Why quiz?

Alright!

Buckle up for a guide that does not guide you to win a quiz. I am sure you can Google and find a million answers on Reddit and Quora for that. And that is not enough, I am sure you have the nous to find someone on Linkedin and poke them till they answer (or block you). However, this is a guide to some of the fun I’ve had the chance to experience over the years. And they make me keep coming back to quizzes (even when I am not a fan of the quizmaster).

Brave New World 

Adjusting to your new surroundings is always a universal challenge, whether you are a wide-eyed teen in your first year or you’ve just moved to a new city. I can absolutely picture myself staring at vegetables in a market the first time like they are ancient hieroglyphs. There’s also the additional awkwardness of trying to figure out its local name, but then you spell it and you sound like Pitradev Sanrakshanam instead. Seriously though, in case of the latter, once the shopkeepers notice a chink of hesitation, you’re so getting ripped off. On top of that, the Bermuda triangle of wrong addresses in Google Maps at the heart of the market means that the probability of you being lost is closer to 1 than you realize. 

I digressed earlier because I used to feel the same way walking into a quiz with all new faces, like a sausage walking into a den of lions. But slowly as I attended more, met people and made friends, I sort of settled in. 
You will too.

Conformed Chaos

Amidst all the chaos, you’ll find motley crews of quizzers arising after the prelims, clustered here and there. Some of them are looking up answers nervously, while some others are complaining how people looked up answers during the prelims.

Well, probably most aren’t, but you know what Shakespeare says, Paranoia is but the truth of Humanity (Putting words in Shakespeare’s mouth feels like blasphemy alright). Some of the peers will dissect the quiz like conspiracy theorists on moon landing, while some others will be chasing the older ones for their wisdom nuggets like confetti on a parade.

 Human connections bloom like flowers in the desert of trivia. You’d find all kinds of quirkiness in a quiz, some of them are fun to hang out with, others are business quizzers. This is what you may be missing out on . The thrill of the absurd and the new and is what I find unexpectedly delightful.

Quizine Adventures

Another reason (and good enough on its own) is the food. Food can move mountains, and the fact that if you try and take part in some of the more popular quizzes, they pay for your travel to absolutely gorgeous places where you can explore food you haven’t savored before. Now that you have attended a few quizzes, imagine this: you may unexpectedly bump into old quizzer friends amidst the hustle and bustle of a quiz. Picture yourself with enough free time to squeeze in an outing or two with them, indulging in Malabar parotta in Kerala or sampling various dosas across different cities.

As you savor each bite, your palate evolves into a refined instrument, as if preparing you to be the next judge on Masterchef. 

These moments also transform into bonding sessions, where you swap stories and laughter with peers from colleges across India. It dawns on you that you're not alone trying to make headway through some rather confusing times in your life.

Buzzing Seafarer

While food and travel does go hand in hand, you have to be cognizant of the fact that such trips are sometimes pretty compact. As a result, trying to figure out a window to sightsee is sometimes possibly harder than going for dinner with a group. But your experience will definitely lead you to the realization of how vast this country is.

One of my favorite personal experiences still remains peering through the window of the Taj Mahal Palace, admiring the vastness of the Arabian sea that lay before me, and the India gate, standing regally at midnight. In contrast was the visit to Bhubaneswar during the Hockey World Cup. The absolute festive mood of the city in the winters, and I recall visiting an international fair in Bhubaneswar, which was an absolute melting pot of cultures. Being a broke college student at the time, I did feel very fortunate that I had the opportunity to experience both, and these are just some of my favorite memories.

Cold Feet and Quiz Fits

While all this is great, here is an additional list of things you’re missing out on:

1. The thrill of the question and the excitement of prepping with friends. The high fives that eventually stop because one of them was so hard that your hand is now sore. The identification (yes, it's not stalking) of the teams to beat and then looking them up and checking which quizzes they have attended and won. 

2. The hours of brainstorming, planning, strategizing and fighting over which burger to order in a late night prep session.

3.  Getting cold feet and pushing your quiz partner to pick up a chit that spouts your team number out. Of course blaming them for it if they pick up the first or the last spot. And then being worried if that slot is going to get a toughie, or worse, you know every answer in that round except your own. 

4. But then, you go out after a long prelim or in a break if it’s a longer event, and hang out with other people whose mind is blown that they missed such an easy answer(this is probably you, but hey I don’t want to discourage you).

There does lie a difference between having fun attending one and trying to win. When you’re trying to win, this fun sport tends to become a little mechanical and methodical. This tends to ruin the fun for some people. If you don’t want to compete, that’s absolutely okay.

But if you have never quizzed before, or you want to introduce it to someone, share the thought with them. Let them discover the joy of cracking questions, bonding and making friends in a whole new way. 

Come for the thrill, stay for the life that it breathes in you.