Exploring their minds

The Nehru Memorial Hall resounded with some thunderous rounds of applause and the most sporting and memorable cheering between 9:30 in th...

The Nehru Memorial Hall resounded with some thunderous rounds of applause and the most sporting and memorable cheering between 9:30 in the morning to 12:30 in the noon on the 30th of July. And not without reason- as it was the proud venue for the master of all quizzes in the county 8211; the Discovery Channel Quiz 8217;99. This audio-visual quiz was hosted by none other than the inimitable quiz master Derek O8217;Brien himself.

As usual, he was brilliant at it, infusing an enthusiasm among the 1200 odd audience, and among the students and teachers present there alike. The quiz was open to two age groups 8211; students from Class VIII to Class X in the senior group, and Class V to Class VII in the junior group. The questions posed to the students related to the five genres of Discovery Channel programming, namely science and technology, history, world culture, human adventure and nature.

Pune saw some brilliant performances by the 12 teams up there on the stage, with six teams in each group. And while Derek rattled off his set of questions at the teams, the young geniuses minds were quick as lightning with their responses. So while we gazed at the screen blankly trying to figure out what on earth could be the answer to those dots and an object moving vaguely over them in one of the visual rounds, promptly came the reply from one of the teams! As happens at all such mind-engaging sports, the best of the best finally walk away with the prizes and laurels. Dr. Jayesh Vaidya from Discovery Channel, gave away the prizes.

The proud winners of the junior round quiz were students from Hutching8217;s, who came second and pocketed Rs 2000 as their prize money, and the masterminds Kaustav and Shantanu from the Gurukul School bagged the Trophy along with Hero cycles and Rs 3000. In the senior round, S.P.M. came second, while the whiz kids Pranav and Akshay from St. Vincent8217;s did their school and the teachers proud by coming first. And should we say, they rode away in style!

The quiz had some remarkable gizmos and some spectacular visuals 8211; by far one of the best Pune has so far got to see. Derek was at his best throughout keeping the minds of both the participants and the audience ticking. And with the audience, comprising the enthusiastic cheering squads and heavy supporters of their respective school teams, enjoying every moment of the event, we saw some very very enthusiastic response from the teachers as well. What an event! Interestingly, this is the first time Discovery Channel came to Pune to host their very popular annual quizzing event, and they were moved by the stupendous response from the Pune kids.

Remarked Derek, who has just come from Hyderabad having hosted the first quiz of the 14-city tour of Discovery, 8220;They make excellent biryani in Hyderabad, but you Pune guys clap better than that,8221;whatever he meant by that. And he actually gave away four Discovery T-shirts as prizes to the best cheering squad 8211; the girls from St. Joseph8217;s smartly walked away with those. And that8217;s how the event ended. Every bit an experience in mental jugglery, or should we say, 8220;Exploring our minds, 8221; the Discovery Channel way.