Chennai: Did you know that the St Mary’s Church at Fort St George is the oldest British Building in India? Were you told that Chennai corporation, which heads the 200 wards in the city, is the second oldest corporation in the world, the first being London?
Many such interesting facts about the heritage and cultural details about the world including Namma Chennai can be learnt in a candid conversation with Shravana Deepan, a practicing chartered accountant and a quiz master, who embraced knowledge-based activities to make economics reach larger masses.
One could attain knowledge not merely through textbooks but through trivia and quizzes, says Shravana Deepan, also a co-founder of ‘X Quiz it’, an organisation that primarily focuses on concept-based education for children.
His quizzes not just to improve knowledge, but also develop a profound love for Chennai–the city that possesses many interesting secrets and accolades.
“Commercial hub T. Nagar was created in early 1920s after filling up the ‘Long Tank’ that spanned between Nungambakkam and Mylapore. The tank’s deepest point was filled in 1971, thus leaving no trace of water body, that civilised the city,” explains the quiz master.
Started in 2011, ‘X Quiz it’ has a team of young chartered accountants - Shravan, Sundar and Arvind, who revolutionised traditional quizzing, thus making it interesting and student-friendly.
“It is to break quiz from its much-maligned shackles of being exclusive only for the geeks and the bookworms, that we ventured into ‘smart’ quizzing,” said 28-year-old Shravan.
He uses his quiz sessions as a tool to teach economics to the students. ‘Economics is not as boring as it is stereotyped. If the theory filled topics like budget, microeconomics are taught using easy examples, it would stay among students minds,” he mentioned.
Having partnered with institutions like IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Madras and IIM-Indore, the group is propagating the importance of quiz. Shravan, who has been teaching school students on the importance of pocket money management, thrives to be a role model for them.
“Abdul Kalam, through his speech succeeded in motivating children towards brilliance. I am trying to take his path where I would want to prove–Intelligence is interesting, not boring as portrayed in movies,” he said.
