Place: Trichy, a calm and warm city on the banks of River Cauvery.

Date: October 15, the appointed day of the Trichy City Finals of the 2007
Edition of Aqua Regia, The Science Quiz.

The Quiz Master: - Mr. Bharat Jain

The morning saw a maddening rush of students, all eager to have a go at the Prelims. A record 465 teams (a pair makes up a team) took the Prelims, which comprised 25 visual questions.

These 465 teams were short-listed on the basis of their performance in a test, administered to an eye-popping 12016 students (6006 teams) at the school level!!

As the moment of the announcement of the Prelims result neared, the tension in the large

auditorium among the students (and of course, the accompanying parents and teachers) was palpable.

As is the tradition, the top six teams were short-listed for the On Stage Finals. Needless to say, the result broke the hearts of the losing teams. But sporting as they were, the losing teams gladly applauded the ‘through-Prelims’ teams:

(a) St. James Matric: G. Arjuna & S. V. Srinivasan (both of Class X)
(b) Mahatma Gandhi Centenary Vidyalaya: S. Vishwam & K. Jayaditya (both of Class IX)
(c) Sri Akilandeswari Vidyalaya: S. Aditya & Sudarshan Prasanna (both of Class X)
(d) Campion Higher Secondary School: N. Prashanth & Jeffin C. Matthew (both of Class X)
(e) R. S. K. Higher Secondary School: R. Niranjan & R. Madhu Balaji (both of Class IX)
(f) Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1: Uma Shankar Mohanta & Souptik Dhar (both of Class X)

Now the stage was set for the On Stage Finals.

At stake? A place in the Regional Finals with some (a lot, actually) cash in prize, a cool
trophy, and loads of goodies.

The first three rounds saw an all-out battle between all the six teams. Half-way through the quiz
i.e. at
the end of three rounds, no single team enjoyed a clear lead as the points position kept changing.

An excellent performance, backed by some strategic bidding, in the fourth and fifth rounds, saw
the duo of S. Aditya & Sudarshan Prasanna from Sri Akilandeswari Vidyalaya (SAV), establish a good lead over their rivals.

However, with 10 questions to go and 100 points up for grabs, the battle was still wide open as the

Quiz Master (QM) fired ‘Salvo’ (the Rapid Fire round).

The Rapid Fire round saw an intense battle between all the six teams. However, a couple of right answers helped the team from SAV further consolidate their lead. As it became clear that this team had taken an unassailable lead over their rivals, the focus shifted to the fight for the other positions.

At the end of the final round, the final position read like this: the team S. Aditya & Sudarshan Prasanna from Sri Akilandeswari Vidyalaya had won the Trichy City Finals!!

In the second place was the team from R. S. K. Higher Secondary School. While the first two positions had become clear, the picture was still not complete – there were a tie for the third place!!

The tie for the third place was between Mahatma Gandhi Centenary Vidyalaya and Campion Higher Secondary School.

The QM announced the “tie-breaker on the buzzer”: the team which would hold their nerves and think real fast on their feet would eventually grab the third place.And the team which exhibited these crucial skills in such a tight situation was from Mahatma Gandhi Centenary Vidyalaya.

The names of the winners were now announced by the QM to a resounding applause from the cheering crowd, which lapped up every bit of the tension-filled last moments of the On Stage Finals.

Well, let me conclude with one recommendation: If you visit Trichy, do not forget to visit two grand temples - the beautiful Rock Fort (atop a hill) and the magnificent Srirangam