Hey, it is that time of the month when Qutopia holds the most awesome Quizzing event of the year. Coincidentally, it is also the time when Crapanalytics finds itself some work. This 11th of December, pack up your hard boards and march to the Campus 6 Auditorium, KIIT University because that is where Qutopia will be hosting its flagship event, Udghosh 2016 <imagine kickass drum roll in your mind>. Be sure to be there by 10 AM because that is when the registrations start. You have to make teams of two in order to register.
Like the last two years, Vikram Joshi is going be the Quiz master this year as well (he rocks). A big Quiz like this is expected to have big prizes and Udghosh doesn't disappoint. The winning team will take away 75000 INR, the runners up 50000 INR and the second runners up 25000 INR. If this isn't reason enough for you to come to Udghosh, we'll give you 10 more:
1. Be you own Santa.
It is good to be one
Christmas is coming early this year. With loads of audience
prizes and coupons (you’ll get some at the time of participation as well), you
can certainly strike off some items from your wish list for Santa. You'll be getting gift coupons right at the time of registration and we will be having dedicated audience rounds betwixt the stage rounds for finalists.Besides this, all the stage finalists will get gifts and prizes.
2. Team up with anyone.
Most unlikely people often form the longest lasting teams
Come with your Mom, come with your Boss, come with your
Professor! You are free to team up with everyone and anyone. It is an open quiz after all fellas.
3. You won't have to bunk your classes.
Happens to the best of us
As always, Udghosh is falling on a Sunday this year as. We apologize to those who like to bunk classes. Qutopia will
have other events throughout the calendar which don’t fall on a weekend and
might be of help to you. For office-goers and class-lovers, this will be a good
opportunity to utilize your day off.
4. Connect with interesting people.
Udghosh is a magnet that attracts the brightest, the most fun
and the best people. You are going to love the crowd here. Pick up a
conversation with anyone (not during the prelims of course) and you would be pleasantly
surprised.
5. Why should boys have all the fun?
We all love Alia Bhatt though
Girls, vroom to the quiz on your scooties (even without them) and you can be a recipient of the special prize for the “Best Girls Team” that has been a feature of several Udghosh editions over the last few years.
6. This guy.
This year is going to mark a hat-trick for Vikram Joshi, being the Quiz master of Udghosh. Udghosh is loved equally by QMs and participants with all of them being a recurring feature here. VJ has been a panelist at the Triguni panel of KBC and a World Quizzing Champion. He loves quizzing and also hosting them. Participating in or watching his quiz is a real treat. He is sure to be as enthralling as the last two years.
7. You'll have so much to learn.
You might as well get some of your misconceptions cleared.
With a QM like VJ, we are going to have an awesome Quiz with some awesome questions on some of the awesomest topics ever. Quizzes like these are one of the best ways to come to know of interesting facts and topics. You have every right to brag about these things you came to know of. It is always nice to be the smart one in the bunch.
8. If you are a stag, we'll find you a partner or at least a Doe.
Do you wanna Partner? O partner?
OK, we assumed that no one would insist on having a Doe. Stags and Does aside, one shouldn’t be worrisome of not having a partner on the Quiz day. Udghosh being a national level open quiz, a lot of people come to be a part of it and a great many of them are alone. We have mechanisms in place to find you a good partner if you want one. You might come to the gates alone but you’ll go inside with a partner.
9. We'll find you an accommodation cheaper than OYO.
The Boys and Girls hostels at KIIT are called King's Palace and Queen's Castle respectively.
Just to be clear, this blog has not been sponsored by any hotel aggregator. If you do not live in Bhubaneswar area, then you don’t have to worry about a place to stay. Udghosh is a flagship event of KIIT University and there are numerous hostels on KIIT’s sprawling campuses. We have pre-booked rooms for participants which you can avail of by depositing a nominal fee. Hey, it can be a good opportunity to roam around the beautiful capital city after you are done with the Quiz.
10. The prize money and all the other prizes will be in new currency.
LOL, the prize money will be in a form which is convenient for you. We would have paytm the money to the winners if we could, but cheque seems like a better and more appropriate option.
The Caribbean Cricket Team, like the Caribbean Pirates came over to the subcontinent and stole away the World T20I Cup 2016. Along with the Cup, they have stolen our hearts. Before the start of the tournament, the Windies were never the favorites. They even had their differences with their own Cricket Board. But Brathwaite's four consecutive sixes in the last over of the final match against England sums up the Windies campaign. Amidst all their hardships and differences, Sammy's men let fearlessness prevail. Crapanalytics has come up with a list of ten factors that made the Windies World T20I champions again.
