Nihilanth 08

Having spent the day dozing off moving from one room to another, and one city to another to add, I am just about in my wits to right this post. I just got back from Nihilanth 08, the inter IIT-IIM quiz fest. The fourth edition finally happened, after a few phone calls here and there. And some additional Visa money which had to be paid by some of us (which IIT B should pay for :). But all in all, it was a well organized event. In the course of the coming weeks, more and more posts will appear about the same and I hope that the account are not Rashomon -esque.

Cryptic references apart, I think IIT B do deserve a pat on the back for their efforts at Nihilanth. It is not easy to co-ordinate such a big event. The only regret that I have is, that I missed out on watching Arul's Lit Quiz, and Amit's Biz tech quiz. The other 3 quizzes which I did attend were quite nice. As for my quiz, the general feedback was that it had a range of many sports and was non-statistical. Now, for me, thats half the battle won, because those are the precise two most difficult things to achieve while setting a sports quiz.


The BQC team won the quiz, and were followed closely by the IIT B team (comprising Vaibhav and Co.). Anand Shivashankar gave out some crack answers to finish 3rd. A special mention for Shamanth's team, who answered some of my favorite questions, though they finished just outside the main podium. As for my old mates Prasann and Mukund, it was nice to have them on stage and score 195 points.

I support the concept of a quiz fest. After all, it is like the woodstock of quizzing, or a street basketball game. I mean, where else would you see such an arsenal of knowledge on display. Some 'critics' claim otherwise, here is someone's description of the quizfest. Now, I am not going to be judgmental here, but here are a few pointers:

1. The negatives section looks well researched, while the positives section looks like a page 3 column. After all, the negative bits are three times the positives.

2. A quiz can only be analyzed by a knowledge connoisseur. Which is why i dont think i would qualify best to look at a chinese literature quiz, though i can also try

3. Tech glitches even happen in the high end multi billion dollar NASA space shuttles, so, should man stop going to space, I ask?

4. Now, lots of websites say a lot of things. If IIT B mention an event of a scale never before, DON'T take it literally. You won't have characters out of Halo popping up and trying to answer questions.

5. Dress codes and delays in quizzes should not be talked about. It is blasphemous. I don't have a problem if someone wears a pair of shorts to a quiz, as long as they don't drop them (But Janet Jackson having a wardrobe malfunction is permitted). After all, it is not the All England Lawn tennis association, and even they allow men to wear shorts :P.

6. Nihilanth is organized by students, who have to take care of hazaar things side by side. This is no excuse for slip ups, but i don't think mic glitches should even be counted. Volunteers for a quiz can be hard to find, especially when it involves running around. The fun and games bit is asking the questions seeing them answered. The back end bit is a lot more difficult.


I would like to hear more about the sports quiz, and critics and connoisseurs alike are welcome. Most teams had trains/ flights/buses/camels to catch (no camels :) by the time the finals got underway, but the IIM A and IIT B teams did stay back, and for what its worth, i think they did like the quiz.

I think Rahul, Vaibhav and team do deserve a lot of credit. It is not easy to organize a fest over a weekend and go to class on Monday. I almost missed my flight, in fact i tried very hard to miss it. But here I am, back home, and wishing all the best to the next edition of Nihilanth.