Sunday, March 04, 2012

Call of the wild

The BCQC had its origins in the early 90s, when a group of COEP students began quizzing at the Boat Club of COEP every Saturday.

It was meant to be an informal way to indulge in a pursuit that very few take to, like Jesus fish to water (or Dharmendra to whiskey). Somehow, each year, there were just about enough people to keep it going, and along the way, the caravan only became larger (hello Monica!).

Spurred by that, the motley group picked up a confusing acronymic-name, grew beyond COEP to a pan-Puneri nature, and picked up a unique and authentic character of its own.

All this was made possible by a large group of quizzers who gave their time, interest, effort, and their eccentricities in order to help the BCQC sustain these 2+ decades. All without expecting anything in return, except to ensure there was always a platform for those who wanted to quiz. For all its warts, moles, and freckles, this has been a reasonable success.

Each year, old BC quizzers leave: some graduate (finally! and usually with distinction), some escape torturous jobs to find new roles (like with the Spanish inquisition), and some simply have had enough of long visual connects. Like in any ecosystem, the BCQC also needs fresh legs, fresh ideas, and fresh meat to move ahead.

Old BC fossils will have noticed the relative lack of regular BC activity in recent times. This post is a call at large for people who can help change that.

We're looking for people (especially student quizzers) who can take on the following roles for the BC:

1. Be Quizzing impresarios: schedule open quizzes regularly, get the venues booked, arrange for prizes, do basic publicity

2. BC Session coordinators: schedule BC sessions

3. Take the anti out of our social media: update our blog/FB/email group/twitter with announcements & reports of quizzes

All of these activities demand almost no strenuous activity, only loads of quizzing enthusiasm. The returns are likely to be a warm & fuzzy glow in your heart before you go to sleep each night, proximity to some of the most devious minds in the city, and perhaps, if you're that cold-hearted, a line or three in your CV to impress an FMCG recruiter or two hundred (they move fast).

And best of all, you'll have the satisfaction of contributing to a remarkable group and keeping it going into its 3rd decade.

Interested? Write in to Suraj Menon/Avaneendra Bhargav/me/leave a comment. We'll help you with getting started.

Thanks.

[Appendix]
A History of the BCQC, according to many historians.

And with apologies to Suraj, Lord Kitchener.

2 comments:

Anand S said...

JR, How about leaving this open to non-BC folks too ? i.e schools, open ed. types ( which landed up for Landmark etc.)
In hindsight, we could've circulated the mailing list blank paper during LM on Sat.

J Ramanand said...

This is open to all, really, but this was the best I could do in terms of getting the message out. Please feel free to spread the word.