Event: Asha For Education Quiz 2009
Time: 5.30pm, May 30, 2009
Location: Busch Campus Center Multipurpose Room,
Rutgers University, 604 Bartholomew Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854
Entry fee: USD 5 for non-Rutgers students.
Team size=2
Quizmaster: Me.
[website]
I will be at Rutgers, New Brunswick on 30th May from around 5pm as the quiz-master of the Asha For Education quiz, an event I have participated in when I was a student at Stonybrook.
It is going to be a masala quiz, kind of in the spirit of RTDM. No vague connections. A lot of pop culture. An almost exclusive focus on India.
And yes. There will be Prabhuji.
Any RTDM readers in the vicinity (New Jersey, New York, Long Island) are invited to put off their Saturday desi grocery expedition for the next day and attend the quiz.
It is all for a good cause.
More details, including link to the quiz site, will be posted.
[The two comic panels have been distorted by the three column WordPress theme. The original undistorted versions here (Deewar) and here (Sholay) ]
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
Will Parnab be there? Hopefully you won’t wear a Halloween mask of him, with ankle length kurta. If nothing else, at least throw in a special Parnab round.
All the best. May a thousand answers bloom & may Asha raise some serious fund. Fun, fund & funda!!!
Wish I could be there.
that was close…j
Well it will be held pretty close to the “alo mater” Princeton. Who knows?
“Asha For Education”?
Is this the same NGO that is also active in Zurich?
[GB edits: Libelous accusations without basis will be removed. Thank you]
Greatbong:
You are supporting an event for ASHA for education????
Sandip Pandey the founder of ASHA, is a unrepentent supporter of Naxal terrorism.(go the the link
Even today innocent policemen were butchered in Chattisgarh.
I thought you are a well informed person.
Interesting choice of charity.
Quite undexpected.
Rishi and Ruchika,
I am a quiz-master and I have nothing to do with the organization. My participation in their event has nothing to do with “supporting” their original founder or his political causes (which incidentally I do not) Having said that, I wonder how the activities of their founder sullies the work that many graduate students in the US, with utmost devotion, do for funding genuine educational projects, a list of which you can find on their webpage which have nothing to do with Naxalism.
You are right Arnab.
Sandeep Pande’s paticipation and expression of support in Naxal meetings is not reason enough to sully his entire organization.
I agree with you. Its an individual’s choice.
I am glad you see it that way Rishi. While I do not endorse Sandeep Pandey’s opinions nor his connections with Naxalites, I do respect the efforts of mostly apolitical Indian graduate students who are taking times off their schedules to help someone get an education, someone not as fortunate as they are. I have myself, as a student at Stonybrook, had been associated with a similar, though smaller organization, called India Focus Group where we raised funds and made small personal monthly contributions for paying the salaries of the staff of a “bridge school” in Andhra Pradhesh. The students at these “bridge schools” were escaped child laborers who, having been deprived of education, needed some “catching up” to do before attending normal schools.
🙂 arnab
I really appreciate your efforts for India Focus group.
As long as all the good hearted grad students who collect thousands of dollars for “Asha for Education”, are aware that some of that donation does go to fund Sandeep Pande and personal “projects”, its all fine.
Once we know it, then to each our own.
Is this an open quiz? :O
If by open, you mean is it open for anyone to participate—then the answer is YES.
Will you please post the questions so that I may benefit for the forthcoming Indian Civil Services exam in my next life?
And give that Santosh-pod, finally ?! Preloaded with ‘Prabhu Top 10’ of your choice. Including that great hit ‘Thaanda Mathae Thaki Boley..’
GB
“No vague connections.”
You don’t leave a single chance to blast at him 😛
GB
“No vague connections.”
You don’t leave a single chance to blast at him
PS: Not sure why i was reported as heejeebeejee (of all the things!) – looks like the inertia is huge 🙂
“hulo tor pode moolo”
— from Fake IPL player blog
So this guy is a bong and possibly from Cal 🙂
How does it matter if GB has to host a quiz show for any organisation ?
How do you prove the money actually gets into the secret pockets??
And we have had enough moral policing now ,so lets just let the Bong decide for himself..
He loves to be a QM ..
He loves to do charity…
Thats it End Of Story..
The money might well be used by naxals ..Who gives a damn??Not someone who stays in the US.. Not you..Not me..Not the Indians who donot vote….The one who shld care,i.e our very own politicos ..They dont give a damn!!Shame they get elected over and over again..
Chalo GB ,You wud have been better off not mentioning the Org..
