Cerebral splendor marks AMPS Brain-Hunt Quiz

Dammam, Feb 9: At the 2012 London Paralympics opening, the great Stephen Hawking said - 'We live in a universe governed by rational laws that we can discover and understand. Look up at the stars, and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious".  A popular edutainment program to   create an inquisitive mindset among children and impart awareness of the brave new world is to organize quality Quiz contests. True to the spirit, this year too AMPS showcased the grandest quiz show in the Kingdom which proved to be interactive, educational and gripping.

With a reputation among the students as "the most eagerly awaited  edifying event" , the annual  "Brain Hunt World quiz" organized by Association of Malayalee Professionals in Saudi Arabia (AMPS) in Jubail attracts hundreds of talented whiz kids from Indian schools all over the Kingdom every year.

More than 300 Grade 8-12 students from International Indian School-Dammam, International Indian School-Jubail, Al-Khozama International Indian School-Dammam and Al-Yasmeen International School-Riyadh participated in the contest. "We at AMPS have always been at the forefront when it comes to organizing events fostering innate talent and creativity of children in Saudi Arabia", echoed gratifyingly Mr. VCS Nair , the president of AMPS.

The AMPS quiz competition has since 2004 become an annual spectacle for the students, teachers and quiz enthusiasts in the Eastern Province. Its organizers - all top Indian professionals working in the leading multinational companies and Saudi corporations- have won accolades for the event’s top-notch quality.

The seasoned Quizmaster of the show, dubbed as Derek O'Brien of Saudi Arabia,  was Mr. P.G.R. Nair. A distinguished Toastmaster and  Staff Process Engineer of SAFCO, he conducted the quiz  with matchless mastery. His informal style and emotional rapport with the audience never led to a lull moment. As extolled by IISJ school principal Syed  Hameed, "I  think Mr. Nair surpassed all known Quiz Masters.  I was  one of the admirers of my own student   from K.V.  IIT Madras Mr.Siddarth Basu who made Quiz popular on Indian TV during 1980 and 85s.  Now he  is  no more on my mind map.  It is PGR's inimitable style and endless endurance in handling the students that  has pleased me.

The quiz format itself comprised of eight rounds and was a good mix of all things under the universe. Sports, science, current affairs, history, literature — you name the subject and it was covered in the variety of questions posed to the contestants . The unanswered questions were passed on to the audience with attractive spot prizes for correct answers . The theme based rounds carried attractive titles such as “ Trace the Trivia”, “Know the News”, “Buzz the Buzzer”, “Spot the Sport”  and “Mind the Music”  .

The questions were imaginatively framed and spoke volume on the quality of  visualization behind it.  Some captivating questions were : Which Product uses Mexican free-tailed bat as its logo ? (Bacardi) . The 200th anniversary of the first publication of which famed classic well-known to children was celebrated in 2012? (Grimm’s fairy tales) . Which great Jazz player’s son is named after Pandit Ravi Shankar ? (John Coltrane).  Which Organization did Lance Armstrong work for  and defraud in his disgraceful journey  wearing yellow jersey? (US Postal Service) . According to the statistics provided by NASA’s  Kepler spacecraft this year,  how many earth sized planets are there in our Milky Way galaxy? (17 Billion)

The “Face the Fire” rapid fire round, adeptly conducted by the Assistant Quizmaster Krishna Kumar Raghupathy, created many ripples though the winning team from Al-Yasmin School Riyadh comprising of  Mohammed Ameen Arimbra, Micah Wilson George, Jinu Jose had consolidated their  position by the sixth round.  The runner up team represented by Mohammed Aazim Khan, Sushil Vanka, Musaiyab Ali Mirza  IISJ bounced back with vengeance after losing some points in buzzer round while the lone girl's team comprising Sheetal Reddy Kauluri, Amrita Mohanty, Nandini Singh from IISJ came third.

Earlier in the day, about 70 teams took part in the preliminary written round conducted by  Ajith Kumar during which he posed 40 objective questions to short-list eight finalists.

Mrs. Sridevi Menon , director of Al-Khosama Schools addressed the afternoon gathering and distributed winners of 2012 Green Initiatives contests organized as part of World Environmental day. She also released the house magazine "AMPS Insight" . Mr. Pascal Grante, General Manager of MASA was the chief Guest and he lauded AMPS for its profound professionalism exhibited during the entire event.

A highly structured stage set-up and state-of-the-art quiz devices arranged by Krishna Das, V.C. Nair, Murali Krishnan, Syam Shankar, Satish Chandra Kurup and Babu Sebastian added color and oomph to the show. A unique Quiz template designed by Dr. Kamaruddin with an attractive brain-hunt logo looked riveting on the screen.  Registration Coordinator Satheesan KR and AMPS Vice-President Sakkir Hussain and his team managed the registration of more than 300 students and Indian community members.

Many prominent Indians attended the quiz including  IISJ Principal Dr. Syed Hameed , Al-Khozama School principal  Dr. Ravi Kumar and India Forum founder Waheed Lateef.

At the beginning the quiz , Manaoj Variath paid  a befitting homage to the late legendary Sitar Maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. The quiz contest operations were engineered by Luqman Ummer, Vijay Shinde, Dr. Kamaruddin and  Murali Krishnan.

Mrs. Jalaja Menon and Mrs. Reena Sudheer anchored the event with panache.The secretary Prince Varghese proposed vote of thanks and the event concluded with the National Anthem.