A Journey Under the Peepal tree

The second edition of UTPT, ever since I passed out from college is in the proximity.

Thanks Aditi for inviting me to contribute on this blog, which I must admit has become a favorite past time when ever I want to kill time.

There were editions that were close to me like the debut one in 2^nd year. (I missed the first one, because I was out of station). The whole euphoria of quizzing in me erupted during my 2^nd year engineering. To be fair, I started to quiz only from 2^nd semester.

PESIT Quiz and not surprisingly it was a Sports Quiz. I just entered the hall, just to see how the quiz is and to participate solo, since I didn’t have any team.

Pondi (Puneet) called up and asked me to join his team. The first thing I did was to erase all the answers they had written and fill the right ones (except for the Cyclops funda). Raghuray was our third team mate. We didn’t quali, but cracked a lot of questions from the audience. I guess, this was my debut for Quizcorp, and this day also happens to be the day, Abhay christened me, ‘Casillas’. Now, I was very much a part of Quizcorp.

4^th Semester happened to be my first UTPT. I remember the quiz setting days at Kodi’s place and later at Quant’s place. This was the edition which marked the innovation of using a human’s voice for an audio question. Quant…. That was kick ass man…..

6^th Semester was a challenge in terms of money management, event management and more importantly man-management. Lots of things, one would say ‘hungama’ during this edition….. But overall, this edition took the ice for being the most successful edition inspite of many dramas. Somehow things just happened, irrespective of the differences. Like an old adage in Bollywood, “in the end, everything seemed so perfect.”

The rain on the eve of corporate quiz just took the hell of everyone. Konga’s car was hit by a tree when all the seniors were enjoying the party thrown to them by Quant.

The highlight….. Spoof on Saturday Night Live – Starring Jim Carrey (Chittor), supported by KK and PK… Poor chap Soundarya was in the middle…. The video was somehow went missing… Pondi you did it again…. I took the video and was so proud about it.

8^th Semester, Well, this one’s my personal favourite. First and foremost, I would thank Amuda, for spending a lot of time in getting the website reorganized, and for his other inputs.

I have lots of them to share. I relocated my place for 2 weeks near to Teacher’s college. Why? (Just for kicks)…. This enabled me to work efficiently since Amuda’s place and other things were just at a grasping distance. I was pumped up... you see… I love being a Superman, when situations come….

Anucheth, KK, Pingu and PK…. Man, these guys slogged hard during that time. Aditi, sneha, bisi, Shankar, varuna contributed in their own to make this edition run.

We did run into a lot of things, the whole basic set up had to be changed and for once I even cried in class (coz I feared whether the event would happen or not). Well, I wasn’t that brave back then, but it doesn’t matter now, it’s humane to cry….

Sponsorships were the biggest threat to undo all our preparations and enthusiasm… I know literally how my batch mates went around places to get things sorted out. It was a challenge for everyone and thankfully we had juni’s who ran around, ensured that the event would go in a smooth way. I guess it’s a common thing; the sponsorship nightmares which 4^th year students get every edition.

Finally, the days came and went in an interesting way…. Personally, I would say, I had set one of my best quizzes (Sports) ever and I had seen one of the best quizzes ever (Sci-tech). That day, it gave me a relief. I remember myself looking in a mirror as if the horrors were buried. But we had one more day to go. The next 24 hours played an important role in my life.

It was sad, things to have end in a dramatic way. But, who cares. I know we didn’t get appreciations for having pulled off a great fest…. Whom to blame? No one… Sometimes, things are meant to happen a particular way. I guess, we 4^th years felt it, in Atria when corporate quiz was happening.

I guess, I do understand, how Indians would have felt after losing in the Sydney Test match early this year. Was it fair? Who cares? It’s the end result that counts and I am the first one to admit that the saving grace was the quizzes we did just like the way Indians played. (I am a sports buff right). Some people would have just appreciated the way Indians played during that test match… whereas some appreciated Australia for having won the Test match.

We didn’t end it on a happy note. That’s something I guess we have to live with.

It was a good change for me to be a part of UTPT the next edition (2007). I didn’t work for 2 days (bunked work) and it was great seeing the enthusiasm among all the juniors. This was my first edition after having passed out in 2006. I feel, a fest is remembered the way it ends. I enjoyed the way things ended in the most spectacular way possible@ KSCA stadium. It was a victory to Quizcorp and to me personally, last edition would go down as one of the best concluded events one would get to see. Claps, appreciations... wah…

Guys and Gals responsible…. You all did a great job.

This year…. Well… Slightly off schedule…. But I am confident; this would be a cracker…. So guys… buckle up…. I am Quizcorp will strike in a grand way….

I would have loved to share a lot more with respect to events during UTPT… like searching for food in the middle of the night, setting quizzes after my original ppt is deleted from the computer after being infected by virus… And I actually ended up making a question on the virus (Anna Kournikova)… Guess, this was all part of a wonderful journey, which I hope never culminates and continues to excel in years to come……

I wish you guys all the very best in making this year’s UTPT a grand success.

To: Shetty, Bib, Khadiya, Mihir, Saigo, Suzy, TechRaj, Bulla, kanti, Raghuray, Khoj, Kodi, Monkee (I hope there are no Aussies out here), Abhay, GangRao, Sandy, Jalan, Nag, Ashanka, Gowda, Reddy, Cadambi, Quant, Paavi, Pondi, Chittor, KK, PK, Anucheth, Pingu, Keith, Sumukh, Naini, Sneha, Aditi, Bisi, Shankar, varuna, Bob, Soundarya, Anal, madhu, Shyam, scientist, Honey, Saranya (thanks for the lemon juice), Arpan, Varun, Arjun, Subhash, Tiwari, Bagri, Harry, Sneha, Preethi, Brinda, varsha, Ashfaq (hammer throw champ, I am not sure about the name)

I hope my memory is right to have included everyone who was there till my final year.

If missed, I am pleased to say… I am a man after all… not Superman all the time….