Ecstatic winners of mid-day anniversary quiz chat with quizmaster

Last month, mid-day celebrated its 37th anniversary and while readers lapped up the Off The Grid issue, the big-ticket draw in the bumper edition was The Inquizition, a 37-question fiendish quiz that tested readers' knowledge of the city, with no support from the Internet. The top three winners (in order of correct answers) who cracked the quiz were all women - Coralie D'Souza, Parvathi Shankaran and Gynelle.

Over the weekend, the three winners, true Bombayphiles, dropped by the mid-day office to receive their prizes and a short interaction with the quizmaster, mid-day Features Editor Fiona Fernandez.

Second prize winner Parvathi Shankaran, winner Coralie D'Souza, Quizmaster Fiona Fernandez and third placed Gynelle Alves

"Where did you hunt these questions from?" was the first question all three had, adding that they hadn't tackled anything like this that celebrated the city. Parvathi told us how she and her brother regularly sent in entries for this newspaper's earlier quizzes. Gynelle, who finished third, was surprised that she was seated among the winners and winner Coralie couldn't believe that she topped it.

All three wondered why the deadline to send in their answers was so liberal. "When we saw the questions, we realised that it would take a lot of effort and time," said Parvathi.

Coralie said: "I first thought the answers would be buried in the pages of the special issue, but quickly realised it wasn't so." Gynelle added with a chuckle, "We had to work for it!"

The trio agreed unanimously that the question linking a Strepsils TV commercial with a SoBo Art Deco cinema was the toughest. As the evening ended with photographs, laughter and the prize distribution, there were no rapid fire rounds, thankfully.