On Thursday, 24th August 2006, the DPSVK Quiz Club Intra 2006 came to an end. The finals were conducted on that day, and I’m somewhat happy with the whole thing.

The day started off badly, with our intra in the morning being cancelled for some stupid house meeting (even after we’d taken permission), in which nothing was done. We protested, saying that the Code Warriors were given one whole day to conduct their intra. The Vice Principal then relented and gave us time during the break and one period.

There was another fiasco again at the later scheduled time, when she told us to move off, as our meeting was clashing with another during the same time. So we, very bravely, decided to leave the environs of the building and go out to cruel harsh outdoors, and conducted our intra on the lawns. There were some pretty amused gardeners (and I bet the flowerpots would’ve felt the same) to see the students sweating it out (literally…) and try to solve the paper made by ME. 42 questions (anyone gets the significance?) to be attempted in about 20 minutes, but then I extended the time to 30 minutes seeing that nobody was getting anything, but mainly because I didn’t want to present my beautiful face to the teacher in the middle of a period only to get pulled up for being not in class.

Cheating galore, hardly anyone was trying on their own. There were some really sincere students, and they did well. At the end of the day, the toppers in the test turned out to be guys who already go for quizzes from our school (like, my pal Prannoy Sablok). There are some promising new members too, whom I want to see flourishing next year.

Point is, I don’t think the guys will be seeing much action this year, as the quizzing season is almost over, and sure they’ll be disappointed with that. But the main point is majority of current members are in class 12th and they’ll be leaving next year; we seriously need trained replacements. Also the new members will have to look at recruiting others, especially those from junior sections who need to start training. Quizzing is not as if you just land up one day at the venue and answer questions - it takes time to learn the ropes, and to get the knack of cracking questions.

Looking forward to a good year next year, when I want to see the current crop to be trained enough to support me (replace me?). You can read about the 2006 Intra here, about the members here, and for Q & A and related files, you can visit my file server here.

Yet another email forward…on a ‘new age Ramayana”…

A young second generation Indian in the US was asked by his mother to explain the significance of Diwali to his younger brother, this is how he went about it…

“So, like this dude had, like, a big cool kingdom and people liked him. But, like, his step-mom, or something, was kind of a bitch, and she forced her husband to, like, send this cool-dude, he was Ram, to some national forest or something…
Since he was going, for like, something like more than 10 years or so…He decided to get his wife and his bro along…you know…so that they could all chill out together. But DUDE, the forest was reeeeal scary shit…really man…they had monkeys and devils and shit like that. But this dude,Ram, kicked ass with darts and bows and arrows…so it was fine. But then some bad gangsta boys, some jerk called Ravan, picks up his babe (Sita) and lures her away to his hood. And boy, was our man,
and also his bro, Laxman, pissed…and you DON’T piss this son-of-a-gun cuz, he just kicks ass And like…all the gods were with him…So anyways,you don’t mess with gods. So, Ram, and his bro get an army of monkeys…Dude, don’t ask me how they trained the damn monkeys…just go along with me, ok…so, Ram, Lax and their monkeys whip this gangsta’s ass in his own hood.

Anyways, by this time, their time’s up in the forest…and anyways…it gets kinda boring, you know…no TV or malls or shit like that. So, they decided to hitch a ride back home…and when the people realize that our dude, his bro and the wife are back home…they thought, well, you know, at least they deserve something nice…and they didn’t have any bars or clubs in those days…so they couldn’t take them out for a drink, so they, like, decided to smoke and shit…and since they also had
some lamps, they lit the lamps also…so it was pretty cooool…you know with all those fireworks.

Really, they even had some local band play along with the fireworks…and you know, what, dude, that was the very first, no kidding…,that was the very first music-synchronized fireworks…you know, like the 4th of July stuff, but just, more cooler and stuff, you know.

And, so dude, THAT was how, like, this festival started. Cool! Diwali rocks, Maaann.!!!”

