Excitement, anticipation, hope, joy, ecstasy, despair – the emotions that flickered on the 300-odd faces at the thickly packed Vasco-da-Gama hall of Taj Gateway in Kozhikode could beat any movie. The 16th edition of The Hindu-Young World Quiz was as exciting as ever with a questionnaire that encompassed all possible disciplines, questions that forced one to apply logic before knowledge and above all the charismatic presentation of quiz master V.V. Ramanan, the lifeline of the show.
The response received for the event this year astounded the organisers, who were forced to accommodate more than 150 teams when only a little more than 100 teams were expected.
The hall was packed to its brim, but the congested seating arrangement did not affect the enthusiasm of the participants, who had their most fun answering the questions thrown out by the quiz master after the preliminary round. The children were seeing springing from their seats with hands raised, eager to catch the attention of the volunteers with the microphone. And those who delivered correct answers were rewarded with goodies like T-shirts, caps and colouring equipment.
The questions were rarely straight forward. One question was on the avatar of Vishnu that killed the brother of Hiranyakashipu, which confused most participants. It was a revelation for most that the longest bone in the human body was also the heaviest. The order in which alligators belonged, was not answered by any of the participants. The URL extension of the native country of the Manchester United skipper, was a tough nut to crack for most.
However, the name of the Malayalam original of the movie Papanasam , the IPL team of Sanju Samson and the Asian actor who rendered voice to a monkey in the movie Kungfu Panda were some questions that most answered.
Overwhelming response
The sponsors of the event were overwhelmed by the response in Kozhikode. “This was exactly what we wanted. VIT University has been holding Maths marathons across Tamil Nadu for some time. It is a pleasure for us to promote younger talents who will be the citizens of tomorrow,” M.S. Jagadeesh Kumar of VIT University said.
The response to the quiz in Kozhikode inspired Samjad A.G., director of Neo IAS, to open a branch of the firm in the city, and he announced his decision at the venue.
Sreelakhsmi B., one of the teachers who had accompanied her students to the quiz, pointed out that the quiz covered a vast area of knowledge which was quite beneficial to the students and requested to extend the age group so that even students of senior secondary classes could participate.
The response to the event inspires event sponsor Neo IAS to open a branch in the city
