National AGM 2007

Dear Ms,

We had a fantastic time on Sunday :) All of you who didn't make it to the meet - we missed you, and you missed a really good event :( The 'official' session lasted all of a maximum of 8 minutes, with the National Chairman Dr. Girish Bapat and the National Secretary Mr. Nirav Sanghavi addressing all of us. We had chapter representatives from different chapters of the country visiting us : Mr. Kishore Asthana (Delhi), Mr. GowriShanker (Chennai) and Rishi Lal a.k.a Strider (Mumbai).

Roshin and Rathi had organised everything - right from the posters and invitations to the events of the entire day, from planning the 'probabilities' of the set of winners to buying and packing the gifts ! Ali and Ananth were the co-event-organisers, conducting Dumb Charades, Quiz and

other games :) Kiran added the surprise element of the day, when he released the first MBlr Newsletter at the AGM. (That will be uploaded to the groups shortly). He was handling the registration desk, along with Aravind. Not to forget Guru, who did all the running around ! A big thank you to all the volunteers. Kudos !

The event spelt 'fun' from the start :) Here are some highlights - We had Dr. Girish Bapat moving around the hall blindfolded (never expected that he would volunteer for that ! ), Savitr's dumb charade (:D), Aravind & Divakaran's quest for victory in a game of musical bean bags, the jigsaw puzzle solution by the team of Sheep (or was it Dogs ? ), Nirav's good-luck-charm and strategies, etcetera etcetera etcetera ... and there was Tharunya, the 'player of the day' ! (Tharunya, note that I am omitting the special title that you got towards the end of the day .. ;)

Participants, including everyone from outside Bangalore, have expressed immense appreciation to the way things were organised. I know Nirav will be reading this mail - so here is a special thank you to you too, for your support and guidance :) We thank Dr. Bapat for encouraging us - in fact, we got the process rolling because of him. We had met him in Pune, when he asked us why we haven't hosted one yet !

We also thank Pradyot, for he was the one who was instrumental in getting MBlr to the shape that is in today:) It was our misfortune that he wasn't with us yesterday. We missed him :(

Our 'thanksgiving speech' isn't over yet. Thanks to all of you who made it there. Felt good to see many Ms in one place, didn't it ? :)

Thank you!
Regards
Guru & Sugandhi

What is MHK?

The monthly meeting/event for Mensa India (Bangalore). Specific details of the month's event will be announced beforehand via an email to the Mensa India (Bangalore) Y! Groups and a post on the Mensa India (Bangalore) Blog.

Common events include (but not limited to):

• Playing games over tea/coffee
• Organized events like workshops, quizzes etc
• Outings/Treks/Weekend getaways
• Anything else you care to plan and organize
  

Typically these events are self-sponsored and cost involved depends on venue and events. On an average, plan on spending between Rs 100 to Rs 250.

Q. What does Maasika Harate Katte mean?
A. Literally translated it means "Monthly Chat Platform" in Kannada. The name was selected just to give it a local flavour. (suggested by Ananth)

Take a brain check: ToI

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1380844,flstry-1.cms

A group of nerds and geeks who speak gobbledy-gook? We beg to differ, say members of IQ-based group, Mensa.

All you brilliant Bangaloreans, sharpen your pencils. Your chance to become a part of a hallowed group of big-brainers is here. Mensa's Bangalore chapter is conducting it first test for membership in the city next month.

Mensa is an international society of 'super-bright' people whose IQs are in the top two percent of the population. Today, there are 100,000 Mensans in 100 countries of the world.

It's represented in every continent except Antarctica, and has over a 1,000-plus members in India, and over 50 in Bangalore, where they are contactable at www.mensabangalore.org.

Members come from various professions and have diverse interests. Sugandhi G, president of the Bangalore chapter, says, "We try and meet once a month, and while we do debate or have quiz and puzzle-solving sessions, we've also done fun stuff like rock climbing, trekking and movies."

Dr Savitr Shastri, a member doing his masters in surgery, did the test because of a friend. "It's not an insanely high IQ test," he says, "It's just a common ground for people of high IQ to meet up. In fact, it's a rather diverse bunch of people worldwide, though in Bangalore it's mostly techies."

He's one of two doctors who are members, and he pooh-poohs the idea that it's a snobbish lot of intellectuals meeting to indulge in nerdy talk. "In fact, we've tried starting a band. Some are into quizzes and puzzles, but music's my idea of a good time."

Would it give him a kick to put it in his bio-data? No, he says. "But I might look for other Mensans if I moved location. Mensa's far from mystical we're just normal people."

Says member and corporate lawyer Lahar Appaiah, "I've always enjoyed crosswords and puzzles, so I figured I could give it a decent shot." While not allowed to discuss the test contents, he just says, "They judge you on your intellectual abilities."

Appaiah himself writes on heavy metal, the cricket team and has debated on top action movies.

While Mensa Bangalore hasn't organised visits to a submarine or origami workshops like the Mumbai chapter, it's planning to do more soon. Appaiah says they want to dispel the myth that the brainy are eccentric or arrogant.

"In debates, they just stand behind their opinions. They're convinced their opinion is right, and they have the substance to back it up."

FAMOUS MENSA MEMBERS

Geena Davis, actor

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert

Joyce Carol Oates, author

Norman Schwarzkopf, general of Desert Storm

Isaac Asimov, sci-fi author

Jean Auel, author RUMA SINGH

MENSA FACTOIDS

Mensa was founded in England in 1946 by Roland Berrill and Lance Ware. They decided to form a society for bright people with the objective of enjoying each others' company.

Mensa means 'table' in Latin. The name stands for a round table-style society, where race, colour, nationality, age, political and educational background are irrelevant.

Contrary to belief, not all Mensa members are from professions traditionally considered high-intelligence. They might be students, lawyers, farmers, truck drivers, actors.

Most Mensans are between 20-60 years. In Bangalore, the average Mensan is 20-35.

Candidates for membership in Mensa must achieve a score at or above the 98 percentile on a standard IQ test.

The test's a two-hour, culture neutral test it doesn't test maths or English skills, and requires no preparation.

Trip Report: Shivgange

Went for a trek to Shivgange on Saturday, courtesy Mensa India (Bangalore). Supposed to be a picnic, more like a walk in the park, but turned out to be quite an adventure with fighting off ravaging monkeys, climbing impossible inclines, hanging on to handrails and what not. However, considering that it was a Mensa crowd, we had no dearth of interesting topics to fight on ... and that made the journey extremely fun.

Blues, browns & greens!

A green carpet

Stairway to heaven

To steal a phrase - a lot of bull ;-)

Spotlight from above

There are lots of monkeys on Shivgange. Pic of some intrepid Mensans.

Monkey see, monkey do.

On top of the world... er ... Bangalore, at least

If the Titanic could have flown, a picture would have looked like this!

Rock 'n roll