Clearly their knowledge of the world extends beyond their computers. Just take a look at the number of teams from Technopark that regularly participate – and, at times, win – inter-corporate quiz contests on campus or in the city or even the sheer number of techies who turned up for the auditions of a popular quiz show on television that was held on campus recently. Also, one of the most anticipated events of Tech-a-break, Technopark’s annual shindig, is apparently the inter-company quiz contest. There’s really no dearth of quiz enthusiasts in Technopark, it seems.
Biju Sundaran, a team leader who works at an MNC on campus, is one of them. “Like most of my fellow quizzers, I have been an avid quiz enthusiast since my school days and college days; in my case my interest was nurtured by my mother, who is a teacher. When I was working in Chennai, I used to take part in the Tata Crucible Corporate Quiz contest, the quiz competition at IIT’s annual ‘Saarang’ fete and so on. Here in Technopark, I’ve tried to keep the interest alive by taking part in and conducting intra-company quizzes [called ‘Flair’], for most of which hundreds of associates usually turn up. By my estimates there are around 40-60 quiz teams of high standard on campus,” he says.
Rinku Prakash, a senior corporate communications executive, is one of the few women who are active in the sport. She recently won the jackpot on a TV quiz show. “There are a few choice events both on campus and outside such as Tata Crucible quiz [which seems to be a hot favourite with corporates], quizzes by C-DAC, RBI, Rajagiri, UST Global...for which we try to go for, work schedules permitting, of course. There are a regular set of quizzers from various companies in Technopark who turn up for the events,” she says.
A handful of companies do have active quiz clubs. For example, ACIS [Allianz] has a group of quizzers who try to meet at least once in a couple of weeks. “We discuss some topics and share questions and information,” says Dileesh Kumar, a group manager and avid quizzer. He tells us that every year, at least three teams from ACIS participate in the Thiruvananthapuram edition of the Tata Crucible quiz.
Dileesh and teammate Balaji won the regional finals in 2013 and a team from ACIS, comprising Sarath and Sherin, were runners up in the regional finals of the quiz last year. “The quiz club plans to be very active this year and we have some major events planned,” adds Dileesh. Infosys too has a quiz club, TriQC. IBS, Macfadyen, Quest-Global (formerly Nest), UST Global and the like all have quiz enthusiasts/teams/clubs that have proven their skill at the sport.
However, given the interest, it’s surprising to learn that Technopark does not have a proper inter-company quiz club. “The biggest challenge faced by quizzers in Technopark is the lack of a common platform where people can meet and have regular quizzes conducted,” says Dileesh. Jinto K. Thomas, a business analyst, with an MNC, agrees.
“Technopark has clubs for all manner of activities – why not one for quiz? We really need an open quiz forum where likeminded people can put their heads together to solve and discuss questions and issues,” says Jinto. Rinku adds: “Quizzing is no longer about guessing the capital of a country. The questions themselves have become more nuanced and require in-depth knowledge and daily preparation to answer. With the kind of work hours techies have, it is almost impossible to keep yourself updated. So yes, it would really be helpful if there was a forum of quizzers in Technopark.”
