‘Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails…,’ read out quizmaster V.V. Ramanan to the six eagerly waiting teams. Now what would be the question for the above catchy line? 15 points was at stake and it was then the student’s turn to be the quizmaster and guess for the question. Out came the sound of the green buzzer and it took only a few seconds for the team from Loyola School in the city to guess the question – ‘What the little boys are made of’ – based on a famous rhyme.
The 13th edition of The Hindu Young World Quiz regional competition proved to be a platform for the clash of titans with more than 300 teams from across the district enjoying the quizzing session held here on Thursday.
The Pattom Thanu Pillai Memorial Priyadarshini Hall, the venue of this year’s quiz, was jam-packed with students eager to take the preliminary round.
Questions on famous personalities, recent events, history, sports …the 25 questions in the preliminary round had the students racking their brains for answers.
The top six teams – Loyola School, MGM R.P. School, Mar Thoma Residential School, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bhavan's Vivekananda Vidya Mandir and Sarvodaya Vidyalaya – to qualify for the finals then took their position on the stage, with the quizmaster sounding the bugle for the battle with his first question. The teams battled it out on questions on five themes, which included Do you know, Be the quiz master, Galleria, Jai Hind, and Sight and sound.
If the question on the children’s comic Ben 10 was an easy pick for the teams, comparing the difference between a ‘pace’ and a ‘trot’ of a horse proved to be tough for them. However, the team from Loyola school made sure they took the lead throughout and ensured a seat in the grand finale, while the other teams put up a hard fight.
Meanwhile, the promised goodies for the best cheering team had the children scream and shout ‘hurray’ in tune with the peppy music that blasted from the speakers. Louder cheers erupted from the audience for audience round questions, which saw the students take home a lot of goodies and prizes.
“We will work hard to bring back the title to Thiruvananthapuram,” added the delighted winners, who will be competing with regional winners of the 16 centres across the country at the finals to be held in Chennai on December 7.
