Arthur Dent would agree. It certainly was a thursday.
Crescendo 2008 - the annual festival of SSCBS, or simply CBS - was an event that marked the high point of my pure unadulterated rage, among other things.
Being an ex-CBSite (I had the honour of being a part of that institution for a glorious two weeks) I found the idea of conducting the fest at a SMALL but accessible and largely comfortable auditorium complex, which is incidentally much bigger than the actual college, praiseworthy.
For the few days I spent at CBS, I met some extremely nice people and a certain number of shit-heads as well.
After Crescendo 2008, the shit-head count has certainly gone up by a few.
The systems seemed to be in place, obviously they were not. I would like to point out that I am referring only to the 1.5 quizzes I took part in.
CORPORATE QUIZ
There was a cherubic bloke with a jovial sense of self who was extremely nice. This fellow was helpful and exuded a level of respectable intelligence. The quiz master for the prelims came across as an individual with an equally pleasant personality and fair sense of perspective.
And now the the ignominious ninkumpoop(s). The finals were conducted by - get this - 4 quizmasters !!
4 freaking quizmasters !! Obviously at CBS soup is a not something they have ever prepared before because the 4 of them did a fantastic job of spoiling the broth.
The two bespectacled blokes had a certain degree of stage presence which made up for their lack of quizzing experience. They were evidently nervous so that can be accepted as an excuse. However, this appeared to be more of a public speaking exercise for the organisers than a quiz.
Now for the star of the show. The ‘quiz master’ who conducted the 1st and last round had obviously made no contribution to the stockpile of questions, zero, zilch, nada !! He was completely oblivious to the reverberation of his voice and the proper usage of a microphone. He would either stuff his mouth with the equipment or be too scared of it. One can only presume he was either hungry or just plain stupid. I would go with the latter. A sheet of paper, and not a working and reasonable brain was the authority on the final answers, specifically for his rounds. Now, I am not asking an oracle to conduct the quiz but atleast those who do take the stage should be aware of the term ’stage presence’. He was alternating between directing the questions at the audience, the ceiling, the floor or himself. This, unfortunately, was not where the buck stopped. This ‘poser’ had the audacity to display arrogance which was so ridiculously misplaced that he deserved nothing but a firm kick up his arse along with a mouthful. The latter was duly delivered to him by me. To say ‘Mercedes MayBach’ instead of just ‘MayBach’ according to this doorknob is saying things which are galaxies apart. This proves my point that he was just the pretty (stupid) face behind the brains. Any half reasonable quizzer would know that Mercedes also has its versions of the Maybach. This sore thumb with his solo performance managed to completely lay waste an otherwise half decent event.
Kudoos to the cherubic fellow and his friend, the quiz did have some extremely good questions, the content was obviously pretty good.
SPORTS QUIZ
B.dot and I scored the highest or second highest in the prelims of the sports quiz. However, due to the lengthy delays this event was held right after the ‘Corpse’ quiz. I was obviously not interested in participating in a quiz after the ‘corpse’ fiasco, instead I was keen on inflicting bodily harm to the shit-head who had done a the spectacular job of ruining this Thursday. After I cooled off slightly, I paid a visit to the auditorium to see B.dot, who did not stand up for me at the ‘corpse’ quiz. He was obviously struggling alone and ironically most of the questions were up my alley. Since I had returned B.dot’s favour of leaving one stranded and the EXTREMELY ARROGANT quiz-master was determined not to let me back into the fray, there was nothing more for me to do there.
However, it is safe to come to the conclusion that those who organised the sports quiz had CERTAINLY done their homework. It was slick and the questions were outstanding. The co-ordinators were well mannered and all. Also the bloke conducting the final round was certainly no stranger to the stage and a microphone.
So in essence, Crescendo 2008 left me EXTREMELY ANGRY and HUNGRY (which added to my anger), but I am sure scores of other people had fun. Not this time for me. Going back to CBS was again more bitter than sweet me. I was reminded of my reasons for leaving the college.
That is it from me, in the words of ‘Eric the great’ - “Screw you guys I am going home.”
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