Interactive quiz contest

Bheja Fry, The Nerds, Team Flashy, Rusty Tigers, Triple Threat — these are the outré names of some of the teams that participated in the All Parsee General Knowledge Quiz 2009, held on November 22, 2009 at the Rustom Baug Pavilion. For the third year in a row the Sir Ness Wadia Club (SNWC) of Rustom Baug and quizmasters Ruby and Behram Aderbad successfully organized a challenging quiz competition for members of the community, as per a write-up received by Parsiana from SNWC.

During the mentally taxing elimination round held earlier the same day 20 three-member teams (15 of them from outside Bombay) put in their best efforts to make it to the final three representing the cream of Parsi talent. Questions posed by the Aderbads kept not only the finalists but also the audience on the edge of their seats. Covering a vast range of topics from the Zoroastrian religion, world and Indian monuments, World War II, history, geography, science, sports video round and an audio-visual round, the quizmasters had crafted their questions with care and intelligence.

Among the teams that participated were The Kasads (a father and two young sons) and The Khodaijis (a father and two daughters) along with The LGs, Mavericks, The Masterminds and a team from Thana, The Dynamic Thanekars, the write-up mentions. The three teams who made it to the final round were The LGs, Team Flashy and The Nerds, who scraped through with a margin of just five points. They vied for an attractive target: Rs 15,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 as the first, second and third prizes, not to mention the trophy and special gifts for all the nine individual finalists sponsored by Adi Irani of Rustom Baug.

Eight rounds of questions, a good blend of information and entertainment along with a filmy element with an audio-visual Bollywood/Hollywood round, kept the participants on their toes and the audience involved. The final Rapid Fire round had all three teams on tenterhooks. One participant selected from each team was in the hot seat and had to respond to a salvo of questions within a stipulated five minutes. There were constant fluctuations of fortune and positions between the three teams but finally Team Flashy (Farhad Choksi, Eric Mehta, Homiar Hathiram) emerged winners with 270 points, followed by The LGs (Ashdin Lang­rana, Cyrus Todi­walla, Delna Surti) with 225 points with The Nerds (Shahzaad Arjani, Meheryar Tata, Tush­na Marolia) bringing up the rear with 145 points.

Arash Shahriarian once again anchored the event with élan, firm when he needed to be, his quick ripostes enjoyed by the audience. He was backed by a team comprising Khushru Contractor, Nozer Sutaria, Farokh Surti, Kernaz Mehta, Thrity Sethna, Nazneen and Mahiyar Engineer, Pearl Tirandaz, Kaizeen Todywalla, Sharmin Sanjana and Behram Irani, with Danesh Taraporewala at the laptop. Yazad Karai of Nyumark Entertainment took care of designing and all technical aspects of the event, the write-up states.

The SNWC president Rustom Jasoo­money felicitated chief guests Yazdi and Anahita Desai and Armaity Tirandaz, acknowledging that the event would not have been a success without the support of the Desais and Dinshaw Tamboly of the World Zoroastrian Organisation. Gifts received by the audience were partially sponsored by SNWC vice president Homiar Shroff and Maneck Engineer, to whom the club was suitably grate­ful, as per the write-up. The Aderbads say they look forward to greater participation from Zoroastrians of all ages and walks of life in similar events hosted by them in the future.