JUBAIL, 28 April 2007 — Which sensational playback singer sung the marketing campaign song of “Wow is Now” when Microsoft launched its Windows Vista in February 2007? (Sunidhi Chauhan). Name the only Asterix comic that refers to India? (Asterix and the Magic Carpet). Which Pan Masala brand is named after a movie by Basu Chatterjee, which won a Filmfare award? (Rajnigandha). Name the car that producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra awarded Amitabh Bachchan for his outstanding performance in the film “Ekalavya?” (Rolls Royce Phantom).
These were some of the fascinating and exciting questions asked during “India Quiz 2007” that was recently organized by the Association of Malayalee Professionals in Saudi Arabia (AMPS) at Petrokemya Beach Camp in Jubail. The quiz this year is especially significant since 2007 is the Diamond Jubilee year of India’s independence.
The India International School’s Jubail team (comprising Hayat Raza, Jayesh Nandi and Praveen Palekar) won the competition by a hair-raising margin of three points during the exciting rapid first round.
Dammam International Indian school’s team (comprising Azharuddin, Fraz Martin Khan and Faraz Ahmed), which led the competition till the last round, came second. A third team (comprising Sufiyan Hakin, Stevin Wilson and Ubaidur Rahman of IIS Jubail) came third.
Earlier in the day, in a marathon session, 79 teams competed against each other in the preliminary elimination quiz comprising 40 questions. Jacob Kuriakose was the preliminary quizmaster. The top eight teams qualified for the final quiz.
P.G.R. Nair, triple postgraduate and distinguished toastmaster, was the quizmaster for the main event. His wife Raji Krishnan ably assisted him.
His easy style, punched with humor and immaculate language, made him a crowd favorite. The quiz opened with a befitting homage to the legendary Shehnoi singer Ustad Bismillah Khan.
The quiz questions were fascinating and covered a variety of subjects such as Indian culture, history, films, music, politics and current Affairs, between 1700 BC to 2007 CE.
Questions that contestants could not answer were thrown open to the audience and correct answers got instant prizes. This, coupled with a huge number of audience questions, excited the large crowd and tripled their zeal and excitement.
The one question, which no one could answer, was where in India is an annual donkey fair with donkeys bearing names of film stars held? (Ujjain).
E.K. Mohammed Shafee, principal of IIS Dammam, applauded the true Indian spirit shown by AMPS in all the programs organized by them for the benefit of Indian expatriates.
“AMPS is barely three years old and it has already made useful contributions to the Malayalee community,” said V.C. Nair, president of AMPS.
“We have organized several science workshops, talent searches and children’s fest programs for schoolchildren, and contributed SR30,000 for victims of the tsunami.”
A technical team comprising Shajil Khader, Mammachen and Sabeer brought technical perfection to the quiz by installing a buzzer and a LAN monitor for each team to beam questions.
They had also installed a massive screen to project all the questions and scores to the audience. The dual masters of ceremony Saira Oommen and Mira Ramesh were fluent and flamboyant as comperes of the event.
