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BY THE STUDENTS, FOR THE STUDENTS.

Edited by a student panel from eminent institutes, the magazine features articles submitted by students and industry experts. Which makes it a great platform for the business leaders of tomorrow to absorb new knowledge and sharpen their skills. The magazine also provides a creative outlet for students by publishing a selection of their poetry, jokes and brainteasers in every edition.

BE A PART OF B-SPIONAGE.

Want to contribute? Or order a copy? Simply contact the B-spionage editors at bspionage@gmail.com or your printbindaas campus ambassador

Suraj GoyalCEOPrintBindaas

THE BOARD

BIPUL HIRAK NEEL

SAYONI ANUSHREEE VAIBHAV

Bipul is a PGPM student at Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai. He’s also a member of the Green Committee & Karma Yoga group at GLIM. Prior to GLIM, he has served as an SAP consult-ant for 5.4 years at Accenture Services Pvt. Ltd. He has completed his B.Tech in Computer Science & Engineering from School of Engineering, CUSAT. His areas of interest include SAP, Business Analyt-ics & Supply Chain Management.

Hirak is a Master of Mgmt. student at Shailesh J. Mehta School of Manage-ment, IIT-Bombay. He’s also a member of the Avenues Team. Prior to SJMSOM, he has served as a Systems Engineer for 2 years at Tata Consultancy Services. He has completed his B.Tech in Biomedical Engineering from UVPCE, Gujarat. His ar-eas of interest include Supply Chain Man-agement and Marketing.

Neel is currently a pursuing his MBA from MICA. He has worked as an Associate Consultant in a Marketing Research start-up and as a Supply Chain ERP Consult-ant with Wipro. His interests are travel-ling, photography and marketing. He was the marketing head of Utkansh-2009, the annual cultural fest of N.I.T. Jalandhar.

Sayoni is a PGP student at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Prior to IIMB, she has served as an SAP consultant for around 1.5 years at IBM India Pvt. Ltd. She has completed her B.Tech in Infor-mation Technology from National Institute of Technology, Durgapur. Her areas of in-terest include General Management and Marketing.

Vaibhav is a first year PGDM student at IIM Shillong and has completed his en-gineering from BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus. He has no formal work experi-ence but lapped up opportunities to intern at JSW Steel, Mercedes-Benz India and IISc Bangalore. He recently won the Adi-tya Birla Group Scholarship for the year 2012. Vaibhav is interested in photogra-phy, adventure sports, games (football, tennis, squash, badminton), theatre arts (drama and skit) and quizzing.

Anushree is a student of Xavier Institute of Management pursuing PGDM-BM course.She believes in the phrase I am extraordi-narily ordinary and says -Creative Writ-ing is a Democratic Liberal Land and one should vote for the Class to rule it.Prior to XIMB she has a work experience of 2.5 years with Infosys dabbling mainly in Manufacturing Domain IT projects.Her Areas of interest include Consulting and Marketing

MARKET ORIENTATION

Apple Maps Fiasco

Apple recently launched Apple maps in iOS6 which is con-sidered to be in competition with Google maps and Nokia’s rich web mapping service. But after launching Apple maps, many users complained about many errors in it. They com-plained that the new Map service has geographical errors and gaps in information. It also lacks many features like public transit direction, street view, etc. Other errors include in wrong direction pointing, wrong or missing public trans-port information, incorrect labelling, etc.

Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized on 28th Sept for glaring errors in the new map service.Cook surprisingly asked us-ers to switch to other competitive map services like Google maps, Nokia maps etc. He also assured users of more ac-curate and better map services in future. Social media is al-ready flooded with mockery of Apple maps -many blogs and facebook pages have been already made to make fun of it.Last time when iPhone 4 was launched, Antenna errors caused Apple embarrassment and Jobs had apologized but denied having any antenna problem. People faced prob-lems in reception of signals if user covered certain spots with bare hands. Jobs also insisted that the antenna issue was not wide spread and only small portion of users had actually problems with it.

Initially when iOS6 was launched, Apple Maps was one of the key highlights. But as and when new errors and blun-ders came into picture, the embarrassment became bigger and bigger. Some websites also term it as the worst soft-ware ever.Infact in his short term as CEO, Cook has already had to apologise to users 6 times.Apple is currently facing immense pressure to handle the gaffes and improvise with all features and errors resolved.

Author: Ravi Soni, SCIT

Should Banks Worldwide Be Given More Autonomy Or Regulation – The Need Of The Hour?

Prasenjeet AcharjeeTAPMI

A financial institution serves two primary functions which are essential for smooth operation of an aggregate economy. First, they are creators of assets. These assets can be obtained from various sources such as government, fiscal deficit or from private sector. Second is that they are re-sponsible for channeling of savings for a higher purpose which can be achieved by developing the capability to use idle bal-ances and providing depository services in order to finance lending activity. Put in plain terms, it assumes liabilities and makes loans.

Financial institutions, particularly banks, are structurally vulnerable because they finance projects which cannot be accu-rately valued by short-term liabilities and try to provide services which are mutually beneficial to borrowers and savers. With this background, let us look at why most of the countries have experienced poor performance of Banks in the last two dec-ades.

The rate of bank failures has really shot-up during the 2007–2012 global financial crisis. It threatened of total collapse of large financial institutions leading to bail-outs of financial institutions by govern-

ments, and downturns in stock markets around the world. The U.S. Senate’s Levin–Coburn Report asserted that the crisis was the result of high risk, complex financial products; undisclosed conflicts of interest; the failure of regulators, credit rating agencies, and the market itself to rein in the excesses of Wall Street; the liberal use of Gaussian copula function; failure to track data provenance; repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act effectively blurring the distinction between investment banks and depository banks in the US; failure to accurately price the risk involved with mortgage-related financial products; Gov-ernments failing to adjust their regulatory practices to address 21st-century financial markets; etc.

