At long last, TCS IT Wiz finally arrived at Delhi. It felt like the most awaited event of the century. Everyone was waiting for it. And it brought back horrific memories of previous year. I really didn’t want this to happen again. But fate had other ideas.
With the noticeable absence of Mridul, our quizzing team had become relatively weaker. Saumey (my current quizzing partner) is only in ninth-class (which was the same class I was in last year), and he is still raw. But he does have a remarkably wide knowledge field.
Gyaan.in had threads on TCS IT Wiz, and questions on how to prepare about it even before you could say “Giri”. I felt really amused at all this. Because you really cannot “prepare” for this competition. Its that knowledge of all previous years and current affairs snowballed into a large one.
Just the day before TCS (30th October) was Dad’s birthday, so I was up quite late. Next morning, I reached school all excited and jumpy. Meena Ma’am informed me that TCS guys had requested us to send thirty teams. That is not a typo. Thirty teams! Too much. We were sending six. Under no circumstances am I going to list them here. Before leaving, I took Sir Alex Ferguson’s aashirwad. It really helped, though the potency was a little low (he has other important matters at hand as well).
Shikhar and his brother turned up late. He claims he was late and his driver did Burnout-style driving to get him there.
Puts Paul Walker to shame
School arranged only a Qualis for us. They obviously thought twelve people would sit comfortably in a eight-seater. With a driver.
Pictured: Comfort
This was the second-last image. I promise. Second-last.
So we stole Jaikishan’s Civic and Vedant’s Verna, and accommodated people into the Verna (the Civic was for return). It took a lotta time, and we finally reached the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
There was hardly any crowd. My guess was only four-hundred teams. After registration (and a quick chat with New Era guys), we made it to Dogra Hall, and grabbed seats. There was that usual survey and stuff, which could be exchanged for refreshments.
I looked around, and saw that the hall was full. But no people sitting on the floor like last time. Less people, better chances.
Giri made his trademark entry, and announced:
Due to overwhelming response, for the first time in the history of TCS IT Wiz, we are holding two prelims.
My heart sank. So there were a large number of people outside as well! Phew. My estimate was so wrong…
The prelims began, and it was easier than last time. We screwed up on that “decision engine” question, and wrote WolframAlpha, which was a common mistake many made. It was Bing. Saumey was excellent – contributing more than expected. He gave four out of twenty, which is quite good for a ninth class guy. He answered crucial questions like MNP and LinkedIn, which few knew. Kudos, kid.
Then we left for refreshments, and recession was visible. Pathetic food. Miserable sandwich, passable pattice, and, most importantly, Oyes wafers. Yes. OYES! The USP of Oyes was free points on cards, and ten would fetch us another Oyes! We immediately began collecting them, and accumulated eleven! Woot!
The second prelims were underway, and we waited forever. We were looking at the institute (where practically all of us wanted to be). Some kids had reached to the top of a building.
After a really, really long time, it was time to enter Dogra Hall once again. There was lot of pushing, and the entire stairway was jam-packed. TCS volunteers failed to control the crowd, which soon turned into a mob. Now, according to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, a crowd becomes a mob if it breaks something. Naturally, the crowd broke a glass pane, much to the anger of TCS guys.
Meanwhile, Shubham and Arvind did something great. They entered through another gate (which was closed for us, dunno why), pretending to have lost a water bottle.
When we finally reached Dogra Hall, they had reserved an entire row for us. Giri returned, and announced the results.
For the first time, we have had nine-hundred-and-nine papers to check! I don’t think any quizmaster has had so many papers to check before. First, the answers.
Saumey and I had pretended to have got only eight or nine correct. At the end of the answers, we had got fourteen. Not enough, I thought. Fifteen weren’t enough last time.
Before I announce the qualifiers, I would like to recognize the top ten teams. The team which finished tenth is…
The entire hall is quiet. Nobody even breathes.
… Aditya and Saumey Jain of Montfort School.
NO!
We went on to the stage to collect a t-shirt, a book and a Rubik’s cube.
Which class are you in?
I’m in tenth and he’s in ninth.
To the audience : I just found out that the level of quizzing improves so rapidly in Delhi. These quizzers are from ninth and tenth. Give them a round of applause!
I don’t remember the other teams, but Sopandev from DPS Dwarka finished seventh. What was really agonizing was that he had exactly the same marks as that of the sixth qualifier, but lost out on starred questions.
New Era qualified, but not Prateek’s team! Young Arnav and Apratim had. DPS Noida, who finished second last year, were also on stage. DPS R K Puram qualified yet again, with quizzers from ninth and eighth. That was something. Even Vivek Nair and Karthik qualified; they finished eighth last year.
The finals were really easy. We got seventy percent of the questions right. Especially in the connect round.
DPS Noida won the finals. It was a great experience for all of us.
On the return journey, Shubham disfigured my Rubik’s cube. 
28.667000
77.217000
So now, Piyush Chawla is sent into the attack. At this moment, Virender Sehawg is batting at 78. He’s really angry, that Chawla was picked ahead of his Delhi buddy Amit Mishra in the World Twenty20 squad. So he goes all boom, bang and all that.
It may surprise you, that the current run-rate is 11.13. If you do some simple math, the run rate has increased by…?
