K.E. Priyamvada and Archana Gupta, winners of the Mastermind India quiz contest, asked questions at a Dubai inter-school quiz


Most of us find it difficult to keep track of birthdays and anniversaries or even where we left our car keys. But there are some extraordinary people who can recall at will hundreds of interesting facts about a variety of subjects.

K.E. Priyamvada and Archana Garodia Gupta, winners of the Mastermind India quiz contest televised by BBC, were in Dubai recently.

Priyamvada won the contest in the year 2000 when she was 26 years old and is the youngest winner of the contest. Archana is Mastermind India 2001 and also won the Mastermind India Champion of Champions contest between the winners of the last four years. They were here to conduct an inter-school quiz competition organised by the Indian Association, Dubai.

"Remembering trivia facts has never been a conscious process for me. I have participated in quiz competitions since school and enjoy reading and travelling. Some of the things I have come across just remain in the memory," shrugs Archana, an economics graduate with an MBA from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

"Things that you find interesting stay in the memory without effort while others will be forgotten even if you try to memorise them," observes Priyamvada. A postgraduate in English literature, she has worked as an editor with Encyclopaedia Britannica and is now an editor for Sage Publications, an academic publishing house.

Both quiz enthusiasts were encouraged by their families to enter the contest. Needless to say, both sailed through the preliminary round to be among the 64 quarterfinalists from over 4,000 entrants.

At this stage they were asked to choose a subject for their specialisation round. "This can be intimidating the first time, particularly because you cannot pick anything connected with your profession or academic specialisation. But the process can also be fun and a great learning experience if you find some subject that you enjoy reading about," says Priyamvada.

"The three golden rules to follow are to choose something that you are familiar with, a subject that is reasonably well defined and also one that is interesting for the audience," advises Archana. And they should know. After all they went through this process four times - for the quarterfinal, semi-final and final rounds as well as for the Champion of Champions round held this year.

Their choice of subjects indicates their eclectic interests and their ability to take on new challenges. 'The life and times of Raja Ravi Verma', 'The life and work of ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali', 'Women Nobel laureates' and 'The structure of DNA' were Priyamvada's selection.

"These are subjects that I already had an interest in. I reread the books and biographies I was familiar with and collected as much information as I could from libraries and the Internet. A panel of experts sets this round, so you have to put in a lot of preparation for a round of just few minutes," says Priyamvada. "My mother who helped me prepare, knew more answers than me in my specialisation round," she laughs.

Archana chose one of her favourite childhood stories, The Quest For The Golden Fleece for her quarterfinal round and enjoyed reading the original epic, references to it in the works of classical writers like Pindar and Marvel comics based on the classic Greek tale. "I picked Jinnah and the creation of Pakistan next because I had read his biography and wanted to know more about this subject," she says. The Krishna Avatar series of books by K. M. Munshi and Jhansi Ki Rani were her other topics.

Both agree that there is no way of preparing for the general knowledge round that follows the specialisation round. "That is a life long process of reading, observing, being aware of current affairs and generally being inquisitive," says Priyamvada. "You also need some luck to get the right questions," remarks Archana.

Knowing a lot of facts is one thing and recalling them in the few seconds on the hot seat with the spotlight on you is quite another. "The first time on the hot seat is nerve racking. Your pulse rate goes up even while you are waiting for your turn. But once you are in that chair, you must blank out the rest of the world and just concentrate on the questions," says Priyamvada. "And have the will power to pass a question if the answer does not come to mind quickly," underscores Archana.

But despite these tense moments, both women enjoyed the experience. "You do not know the results till the last question has been asked and winning was a great moment. But it was equally wonderful to meet people of all ages and from all walks of life, with a common interest in quizzing," says Priyamvada. "I enjoyed travelling to the different cities where the contest was televised and have made many new friends," notes Archana.

And how does becoming Mastermind India change one's life?

"It was back to work and looking at sales figures the next day," remarks Archana, who is a director at Touchstone, a gems and jewellery company she runs with her husband. "Though it was nice to be featured in newspapers and be recognised by strangers and it is great to be invited to Dubai as a quiz master," she adds.

For Priyamvada, on the other hand, the contest led to a new job in another city. After she won, she was invited to test knowledge management tools being developed by a Silicon Valley start up company in Bangalore, India. "I learnt so much about information technology, which was a totally new field for me. The concepts I learnt not only help me in my editorial work but also in the voluntary work I do of recording audio books for the blind," she says.

Both quizzers are impressed with the school teams they saw in Dubai. "It is nice to see so much interest in quizzing here and we look forward to coming back next year," they say.