Quizzing on Ramayana

The unassuming title ‘Ramayanam Quiz’, holds no clue to the full-blown entertainer that Snehaj Srinivas’s 70-page quiz book is.  A roller-coaster ride that takes the characters, settings and interpretations of the epic across ages and disciplines, the book is a retelling of Ramayana in its own right. The second edition of the book published by Mathrubhumi Books reached stores recently .

The book is neatly divided into nine chapters of Ramayana-based quiz and four chapters that compile background information on the epic. The quizzes club together different topics related to Ramayana - pavakkoothu, Dussehra and Vallathol Narayana Menon’s ‘Kochu Seetha’, for instance, set the direction in one chapter, while another is based on the female characters in Ramayana.

Much thought has evidently gone into choosing the titles of the chapters. ‘Tamasa muthal Nepal vare’ (From Tamasa to Nepal), ‘Pavakoothum dussherayum kochuseethayum’ (Pavakkoothu, Dussehra and Kochu Seetha), and the like, are intriguing and appealing in equal measure. It comes as no surprise then that the book proves to be a page-turner even for those who are mere muggles in the world of quizzing.

With interesting footnotes on almost every page, a listing of the ancestors of Rama, anecdotes on major characters and pointers to milestones in each of the seven books that make up the poem, the author has taken pains to give the reader a handy dossier on the timeless epic. The book compels one to make a rereading of the all too familiar story of Rama from an inter-disciplinary point-of-view.