The Sardar Patel College of Engineering, Mumbai, team at the Noida studio. (Below) Quizmaster Siddhartha Basu

Eagle Studios, Noida, Sunday afternoon. Four young boys in shirtsleeves from Sardar Patel College of Engineering, Mumbai, face four men in suits from the International School of Business, Hyderabad. Eight hands are poised on the buzzer, nerves are taut, adrenaline is flowing fast…

The best four quizzing brains on Indian campuses have been unearthed. The local version of University Challenge, the inter-university quiz show on BBC World that has been running in the UK for 40 years, has produced its first country champions.

The boys from Mumbai and their B-School seniors fought it out fiercely in a nail-biting finish, never far from neck-and-neck. The results are safely under lock-and-key till March 4, 10 pm, when the episode is to be aired. But a winner has already been found by the man “asking the questions” — Siddhartha Basu — and duly awarded by world billiards champion Geet Sethi.

The contest, which premiered on air in August, started with over 350 four-member teams applying from colleges across the country. After 12 preliminary rounds, pre-quarter-finals, quarter-finals and the semi-finals, the two teams faced each other on February 22. Known best as the ‘mastermind’, host Basu — better known as Babu on the sets — kept the excitement going despite the two nervous sides not performing their best.

The techie team — comprising Shrijit Plappally, Nirad Inamdar, Bharat Jayakumar and Nishad Manerikar — had “lived dangerously” through the earlier rounds, with a few close calls. It had been a smooth journey for the management students Josyula Krishnamurthi, D. Bhargav, Mubin Pagarkar and Amalesh Mishra, who had sailed passed the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, team in an earlier round.

The Indian winners then faced a foreign challenger in the form of the UK University Challenge finalists from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. The “friendly” match will be aired on March 11. With less at stake, the teams were more relaxed at the round which was a true test of quick wits.

British High Commissioner Michael Arthur was the guest of honour for the second match.

The UK team had watched the Indian finals with great interest, as they were to be the next in the dock. “They seem to be more concerned with speed here,” said captain Edward, though he felt the questions were of around the same standards as those back home. Their strength, added the mathematics student, was in depth of knowledge, as each of the four came from a different academic background. Edward is a final-year student of mathematics, Lameen is specialising in linguistics, Darren is pursuing medicine while Laura (the only girl amongst the 12 contestants present) is completing a Ph.D in medieval literature. “This is the furthest I have ever travelled for a quiz,” said Darren, in his introduction on camera.

The show has been a success for BBC, pushing up the ratings across age groups. The format, livelier than the classic Mastermind, had an eye on bringing in youth viewership for the channel.

According to commissioning editor, BBC, Narendhra Morar, the show is likely to come back for a second season. And there is nothing to stop even those who have participated once from going for it again, provided they are still in college. So, for all those campus quiz junkies, hope is still alive.

 

Ramp rhythm

There are a number of options available for budding models nowadays. But even with training and a contract with an agency, assignments are often rare or not to the liking of many aspirants.

A website has been available for around a year now — www.themodelsinfo.com — that tries to ease the burden of prohibitive commissions that models often have to pay their agents. Models young and old can upload their bio-data, picture and contact information on the site. After that, it is up to them what assignments they want to take up or reject. The models pay a small annual fee for the service. Offers for ramp, print, ad-film, serials and feature films have come through the site, explains proprietor Bhaskar Basu.

On-site workshops are also held at the firm’s Lake Town office, that include lessons on catwalk, grooming, diet-control and ways to deal with clients. For those who prefer to be on the other side of the camera, photography classes are also a part of the organisation’s portfolio.

 

Actress Indrani Halder and Madhu Neotia (left) with twins at the second anniversary celebrations of Bhagirathi Neotia Woman & Child Care Centre. Picture by Aranya Sen

Cheer the leaders

The Calcutta chapter of AIESEC, a youth exchange organisation, hosted an awards evening recently recognising its youth leaders. Attending the meet were members of the student body’s board of advisers, including Roshan Joseph, director, Eveready, and Amitava Bose, former director, IIM Calcutta. The organisation’s corporate and institutional supporters — like Emami, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Polar Pharma, Institute of Psychological Research and Institute of Motivating Self Employment — were felicitated.

Student members were awarded on the basis of AIESEC values like sustainable action, excellence and participation. Siddhant Shah, Shrija Chandak, Jaya Rawat, Vivek Didwania, Akshay Jaipuria, Siddhant Shah, Raksha Agarwal and Nitesh Rungta were awarded in these categories. Shrija and Abhisek Daga were also named ‘ideal’ AIESECers.

 

Meet the doc

At school, we eat, learn and play. But do we stay healthy? We found that out at the health check-up camp organised in our school from February 18 to 20. Armed with yellow health cards where our parents had filled in our medical history, we waited for our turn with the doctors from Wockhardt Hospitals. There were ENT, dental, ophthalmology and paediatric desks, where 1,470 students were checked. The doctors were very nice and let us off without any injections!

—Vishnupriya (Class VII),
—Upamanyu and Dhaval (Class VI),
The Heritage School

 

Thalassaemia truths

The Inner Wheel Club of Calcutta Midwest and Rotary Club, the health activity group, and National Service Scheme (NSS) cell of J.D. Birla organised a talk show on thalassaemia at Vidya Mandir last week.

A panel comprising doctors Suvro Banerjee, Arpita Banerjee and Partha Sarathi Bhattacharya set out to tell us the truth about thalassaemia. The audience of students, teachers and guests took active part in the interactive session. There were prizes for the 10 best questions, and most were bagged by JDB girls.

— Nishi Jalan,
Ist year, B.Sc, J.D. Birla.

 

Children at the health check-up camp at The Heritage School

Memory lane

“I am so thrilled to meet all my school friends and teachers,” cried Poonam Khara, from the ’99 batch. She had reason to be excited on Saturday evening, as ex-students and teachers rose to the Rooftop for the first reunion of Hartley’s High School.

Hexa was organised by the alumni association, formed in October 2003, with all support from the school authorities. The party began with a speech by Probal Chail, a committee member, followed by a felicitation of teachers past and present, before the action moved to the dance floor and the dinner tables. Those spotted in the happy crowd included former principal Ila Mukherjee and ex-India cricketer Devang Gandhi.

nFocus: small screen. In an effort to nurture what is positive about the medium, St Xavier’s College and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute are collaborating for Tel Cel, a “television celebration”. Three sessions will be held on the two campuses on February 26 and 27, to explore current perceptions about the medium, appreciation and aesthetics. The main attraction is the Canada-based media specialist Neil Anderson.