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Quizzing after a long time
Who is the first black person to win the Wimbledon Men's Singles?
Which city in India is the 'City of Roses'?
What is the old name of the city of Ahmedabad, before the conquest by Ahmed Shah?
Ah, the excitement and pleasures of quizzing! It had been a long time since I participated in a quiz competition, so I thoroughly enjoyed the 'Bheja Fry' quiz competition in office last week. While Deepak solved the Sudoku in a jiffy, the quiz questions were easy and the crossword was moderately difficult. We managed to get into the second round, but fared badly in the business domain questions in Round 2. My quizzing cells have gone rusty, and there is a lot of catching up to do :).
In school, quizzing was a regular activity - as was keeping up with trivia. GK books, the Manorama year book, the Limca book of records .. . I still remember going once to the eliminations of the Limca Quiz, hosted by Barry O'Brein (or was it Derek O'Brein), but I did not clear ofcourse. Yet, there is some pleasure in knowing that Pele's real name is Edson Arantes de Nascimento !! I still remember some of the facts I gathered then, than the newer facts. For example, I can easily rattle of Wimbledon mens's singles winners since 1975 till 2000. Had it not been for Roger Federer's string of victories, it would have been difficult to keep track of the recent winners.
I guess it partly has to do with the clutter increasing in our minds. Its not as if our memory decreases with age/time, rather facts becoming lost in the increasing clutter that our minds become. Secondly, we tend to become more abstract in our thinkings, preferring to deal with ideas than facts. That is true for me too, for the scientific method emphazises the value of generalization and abstraction - and puts in a healthy disdain for rote memory. (Granted, quizzers rely on intelligent guesses based on fuzzy deduction :) ).
I guess the world of quizzing has changed too. Back then, information was at a premium. Today with the web, information is ubiquitous and with Wikipedia trivia is generally organized in a wonderful narrative. How has that changed quizzing then and now? Any comments from expert quizzers?
Which city in India is the 'City of Roses'?
What is the old name of the city of Ahmedabad, before the conquest by Ahmed Shah?
Ah, the excitement and pleasures of quizzing! It had been a long time since I participated in a quiz competition, so I thoroughly enjoyed the 'Bheja Fry' quiz competition in office last week. While Deepak solved the Sudoku in a jiffy, the quiz questions were easy and the crossword was moderately difficult. We managed to get into the second round, but fared badly in the business domain questions in Round 2. My quizzing cells have gone rusty, and there is a lot of catching up to do :).
In school, quizzing was a regular activity - as was keeping up with trivia. GK books, the Manorama year book, the Limca book of records .. . I still remember going once to the eliminations of the Limca Quiz, hosted by Barry O'Brein (or was it Derek O'Brein), but I did not clear ofcourse. Yet, there is some pleasure in knowing that Pele's real name is Edson Arantes de Nascimento !! I still remember some of the facts I gathered then, than the newer facts. For example, I can easily rattle of Wimbledon mens's singles winners since 1975 till 2000. Had it not been for Roger Federer's string of victories, it would have been difficult to keep track of the recent winners.
I guess it partly has to do with the clutter increasing in our minds. Its not as if our memory decreases with age/time, rather facts becoming lost in the increasing clutter that our minds become. Secondly, we tend to become more abstract in our thinkings, preferring to deal with ideas than facts. That is true for me too, for the scientific method emphazises the value of generalization and abstraction - and puts in a healthy disdain for rote memory. (Granted, quizzers rely on intelligent guesses based on fuzzy deduction :) ).
I guess the world of quizzing has changed too. Back then, information was at a premium. Today with the web, information is ubiquitous and with Wikipedia trivia is generally organized in a wonderful narrative. How has that changed quizzing then and now? Any comments from expert quizzers?
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