Quizzing is an art in itself. It’s that bespoke way to test the horizons of human intelligence. If taken at face value, it’s an intellectually energy sapping and a trifle cumbrous process. But the ‘act’ of quizzing, as somewhat similar to the very ‘art’ of quizzing, may at times, tend to take a plethora of variegated forms, depending mainly upon its ‘intent’ and ‘content’ quotient. Quizzing may induce an informal test of students or a sort of a questioning (read interrogation) process of a suspect by the police or even may take a series of lighthearted forms such a practical joke or a hoax.

The exact origins of the very word ‘quiz’ are somewhat vague. In fact, it could be said that its first recorded sense, surprisingly, had to do with people, not tests. The term, first recorded in 1782, meant ‘an odd or eccentric person’. From the noun in this sense came a verb meaning ‘to make sport or fun of’ and ‘to regard mockingly’. In English dialects and probably in American English, the verb quiz acquired senses relating to interrogation and questioning.

The quizzing scenario in our very own Northeast, especially Assam, has undergone a sea change over the last decade or so. The proud torch-bearer of this so-called mini-intellectual revolution of sorts is a very unique, more than a decade-old quiz column published in The Assam Tribune, aptly christened as ‘The Colosseum’, modelled on the erstwhile magnanimous elliptical amphitheatre of ancient Rome. Apart from its more than decade-old longevity vis-à-vis its immense popularity, its standout defining USP is the very fact that in the print and quizzing history of Northeast India, ‘The Colosseum’ is the first quiz column that has completed eleven years under a single columnist, since its humble beginning in 1998. The name of the column was actually suggested by Kabindra Dass, a personality attached to music and composition. The column has been bifurcated into six sub-sections — Prelude, Side Screen, Harmonizers, Unities, Do-Re-Me and Crescendo. A favourite with quiz-lovers since its inception, this column by young and dynamic cyber crime lawyer, Neelotpal Deka deals with culture, and perhaps it is the only of its kind (culture as a theme) in India. The word ‘culture’ in this column encompasses ‘music, dance, fashion, designing, movies, art, sculpture, books, literature, little bit of history, culture of different northeastern tribes and culture in different parts of the world’.

From its embryonic phase, ‘The Colosseum’ has indeed ploddingly traversed a long voyage. Over the last eleven years, it has had contributors from different states of India and even abroad. Kudos to the untiring efforts and passionate zeal of Neelotpal Deka, who also happens to be the first cyber lawyer in the Northeast India after completing LL.M in cyber law and intellectual property law from Norwich Law School, UK, the quiz column today is a household name. Yet the columnist, also a freelance journalist, who has more than 200 articles and five books to his credit, and is an editor of the Xobdo.net, world’s first online English-Assamese dictionary launched in 2006, is humble enough to admit, “I am a quiz columnist only by accident, but I am not a good quizzard.” He also conducts quiz at different venues in Assam and Northeast with a research and support team called Neelotpal Deka & Quiz Associates.

The completion of eleven hallowed years of ‘The Colosseum’ will be celebrated in an ostentatious way at the Pragjyoti ITA Cultural Complex at Machkhowa, Guwahati on Sunday October 25, 2009, by organizing The Colosseum Open Quiz Fest, 2009. The event is being jointly organized by The Assam Tribune and the Social Action Network (an NGO vocal about different social issues in the Northeast). The quiz will be conducted by Prof Dilip Kumar Baruah (the father of quizzing in Northeast India), Neelotpal Deka and Sailen Baishya. This quiz event is being sponsored by State Bank of India and Cane & Bamboo Technology Centre (National Bamboo Mission, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India). More than 300 teams are expected to have a crack at it right from the initial elimination rounds.

The Colosseum Open Quiz Fest follows a unique kind of format and unlike most quiz competitions, this quiz ‘fest’ has three or four quizmasters. Consequently, it’s called a ‘fest’ as the quiz is conducted by three or four quizmasters simultaneously and every set of questions has three or four varied identities. Needless to say, this very uniquely-revolutionary concept has indeed refreshingly redefined the very art of quizzing developed by local quizmasters.

Saikh Md Sabah Al-Ahmed