Thoughts. Stories. Ideas. Poor narration!

A few summers ago, I remember lazing around on weekends, watching Formula One races with more than just a passing interest. Those were the days when the elder Schumacher was the top dog, Hakinnen and Raikonnen in their McLarens were his key competitors and Minardi used to bring up the rear in almost all races.

Even back then, I had merely a statistical interest in the sport. I never really understood the technicalities involved in setting up a F1 car. Chassis, Traction Control, Automatic Gearbox Transmission, Low Centre of Gravity were just terms that I thought were cool to hear. I was more busy plotting scenarios where “if Kimi won this one, and MSC finished outside the fourth sport, Kimi would have surely sealed the title. Go Mclaren” (I was more of a Mclaren fan, always rooting for the underdog in the title challenge). Steve Slater and Chris Goodwin’s commentary was another highlight of my Formula One watching days.

In one of the races with little or no room for overtaking (perhaps it was Monaco), MSC’s Ferrari was bottled behind a Minardi. And I vividly remember Steve Slater going, “This is one of the most frustrating feelings ever for MSC. A Ferrari being held back by a Minardi.” It was funny, because when I heard it, I thought, with all the horsepower of the Ferrari engine, it must not be too difficult for MSC to overhaul the meandering Minardi.

Schumacher was bottled down behind the slower car for a good 8-10 laps and kept on waiting. He did not do anything outrageously stupid; did not try to cut any corners or have a look at a possible attempt to pass through on the inside at any curve. During the next round of pit stops, he ensured that he put in a couple of really quick laps while the Minardi went into the pit-lane and he emerged ahead of the inferior car after his own pit-stop. I do not remember what happened of MSC at the end of the race, but this duel with an inferior car captured my imagination.

What could have been the possible reasons for the World Champion to have endured those laps of frustration? For one, the race mattered more to him that it did to Minardi, at least as far as the Championship points were concerned. An error in judgment on his part would have had more far-reaching consequences. An attempt to pass on the inside on a curve which was not suited for an overtaking attempt could have sent him crashing into the barriers, thereby ending his race prematurely. Somewhere deep down, the Ferrari management and the driver himself realized that they had bigger battles to fight, and in this case, they had to just toe the line, be a bit disciplined and not do anything stupid.

I say this because I find myself in Ferrari’s shoes for over an year now battling those proverbial Minardis who are blocking my path to the greater good. Sorry to sound a bit haughty, but it’s been that way. Unlike MSC, I have been trying hard to get past the slower car in front of me; trying to cut corners; trying to manufacture something even when there is nothing in store. But slowly realization has dawned, that there are bigger challenges to follow ahead. And for now, it just boils down to “grinning and bearing it” and not doing anything impulsive about it. It is hugely frustrating to say the least, but I have to bide my time, till the next round of pit-stops which is seven months away, which is when I will finally stop attending college. Sigh.

I did a quiz for the college quiz club recently. Have a dekko. Critical comments are welcome. Let me know if you liked the Infinite Rebound for I spent a good part of one month to make the round – one question a day on an average. Happy Quizzing !

Round on Flags – looks stupid on Slideshare without the Powerpoint animations

Have a good day. Cheers!

As I wait for the elevator door to open, an image of Vinod Kambli springs to mind. Hailed as a ‘bigger’ talent as compared to the austere Tendulkar during their formative years, Kambli frittered away whatever advantage he had and ended up being a part of the voyeur thriller named Bigg Boss. And while Tendulkar was scoring heavily on the cricket turf, Kambli exercised his vocal chords and wistfully stated – “’He (Sachin) took the elevator, I went up the staircase!”.

Elevators and staircases, both lead to the same destination. Tendulkar reached his in no time. Fifteen years have passed since Kambli started climbing the staircase. He has still not reached the top. What happened to him? Did he get edgy in the corridors of uncertainty? Was he caught with his pants down in one of the numerous washrooms that lay in his path? Did he contemplate jumping off the seventh floor? Or did he climb two floors just to realize that the rigour was not worth it and decided to embark on the downward journey on the same spiral staircase?

Why did Kambli miss the elevator in the first place though? Was he not allowed because of the lack of hair on his scalp? Or is there more to it than what meets the eye? Did Kambli not reach in time for the elevator shift? Why was he late? Did he not wake up early enough? Or was he too stoned to bother about reaching his destination on time? Assuming that he was never at the lobby when the elevator began its upward journey, it’s a bit preposterous of him to suggest that Tendulkar took the stairs.

