Last weekend IIM Lucknow organized its annual marketing fair event called Index thats an acronym for 'IN'formation through 'D'isguised 'EX'perimentation; talk about reverse engineered acronyms :) . This event is a veritable mela, it attracts the lucknow public in droves, with the lure of free gifts, infromal events, and games. The main intent is to get different target audiences for particular stalls which are sponsored by companies for doing market research, the information should be gathered in such a way so that the consumer doesnt know that his views are being taken for a market survey. I was involved in the informal events , one was a KBC(kaun banega crorepati) style quiz and the other a school quiz, the KBC one involved picking people from the audience on to the stage and asking them questions with 4 choices. we had to conduct this in hindi. The night before, my partner and i had a hilarious time converting all our quiz questions into hindi. Some samples for which the translation was a pain. 1. Which psychopath is the protagonist of the book “Silence of the Lambs” by Thomas Harris. a.Jack The Ripper b. Norman Bates c. Holden Caulfield d. Hannibal Lecter
Which of the following is not one of the seven wonders of the ancient world?Pyramids of Egypt b. Colossus of Rhodes c. Lighthouse of Alexandria d. Taj Mahal
Some other words and phrases which gave us trouble were. "bone of contention" , "best-selling", "siege", "inscription", "anthology" etc. Finally we referred a website shabdkosh.com to help us out.
we also had some questions with local flavour like Which of the following songs sung by K. L. Saigal, was written by the last Nawab of Lucknow (Awadh) – Wajid Ali Shah? a.karun kya aas niraas bhayi b. jab dil hi toot gaya c. babul mora naihar chhooto jaayed. baalam aaye baso more man men 2. Who among the following singers was born in Lucknow?a.Freddie Mercury b. Mick Jagger c. Cliff Richards d. Bryan Adams
Overall it was a unique experience. The school quiz was a disappointment, the level of the teams was quite below par .