Were intellectual pursuits only for men? If we look at the scenario, say, some decades ago, how much was women’s representation in the world of words, politics, sports, or finance? There is a deeply entrenched sexism that seeps into the sociopolitical, financial, educational, and domestic domains. But today, women are making strides in every field that once only men pursued.
Quizzing was also one such male-dominated area — be it television quiz shows echoing men’s voices or the themes they explored. However, if we delve deep into quizzing, we see a shift in representation. Saranya Jayakumar, who founded Motley Crew, the reputed Calcutta quiz team of the 1980s, shares her experience in Calcutta, “There were many women quizzers in Calcutta in those days, so I never felt out of place. There were not so many in Chennai when we started QFI.”
In 1985, Saranya, the founding president of the Quiz Foundation of India (QFI), returned to Chennai and continued quizzing with her son quizmaster Dr Navin Jayakumar as a new team called Memory Bank and eventually won the All-India North Star Quiz sometime in 1987. The same year QFI, Chennai, was founded.
Recalling her initial phase of quizzing, Jayashree Mohanka, one of the leading quizzers, win ner of the Mahaquizzer solo quiz, Brand Equity quiz, and semi-finalist on BBC Mastermind India, shares, “When I began quizzing in school in the 1970’s and college in the 1980’s, there were plenty of women quizzers. Calcutta, where I began my corporate career, had a number of female-headed quiz teams who were quite formidable.”
The trend of women’s participation in quizzing has been quite disheartening. She says, “Over the years, while female participation at school has remained robust, it drops a bit at college level, and tapers off at the open level.”
Navin, who has been quizzing since 1980, thinks that the situation hasn’t changed significantly. However, he acknowledges that there were outstanding women quizzers then. He mentions Jayashree, who was one of his contemporaries.“These are examples few and far in between.”
To bring in a change, Saranya, Jayashree, and Nirupama V have joined hands to conduct the QFI-Purple Riband Quiz Challenge 2025, celebrating International Women’s Day. The general knowledge quiz will be women-themed and will be led by these three women from different generations. Navin says, “We wanted this event to be more than a quiz. We have been talking to some organisations in the city which deal with women’s issues. We have asked them to put up small videos about themselves so that people who come can also learn about the groups.” A conversation on women and quizzing is also one of the highlights of the event. Dhruv Mookerji has contributed a set of three women-themed word-smash questions.
The 85-year-old Saranya says, “I am excited to be part of the quiz hosting team with exceptional quizzers like Jayashree and Nirupama. We represent different generations and a continuum of women in Indian Quizzing, and I also think that this will make the quiz an interesting one.”
Nirupama, who has been quizzing on and off since school, says, “The quiz is an opportunity to shine light on women’s issues, and their achievements and discuss about women who have come out of heavy odds.” Believing that ‘It’s always better to ask than to answer’, she says that there also would be some fun questions that not many quizzers might know.
Jayashree expresses how she feels to be in the field by quoting the words of Golda Meir when she was asked how she felt being a woman Prime Minister. ‘I don’t know; I’ve never tried being a man. ’ Jayashree adds, “I haven’t felt either special or out of place. I have been asked why I declare myself as female in some written quizzes where they list the female toppers separately. I do it to hope to inspire more women to quiz.” While she hopes more women will engage in quizzing and experience the joy of cracking an answer, she also believes that the “camaraderie and team spirit” are the essence of quizzing.
Excited for the event, Jayashree says, “I haven’t ever had the honour of sharing the stage with Mrs Jayakumar, who was captain of the top team in her heyday. It is worth flying down from Calcutta for. And I teamed up with Nirupama at a QFI year-end event earlier, and we had such fun.”
One team can have two members (either both women or one man & one woman). The quiz will be held at 3 pm on March 16 at The Folly, Amethyst. It is a ticketed event. For details, visit quizfoundation.com or email quizfoundation@gmail.com