The Dalhousie Institute turned into a battlefield for curious minds at the 55th edition of the DI Open Quiz, now called the Neil O’ Brien DI Open Quiz. The quiz took place on May 10, the birth anniversary of the father of Indian quizzing, Neil O’Brien. The open quiz saw record participation this year, with a total of 108 teams competing for the Errol Cowper Trophy. Sixty school teams took part – another record.
108 teams took part in the Neil O’Brien DI Open Quiz on May 10
The competition saw school children from Classes IX and X take part alongside adults as old as 50 who competed with Gen Z for the grand prize. The quiz wasn’t just a celebration of Neil O’ Brien’s legacy, but was also a celebration of those who have left an indelible mark on Indian quizzing. with five individuals being inducted into Neil O’Brien’s Indian Quizzing Hall of Fame.
Derek O’ Brien and Francis Groser with Neil O’Brien’s Indian Quizzing Hall of Fame inductees
The last inductee into the hall of fame was Derek O’Brien in 2019. This year saw fresh inductees for the first time since the pandemic. They were Errol O’Brien for 2021, Shouvik Guha and Abhijit Banerjee for 2022, Saranya Jayakumar and Navin Jayakumar for 2023.
Another legend of Indian quizzing did the honours of felicitating the new Hall of Famers. Francis Groser, a veteran quiz master. spoke to My Kolkata and recounted the memories of taking part in his first open quiz as a competitor before he turned into a quiz master.
Francis Groser and Derek O’Brien
Francis, who flew down from Delhi for the event, said, “I remember I got married on November 22 in 1969 and my best man told me about this quiz the next day. Neil, who was a college senior, really wanted me to compete in that quiz and it was the day after my wedding. So, literally on the first day after my marriage I took part in the 1969 Eddie Hyde Open quiz and that is where my journey in quizzing began.”
In the times of search engines and AI, where any information you need is available at your fingertips, quizzing holds great importance, especially for youngsters. Speaking about the importance of quizzing, Derek O’Brien said “We must celebrate the legacy of Calcutta. Along with the celebration, we need to plan, prepare and nurture students for the future. Quizzing in India was born in Kolkata. We must find ways to energise this great legacy of our city. The best way is to start at the school level. Today, the DI tried very hard to bring in more school teams than open teams. And they did succeed with about 60 of the 108 teams being from schools.”
O’ Brien also spoke about the steps that are being taken to ensure that the quizzing culture is on the way up and said that four heritage quizzes will be institutionalised with the Neil O’ Brien DI Open Quiz, Summer Invitation Inter-School Quiz and Argus Open Quiz that will be held annually at the Dalhousie Institute, while The Eddie Hyde Memorial Open Quiz will be held annually at Church of Christ the King, Parish Hall.
Shouvik Guha and Andrew Scolt, the quiz masters of the day
The DI open quiz took place with 108 teams taking part in the preliminary rounds from which eight teams competed over six rounds in the finals hosted by Shouvik Guha and Andrew Scolt. In the end, it was team Inmaniacs who won with 80 points, while Groove like Dhruv came in second with 60 points and What’s in a Name finished third with 50 points.
The exuberance and curiosity of the crowd was clear to see throughout the competition as the audience filled with school kids raised their hands to answer questions even before the participants could take a shot at the questions.