1. The feeling of us against the world
As i said before, nobody would have put their money on this team before the start of the tournament. At the end of the match, an emotional Captain Sammy talked about how the WICB was unwilling to send the men in this squad to play despite having a solid T20I record. The players also had an ongoing dispute with the board regarding pay. The team received inspiring messages from Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Keny Anthony (I assume this is whom Sammy meant) but they were still to hear from their cricket board. Sammy talked about the fact that they had no uniforms and money for print. Coach Phil arranged these things for the team in Kolkata. One of the commentators, Mark Nicholas even went on to describe them as short of brains. Amidst this atmosphere, the team was united by a common cause i.e. to prove to the world what an amazing bunch of cricketers they are. They did so in flair and style by winning the Cup for the West Indian fans and the West Indian cricketers.
2. Darren Sammy's charismatic leadership
Sammy giving a moving speech about the story
behind his men winning the World T20I
That speech after the final made everyone aware of the champions' difficult journey to glory. Sammy proved that he is the perfect captain even before a match started by winning ten consecutive tosses in the entire tournament including the warm-ups. Hence, he was at a liberty of when to bat and when to bowl in each match. Let me remind you that this is the same captain who led the West Indies to victory in 2012. Sammy proved to an efficient leader under whom the West Indians fought to redeem themselves and they did!
3. Amazing individual performances
Simmons, Samuels and Gayle
In the final, it was Marlon Samuels who saw his team to victory after the loss of early wickets. His 85* is the highest individual score in a World T20I final. The second highest score is also by him i.e 78 against Sri Lanka in 2012. He was assisted by Brathwaite who finished the final and the entire West Indian campaign with flair and style. Brathwaite's 24 in the last over is the highest score by any team in the last over to win a T20I. In the semi final against India, it was Simmons who rose to the occasion. Gayle was the hero in the match against South Africa. Badree and Russell proved themselves useful by taking 9 wickets each throughout the tournament.
4. And an amazing performance as a team
The West Indies team was phenomenal in the field throughout the tournament. One thing characteristic of the West Indian batting was that whenever a batsman was dismissed, another one took up his place and kept the scoreboard moving. In each match, there was atleast one batsman who stayed till the end and saw the team to victory. In the bowling department, we saw some stellar bowling performances by Badree and Russell. The team was stacked very well with all rounders who could bowl well. The main players were under a state of conflict with the cricket board regarding pay and other things. But skipper Sammy has utilised these negotiations to help kindle team spirit and forge a powerful T20 unit that became a champion.
5. Their ability to play fearless cricket
“West Indies are [some] of the most dangerous competitors. The way they play cricket is fearless. You can't expect what's coming. You've got to be ready in all departments,” remarked Rohit Sharma before the semi final match against West Indies. The West Indians were not afraid to take chances as we saw in the match against India. Simmons escaped atleast two dismissal situations in the match. When a team comprises of lower order batsmen who can hit as well as the top or middle order, one can take such gambles. And as fortune favors the brave, West Indies are the World T20I champions.
6. The West Indies have excelled in the subcontinent conditions
If we leave behind the first three World T20I tournaments, then we'll find that West Indies are the only team to have qualified for three back to back tournaments in 2012, 2014 and of course 2016. Till date, they have played 16 T20Is in subcontinent venues in World T20, winning 10 of them and losing five. When it comes to subcontinent conditions, they are the third team in the list with most wins in World T20. Apart from this, many Caribbean players are quite favourable to the Indian conditions because of Indian Premier League and their three main players — Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo have been consistent and among the top performers in the tournament.
7. Presence of quality all-rounders
Brathwaite, Sammy and Russell
Barring Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher and Denesh Ramdin, almost all the West Indies players can hit hard and bowl as well. It starts with Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo and Carlos Brathwaite. Their deep batting is their strength and variety of all-rounders will add up to it.
8. They had to match their women
Earlier in the day, West Indian women made history at Kolkata itself by winning their first ever Women World T20I by ending Australian reign at the top for several years. The win was powered by 18-year-old Windies opener Hayley Matthews stunning 66 off 45 balls with three sixes, in a stand of 120. The skipper, Stafanie Taylor had received a text that morning from Darren Sammy which read 'Staf you are going to do it, you girls you are going to do it'." Hearing the news of womens' victory the West Indian men must have thought that they can't go home as the runners up while the women return as champions. Hence, the day ended as a double treat for the West Indies.
