Chaos @ IIMA
A different wind blows across Ahmedabad these days. The change dawns on you, slowly but surely. People scratching off dates with eager anticipation, students attending classes with a beaming smile…you sense something is afoot. In the incessant buzz, you make sense of some words…IIMA…jan 28-31..it is going to be crazy…but you are still clueless.
It is apparent that the entire order of student life in India is going to be turned upside down…it is going to be total…..and then it hits you….
Chaos, the biggest B-school cultural festival in India is back and is bigger than ever.
The kaleidoscopic nature of this extravaganza is brought out this year through the universal language of cinema. The events of Chaos 2010 draw inspiration from a wide range of influences from Film Noir to our own Bollywood.
Some of the highlights of Chaos 2010 are the classical night performance of Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Sonu Niigaam crooning the latest Bollywood numbers and mesmerizing sufi melodies of Kavitha Seth. Watch Tom Alter wow his audience with his award winning play “ When God said cheers” and root for your favourite in the War of the DJs. Rock Nite, Saaz, and the Blizzards of rock add an extra dimension to this year’s Chaos. All these coupled with Paintball, zorbing, exhibitions, dancing and deejaying, over 40 competitions, Chaoscope workshops ranging from the sane to the insane, plays, models sashaying down the ramp………….
It is going to be……..LEGENDARY!
IIMA welcomes all to Chaos 2010…here’s the intro video.
Follow the madness on Facebook and Twitter.
The Money Manager from IIMA’s Finance Club
Beta, The Finance Club of IIMA, in association with the Finance clubs of IIMB and IIMC, publishes the “Money Manager”, a pan-IIM finance magazine. The seventh edition of the magazine has been brought out by Beta, with support from Brics Securities and GACL, in January 2010. It was launched at the IIM Ahmedabad Finance Conclave 2010.
The theme of this edition is “Risk Management: Enhancing Value in Uncertain Times” and attempts to peer into the future of this discipline, its relation with the recent crisis and how it can be used by firms to create sustainable competitive advantage.
Special features include:
a) Lessons in Risk Management – Prof. Shrikant Datar, Harvard Business School
b) Markets 2.0 – the Changing Face of Finance – Mr. Ranodeb Roy, Head of Morgan Stanley Asia’s Fixed Income Division
c) Regulating the New Normal – Prof. Charles Jones, Columbia Business School
d) Winning student entries
To enable the Money Manager to reach a wider audience, it will be available for download online. To download, please visit:
http://stdwww.iimahd.ernet.in/beta/nuke/html/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=9
Don’t miss the bus!
Although Confluence is scheduled for the end of the month, don’t think you have to wait till then to be a part of it. The competitions have started in full swing. Many events have already been launched on the official website – www.iima-confluence.com. They are attracting immense participation from all over India. The online strategy game – Mousetrap saw registration from 600 teams from all over the world and the registrations had to be closed before the deadline.
The shortlist for the Revolution in Fuelling has been released. Also, the results for the Brand Basket, Mousetrap and Inquizitive are out.
But don’t think you have missed the bus yet. The registration for our flagship events like Net.works, The Globalization Challenge and Master Plan are now open and entries have started pouring in.
To keep yourself updated with the ongoing events at Confluence, register on the website. You can also follow us on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
Students pledge to fight corruption
Students light candles and observe silence as a mark of respect for Manjunath's sacrifice
Students pledge to fight corruption in all forms in daily lives
Manjunath Shanmugam was a well known and respected alumnus of IIM Lucknow, batch of 2003. He is described by his friends as an amazing singer whose voice would bring a smile to your face and light up your hearts. His was an unwavering voice that spoke out fearlessly against the oil adulteration practices that he observed in his area, as a Marketing Manager of IOCL in Lakhimpur, Uttar Pradesh. On November 19 2005, the light was blown out and the voice silenced forever when he was brutally murdered, his body riddled by six bullets.
Manjunath’s death shook the world and once again brought the corruption rampant in our society onto the surface. What happened was not something out of place. Several people in PSUs and several other organizations faced menacing threats to prevent them from speaking out against malpractices. But Manjunath, unlike most people, remained unfazed by threats, and did his job honestly.
