Fiona Fernandez: Time's up?

A few Sundays ago, as yours truly flipped through TV channels, a quiz show for school students made us stop and give it a dekko. It was a glitzy affair - slick, digitized AV, graphics and displays, a snazzy-looking set, a nattily-dressed quizmaster (a senior TV journalist), engaging formats and envious prizes for the taking. The concept was attractive and fast-paced. The participants, mostly teens, were dressed in denims and school tees, and seemed quite clued in to current affairs. Anything outside the realm of the Internet was left unanswered.

Then came the bouncer. In one round, teams were allowed to browse the Internet to arrive at the answer. Some lapped up the open-book-test-like idea, while others messed it up (how is that even possible?). "Sorry, time's up," quipped the quizmaster. We watched in dismay as a participant was unable to do a smart 'Google search' in the stipulated time. Had we just witnessed the new-age avatar of the quiz show? We slipped back to a different time - the early days of the TV quiz show.

Circa early 2000s. The reality show hadn't arrived. Laptops and mobile phones were emerging as objects of desire for the burgeoning, aspirational Indian middle class. The Internet had only just become an important tool for the computer-savvy. The sets of the Cadbury Bournvita Quiz Contest was a buzzing factory - of ideas, organised chaos and kids ready to knock the next question from Derek O'Brien out of the park. The lone object of technology on set was the prized black laptop from which O'Brien would launch missile-like questions to pint-sized geniuses.

The Encyclopeadia Britannica series was the Bible for us on the research team, while the Internet was a secondary source of information. "Never blindly trust the Internet," the bearded quizmaster would drill into our heads during prep sessions before each shooting schedule. The sets were friendly and functional, and didn't resemble a space ship. Prizes included vouchers for books, or educational CDs. In fact, for several seasons, the opening track for the show began with the words "Books, books, books…" Almost always, school kids from Tier II cities would run away as winners over much-fancied schools from the metros. How did they do it? Well-stocked school and home libraries were their go-to zones, as we learnt later during chats with these bright sparks.

Cut to the present. We happened to attend a live quiz show for school children. It was an eye-opener. Prior to the start, participants were spotted pacing up and down, glued to their tablets and smartphones. There were no books in sight; not even a thesaurus or a dictionary. It was a bittersweet moment. Digital is here to stay. Dare I say, 'Time's up' to Britannica and Co.

mid-day's Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city's sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her. She tweets @bombayana Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com

The column will be on a break for a week, and will resume on February 13.