Is it Sunidhi Chauhan? Neha Kakar? Aditi Singh Sharma? As a clip from the recent Bollywood hit Lamberghini was played on the loudspeaker and the listeners asked to identify the singer, the guesses started coming thick and fast from the AL Block audience on Ashtami eveining. But there was one resolute hand that was raised from the back, the owner of which produced an answer in a deadpan voice. “Ranu Mondol,” said elderly block resident Shyamal Kanti Guha, referring to the internet sensation with a high pitched voice, causing everyone to break into laughter at the obvious lack of similarity with the voice just played. It hardly mattered to the gathering that the correct answer turned out to be Ragini.
The open quiz hosted at AL Park was all about learning fun facts while having fun. There were no teams, nor were scores being kept. Rather, every correct answer fetched a chocolate bar from the quizmasters.
Such was the spirit that when Sohan Thakur could name only the singers of Krishna Nee Begane, Sumanta Guha Roy, seated a few chairs away, helped him with the name of the band Colonial Cousins. Thakur promptly offered to share his chocolate with him.
It was also an occasion for ice breaking. Ramesh Pagdipalli, who was watching the quiz standing outside the covered area, had already won a chocolate by getting an answer right when the cover of a 1973 issue of TIME magazine was shown. The man in regal robes in the picture was to be identified. He, it was said, was then one of the richest men in the world. Correctly identifying the figure as the Nizam of Hyderabad, Pagdipalli added that he too was from the southern city, earning generous applause.
The Telegraph
The quiz masters received a lot of appreciation for a question that no one could crack — spot the common feature of 10 dogs in a series of black and while photographs on the screen. “There were more of such dogs,” was the clue offered. Finally the quizmaster revealed: They were all among the pack of dogs used by scientist Ivan Pavlov for his famous experiments.
The quiz ended with a googly. Three pictures were shown of the freedom fighter trio Binay, Badal and Dinesh. The fourth photo after an addition sign was of Cossipore Udyanbati. From it was subtracted the photograph of a container. The visual clues left everyone clueless. Except Suman Mandal. The 17-year-old took the microphone and answered that the result was the very ground they were in. Comprehension dawned upon startled faces when the last slide came on screen of a backlit signage. The AL Park had indeed been renamed Binoy Badal Dinesh Udyan by the Corporation. “I come here pretty often to play,” the resident of Nazrul Pally told The Telegraph Salt Lake as residents congratulated the quiz masters Satadru Ghosh and Tamaghna Saraswati for a fitting finale to the entertaining quiz. “This is the third year that we are holding the quiz,” said the medical students who are neighbours and childhood friends.