Manjunath’s death was a wake-up call to the nation, especially the young generation, reminding them of the importance of integrity in each action of theirs. The onus is upon this generation, to set an example of exemplary ethical conduct and to report any unethical practices that they come across so as to take India forward into a corruption-free era.
On 19th November 2009, students and faculty across 25 colleges nationwide came together for candle light prayer meets to commemorate Manjunath’s fourth death anniversary and to take an integrity pledge to remind the nation of what Manjunath died for.
At IIM Ahmedabad, one of the institutions where the candle light prayer meets were held, students of all years and from different programmes came together and observed silence to pay respect to Manjunath and to pledge to fight corruption in every form.
As Prof. Abraham Koshy, PGP Chairperson of IIMA said, “If we want to move from being one of the most corrupt countries to a corruption-free one, the onus for the move will lie on the youth of the nation. They need to raise their voices against corrupt practices and strive hard to make a change. The youth need to sow the seeds of integrity right in the beginning to ensure a corruption-free development.”
Where the mind is without fear
and the head is held high;
Where words come out from
the depth of truth;
Into that heaven of freedom, my
Father, let my country awake.
That is the dream that Rabindranath Tagore and our founding fathers had for India. And that is the dream that Manjunath died for. Let us all try and treasure his memory in our hearts today, inspiring us to dream the awakening of India into an era without corruption.
Gurveen (fibbbi)
Media Cell
Confluence Cometh
One can almost touch the excitement. There is frenetic activity everywhere; people staying up late at night competing in the events already launched. All this leading up to the gathering that is Confluence from the 27th to the 29th of this month.
There are a number of places you can be a part of the action before the event. Check out the main web site at http://www.iima-confluence.com to start participating and learn about the various activities planned for the event. For updates, our very own cartoon series and other news related to confluence don’t forget to visit the official confluence Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/confluence09. You can also subscribe to our official tweets at http://twitter.com/confluence09 to get regular updates of all the action delivered to you.
For three days IIM Ahmedabad will host the confluence of business ideas from around the world. The electricity is in the air. Go check us out on the web and join us for an experience you will never forget.
Fostering CEOs @ IIMA
A study by EMA Partners International, a global executive search firm claims that among the top 200 companies they surveyed in India, more than half the CEOs traced back their roots to an IIT or an IIM or both.
IIMA was a major contributor to the Indian corporate scene producing 67% of the CEOs coming from an IIM.
For more details, see report on NewsX: http://bit.ly/19KOaz
Among CEOs who are IIM alumni, 67% hail from IIM A
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Rohan aka bychung
Media Cell
‘Badi Buaji… Baap re Baap’ …. An amateur’s review
The best way to spend an evening....
The wan lights compliment the acting talents on display
The cast takes a bow at the end of another brilliant show
The grim clouds hovering over the ambitions of a few wannabe youngsters; the shadow of an ‘autocrat ‘ seeding the ‘clouds’. The legendary theater-person Badal Sarkar infused not only his wisdom, wit, life but even his name into the plot of this classic master piece: ‘Badi Buaji… Baap re Baap’
And when IIMACTS set out to stage its own rendition of the act…. excitement and anticipation simultaneously gripped the minds of prospective audiences, yours truly included. Ensconced in the comfortable ambience of the Natarani’s amphitheater, the stage as well as the men and women who essayed the saga on it looked and lived their parts to the hilt. In a sense, one could see that IIMACTS had truly come of age and announced the same to the world in no uncertain terms. Professionalism so characteristic of a WIMWIAN was seen embedded in each and every aspect of the performance: acting, direction, stage management, music and of course marketing and event management.
They managed to do it all: holding the audience onto the seats for a whole 2 hrs 15 minutes (in the time and age of ‘whats your rashee’…. believe me… there was no question of dozing off in a theater for a change); and they entertained all along from getting audience engrossed in the plot to making them laugh along at the comedy of errors and amusing twists that continued to mar the plight of neatly etched characters.
