F
(the only veg thing in the entire menu) much more
rom “N-M physiology toh pura padh lena” to
than ever. e next morning, nervousness crept into
“Channels ke naam kyu yaad kar raha hai?
us as we were worried whether we would make it
ch***ya hai kya”, we were made to realise that
further or not. Yet again, our con�dence helped us get
we had come a long way. Well, a longer one had to be
rid of our doubts and we made it to the top 12! We
travelled to reach Indonesia for IMSPQ, 2016. It
were
amongst the top 12 teams in the world!! e next
started with hearing seniors talk about “a quiz in
round saw us tackling difficult questions and Oshin
Malaysia”, which sounded pretty cool, just that it
proving the author of Ganong wrong (things couldn’t
wasn’t happening in Malaysia this time. Getting the
get any cooler), to which she didn’t a g ree
list of students, registering, booking �ight tickets, it
instantaneously but only later, and we had already
was all an uphill journey, but it was exciting. We were
lost the round by then. Yet we were very happy with
all going to leave together from Delhi, and everything
our per formance and fostered ver y little
was happening as planned, well, apart from a taxi
disappointment. We decided to treat ourselves and
strike. Anuj, Akshi and Kaushiki managed to get a taxi
with great difficulty found an Indian restaurant so
and reach the airport, however Oshin and I had to
that we could actually eat some real veg food.
wait for an hour only to �nd an auto, making us run to
We had decided to have an extra day in the city so that
catch our �ight. With seats and meals pre-booked, we
we could do some sightseeing. We woke up at 3 in the
were expecting some good on board service, but were
morning to visit Borobudur, a Buddhist temple, of the
greeted by “Veg. Chicken” (anks AirAsia, we learnt
size of a hill, to see the beautiful sunrise between
about Asian Veg that day).
Indonesia’s volcanos.
Yogyakarta greeted
After breakfast, we
us with massive
were back to our
scrutiny of Anuj’s
luggage for Khakhra, We realised that when the assembling rooms, & fell asleep.
Later, we went to a
Faafda and other
time
of
6
am
wasn’t
a
joke
and
our
museum and had a
missiles. Outside the
air p or t , we were
mentor was knocking on our door to g l i m p s e o f t h e i r
e guard of
welcomed by a
wake us up while others were already history.
the museum, in a very
wo m a n f ro m t h e
having their breakfast.
kind gesture , guided
university who
us to an art gallery
helped us get our
where we saw how
dollars converted to
their traditional
some (or maybe
paintings are made. We tried to force feed Anuj some
quite a lot, because a 1 is 14000) Indonesian Rupiah. A
pizza but he felt that some nasty chef would add garlic
taxi ride landed us in the midst of the massive expanse
to the pizza base, thus making him go against his
of the university - at our guest house, which was more
Dharma. at evening, we ate at some local restaurant
like a hotel. Since I had carried Delhi’s 40°C with
and bought Pokémon Go t-shirts (yeah, Pokémon Go
myself, I stayed back that evening while the others
was famous back then). e return journey was in
changed to traditionals and visited the grand Candi
their local transport so that we could have a view of
Prambanan, as there was a special show that evening.
the
city, but almost all of us fell asleep. e next
In Indonesia, people wake up early. We realised that
morning we were supposed to split ways, as I had to
when the assembling time of 6 am wasn’t a joke and
join my family, while the others went back to Delhi.
our mentor was knocking on our door to wake us up
is was probably the �rst time the �ve of us had
while others were already having their breakfast. We
managed to support and help each other so much and
rushed for the written round which was humbling but
we were amazed that we could be such a good team,
we were con�dent that we would make it to the top 40
independent of the world, but interdependent. is
(Oshin helped us believe so). Since the announcement
simply wasn’t a quiz, it was a life event. It made us the
of results was spaced with cultural events, we had to
friends we couldn’t have been otherwise. ese
wait anxiously. Finally, we were overjoyed when our
“AIIMS, Delhi” was read out and enjoyed the oranges amazing memories will stay with me forever.
“
“