PAVARAM DEEPAVALI HUNT - DE-LIGHT-FULLY IND-LISH

KUALA LUMPUR, 17 Nov 2010: I'm already looking forward to the 2011 edition which shows how much I had enjoyed this year's edition of the Pavaram Deepavali hunt. Dato' Ramesh and Pava's promise to make next year's edition even better (than this year) leaves me in awe.

The Hunt Masters: Pavananthan and a then sober Dato' Ramesh doing the afternoon briefing.

In my mind, the bar has been set so high this year it would already be hard to eclipse. The hunters paid just a token sum but in return received more than just an insight into the complicated minds of the duo.

Q26: Alien puts in order here.
Ans: 11A+

Later in the evening, the hunters were also entertained by noteworthy performances from Raynne (Dato' Ramesh's eldest daughter) & friends, and  impersonator extraordinaire, Helmi the Gimmick, which left everyone in stitches. Not to mention that everyone was well fed from a sumptuous Indian buffet and an almost unlimited supply of booze to boot.

The theme of this year's hunt was Star Wars - The XXX Strikes Back. Hunters were allotted 4.5 hours to tackle 35 questions and 5 treasures including 10 in-car cryptic riddles centred around the theme. In essence the hunt was designed for the hunt veterans and no doubt the handful of hunt novices amongst the 18 teams who showed up would have struggled. But all in all I am fairly certain that everyone had thoroughly enjoyed themselves at the end of the day.

And although the scores may not reflect it, I felt the hunt was slightly easier than the inaugural edition. Maybe it was because we somewhat knew what to expect having been a 'veteran' of one Pavaram hunt. But more likely it was because we had Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire Alex Hoh on our side mechanically churning out the required answers.

Now excuse me while I go brush up on my Ind-lish in preparation for next year's hunt.

Q11: Hush, the one above Tamilian delicacies?
Ans: Davon Health & Beauty (above Sothys)

Q22: The place for the likes of Mahatir, Badawi and Daim, expressed by an Indian.
Ans: Zon Tunda

Dato' Ramesh playing the MC role. He was "highly" chatty the entire night.

Barry Gibb from The Bee Gees crooning with Black 'Maurice' Hawk and Tiger 'Robin' Swan. Don't they look like triplets?

Boy-meets-Girl, Boy-chases-Girl, with Say 'Singh' Chye playing the Boy role and a petrified Raynne playing the Girl role. Chye would be perfect for a serial killer role!

Wong Fei Hung with Ling Fei and Koh Khai doing a rendition of Alan Tam's hit song, Friends (朋友). An oldie but a goodie! I thought Ling Fei did a brilliant job recalling 2 w-o-r-d-s from the entire song, don't you reckon?

The King and Venka dancing in their Blue Suede Shoes.

P. Ramlee doing the joget while Jay is 'obediently' doing the cha-cha.

Wong Fei charmed by Alex's good looks. Poor Alex, probably scared shitless from the experience went into hiding for the next hour!

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Pavaram Deepavali Hunt
Maximum Score: 100

1st: Chai Koh Khai, Chong Voon Kiat, Margaret Sha, Alexander Hoh (77)
2nd: Lim Soo Khian, Claire Chin, Julie Tan, Goh Teck Koon (72)

3rd: Garyguna Segar, Sam Rahman, Shandra Dass, Toh Wei Ming (66)

4th: Liew Kok Seng, Teoh Cheow Teong, Lim Kong Yew (63)

5th: Peh Kok Hun, Loh Chee Kwan, Lim Say Chye, Jayaram Menon (63)
6th: Venkateswaran Nagappan, Florence Teng, Isaac Mah, Shong Way Sern (57)
7th: Catherine Ng, Adrian Wong, Michael Pang, Toh Weng Ngai (55)
8th: Rajj Melambaran & team (53)

9th: Lee Ling Fei, Ruben Enbasegaram, Lenny Wan, Yeong Kig Siew (52)