Abhijit Hazarika (in black) and Reuben Choudhury pose with the trophy along with Neil O’Brien (extreme left) and Barry O’Brien (extreme right) on Sunday. Krishna Khanna, wife of the late R.G. Khanna, in whose memory the quiz was organised, holds up the trophy along with the winners. Picture by Eastern Projections

July 2: It wasn’t a mean feat, considering there were 250 contestants.

Reuben Choudhury and Abhijit Hazarika of Amnesiacs gave a whoop of delight after they won the Brain Jam Open Quiz 2007 with 100 points at the Pragjyoti ITA Cultural Centre auditorium in Machkhowa last evening.

Their whoop turned into a huge grin when the prizes were announced: a laptop and a digital camera each, worth Rs 1.5 lakh.

The 4M GUD HME team of Taher Imram and Ahbishek Bora bagged second place, winning two tickets to Bangkok.

Both the teams have been selected to participate in a national quiz contest to be conducted by Neil ’Brien in Calcutta in November.

Of the 250 teams participating in the preliminary rounds, only six made it to the finals.

“This is an entirely new experience for me. I never knew quizzing could be so much fun. Be it the contestants or the ones in the audience, the entire auditorium had an experience of a lifetime,” said Radha Kaushik, a collegegoer.

Moreover, the fleet-footed educator-turned-quizmaster Barry ’Brien did his bit in keeping up the spirits of the crowd, reaching out to every quiz enthusiast.

The die-hard quizzing fans of Guwahati did not let him down either.

For every raised hand there was a correct answer from the audience and a gift hamper for the winner.

“The Guwahatians have a really amazing knack for quizzing. From answering the toughest of questions to maintaining silence when needed, the audience was most well behaved and of course, well versed in the art of quizzing. I am happy to be here in Guwahati,” said Barry, who was accompanied by his father, legendary quizmaster Neil ’Brien and mother Joyce.

Before the grand finale, the organisers felicitated Neil ’Brien on completing 40 years of quizzing.

Both Neil and Barry, along with Joyce in the audience, turned moist eyed when the veteran quizmaster cut a vanilla cake to mark the occasion.

“I am touched. Nobody had honoured me for completing four decades of being a quizmaster. Guwahati has always been a special place for me. I have vivid memories of my first quiz contest in Guwahati in 1987,” said ’Brien senior.

Barry conducted the entire two-hour show. Neil, on his part, revived old memories with two special rounds conducted by him.

Before flying to Calcutta, Barry made it a point to meet the principals of a few city-based schools this morning and stress the need to make education more innovative and interactive.

“It is high time that we take our education system outside the four walls of a classroom, rather than letting education be exam-oriented,” said Barry.

“Education should contribute to the holistic development of a child. From personality development to inculcating life skills in a child, education should focus on the attainment of the skills necessary to achieve success in life,” added Barry.