Bridge: the game that binds India Inc

The game of bridge is becoming a popular mind game with high-fliers. And Kolkata is at the centre of it all

Most Jane Austen enthusiasts will be familiar with the game of bridge. The author's books are populated with characters, like Miss Norris of Mansfield Park and Mrs Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, striving to find partners to make up a bridge table. For the uninitiated, bridge - also known as contract bridge - is played by four players with a standard 52-deck card in two competing partnerships, with partners placed opposite each other across a table.

Internationally, millions play this cards game online, in tournaments or in clubs. In India, however, till recent times, chess was the popular mind sport. Now a few like-minded corporate bigwigs are trying to popularise bridge as an alternative brain game, with some help from corporate India as well.

On most evenings at the Calcutta Swimming Club, a group of bridge lovers - executives and bureaucrats - meets for a round of the game. For them it's a great way to unwind. "It doesn't conform to the normal perception of a card game. Bridge is more systematic and holds great potential to be a popular mind game," says HM Bangur, managing director, Shree Cement, and a senior member of the Corporate Bridge Association of India. "In Bengal, bridge used to be played widely in almost every para or locality."

Even now there is no dearth of skilled players in the state, with a large number of bridge players in national tournaments hailing from Bengal, followed by Mumbai and then Delhi. Bangur's bridge partner at the club, Debashis Ray, happens to be a seasoned player who has won laurels for India in various international tournaments. He is also the joint secretary of the Bridge Federation of India (BFI). In 2011, Ray happened to meet Bill Gates and Warren Buffett at a bridge tournament in the United States. "I was touched by their passion and support for the game," he says. This inspired him to institutionalise the game in India in accordance with the laws laid down by the World Bridge Federation.

The interest and enthusiasm of avid bridge players like Bangur, Deepak Parekh, chairman, HDFC Bank, and Sanjoy Bhattacharya, managing partner, Fortuna Capital, led to the formation of the Corporate Bridge Association of India (CBAI) in 2012, in addition to the nodal body of BFI.

CBAI recently concluded its second All-India Invitational Corporate Bridge Tournament in Delhi on September 28, which witnessed participation by 88 corporate chieftains and bureaucrats from across the country. The inaugural tournament in 2012 had been attended by honchos like Mukesh Shivdasani, managing director, Max Healthcare, Dipak Poddar, chairman, Poddar Developers, and Amar Sinha, Indian ambassador to Afghanistan, among others. This year, the tournament was won by two former bureaucrats.