Remember the Bournvita Quiz Contest?

Thanks to his dear Chanda Bua being on Kaun Banega Crorepati, the brat developed some sort of a passing interest in quizzing. Much to my delight, me being an inveterate quizzer in my college days, with trophies and medals and certificates to my credit, and my general knowledge (back then, of course, now I have the mind of a seive, everything falls out), the stuff that legends are made of. Ah, a chip off the old block, I thought. I brought out the encyclopedias and the atlases and the visual dictionaries and attempted to get the tyke interested some more.
Unfortunately for me, his interest lasted only till the next cartoon serial on the cartoon channels and Amitabh Bachchan as a host was too senior to engage his interest beyond the mandatory first few questions. Consequently, the brat still has a GK quotient of the levels that has me quail with embarassment when he decides to air his knowledge in a public situation.Of course, if you put him to a rapid fire round on the Batman movies, or any superhero movie, he would win hands down no dispute, given that he's watched each around one million times. This despite my best efforts to get him to up his GK quotient. All the quotient he wants to up are Beyblade Metal Fusion and Justin Bieber. I believe he knows Justin Bieber's fake phone number by heart. Anyway.
I remember, back when I was a mere chile, and this was just a bit after the dinosaurs roamed the earth in search of new hominids to devour, there was a show called Bournvita Quiz Contest which had school children being quizzed on various topics by a quiz master called Derek O Brien. Yes, the same Derek O Brien who today has plighted his troth with Mamta Di and TMC and is currently painting Kolkata green, metaphorically speaking of course. To me then, the ultimate in coolth was to be one of the kids up there, on television, taking the rapidfire questions. Unfortunately somehow our school never made it. Me being the retiring wallflower violet kind of person, I didn't dare get into quizzing until I entered college, had ditched the soda bottle glasses and gained a micro smidgeon of self esteem. Ergo, when I received a mail asking me to support the bringing of the Bournvita Quiz Contest, I was all for it. So here below is the mail asking for public support to bring the BQC back. I for one, would love to have it back, purely for the brat to watch and start loving quizzing the way I did.

What about you? Would you want the BQC to come back?

Here's a mail I got from Rahul, who is spearheading the movement to bring BQC back.

Let's Bring BQC back!

Childhood friends and a nostalgic conversation over tea brought all kinds of latent memories to the surface and interesting conversations to the table. Right from old flames and tree-houses that we built, to TV shows watched together amidst shrieks of excitement. In fact, the one that usually got us the most excited was the Bournvita Quiz Contest, a TV show with a purpose. I still remember the healthy competition it brought out between us: we pretty much had our own BQC session at home. Now that I think about it, that session was what encouraged us to pay attention and learn so that we would know the answer the next time. I wonder why they stopped the show. It was such a sure-shot way to get children to develop their mind without it seeming like too much work. I really would enjoy it if the BQC returned – better for us and better for the next generation.

At a time when television programming has hit an all-time low, the world seems to think they've hit jackpot – the profusion of shows that clutter today's TV are taken to mean variety and superior programming. What people fail to realise is that the actual content of these shows is mediocre at best and quite terrible if you tell the actual truth. They seek only to entertain, not impart any kind of knowledge. I think, like always, we should look at history to replicate success and engineer learning at the same time. An immediate example that comes to mind is the Bournvita Quiz Contest, a show that amply demonstrates programming that is beneficial to all viewers. The BQC had a simple format: student participants were asked quiz questions by a dynamic host. But it served its purpose so beautifully because it served to entertain and educate at the same time: edutainment! A celebrity was thrown in on every show for excitement, while the question-answer session brought in the teaching element. If you ask me, that's the kind of programming that kids need today: interactive learning on a mass scale. Any idea how to revive the BQC?

Derek O'Brien has joined our movement now its time you do your bit in taking this movement ahead and bringing back intelligent viewing on television. 

Derek O'Brien's letter to Cadbury! 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?bid=200395089982040&set=a.200395053315377.46249.168969106457972&ref=nf

The fans have taken this movement to another level! This started off about 3 months ago and the response has been amazing, with almost 148,000 people wanting BQC Back. It started off as something simple - an experiment of sorts. They are also sending out banners to people who want them - so far 70 people have written in asking for them. If you want your banner or if you have any suggestions on how we can spread this movement together you can email them on bringbqcback@gmail.com! 

I definitely want BQC back - Come join in the movement! http://www.facebook.com/bringbqcback

It was started about 3 months ago & on our Facebook page we're targeting everyone who watched the show, likes to quiz & is smart! The goal is to Bring BQC back.

Let's start the golden days of BQC again! 

Thank you for your interest!