Arnab, you chose the wrong charity! How could you? Being the good Hindu NRI you are, you should have become quizmaster for a Hindu based charity instead! Now a lot of your commenters are going to be very aggrieved…
Hey Arnab Schwarzenegger!
You were in this jury?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FulMarxx_Shorts_Fest
How was the experience?
Nahiii
Koi mere GB ko mat chero …
Looking forward to your visit here dude, I quote you as one of the doyens of Prabhuji’s worship 🙂
Full Marxxx Shorts? Can I enter my home videos saaar? Pleaaaaaseeeeee? 😛
BTW, you are starting your own line of webcomics? That’s great…. I have always been a regular fan of Jim Treacher’s work!
And there’s an Indian webcomics project I am kinda warming up to… the humor’s subtle ya’ know: http://www.flyyoufools.com
Re: rishi khujur – do you have proof for the statement you made about funding Mr.Pandey’s personal projects (by which I suppose you imply they are unworthy of funding but were still funded?).
Pls share it if you do have otherwise I hope you will think again before making similar remarks again and request the moderator to delete the comment made by rishi in case there is no proof for her remark. thanks!
typo… make that “The first time ever”
Arnab, Will you be willing to quit your role as QM if given proofs/ details of fund mis-handling by Asha?
J-u-D has called me for their annual half marathon event in Lahore.
Since I’m a marathoner and I have nothing to do with their organization, my participation in their event has nothing to do with “supporting” their original founder or his political causes (which incidentally I do not).
Having said that, I wonder how the activities of their founder sullies the work that many students in the Kashmir, with utmost devotion, did for funding and helping people during Earthquake, an act you can find on internationally recognized news publications.
@ Deepak Das
‘The one who shld care,i.e our very own politicos ..They dont give a damn!!Shame they get elected over and over again’
They get elected bcoz people who ‘cared’ voted them. If you think they aren’t worthy, then go and vote for better people. Don’t crib here.
The difference between JuD and Asha is that the former is an internationally identified terrorist funding organ and the latter is considered to be one of the top charities in the US.(http://span.state.gov/wwwhspnovdec0646.html) Once you are successful in proving, in front of the US state department and the Interpol with the amount of proof they demand, that Asha raises money for Naxal terror and by doing so are able to get them flagged *internationally*, then your equivalence holds water.
And no links from random anonymous/pseudo-anonymous blogs with extremely transparent political leanings, “word on the street” kind of accusations and slander from “anonymous commenters” do not count as proof.
Sorry, i am on the side of US. Any chance this event is going to be recorded? Would love to see it on youtube if possible.
I shall come to Rutgers if I don’t have to goto the west coast. This is one event I won’t want to miss.
GB would love to attend this…of course will have to do grocery on the weekday :-)…Please post the details of exact location, time, tickets etc…
Plz give a youtube link or print record of the Quiz after it is done, non-USA people also want to see it! 😀
Arnab, will you host a quiz for RSS, if asked by them?
T and others,
Trying to establish me as a “pseudo-secular” through your comments and through those of others will not get you (in plural) anywhere. Alas. As I have said before, I have been called Right Wing RSS sympathizer. For you and others (from your tone of comments) I am the exact opposite. I always take these attacks from both sides as a compliment—it means I have remained neutral. Which is exactly what I wish to be.
@Blogik
I hope u donot have a problem if i crib here..Moreover if you have a problem..then just ignore the comments..else GFY…
But I’m not Dinesh! Why si this saying ‘welcome back Dinesh?’
Who is this Dinesh? :X
@ Shan
Is it wrong to expect?
@ T
Are you equating RSS with Naxals?
RSS is not a banned terrorist organization like the Naxal groups.
@ Praz
I do have proof that Sandeep Pandey used public funding for his “own” project.
Again, I would desist any further discussion from my side on this, as it is Arnab’s or for that matter anybody else’s personal choice, once they are in know of the connections.
Arnab, you still didn’t answer my question. Will you do a similar thing for RSS?
Secondly, many people live in a bubble and believe that being politically correct is being neutral. But I am not questioning your political leanings and views here, I am a little surprised by your reasoning.
@GB,
If you are going to be at Rutgers, then you might want to check out this Lebanese street-food vendor who sells yummy falafel sandwiches on campus, from the back of his van. I was there a few years ago attending a conference, and one of my friends took me to this inconspicuous van parked on campus and said to me: “Try the ‘Fat Bastard’ “. That funnily-named sandwich was delicious … partly because I was ravenous !!
@GB,
Change of subject… Any Exit Poll predictions? 😉
@ GB,
agreed that there has been no proof of ASHA funds being used for promoting Naxalite violence, but given the extensive & complicated network of black money in the country, I would advise an approach of “guiilty until proven innocent”, i.e. until we can prove conclusively that all the ASHA funds are actually used for their stated objectives we should assume that the money is beig diverted to the Naxalites.
