I bought the latest issue of India Today this morning and the cover image brought back a memory from medical college days.
It is a memory that recurs every time I see an image of the Bald Eagle.
This occurred about sixteen years ago, when I was in my second year in medical college. Suresh, Raghu Ramesh and I were a team taking part in a quiz in an intercollegiate quiz competition that was part of the cultural festival of a local arts and science college in Coimbatore. Though I say it myself, we were a great quiz team. Our class quiz team with Suresh, Nandu and I, were unbeaten college champions for the three years that we participated in the in-house competitions between the various batches in our college.
On that particular day, there were four teams in the contest and it was a tie for the first place on the penultimate round. We were level with a team from another college (I forget if it was this or this). In the last round, the opposing team could not answer their direct question and it was passed to one of the other teams which answered correctly. I don’t recollect what happened to the direct questions for Team 2 and Team 3. They were too far behind for it to make a difference for first and second places. The fight was essentially between the tied teams. If we got our direct question right, we would be the winners.
So we get our final question in a highly charged atmosphere. And the question is a beauty.
“What is the National Bird of the USA?”
All three of us jumped from our seats and answered shouted almost in unison, “The Bald Eagle!”
“Wrong!,” says the Quiz Master. “Question passes to Team 1.”
While the three of us were standing there with mouths hanging open, too shocked even to protest, Team 1 answers “Bald Vulture.”
“Correct!,” says the Quiz Master. “Team 1 gets 5 bonus points.” Team 1 and its supporters cheer and jump with glee.
No arguments from us could change the decision. We were met with the standard stone wall of “The Quiz Master’s decision is Final.”
What rankles to this day is the fact that such a moron could be elevated to the level of Quiz Master, even if it was just at a small town college festival level.
Every time I see an image of the Bald Eagle, I remember that episode. As I am sure do Suresh and Raghu Ramesh.
Update:
An email response from Suresh…
Start Slide Show with PicLens LiteIt was at SNR college. We were in the lead, PSG CAS was behind us. It was a rapid fire buzzer round (first team to hit the buzzer answers) with +2 for correct answers & -2 for the wrong answer. We would have won if we hadn’t answered but since we were so sure I hit the buzzer. The worst part was PSG CAS who won because of this error were also arguing on our behalf since they knew the points were wrongly deducted from us. We even had a couple of ‘89 batch NRI’s come and argue the point but the QM’s decision was final.
Instead of Raghu ‘89 Ramesh was with us that day.
Vijay, I’m sorry but I can’t help laughing. I can just imagine how incensed you were and rightly so. A bald vulture? That’s a Quebecois rock band you know! What an ignorant quiz master. It seems to me they needed the Third Umpire there. Sorry I am sympathetic but still chuckling.
I was definitely there in the room, I don’t remember why though… did I have team 2 with me? Didn’t we figure that it was a set-up between the quiz master and one of the CAS team? Yes, a vultures head is “bald”, but no one calls it a “bald vulture”… even if they said turkey it would have been less of a set up!
In American history, there’s a bit of trivia that states that Ben Franklin suggested a turkey for our national bird … *rolls eyes* … how well that seems to fit, lately!
Vijay, I can really understand why that would rankle … hugely! You and your team have the consolation of knowing that you were right, however … and that you had more knowledge than the doofuses giving the Quiz. You know who really won.
It sounds as if there was huge disconnect going on there, somehow …