Sep 24, 2004 12:23 PM
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(Updated Sep 24, 2004 12:23 PM)
I remember the event as if it was yesterday. Exactly seven years ago came the occasion when I presented myself in my first quiz contest. I was nearly ten, and studying in the fifth standard. It was one of the many quizzes in which I have lost the first place.
To be more specific, the quizmaster asked, ?Which industrialist pioneered steel and iron manufacture in India?? and I passed the question. The correct answer is J. N. Tata. You see, one gets a question right after getting it wrong atleast once!
Since then, I have been addicted to quizzes. Programs like Bournvita Quiz Contest, ESPN School Quiz Olympiad, Kaun Banega Crorepati, etc are, to this day, my most loved television programs. If one program is unique, it?s Mastermind India.
Most quizzes are based on general knowledge. Knowledge available to man is, needless to say, unlimited. So when we talk ok general knowledge, it could mean anything from Darwin?s Theory of Evolution to modern sub-atomic physics, from the origin of the universe to the theories predicting its end. Therefore, preparing for a quiz is not so easy, as they rarely have a specified syllabus. Mastermind India justifies this point better than anything else does.
By origin, this program is British. It was first telecast on 2nd September 1998 on BBC?s ?Made in India? division, thanks to Synergy Communications, whose owner in none other than the quizmaster Siddhartha Basu. Mastermind India is the Indian incarnation of that most formidable of TV quizzes-Mastermind, made legendary for over 25 years on BBC. Conducted for the first time outside England, the show riveted viewers in the sub-continent for over six years with a depth and range of inquisition.
The program is a quiz contest on the all India level open for professionals and graduate students. The pace is rapid fire and the participants of a standard high enough to sustain viewer involvement. In the first half, each of the four contestants is questioned at top speed continuously for two minutes on a subject of their individual choice. This round is called the specialized subject round. In the next half, all of the contenders are again questioned in a similar fashion, but this time on general knowledge. A point is awarded for every right answer. (No negative marking)
Another attractive features of Mastermind India are the locations. The producers use historical monuments and places of national heritage as the quiz centers. That?s not all?BBC have published questions put to the contenders in the inaugural year and their answers in a book called ?Mastermind India with Siddhartha Basu?, distributed in India by Teksons bookshop, New Delhi.
It is said that TV makes idiots of us all. Well, Mastermind is certainly not for idiots. The hot seat, the single spotlight, the clock counting down, the relentless inquisition and the scintillating response. The challenge of Basu?s silken interrogation is met with amazing erudition.
It is exciting; it is mindsport at it?s best. It educates, informs, and entertains. This, I think, is what public service television should be! Quoting Hon?ble President Abdul Kalam?s exact words, ?It should be aimed not at the lowest common multiple, but at the highest common denominator.?
Mastermind India is a novel opportunity for Indian polymaths of all ages to prove their mettle in a test of awareness, speed and nerve.
It is a challenging quiz, one that the general viewer will enjoy as much as quiz connoisseurs and enthusiasts. Because it has been fashioned for the sheer fun of finding out.
