"A cricketing theory of Indian quiz groups"

In which I make unwarranted comparisons between two domains of personal interest. At the BCQC blog.

Might as well use the blank space on this blog to tell you that we at the BCQC quiz regularly at COEP (for whose Boat Club it is named). There are informal quizzes almost every weekend (such as this Saturday, at 1:30 pm) and formal quizzes once a month, to which there are no fees or major restrictions. We're on Twitter, on Facebook, on a blog, and are getting our site up back again from its Van Winkle slumber.

It's a good place to learn new things, revive old memories, watch some silly people talk, and have a weirdly interesting time without illegal stimulants (at least during the quiz; what happens afterwards is not official).

Would you like kanda-pohe or murrukku-chiidai with your filter coffee?

Today is as good a day as any to record a personal anecdote that was recounted in a Twitter conversation by Shamanth yesterday.

In mid-2006, we were organising a quiz along with a well-known Pune school, so Salil and I hopped over to meet the teachers involved. Eventually, I met the teacher who would be doubling up as compere for the event, who had been handed a lengthy bio (thanks, world wide web) and wanted to know how my name was pronounced etc. (i.e. she wanted to separate the meagre facts from unqualified fiction). From my full name, it's easy to guess the region I hail from, and so the conversation proceeded thus (excerpts from my sieve-like memory):

T: So are you a Tamilian?
Me: Yes, I am.
T: Oh, I am too. So you are studying now?
Me: Yes. So you've been in Pune a while?
T: Yes, my husband has been working here for sometime.
Me: I see

Then the fun part:

T: I have two daughters. [beat] One of them is married.

(ok, it might not have been so abrupt to begin and end, and the good lady may not have insinuated anything, but real 'reality' just ruins a good story, doesn't it?)

Jet Wings article on the COEP Boat Club

January's edition of "Jet Wings", Jet Airways' in-flight magazine, was a "City Secrets" special, and with newer people flooding into Pune each month, the presence of COEP's Boat Club may well be a secret for some of them. The BC isn't really a tourist haunt or 'a place to be' or (importantly), 'a place to be seen at'. In essence, it's 'a place to do', where "do" can range from boating to reading to performing to quizzing or just sitting.

I wrote a small piece on the BC, which appeared in this edition. You can read it online at the JetWings site (pages 63 to 66) or read a scanned version here (it's a .pdf file, ~1.3 MB).

Tomorrow is COEP's Annual Regatta, its 82nd edition (in step with the Oscars, as this trivially-minded author keeps reminding people). If you are not attending the BCQC March Open Quizzes (yes, that's how we get the BC in our name), you should attend the show in the evening!

(The magazine is produced by Spenta Multimedia; the photos for this article are by Parikshit Rao)

Important: Updates to our BCQC August Open Quizzes

If you are planning to participate in Sunday's BCQC open quizzes, please see this update.

BCQC Open Quizzes this Sunday

The BCQC presents two open quizzes in Pune on this Sunday (17th May). Both are general quizzes this time. The afternoon quiz is by Niranjan, whose quizzes have always been top of my personal charts (no, saying otherwise will not affect my performance reviews) - they are a guaranteed riot. The morning quizmasters are not bad either, especially in the strange-things-happen-to-them department.

Looking forward to both of them. If you want to drop by, here're all the details.

Next BC Quizzing Day

Two BCQC quizzes coming up on February 1st: all the details here. In addition, there are several other Pune quizzes happening in February, pointers to which can be found here.

May Open Quizzes by the BCQC

Quizzing in these parts never seems to go away. We have two more quizzes coming up on Sunday. First, Niranjan will be presenting a unique Visuals-only quiz, perhaps in riposte to all those quizzes that have celebrated verbosity. It'll be a relief not having to parse metre-long sentences, I can tell you. This is to be followed by a quiz by Abhishek and Aditya, who seem to have quite a few tricks up their sleeves for this offering. They even plan to have an audience-only quiz and a contest for best questions.

Not to mention lots of bookstore vouchers, a few pen drives, friendly banter, and gimlet-like comments. Here're all the details.

Goin' quizzin'

This Sunday, we're organising two open quizzes: one Entertainment and the other General.

All the details here or here.

Some for the road/Some for the bored

Some for the road/Some for the bored

As already mentioned, two free, open, cultured (ok, may be not) BC quizzes come up this Sunday in Pune. For those who did read the notice and are still on the fence, here are some movie questions from a recent quiz that I did. These will do nothing to sway your vote as aye or nay as regards the main quiz, but I'm just giving you something to do.

Here goes:

1. In the climax of Shaad Ali Sahgal’s recent debacle Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom, Abhishek Bachchan and Bobby Deol are on their way to see Preity Zinta. How is this scene trivially important?

2. The film "Pyaar Kiye Jaa" was a remake of a Tamil film by the same director and starred Shashi Kapoor, Kishore Kumar, and Mehmood in its cast. In the film, Mehmood is an aspiring film director who is launching his film with his miserly father’s (Om Prakash) money. What is the name of his film company?

3. She is Guru Dutt’s niece (and hence also related to Shyam Benegal). But just like Guru Dutt is incorrectly thought to hail from Bengal, partly due to his name and due to some of his Bengali-influenced work, people are confused with her origins too. During the shooting of the last film she was involved in, Mithun Chakraborty had been accused of indecent conduct. Name her.

Zero gets this right: Kalpana Lajmi is correct.

September's Big quizzing Sunday

We at the BCQC are organising two open quizzes this Sunday, to which entry is totally free. All the details in the previous links.

In a departure from previous editions, the morning's quiz will be an Open quiz with a Business flavour, which Harish promises will put the fun into "business" (even if it doesn't seem to belong there). The afternoon quiz will be by Niranjan Pedanekar, who in my not-very humble opinion, has set the best quizzes I've seen in my short quizzing lifespan.

So join us for a day of "factual harassment".

Next BC Open quiz

All details here.