Team Cognizance of M.E.S Indian School has emerged as ‘The Biggest Quidnunc!’ at an open quiz contest, organized recently by Infotainment Factree, a well-known name in Qatar’s literary space, at MIE-Savitribai Phule University campus.
Cognizance, represented by Ayaan Sayed Rizwan and Adeeb Yacoob Koiloth, kept the momentum from the very first round, It’s Anyboy’s Fame. The all-brothers Thinkbots, represented by Rayan Yusuf Attia and Adyan Yusuf Attia of Birla Public School, didn’t disturb the scoreboard in the first two rounds, but went on to pick up 80 of the 90 points scored in the third round, Sound of Music, getting itself into the lead. Both these teams were tied-up till before the last round. Brute Force, the final round in which teams had to play to their strengths choosing their favorite subjects (from Qatar, Flags, Sports, Science and Words) and points they wanted to play for, worked wonder for Cognizance, giving them enough points to win the title of ‘The Biggest Quidnunc!’.
Team Huyvatnven, represented by the father-daughter duo of Geoji Thomas (working with KSB SE & Co) and Ivana Geoji Thomas (studying at Birla Public School), played consistently well throughout, but only to be the second runner-up. The other finalist and the youngest among all, Masterminds was represented by seventh graders, Farhan Salih and Arnav Suhag of Olive International School.
‘The Biggest Quidnunc!’ was conceived by Mr. Shafqat Nabi, a brand and fashion management professional and Project Lead at Infotainment Factree. Mr. Nabi, who took the role of quiz-master, consciously deviated from a “boring question-answer” and introduced innovative fun-filled features, something not often seen in this part of the world.
Information on daily-use were well crafted into questions for participants and audience, keeping them thoroughly engrossed. In one question, participants were asked to identify voice of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, delivering speech in French at Elysee Palace. In another, the quizmaster asked the special feature of the 8.45 pm news bulletin on BBC news on April 18, 1930. The BBC’s news announcer had nothing to communicate. “There is no news” was the script of the news bulletin, before piano music was played for the rest of the 15-minute segment. Audience was left amazed by the kind of trivia shared by the quizmaster. By the way the questions were weaved, answers sounded more interesting than questions themselves.
The quizmaster spent extra time on various questions, mentoring participants how to work out answers from given clues, especially when they do not have enough information. Audience, especially parents and children appreciated this effort. “We reached out through print, on-air and social media and received registrations from 92 teams, belonging to 8 different nationalities”, shared an ebullient Mr. Hussain Abdul Kadhir, Digital Aladdin at Infotainment Factree.
The program started with RJ John of Qabayan Radio 94.3 interacting with participants while others registered for the contest. His lively session created a great atmosphere for the contest to follow. RJ Gaurav, RJ Aafrin and RJ Anshu of Mirchi One Qatar took stage in between prelims and the final rounds enthralling the huge gathering. The RJ-trio also had bag-full of very interesting questions for the audience, while they relished the refreshment served by Qbake.
The Chief Guest of the event, Mr. Gopal Balasubramaniam, Partner and Head of Audit at KPMG Qatar, stressed the need of having the “3Hs of honesty, humility and humane in our DNA for a successful life”. The event was also graced by Mr. Iqbal Kaundal, a prominent name in development sector.
