Thursday, April 12, 2007

Kolkata Quizzing…the citizens…and the also rans…part 1

( this is a rather humble effort of mine to just jot down a few words about some the rather interesting people I have managed to meet in course of my rather uneventful and thoroughly mediocre quizzing endeavors)


Shouvik Guha aka Holy Smoke, The Great Man.- Civil servant by profession, Quizzard by passion Shouvik Guha`s passion for knowledge,understanding and his absolutely no-airs attitude is what makes him the very best around.
Nothing is too trivial,no knowledge is too esoteric for him.hmmm maybe he cant recognize between Fergie of Black Eyed Peas and Amy Lee of Evenescence …but well that’s about it.
If its to be known and assimilated and shared,SG is the man.
Foor him,the funda is simple.
ITS ON A NEED TO KNOW BASIS AND I NEED TO KNOW.
Mind it,he wont ever remember things that don’t interest him.
Ultimately everything boils down to his basic love for the wide big world of knowledge sharing.He has won everything that can be won in this country and can rightfully claim( which he would never) to be the very best quizzard around.
The very first tijme I met him I in small dusty room in gariahat market, I was just taken aback by his sheer interest to learn. Guess that’s what keeps him going.plus maybe the fact that he absolutely yearns to see Quizzing as a hobby and a sport grow in this part of India once again.

One of the oldst hands in Indian Quizzing,SG`s greatest strength is his open mnd and his ability to learn and come back next time,next quiz.
First quiz we attended was St Paul`s North Point Inter-School Alumni Quiz at the Oberoi where funnily enough I managed to beat him.The real fun started after the Quiz ended.SG,me,Sumantra and some kids just stood around with our tipples and did a whole round on Tintin and Asterix…Feluda too for good measure…we went home reeling…

Later the whole relationship took a different turn when one forgetaable quiz later,he curtly told me and Sumantra to drop in at DI. Holy Cow! SG has invited us kids to DI,the Mecca of Indian Quizzing.Therein started what I can proudly say one the best Teacher-Student relationships in my life…one I never want to end.

At DI,we were party to his rather long cherished dream of Setting up a Quizzing Foundation in Calcutta, a dream he and some other old hands like AB, KB and JaP have discussed for hours over endless glasses of Scotland`s finest and DI`s oiliest.

Though his dream of never been crowned Mastermind India will foreverstay with him,surfacing only with close few over a glass of his favourite,I can proudly say I have sat in quizzies with theVERY Best Quizzard tthis country has ever produced.

2 comments:

Aditya Saraogi said...

Mr Guha has proved himself at the Mahaquizzer 2010...it was interesting to read up on him..

Thanks!

satanbug21 said...

@ Aditya- the Man never ceases to amaze you.If and when you meet him, the first impression is always a sense of awe.though we are practically families now,he never ceases to bring out the sense of respect, awe and maybe a comfort zone knowing this is one man who has the mind of a child and nothing is too trivial or esoteric for him.