Monday, November 24, 2008

Open Quiz on 14th of December

The next quiz by HQC is on Sunday, the 14th of December.
Here are the details:

Date: 14 December 2008, Sunday

Time: Please be at the venue by 10:30 a.m. for registration. Seating will be on a first come first served basis. The quiz will begin at 11:00 a.m. sharp.

Venue:
Innobox Systems Pvt Ltd.
#G19, Ground Floor,
Swarnajayanthi Complex,
SR Nagar, Hyderabad -73
(see below for directions and map)

Format: Team quiz, with a little bit for everyone.

Entry: A contribution of Rs. 25 per head.
Teams of 3 (or more) will be chosen from the participants at random.

Prizes: Gift vouchers worth Rs 1500/-

Quizmaster: Navneet Bal

Directions:
From Punjagutta, take the road that goes towards Ameerpet. Cross the Fantoosh-greenlands road junction. Keep going on the road till you see HUDA Complex- Maitrivanam on the RIGHT. Swarnajayanti Complex is the complex immediately after the HUDA complex on the RIGHT.

Map:

Monday, November 17, 2008

Questions from the quiz on Nov 9th

Questions from the delectable quiz that Lathish did:

1. This insect order consists of approximately 2,000 species worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. Their name is often misspelled since they are notoriously predatory, they are in fact named after their typical stance. The name derives from the Greek word for “prophet” or “fortune teller”. In Europe, the name refers to only a single species, _______religiosa. Their closest relatives are the orders Isoptera (termites) and Blattodea (cockroaches). Which insects?


A: Preying/Praying mantis

2. Ancient Greek grammarian Dionysius Thrax is credited with their creation. An anonymous author of the 1733 book The English Accidence called them “the foundation upon which the beautiful fabric of the language stands.” John Stuart Mill felt they represented the universal categories of human thought. There was a lot of shuffling around until Joseph Priestley’s 1761 Rudiments of English Grammar finally estd. the baseball size line up. They have been generally accepted for the last quarter-millennium. What?

A: Parts of Speech

3. The origins of _____ date back at least to Roman times, to a game called paganica and reached Britain by 400AD (although the Chinese claim to have invented it by 2500 BC) It developed towards its modern form in Scotland where the first written reference comes in a decree which was actually released to encourage the royal sport of archery. It ran "futeball and ______ be utterly cryit doune and not usit." Its name is thought to have been derived from Dutch word for "club" or from an Old Scots word meaning "cuff" or "strike hard.“

A: Golf

4. What was the term coined by English romance novelist and screenwriter Elinor Glyn to describe actress Clara Bow as she appeared in a 1927 Hollywood silent film ?

A: The "It" Girl
5. The nickname of Martha _____ Canary (1852-1903) of Deadwood South Dakota. She behaved like a cowboy but was generally unlucky in nefarious activities and brought catastrophe on her associates. Eleven of her twelve husbands died untimely deaths. She dressed, swore and shot like a man eventually went into show business and threatened ‘_______’ to any man who offended her.

A: Calamity Jane

6: X was the elder son of Shantanu and Satyavati. He ascended the throne of Hastinapura, and was very successful which angered a Gandharva king of the same name. They fought an even matched duel before X was slain and Vichitravirya ascended the throne.
In another episode, Arjuna’s wanderings took him to ancient Manipur where he meets princess Y, the daughter of the king of Manipur and falls in love. According to the matrimonial customs of Manipur, the children born of Y were the heirs and were not allowed to be taken away. Arjuna agreed to this stipulation and finally wed the princess. X and Y?

A: X= Y = Chitrangada

7. DVD cover of which movie?


A: Zodiac

8: Who is behind the questions mark?


A: Salman Rushdie

9: Cover of what?



A: Modesty Blaise's first book

10 : Whose signing ?



A: Bruce Springsteen

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Open Quiz on 9 November

The next monthly quiz is scheduled for November 9 (Sunday). The gory details:

Date: 9 November 2008, Sunday

Time: Please be at the venue by 10:30 a.m. for registration. Seating will be on a first come first served basis. The quiz will begin at 11:00 a.m. sharp.

Venue:
Innobox Systems Pvt Ltd.
#G19, Ground Floor,
Swarnajayanthi Complex,
SR Nagar, Hyderabad -73
(see below for directions and map)

Format: Team quiz. Teams of 3 (or more) will be chosen from the participants at random.

Entry: A contribution of Rs. 25 per head.