The lift-boy’s verdict gives a completely different spin to the story. In a press conference, the lift boy tore Kambli’s story to shreds. He emphasized that Tendulkar was a diligent chappie, ever eager to learn and excel and was at the lobby a good ten minutes before time. He waited for the elevator to see if it was empty, and since very few had taken pains to be there on time, he found the elevator eagerly waiting to accommodate him. But when the doors opened and Tendulkar stepped out on the top floor, he suffered a minor setback. He realised that he had forgotten one of his bags at the lobby. The elevator was nowhere in sight. The little chap stood there for a while, with hands on his hips, a bit exasperated and a little defeated. But then he took the stairs and briskly made it to the lobby without waiting for the elevator to return. He heaved a sigh of relief to find his bag safe and sound for he believed that it had all the accessories he needed to succeed at the top level. Little did he realise, that more than the contents of the bag, the intangible virtues within him were going to propel him to stardom. While wanting to reach the top for the second time, Tendulkar saw the clamour at elevator door. The pretenders to his ‘to-be’ throne were voicing their displeasure loudly. He could not wait for the whole affair to settle down. He quietly started climbing up the first set of stairs. And just when had turned the corner, a bald guy came running in with a swagger to see the elevator door close on his face.

A thrust in the backward direction brings me back to reality. Hordes of people are coming out of the aluminium enclosure. Another bunch is jostling to get into it. The fraction of a second that I took to recover from the sudden jolt has cost me dear. It has caused irreparable damage to my chances of getting into the elevator. The door closes on me and I am left stranded, although being one of the first few to be at the premises. I look to my left. There is an inviting calm about the staircase. The prospect climbing up the hierarchy of floors – slowly, steadily, organically and peacefully, traversing every nook and corner, meeting new people on the way is enticing to say the least. That it would help me stay fit in the longer run is an added incentive. I look around. Everyone is waiting for the elevator to lift them out of their misery. I can’t wait any longer. I’ve taken the plunge. It’s time to take the stairs!

While looking after the affairs of SPQC last year, I had noted down certain things which if implemented could improve the SPQC experience. I’d made a mental note to implement them from this season (season 4). Most of them pertain to modifications in the format of the questions and the points system. I’m just rattling down points in a random order. I exhort the current “managing group” to give them a thought -

1. The essence of Infinite Rebound is the outlandish funda that resides behind each question. A certain “wow” element behind every question in an IR makes for a good round. IR is designed for long, workout-able questions where all teams have enough time to come up with a really “inspired” guess which often turns out to be the answer. With sixty questions being made on IR, the flavour of IR often gets compromised. Many questions are made just to comply with the “IR quota” which need not exist. Reduction of questions in IR to 30 would help a lot. Moreover, IR questions can be made one per day over the period of an entire month.
2. Moving over to the connects – points for individual questions in a connect need to be scrapped. This, I say, keeping a lot of factors in mind. If there are no points for individual questions, people can focus on getting the overall connect right. As there will be no exchange of sheets for evaluation, a lot of time will be saved. Also, if individual points are given for the connect, the “connect round” assumes a lot of importance over the other rounds. Say, there is a 10q connect with 10 points per question and an overall 100 points for the connect. The worth of the connect round becomes 200 points. With two such rounds, connects are worth 400 points and overshadow all other rounds. Infinite Rebound which is supposed to be the crux of the quiz gets reduced to a mere farce. Scrapping individual points for connect questions could do the trick. If not completely scrapped, the points awarded for each question should be very minimal. The Long Visual Connects (LVCs) are fine as points are awarded to each block of visuals and no points for individual questions.
3. All the “dry” questions which are often used as IR could be incorporated as a written round. If thirty questions are to be included as a written round, then perhaps they could be split up in 3 sets of 10 each instead of 30 at a go.
4. Print ads, identification of visuals, audio clips could be incorporated in another written A/V round instead of including them in the IR.
5. Also, I’d like to touch on the “answer slide”. Most often, the answer slide consists of just the one or two word answer. In the case of workoutable questions, an effort should be made to explain how the answer could have been derived from the question. Any supplementary text which would help the viewer to understand what the question was all about would be appreciated. Also, to create visual recall, the answer slide would do well to have a picture of the answer. For a question like, “Who became Murali’s 800th Test victim ?” – one can have a pic of Pragyan Ojha along with the answer. The effect is not so pronounced or evident in the above question. But with other high funda questions, pictures could make a clinching difference as the audience would be able to identify themselves with the questions rather than thinking of them as an exercise in rapid reading.

A typical quiz Thursday SPQC quiz could be framed in the following format -

• 8 Question Current Affairs Written  (8*5=40 pts)
• 15 IR Clockwise (15*10=150 pts)
• Connect/LVC (5 point depreciation per slide starting from 50)
• 8 Dry Questions Written (8*5=40 pts)
• 8 Q Dedicated Audio/Visual (8*5=40 pts)
• 15 IR Anticlock (15*10=150 pts)
• Connect/LVC (5 point depreciation per slide starting from 50)

Of course, this need not be the exact format of the quiz all the time. The idea is not to straight-jacket the QMs into conforming to a certain format. QMs can change the order, number of questions, perhaps introduce a new round. But if the above format is taken as a base to build upon, it would ensure equitable distribution of points. And the quiz will not be skewed towards a particular round or a particular team. I’m a little apprehensive that such a fixed format might just prove to be an impediment for first time QMs. In that case, the quiz could be shared by two first first time QMs who put in their best foot forward in making their half of the questions.

More than anything, this post is purely based on personal observation. I’d be glad if the current bunch of guys thought over this and made some changes if they felt right. Cheers.