The Hindu Business Line : FACT-TCS wins Hyderabad leg of BL Quiz

WELL DONE: The winners FACT-TCS combine's Anil Raghavan and Ramdas Mullath talking to the runners-up Bhilai Steel Plant's Sanjay Shamkuwar and C. Chandrasekhar after the quiz in Hyderabad on Friday. — A. Roy Chowdhury

Hyderabad , May 1

THERE was hardly any question that was left unanswered. For, there were seasoned quizzers with ready answers who had come from far and wide, as far as Chhattisgarh and Mumbai, to field questions from Mr Suresh Kumar, the quizmaster at The Hindu Business Line Quiz, here on Friday.

If the participants were stumped by some questions, the audience was quick to grab the opportunity and take home t-shirts, gift hampers and other goodies.

The questions were from a variety of fields such as business, information technology, marketing and advertising with both audio and visual rounds.

The FACT-TCS combine, comprising Mr M. Anil Raghavan and Mr Ramdas Mullath, clinched the closely fought finals, while the Bhilai Steel Plant team, consisting of Mr Sanjay Shamkuwar and Mr C. Chandrasekhar , finished runner-up. Both teams now head to Chennai for the grand finale on May 7.

Of the 40 teams that took part in the preliminary round of the Hyderabad leg of quiz, six were selected for the regional finals.

The questions looked simple for some, tricky for some and teasing for others. Some questions were so tempting that one from the audience shouted the answer even before the question was completed, forcing the quizmaster to call for restraint.

And as Mr Suresh Kumar observed it was infotainment and not a test of one's IQ.

Some of the questions which were posed to the quizzers: Which automobile company used the tag line `---- is only skin deep?' When everyone else, including the audience, failed, the Bhilai Steel Plant team sprang a surprise by saying, "It's Volkswagen which used the tag line, Ugly is only skin deep." The Chhattisgarh team's armoury had some more answers that surprised all, including the quizmaster.

Asked how the Chhattisgarh team could field most of the questions with aplomb, pat came a reply from the team's Mr Chandrasekhar that they read the Business Line thoroughly and got most of their answers from there. Teams from the Vizag Steel Plant and from Vijayawada also participated in the preliminary of the quiz.

Some more brain-teasers followed. Who is the editor of the magazine `O'? (Oprah Winfrey) Where is Unilever Chairman Niall FitzGerald moving to when he steps down? (Reuters) Which company ran the campaign `Don't carry cold in your pocket'? (Kleenex) Who are called `prosumers'? (People who buy from direct marketing organisations such as Amway and then recommend those prodcuts)

The real trap was yet to come. "Which company is pursuing the Garuda vision?" The Bhilai team fell for the trap and said it was Indonesian Airlines, going by the airlines name. (The answer being Ranbaxy that is aiming the $5-billion target by 2012.)

The quiz was presented by Union Bank of India, with the co-sponsors being, Titan, ITC Ltd, Club Mahindra Holiday, Reynolds and Amoco Yuasa. The academic partner is Amity University while Savera Hotels the hospitality sponsor. The regional sponsors of the quiz were Andhra Bank, Bakers Inn, Whitehouse shirts and trousers, Utsav and MusicWorld.

The next round of the quiz and finals would be held in Chennai on May 7.

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