I know I haven’t updated my blog in a long time. But, I can’t help it. I have been busy with other things. What other things you may ask? Well, other than the regular schoolwork - homework, tests, blah blah, I had been preparing and participating in the College Bowl. I was part of a 4 (+1) member team in the competition that pitted 12 teams against each other in a battle of trivia. I participated only because I had friends who could easily cover for my deificient knowledge of American history, politics, and sports. After some debate, we decided to name ourselves Team Bohrkingsteindinger (Go Figure!!!). Well, we got a bye on the first one as the team failed to show up. We won the second one quite easily, outclassing the team from the Kappa Sigma fraternity, 170 to 35. That was Wednesday. Come Friday, and we were up against one of the best teams in the tournament. The winner would progress to the finals. And the pressure was immense. The number of people banking on us to do well was ridiculous. Our Deans, professors, and even employers were expecting nothing short of a win. One of my professors met me in the cafeteria and said he wanted us to do well. And yes, friends had high expectations too. Not to mention the Indian freshmen I met on my way to the competition. They wanted me to do India proud. Damn. We were nervous as hell. But we got off to a brilliant start and were up 60 to -5 pretty soon. But they fought back and at the end of the first half, the score was 90 to 50 in our favor. It could’ve been closer had the timer not gone off before their bonus question. From there, we pretty much steamrolled the other team as it ended up 200 to 85. The same team had mowed down the opposition in the quarter finals with a 335 to 45 scoreline. I’m sure this loss left them shell-shocked as we were surprised at our win too. We couldn’t believe that we were in the finals!! The final game was right after the semi-final. Again, we blazed to a great start before the opposition fought back. At the end of the first half, the score read 85-65 in our favor. The second half started and soon the scoreline was 115-95. I was getting worried as the match was too close to call. But, then it happened.

We went on a roll answering a whole bunch of questions in a row and we were soon 180-95. At this point, I could barely conceal my excitement. However, this was not the end of it. The other team answered a question and got to 105. But they floundered on the bonus question. We scored another 20 points and reached 200, yet again. And then, the time was up. We could hardly believe it. We had won. Beaten 11 other teams to the top. And now we are going to the regional event in Maryland next year!! The celebration started as soon as the scores were announced. Being the good students we are, we behaved in a controlled manner.

Later, we went out to dinner at a fancy restuarant to celebrate the win. And like the nerds we are, we then went to Barnes & Noble and spent like 2 hours there mostly helping my roommate’s girlfriend pick out some books to gift her family. We got some ice-cream to round off the night and got back. It was a truly memorable day. We are still surprised that we won. We went into the competition with the idea of having fun. Of course, we wanted to win, but the main idea was to have a good time. And to finish this post, let me list out our team members, who are truly awesome!

Team Bohrkingsteindinger:

Daniel Stack (Captain) << My roommate from last year; Sophomore Physics Major
Kimberly Weber << His girlfriend; Sophomore Environmental Studies Major
Gaurav Kaushik << My current roommate; Sophomore Physics Major
Vivek Singh << Myself; Sophomore Physics Major
Alternate: Zahir Rahman << A very good friend of ours; Sophomore Physics Major

I salute my excellent team for this excellent victory. I played a minor role too

PS: For the uninitiated, here is what Bohrkingsteindinger means:

Niels BOHR + Stephen HawKING + Albert EinSTEIN + Erwin SchroeDINGER = BOHRKINGSTEINDINGER

Now isn’t that creative?