What the Report of, “What the Dickens….

        On the second day of the Pickwick Festival, the quiz contest “What the Dickens and Manto?” was scheduled. The programme started with an inaugural speech by the Chief Guest of the event, Professor Anisur Rahman. In his enlightening speech, in which he traced back the history of the word Quiz, along with its mythical origin. The word was coined in 1791, in Dublin and it gained popularity in India, some 45 years ago with the efforts of an Anglo-Indian from Calcutta, Neil O’Brien. He saw the culture of Pub Quiz in England and introduced it in the church in Calcutta. It soon became a popular game and was named “North Star”. It was popularised on Vividh Bharti by Sayani Brothers in the form of the show “Bournvita Quiz Contest”.

         
        The quiz master Mr Roomy Naqvy took the initiative of conducting the event. Being prompt and entertining, his role as the quiz master was commendable. The event heads Ayesha Kamal and Eeliya Jeega, organised the show and ensured its proper functioning with the support of all the volunteers. The atmosphere seemed electrified. The Quiz competition had questions about the life, times and works of Charles Dickens and Sadat Hassan Manto predominantly and their contemporaries as well.

        There was a preliminary round where out of 13, 8 teams made it to the final round which consisted of 5 sessions, where questions were thrown in the clockwise direction thrice, and in the anti-clockwise direction twice, around the teams. Questions such as identifying characters and quotes from the works of these literary giants, were posed to the participants that had them using all parts of their brains. The quiz master’s wit kept the competition a light and a fun affair. It was apparent that, those who paid attention to the details of the plays enacted on the first day at the Dramatics competition, would have hit the bull's eye constantly through the competition.

        The rounds came to a close with team G (members: Aryak Ray and Zainab Abrar) emerging victorious with 160 points. The event was summed up by Dr Ameena Kazi Ansari who said that it was an insightful affair and claimed that she was enlightened by certain facts.

-Lubna Ansari

MA Final