Today, the Bombay Quiz Club kick-starts another season of quizzing. But this time, with a quiz of their ownu00a0-- the BQC-IIT Bombay Open 2011. With quizzes open to all, and big bucks to be won, here's the chance to give your mind a workout

Mumbai was, otherwise, lagging behind. Work brings many top quizzers to settle in the city but there was no quizzing infrastructure. These guys went into hibernation," explains Rajiv Rai, President, Bombay Quiz Club (BQC) ,when asked what prompted this bunch of quizzers to form the club in April 2006.

Rai, an IIT Chennai and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, has won the Tata Crucible Quiz and the national-level Brand Equity Quiz (twice). He was also the first to participate in the BBC Mastermind India's inaugural episode in 1998.
u00a0

Members at one of Bombay Quiz Club's first meetings in 2006

He's excited that the BQC has their own quizu00a0-- "Our members were active on the all-India circuit; standards had improved. We felt it was important to introduce, along with IIT Bombay, this day-long quizzing experience."
Mukund Mahadev, Literary Arts Secretary at IIT Bombay is equally excited when he says, " We've invited colleges and schools with strong quizzing teams. Teams from outside are also welcome to sign up for the event."

The Inquizitive Bunch
Founding members Amit Varma, Aniruddha Dutta, Kaustubh Chakraborty, Dhananjay Shettigar, Milo and Gaurav Sabnis were up against odds in the early days. "Finding a fixed venue was a headache ufffd from the YMCA, the group settled on the Pinstorm office in Santacruz (Pinstorm founder Mahesh Murthy is a quizzing buff)," reminisces fellow BQC member Amit Pandeya.

The club, which boasts nearly 70 members, organises quizzes every fortnight on Sunday afternoons, in April and March. Every quiz features eight teams and is conducted by a member on rotation; extempore teams can participate and newbies are welcome to join. A running score adds a competitive edge to the proceedings, and at the end of the BQC season, a League Champion is announced. The prize -- "bragging rights," chuckles Rai.
About 40 people regularly turn up. There's an interesting mixu00a0-- IT professionals, advertising and media fraternity, software programmers, writers and students.

Behind the scenes
"God-fearing Hindus members must know their Ramayana and Mahabharata, Christians should be familiar with Biblical references. The Bengali bhadralok had better not miss any questions on Satyajit Ray and Rabindranath Tagore," shares Pandeya, about the meetings. What about the gender ratio? "The guys get hyper-competitive during quizzes, so we always wonder how long the women members will survive."