The financial crisis and the housing bubble bust highlight the fact that banking indus-try and financial system as a whole were very fragile and could not withstand any of the crises. Also, banking industry is more fragile than other industries. Failure of a major bank can have a trickledown effect on other banks which brings into picture systemic risk. However, greater fragility of the banking industry simply implies “han-dle with greater care” and not higher bro-kerage rate or failure rate. It leads to the

conclusion that they need to be regulated.

However, historically it has been proved that regulations do not always improve the functioning of banks. It has happened before that many regulations were in-troduced with an intention to make the banks more robust and provide protec-tion against fragility but they unintention-ally increased the fragility of banks and their failure rate. Many poorly designed and mispriced safety nets under banks for depositors, first through the Federal Re-serve’s discount window lender of last re-sort facilities in 1914, and then reinforced by the FDIC’s deposit guarantees in 1934, market discipline on banks was reduced substantially. It resulted in increased risk exposures by banks and reduction in their capital ratios. As emphasized by Kane (1989, 1995a and b), Severe principal-agent problems were introduced by the establishment of the Federal Reserve and FDIC in the U.S. So, while it still remains a million dollar question as to whether banks need more regulation or autonomy in the long run, banks definitely need to be regulated in the short term and be granted regulated autonomy in the medium term.

The Rise Of Subliminal Marketing

As a result of new breakthroughs in mar-keting, consumers and advertisers have begun to see a rapid increase in area of subliminal marketing. The truth about tradi-tional marketing at this point is that it is floun-dering. Con-s u m e r s are getting tired of be-ing slammed w i t h a d v e r -t i s e m e n t s that deluge them with in-formation and are actually beginning to build barri-ers to screen these ads. Ads that do not require as much atten-tion to detail, allow the con-sumer’s mind to wander and subcon-sciously pick up the infor-mation. Since consumers are constantly hit with a bar-rage of different advertisements sublimi-nal ads will become effective.

Subliminal messages are designed to pass below the normal limits of the human perception and are not recognizable by the conscious mind. Repeated exposure to such stimulus can affect the subcon-scious mind and result into growing fa-miliarity with the object of stimulus. Fa-miliarity breeds liking more than contempt. Marketing experts bank on this concept of extraordinary functioning of human mind and manipulate thousands of people into buying particular brands over other varie-ties of products.

The answer as to why one chooses sub-liminally-advertised brand lies in the fol-lowing three techniques of marketing –

Product Placement – Brands pay nearly millions of dollars just to showcase their products in movies and TV ads in order to gain mainstream popularity; some get surprise surges in sales. The song “Mun-

nibadnaamhui” becomes a rage andZan-du-Balm doubledits sale. Tough to find the correlation between the two but the magic of Subliminal Marketing explains it all. Never for once did the movie (Dabangg)

tried to advertise Zandu as a product in the film but the sub-conscious mind of consumer caught all the action happening and later translated it into the physical re-quirements of the people. Many companies use such aggressive ways of product campaigns through the entertainment industry, in order to catch attention of the general population.

Subliminal Advertising – The brand Coca Cola gets subtly embedded in the subconscious mind of thousands of view-ers when it is subliminally-advertised in the most fanciedT20 cricket matches, and doesn’t VAIO look cool, especially if Bond of Casino Royale uses it?

Subliminal Messaging - Christopher No-lan has done a nice job of branding him-self as the director of the Dark Knight by incorporating the graphic effects of the Dark Knight poster into the Inception post-er. This helped in generating the same ex-citement for Inception which was there for the Batman series and led to the success

of The Dark Knight Rises.

However, there is a flip side to everything. Subliminal messaging is banned in Brit-ain and Australia as it is considered un-

ethical to make people believe into something that they may not want to. Con-spiracy theorists even go as far as making stories that marketeers are trying to con-trol the economy by controlling people’s choices and desires for products, ser-vices, etc. and for even whom to vote.

Although the technology be-hind such mar-keting is praise worthy, but it is an ethical duty of the mass media

industry to make more and more people aware of it, so that they at least have the right to consciously choose the products and services at the end of the day.

References:http://subliminaladvertisingmessages.com/ http://www.articlesbase.com/ http://www.marketingprofs.com/ http://ezinearticles.com/

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THE RISE OF SUBLIMINAL MARKETING

Great Lakes Institute Of Management

10/3/2012

Vikram Tuli

The Reel Road Map: Conceptualizing a Value Based Entertainment Industry

The concept of entertainment has differ-ent interpretations for every individual, with everyone preferring a particular me-dium to the other. However, broadly we all converge and agree that cinema and tel-evision are an integral part of it. Both can be thought of as being complimentary and still at loggerheads with each other.

Entertainment, as a sector in our country, does not match the western society, be it in terms of scale, technical precision or the length and breadth of options available. But before delving deep into this issue, I would like to focus on the validity of value based entertainment as a concept. To a layman, entertainment and values are two different ends of the same spectrum. Peo-ple in India, generally don’t confuse the two or rather have been conditioned in a way not to do so. We do not take our mov-ies and television serials seriously enough to consider their role in reflecting upon our values. Entertainment in India, especially through movies, has implicitly mirrored the growth and direction of our nation. If we do a careful examination of our cinema, we can truly gauge the mood and sentiment of our nation during that period. The 70’s hero was an angry young man against the society, fighting for rights of the work-force much like the labor unrest which was pervasive at that time. Cut to 1995, ‘Dilwaledulhaniya le jayenge’ portrays the aspirations of the then middle class and also marks the entry of the metro-sexu-aluber male. Liberalization allows Rahul (a.k.aShahrukh Khan from KuchKuchHo-taHai) to endorse all the latest brands in the movie which consequently become a rage in the country. Hence, consumerism entered the society due to a policy change but was greatly propelled due to cinema. Cinema has always shaped our society and has been affected by it. It is a symbi-otic relationship, but it possesses greater influence on the society than the society impacts its cause. Even the current lot of movies and choices of our generation is a reflection of the current state of our coun-try. We are one of the youngest nations in the world with most of our population in the workforce. As the information age has engulfed all of us, we are more aware about alternative sources of entertainment besides movies as well. The result is small