Needless to say, the ‘Badi Buaji’ did make the stage come alive with her amazing presence and influence on characters and audiences alike. However, it is still needful to state that the play saw several other powerful individual performances. As the plot and the characters continued to revolve around the ‘Badi Buaji’ one could not help but marvel at the perfection with which it was being staged: each character was getting its bearings right; each one was clear about being ‘unclear’ as to how to deal with the menace; and each one had his/her own ebbs and highs in dealing with it. The beauty of the act lay in the fashion in which each character was laid bare in its strength, weakness, vulnerabilities and idiosyncrasies; and then the whole package was neatly integrated into pure entertainment.
To put it simply, it was fun to see people one knows etching out those characters; one could not help a few chuckles seeing two of our batch-mates playing tiny toddlers; one could just marvel in astonishment when another one essayed his senility and vulnerability to the hilt in a fashion that could give the veterans a run for their money.
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Kartik Julka, PGP2
‘Professor’ APJ Abdul Kalam is back at IIMA!
File pic of Dr.Kalam at IIMA
It’s not often that you have an ex-President of India teaching you some fundamentals of management, but one thing is true for sure- if you do get such an opportunity, you dare not let it go by! This is exactly the sentiment echoed by the 94-odd students from IIMA did who attended the Globalising Resurgent India through Innovative Transformation (GRIIT) course taken by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and Prof. Anil Gupta.
I was one of the few lucky PGP-1s to be selected to attend this course and I grabbed the opportunity with both hands. I managed to wake myself up on a lazy Wednesday afternoon and rushed to class 15 minutes early in anticipation and excitement. And when Prof Anil Gupta walked in with Dr.Kalam, the energy levels in the class were palpable. The students got an opportunity to present their ideas about transforming India to the ex-Prez himself. He welcomed all the participants and invited the groups to present their ideas about transforming India. The first presentation was about ideas on how street food can be made safer considering that 40% of the food we outside consists of street food. And if you thought that Dr. Kalam would just passively listen to the presentations, then you were completely wrong ! Not only did he actively discuss and comment on the ideas being presented, he also shared his experiences and ideas about how the project can be practically implemented.
Time just flowed through the 90 minute lecture. As the groups went ahead with their presentations, I realised how the ideas put forth by these budding managers can indeed result in a resurgent India, thoughts which seem to be echoed by Dr.Kalam himself. Dr. Kalam also advised the students to look into rural initiatives, something which he deeply believed in. One of the presentations towards the end focussed on the education system and the need to provide education to all. Dr.Kalam expressed his concerns about the high drop-out ratio in schools and sought out ideas to improve the same. He felt there was a crying need for ‘mobile schools’ especially in tribal areas.
As the lecture came to an end, Dr. Kalam showered praises on the groups which presented and said he would be happy to see those ideas implemented. As he left for the day, I did manage to seek an autograph and a photo, something which I shall always treasure.
Looking forward for some more lectures by Kalam Sir !
Glen aka MaLi
Media Cell, IIMA
6 IIMA students win Aditya Birla Scholarships
Aditya Birla Scholarships 2009-10 announced
The eleventh Aditya Birla Group Scholarships were announced at a glittering event on 26 September 2009 at the ITC Grand Central in Parel, Mumbai. And this time, it were the students from India’s premier business school, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), who walked away with most of the glory, with 6 out of the 10 scholars from the institute. These six scholars are first year students of the flagship 2-year PGP course at IIMA.
We are proud of our students who cleared gruelling rounds to achieve this fete. It reflects the calibre of the batch and the quality of students coming to IIMA. We are sure they will go a long way.
