THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It’s surprising that a lot of people grow into adulthood with convictions they acquire from school. Quizzing is an activity that many still deem fit for the geeky class-topper. Budding venture QCompany, founded by Malayalis Pranay Rajiv, Treesa Binny and Zaman S Khan, is keen to reform this idea for the new generation.
“Whenever we couldn’t find a partner to attend an event with, Pranay or Zaman would pick someone who is not familiar with the game and break down the idea of quizzing for them, so they can accompany one of us. Since India is a competitive place, we figured that it would help youngsters if we make education entertaining through the medium of quiz,” says Treesa.
Finding talent
As students of the University of Hyderabad, the trio were familiar to the quizzing commune as people who designed questionnaires for events. Since the formation of the initiative, they have charted out two main ways to make the activity more accessible—hosting workshops for school students and wooing the millennial crowd into cafés which they turn into venues for the mind sport. “Kerala’s approach to quizzing has a staggering difference from the global culture—it’s more factual and less analytical.
So, we approached schools with workshops to help uplift students whose skills are not easily identified by our traditional education system,” informs the 20-something year old. Their sessions impart knowledge on how to use analytical skills to deduce answers from the question itself. They do this through various exercises including making students formulate questions out of a piece of information.
Qcompany’s idea of organising monthly gatherings in cafés derives from the English pub quizzing culture. “Cafés are the places where youngsters hang out. We’re trying to bring in a fun way to discuss knowledge into this space with our questions on relevant things ranging from recent Marvel movies to the political situation around the world,” says Treesa.
Another interesting aspect is that, they try to raise awareness on social issues surrounding subjects like mental health and environmentalism by creating questions and answer-hints that are educative. Currently familiarising themselves to the crowd in Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad, they hope to expand to cities including Kochi and organise a quizzing festival soon.