“It’s Orca, not Ocra, but I’ve given it to you – I think you knew the answer,” the kindly-looking man explained as he returned our answer sheet. We were at a Summer Invitational Quiz in the early 1980s, and the best known quizmaster in the country was walking around the hall like every other volunteer, collecting answer sheets and correcting them for Francis Groser, the quizmaster of the day.
It was the first time Neil O’Brien had spoken to me, and I remember the thrill of being acknowledged by a man most of us worshipped.
Thirty-odd years later, in 2013, I was lucky enough to be in Kolkata for the Dalhousie Institute Invitational Quiz, and I still felt the same thrill when O’Brien responded with a “Bang On” to a correct answer.
Neil Aloysius O’Brien had much to give, as one of the most respected publishers with Oxford University Press, as a parliamentarian, as an eminent educationist and as the head of the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education. And of course, as an amazing father and husband. But his most enduring legacy would be as the inspiration and guru to generations of quizzers. Not just as the man who asked questions.
Quizzer and quizmaster
O’Brien was the pillar of the Dalhousie Institute "A" quiz team, a dominant team in Kolkata quizzing, and easily its most prolific member. In the 1970s and ’80s, DI would be locked in titanic quiz battles with teams like Motley Crew, Inmaniacs, Soup, Tetrad, Magnum and other stalwarts. O’Brien would pressure the quizmaster, jumping in on a bonus question and along with the rest fudge answers he didn’t know for sure. Usually better than the rest.
Just a few weeks later, he would hold forth in the flagship quiz of the Calcutta season, the Dalhousie Institute Invitational Quiz, which he hosted for more than four decades.
No quiz research team, no Google, it was just one man personally writing every question for each of his quizzes. O’Brien was far too proud to ask a question set by another researcher, even when it did not relate to his pet subjects of literature, language, world history and geography. Indeed, he would ensure that each quiz was balanced, with equal representation for subjects that were not his favourite like Indian mythology and Hindi music. In fact, one of his greatest pleasures was stumping Souvik Guha and Vimla Jagganath, acknowledged experts on Indian mythology, with a particularly devious question.
Enduring legacy
If there is one other gift he left, it was the sense of belonging with which he and his wife Joyce brought up their children. Derek, Andy and Barry grew up speaking better Bengali than most of us, and celebrated Durga Puja with as much gusto as Christmas.
Today, there will be many in distant parts of the country, indeed around the world, remembering the lawns of the Dalhousie Institute, and a bespectacled man with a deep voice asking his third direct question of the finals. And wondering the answer to that particular question. And for once, they will not have an answer.
Rest in Peace, Neil O’Brien. You showed us many worlds. And each of us will carry that legacy wherever we go.