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By Mangalorean.com Team, Bahrain
Bahrain, Sept 24, 2005: Sacred Heart School Bahrain made it two-in-a-row glory by winning the second international inter-school quiz competition conducted by the Derek OBrien Associates at the spectacular Gulf International Convention Centre, Bahrain. Alma Marita Pereira and Sakshi Arora both of less than 12 years in a 14 years age group competition, kept the Sacred Heart School flag flying high from beginning till the end of the contest to the chants of vociferous school children and fans, and lifted the coveted trophy in a contest most professionally conducted by one-and-the-only, Derek OBrien. The quiz has been reputedly known as the Bournvita Quiz Contest (BQC) all the years over the last two decades. The winners now fly to Kolkata to participate in the subsequent parts of the contest to be telecast on Sony TV, which is expected to be held within a short time.
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A word of appreciation and the trophy to the winners, Alma and Sakshi, by His Excellency, the Ambassador of India to Bahrain, Mr Balakrishna Shetty. Also seen in the picture are main coordinators, Santhosh Karkera (left) and Anand Lobo (and Derek O Brien largely hidden behind H.E.).
The BQC made a quiz entry in the Kingdom of Bahrain during 2004, in which a total of 80 teams from 12 schools had participated. As per rules, a team of two must consist of an 8th grader (aged not greater than 14) and a 7th grader (aged not greater than 13). In an 11-year curriculum of the Sacred Heart associated to the Oxford syllabus (compared to the 10 years of the Indian curriculum), it is always the case that Sacred Heart School would have its participants aged at least a year lower than the other schools. This year, both of them were aged below 12, with Alma being the youngest participant, was rewarded a merit-based double promotion, from standard 6 to 8.
It was a repeat of sorts for the Sacred Heart School. Sacred Heart School had won the inaugural BQC held in September 2004 through Prathik Engineer and Dean Pereira (Almas brother). So it was two-in-a-row for the family of Agnel and Wilma Pereira too. The Pereiras, with Agnel being the Quiz addict and a renowned quiz master himself, have now produced Q-wizards of both their children. Its only a matter of academic interest that Agnel trained the successful teams of both years. Sakshi is the elder daughter of Rajeev and Anupam Arora of Delhi. The good omen for the pair started earlier in the day, with the 6 year old Aastha, the younger sister of Sakshi, preparing a good luck message by neatly drawing Sakshi and Almas names on a winning cup!! The Aroras and the Engineers (partnering Alma and Dean respectively in 2005 and 2004) possess close-knit family quiz unions which help their children to grow up knowledgeably.
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The winners with the Aroras (on the left) and the Pereiras (on the right). You can also see the last years winners, Dean (fourth from left) and Prathik (third from right)
As he is known, Derek O Brien was at his Quizzing best and creative with a new format, as is his wont. This time, out of 120 teams participating from 20 schools in Bahrain, 6 teams were chosen to play the finals held last night. In the finals, after the first two rounds of straight 30 questions, two lowly placed teams (New Millennium School and the Philippino School) were eliminated. After a further Buzzer and Straight talk rounds, two more teams (The Indian School and The Asian School) were eliminated. All through this, Sacred Heart had maintained a healthy lead, and entered the final buzzer round (with St Christophers School) with a 20 point lead. Though St. Christophers narrowed the lead by 10 points by answering only one question, predictably, and as advised, the cool and collected Sacred Heart girl-gang avoided going anywhere near the dangerous buzzer (where 10 points are deducted for a wrong answer), playing it safe and hung on to a narrow lead of 10 points in a
nerve-racking moment of Derek calling out the final question. St Christophers found it too difficult to make any attempt at even a guess answer to push the competition to a tie breaker.
The lone girls-only team of the finals, nicknamed by Agnel as the Ra-Ras (for PereiRA and AroRA), were rewarded for an excellent opening session, strong consolidation in the middle stage and holding on to their nerves at the fag end of the contest, rose up from their seats to the overwhelming chants of Sacred Heart, Sacred Heart by the enthusiastic 5,000+ crowd, which stayed with the winners late into the night.
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Bring all the prizes please
Derek OBrien seems to be telling the coordinators on the side-stage, as His Excellency hands over the prize to Sakshi, watched by teammate Alma, and the organizer, Santhosh.
His Excellency the Ambassador of India to Bahrain, Mr Balakrishna Shetty (a Mangalorean himself, newly arrived in Bahrain) gave away the prizes to the winners. Apart from the school trophy and the individual trophies, the winning team won a cash prize of $250, a Philips TV each and a few other gift hampers. They will also fly free of cost to Kolkata, with a school teacher, to participate further in the contest. The event in Bahrain was put together by two other prominent Mangaloreans, Santhosh Karkera and Anand Lobo, who were authorized by the BQC for conducting the quiz in the Kingdom.
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Its time to scream out loud for the teacher (foreground) and for the families (Wilma extreme left, Rajeev, Agnel at centre, Dean and Aastha, extreme right)
It was a moment of reckoning for both the girls. Though a bit nervous at the beginning (being the youngest of them all at age less than 12), they grew up in confidence complementing each other and worked wonderfully as a team. Alma was expected to lead the team being the 8th grader, but looking at her overwhelming emotions, her junior partner Sakshi rose to the occasion, taking over the mike, as they both shot one correct answer after another, and at one stage, were leading with 40 points with none of the other 5 teams even opening their accounts! That was like a Sehwag-special blitzkrieg!
The winning girls duly met the School principal, Sr Benedicta Pinto, (one more of the Mangalorean in the whole equation of Mangaloreans involved as discussed in this report), on Saturday morning. She could not hide her emotion of joy at this two-in-a-row performance by her talented students. It was a delight for the girls to appear on the stage to formally hand over the school trophy to the Principal, in front of the entire assembly of school children. One could easily see a reason for the unsurprising thrill in each students face and a delightful sparkle in the teachers faces.
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Time of reckoning for the Quizzi-gals, with the School Principal, Sr Benedicta Pinto, on the stage.
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One cross-section of the packed audience eagerly waiting for the quiz to begin. Over 5,000 quiz enthusiasts gathered to witness the spectacular DOB; The packed audiences is an emphatic feature of Derek OBrien quiz shows all over the world.
MANGALOREAN.COM is proud of the achievements of one more of the upcoming Mangalorean rising stars, Alma Marita Pereira, and wish good luck to the Sacred Heart School team of Alma and Sakshi representing Bahrain in the further rounds of BQC on Sony TV.
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