Indian movies are slowly losing out to Hol-lywood counterparts as more and more Indians are becoming technically adept. So where does this all fit in? It clearly shows how our society and entertainment are interlinked in more ways than we ever thought. Hence, it is imminent that the industry realizes its significance of being much more than a song, dance and drama routine.

The entertainment sector in our country is dominated by cricket, TV and movies(or a mix of all three). For our entertainment industry as a whole to be value driven, it is essential the drive comes from our mov-ies. There are two aspects here; internal and external. The industry as a whole (es-pecially cinema) is compromising values for short term incentives and gains. The external aspect relates to the total dis-appearance of a social context from the theme and execution of movies. There needs to be considerable development on both ends, if the industry has to make any headway towards being value driven.

Internally, the corporatization of the indus-try has compromised its artistic elements and inculcated a capitalist agenda in the proceedings. Nowadays, each and every artist, ranging from a newbie to a maes-tro, is branded as a product catering to a targeted market. Gone are the days when the love for art, music or cinema drew these individuals to the fore. But, still all is not lost. I still believe there is a lot of hope and if our generation persists with its ideals, the results will be outstanding. The decadence of morality is out in the pub-lic sphere and that is what will inspire the people to work in ways that protects and enhances their value system. They do re-alize that an industry devoid of values will not attract the talent it aspires for.

The impact and relationship of the industry to the society is well known. A value based entertainment industry will be a tool to en-hance the process of social change. The products of the industry can have results and spillovers few people can predict. Movies that promote a certain set of val-ues and ideals are few through the year, but even a single movie with a powerful message can go viral in today’s informa-

tion age and lead to changes which can’t be predicted or imagined. Our yesteryear movies of the 50s to the 70s had themes which highlighted social issues and al-ways promoted honesty as a general fea-ture of the masses. But, a cursory glance at even the titles of our movies says a lot about the values that are proposed with them. This is not to say we should be lim-iting the artistic desire of out filmmakers. But, simultaneously, work needs to be done to ensure that there is a section in the industry which is conscious about our value system and is working towards it. There is a lot of constant dissonance be-tween internal and external factors if they are not in line with each other. To be value based in its outlook is not merely making a ‘Chak De’ or ‘TaareZameen Par’ every two years or so. It has to focus on issues that have been neglected so far and ensure fair practices in its execution. Television is a medium which has been exploited the most to convey the most erratic informa-tion to the people of this country. News channels which are nowhere under the purview of entertainment are creating con-tent and shows that could give daily soaps a run for their money. Each and every source of entertainment has the power to reach out and impact the society in its own unique way. Hence, arises the need for them to realize this power and inculcate values which would have a deep impact on the nucleus of our society.

PrasenjeetAcharjee is a 2nd year student of PGDM program at TAPMI,Manipal and is also

a part of the Green Tapmi project team. He was part of the Marketing and general management team(MGM) of TAPMI in 1st year. He

completed his engineering in computer science and has 3.5 years of work experience at HCL Technologies and NDS Group as a senior software

developer.

Dr. Shashi Tharoor – Member of Parlia-

ment, Author, Diplomat, Columnist, Politi-cian, in no particular order and everything at once. Born in London, originally from Kerala, alumnus of St. Stephens, Delhi, PhD from Tufts University, USA and Un-der-Secretary general at the UN, some-one who can be truly called a global citi-zen and who can talk about foreign affairs

at length, with multiple perspectives. Dr. Tharoor gave a very short speech and left a large chunk of the time he spent at DMS, for the students to ask questions. He spoke about how, ironically, Indians are becoming more conscious of their identities, as the countrymen are being in-tegrated as a nation. He quoted the Con-fucius centers of China at all the major uni-versities of the world which communicate with the people when they are young and impressionable, as an example of what In-dia must be doing to educate the young abroad about the culture and about being Indian. He also mentioned how television, rather than broadcasting the views, is nar-rowcasting them these days by introduc-tion of local channel that provide informa-tion of a single region.The short but informative lecture ended too soon, with the students asking for

more and requests to invite him again flooding the Industry Interaction Commit-tee’s mailbox.

Sneha is a 2nd year student of MBA pro-gram at DMS, IIT Delhi and a part of the Media Committee.

THE CORE Confluence

Dr. Shashi Tharoor (Guest Lecture)

Confluence 2012, the Business Conclave at DMS, IIT Delhi, kicked off in style and on a very high energy note, graced by three distinguished guests –Mr. Sandeep Bak-shi, National Head-Multi Brand at Adidas, Mr. Dharmendra Pandey, Director-North at RedBus and Mr. Chirag Patnaik, Head of Marketing, IndiaMART.

The first key note was by Mr Bakshi, who spoke about retailing and e-tail-ing in the country and emphasized on the inevitable change which the online retailing companies need to undergo. This was followed by an in-sightful address by Mr. Pandey, who focused on customer relationship man-agement and the reliability of the network involved in delivery of services. The last lecture was given by Mr. Patnaik, who brought the concept of “Immediacy” to the fore and mentioned the change in trend in the e-commerce sector in the country.