Remember, we are talking about a financial system where even after years of investigations by the CBI; billions of dollars go missing without any proof of where they ultimately end up.
Whatta bunch of morons ! GB – I think you have clearly stated your point of view,which is quite convincing.I guess this is one of the drawbacks of having a blog – everybody thinks you’re public property and attempt to force their opinion on you…
If you have a blog, you have a space where you can write almost anything. But being ready for criticism/questions is also a part of it.
@ GB
“Trying to establish me as a pseudo-secular blah blah blah”
GB, nobody is trying to establish you as a pseudo-secular. Most people who have been in this blog for more than a month know very well that-
You have your sympathies for the Indian nationalists, who, because it is still a Hindu majority nation happen to be mostly Hindus.
At the same time it can be easily observed that you are egotistic by nature, and because at one time you had spent resources on ASHA, probably not knowing about their Naxal connections, you will go to hell defending yourself on it by repeating it for the rest of your life.
This Shahrookhesque “pseudo secular kehto ho mujhko” logic you give, is a canned material you pass on from time to time to keep your flock together.
@ T
Arnab has given his explanation ..na bhaiyya.
As the ancient Persian would say of their Khon-e-Khon, “One pound of learning requires ten pounds of common sense to apply it”.
Rishi what exactly are you referring to? shelter of a shelter? chief of a chief? blood of a blood? Something tells me your transliteration is very off.
blood of blood
Hey GB !!
This is great. Good luck. I work for Asha too, and this gives me a brand new idea for our chapter! Thank You so much.
And the whole Sandeep Pandey BS…Tut..tut !
@ Aishwariya
Tut tut
What a irony.
NRIs sending dollars to indoctrinate those who plan their own demise.
Dont forget you or your family is the epitome of bourgoiuse class that will be the first target of Naxal bullets.
What sweet justice will that be, when that happens.
@ Pashupati to Tirupati
Nice choice of name. Only a Naxal terrorist would know what it means in their lingo.
Rishi,
So you and Pashupati to Titupati must be Naxal terrorists to know THAT. LOL. Wow. Some people have inflated ideas of their knowledge. Dude. Everyone uses that to refer to the Naxal corridor.
@ Wanderer
What exactly is that?
@Rishi Khajur
Haan bhaiya, apply your learning and use those scary things called “reason” & “logic”
Arnabda, can you mention the exact location in the campus. I don’t have a car (doesn’t make sense to have one where I stay). So I’ll be taking a train from the New York Penn station to New Brunswick and then walk.
Dibyo, Will let you know.
@ T
Would love to hear from you.
Learn rishi, learn.
Rishi kaku – then it should be Khoon-e-Khoon. Very awkward expression – did you just come up with it yourself?
Arnab, Will certainly visit – it has been a .. while.. since my college days..
On a separate note, I don’t get this Sandeep Pandey/Naxal connection with Asha – based on accounts of the volunteers/office-bearers in NY/NJ that I used to know 7-8 years back, when he went back to India and started having political ambitions, the org pretty much severed ties with him. I have been a regular contributor to their causes and have been tracking success of a couple of projects over the years.. Will try to learn more.
Anyway, looking forward to the event..
@ Thalassa
If you understood Persian (which i assume you do)
Khoon (as in Urdu) is pornounced “Khon”.
It would be much appreciated if someone attending does the honor of recording the entire thing on Cam and sharing it for all of us who won’t make it there…
any takers?
GB,
Why pray tell does your comments sections suddenly resemble the comments section from rediff (atleast most of them, there are a few well placed good ones).. is this a sign of things to come – ie GB at IIMCal convocation reminicising about his days as a blogger hard done by, but since the IPO of his blog, rolling in the moolah.. will that happen soon??
GB – Can you please upload the Q&A’s after the quiz ? Would appreciate it !
is this quiz open to all
Atul,
Yes it is.
Sirjee, Plz post your quiz here after the programme is done 😀
Great Stuff, have fun people.
Does this quiz actually have negative marking, or is the cartoon just for fun?
Negative marking is a terrible idea at quizzes because it discourages taking chances and guessing based on obscure connections or clever reasoning, so that only those who already “know” can answer — thus defeating the entire point (IMHO) of a fun quiz. (One with hard/obscure questions and easy/familiar answers.)
Ano,
I agree. There is NO negative marking.
would you be asking questions?
i heard that paris hilton is participating in the quiz show..
hope miss california participates in the quiz competition and answers all your questions brilliantly…
GB,
do you mind posting the qns here once the event is over
So apparently “May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss” [Harper Collins] is your new Book ?
