Kolkata’s quizzing culture took birth in 1967 when India’s first open quiz (The Eddie Hyde Memorial Quiz) was organised by quiz legend Neil O’Brien, who went on to conduct another tournament named DI (Dalhousie Institute) Open. In the decade that followed, Francis Groser, Sadhan Banerjee and Alban Scolt left their intellectual seal on the Calcutta circuit by initiating similar quizzes.
“Quizzing has evolved from a little-known parlour game in the 1960s to a televised affair across India at the turn of the century. With ever-changing technology, the core has always remained to make knowledge interesting, and help people grow,” said quiz veteran and Neil O’Brien’s eldest son, Derek O’Brien.
Quiz veteran Derek O’Brien addressed the participating teams
Coming back to the present moment on May 12, one finds curious, young minds from various city schools and colleges like La Martiniere, Don Bosco, and University of Engineering & Management (UEM), participating alongside independently formed groups of friends sharing similar interests at the 52nd edition of Neil O’Brien DI Open Quiz.
Leading a pack of four knowledge enthusiasts, Upen Mukherjee, representing UEM, said: “Being part of Asia’s second oldest quiz competition is a great learning experience. Even if we don’t win, there’s so much takeaway in terms of the competition and what to improve upon.”
The team from University of Engineering & Management
Commenting on the future of this field, Derek said: “Soft skills are the way forward. Students look for challenges beyond just recalling facts. Knowledge creators need to find new methods to keep young people engaged.”
The tournament attracted participation from 15-year-olds to 50-year-olds, who took their shot to win the Errol Cowper Trophy. To achieve this feat, one had to rank among the top six teams in the preliminary round, involving 30 questions asked by two quizmasters Andrew Scolt and Shouvik Guha, who have left their indelible mark in Kolkata’s quizzing culture.
Souvik Guha throws posers at the teams
“Quizzing broadens the mind and takes away the drudgery as students today have a very hard time unlike our school days. It takes your mind off the extreme focus on curriculum and offers a fun way to pursue knowledge,” said Souvik Guha, who was the number one quizzer for Neil O’Brien.
When the results were declared, ‘Rinku Singh FC’, ‘Shaukeens’, ‘The Nexus’, ‘Blind Dates’, ‘D Robbery’ & ‘Inmaniacs’ were the ones that qualified to compete in the next 10 rounds of Q/A, which would test their factual intellect on subjects such as sports, current affairs, and history makers of the world.
Questions included ‘What was Carl Barks, creator of Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck, called due to his influence on the genre?’ the answer to which was Hans Christian Andersen
While the show saw all the six groups in competitive spirit when it came to answering questions like- ‘What was Carl Barks, creator of Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck, called due to his influence on the genre?’ the answer to which was Hans Christian Andersen. The winning seat still seemed to open for grabs.
But with dynamic teamwork and striking while the iron is hot, ‘The Nexus’ won the 52-year-old Errol Cowper Trophy with 125 points at Dalhousie Institute, nicknamed the ‘Family Club’ of Kolkata.
The Errol Cowper Trophy in its 52nd year
On behalf of the winning team — which comprised Samanway Banerjee, Sourjo Sengupta, Annway Ghosh and Bedbyas Datta — Banerjee said: “Interestingly, our team was finalised on the day of the competition itself, and here we are claiming the spoils of this victory. I also won the last edition of this tournament with different team members.”
‘Inmaniacs’ clinched the second spot scoring 110 points, while the third position went to ‘Blind Dates’ for bagging 100 points.
The audience enjoyed every bit of the event, cheering the 50-plus participating teams