Prizes: Gift vouchers worth Rs 1500/-

Quizmaster: Lathish Venugopal

Directions:
From Punjagutta, take the road that goes towards Ameerpet. Cross the Fantoosh-greenlands road junction. Keep going on the road till you see HUDA Complex- Maitrivanam on the RIGHT. Swarnajayanti Complex is the complex immediately after the HUDA complex on the RIGHT.

Map:

Contact: Nitish (98856 79460), Priyambad (99484 53388), Ravi (94418 86489)

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Report on the 12 October - HQC Monthly Quiz

QM: Pradeep Ramarathnam (In absentia as he was busy participating in a quiz in Bombay / Pune) – Was done by Nitish instead who did a commendable job by sacrificing a place for the spoils – Dude you deserve your Biryani (will see what I can do)

Format: Teams of 4. There were exactly 32 people in 8 teams ap.

Report: Pradeep, the quizmaster couldn’t be here as he was busy participating in a quiz faraway in Pune and had sent us the questions. Nitish had to become the quizmaster for the day and did a commendable job.

In terms of attendance, the quiz was just perfect with exactly 32 people in 8 teams. A lot of new faces were present which was a very healthy sign as far as quizzing in Hyderabad is concerned.

The quiz was divided into two infinite bounce rounds split by a written round and a theme round. The theme round had some memorable questions but was too elementary to crack. Most of the teams went around it and missed it.

It was a sensational quiz nonetheless. The quiz was full of brilliant questions without becoming too obscure – Super show Pradeep.

In a very close finish the team of Diwakar, Raghavendra, Vishal and Navneet pipped the team comprising Chandu, B.Aditya and Vignesh. Team Raghu, Muneer and Rahul Girish finished a close third.

The venue as usual was provided by Innobox. A big thank you for them.

The quiz lasted almost two hours, and left the entire group thoroughly satisfied with having taken the effort to wake up early on an otherwise sleepy day.

Winners:
1. Diwakar, Vishal, Raghavendra & Navneet
2. Chandu, Vignesh and B. Aditya.
3. Raghu, Rahul Girish & Muneer.

Thumbs Up
1. Great questions (Kudos to Pradeep)
2. Navneet (Neville D’Souza – How on earth!!!)
3. Cozy and comfortable (air-conditioned?!) venue
4. The P word questions and the BC questions. 
5. A questions on the KK (both of them )

Thumbs Down
1. Navneet fast becoming the new Ravi Mundoli (Back to back winner) 
2. Venue felt cramped (which actually was a good sign)
3. The Subhash Ghai connect 

Memorable Questions:

Sutta, Golden Fleece, Oscar Wilde, Dravid questions.

Team HQC’s Note
Our thanks to everyone who took time off on a lazy Sunday morning to attend.

The next quiz will be by Latish Venugopal (Ladeeshmogan of the Crucible fame) is scheduled for 9th November, 2008 (Sunday) at the same time and in the same place.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Open quiz in Hyderabad on 12th of October

The next quiz by HQC is on Sunday, the 12th of October. Here are the details:

Date: 12 October 2008, Sunday

Time: Please be at the venue by 10:30 a.m. for registration. Seating will be on a first come first served basis. The quiz will begin at 11:00 a.m. sharp.

Venue:
Innobox Systems Pvt Ltd.
#G19, Ground Floor,
Swarnajayanthi Complex,
SR Nagar, Hyderabad -73
(see below for directions and map)

Format: Team quiz, with a little bit for everyone.

Entry: A contribution of Rs. 25 per head.
Teams of 3 (or more) will be chosen from the participants at random.

Prizes: Gift vouchers worth Rs 1500/-

Quizmaster: Pradeep Ramarathnam of BQC (Bombay Quiz Club)

Directions:
From Punjagutta, take the road that goes towards Ameerpet. Cross the Fantoosh-greenlands road junction. Keep going on the road till you see HUDA Complex- Maitrivanam on the RIGHT. Swarnajayanti Complex is the complex immediately after the HUDA complex on the RIGHT.

Map:


















Contact
: Nitish (98856 79460), Priyambad (99484 53388)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Report on the 14 September Quiz

The down and dirty on the 14 September 2008 edition of the HQC Monthly Quiz series. Thanks to Renu and Majji for the report (with minor editorial kirkiri).

QM: Ravi Mundoli, Priyambad Pattanayak, Nitish Khadiya, Diwakar Pingle (in absentia)

Format: Teams of 2 and 3. There were 20 odd people in 8 teams, in toto.

