Did you know Crazy Mohan and Kamal Haasan met for the first time in a cemetery at St Mary’s Road?
Can you even imagine that the Tamil Nadu capital had freezing temperatures during summer in 1815 due to weather changes that happened after Mount Tambora erupted in distant Indonesia?
Only five localities in Chennai have a conducive environment for sparrows.
An establishment in Ebrahim Sahib street prints the cardboard tickets once used for travel and they are shutting down soon.
These are just the some of the facts around which questions were posed to participants in a quiz conducted recently (24 August) by Team ‘X Quiz It’ at the Fundazone, T Nagar (Kasi Arcade) as part of Madras week celebrations. Named as Madrasa’Fact’inam, the quiz drew participants from all walks of life who were interested to learn more about Chennai.
The quiz
Enthusiasm was palpable at the venue as several quizzers greeted each other and numerous school children (some accompanied by their parents) geared up for an enjoyable trivia ride.
As the ‘arcade’ was set with tables and screen(s), several eager quizzers occupied the front rows to get a better view of the screen(s) displaying the questions. 53 teams battled it out for the top honour.
“It’s always good to know so much more about the city that we love,” said someone in the audience to her friend, as they waited for the quizmaster Mahesh Ramgopal to begin the contest. Mahesh Ramgopal, an avid quizzer himself is a budding quiz master known in quizzing circles for his liberal yet innovative clues to help the teams crack the answers. He has been with Team ‘X Quiz It’ for the past 5 years.
After the prelims that had 20 questions covering facts on famous personalities, localities, institutions, language and current affairs et al relating to the city, six teams were chosen for the finals. “Our USP has always been to keep the quiz entertaining but also relevant. As you would have seen in this quiz, the questions are all relatable and never vague. We may drop a few of our questions at the last minute even after heavy research for deficiency of entertainment value but we never compromise on learning and quality. It’s all a fine balance,” say the members of Team ‘X Quiz It’ who have been conducting quiz shows for the past nine years across the country. They probably are right about the entertainment factor, as almost 80% of the crowd stayed back for the finals after the prelims.
The six teams that made it to the finals had the opportunity to even hit a dart board to give a massive boost to their scores. The engaging final had four rounds namely Andru , Chennai Connect , Indru and Buzzer Battle with the questions ranging from Dabba Chetty Kadai, Kalathy Rose Milk and to the history behind the Sathyam Popcorn etc.
Team X Quiz It with the winners.
Fun facts and trivia
Did you know that the only species which has been named after Madras is a little known bird ‘Kulathu Kuruvi’? Or the fact that Tamilnadu police referred Thomas Munroe Statue in one of their FIR’s as Marilyn Monroe? The quiz also had a stimulating connect round of places visible during a MRTS train travel. There were also fun questions based on pin codes of the city that had the audience in splits.
Essa Mohammed, the winner of the quiz said, “It was an excellent quiz to participate in. Knowing that the Team XQuizIt was conducting a quiz on Madras, I really wanted to make time for the event; it didn’t matter if we would qualify or not. The reason being, their questions themselves have a lot of trivia to take home. Most of their questions are generally workable, irrespective of prior knowledge on the topic. And the quiz had everything to justify my claim. Winning the trophy was a bonus, along with worthy hours of quizzing. Looking forward to more such quizzes.”
Questions were also thrown open to the audience and those who got it right were given gifts. The winners of the open quiz took home glittering trophies and some generous gift vouchers. The event was sponsored by Fundazone, IFE Academy and the Board Room Café.