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Vijay
Anand Menon
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Arnav
Sinha
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Vijay Anand Menon a.k.a. menongitis used to lead a meaningless existence for nearly 3 years as a software engineer working on cutting edge instant messaging products like Yahoo messenger and GTalk and trading on the stock markets before he decided that it's time to pull up his socks and do something worthwhile in life. So, he pulled up his socks and joined IIM Calcutta where he proceeded to spend two years sleeping in the back benches, playing Quad Cricket and Quizzing. He fell in love with quizzing when he discovered that women have a predilection for brainy men, perhaps in response to some primordial evolutionary instinct. But the women always eluded him. The fact that quizzing enabled him to win a car, a laptop, an LCD TV, a couple of BlackBerries, a weekload of watches and quite a bit of hard cash did not offer him much solace because, as they say, for everything else there's MasterCard but there are some things that money can not buy. Quiz after quiz he was repeatedly upstaged by the quizmaster. After all how could you even hope to compete with a guy who seemed to know all the answers and delivered them garnished with the most apt wisecracks. He then decided to become a quizmaster and has successfully conducted quizzes in various colleges and companies across India. Email him at vijay.menon@gmail.com
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Arnav Sinha started his career as a quizmaster over twenty years back, bugging his mother with questions from a General Knowledge book and not leaving her until some money to buy the latest Amar Chitra Katha/Raj Comics edition was handed out as bribe. Things haven't changed much, except that the questions are his own now (which he is sure about) and bug people less (which he would like to believe). And that he has moved beyond Super Commando Dhruv. After completing schooling in the Mecca of Indian Quizzing, Jharkhand, Arnav spent a few years at IIT Delhi catching up on all the books and movies he had missed out on during the first two decades of his existence. His degree certificate would suggest that he also studied some Chemical Engineering on the side. But his grade-sheets would dispel any such notions you might harbor. Life, and Rajdhani Express, next took him to IIM Calcutta. IIMC was one long blur of a time, spent mainly trying to find ways to sleep for more than four hours every day. He failed miserably in that endeavour, but thankfully managed to study just about enough to get a job in a firm that has taught him finance (which he thought he had done an MBA in the first place for) and how to play cricket with some respectability. Arnav spends his weekends looking down at the crowds in Mumbai from his flat’s window, watching gory movies, reading insane novels and drinking beer. Simultaneously. Email him at arnavsinha@gmail.com
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MnA is a company started by Menon and Arnav (that's where the M and A come from, in case you hadn't noticed). The two of them were members of the same quizzing team at IIM Calcutta, and spent more time than any sane person should traveling all over Eastern India and beyond to attend quizzes. Most of these experiences were extremely enjoyable, and not just because of the moolah they ended up making. They wanted to remain in touch with quizzing even after they passed out from college and started working, and becoming regular quizmasters seemed a good way to do that. During their participation in quizzes, there were also many run-ins with some really shady quizmasters, who made a bomb for asking questions that should never see the light of day. Or at least the spotlight of an auditorium. The conscientious citizens of the country that both of them were, they decided to do something about this. To fulfill both these aims, MnA was born. It conducts quizzes at educational institutions and organizations. The quizzes they have conducted till now include
Besides this MnA also has a syndicated quiz column called Thank God It's Whyday in select supplements of the Hindustan Times and has also provided content for online quizzes to the Public Health Foundation of India. MnA has also provided content for The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), for a quiz event at their Mumbai office in 2010. You can sample a few of their questions, from past quizzes, here. |
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