Grand Finale - MQC 2011

The patient build-up, a four legged trawl for the creme, the frenzied preparations behind scenes, the innumerable hours of lost sleep, zillions of google searches, an innocent penguin, a twisted thumb and a few gaffes, the MQC final was worth every bit of that and more. 

First up - A huge THANK YOU! to all involved - you participants who honored us with your presence, hounded us with your persistence - both above and below the board, Tarang and Pranjal - the hand that propped us up with external support, our Sponsors, the eminently lovable Senior Team LitComm and the equally adorable junies. 

Getting back to the quiz itself, the Final was an affair to remember - no warming up, it was for the battle hardened pros. They were:

Sania Narulkar & Divyanshu Bhoderia  (Anna ki tamanna)
Abhishek Rane & Dileep Tiwary        (Abhyutthaan)
Abhishek Joshi & Joseph Jacob  (Plan B)
RPulak Narain  Dhreeteman Das (Two 2 Tango)
Anupam Dhar & Divya Agarwal   (Hapless and hopeless)
Aditi Bose and Phalguni Aneja   (Apdi Pode)
Rohit Goswami & Abhimanyu Roy  (Que Pasa)

The format was different too - 35 Categories with 2 questions in each, teams getting to pick their choice for the first 2 rounds. The stake increased progressively with each round. The third round was a blind guess with the Topics masked by numbers, in return for 30 points for a direct answer, that came laced with a -10 for an incorrect answer. The killer touch came out with the 4th round, where the adjacent team picked out the topic for its previous team. This added a great deal of spice to the show as teams grappled to identify what their competitors were weakest at!

It was as exciting as a Finale could be with a different team leading at the end of each round. In the end it all boiled down to the rapidfire round, yet again. Divyanshu & Sania were in a close tussle with Pulak and Dhreeteeman for the top spot. A tense staccato of questions erupted with Bunty and Babloo definitely deserving their lead but the runners up not lagging far behind. All that held them from tying up for first spot was "Water" and "Waterman" for the inventor of the fountain pen. The winners received a cash prize of Rs. 4000 and two coveted trophies with the runners-up getting Rs. 2000 and it all ended up with jubilation from all quarters: the participants, the audience and the organisers who were left with a sweet taste of success in their mouths.