Report: Earlier this year, the QMs conducted the Greenko Hyd Open Quiz – which was the biggest quiz in recent years in Hyd and which was attended by some of the top quizzing teams in the country. The quiz this Sunday (Sept 14th) was essentially culled from the surplus questions of the aforementioned Open Quiz.

In terms of attendance, the quiz could have done better. Some of the usual suspects were missing perhaps because it was the day of Vinayaka Nimarjana or a lazy Sunday morning.

The quiz was divided into three rounds based on the level of difficulty: Plain Sailing, Base Camp and Summit Assault – a format inspired by the Quiz Mountain, apparently. Needless to say, the level of difficulty of questions in Summit Assault racked the brains of all present.

The questions ranged from word-origins to mythology to sports to movies, making sure all kinds of palates were satiated; and were of the top quality. In fact, some of us felt that quite a few of these should have made it to the Open Quiz in August.

Most of the teams did well in the Plain Sailing round (the round with the easy questions). It was the next 2 rounds - Base Camp and Summit Assault where the boys were separated from the men. Bhargav was in cracking form and could not have been stopped by anyone on that day. His team led from the beginning and had their hands on the top place by the time the rounds were reversed. Subbareddy and Sudhir – with their late surge in the final Summit Assault round - gave a run for the "coupons" to the team placed 2nd (Debjit & Co.), but it was too late to catch up.

The prizes in the form of coupons from Walden (and not Odyssey as always!). The venue – a small, comfy conference room with a seating of about 40, was provided by Innobox. The QM (Ravi Mundoli alias Kiddo) livened up the quiz with his easy style and sarcastic humour.

The 48 question quiz lasted an hour and a half, and left the entire group thoroughly satisfied with having taken the effort to wake up early on an otherwise sleepy day.

Winners:
1. Bhargav & Navneet
2. Debjit & Co.
3. Subbareddy & Sudhir Pai.

Thumbs Up
1. Great questions (Kudos to Diwakar, Priyambad, Nitish & Ravi)
2. Ravi
3. Bhargav (superlative performance!)
4. Cozy and comfortable (air-conditioned?!) venue

Thumbs Down
1. Not enough participation
2. Venue a tad difficult to locate
3. Some of the questions were possibly mis-classified i.e. we didn't judge the difficulty properly. --Ed
4. Power went off and on a couple of times. --Ed


Memorable Questions
Coaches of the Palace on Wheels, creamy layer, Bharuch/Kalyan, Kishore Kumar, flags of convenience

Quizmasters' Note
Our thanks to everyone who took time off on a potentially troublesome Sunday morning to attend. In particular, we were thrilled to play host to the new K-Circle executive committee! Of course, none of this would've been possible without Innobox's continued support, so thanks for that too.

The next quiz will be by Pradeep Ramarathnam of the BQC is tentatively scheduled for 12th October, 2008 (Sunday) at the same time and in the same place.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Open Quiz on 14 September

The Open Quiz turned out to be a bit of a surprise. 178 teams showed up. 178!!! Who would've thunk it that 500 people would be interested in a quiz conducted by an unknown little quiz group? A bunch of pictures are here.

The reason why we've been so silent so far is because we were recovering from the shock!

And we come back to you now, with the regular monthly quiz series, beginning with the second Sunday of September. The gory details:

Date: 14 September 2008, Sunday

Time: Please be at the venue by 10:30 a.m. for registration. Seating will be on a first come first served basis. The quiz will begin at 11:00 a.m. sharp.

Venue:
Innobox Systems Pvt Ltd.
#G19, Ground Floor,
Swarnajayanthi Complex,
SR Nagar, Hyderabad -73
(see below for directions and map)

Format: Team quiz, with a little bit for everyone, with a Top Secret Ultra Cool Mega Attractive Quiz Mountain format.

Entry: Free, open. However :), quiz clubs do not run on enthusiasm and curiosity alone, and a little something from you (since we don't collect membership fees) will help us keep the flag flying. We suggest a contribution of Rs. 25 per head.

Teams of 3 (or more) will be chosen from the participants at random.

Prizes: Prizes for podium finishes (no national anthems!), as usual!!

Quizmasters: Ravi Mundoli, Nitish Khadiya, Diwakar Pingle, Priyambad Pattanayak

Directions:
From Punjagutta, take the road that goes towards Ameerpet. Cross the Fantoosh-greenlands road junction. Keep going on the road till you see HUDA Complex- Maitrivanam on the RIGHT. Swarnajayanti Complex is the complex immediately after the HUDA complex on the RIGHT.

Map:

Contact: Ravi (94418 86489), Nitish (98856 79460)