INSURANCE QUIZZZ!

This story is non-fiction and an incidence with me, the author. Enjoy~

I was just chilling in the break of 10 mins between two periods, when a voice called 'Akkriti'. My senses awoke, and it was Geetha ma'am, biology teacher in senior classes and quiz in-charge. She asked me if I would like to participate in a quiz competition, to which I immediately agreed as it is my forte! Much to my disinterest, it was about INSURANCE being conducted by HDFC ERGO. I was little confused but then decided to take part and chose Darshi, a ninth grader as my partner because I had just heard that she's a scholar and does well in many competitions. I talked to some of my close classmates about it. 

The quiz prelims were supposed to be in late August so we had to prepare for it together from the provided booklet as ma'am was confused whether we had to quiz together or separately in the prelims. In the PTM, I was with my dad and saw Darshi but couldn't approach her because she was having a talk with her friend (shy, P.S. I didn't know her). Later I messaged her on Whatsapp as I got her no. through a group and we started preparing. We also met once and then planned our tactics (it was online). My father also contributed in teaching me this. The prelims were on September 2.

The exams were to begin at September 12. On September 6 afternoon, I got a call, not from anyone else but Geetha ma'am which missed by 1s. I called her up immediately and to my pleasure, we got selected! I texted Darshi about it and our harder preparations started for the zonal round which was on September 11, having 2 rounds itself. We met at my house once and also stayed back in the computer lab for it (lot of struggle to convince ma'am XD). Our September 12 exam was postponed but the date wasn't known. For me it was Science Exam. 

We successfully appeared for the zonal rounds, we gave this one together at my house. We first got selected for the zonal finale with the 2nd rank. After a really nail-biting match with a tie breaker, we beat our sister school (rivals too) and became the WEST ZONE CHAMPIONS. Our ticket to Mumbai was confirmed for September 25 and we were really exuberant. Darshi's parents came in the evening to pick her and organised a party for me and my brother in pizzeria. We enjoyed that night and got geared up for our next round. I appeared for my English exam and felt really sick that day. I shouldn't have done it (P.S. Umm I still got the highest ;p). I also gave my Hindi exam, it was quite easy so and postponed all other exams. We met at each other's houses and prepared. My friends missed me but some were also happy that I got selected. This time, I had more load as I got selected for the zonal round of another quiz which was to be conducted on Sept 25. 

When the tickets were getting booked, the booking was of 25 evening as we live the closest to Mumbai. After coming back from the quiz, I rushed to the airport and when we were waiting after checking in, the flight got delayed. Finally we reached our destination, which was COURTYARD by MARRIOTT!!! And yeah, my parents and brother were also there. I still feel grateful to HDFC ERGO for it. Such a great courtesy. We had our dinner in Momo café.

On 26th morning we both were stressed. We had little breakfast in ARK 2.0. We did some last minute revision as learning new things wasn't worth. We went to the Amber Ballroom which was an auditorium. We sat on our seats and our parents on their respective tables. All the teams were talented and their were two lucky draw teams too. So total of 6 teams who are from a pool of 2 lakh students. We had butterflies in our stomach. Lights, Camera, Action (Jessi's ZOOM was running in my mind all the time). It was to be broadcasted on television. The QM by mistakenly declared us to be wild card (lucky draw) and our sister school to be the winner, our parents got enraged and spoke. Then finally he corrected it saying he's getting old and then gave some indirect compliments to us to indemnify it. 

The quiz started with speeches and we cleared the first section with a good score. Our parents' testimonials were shown between each sections. The second round was of GK. The question was about a recent event which got revived. Deo of Koriya's picture was shown with a gun and somethings we blurred. My grandfather had some strong instincts and told me about this, I also saw it on the news. But sadly, this was infinite bounce round so this was for our sister school who were just next to us so our turn would've been the last. Darshi asked if I knew the answer and I confidently nodded but kept quite as it was little long. The QM constantly gave hints but to his shock, no team could answer. With all his hope lost, it passed to us. I answered THE KILLING OF THE REMAINING CHEETAHS IN INDIA (I was confused if it was 2 or 3 cheetahs). The crescendo built up and we were correct. We got on the lead. In the third section we did one half wrong, as I clicked the buzzer by mistake (in kinda excitement because I knew the first part) due to which the other team got hints. I don't why but my brain just stopped dead and a mere prefix couldn't even click my mind. We got a small negative and I kept cursing myself. But then we covered it up in the next question. Then came the last section. We all had chills down our spine. The Q's were not that tough but they had to strike our minds. We had two lifelines, so we used up one in GK, our direct Q, about Tirupati Laddoo (Idk how but I had no idea bout it though I've eaten it in childhood :(. Our second lifeline double dare was remaining and then a Q came up about a campaign about which we studied during the prelims, I immediately pressed the buzzer with hesitations and took the lifeline. We got an upsurge of 40 and got the lead. 3 teams were on a tie for the second position. We did social distancing and won... WOOHOOO! We were felicitated and there were tears of joy in our family's eyes. We got trophies and ₹2.25 lakh. Some people came and took selfies with us. We were the only team to represent GIRL POWER. In fact we won on the commencement of Navratri!! We stayed back for re-recording by the cameraman for some scenes where any of the teams had to be louder or show better reactions. We had a video call with DIRECTOR MA'AM and all our exams were cancelled (Our in-charge teacher already allured us earlier with this rebate), we would be marked according to old and final exams average, to which we were completely OK. We also had an interview with CNBC along with our parents and teacher. 

Fun part- the equally competent south zone wild card won the second prize; the most boastful team got the 5th prize and our sister school got 6th rank with just 10 points (that too from lifeline) for which our teacher was really happy. LOL Jaani Dushman what they say! 

Uh-huh, the story doesn't end here. We also went on a Mumbai trip the very next day and visited famous places. Interestingly we went on an open roof bus and experienced the scenes. We also had to dive in when trees came hehe, felt like a game's character. Darshi's father also said, "THE BEST BDAY GIFT EVER RECEIVED"!!