I am famous!

In class 8, something really big happened to me. At that time, there was this very famous quiz show that used to come on TV, "Bournvita Quiz Contest" and it was hosted by Derek O'Brian. I got a chance to participate in this show and my life changed after that.(for a couple of months only, btw). My partner was a bright chap from Class 7,(he is a doctor now) and I had my mom accompanying us as the school representative. That turned out to be both a blessing and a curse, hehe! Our's is a small school, from a small town, which no one had ever heard about.So people, including our beloved Principal, didn't have much confidence in our abilities. I didn't care though, because I was gonna come on TV and I was ready to brag about it for the rest of my life.

So there we were in Mumbai(it was Bombay then,..with no apologies to RT and his band of merry men), being put up in the posh Juhu Centaur hotel with a room overlooking the Arabian Sea. I was going absolute nuts and since food was complimentary, was busy hogging away on all the dishes that I could pronounce from the menu card.

After a couple of days of rest and sightseeing, we had our shooting lined up. The schedule was such that, both our quarter final and semi final rounds(if we made that far) were to be shot on the same day. The shooting was at the famous Nanavati studios, and I could barely contain myself. We were powdered and pampered in the green room and soon enough we were in the studio sets. Derek was waiting for us and seeing a team from Bengal, winked and wished us best of luck! We were ready to rumble..

The QF round had 2 teams from Bombay and one from Bangalore.Our measly Durgapur team looked completely out of sync in there. I just prayed we didn't finish last. As luck would have it, we were 3rd before the final speed round. For those unaware, one has to answer 15 q.s in 1 minute and could score a maximum of 75 points. So, if we aced it, we could finish as toppers. Maybe God was with us that day, we did exactly that, I don't remember any of the q.s save the last one, which was "Spell renaissance".
I doubt I could spell that now.

The euphoria of winning the QF was quickly submerged in the preparation for the SF round which was due to start within one hour. After a few hugs from my over excited mom, we were back in the green room, with a double layer of smelly stuff pasted over our "pretty" faces. The teams we were facing were now Bombay Scottish, who were last year champions,DPS RK Puram from Delhi and Little Flowers from Jamshedpur. But we weren't intimidated any more. St Xavier's from the steel city of Durgapur, were in the finals of the All Asia BQC, and we had already made history in our town!!!

I couldn't stop jumping up and down after it was all over. Some teams had gone into shock, after all big names had been toppled and we were the ones responsible for it. That night, we were the toast of the hotel. Everyone was congratulating us and teams were looking at us in awe. I think that was the first time in my life, that a girl ( a fellow participant) actually walked up to me and wished me and wanted to be friends with me. I still remember her name....Sonal from Christ School, Guwahati.For a thirteen year old, who is on the verge of major hormonal upheavals, it was quite a landmark!

All night, I was getting congratulatory calls from friends and relatives. But the best one was from our Principal, dear Father Jerome.We called him up and said that we were through to the finals..instead of the expected "Well done lads", what we got was "Ahh, so you guys are through, hmm..well that means you would want one more week off, I am telling you that is going to affect your grades. And now, I need to cancel your return train tickets for tomorrow and book them again for a week later. Do you think these TV people are going to refund the cancellation charges too?? Ahh too much work for me, anyways talk to them and let me know soon. Don't delay your stay more than required. Good night!"

more later....