Quiz enthusiasts from the city’s top multinationals, corporate houses, public sector enterprises, clubs, hospitals, educational institutions and more took part in one of the most-anticipated and prestigious events on the club’s calendar, The Bengal Club Corporate Quiz, in association with The Telegraph. Held on the evening of March 25 at the club lawns, the business and economics-themed quiz was high on energy and adrenaline and spotlighted major landmarks in the world of business and commerce over the last 100 years. Conducted by quizmaster Srinjoy Chowdhury, it was participated by eight two-member finalist teams, who were selected from among 30 teams who took part in the closely-fought prelims. The final consisted of 10 gripping, intense and highly-competitive rounds of quizzing, including two equally-electrifying audio-visual rounds. They were interspersed with audience rounds that saw sharp and spirited responses from members of a pumped-up, well-informed, crowd, who also took home prizes for answering questions correctly. Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Barry O’Farrell was the chief guest at the prelims held earlier in the day and he also asked a few questions based on Australia. Snapshots.
Sudip Kalyan Dey and Saswata Chakraborty of team Tata Consultancy Services, who were declared first runner-up, posed with their gift hampers and cheque with Nandini Ray, Sumit Ray, Arpan Bannerjee and Dinyar Mucadam.
Second runners-up Anirudh Chari and Anil Vaswani of Calcutta Cricket & Football Club were also presented their cheque and gift hampers by Nandini Ray, Sumit Ray, Dinyar Muqadam and Arpan Bannerjee.
Quizmaster Srinjoy Chowdhury was a dynamic presence on stage and entertained everyone with witty remarks and personal observations related to his questions, sometimes even giving away clues to participants through them. “The Bengal Club quiz only shows how good the organisations in Calcutta are. We had a wonderful diversity of teams participating; from IT professionals and lawyers to students and veteran club quizzers, and every team has done so well! Though I have done quite a few quizzes in the city recently, this one was exceptional. I enjoyed conducting this quiz immensely and it was an absolutely delightful experience for me,” he said.
A moment from the exciting, power-packed quiz conducted by Srinjoy Chowdhury (centre), which kept participants and audience on the edge of their seats.
Australian high commissioner Barry O’Farrell, who was the chief guest at the prelims of the quiz, asked three questions about Australia to the contestants.
Quizmaster Srinjoy Chowdhury (extreme left), owner of PS Group Ravi Dugar (second from left) his wife Rachita Dugar (extreme right), Sumit Ray (centre) and Nandini Ray (second from right) posed for a click during a break in the rivetting quiz session.
Rosemary O’Farrell, wife of the Australian high commissioner, was also presented with a memento by Nandini Ray after the prelims.
Australian consul-general in Calcutta, Rowan Ainsworth, who was a special guest during the preliminary round of the quiz, was presented a mementobyNandiniRay.
“This was the first corporate quiz that was held by The Bengal Club. Thanks to my co-chair Sumit Ray, entertainment sub-committee member Arpan Bannerjee and our CEO Dinyar Mucadam and all members of the entertainment sub-committee, it turned out to be a great quiz. We had fabulous footfall and wonderful sponsorships by The PS Group and The Telegraph. I am indeed encouraged to hold more such intellectually stimulating programmes in the future and I think we want to start the quizzing culture in the club in a very big way. Besides a sports quiz, which we are already doing, next year we might even think of an open quiz, not just a corporate quiz, to get better footfall. But I think this evening’s teams were fantastic. All the finalist teams fared very well. I congratulate them on their wonderful performance and also thank our sponsors for their support,” the chairperson of Bengal Club’s entertainment sub-committee, Nandini Ray said.
Pictures:KoushikSaha