They were clueless about the composer of the verse ‘ Paluke Bangaramayena’ , but recalled the full title of ‘Chronicles of Narnia: the lion, the witch and the wardrobe’ together with the author’s name.
They identified Nargis Dutt variedly as Sharmila Tagore, Babita and Hema Malini, Dhyanchand as Vallabhbhai Patel and Satyajit Ray, and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan as Lala Lajpatrai.
But wait, they knew the capital of Madagascar, the name of the elder brother of Zeus in Greek mythology, and that Berlin was divided into four parts at the end of the World War II!
They knew the distant, but were oblivious of the nearest. Fully evolved from the fast-receding nationalistic panorama, they are the global citizens of India in the making, the participants at The Hindu Young World Quiz 2012 organised at Hari Hara Kala Bhavan here on Wednesday.
The gusto was palpable as much off the dais as it was on the dais, during the regional finals of the quiz conducted among six shortlisted teams. Audience vied to snatch the questions tossed by the quiz master V.V. Ramanan, after all the six teams failed to answer. Right or wrong, relevant or irrelevant, announcing the answer was the ambition for the bubbling crowd, the average age of which did not exceed 12 years. Right answers, of course, did find their way, through some prodigy lurking in some corner, and won much coveted prizes.
Preliminary rounds were conducted for 626 teams, the biggest number so far as announced by the quiz master. Questions were flashed on the screen and repeated by Mr. Ramanan, for which answers were to be written on the sheets distributed.
Two teams each from Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet and Gitanjali Senior School, Begumpet, and one each from Sister Stanislas School, Kurnool and ‘Slate, the School’ finished as the finalists in the regional rounds.
In the finals, a portrait of Amir Khan waited to be discovered beneath the number matrix from which each participating team chose questions by turns. A correct answer revealed the corresponding part of the portrait, and a wrong answer sealed it for ever.
By guessing out Amir Khan far ahead in the game, the team of Pranav Mihir Kandada and Arjun Suhas Kallapur from the Hyderabad Public School scored high over all others, and eventually emerged winners of the regional rounds. The team from Gitanjali School stood runner-up.
All the finalists received their trophies and prizes from the stunning tennis diva Sania Mirza. The winning team received a cash award of Rs.12,000, two Firefox bicycles, bags, USB drives, and other goodies, apart from a trip to Chennai to participate in the grand finale on December 7.
“This reminds me of my school days which I miss very much. All the very best to you,” said Sania in her pithy address to a very loud applause and cheer. She was mobbed by the children for autographs.
Being conducted across 16 centres, the quiz is presented by Britannia. VIT University, Gold Winner, Firefox, Indian Overseas Bank, and Black Thunder are the associate sponsors.
The gifts were sponsored by Success Notebooks, Real Fruit Juice, Reynolds Pens, and Wildcraft.
The Finalists from Hyderabad are: Pranav Mihir Kandada and Arjun Suhas Kallapur of the Hyderabad Public School
Regional rounds: Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet; Gitanjali Senior School, Begumpet, Sister Stanislas School, Kurnool and Slate, the school, Hyderabad.