9. They have genuine cricketing talent
Sir Gary Sobers, Brian Lara and Clive Llyod
From the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, the West Indies team was one of the strongest in the world in both Test and One Day International cricket. A number of cricketers considered among the best in the world have hailed from the West Indies: Sir Garfield Sobers, Brian Lara, Clive Lloyd, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Courtney Walsh and Sir Viv Richards have all been inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame among others. The West Indies were the first team to win back-to-back World Cups (1975 and 1979), and appeared in three consecutive World Cup finals (1975, 1979 and 1983). Add to this, the fact that they won the T20I World Cup in 2012 as well. These are stats enough to show that West Indies has been in the business of producing world class cricketers since a long time back and they continue to do so even today.
10. This amazing song from DJ Bravo
This song from DJ Bravo became the unofficial anthem
for the West Indies this tournament.
It has over 3 million views on Youtube. The song has become popular in India after the victorious West Indian campaign. Yes, India lost to the West Indies in the semi finals but we set aside that loss to join the West Indians in the celebrations of their Cinderella story because irrespective of the team lifting up the trophy, it is Cricket that is the Champion every time!
Indians joining the West Indian team in their celebrations
The author is not what you would call a bookworm. However,
he grew tired of reading the 10 reasons why this and 10 reasons why that things
that he sometimes writes himself. The author then took to wondering what people
read before these top 10 lists took over the internet and the internet took
over the world. He decided to ask the internet and the internet pointed him to
some good old short stories. The author decided
to point you, dear readers to the 9 short stories that he found to be
most entertaining.
1. The Ransom Of Red Chief by O.Henry
William Sydney Porter, known better by his pen name O.Henry
is a true master of storytelling. His stories are light hearted funny ones and
are known to have a "sting in the tail". The one being discussed here
involves a kidnapping and it is not the kidnapped person who suffers! Funny
things keep happening throughout the story you'll have a lot of rofl and lol
moments. Dunno if O.Henry would appreciate modern society's way of
complimenting funny things.
2. The Fall Of The House Of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
Don't read this one at night under a torchlight like the
author of this blog did. It is established that Edgar Allen Poe suffered from
depression and his stories can be described by the word weird. Well, weird but
exceptional at the same time. It contains a lot of unconventional themes like
incest, reanimation of the dead and likewise. The story ends in a climax and
that is one climax to read! It is sure to give you some scares.
The plot of this short story is as simple as three different
students copying the same poem to submit for their school's poetry competition
which is mandatory for all the students. P.G Wodehouse wittily brings out the
lazy and lackluster attitude of students towards something that they are made
to do and do not want to do. The principal takes the incident as a challenge to
his authority. How the events unfold thereafter makes for an interesting read.
This story is written in the form of a first person
narrative. For a brief period of time, Mr. Bond suffered from blindness. As he
travels alone by train, a girl whom he senses to be beautiful comes to sit
across him. He doesn't want the girl to know that he is blind and starts a
conversation. This conversation and the revelation that follows makes this
story an awesome read.
Norman Gortsby is sitting on
a park bench. The other end of the bench is occupied by an old man who
is wearing a carnation. Norman Gortsby begins to contemplate about the time of
the day i.e. Dusk. He considers it to be the time of those who have been
defeated by life and he considers the old man to be one of them. Soon, the old
man goes away and his place is taken by another person who says that he is new
to the city and has lost his way as he came out of his hotel to buy a cake of soap. He asks Gortsby for
help and what follows after is an awesome second part of the story.
Its O.Henry again! No I am not biased, he is actually that
good. This story is about a homeless man in New York named Soapy. It is the
winter season and terribly cold for a homeless person to survive. So much so
that Soapy decides to spend his winter in a prison. The prison, with its warm
blankets and guaranteed meals is definitely more hospitable for a homeless guy
than the cold streets of New York. Soapy tries to get himself arrested and
fails ludicrously many times. He then
comes to the street where he lived as a child. Those memories fill him with
inspiration and he decides to turn his life around. What follows after this, no
one can expect!
A treat from Russia, this one is about a father trying to
convince his infant son not to smoke! Eugene Bikovsy is a lawyer whose 7 year old
son Seriozha is placed under the care of a
governess as Eugene's wife is no more. The conversation between the father and
the son makes for an awesome read.
Asia's first Nobel winner writes about his five year old
daughter, Mini's friendship with a dry
fruits peddler. The friendship ends abruptly after the Kabuliwala is convicted
of a crime and sent to prison. He is released years after and comes to meet
Mini on the day of her wedding. A good read, this one.
