THE POWER OF FOUR: WINNERS COLUMBAN OPEN QUIZ: 2009

Take a hundred musicians in a depressed port city in Northern England, choose four guys called John Lennon, Paul Mcartney, George Harrisson, and Ringo Starr(Beatles) and you have "Hey Jude". Take a hundred computer geeks in Redmond, Washington, send 96 of them home and the remainder is called Microsoft.

That was many moons ago. Now take Mashhood, Viju, Moses and Sameer and send them to Columban Open Quiz 2009…and they come back as winners…they create history and tell us that `Nothing is Impossible’. They buried individual fate and created the potent alchemy of a collective future in their win. The Columban Open Quiz is the best Quiz in the city (if not country), more than 240 schools, with participation running into many thousands.

In 29 years of the history of this institution this indeed is the hallmark of a happening that must be told to future Bosconians.These past years have been extraordinary in the express rate of change, well beyond the usual standards of culture, well above the personal watermarks that these four have stamped as empowered students. As students in the capital city, they belong in a brand new world, with new versions of everyday living- virus-reinventions of H1N1, political upheaval, global pandemic, world war and religious polarization, the likes of which have rarely visited our planet all at once.

Begin with the magnificent Mashhood Alam, record holder of his Class 10 CBSE English 96%, writer ,editor and erudite orator who calls me and says: `Ma’am I’m so sorry, I have news to share with you, but…..we won!!!!’Mashhood has with him the blessings of his ancestors-the passion and idealist notions of his own elder brother the one and only Mohsin Alam.Mashhood also has with him the admiration and respect of his Principal Fr.Binny Issac, who is the silent catalyst for this robust win.

Viju Radhakrishnan is the quiet genius, the guy who says nothing, he only smiles and works as if he heads a small office at NASA.That is the element of dedicated devotion that Viju reflects in all that he does, be it preparing questions for a Quiz at school, the computer graphics display for a function or even just sitting down and preparing for his examinations. His contribution to the Quiz was non-pareil.

Moses Koul, the legendary lead guitarist who makes girls swoon,sets the stage on fire, the School Band captain who is in love with Iron Maiden, is the grit filled hard working Bosconian who lives life to the fullest, stays out of class for music practices and still gets all his work done, You have to see Moses on a team to realize what a punch his memory can be. Moses was the lucky mascot for this team earning huge points with his contribution.

Last but not least, the ace genius, the youngest quizzer with the longest quizzing history, the English mastermind, Don Bosco’s finest writer in Class 10-the exemplary pupil-the only Bosconian to have shared the stage with the Principal to read a part of his report.Sameer Thomas is the stuff of classic repertoire and serene reflections. When asked about the quiz he simply said: Viju helped in 2 rounds, Moses helped in another 2, and Mashhood pitched in all the way…’and he modestly left himself out. That is Sameer, the humble, perfect personification of a genius who neither brags nor yells at the world and says `Look at Me’.

In an age where things are too confused, too loud, and too boastful we need an option-we need winners like these who will help us revel and dance with joy. We need to hear bells of success like this. In the unity of their sum of contributions to the Columban Open 2009, they gave us a maxim so simple, so clear and so evocative .This was the `Power of Four’. Bravo Bosconians…I’m at a loss for words. I only have excitement screaming within me..Prasanna calls it a rush of adrenalin!And so be it.

UMA MA’AM