How it started
Quizzing has been one of the few constants in my life. Out of all the things I keep returning to, this one has stayed with me since school: competitions, pub quizzes, hosting, writing questions, and chasing that tiny electric moment when a clue finally clicks.
I remember maa asking me to finish my homework early so I could watch KBC on Sony TV at 9:00 PM. It single-handedly changed prime-time viewing for many Indian families, shifting attention from daily soaps to high-stakes appointment television built around knowledge. It made curiosity feel glamorous, democratic, and rewarding across generations.
One reason I came to Karnataka for my undergraduate studies was Bangalore's well-established quizzing circuit: the Karnataka Quiz Association, RVCE QuizCorp / Under the Peepal Tree, TAPMI's Quiz on the Beach, Christ University's CUIZ, and so many others. At MIT Bengaluru, I have led Mimansa, the quizzing society, and helped the team participate actively across Bangalore's circuit.
My two cents on quizzing
In school, you study to remember. You read something, retain it, reproduce it in an exam, and move on. The goal is the grade. Quizzing does not work like that.
When you get a question wrong at a quiz, you do not just note the answer and forget it. You feel it. There is a mild sting of "I should have known that," and that sting is surprisingly effective. You almost never forget the answer after that.
More importantly, quizzing teaches you to connect things. A good question is not just trivia. It gives you a trail of clues: a date, a place, a person, a pattern. You work backwards to the answer. You are not just recalling facts; you are reasoning through them.
Over the years, I have realized that people are most present in the gap between not knowing and knowing, when they are not sure if they are right but think they might be. I see my job as building the bridge between "I don't know" and "Oh, I see."
Quizzing taught me that knowledge has texture. Some facts are sticky, some are slippery. It taught me that engagement is fragile; you have seconds to earn attention and even fewer to keep it. Live quizzes taught me that the best moments are shared. Good quizzing is not just about facts. It is about making them come alive.
P.S. I had written an older, rougher version of these thoughts long ago on Quora. It is a small time capsule of how I used to think about quizzes before this became a larger part of my life.
Moments from the circuit
A recent question from 4Edge Sunday Quiz
In 1855, British entrepreneur Edward Abraham Dyer established the Kasauli Brewery in Himachal Pradesh to supply fresh liquor to British troops. That brewery gave birth to Lion Beer, widely regarded as Asia's first commercial beer brand. The same family name later became infamous through his youngest son, Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, who ordered the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919. After Indian independence, the business was bought by the Mohan family in 1949 and became Mohan Meakin Limited. Instead of shutting the colonial infrastructure down, the new management repurposed it into a homegrown legacy that gave India cultural staples like Old Monk Rum and Doctor's Brandy, one of the country's first domestic spirits to earn a V.S.O.P. classification.
The people who kept it alive
Special mention to my classmates Rishith, Harsh, and Akshat, who made quizzing feel alive because the everyday energy comes from friends who keep showing up.