Monday, May 25, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
The Kingfisher Experience: Going to South Africa
Well here I was, along with my friends Shriyash and Partha, whiling away time at the Extreme Sports Bar, Shriyash had a bus to catch. What better way to wait then by guzzling a bit of beer? So that explains how we got to XSB. While in there, as soon as we ordered some beer, we were approached by Kingfisher crew asking us to just fill out some form, which as it turned out to was for the 'Hunt for the King' contest. We filled the form and handed it over. As we were lounging and looking on to the IPL match being played before us, we suddenly heard our names being announced over speakers! Happily surprised, we went over and found that there were around ten people against whom I'd have to 'compete'. Till date I have not understood whether it really was a competition afterall?
We started with a beer drinking game, I came 4th out of 5 people. Happy with the free mug of beer that we got to drink, we got back to our seats. As we were finishing up, we heard our names being announced a second time!Having lost the first round, this was a definite surprise. We went across another time, and this time all the contestants had to dance it out to impress a bunch of girls. Guess what? My turn came and I danced. I am not too shabby a dancer but then again I hadn't danced in a while. So, when the vedict came, I got a mere 2.5/5 from the girls(out of the 5 girls, 2 had liked me, and one was undecided :P). Once again, happy to have lost, we got back to our table and finished our food etc. Now this first guy had to catch a bus, remember? So we made to leave, paid our bill and were about to leave when there was an announcement for the next round contestants. My name wasn't in that list. Although, Partha's name was in the list, we informed the Kingfisher team and left as we were getting very late already.
Saturday- 8th May, 2009
I received a call from someone from Kingfisher who informed me that I was a finalist for 'Hunt for the King' contest. You can imagine my shock at this news, of course. I had fared badly in the two rounds that I had played and didn't even make it to the third!
Anyways, I decided to go to the finals, to be held in Bottles and Chimneys, Begumpet. I was told to be there by 7.00PM and I got there by 7.30PM due to traffic. There I was greeted by the host, Maryanne, who was quite polite and asked me a few questions about myself.
The contest started around 9PM, finally, I guess everything happens on IST(Indian Standard Time) only :P
Well, of course they didn't just keep us waiting there. Around 8.00PM, we were shown to a table and were told that we could order anything and it'd be taken care of by Kingfisher :D.
We started with a beer drinking game, I came 4th out of 5 people. Happy with the free mug of beer that we got to drink, we got back to our seats. As we were finishing up, we heard our names being announced a second time!Having lost the first round, this was a definite surprise. We went across another time, and this time all the contestants had to dance it out to impress a bunch of girls. Guess what? My turn came and I danced. I am not too shabby a dancer but then again I hadn't danced in a while. So, when the vedict came, I got a mere 2.5/5 from the girls(out of the 5 girls, 2 had liked me, and one was undecided :P). Once again, happy to have lost, we got back to our table and finished our food etc. Now this first guy had to catch a bus, remember? So we made to leave, paid our bill and were about to leave when there was an announcement for the next round contestants. My name wasn't in that list. Although, Partha's name was in the list, we informed the Kingfisher team and left as we were getting very late already.
Saturday- 8th May, 2009
I received a call from someone from Kingfisher who informed me that I was a finalist for 'Hunt for the King' contest. You can imagine my shock at this news, of course. I had fared badly in the two rounds that I had played and didn't even make it to the third!
Anyways, I decided to go to the finals, to be held in Bottles and Chimneys, Begumpet. I was told to be there by 7.00PM and I got there by 7.30PM due to traffic. There I was greeted by the host, Maryanne, who was quite polite and asked me a few questions about myself.
The contest started around 9PM, finally, I guess everything happens on IST(Indian Standard Time) only :P
Well, of course they didn't just keep us waiting there. Around 8.00PM, we were shown to a table and were told that we could order anything and it'd be taken care of by Kingfisher :D.
Coming back to the finals. The first round consisted of drinking beer with two straws. I am coming to think of these beer drinking contests as more of a kick off round than a round that actually reflects on the results! As usual, I was among the last few to finish. Feeling slightly down, I got off the stage along with the others. The next round involved dancing, and not just any dance, 'item' dance baby...
As I waited for my turn, I saw all the contestants before me go and perform. I was quite happy to see that they were more or less my level only, although there was a exception to this perception later on. Now, as I mentioned earlier, I am not much of a dancer, and add to that the fact that I haven't shaken a leg since almost a year and a half now. Such was my situation but still I got on the stage and did my thing. I'd like to think that I pulled of a decent performance. After all the contestants had performed, we were asked to go around the club and gather beads from various people. Apparently, the kingfisher people had distributed these beads across the club to the patrons and told them to give it to the person who they think performed the best. Either ways, as soon as the time started, all the people darted off the stage and into the crowd. I noticed that all of them made a beeline for the ground floor, so, I went straight to the first floor thinking that I'd be able to get all the beads up there. I was quite right in my thinking BUT the fact was that less beads were distributed on that floor as compared to the other floor. Either ways, I managed a decent number and came back down. The next round was more to my liking, and it turns out, it was also the elimination round viz. out of the 11 contestants, only 5 would remain after this round. Basically, some girl was called out from the crowd and the contestants were to woo her with their own pick up lines.
