at this link.

BC Quizzes

We had fewer BC quiz sessions in the last couple of months and no theme quizzes as part of "Requiem for a Theme". Expect this to change in December. BC sessions are informal quizzes in an unusual setting - by the riverside at COEP.

Upcoming Quizzes

The plans for December consist of one or two theme quizzes as part of BC sessions. These will be announced on our mailing lists. December also will see one of India's biggest college events, IIT Bombay's Mood Indigo (20-23 Dec). The website suggests there are a couple of mainstream quizzes (General, Sports) and some fancier ones (Food and Beverages, Travel and Places, and 3 short Lit quizzes).

I've started so I'll finish

* The BCQC was covered by the Times of India. The article can be read online here. Do not, I repeat "do not", take the utterances contained within too seriously. We quiz, we joke.

Incidentally, this story involves what we call a "fox paws". Members of the BCQC were interviewed back in August for this story. A story featuring our photos appeared the next week in this article, with only one tiny problem: the featured group was one with the noble aim of raising voter awareness among Indians. Some of our friends inquired if the BCQC had finally got around to doing something constructive with their time, but we're happy to reassure you that's not quite the case. We do urge you to participate in the electoral process, but if you just want to quiz, that's fine by us too. It's a democracy, after all.

* Curious to know how a quiz is put together? You might be interested in reading about the making of Balls, Ballots, Bollywood (parts one and two).

* If you are in Bombay and looking for quizzing succour, drop by our friends at the Bombay Quiz Club.

* If you are organizing a quiz and want to let people know about it, write into us ("contact"-at-"bcqc.org") with the salient details and we'll put it up on our website.

* We love to hear comments about quizzes, especially those that we do. Use the comments sections on our blog posts to do so

See you at the next quiz!

Answer to Oblig Question: Cogito, Ergo Sum ("I think, therefore I am":: Rene Descartes)

BCQC - September 2008 newsletter

BCQC - September 2008 newsletter

Oblig Question: In 1868, geologist Louis Lartet discovered 5 skeletons in a rock shelter in the Dordogne region of Central France. What was the name of these rock shelters?

It was such a busy September for the BCQC, so we decided it was time we had our own newsletter! This quizzing month was unusually busy because many of us were not only participating in quizzes, but also organising them. But largely, we had fun, and hopefully, our hapless victims will agree as well :-). This newsletter is designed to share some of the recent happenings involving the BCQC, and to give some of the BC expats a chance to catch up, and to provide everyone advance notice on what is coming next.

~~~~Quizzes we organised in September~~~~

1. Sept 18: ACES school quiz: Once again, we were part of the ACES school quiz, now in its 4th edition. Set by the BCQC and admirably conducted by Salil, the quiz was won by St. Mary's School (Boys) in a terrific contest. All the details can be read here.

2. Sept 21: Poona School and Home for the Blind: The most unusual quiz we have done so far, this short quiz was held completely in Marathi for teams consisting of both sighted and visually afflicted members. Conducted by Niranjan Pedanekar. Read this report for details and a few photos.

3. Sept 20: NIT, Surat - Entru Meet Biz Quiz: A business quiz conducted by Suvajit for NIT Surat

4. Sept 26: AIT, Pune - Akriti Internal Quiz: A internal ranking quiz for quizzers of the Army Institute of Technology. Set by Suvajit and Yash along with others, and conducted by Suvajit.

5. Sept 21: School quiz for Rotaract Club event, Srujan: This quiz for schoolkids was set by Meghashyam Shirodkar, who unfortunately could not conduct it due to illness. Yash Marathe, along with Aditya Gadre and Yash Tamaskar, conducted this quiz.

~~~~BC Quizzes~~~~

Despite the heavy organisational loads, we had the usual quota of BC quiz sessions on weekends. We also had an India quiz as part of our Theme League, conducted by Harish. The latest updates on the league can be seen here.

BTW, our sessions are informal and open to all, so if you haven't tasted pleasant outdoor informal quizzing by a river, come by one session.

~~~~Other Quizzes~~~~

Karan and Jaipal of MIT organised a General Quiz "Abhivyakti", a small report of which you can see here on our quiz blog.

~~~~October Quizzes~~~~

The first week of October is choc-a-bloc with quizzes: beginning with PICT, then three quizzes at COEP (including the annual highlight 'Chakravyuuh'). That same weekend sees the finals of the Durga Puja quiz organised by the local Bengali society.

Also, the next BCQC Open Quizzing Day (delayed from its original schedule in September) will be held on October 12, Sunday. As usual, we have two quizzes:

Morning: A theme quiz on Indian politics, Indian cricket and Hindi Films (by Ramanand) Evening: A general quiz (by Apoorva and Aditya) These quizzes will have prizes co-sponsored by Landmark, Pune. The details will be updated on this page.

~~~~I've started so I'll finish~~~~

* We're trying to put up some of our quizzes in a publicly share-able repository. You'll hear more about it in the coming months. * Our site has an events pane on the right side - please use it to monitor news of quizzes around the corner * We love to hear comments about quizzes, especially those that we do. Use the comments sections on our blog posts to do so * If you want to submit events or ask us something, mail us at "contact"-at-"bcqc.org"

We'll see you at the next quiz!

Answer to Oblig Question: Cro-Magnon