Playing the mind game 1. The Mastermind quiz is billed as a “battle of minds’. This battle is fought in two halves. In the first, each of four participants faces a barrage of questions, for two minutes, on any topic of his or her choice. In the second round, the questions are on general knowledge. There are two points for each correct answer and zero for wrong answers and passes. In the event of a tie, the person who has passed fewer questions wins. 2. Questions can be bizarre, but they are answered none the less. “It absolutely amazes you that these guys know so much. In KBC, it used to be, that this guy knows so little,” says Basu after the show. Siddhartha Basu was the director of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). 3. This year’s Mastermind final was won by Ramanand Janardhana, a 22 year-old software engineer from Pune. Janardhana had Agatha Christie’s ‘Tommy and Tupence’ novels as his specialist topic. He even knew that Tommy used asofoetida to create a stink in his room. 4. There are, of course, all sorts of quizzers. The diary-toting, Manorama yearbook, wielding variety will typically prepare for a contest by ‘studying’. He knows that the best questions, the ones that get the ‘wah-wahs’, are always repeated. He is a solid quizzer, because he knows the obvious. 5. There is the other kind, like Janardhana, who claim they do nothing extra to prepare for quizzes. They read the papers and magazines, watch TV, and become quizzers because they enjoy the test of recall. 6. It was a test the nation took when KBC fever was at its height. But long before KBC, there were quiz societies across the country, in places from Guwahati to Gandhinagar. Kolkata was the hub of the game; quizzing in India began here in 1967. Even now, the majority of quizzers are from Kolkata. Of the four 2002 Mastermind finalists, two were from that city. 7. Quizzing is big in school and college festivals. It’s the ‘literary’ highlight of all fests. There are even professional quizzers, who, like mercenaries, play for money and the thrill of the game. They represent various organisations at different times. 8. Most quizzers grow out of active quizzing after college. Some, the really hardcore devotees of the game, keep at it. “I don’t get tired of quizzing,” says Pinaki Prasad Roy, a Mastermind finalist. “I get excited.” Roy is a 46-year old finance professional from Kolkata, and has been a quizzer for three decades. 9. Curiosity is the most essential quality for a quizzer. A fantastic memory and instant recall help. And for Mastermind at least, the choice of specialist subject is critical. In this year’s event, Janardhana took an unassailable lead in the specialist round itself. write summary in 100 words

English Secondary School in English 1 year ago

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