It is perhaps the busiest time of the year for the members of Sunday Evening Quiz Club (SEQC)
but hardly anyone is complaining. ‘Brain of SEQC’, based on the classic radio
show, ‘Brain of Britain’ that is currently underway is the second of the series
quizzes in the 2017-18 year. A solo competition, born out of a suggestion by
SEQC’s new recruit, Dubai-based dermatologist Chandrashekhar Rao, Brain of SEQC
was customised into SEQC’s own version by Rajiv D’Silva, who also volunteered
to host the series.
Rajiv D’Silva, one of the key members of
SEQC, says, “Brain of SEQC is old school – it doesn’t have audio/video and
other bells and whistles that modern quizzes have, but participants have
enjoyed it, from what I can tell.” The response for Brian of SEQC has been
excellent thus far. The first round of eight matches featuring 32 participants
has been completed, and the 16 quarter-finalists identified. They will face-off
on April 29, with the semis and finals scheduled for a Sunday in May, probably
May 20, 2018.
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Brain of SEQC is just one of the many activities that SEQC hosts
on a regular basis. The Sunday Evening Quiz Club has had an interesting run for
the last ten years, after being incepted out of sheer love for quizzing. Rajiv
D’Silva and Harshvardhan Bhatkuly, who have brought top-level business quizzing
laurels to Goa, and 15 other like-minded individuals started getting together
in a Panjim flat and indulge in the activity. It seemed only natural then for
the team to get together and form a quiz club, without an idea where it was
going to go. Thus, SEQC was born.
While moving from one house to another, the club started
swelling in size thereby making the team move to bigger spaces. After a couple
of years of being nomadic, the club moved to International Centre Goa in Dona
Paula, which continues to host most of the quizzes now.
SEQC has grown since its inception and from having 15-odd
participants for its first quiz, currently, the monthlies see a participation
of at least 35-40 members each time, with a circulating population of close to
200. Aniruddh Sengupta, one of the key members of SEQC, fondly known as Annie,
says, “Within our club, we do of course see good people leave – young kids
graduate and head out of state for higher studies or for work; some people move
to other countries; some just find other vocations or preoccupations that take
up their time on Sundays. But we also see a steady influx of new enthusiasts
all the time. And there’s a delight in suddenly having an unknown quality
quizzer join the group, like discovering a Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got
Talent.”
On
a parting note, Annie says, “I think if there’s one thing that we at SEQC are
proud about, it’s that we’ve brought about something of a quizzing revolution
in Goa. In particular, there’s now a lot more quizzing at the school level,
with several yearly fixtures that are eagerly looked forward to.”
