Bengaluru-based Sushila Kamath remembers her days of quizzing with fondness. The 69-year-old was an avid quizzer back in her school and college days. She even got into it again when her son was in college in 2000. “My son noticed that I was answering questions while watching a quiz show on TV. I was able to quiz again because of him,” she tells TNM. And while she no longer participates, she still loves listening to her son’s stories about quizzing and attending the odd quizzing contest in the city.
Bengaluru has been touted as a quizzing hub, especially with the presence of the 36-year-old Karnataka Quiz Association (KQA), that keeps quizzers active by organising regular quizzing events – almost half the Sundays in a year by their own admission – especially in book stores across the city. However, the number of women in these quizzing circles remains disproportionately low compared to their male counterparts.
TNM spoke to four women quizzers to find out what draws them to quizzing, and what it’s like.
The world of quizzing
Apart from being a popular competitive mind sport in educational institutions, quizzing has been around in pop culture too – TV shows like the Bournvita Quiz Contest, Quiz Time, and Kaun Banega Crorepati made quizzing quite popular in Indian homes.
But unlike TV shows, quizzing isn’t always about general knowledge and facts. Indeed, that’s what Sushila used to think. Initially, in school days, she thought it was about mugging up facts. Eventually however, when she took part in quizzes like BBC TV’s Mastermind India in 2001, and then the Landmark Quiz in between 2005 and 2008, she realised that quizzing was much more, and fostered a community around it too.
In Bengaluru for instance, quizzes organized by KQA usually take place in an informal and relaxed setting like cafes, small halls and book stores. Sometimes, it’s about answering questions on things that could range from knowledge of antiques to TV shows; other times, it’s about working as a team to, say, find a connection between unrelated trivia presented in the form of questions. Up for grabs during these contests are vouchers to bookstores and such.
And while competitors are mostly men, there are some passionate women quizzers in the city making their presence felt in the quizzing circles.
A male dominated field
Nikhita Thomas, a second-year degree student studying in St Joseph’s College was once intimidated by the overwhelmingly male crowd. But now, she now loves the mind sport and also encourages other women to participate.
Nikhita ventured into quizzing after her college senior was impressed with her pop culture knowledge and asked her to try it two years ago. Now, she is the convenor of her college’s quiz club. “You only notice it’s male-dominated when you begin taking part. It was intimidating initially – there was one woman for every 10 men at my college quiz club,” she shares.
To encourage more women to participate, Nikhita’s college had a women-only quiz competition last July. She and the other quiz club members were surprised by the attention the quiz received. “It was probably the only quiz I’ve seen where the audience members outnumbered the participants,” she recalls. Generally, quizzing events do not have a dedicated audience, apart from the participants.
However, during the course of the quiz, her team had to endure condescending remarks from the men – like how they could have answered all the questions and the quiz for the women was too easy. But Nikhita is hopeful. “There were a few women who watched the entire quiz. Hopefully, they will come back and compete next year,” she says.
Sexism in quizzing
Another avid quizzer is Rashmi Vallabhaijoysula, a mother of two teenagers. In her 40s now, the marketing consultant used to quiz competitively during her school days and then restarted in 2007 after her children were older. “The excitement of knowing things that many others would not know kept me going,” she says.
Rashmi has had seen all kinds of comments – from “Oh, so cool!” to “Really? Wasting your Sunday like this. Just take care of your children.” Further, undercurrents of sexism are present within the quizzing community. “For example, a woman interested in sports quizzes is never taken seriously in these forums,” Rashmi says.
What can be done to increase participation
26-year-old Nagaratna Patil, a quizzer and working professional says that because there are so few women, it’s really difficult to find women teammates. “In schools, quizzing is seen as an organised activity, which ensures participation. But in colleges or open quizzes, the number drops due to lack of encouragement,” she says.
This is something that Thejaswi Udupa of KQA also notices. “KQA school quizzes tend to have as many girls taking part as boys. The number reduces as we go to college quizzes, and then eventually even more at open quizzes. It is very possible that the problem is the boys and men who quiz, have made girls and womenfeel rather unwelcome at quizzes with aggressive competitiveness. Also, most quizmasters being men also takes away the female perspective from quizzes,” he says.
However, the women say that things might just start looking up with a few new measures. For instance, a few events have special prizes for winners in women’s category. While Nagaratna is sceptical as to whether this will bring new women into quizzing, Rashmi points out that it may attract people who would like an incentive to try quizzing in an otherwise uneven playing field.
Further, Sushila points out that there are more women quizmasters now than before, which may increase women’s participation and boost morale. “There should be a strong mentor for interested women,” she added.
Nagaratna feels that girls and women may often require a slight push to pursue quizzing, which should be given. In that vein, Nikhita says she’s doing her bit by encouraging her female peers who may be interested but hesitant. She feels that once women realise that they find this activity interesting and can have space as well, they will keep coming back.
Meanwhile, Rashmi, along with a friend of hers, is planning to start a support group for young women quizzers and specifically help out young mothers who may be interested.