Fifa World Cup Open Quiz Contest 2018 in Darjeeling

Darjeeling: After a month of watching some of the greatest footwork, it is time to get your grey cells at play.

A group of five ardent quizzers from Darjeeling has decided to give a "meaningful" farewell to one of the most entertaining tournaments by organising "Fifa World Cup Open Quiz Contest 2018," at the Gorkha Dukha Niwarak Sammelan Hall in Darjeeling on Saturday.

The bigger initiative, however, is to revive quizzing, which has largely been confined to schools of late, in the town.

Udaya Mani Pradhan, Prolad Roka, Lakpa T Sherpa, Diwarkar Thapa and Jit Pradhan, have come together under the banner Megamind.

"Just 10 days back, we thought that while this 'World Cup Town' celebrated the start of the tournament in a grand fashion it would be befitting if we could arrange for a meaningful farewell for such a grand spectacle," said Udaya, who has been quizzing since 1980.

"We realised that quizzing was now confined largely at the school level. It has even disappeared from the college circuit and we wanted to involve the general public in quizzing activities," said Udaya.

Their plans are bearing fruit. "More than 50 teams have signed up for participations. We have a father-son team, teacher-student team, lawyers and people from other professions are participating in this open quiz," the quizzer said.

The organisers plan to have a written round, after which six teams will qualify for the finals. "The entire quiz revolves on the world cup; its history, records, world cup trivia and, of course, questions will be asked on the ongoing Russia World Cup," Udaya said.

In tune with the football fever, the rounds have been named Russia With Love, Penalty Shoot-Out, VAR (video assisted round), etc. "Lot of audio-visuals questions will be put on for the show," said Udaya, who added that teams from Kuresong are also participating in the event.

Old-timers recollect that the last "open quiz" was organised by the Marwari Yuwa Sangh in 1999. "Since then, open quiz events have literally dried up in Darjeeling, which is a sad commentary," said a local quizzer.

Those displaying the best footwork will be lifting the Fifa World Cup in Russia this Sunday but in Darjeeling, those who can use their grey cells will also have an opportunity to life The Cup. "The trophies of the quiz contests are all replicas of the Fifa World Cup," said Udaya.(TT)