My school days, is that part of my life which I always feel like getting back to. T he fun I had, the few friends I had, my teachers, the corridors, play ground, school bus, the auditorium, drinking water tap, the chapel... every corner of it has atoms of my sweet memories lying in there. It laid the foundation to who I'm today - good or bad - but I love it for all it gave me, especially skills and memories related to acquiring them.
Quizzing was always, one of my passions, and what I gained from every single quiz I went for in my life, is priceless. A titbit was as priceless as winning a prize, and being in the audience as exciting as being up there in the dias facing questions. But it is only once, that I felt I would be killed, literally, if I don't win a prize. The mentral trauma I went through while participating in this particular quiz, and the minor cardiac arrests I got every time I got an answer wrong or passed, are all exciting and memorable in hindsight, but when I was there, real and raw - I thought of it as the worst quizzing experience I'd ever have.
And the culprit was no body else, but my teammate! It was just me and him who were representing our house, and this guy was reputed as an innocently snobbish brilliant brat. Right from the moment we got on the dias, I could see how he sweated it out to dominate the quiz.
The joy of quizzing, also lies in shooting in the dark, guessing an answer which would or would not work, inventing 'blunderful' answers, as much as getting them right. However, the brat beside me did not seem to be in a mood to have entertainment through knowledge, but just wanted to get it all right!
Everytime I attempted an answer and got it passed or wrong-not that I was doing it frequently-he kept on muttering in my ears 'I told you- I told you - I knew that wasn't the answer - Oh god the next team is 5 points ahead of us - be careful be careful'... and imagine having to attempt a question with confidence, with these rumblings in your ears! If it was the me of now over then, I would have asked him to 'SHUT UP' or 'PLAY IT COOL' in a nano second, but alas, I was just a just-in-high school girl while I timidly went through this.
Nevertheless, we managed to get quite a lot of answers right. Both of us contributed - let me state it LOUD AND CLEAR - though our Mr. killjoy exuded an air of 'Hmph-I-did-it-all' sitting near me. Despite a good show by our team, as though the tortures I went through weren't enough, our scores got tied with another team after all rounds were over. And the quiz master decided to break it through a buzzer round. Alas... I was living dead.
Quiz master announced, he would ask a single question. Whoever presses the buzzer first, and gets it right, would be declared the winner. And if we get it wrong, the other team wins. A typical tie breaker round which I would have excitedly, light heartedly, sailed through if I wasn't with the bugger. But here I was, all trembling and sweating and my heart pounding loud.
We were asked to keep our palms right above the buzzer - and seeing that I was keeping myself one mile away from it and letting my team mate place himself above it, the quiz master asked me to sit close! Mr. bugger and me had our hands half-half above the buzzer now. My mind started the count down to get this finished, and was solely concentrating on that alone. But my body wasn't away from the quizzing dias yet.
"What is the study of virus called?" Out came the question and I hear the buzzer getting pressed... and it took an alarming moment to register it was my hand, which pressed the buzzer, and that too to a question's answer which I had no clue of... my body had betrayed my mind! My team mate's eyes were burning enough to turn me into ash, the quiz master's and audience' eyes were intently fixed on me, and the other team had their hearts pounding and sincerely praying I get it wrong.
My mind was clueless and blank... all I felt like is adding an 'ology' to whatever is studied - which is a general tactic by all, and live the last moment of my life on the dias, all set to get slaughtered in the assured defeat which I could see in front of my eyes.
From a dead mind and dry mouth, out came an answer - "errr... virology" It was sooo obvious that it was a guess work.
I guess the quiz master was tempted to take us on an 'are you sure-so the answer to the question iiiiis' playfully- tense ride, but seeing my dead face, he gave up. And all he said is 'She is right! and team Alpha is the winner of the year' The applause that followed sounded like the new showers on a deep-dry desert patch... It took a moment for me to be back into life though my heart was still beating hard... Just that it felt like a light drum-roll now :)
The tormentor beside me got transformed into an appreciater, and the happenings around me in the next few minutes resembled a rain dance! I couldn't belive that virus actually saved my life and my body betrayed me for my own best! Narrating this as my incredible quizzing experience I ever had, has never bored me or my listeners - I swear. Some things happen the way they do so that you can look back at them and let out a sigh of relief... and ofcourse this ranks no. 1 amongst those, in my life.
ha ha.....this is hilarious D.... :-D
ReplyDeleteMa God I loved it Dipsy... I heart was in my mouth as I read it! Hmphhhhhh! Thank God you won otherwise I would have died reading this :P
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