Excitement was palpable in the Hari Hara Kala Bhavan as the stage was set for the battle of brains. The Hindu Young World Quiz' 09, the tenth edition of the prestigious quiz, had all the elements to make it spectacular-enthusiastic hands that went up for 'audience questions' not to forget the participating teams that seemed more like walking Encyclopaedias. Subtle nuances of chess and scrabble as also Indian history and soccer alike, they seemed to know it all. More than 400 teams comprising students from Stds. VII-IX, representing over 100 schools of the twin cities, Karimnagar, Bidar, Warangal, Gulbarga and other neighbouring districts participated in the zonal competition. Unfortunately the schools from Kurnool and Mahabubnagar, which had registered for the quiz, failed to participate due to the floods.
A preliminary written round was held to shortlist six teams that would later battle for the zonal crown. And the results found Geetanjali Senior School, Rama Devi Public School, Geetanjali Devshala, Little Flower High School(Abids), St.Pauls High School and St. Pauls High School(Huzurnagar) emerge as top scorers. What followed next in the form of a racy quiz was indeed a test of grey cells.
Mixed bag
The quiz had rounds which were equally testing. From guessing the name of the capital of Hoyasala dynasty to the artist and music director of the song from 'Kaminey', the questions only got tougher from quiz master V.V. Ramanan. If snapshots from the deep and more stills got the students huddled searching for the answers, the challenge to find the correct questions to given answers generated equal amount of tension. But after a few nail-biting moments the team from St. Paul's High School, Huzurnagar, Nalgonda district clinched the title and bag of goodies. The chief guest was Actor Dr. Bharat Reddy.
The winning duo B. Venu Madhav from Std. IX and K.Vinod Reddy of Std. VIII came all the way travelling four hours and the journey was fruitful indeed. So how did they prepare for the quiz? "We divided the portions among ourselves. We read Wikipedia, Manorama, Penguin World Fact Book and have been reading The Hindu Young World regularly which has been included in our school curriculum," they say in unison. They will be off to Coimbatore for the nationals on November 6.
"The children have been preparing for more than ten days. Also, general knowledge is a mandatory subject in our school. They had participated last year and came third. This time they put in more effort despite a hectic curriculum," says K. Somreddy of St. Paul's High School who accompanied the students.
There were many gifts for the audience-Real fruit juice, books and more from a host of sponsors. The event was presented by S&M Kids Wear with Kalasalingam University as associate sponsor. National sponsors include Black Thunder, Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank, Gold Winner, Hatsun Agro Foods Ltd, Vizag Steel Plant, Lotte India, Crocs shoes, Firefox Bikes, Britannica Encyclopaedia, Penguin Books, Reckitt Beckniser and Reynolds. The beverage sponsor was Dabur, with IIIrd I, Spencers, Jain Group of Institutions, Club Mahindra Holiday Resorts, Godrej Cartini, Jumani Ice Creams, Prasad's IMAX, Anand Masale and Alama International as regional sponsors. The event managers I Ads& Events did a great job. So, are you geared up for the next leg of the quiz?