Hi GB,
Great job on publicity! Look forward to a fun-filled event and hope to see many RTDM readers turning up 🙂
In the aftermath of the elections it is not surprising to see some folks with vested interests leaving unsubstantiated random politically motivated comments, with a view to defaming Asha for Education. The “hate” comments (typical of the kind seen in “hate communities” in various social network sites and hate blogs) only prove that they have no idea about how Asha works and what they do and about the tremendous time and effort the volunteers put in to set up a democratic near-zero-overhead decentralized organization, with well-defined goals, policies, and practices; to sustain it over the years; and to make sure that the funds (again raised with hard work and labor) go to the most deserving projects.
I have been with Ashs for 5 years and I know how AfE functions and the thousands of underprivileged children they try to reach out to.
Which only brings a smirk to my face to see such comments from armchair mischief-mongers !!
And I am not here to campaign for Asha. Couldn’t help but write few lines in response to a whole barge of baseless defaming comments!
Let me welcome all RTDM readers on the basis of AfE Central NJ, Rutgers University, and RIGSA (Rutgers Indian Graduate Students’ Association) to “Battle of the Minds”! B-)
Come one, come all, to see GB in action!
See you there!
🙂
typo: on behalf of*
@Dibyo
The Busch campus is a bit far from the train station to walk to. there are buses running within the campus though the summer schedule buses are a bit infrequent.
. The Summer ‘A’ bus goes from College Ave campus to Busch campus. The summer L goes to Busch too but it takes a longer route via the Livingston campus. The good thing about it is that the L bus goes through the Train station bus stop. from 5:30 onwards there’ll only be the ‘all campus bus’. check the links below for bus schedules and route descriptions.
you can get the ‘A’ bus from scott hall. alternatively you can cross George street right next to J&J to get the ‘A’ bus but it goes to the College ave Rutgers student center first and then goes to Busch.
to get to Scott hall from the train station:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=103518958633963899357.00046a806499f3f81b6c3&ll=40.501416,-74.446728&spn=0.008501,0.013819&z=16
real time updates
http://www.nextbus.com/
route: winter/spring break/summer L. Direction:Livingston student center. Stop: train station
route:winter/spring break/summer A. direction: Busch student center. stop: Scott hall
route: winter/spring break/summer A: direction: Rutgers Student center. stop: train station
the summer bus schedule:
http://rudots.rutgers.edu/PDF/Summer 2009 Web Updates.pdf
the route description: look for weekend A/weekend L and all campus
http://www.nextbus.com/predictor/publicMap.shtml?a=rutgers&r=routea
You need to write your reaction on shoaib akhtar’s genital warts story.
Arnab Da
I attended your quiz on Saturday. There is a confusion in my mind. I always knew that Rabindranath Tagore himself translated the Gitanjali into English.
http://www.unnayannews.net/gitanjali/
I also didn’t get the answer you said to that. Could you give me the name of the translator?
Dwaipayan
Dwaipayan,
Tagore translated some of his own poems into English and recited them at the home of Rothenstein. I remember a program in DD7 where a Rabindrik scholar said that William Butler Yeats felt that Tagore’s English was not strong enough and that the poems he felt were much better than their current translation as made by Tagore (i.e. much of the original quality was being lost in translation). Which is why the final translations were worked on extensively by Yeats himself though he never explicitly claimed credit for them and merely wrote the introduction to Gitanjali. This is the version I have heard from multiple sources and again this is as far as I know (I am no scholar myself) true.
Here is a very small “difference of opinion” regarding the issue
Any plans for the Asha quiz this year (2010)? loved the quiz in 2009…..
A government initiative? I agree that the state man of India perhaps should be running India, for the intolerance and yes freedom of the state. Professing as government? I don’t know, but I think he’s a spiritual man (!). If he really believes in some law being stopped, then good luck, in a country like that in strange clothes. I support the program of the pseudo-secular, and like, oh yes, I looked these things up on the internet, I heard that there are atheists in India, oh yes; through my research I found there are terrorists wanting to win in the state, I hope this special man in India puts a stop to terrorism, I doubt that he’s supporting science, I think he’s pro-pseudo-science. I can’t say this is a political agenda, more like pseudo-political, it’s not a legal thing nor is it official to support the state, i.e. it’s spirituality (d’uh!). But I hope he’s running the country, I’d like to be in the action in India one day, because I believe in freedom of secularisation, freedom of beliefs, and freedom of choice and philosophy, he would make a very very good leader. 😀