Umair Tarait Siddiqui and Ans Khurram, the Pakistani boys from the Sri Lankan school in Muscat

They may appear like characters in a Spike Lee film, but Umair Tarait Siddiqui and Ans Khurram have a lot more to talk about than just their identities.

The 14-year-old Pakistani boys studying in the Sri Lankan school in Muscat were in Calcutta to participate in the all-Asia Cadbury?s Bournvita Quiz Contest. Having qualified from among 80-plus teams in the written preliminary rounds, the two went on to win the stage round in the Muscat leg of the contest. The success fulfilled their long-cherished dream of visiting India.

After a few hours at Mumbai airport, the teenagers touched down at Calcutta. ?It is so green here? not like Muscat, which is all rock and sand,? gushed the boys in their room at Lytton Hotel, on Sudder Street.

Umair was born in Karachi and Ans in Lahore, but both had to move early in their lives when their doctor fathers joined a Muscat hospital.

?We took admission in the Sri Lankan school because it is affiliated to the British examination board,? revealed Umair.

Quizzing followed soon after. ?The game is really big in Muscat. We started out in Class IV and kept participating in contests,? Umair added. But it is the four days in Calcutta that have given the two the ?maximum exposure? in five years of quizzing. They might have lost out to an Indore school but they were surely carrying the ?international experience? back home.

?Apart from touring India, we have made a whole lot of friends here,? smiled Ans, who could not get over the bhel puri he had at a roadside stall. Asked about their favourite Indian hero, they replied with a googly. ?Derek O?Brien? in chorus.

Munnabhai MBBS and Baghban were the only Bollywood movies Ans and Umair had seen. No surprises then that they prefer watching Yuvraj Singh to Shah Rukh Khan. Even before they left India, the Muscat youngsters were planning to return in the near future and go to Delhi. ?We want to go to the Wagah border once,? said Ans. ?We would also love to go to Agra and see Taj Mahal.?

The Pakistan connection of the two is also thriving. ?We go there once a year during vacations,? stated Umair. ?We love staying in Muscat but the excitement is in the subcontinent. However, we will have to settle in West Asia, because it is much safer there.?