Cognitio - A General Quiz

NQC - Cognitio
by Aniruddha Morarka
15-Jan-17

You know you've missed out on a really wonderful quiz when you hear things like, "One of the best made quizzes I've been a part of" being said just minutes after the quiz.  You know you've missed out on a really wonderful quiz when you hear that the quiz had the highest turnout the club had ever witnessed. You know you've missed out on a really wonderful quiz when you hear that the quiz master was a Morarka. The Fear of missing out is a feeling no quizzer desires. It is something totally not worth remembering for it painfully reminds you of all such instances in your life. Today, fellow quizzers, that feeling is running all over my mind and wrecking havoc in my brain for today is the day I missed out on Aniruddha Morarka's Cognitio.

Cognition, they say, is the action or the process a mind follows for acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought and experience. It is, they say, the only thing your mind uses when it faces hurdles. But for quizzers, you know, Cognition is your only defence. It is the only thing that you resort to when you're out there facing a quiz master. It was not going to be easy, especially when you know that the quiz master in question is one of the most cognitive minds of the country. While I was one of those unlucky ones to have missed out, we had 6 teams full of powerful quizzers who were ready to face Aniruddha's Cognitio (let's call them Team A to F).

For a total of 30 questions in 2 dry rounds, with an extra 2 written rounds, Cognitio was all set to test out our 6 teams. With such a beautiful set of questions covering such a wide vista of topics, the 19 year old quiz master had in a way brought every quizzer's opium. They knew they were close to the answer, they knew they had heard it somewhere recently, they knew that they knew a lot about the answer except the damn answer! That is what makes Cognitio a real test of not just your cognition, but also of the entire team put together. Aniruddha had in a way proved that he's a true master of a quizzer's mind.

 Team F, however, was on a different level altogether. They were on fire. By the time the first dry round and the first written round was over, they already had a 35 point lead and had already crossed 100 points. It was quite certain that Team F would just run away with the Gold. But just like the way the story turns after the interval, just like the way Joe Frazier fought back Mohammed Ali, there was this team of quizzers who relentlessly chased down Team F, went past all the others, reached 200 pts and with that took the Gold Medal. Fellow quizzers, one big round of applause for the winners of Cognitio, a team full of the Virat Kohli's of NQC...Team B!

 I feel terrible to say that I missed out on this close fight which I heard went down to the wire. If you too feel the same let me evoke that fear of missing out in you, here, have a look at the final scores:

1st place: Team B: 200 pts - Karman Rai, Pakhi Mor, Prateek Nayak, Shirin Badar, Arpit Aggarwal and Nikhil Mehadia.

2nd place: Team D : 175 pts - Tanmay Chindalia, Yogesh Khadke, Pritam Shete, Mahika Mor, Prakhar Rajpalli and Padmanabhan Pillai.

3rd place: Team F : 165 pts - Aadvik Bhatia, Vishwaroop Khanorkar, Anagha Wankhede, Mrinmay Meshram, Kartik Jha and Rishi Vijj.

4th place: Team A : 150 pts - Devansh Kothari, Jatin Kaila, Akhil Badwaik, Shiju Samuel and Devendra Prabhune.

5th place: Team C : 130 pts - Mokshit Kothari, Saee Ghule, Jose Thomas, Ayush Vijj,  Anul Manchalwar and Vandana Chitnavis.

6th place: Team E: 120 pts - Isna Khan, Vikrant Sawalkar, Rabiya Shabbir, Aman Mishra, Dr Prasad Siwal and Wg Cmdr Samir Gangakhedkar.

- by Vishnu "The Missing" Pillai

Cuba: A General Quiz

Cuba - a General Quiz
Diwali  29th October 2016
@Chaos Theory, Nagpur

by Viraj Bake

Far away in a distant continent is a country which raged havoc in the minds of nations much larger than them, it brought about a revolution the whole world would remember for it gave birth to leaders the whole would admire for generations. Far away in a distant continent is this country called Cuba.

Miles away from Cuba, in a city much smaller than many, in the land where he was born, QM Viraj Bake had brought with him 40 questions. 40 questions which could put even the strongest to test. 40 questions to be admired for generations. 40 questions to bring another revolution.

It was the time of the year when we celebrate with lights, crackers and sweets in every home. On this wonderful occasion, in the heart of Nagpur, quizzers had descended to this beautiful co-working space named Chaos theory, probably the best I've seen yet, to witness and be a part of this wonderful display of logic, awareness and sheer knowledge. And for the battle to begin, QM Viraj Bake was locked and loaded.

