Who wants to be a Quiz Master?

Our correspondent asks all the right questions and gets some fun answers

Our correspondent asks all the right questions and gets some fun answers
If only all our lives contained answers to questions asked by a hairy quiz master,wed all be slumdog millionaires. I figured such a chance would never come my way,but when the journalism department of Lady Shriram College asked me to conduct a quiz for their festival,I decided to step into the shoes of a quiz master and play god,a non-hairy kind.

Dear Ms Majumdar read the e-mail from the college. I liked it already,they were giving me some importance in the first sentence. The rest of the email didnt,the quiz department had already decided how many questions would make up the prelims,how long the quiz would be and they wanted a Pop Culture quiz. Well,so much for being important.

Easy-Japanesy I thought,when I began working on the questions for the quiz. But getting 20 questions ready for prelims and 54 questions for the finals,is no joke. I designed my quiz around the following topics: Hollywood,Rock Music,Science,Comic Books and,of course,Women. Bild Lilli was a German original of which American icon? For anybody who knows their dolls,the answer is simple: its Barbie. So why would guys know about Barbie dolls? Its sad but true,but very few college girls take a keen interest in this mind sport and since most the finalists are boys,I was advised by other quiz masters,to ask questions about supermodels (choose Heidi Klum over Twiggy),movie actresses (Monica Bellucci over Meryl Streep) and never ever forget to attach the image of the said person,these picture-questions will always get answered.

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The quiz was on a Saturday,and it was heart warming to see over 25 teams participate. I asked all the participants to name their team,there was a prize for Best Team Name. My favourite was NSITs name: Eternal Moonshine for the Spotless Behind which won an ugly flower vase that was to be my memento from the college.

I hooked up my laptop and the quiz began. Post the prelims,six finalists sat around the seminar room and questions and answers flew fast. In Asterix in Bulgaria,two-thirds into the book,it begins to rain and never clears up,why? The question floated around and in between mumbled pass-es,the St Stephens team watched everybody keenly as they waited for their turn. Gosciny died during the book,the rain is to show Uderzos mourning, they said. Those who could have worked out the answer,groaned. Half way into the quiz and some teams were still positioned close to each other. Sir Godfrey Hounsfield invented the CAT scan. The Beatles played an important role in the development of CAT scans,how? The Beatles music is played when people get a CAT scan,thats their contribution, said one team while the rest of us doubled up with laughter. That’s the best part about quizzing,even if you dont know the answer,you can always innovate. And teams compete then as well.

The participants were well behaved and called me Maam,(which I am not too comfortable with). There were also the usual bunch of smart alecs those who challenge the logic of an answer,or clearly state that the question isnt good enough. Are you sure the question is about a Frank Zappa album? a student from St Stephens asked,his arms casually crossed,doubt etched on his forehead. At this point all the other quizzers looked at me,they were waiting to see how this quiz master responds to the bait. No,it’s Baba Ramdevs album, I snapped back. The room erupted into laughter and I relaxed,so did the quizzer from St Stephens. He and his partner won the quiz though,so alls well that ends well.