The first day ended on a very positive note and the students left the auditorium with excellent knowledge on the e-commerce concept.

The second day continued with a case

study and a panel discussion in the do-main of FMCG. The theme of the day was “The rise of FMCG star brands-Hit and Trial or Perfected Science”. There were two sessions conducted, with the first ses-sion being a presentation and case study on Alpenliebe by Mr. Nikhil Sharma, Head

of Marketing, Perfetti van Melle India, who concluded his session with the 3 rules to achieve success - Innovation, Innovation and Innovation. This was followed by a panel discussion in the second session chaired by Ms. Kan-ika T .Bhal, Professor, HR Management, DMS, and other panellists included Ms. Sudipta Sengupta, GM & Head Market-ing, Del Monte, Mr. Debashis Das, Head Marketing, Mother Diary and Mr. Tan-may Kumar, Director Commerce & Busi-ness Planning, Yum Foods. The eminent speakers spoke all about Indian market, FMCG sector and becoming brand lead-ers, driven by their own experience!

Ashrit Vodithela

Dr. Shashi Tharoor – Member of Parlia-ment, Author, Diplomat, Columnist, Politi-cian, in no particular order and everything at once. Born in London, originally from Kerala, alumnus of St. Stephens, Delhi, PhD from Tufts University, USA and Un-der-Secretary general at the UN, some-one who can be truly called a global citi- Sneha Gadu

Ashrit is a 1st year student of MBA program at DMS, IIT

Delhi and a part of the Media Committee. Prior to DMS, he completed his engineering in Information Technology from

Swami Vivekananda Institute of Technology, Hyderabad.

zen and who can talk about foreign affairs at length, with multiple perspectives. Dr. Tharoor gave a very short speech and left a large chunk of the time he spent at DMS, for the students to ask questions. He spoke about how, ironically, Indians are becoming more conscious of their identities, as the countrymen are being in-tegrated as a nation. He quoted the Con-fucius centers of China at all the major uni-versities of the world which communicate with the people when they are young and impressionable, as an example of what In-dia must be doing to educate the young abroad about the culture and about being Indian. He also mentioned how television, rather than broadcasting the views, is nar-rowcasting them these days by introduc-tion of local channel that provide informa-tion of a single region.

The short but informative lecture ended too soon, with the students asking for more and requests to invite him again flooding the Industry Interaction Commit-tee’s mailbox.

Sneha is a 2nd year student of MBA program at DMS, IIT Delhi and a part of the Media

Committee.

A plethora of industry leaders and respect-ed HR professionals arrived upon GLIM to deliberate on the theme: ‘Making ele-phants dance: Transformative leadership’. Once Uncle Bala had enthralled the audi-ence with his vision and humoured them with his wit, he opened the session for keynote speaker Dr. Santrupta Mishra - CEO, Carbon Black business and Director – Group HR, Aditya Birla Group.

Panel Discussion 1: Moderated by Mr. Shyam Viswanathan, Former Dean-Executive Education ISB, the panellists Dr. D. Prasanth Nair, Glob-al Head-HR, CIPLA, Ms. Tanuja Abburi, Senior Director-Human Capital, NTT Data India Enterprise Application Services, and Mr.Shailen Merchant, Head-HR, Muru-gappa Group, highlighted that leadership is a disposition and not a position and in

today’s world of change and experiments it demands the ability to deal with ambigu-ity. Mr Allen Sequeira, Advisor-Group HR Ma-hindra & Mahindra, later enthralled all with the question of Future proofing Gen Y vis-a-vis expectations from India Inc.

Panel Discussion 2: Moderated by Mr. Nishant Kolgaonkar, VP – HR, Allcargo Logistics, the panellists. Mr. Raghupathy V, VP – HR ,International Flavours and Fragrances, Mr. Baskar Var-adhan, Group HRD head , Siva Group and Mr B. Natrajan, Head – Corporate HR, Amrutanjan Healthcare, threw light on the importance of time management and cultural impact on the individuals and or-ganizations.

The Valedictory speech by Dr. PVR Mur-

thy, CEO, Exclusive Search Recruitment Consultants highlighted the human nature of resistance to change.Prof. Sriram thanked the dignitaries and concluded the vista of this intellectual con-vention with sheer enthusiasm.

HR Conclave 2012- Making Elephants Dance: Transformatioal Leadership

The Bloggers team (Jeewant, Prasun & Kriti), Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai

Sangram

IIMB hosted one of India’s most famous Sporting rivalries - the Sangram 2012, a veritable war of the elite sports teams from three premier B-Schools in Southern India - IIM Bangalore, IIM Kozhikode and IIM Trichy. Since its inception in the year 2004, the in-tensity of Sangram has been unmatched,

and the euphoria unparalleled. The 7th edition of Sangram was a trend-setter in a number of ways with there being 20 sport-ing events instead of the usual 16, with our national game Hockey and India’s tra-ditional game Kho-Kho being added to the sports extravaganza. And to top of it all the much awaited sports encounters between IIM Kozhikode and IIM Bangalore were

joined by IIM Trichy. With the pride and honour of their alma mater at stake, the captains and players went through a rigor-ous training schedule balancing it with the highly demanding academic schedule at the Indian Institutes of Management.

The IIMB Sangram organising team

Tamojit is a 1st year student of MBA program at IIM

Bangalore and also a part of the Student Media Cell at

IIMB. Prior to IIMB, he had a 3 year experience working

with the Jindal Group and has completed his engineering

in Electrical and Electronics from Dr. MGR Educational and Research Institute University,

Chennai.

Indore Marathon

For many across India, 2nd October is a day when they can sit at home and relax; but for the residents of Indore, it has been a day when they come out early in the morning to run for a cause. 5th time in a row, the students of IIM, Indore or-ganized the “In-dore Marathon” with “Gender Equality” as this year’s cause.