Another one of those good funnies I’m receiving via email these days…NO OFFENCE MEANT to anyone…

Name the wonly part of the werld where Malayalis don’t werk hard?
Kerala

Why is industrial productivity so low in Kerala?
Because 86% of the shift time is spent on lifting, folding and re-tying the lungi.

Why did the Malayali buy an air-ticket?
To go to Thoobai, to meet his ungle in the Gelff.

Why do Malayali’s go to the Gelff?
To yearn menney.

What did the Malayali do when the plane caught fire?
He zimbly jembd out of the vindow.

What is a Malayali management graduate called?
Yem Bee Yay.

Why did his wife divorce him?
Because he was louwing another woman.

Who found out that?
His andy.

What does a Malayali do when he goes to America?
He changes his name from Karunakaran to Kevin Curren.

What does a Malayali use to commute to office everyday?
An Oto.

Who is Malayali’s fyamous yeactor end yaectress?
Moghan lal, Mammooti, Geedha, Revadhi, Zilgsmidha end Ambiga.

Why Kerala is the most highly literate state in India?
Its easily giving Degree to get rid of the peapals from Kerala.

Why Arab countreis are looking for only Keralites?
They are ready to do yennything for menney.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Please don’t delete this after reading, You should atleast send this mail to:
10 Malayalis & you will receive cokknut oil,
20 Malayalis and you will receive bennena chips,
40 Malayalis you will receive appams,
Send this to 100 Malayalis and you will get free land near the rice field behind the lungi factory with additional incentive of a whole month’ssupply of cokknut oil and bennena chips

The 7th Annual Brother Aloysius Matrix-Ecomm 2006 was held at Mount St. Mary’s School today. Actually, it was the first day of the event, it concludes tomorrow. I’m going to speak about what I went for, and my impression of the event.

Organised by my pal and former GQB member, Abhishek Nandakumar (who is the Matrix President), the event had the usual stuff you’d find at any comp fest. My first visit to the school, and it was nice. Infrastructure seemed good, from what we saw, but maybe we went to the better sections. One thing I always wonder about is why missionary schools anywhere have the best toilets; ours is pale in comparison.

The Code Warriors of DPS Vasant Kunj will participate in every event. I went for the quiz prelims today. For those who want to leave now, we came 5th in an event in which top 4 qualified.

Long story. The prelims started pretty late. And when we got it, it was nothing like a ‘computer and economics’ quiz that it had been reported to be. 30 questions to be done in 20 minutes. Our team consisted of me, Prannoy Sablok and Divyanshu Sethi. Divyanshu, the eco guy on team, was too stunned by my answer to contribute much himself. Me and Prannoy got cracking on the paper. It was more of trivia actually, something I’m good at, but seriously didn’t expect to encounter here. I think we were pretty loud while discussing, because it turned out that quite a few not-so-good teams around us ended up writing the same answers.

The 4 qualifying teams were DPS RKP (do they breed like rabbits or do they eat superfood; where on earth do these people get so many students for any competition?), DPS Noida, New Era Public School (an upcoming force in quizzing, I see), and Convent of Jesus & Mary (What!!! How did THEY quailfy!?!). We came in after them I suppose.

Honestly, we goofed up bits. We wrote correct answers, and then changed them to wrong ones. Or messed up ones that we actually knew. Made silly mistakes. WE COULD HAVE QUALIFIED TODAY.

I’m getting really sick of this burnout phenomenon with me these days. Is it some problem with me (I answered many questions today…)? Or is it that I’m not finding proper backup support. It’s at times like these I wish I was in DPS RKP. The quest for the elusive member continues. Actually, point is, DPS RKP has many students, among whom many are crazy about quizzing. Their admin doesn’t care about their acads, because they’ve other people to handle it. With DPS VK, they want us to do well in both, which is a tad difficult, to put it mildly. I want someone crazy about quizzing here…

Next up - MINET 2006 on 1st and 2nd September 2006. Stay tuned for more.