Yeah, science!

University students in India are of a different breed to their Kiwi counterparts.
 
Which is probably a good thing because, with more than 150 colleges in Bangalore alone, the city might become a bit messy if students acted in a similar manner to Dunedin's scarfies.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Indian students also enjoy the social aspect of the university lifestyle, but I can't imagine too many couches being burned or too many street parties requiring the riot police.

The worrying unavailbility of boxes and beer and RTDs at local liquor outlets suggest binge drinking may not be first and foremost in students' minds, while the two encounters I have had with groups of youths revealed they are more than capable of having fun without liquid lubrication.

The meeting to which I previously described my journey gave me a clue. Before the gathering had even begun, and without a drop of alcohol in sight, there was plenty of coordinated singing and dancing among the enthusiastic group.

Those kind of histrionics used to come out only after the tenth beer during my student days in Palmerston North.

Then yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a quiz on climate change at the Indian Institute of Science. Open only to university students, more than 300 teams from Bangalore's glut of colleges came together to compete for the Rs 10,000 (NZ$228) prize.

The sheer numbers in participation didn't surprise me - students, no matter where in the world, are always going to turn out in force for financial reward - but the manner of their participation did.

Expecting a staid, orderly affair, I instead found a level of passion matching the singing and dancing I had already experienced. At a science quiz, no less.

The final round was made up of three teams, but the real action was found not on stage but among the audience in a packed auditorium.

When questions went unanswered by the competing teams, they were thrown over to the crowd with one proviso - the first person to reach the microphones near the stage would get the first shot.

That created scenes of havoc which would have left OSH covering their eyes. Students scrambled out of their rows of seating, flew down the stairs and did everything short of throw a few elbows to ensure they reached the mic before their peers.

There were spot prizes for correct answers, but I got the feeling the mania would have been the same with no incentive.

Audience members still in their seats howled in delight at some of the more erroneous answers, but the cheering wasn't nefarious in nature. Those who erred played their part to perfection, acknowledging the crowd before leaving the stage with wide smiles.

Behaviour like that brightened up what was shaping to be a dull afternoon (though I did learn a lot about climate change) and left me wondering how a similar quiz would play in New Zealand.

One thing's for sure - there would have to be an open bar to engender anywhere near that level of fervour.