S p o n s o r e d by the likes of White Angels Travels, SBI, National Insur-ance, Bajaj Al-lianz and Centurm, the 11 km marathon was flagged off by Chief Guest Shri A Sai Manohar, SSP, DIG, Indore, and was fol-lowed by a 3 km-long “Dream Run” within

the IIM campus. The event witnessed par-ticipation ranging from state level athletes to police personnel and common men and women. Carrying forward their tradition of

delivering a bigger and better event year on year, IIM students ensured that the marathon be a true test of endurance and character to send out a statement of unity

and support for a cause. Through mas-sive promotion of the event via various media partners, the marathon was able to achieve a participation number higher than previous years. True to its objective of achieving gender equality, the event also saw a huge increase in women par-ticipation compared to previous years.

Siddharth Mathur

Tamojit Tarit Roy

Siddharth is a 1st year student of MBA Program at IIM Indore and a part of the Media Team of Indore Marathon. Prior to IIMI, he did his Electronics and Com-munications engineering from

Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida

Vista

Xpressions

Praptasha

What was expected to be a gem, proved to be a string of pearls in earnest! IIMB re-cently organised India’s largest B-School Summit: Vista 2012, a 3 day bonanza, with the theme “Challenge Convention, Transform Tomorrow”! The event was aris-tocratically inaugurated by Padma Bhush-an Dr. Devi Shetty, a man revolutionising heart care in India. Addressing some of India’s brightest B-school students, he passionately exhorted all to devise path-

breaking systems addressing the issue of increasing unaffordability of heart care in our country!

The address set the foundation for a hugely successful International B-School summit clocking over 14,000 registered participants, from 200 colleges, with ac-tive contributions from at least 80 corpo-rate houses of the country this year! 3 high voltage days ended with a heart warming

media conclave, attended by influential power houses from diverse fields.

The speakers on the dais were Ms. Kalpa-na Morparia, CEO JP Morgan (India), Chess Grandmaster Ms Tania Sachdev, singer Ms. Neha Bhasin and Mr. Sarath Babu E, Founder of FoodKing. The con-clave brought out the fact that each of the speakers had, in their own unique ways, challenged the regular to alter the future!

Tamojit is a 1st year student of MBA program at IIM Bangalore

and also a part of the Student Media Cell at IIMB. Prior to IIMB, he had a 3 year experi-ence working with the Jindal Group and has completed his engineering in Electrical and

Electronics from Dr. MGR Edu-cational and Research Institute

University, Chennai.

For every XIMB’ian these 3 days become the most memorable parts of their lives, when the campus is bedecked with the decorations, the lights and all the commo-tion. Coming to think of it, there couldn’t have been a more befitting name for the event- Xpressions.

Amongst the some 100 odd residents in the campus, the game committee mem-bers are the ones who will greet you in every possible place in the campus. It is the final moment of judgment for all the in-vested hard work after all.Post all the inter committee hooting, sledg-ing and name calling comes the moment of sleepless nights. The awesome feeling of finally getting ready for the event, the

nostalgia slowly seeping in; 3 days from now all of it would cease to exist until next year.

And then the function commences, you would not remember how many games you helped monitor, how many times you have trotted between the academic block and the tennis court, how many times you have disconnected calls on your mobile and most importantly how many hours you have had slept since the day Xpressions began. The sense of pride lingers on for a very long time, that you did not engage a b-school student with any business sim-ulation game; you let them have fun but tickled their skills very sternly.And finally the 3 days fly past, leaving eve-

ryone hungry for more!

Praptasha is a 2nd year student of the PGDM-HRM program at XIMB. Prior to XIMB, she completed her engineering in

Electronics and Telecommunica-tion from Institute of Technical

Education and Research, Bhubaneswar.

Tamojit Tarit Roy

EVENTSAhvan

Ahvan is the annual management festival of IIM Indore. This event culminates into a virtuous cycle of action and inspiration leading to the development of our coun-try. The event showcases the talent of the brightest of B-School participants and has also seen participation from corporate houses in the past. With a range of events, Ahvan tests the mettle of the contestants in different domains of management.

Structure:This is a three day event scheduled on 26th, 27th & 28th of October, 2012. It has four Flagship events which include • Ashwameda :- Identifying the Best

Business Leader (Prize Money worth 1.5lac)• Chanakya :- Battle of the Consulting minds (Prize Money worth 1.5 lac)• Kalpavriksha :- Social B-Plan Competition (Business plan funding worth 1Million)• Klueless 8.0 :- Completely Online Event, Klueless has had over 3.5 mil lion hits last year from 110 countries and is the most popular event from the IIM In dore stable

Apart from the flagship there are many other events like Fin League, Fore-Sight, Beat the market, Gordian Knot, My Cam-paign, Adapt, Chain Reaction, Entrepit,

Neethi Sashtra, Jigyaasa, Samanvyay , Envision etc, These events focus around different areas of management like Fi-nance, marketing, Operations, Strategy, Consulting, etc. Prizes worth lacs of Ru-pees to be won!

Organising Team: Ahvan has a dedicated team which is a jubilant mix of PGP1s and PGP2s. It is di-vided into smaller teams of Verticals and Events with individual heads taking care of the respective events. The entire team is headed by the event Coordinator Mr. Sasi Sekaran, a PGP2 student at IIM In-dore.

Vinod Sangana, PGP2 @ IIM Indore. Prior to joining IIM In-dore he had a work experience of 18 months at Vizag Steel, RINL. He has completed his

B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Andhra University College

of Engineering (A).

