The Quiz

“First things first, I need to collect the copies of bio pharma notes and hand over the originals to Lumina”, I said to myself when I woke up. When I came out of my room, my brother reminded me that there’s India v/s Sri Lanka coming up. I checked the score. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 179. What a better way to start a day. I got ready and left for college. On the way, I picked up the notes. I didn’t wear my watch, so didn’t know the time. Industrial Management was our second class today. So, when I entered class, I see teacher is already there. I asked permission to get in which she denied. Even though I left the class without saying anything, I cursed her whole heartedly for letting me inside. I had 55 minutes to kill now, with no mode of time pass. I was waiting outside the class, just then I met Asif. He informs me that this is the first hour going on right now, second hour is yet to start. I give a big sigh of relief. When teacher comes outside the class, I apologize to her. She wondered why. I couldn’t give her the exact reason, so I ran away from the scene.

The next class was pretty boring. I was trying very hard to keep my eyes open. Just then, my H.O.D (who was taking the class also), told me that the quiz competition (which was postponed first) will be held today and we have to report at 1.30. My reaction was WHAT???. I got scared since I wasn’t prepared for it. It was a big surprise for me. As I was trying to come out of this scary moment, I was told by my H.O.D that my partner has not turned up for college today. GREAT. Now I have to look for a partner also. I had to choose my partner from my class itself and the response was good. Three people volunteered to be my partner. I didn’t wanted Dilip to join me. I told them that if my partner (Name : Mukunda) doesn’t turn up, then I will pick one of them. But to my luck, Mukunda out of nowhere turns up. I informed him about the quiz and he too gave a pretty expected reaction. Then we mutually agreed that since we were not left with much time to prepare, we won’t prepare. At this very moment, I realize that one of my class mate, Amrita, had left her helmet in class. Whole class was seated at EDUSAT room to have a look at some visuals. I felt an itching sensation in my hand. I hide her helmet in one of the class cupboards and then leave for EDUSAT room. After the third hour, it was bio pharma class up next. It’s a pretty boring class. Actually, to me all classes are boring. I chuck from class giving an excuse that I have to prepare for the quiz competition. I head towards canteen where I met some of my friends from other department. I spoke to them for a while and when it was time for the class to get over, I go back to class. Its lunch break now and I was waiting for Mukunda to finish his lunch. In the meantime, Amrita asks Mitesh if he has seen her helmet. YES. Now was the time when my hard work pays off. I troubled her for few minutes, showing her different places where her helmet could be. It was only when Mukunda tells me it was time for quiz, I hand over her helmet to her warning her not to leave it again like that.

We reach auditorium minutes before the stipulated time. One of the organizers asked us to be seated in the audience. Once called for, we were supposed to take our seats on the stage. We didn’t have to wait for long. We were asked to introduce ourselves with name, department and hobbies to be listed. The microphones were not functioning properly. One of the contestants introduced himself thrice, as if giving an introduction to introduction. I was busy discussing with Mukunda regarding what to be listed as our hobbies. At that point, I realize that the environment was pretty tensed. I am scared of such an environment. My mind ceases to work if left in such a place. I thought it was time to lighten up this environment. So, when I was handed the microphone, I said “God afternoon everybody, my name is Ashish Bhuwania from final year, department of Bio Technology. My hobbies are reading novels and EATING.” Next I hear everybody in the auditorium laughing. I too felt a bit comfortable after that.

Now, it came down to some serious business. We had no expectations of winning the competition, so took it easy. The first round rules were simple. We were asked multiple choice questions, each team were given five questions. Passing of questions was allowed. We did pretty well in this round. Bottom two teams were eliminated and we were standing third on points tally. NOT BAD, NOT BAD AT ALL.

It was the second round where we stood out. We were given categories to choose from and then questions relating to these categories will be asked. However, while choosing, you had to select a number and the corresponding category would be your choice. It made the round a little tricky. The quiz master also added that the question will be passed to audience if the contestants don’t answer them. It was a no passing round. Audience member giving the right answer would be given a goody pack. As the round started, one of the group was given space and universe. The first question asked to them was who discovered the moons of Jupiter. To my amazement, they didn’t know the answer. When there time ran out, I automatically raise my hand. Quiz Master informs me that no points would be awarded if I give the correct answer. “But will I get the goody?” I asked. The quiz master replies “Yes.” I didn’t waste a moment and shouted “Galelio.” It was correct and I was given the goody pack. The Quiz Master handed over the goody saying “Sine you said you hobby was eating, this is for you.” From then, every question unanswered by the other groups were answered by me. “Which boxer’s ears were bitten by Mike Tyson?”, “Which Indian is the president of Pepsi Co. Global?”, “Who is the only Indian women grand master?”. I knew them all. The Quiz Master while handing over one of the big goodies said “I hope they are not meant for eating.” and while handing over the pens (which were one of the goodies I won) reminded me that they were meant for writing. At the end of this round I already had six goody packs with me. However, the categories we got were difficult ones for us (Computers and Business). We could answer only few of the questions and were certain that we would be eliminated this time. But I was pretty happy with the number of goody packs I had won. Too bad for Mukunda, he didn’t win anything. Two teams were supposed to get eliminated after this round and we were certain that we were one of those teams.

We were ready to leave the stage, when the scores were announced. We realize that we were not in the bottom two. At this moment, we were dumbstruck. We had five points more from the next team which made us one of the top four teams. I have no words to express how I felt at this time. The final round was the rapid fire round. We did pretty bad in this round. We got very difficult questions. We could answer only one of the questions. I felt the questions asked to other teams were easy since I knew the answers. If only those questions were asked to us. If only goodies were distributed in this round also. But everything doesn’t fall in the order as we wish them to. We ended up being third runner-up the event. We ended up being the crowd’s favourites though. They cheered for us even though we didn’t belong to their department (we didn’t feel bad for no one coming from our class to cheer us, since we ourselves were hopeless about the results. But Mitesh and Asif do turn up at the final round were we failed miserably), they congratulated us for fighting till the very end (I don’t know where we fought. We were just enjoying there.), many asked me about how many goodies I had won. We also spoke to Quiz Master, he too congratulated us for a good show and I thanked him for the goodies. Just then I see there’s no one congratulating the winners, no one speaking to them. Where on the other hand, we were meeting people on our way out congratulating us for being the finalists and for the goodies (I don’t know why everybody was concerned about my goodies). The competition was fun, I enjoyed it thoroughly, we considered ourselves as underdogs. So, reaching the final round was a sort of achievement for me. But then before leaving the auditorium, when looking at the number of people interested in us rather than the winners, I felt that we may not have won the trophy, but we had won hearts. Hearts of those who were laughing at my silly moves, hearts of those who cheered whenever I won a goody and hearts of those who thought we were better than the winners. All in all, we had won hearts of many people. A voice from inside told me “Blesses of people matter more in life than the materialistic trophies. You have won blessings today. Well Done!!!”

P.S: If one of my class mates reads this, then I request you to give Mukunda a little of moral support. He is still sad about losing the competition. HOW MATERIALISTIC.

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