Going pubbing in pursuit of trivia

He used to come from Yelahanka to Indiranagar every week to hang out with friends. Arvind Singh's weekly trips were owing to two Bengaluru institutions rolled into one ­ quizzing and pubbing ­ in the form of a pub quiz.
At Vapour, on 100 Ft Road, every Tuesday is Cluesday and every table a team. “This is my first quizzing experience and it is great fun,“ says 26-year-old Singh who works for an IT major.A few weeks ago, Singh, got to host the quiz, a regular practice at the pub. His questions were all drawn from popular culture ­ movies and anime ­ and had none of that `serious' stuff. “There is too much information at the open quizzes.Sometimes I wonder why people know all this!“ says Singh.
But it is this pursuit of trivia that has been keeping Bengaluru on the buzzer, whether it is the brutal open quizzes, the numerous school and college affairs, or the `lite' versions at pubs like Social, Vapour, Irish House and Tippler on the Roof. For Himadri Banerjee and his colleagues from 4 Edge Quizzing Solutions, September is peak season: they conduct a quiz every weekend across the city . “Colleges and schools encourage quizzes as they feel students are learning more,“ says Banerjee.
Then there are the pubs that are looking for events to connect better with their patrons. One way to do that is to draw upon the city's strong quizzing culture. “It is like a sport and everyone likes to play gully cricket and football,“ says Banerjee. At his first pub quiz at Social, he was stunned to see around 200 faces peering at him; more interested in quizzing rather than imbibing.
It isn't easy tailoring questions to a crowd out for a party . “If you ask about an obscure author or South African politician Jacob Zuma, people might not like it. They are more likely to be interested in sports and current affairs,“ says Abhishek Upadhya, a seasoned quizzer who conducts events for Karnataka Quiz Association (KQA). He has hosted Cluesday at Vapour several times and enjoys the relaxed atmosphere, camaraderie and a sense of community that has evolved in the last couple of years. And the prize is worth it ­­ a waiver of the booze bill. At his latest outing as quiz master, he asked what connects KGA Golf Course, Majestic Bus Stand, Kanteerava Stadium and the National Games Complex in Koramangala. The moment he used the word illegal construction, many in the audience got the answer: lake bed.
Quizzing is no longer about knowing the capital of Belize or Mali's currency , and hasn't been for a long time. Now, it's more about making connections, taking that inspired guess. “These days, there is a convergence of quizzing styles,“ says Anustup Datta. “There used to be a clear difference between quizzes conducted in Bengaluru and Chennai and quizzes in, say Kolkata. Kolkata quizzes used to emphasize short pointed questions to which you either knew the answer or you didn't. They relied more on memory , on fact retention. Quizzes down south tend to focus on longer questions, with word play that can help the quizzer work out the answer. But with the rise of social media and every quiz being put up on Slideshare, there seems to be greater uniformity in quizzes across the country.“ Datta should know. He has been a quizzer for four decades, and has quizzed in Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Of late, the lines between serious and casual quizzers seem to be blurring with many graduating from pubs to KQA events. Berty Ashley , a senior research scientist who hosts a weekly quiz night at Irish House, was initially apprehensive about association quizzes as he grew up seeing KQA veterans on stage for the Landmark Quiz and the like. “But others convinced me to attend a KQA music quiz; it was nice and I think I will attend more quizzes around music and pop culture,“ says Ashley .