Vinod Sangana

IIM Shillong Golf Cup Season 5

Micanvas

Rahul Kumar Singh

History was made on a breezy April Day in 2009, when IIM Shillong, with the Shillong Golf Club, hosted a golf tournament for B Schools and Corporate heads. It became the first B-School to organize and host a Golf tournament. It is often remarked that more alliances have been forged on the Golf course than in the boardroom. Prob-ably, this planted an idea of conducting a high profile golf tournament as a com-mon platform to connect corporate with academia. Waiting-in-the-wings manag-ers would take on captains of commerce and industry in what is arguably one of the

Rahul is a 2nd year PGP student at IIM Shillong. Prior to joining IIM-S, he has worked with TCS for 17 months. He has complet-ed his engineering in Electronics & Communication from Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore.

His areas of interest include Fixed Income Securities, Com-modities and Forex markets.

Micanvas, the annual marketing man-agement festival of MICA, is a three-day event that sees the perfect amalgamation of intellectually stimulating formal events and exciting informal events. Over the years, Micanvas has emerged as one of the most sought after destination for B-school students from across the coun-try. From business plan presentations to dance workshops, from panel discussions to treasure hunts, from market simulations to quizzes – there is something here for every student.

In the past, the festival has seen participa-tion from top B-schools like the IIMs, ISB, MDI, JBIMS, crowd enthralling perfor-mances by artists such as Kailash Kher,

Mohit Chauhan, Salim and Sulaiman Merchant, and association with esteemed companies such as Hero Motocorp, HP, SBI, Sahara Force India, Micromax and many more.

This year is the 11th year of Micanvas and it is scheduled to be held from the 2nd to 4th of November’ 12. The event promises to be bigger and better this year. Flagship events such as Last Manager Standing and Amazing Race will be back in this edi-tion of the festival along with some new events. One such new event is Livewire - a band competition which will be judged and headlined by one of the prominent bands of the country. There are prizes worth Rs 13 lakhs up for grabs. But the most popu-

lar event of the three day extravaganza continues to be Adrenaline, the concert night, which is expected to get a footfalls of over 4000. In short, Adrenaline proves to be the perfect end to the perfect three days.

Committee:Micanvas is a student run event and it is Team Micanvas that oversees the festival from inception to conclusion. However, they are able to do so only with the help and support from every member of the MICA community. On paper, Team Mican-vas consists of 17 individuals but in reality, it is consists of over 350 individuals

most beautiful ‘battlefields’ – Gleneagles of the East, Shillong Golf Club. It was this spark of an idea that prompted the institu-tion of the Annual IIM Shillong Corporate Golf tournament.

After the resounding success of the previ-ous four seasons, IIM Shillong is back with Season 5 of its annual Golf Tournament in association with The Times of India. The Battle on the greens will happen at the Shillong Golf Club on 6th and 7th of October, 2012.

Oorja

Passion’ 12 - imt ghaziabad

19 -20 Oct 2012

OORJA is MICA’s annual cultural festival. OORJA welcomes students from other es-teemed colleges of Ahmedabad city like IIM-A, NIFT, CEPT and NIRMA, as well as the local Ahmedabad crowd.Oorja is a two-day event organized dur-ing the Navratri. It is a confluence of vari-ous cultures. The highlight of OORJA is the Garba night which boasts of one of the best DJ’s of the city to keep the dance floor alive and kicking. It is one of most awaited event. Men dressed in colorful

Passion, the Annual Management & Cul-tural fest of IMT Ghaziabad is considered the ‘Mecca’ of B-school fests .It consists of a plethora of events spanning diverse verticals to be held from 13thOctober to 16thOctober, 2012 at IMT Ghaziabad.

Spanning over 4 days with over 3000 participants, 1200 students, 800 hours of preparation, 300 teams from over 70 B-schools, and 35 management and cul-tural events, Passion’11 was a huge suc-cess last year. Passion brings to you the spirit of the students, echoing through this 4 days long event, where management students from the best business schools

of India participate and enliven the stage with their enthusiasm and intellect. The theme of Passion 2012 is InnoYug - the era where innovation drives the change. InnoYug is the Yug of visionaries and revolutionaries

Spread over four days, Passion witnesses vigorous cut throat competition amongst teams from elite B- schools across the country. If on one hand management events are designed to test the partici-pants’ proficiency in verticals like market-ing, finance, human resources, IT, consult-ing, operations and general management.

Cultural events showcase ocean of talent and skills of hundreds of participants in-dividually as well as in a team. A mega amalgamation of dance, music, dramat-ics, gaming, literary, fine arts and fashion show.

Every year, Passion enjoys an over-whelming participation from premier in-stitutes like ISB-Hyderabad, IIMs, MDI, XLRI, FMS, NMIMS, IIFT, IITs, SCMHRD, SIBM, etc. as more than 1000 participants from a- la- crème of INDIA came to IMT Ghaziabad and fight for the glory.

Eshwarya Pathak

kurtas and women in lehengas twirl the dandiya sticks on peppy garba music played by the DJ. A plethora of events like multi cuisine food festival, puppet show, fire show, pottery, folk dance, astrology, junk jewelry and me-hendi stalls, build a perfect ambience for a cultural extravaganza. The food festival serves more than 10 flavors from various parts of the country. The various cuisines are prepared by popular restaurants and eateries of Ahmedabad. Lots of prizes like

the best dressed male/female, the best dancer male/female and the best dancing group are in store.

Culcomm:-Culcomm is the Cultural Committee at MICA, responsible to celebrate all festi-vals with zeal and fervor and thus ensure that the campus remains a home away from home. We organize various events regularly to celebrate happiness.