What began with 3 teams moving towards a finish line soon turned into a Hare vs Tortoise race with the Hare not ready to sleep. Team C was this Hare which was relentlessly racing ahead of the others with pounces and direct answers. But it didn't just end there. While the Hare was much ahead, it was more exciting to see who would finish second. In a very tightly fought race between Team A and Team B, it was team A which ended up winning with the ever so slight margin of 5 points. Only Team B would know how important those 5 points were. Team C, meanwhile, with a huge margin exceeding 100 points, had won this war. There were great players in each team but only Team C, it seemed, had the right armoury. Cuba had been conquered. The revolution was complete.

FInal Scores:

1st Place: 220 points - Team C : Paddy Pillai, Vandana Chitnavis and Anagha Wankhede

2nd Place: 95 points - Team A: Tejas S, Vaibhav Chinchmalkar, Vrushabh Gudadhe and  Mrinmay Meshram

3rd Place: 90 points - Team B: Tanmay Chindalia, Akhil Badwaik, Aman Mishra and Sukhada Chaudhary

- Written by Vishnu

Legendariam - the Mythology Quiz

1st Jan 2017

Legendariam - the Mythology Quiz

by Anagha Wankhede

@Chaos Theory, Nagpur

Happy New Year Quizzers.

Mythology is often cited as the Achilles' heel by quizzers. Not because it's a pain, but because when you get hit by a mythology question, you're dead unless you're either God, Bear Grylls or Paddy Pillai. Mythology is where Legends are born, where legends fight it out, and where Legends are slain. For NQC, on the first day of 2017, QM Anagha had weaved a beautiful Coliseum for our gladiators with Legendarian - the Mythology Quiz.

After a long time we had great participation (probably one of the highest) with people across all ages who'd come to the beautiful venue in the heart of Nagpur, Chaos Theory. A symbol for new age entrepreneurs in the Nagpur, if you're looking for a serene co-working place I really think Sukhada Chaudhry's "Chaos Theory" will bring you the 'peace' you need. We began with 5 teams (let's call them A to E), with almost each team having at least one senior quizzer, except Team D. Team D was the only team which didn't have a senior quizzer. Let that sink in. For once we thought if we'd made it a bit one sided for we had one team which had both Paddy Pillai and Anirudh Morarka together, and on the other hand we had our Team D. 

30 questions and 1 Long connect is what QM Anagha had in her armoury. 30 arrows so beautifully diverse, so beautifully workable, so beautifully sharp and so beautifully researched that by the end of it all teams were exhausted, out of creative guesses, out of breath and knew it very well and clear that even "Divine Intervention" won't have saved them. With each question all teams knew they were dangerously close to the answer, they knew  which answer was wrong but they were often still looking for the right answer. Isn't that the most beautiful part of a quiz? Isn't that what makes you a quizzer? Anagha did that so wonderfully that knowingly or unknowingly she turned each team into a demi-god fighting for glory. I must admit it is difficult to make such a wonderful quiz. Immense respect for QM Anagha. _/\_

In case you were wondering which of the teams won this wonderful quiz, I'll state it clear. Out of the 5 teams, 4 of which had senior quizzers with one of them having Paddy Pillai and a Morarka together, there was one team which answered 21 of the 30 answers correctly. This one team which was on a roll knew almost all answers. By Half time this team was already winning, and winning is what they did. They got the Long connect, they got the supporting answers, they got that huge lead, and they got the gold medals. Fellow quizzers, the only team which led from Pole to Finish, the only team which scored above 200 points at the end of 30 questions, was not the team which had Paddy Pillai, it was not the team which had Anup Manchalwar, it wasn't the team with LS Bhati sir, nor was it the one with Chitnavis Mam or Wing Cmdr Samir. The only thing this team didn't have was a senior quizzer and they went on to beat them all with utmost ease. Fellow quizzers, one big round of applause for the winners of Legendarian the Mythology quiz - Team D.

The Scores (in case you were wondering):

1st place: 285 points -  Team D - Tanmay Chindalia, Tejas S, Vrushabh Gudade, Jatin Kalia,  Mahika Mor and Amit Dekate.

2nd place: 255 points - Team E - Anup Manchalwar, Wing Cmdr Samir Gangakhedkar, Bageshree, Anshul Nasery, Vikrant Sawalkar and Ashwin S.

3rd place: 225 points - Team A - LS Bhati, Naivedya Bhati, Varun Agrawal, Akhil Badwaik, Pakhi Mor, Ayush Vij and Aman Mishra.

4th place: 120 points - Team B - Paddy Pillai, Anirudhh Morarka, Vishnu Pillai, Yogesh Khadke, Harshal Nasery and Karman Rai.

5th place: 105 points - Team C - Vandana Chitnavis, Sukhada Chaudhry, Shivam Wankhede, Arjun Krishnan, Saee Ghule and Vibhav Pande.

- Written by Vishnu