From Left to Right: Chaithanya, Mohit, Ashok, Khushboo, Shraddha and Anindya
The Aditya Birla Group Scholarship scheme
The Aditya Birla Group Scholarship scheme, instituted in 1999, is a way of fostering outstanding academic excellence and humane leadership values, in partnership with select institutions such as the IITs, BITS (Pilani), and the IIMs. The 10 best engineering and the 10 best management students are then selected as the ‘Aditya Birla Scholars’. The colleges which are invited to send applications include:
o IIMs: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata and Lucknow
o IITs (B. Tech): Chennai, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur and Mumbai
o BITS: Pilani
The Process
The initial shortlist for this scholarship featured the top 20 students in terms of the entrance exam ranking at the time of admission from the above institutes. The students’ overall achievements, spanning academic and co-curricular excellence, are weighted and assessed. Those selected for the next round are asked to write an essay. Essays written by these students are evaluated by a panel of judges and, based on their performance, candidates were shortlisted for the final round. Those shortlisted were then invited for an interview.
The final interview round, which took place on 26th evening at Mumbai, consisted of a 20 minute interview conducted by elite panelists, to assess a fit between the profiles of these candidates and the essay they had written. The 10 management students selected included 6 from IIMA, 2 from IIMB and 1 each from IIMC and IIML.
These students are assessed regularly on qualitative and quantitative parameters to judge their performance on the academic and leadership front. This assessment forms the basis for determining the continuation of the scholarship for the next academic session.
Esteemed Jury Members
The distinguished panel of judges comprised of Dr Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI; Mr Dileep Padgaonkar, Consulting Editor, The Times of India; Prof Hemachandra C Pradhan, Director, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education; Dr Jairaj M Phatak, Municipal Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai; Mr Pothen Paul, India Country Manager, Aker Solutions Pvt Ltd; Prod Ramakrishna V Hosur, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research; Mr Ranjit Pandit, Managing Director, General Atlantic Pvt. Ltd – to arrive at the final list of 22 proud winners of this coveted scholarship for this year.
Quotes from the Aditya Birla Scholars 2009-10:
The Aditya Birla Scholarship posed a real challenge to compete in the toughest environment and I took it by being myself. Self- knowledge was the key. It feels great to share the platform with exceptional minds of the country.
- Ashok Kumar Bhardwaj
It was an awesome experience. The judging panel composed of luminaries in their respective fields. It is exciting to be adjudged as one of ‘Tomorrow’s leaders’ by this elite group.
-Shraddha Vartak
Mohit Garg, an IIT Bombay graduate, too feels very impressed by the process for judging Aditya Birla Group scholars, “It was something very different. The opportunity to interact with the 40 best students from across the country was in itself quite a matter of pride. The judges in the panel are all leaders in their individual fields and the conversations I had with each of them were nothing short of extraordinary.”
Says Anindya Dutta, an IIT Kharagpur Gold medalist with a two year stint at Lehman and Nomura, “Ever since my admission to IIMA, I had wished to be a part of the exalted ranks of Aditya Birla Group Scholars. It is nothing less than a dream come true. Knowing that I was able to clear the stringent set of guidelines this scholarship is known for shall be a constant source of confidence and serve as an inspiration to set loftier goals for myself.”
For Chaithanya Rao Prabhakar, a fresher from IIT Bombay, the scholarship process was in itself an experience, “The preparation leading up to the interviews for the scholarship were quite a process of self-discovery. I would like to thank the Aditya Birla Group for considering me worthy of this scholarship and would like to reiterate the deep sense of honor I feel on being awarded the same.”
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Glen aka Mali and Rohan aka Bychung
Media Cell
Campus walk at Joy of Giving Week
Dates: October 1,2,3 2009
Venue: Gather at IIMA Old Campus Main Gate
Programme: A walk through the campus accompanied by IIMA students, see the architectural beauty, know the history behind the institute, learn interesting trivia, spend a joyful evening!
Cost: Rs. 25 per head. All proceeds to be donated to IIMA’s initiative for underprivileged children Prayaas
Time: Walk-in between 5 pm to 7.30 pm on any of the three days. If you are a groupo of 10 or more, call Rohan (97257 69378) or Rahul (97243 44159) and a separate tour can be arranged for you.
IIMA Campus Walk for Joy of Giving
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Rohan aka bychung
Media Cell
(Inputs: Rohan Choudhary, Prof. Rakesh Basant and the Joy of Giving Team)