Escape Clause

Annam Vaibhav

IIM Shillong

Snata BorahFMS Delhi

Annam Vaibhav

IIM Shillong

Nishant KumarSP Jain

Annam VaibhavIIM Shillong

Annam VaibhavIIM Shillong

Annam Vaibhav

IIM Shillong

Snata BorahFMS Delhi

Nishant KumarSP Jain

Nishant Kumar

SP Jain

FUNManagement “DOUBLESPEAK”

Says Means

You have to show some flexibility

We have an opportunity

You obviously put a lot of work into this

In a perfect world

Help me to understand

You just don’t understand our business.

You need to see the big picture.

My mind is made up. I am adamant on the subject. There is no room for discussion. But if you do want to discuss it further, my door is always open.

I appreciate your contribution.

We’re going to follow a strict methodology here.

We have to leverage our resources.

Individual contributor.

Your project is on hold.

Wrong answer.

We want you to be the executive champion of this pro-ject.

It’s not possible. It’s impractical. It won’t work.

It’s a no-brainer.

There are larger issues at stake.

Value-added.

You have to do it whether you want to or not.

You have a problem.

This is awful.

Just get it working and get it out the door.

I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I don’t think you do either.

We don’t understand our business.

My boss thinks it’s a good idea.

F%^$ you.

F%^$ you.

We’re going to do it my way.

You’re working weekends.

Employee who does real work.

We’ve put a bullet in it.

You didn’t tell me what I wanted to hear.

I want to be able to blame you for my mistakes.

I don’t know how to do it.

It’s a perfect decision for me to handle.

I’ve made up my mind so don’t bother me with the facts.

Expensive.

PuzzleA king has plans to throw a party the next morning. There are 100 bot-tles of wine which are to be used for the party. The king comes to know that exactly one of the wine bottles is poisoned. The King remembers that he has some deadly prisoners being held in his dungeons and de-cides to test the bottles on them. The King also wishes to keep the num-

ber of prisoner deaths as a result of the tests as minimum as possible. There is also a problem as the poi-son takes some time to react. So the king doesn’t have enough time for retesting. What is theminimum num-ber of prisoners the king should use? (A prisoner can drink from more than one bottle)

Arun is a 1st year student of MBA program at DMS, IIT Delhi and a part of the Tech

Committee. Prior to DMS, he was employed in IT industry for 35 months. He completed his engineering in Computer Science from

College of Engineering, Trivendram.

Who, oh! Weary stranger, are you?That makes me stand and blink at youIn the nebulous fragment on my wall.

We looked the same and moved the same,And all those gesticulations of mine, you matched.

Together we gazed at the spacious firmament,Together we smiled at the happy thoughts.

None on earth could tell us from each other,We were, one and the same.

Once you bedazzled me with your mere presence,Once you made me dance for you.

How I loved to adorn you,How I loved to be with you.

Thoughts, words and deeds were for you and only you,Life on earth was for you and only you.

We spent our years growing up together,All the while I smiled at you and you smiled back.

As days went by the fragment began to cloud,And the vividness began to meander.

The distance grew,And your silhouette blurred.

Those kind gestures, those happy smiles never returned,What I got in return was morose laughter.

You mocked me, you tricked me,And I no longer cherished your sight.You came to stand for what I was not,

You came to stand for what I would never be.We were no longer brothers in arms,We no longer held each others hand.

And alas! We started a war.The war between right and wrong.The war where our egos clashed.Neither of us wanted to change,And neither wanted to give up.In the tug of war nobody won,

In the battle of time nobody won.Battered and bruised we emerged;

Never ever the same,Our images shrouded ever more,There was no retreat; no respite.

And when I look into your listless eyes Oh brother;I find neither love nor compassion.

The vagrant time has ripped us apart-And we’ll never be the same again:

But as I crouch on the precarious branches –Of my moribund life.

I confess,That I once loved you,

More than I loved myself.

ReflectionHe laughs with the world, he hums along,

He raises a toast and he parties on.They think he is reckless,

They call him insane,nonchalant, indifferent he is all but the same.

Behind the veilhe assumes his self.

Pain, betrayal he has seen it all.He cares for the trifles

and he has had his lowsbut he came out smiling,

his mask intact.The world obliviousIt’s all but a sham.

There are timeshe wishes to throw away the veil

and share his solitude with one and all.But then he has his issues with the crowd

he is unsure that he might just fall.

So he keeps on with the disguisekeeps up with the scoffs, jeers and derisions

He still laughshe still hums alongstill raises a toast

and keeps partying on.

Behind the Veil

Varun Pant is a 1st year student at SPJIMR,Mumbai. He is a member of Ab-

hyudaya Committee (a beyond classroom program to mentor poor kids in Mumbai).

Prior to SPJIMR, he worked in Servig-istics Pvt Ltd India for 3 years. He is a

computer Science engineer from Bharati Vidyapeeth’s College of Engineering,

New Delhi.

Rahul Chandran

Varun Pant

SometimesSometimes I close my eyes and think of youSometimes you are one of the special few,

Sometimes I wish we shared more than we doSometimes I feel I’ve bitten more than I can chew

Sometimes you seem so perfect to meThose times you just set me free,

But sometimes you are completely wrong it seemsDuring these times I’m not sure what it means

Sometimes too much care you showAnd I just tend to go with the flow,

But sometimes you just take it slowAs if, with me you want to grow

Sometimes there are words unspokenSometimes there are dreams too broken,Sometimes you show that love, that token

From a deep slumber I feel I’m wokenSometimes there are things you say

Leaving those few in the grey,You talk about how life went astray

And how you dealt with things your waySometimes I feel for you that love,

Pure and beautiful like that white dove,But sometimes you’re just that good friend

Who God sent to me at one little bendSometimes I just miss you so muchWithout having a reason as such,Sometimes I try and ask God whyAnd all I get is a deep long sigh!

