So I am late in writing this post about my quizzing life. My friends have already written their posts and have done a rather good job of expressing their and some of our feelings. Arun's post can be read here.
However, I am still going to write my views on this subject, as this is something very close to my heart. I doubt many will read this, and I know fewer will care. But here it goes!
As for my school experience, Shreyas' experience has been quite similar to mine : Never qualifying for BQC, winning a few inter-school science quizzes, working with legendary seniors and all that jazz. (it can be read here)
And then I came to join IIT Roorkee. Quizzing here was quite a different experience. It started for me effectively in the the second year. Those days it used to mostly consist of my team writing the prelims, scoring a miserly 1 or 2 and sitting back and watching the titans battle it out amongst themselves. It was quite a treat to watch, in fact. They tackled obscure and abstruse questions with such ease, that it turned out to be a humbling experience. I thought, “Dang! I probably should start reading more stuff. There’s no way I would have known that!”
But never qualifying and our scores having a heaven and hell difference from the cut-off from our seniors did take its toll. I remember very distinctly sitting behind a senior and declaring, “I’m done with quizzing. There’s no way I’m getting any better.” The senior turned back, saying, “Dude, you are in the second year, there is a lot of time to learn and improve, don’t give up already.” One of the most valuable advices I have heeded to.
I didn't give up and we went on to get better and better, all of us. Our year’s batch was now a formidable force, mostly qualifying for prelims and sometimes even prizing a podium place from the seniors!
Then came 3-2 (third year second semester). Third years were the main competition, but our immediate juniors were now proving to be good competition and were getting better with every quiz. Yet, we won the Geek Quiz, General Quiz and the prestigious Ashesh Memorial Quiz after fierce competition. What a time that was!
Our peak (by “our” I mean my team) behind us, we went on to perform well, but as well. Our worthy rivals from all around were now doing even better. The next batch of juniors also proved to have some very good quizzers. We lost our Ashesh Memorial crown to our much worthy rivals and nemeses. However, we ended on a good note by defending our General Quiz victory of the previous year.
Hence, we can say, we ended on a high. Quizzing has been and will remain my deepest passion. I am a different person when I am in a quiz, I am loud, vociferous, foul-mouthed, excited, raucous, angry, calm, a risk taker, a risk shirker … You get the point.
I have a lot more to say, especially about my team and my rival teams. But I have decided to split the post so that I can ramble more about quizzing.
I will end by listing some of the most memorable answers I/we have given:
- Sachin Tendulkar
- Mario
- 42
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