The round started and some girl was called on to the stage and explained the rules. It later turned out that this 'some girl' was actually a telugu filmstar! At the moment, since I didn't know, it didn't really factor in. As all the contestants were saying there lines, I was forming my line in my head. It wasn't quite ready and all of a sudden it was my turn! So I took the mic with this half baked idea and spoke. I am not going to mention what I said but after I was done, I could hear some encouraging sounds from the audience(ooooooooooohs and aaaaaaahs :P). This round was finished and the cheerleaders took the stage, as the names of the finalists were sorted out. Now, I have seen a few performances in my lifetime. And what followed is also now one of the performances but I can tell you, it is wayyyyy up in the hotlist! It was, to cut a long story short, mesmerizing and mindblowing. After the performance was over, the cheerleaders took the judging seats and finally the results were announced. I made it in the top five.
The 'final' round commenced shortly and surprisingly, it turned out to be a Q&A round. With the cheerleaders in the judging seat, I was expecting some more dancing to follow, but I wasn't exactly complaining :D. Eventually, my turn came and the question I was asked was, "If you were a girl for one day, what would you give up?" Now, what the hell kinda question is that? I was quite dumbfounded in the beginning and I am also aware that I didn't exactly answer the question straight. It was more like that I beat around the bush and twisted the question and in the end came up with a feminist answer. When I had answered the question, I could hear a lot of booooos from the audience. None of the girls was booooing. I guess I had struck a chord somewhere. So, I retorted to the boooing crowd with an 'I don't give a **** what you think' line and stepped off stage.
As the round finished, the results were being decided by the judges, I went off, satisfied with myself and danced around a bit, had something to drink. Finally, it was result time. I was quite sure that I won't make it. So I stood on the stage with an open mind and waited. The first winner was announced. Vamshi(the other winner) looked quite happy and was greeted by the crowd with lots of cheers. I still stood there, NOT holding my breath but wishing that it should be over soon. My prayers were answered. The second winner was announced. It was ME! I couldn't believe it at once. I looked around and then at the audience who, until then had been rooting for another contestant who I also thought would probably win. But goddamit, I WON, not him. And someone also poured beer on my head. I was still a bit dazed when all the cheerleaders came on stage and crowned the two of us. This was followed by a victory dance. As soon as I got off the stage, I informed my friends and family, who too were happy and excited for me. I got out of the club and took a cab back home, still numb from the victory...
As I waited for my turn, I saw all the contestants before me go and perform. I was quite happy to see that they were more or less my level only, although there was a exception to this perception later on. Now, as I mentioned earlier, I am not much of a dancer, and add to that the fact that I haven't shaken a leg since almost a year and a half now. Such was my situation but still I got on the stage and did my thing. I'd like to think that I pulled of a decent performance. After all the contestants had performed, we were asked to go around the club and gather beads from various people. Apparently, the kingfisher people had distributed these beads across the club to the patrons and told them to give it to the person who they think performed the best. Either ways, as soon as the time started, all the people darted off the stage and into the crowd. I noticed that all of them made a beeline for the ground floor, so, I went straight to the first floor thinking that I'd be able to get all the beads up there. I was quite right in my thinking BUT the fact was that less beads were distributed on that floor as compared to the other floor. Either ways, I managed a decent number and came back down. The next round was more to my liking, and it turns out, it was also the elimination round viz. out of the 11 contestants, only 5 would remain after this round. Basically, some girl was called out from the crowd and the contestants were to woo her with their own pick up lines.
The round started and some girl was called on to the stage and explained the rules. It later turned out that this 'some girl' was actually a telugu filmstar! At the moment, since I didn't know, it didn't really factor in. As all the contestants were saying there lines, I was forming my line in my head. It wasn't quite ready and all of a sudden it was my turn! So I took the mic with this half baked idea and spoke. I am not going to mention what I said but after I was done, I could hear some encouraging sounds from the audience(ooooooooooohs and aaaaaaahs :P). This round was finished and the cheerleaders took the stage, as the names of the finalists were sorted out. Now, I have seen a few performances in my lifetime. And what followed is also now one of the performances but I can tell you, it is wayyyyy up in the hotlist! It was, to cut a long story short, mesmerizing and mindblowing. After the performance was over, the cheerleaders took the judging seats and finally the results were announced. I made it in the top five.
The 'final' round commenced shortly and surprisingly, it turned out to be a Q&A round. With the cheerleaders in the judging seat, I was expecting some more dancing to follow, but I wasn't exactly complaining :D. Eventually, my turn came and the question I was asked was, "If you were a girl for one day, what would you give up?" Now, what the hell kinda question is that? I was quite dumbfounded in the beginning and I am also aware that I didn't exactly answer the question straight. It was more like that I beat around the bush and twisted the question and in the end came up with a feminist answer. When I had answered the question, I could hear a lot of booooos from the audience. None of the girls was booooing. I guess I had struck a chord somewhere. So, I retorted to the boooing crowd with an 'I don't give a **** what you think' line and stepped off stage.
As the round finished, the results were being decided by the judges, I went off, satisfied with myself and danced around a bit, had something to drink. Finally, it was result time. I was quite sure that I won't make it. So I stood on the stage with an open mind and waited. The first winner was announced. Vamshi(the other winner) looked quite happy and was greeted by the crowd with lots of cheers. I still stood there, NOT holding my breath but wishing that it should be over soon. My prayers were answered. The second winner was announced. It was ME! I couldn't believe it at once. I looked around and then at the audience who, until then had been rooting for another contestant who I also thought would probably win. But goddamit, I WON, not him. And someone also poured beer on my head. I was still a bit dazed when all the cheerleaders came on stage and crowned the two of us. This was followed by a victory dance. As soon as I got off the stage, I informed my friends and family, who too were happy and excited for me. I got out of the club and took a cab back home, still numb from the victory...
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