Mathilde is born relatively poor, but dreams of an
aristocratic life. She eventually marries a low paid clerk who tries his best
to keep her happy. After a lot of begging, he somehow manages to get two
tickets to a ministry of education party. Mathilde loses something that she has
borrowed for the party. She tries to compensate and the story takes a different
course.
According to a survey by Weigo (weigo, 2013), home-based workers
accounted for 15.2 percent of the non-agricultural workforce of our country. In
the urban landscape, working from home has started losing the reputation of
being an entitlement of only the sick and of pregnant women. A lot of people
like to take a day off from the office and complete their work from home if the
nature of their work permits them to do so. Crapanalytics has come up with a
list of reasons of why working from home is more awesome than you think.
1.You
get to spend more time with your pet.
Dog
owners would better understand the importance of this point. Doesn’t your heart
break when you have to lock up your puppy in your flat/home and then leave it
that way for the entirity of the day? Your only moment of redemption is when
you come back home and deliver your pup from its loneliness. Moreover, you
realise that loneliness makes the pet do unimaginable things like pooping on
your bed or eating up your documents. Having a pet is nice because it is your
best opportunity of non-human interactions. Why not work from home for a day
and keep patting and caressing your pet while you work? Who knows, one day your pet might learn what
you do at work. In that case, you can ask your dog to your job for you
sometimes.
2.You can play loud music.
Music
lovers(like the author) would understand how musiyc can pump up your
productivity. Now, you can’t take your music system to office with you and most
bosses take exception to their employees plugging in earphones at work. Your
best chance at mixing music with work is working from home. You can start with
playing soft beats at the beginning and then switch to heavy beats once you
enter your zone. You would then finish up your work and then realise that your
job isn’t that boring afterall.
3.You can wear pyjamas.
No
piece of clothing is as comfortable as your pyjamas. The author knows the
ridicule one faces while wearing pyjamas to one’s office. You can always take a moment to admire the beauty
of your pyjama and then return back to work. Many people find informal clothes
to be more comfortable than formal clothes that the rules of their office
require them to wear. Working from home gives you the freedom to wear what you
are comfortable with and in many cases this increases your productivity. Just
be sure to put on something decent everytime you have to answer the doorbell to
be prepared just I case your boss decides to give you a visit.
4.No
fear of your boss looking over your shoulder.
We
have all faced that awkward moment while plaing farmville at work when we
hear,”What are you doing?”Looking back, one finds the
Mr.nogamesallowedatworkinthisoffice i.e. your boss and then you have to give
lengthy explanations like, “I was just taking a break”. Many people(like the
author) are more productive when they are their own boss i.e. they are working
in an unsupervised environment. Being your own boss is one of the many freedoms
that working from home offers you. You can make a timetable according to your
likes. You can take an early luch or you
can take a late lunch.
5.Save travel time.
Commuting
to work is a headache in most big cities of India. In cities like Mumbai, it
often takes upto 2 hours just to reach your office changing trains and then
walking to stations. You can put this time to some productive use while you
work from home. You will also be spared
the sound of honking horns and the feel of crowded public transport. You’ll end
your day with more energy and less frustration. It would be like taking a day
off and still completing your work.
6.Spend more time with your
family.
A
lot of working parents in metros have to leave their children at a day care
centre while going to work. The children, as a result start having a distance
from their parents. “Sunday wala uncle” is a term coined for fathers who are at
work for the entirity of the week. As a result, the child gets to see his
father only on Sundays. To save yourself from such reputation, it is mandatory
that you take atleast a day off to work from home in a week and spend some
quality time with your child and then maybe go to a nearby park in the evening.
Working from home is also a wonderful opportunity for single mothers who can
work and look after their children at the same time. Spending some time at home
with your spouse is beneficial for your relationships too.
7.Know
your neighbourhood.
Facebook
and Whatsapp connect us with friends and realtives in far off places. But what
about those people who live next door? It is important to have greater
interactions with your neighbours than the occassional hi when you catch him
entering his front door the same time you are entering yours. During lunch, you
can invite your neighbour over or maybe pay him a visit. Having a good
aquaintance with your neighbour is
important as he is going to be the immediate point of contact during an
emergency.
8.An
opportunity to keep your house clean.
You
can utilise the breaks during work at office that you spend beside the
water-cooler gossiping with your
colleague about the new girl in office. You can wipe your dining table at this
time or maybe use a vacuum cleaner to tidy the floor if you are working from
home. You can save yourself from the mess your house/flat becomes during the
week due to busy work schedules and then you have to spend your Sunday cleaning
the house. You will be surprised to know
how clean and organised your house/flat can look once you give in a little
effort and time.
