There was an excited chatter in the auditorium as seasoned quizzers greeted each other and amateurs geared up for a fun ride at the 26th edition of the Landmark Quiz. At Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, the stage was set with tables and a large screen; but all eyes were on the three trophies that occupied pride of place. “It’s become a tradition to come to the quiz every Independence Day,” said someone in the audience to her friend, as they waited for the quizmaster to begin the contest. Two hundred and four teams battled it out for top honours this year.
After the prelims that had 40 general knowledge questions spanning a range of topics such as politics, current affairs, sports, entertainment and science; eight teams were chosen for the finals. “The idea has always been to keep the quiz interesting and relevant. The questions are all relatable and never vague,” said Dr Navin Jayakumar, the quizmaster who’s been associated with the quiz since it’s inception, except for a two-year gap.
The Landmark quiz also happens to be one of the longest running and largest open quizzes in India, with teams coming in from across the country to participate. Forty-three-year-old Avinash Mudaliar from Mumbai, said, “I’ve been participating since 1994 with my team Aardvarks. We come to Chennai only for the quiz every year; it’s one of the finest in the country.” Aardvarks has in the past made it to the finals several times and won thrice. This time however, their luck seemed to have run out.
For Gautam Ghosh, 65, the quiz has been a constant for the last six years. “It’s well researched and competitive. Some of the best teams participate in it,” he says, “We’ve gone to the finals thrice before. We usually participate in the Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata editions.”
The eight teams that made it to the finals had the opportunity to pounce on questions (where one team could hit the buzzer to answer a question by writing it down) while it was posed to the team whose turn it was. The questions once again ranged from science, history and current affairs. For instance, did you know what the Korean terms for ‘mother’ and ‘father’ are? As it turns out, it is ‘amma’ and ‘appa’, as was shown in Sandra Oh’s acceptance speech at the 2019 Golden Globes for Killing Eve . Or that the largest Buddhist population in the country is in Maharashtra? There were of course questions from Game of Thrones and Harry Potter too.
Questions were also thrown open to the audience and those who got it right were given gifts from Landmark.
One of the highlights of the afternoon was a 30-minute guitar performance by 14-year-old Amithav Gautam of APL Global School. The teenager played everything from ‘Sweet Child of Mine’ by Guns N’ Roses to The Allman Brothers’ ‘In Memory of Elizabeth Reed’. He also played for questions in the final round (instead of audio clips).
Bagging top honours were QED, which came first. In second place was Maris Troika, while BMQJ came third. 50 Shades of Grey won the Best College Team and Brain Pain bagged the award for Best Corporate Team. The winners of the open quiz took home ₹30,000.
