While i earlier used to log into Twitter, i was not really an enthusiastic user. For starters the 140 word limit put me off. It was frustrating to type something out,and then see those red marks, and then having to edit it again. Add to it watching most of the Bolly celebs exposing their "ignorance", "stupidity" and "banality" did not really make things better. Not to mention the sheer amount of arse kissing, "Sir you are so great" boot licking by equally retarded fans. To me Twitter was just the online version of a Page 3 Party, full of glamor,hype,noise and empty nothingness. Thanks but no thanks,i preferred the good ole Blogs and FB.
Couple of events in recent times,however made my participation in twitter more frequent. One was the emergence of users like @BollywoodGandu, @shutupsajid, @gkhamba, the whacked out,the eccentric, the nutcases, precisely the kind of people i love to hang out with. Now while the 140 character limit, might not go for more serious opinion, it works perfectly fine for the humorous one liners, the satirical jabs. And watching these guys tear down the "look at me i am so important" celebs was fun.
But the key to my now regular participation was something that has been my passion ever since i first Siddartha Basu on Quiz Time in 1985.A four letter word called "QUIZ", or as Twitter would put it "KWEEZZZ". I have been quizzing since 20 years, but other than an apperance in Mastermind India(2001) and some prizes won at college, university level, my Quizzing track record would not be something to die for. However while the achievements part was rather meagre,it was just my sheer passion that kept me going. Online Quizzes, Quiz Groups, and then my own Quiz blog.
But again i was getting tired of the recent Quizzing scenario, it had ceased to be fun. I always believe Quizzing is all about fun, but unfortunately the worst practices of our academic set up seemed to have made their way into Quizzing. Googling and Wikieing taking the place of Mugging, instead of making a genuine effort to work out a Question, most of the Quizzers just seemed to Google or Wiki out the answer. It was frustrating to work hard, in setting up a Quiz, and then see a whole lot of replies Googled up. There seemed to be no joy in answering, no passion, just so mechanical. Sure there were replies where the respondents gave in their own take, but most of the time, I could have well asked a class of Robots to reply and it would have made no difference. Some of the respondents would paste not just the Googled answer, but also the explanation would be copy pasted from Google. Honestly i just wanted to shake their collar, and say "Damn it get a life, please".
What i love about @Kweezzz is that you really have to use your brains, and work out the answers. While Googling and Wikieing can't be ruled out, they don't give an advantage here. You have to be on your feet thinking all the time. And the topics too, are much varied,ranging from Gulzar to B Movies to Kolkata to Asterix to World War II, which is what makes it more fun. But most important of all @Kweezzz has provided a level playing field, where every one can have their share of the cake. On their day, any one can be the winner, and all it takes to host a @kweezzz is a net connection, access to Twitter. No need for all the paraphernelia, or begging for sponsors or running around for a venue. And whatever the topic you choose to host on, you are sure to find an audience for it.
The greatest challenge in doing the Kweezzz on Twitter is setting the Questions. Using the questions from your blog is a big NO, something i discovered the hard way, when the first Kweezzz i hosted ended up a big flop.I used the questions from my blog,and every one having access to it,could get the answers in a jiffy, rendering the entire exercise meaningless. After my first Kweezzz ended in #FAIL, i learnt my lessons, and most of the other Quizzes conducted went off well. I would really like to appreciate @sidvee aka Siddarth Vaidyanathan, for this wonderful idea of his,and also for providing an equal opportunity for all Quizzers. And more important for making me more regular on Twitter, and also increasing my number of followers.
