Bureaucratic red tape

Having won any competition, it is but reasonable to expect that getting your victory certified on paper is hardly a tedious affair. Therefore, little did I imagine that I would come dangerously close to madness in the process of arranging to collect a couple of certificates- an experience I was perhaps much better without, if only the event had been better organised.

At the risk of inducing you to cease reading any further, I must confess that I enjoy quizzing and that quizzing is what this post is primarily going to be about. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT referring to those monstrosities that do nothing more than putting to test your ability to recall the least conspicuous city in the most obscure country of the world  (I'm sure we've all had a fair share of watching/ participating in these 'Quizzes'). More often than not, the mere mention of the word generates the misconception of a 'competition' meant only for the 'intelligent', for that is what cinema, or even contests such as 'Who wants to be a millionaire' lead us to believe. 

I discovered quizzing while in school when a few of my batchmates and seniors decided that there could possibly be nothing better to do on weekends than get together with a good set of questions to mull over and lured people in with the promise of food. I remember one of the first things that drew me in hook, line and sinker was the indescribable wave of redolence that a familiar answer to an unfamiliar question sparked. Over the course of two years, not only did I end up becoming friends with people I may have otherwise not interacted with, but also realised just how big a veil of misconception there was around quizzing, for there is nothing more exasperating than questions shorter than two sentences, reminiscent of an exercise in memory recall, masquerading about town as a 'quiz'.

However, once we graduated from school and got busy with our own lives, some in different cities, it became difficult to meet more often and that's when I discovered the Quiz Foundation of India. Two friends of mine woke me up at 7 o'clock on a Sunday morning and convinced me to show up at one of QFI's sessions that day. While one of my cousins had told me about these sessions earlier, I had never really contemplated attending one either because I would not have company or because I felt too much like an amateur and did not want to embarass myself amidst experts. Contrary to what I had expected, however, it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable few hours, so much so that I began attending almost all QFI sessions held every alternate week. In fact, as recently as a few months ago, I had an exam scheduled at 2 PM on a Sunday with the exam centre located in the outskirts of Chennai. Nevertheless, I went for the session much to my mother's chagrin simply because I wanted to take my mind off of reading something as banal as 'the advantages of Method X of doing activity A over Method Y'.

While in school, it was easy for me to participate in quizzes in the city given that I had a fixed set of team mates. However, now that I am pursuing Chartered Accountancy and doing my articleship, attending quizzes and scouting for teammates have both become a tad more challenging. Many a time in the past year,  therefore, I have shown up at quizzes alone and teamed up with a fellow teamless non- conformist, so to speak and in the process, made new friends. 

Most recently, I won a quiz held at a college fest and my exasperation at not having received the certificates yet, led me to pen this post. Somehow, what I had intended to be a rant about inefficiency and bureaucratic red tape, has morphed into a trip down memory lane. 

So if I've managed to change your perception or get you to think that quizzing might be your cup of tea, do check out : http://www.quizfoundation.com/. Or, if you're a fellow nomad bereft of a team, declare your existence in the comments section and I'm game to team up with you for the next quiz in the city!