Slog Overs at IIM-Lucknow-Review by Nirad Inamdar-I was the Quiz Master

A moment of pride for 2 entities, both with great ambitions "" March Ahead and IIM Lucknow as both took the first step towards realising their plans of establishing an international presence. It was the first live quiz conducted by March Ahead (www.marchahead.co.in) and the first professional quiz conducted at IIM Lucknow (www.varchasva.in) other than the one at its annual business conclave (Manfest).

Let"™s get the unpleasant part out of the way. Firstly, the finals didn"™t have sufficient scope for "˜passing"™, so 5 teams would simply sit staring while 1 team tried to crack the question asked. Secondly, the announcement of the finalists took very long as there was ambiguity about some questions in the prelims. It is better for the host to correct papers herself/ himself. Thirdly, the quizmaster (Manasa Nayak) probably let himself indulge in drama. Suspense is fine, but not to the extent of Giri "˜Pickbrain"™. Maybe in 2 more attempts, he"™ll master this.

On the other hand, however, the positives are plentiful. The prelims started almost on time, barring a minor technical glitch, which incidentally was enlivened by Manasa"™s cool quip "" "œTechnology is like a girlfriend. When you need it the most, it will betray you". The venue Samanjasya (on the IIM Lucknow campus) was close to packed, with about 50 teams showing their enthusiasm on a sunny Saturday. Besides the hosts, we had teams from IIM Indore, XLRI, NITIE, LBSIM and a great contingent from BBDNIT, Lucknow.

"œFantastic" was the common comment for the prelims. All 25 questions were well thought of and most were guessable (particularly, the one on a sweet fruit Phoenix and "˜No Pain No Gain"™). Possibly, teams could"™ve been given more time to finish their answers (at least 2 min) else it beats the purpose of quizzing, which is to encourage guessing. Out of a max of 30, the highest scorer was Dilip"™s team from LBSIM, Delhi and the cut-off was 12. The impartiality of the prelims is highlighted by the fact that as many as 3 teams (all from IIM Lucknow) vied for the last spot. Vipin and Nirad clinched the tie-breaker in the first shot itself to narrowly scrape through to the finals, at the expense of their juniors (Sumantra and Abhishek) and Abhishek Kumar.

The finals were decidedly tougher. The other 4 finalists were 2 teams each from IIM Lucknow and BBDNIT. Many questions went back to the audience and then to the quizmaster. With passing, the teams on stage might have been more interested. Of course, most of these were duly appreciated when the answers came on the screen!

While LBSIM led jointly with Ali and Uday from IIML after Round 1, the other 2 teams from the host campus weren"™t far behind. In Round 2 (which had a 30-20-10 scoring pattern), Vipin and Nirad marched ahead with a 1-clue answer of the ceremonial name of a city. Ali came up with probably, THE cracker of the quiz, when he answered about a Texas tycoon on the 2nd clue. Having a serial-based question is wonderful, but the disparity in scoring shouldn"™t be so high. Perhaps, 20-15-10 would suit better, because it rewards mettle, without giving an unfair advantage.

Round 3 went largely unanswered, marked by Dilip"™s outstanding connection of a list of sporting trophies. At the end of it, the scores stood as:

A "" IIM Lucknow (35)

B "" LBSIM (30)

C "" IIM Lucknow (35)

D "" IIM Lucknow (30)

E "" BBDNIT (20)

F "" BBDNIT (20)

Unfortunately, the final round had no passing and moreover, had negatives for wrong tries, so everyone chose to play it safe. The AV content was superb, as was the rest of the quiz (some handpicked favourites will follow in another post). Team 5 from BBDNIT spotted a light-hearted Bangla "˜khele khele"™ song and related it to a football club. What"™s more, it doubled the stakes and scored 20 instead of 10. The other scores remained put.

The top two teams (Vipin & Nirad) and (Ali & Uday) agreed to split the prizes (vouchers worth Rs. 15,000) instead of opting for a tie-break. A case of "˜healthy competition"™, maybe? Or simply an aversion to risk-taking? In either case, it just underlined the fact that 4 teams were almost on level terms. This is as good as it gets.

We thank the organisers March Ahead for the painstaking efforts put in for the quiz and not least for travelling all the way from Bhubaneshwar. What was most delightful was the symbiotic way in which two brands helped each other in the climb to the top of ladder! Years later, both will fondly remember this as the base camp of a memorable ascent.

Dear All,

Just a decent start..keep on wishing and blessing me further..so that some day will fulfill the dream of having a live quiz in any of these national TV channels in India.

Regards,

Mr.Bay Leaf