Sometimes there are these questions I haveSometimes there are these things I want to grasp,

Sometimes this uncertainty is killingOn whether I’m just trying hard to make things fit in

Now there is this path we have takenThat has left us both quite shaken,

And even today after experiencing the exciting and the blandI wish I could say I know where we stand ..

Heaven on EarthI want to visit a place that is heaven on earth,

Where food is in plenty, of water there’s no dearth.I want to visit a place full of contentment and joy,

Where no one is jealous, and where there’s nothing to destroy.I want to visit a place where there’s no greed for money,

Where feelings are of utmost importance; people are as pure as honey.I want to visit a place where decisions are never forced,

Where everyone is equal, there’s nothing to boast.I want to visit a place where there is no room for regret,

Even if the choices people make don’t turn out to be correct.I want to visit a place where there exists no fear,

Where you are free to do as you wish - nobody need shed a tear.I want to visit a place where people don’t get hurt,

Where there is no pain, no sorrows; a smile the biggest comfort.I want to visit a place where people are given a chance,

To fulfil their dreams, and are not laughed upon.I want to visit a place, where there is no loneliness,

Where you sleep with a smile and there is nothing but goodness.

Vanish into this land, Oh heart of mine,And take those along, who make your existence worthwhile.

Shield of SteelWe fight, we tease,We nag with ease,We joke, we mock,With joy we rock,

We hug, we cheer,But can’t bear the other’s tears

We feel so much,We crave their touch,

We’re the apples of their eyes,For they can’t bear to see us cry

Their every action is for our good,But ever-so-often they’re misunderstood,

As we grow older, we forget to say it,For all that they do, those three words seem so unfit

But, I know not how else to express what I feel,So protective, so caring, a shield of steel,

Tonight I want nothing more,Than my ma’s hug from her heart’s core.

I miss you ma.The lights are dim, the world asleep,But far away in a village, hundreds scream,

The hoots, the cheers and its whistles galore,the fun, the excitement – it is magic to the core,

The thrill, the frolic, the storehouse of talent,that respect for players, so brave and gallant,The injuries never matter, nor does the pain,

for each minute on the court, nothing transcends the game,The focus, that determination, that will to win,

the energy, the enthusiasm flowing from within,In the end one or the other is bound to lose,

don’t be disheartened, that’s not the path you’d want to choose,

For each and every one of you played really swell,this’ll go down history; it’ll certainly be remembered well.

The Players

Tanya is a student of 1st year PGPM program at Great Lakes Institute Of Management, Chennai and a mem-ber of Kotler Srinivasan Centre for Research at GLIM, Chennai. Prior to GLIM, she had a 4 year experience

in the Commercial Food & Beverage industry and has completed Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Hotel and

Restaurant Management from IIMT, Oxford Brookes University.

Tanya Seth

Escapist

Run into the open field,Fresh with sparkles of morning dew,

Break free the yoke of wants,Impervious to the rough wind,

Unaware of the exogenous influence,Pristine knowledge within,

Individual but part of the whole,Intense, not shallow,

Wish I could be an escapist from the tradi-tional,

Be not what I want to, rather what I am,Unmoved by circumstances,

Igneous and not met-morphed with age,…The wish truly wished – To be an Escapist.

Sukhda is a student of 1st year PGPM program at Great Lakes Institute of Manage-ment, Chennai and a prime member of Grav-ity (GLIM magazine). Prior to GLIM, she had a 2 year and 9 month experience at Infosys and

has completed her engineering in Informa-tion Technology from MIT, Pune.

Sukhda Dhal

PowerIn a world where power is confined only to a chair

But, truth and values are found to be rare..Where people are fighting to control and ruleAnd emotions are being used as a mere tool..Where loyalties change when the tables turn

And flames of injustice continue to burn..Aimlessly trudging the path to name and fameBut, humanity being lost amidst dirty games..

Why have we all chosen to decline our golden gift?The power to change and the power to uplift..

We have been bestowed with the ability to change the face of earth

To be free from the shackles of poverty and dearth..To think beyond the layers created in the society

And work towards the goal of happiness and prosperity..

It is time we stop snatching each other’s breadAnd utilize our powers-to unite across a harmonious thread..

Aarohi Parakh

Aarohi is a 2nd year student of MBA program at IIM Bangalore. Prior to IIMB, she had a 20 month work experience in her family busi-

ness and has completed her graduation from NSHM Business School, Kolkata

Story Of An Apple PowerThe tent was dark; the night was long

Nocturnal birds had just started a songOf severe hunger did five stomachs growl

As some animals outside began their prowl.

The sturdy tent held five male membersWith them were apples, only two numbers

The old man, seventy, was given one of two.His age did deserve the respect it was due.

Now the rest were left with one not twoOne fruit for four, what were they to do?

****************A decision made about the apple of ‘gold’

It would go to the one whose story was best toldThe oldie ate his fruit and sat down to judge

A story telling round, where none would budge

He cradled the prize and sharpened his sensesThe first guy began without pretences

It was grey; it was dark; the suspense was chilling‘Ah!’ cried the oldie. ‘A start so thrilling!’

Next was the second guy with his take on historyA story full of suspense, and shrouded in mystery

‘My my!’ cried oldie. ‘Judging this is tough’‘Now now!’ said the third. ‘That’s not nearly enough’

And so he started narrating, a chilling little storyThe details were raw and the ending very gory

‘Oh god!’ cried oldie. ‘What a bloodbath!’‘Yes’, said the fourth. ‘Now get set for your last.’

Thus began the final one, an emotion-filled taleWith love and betrayal, and a twist in the tail

‘So!’ said he ‘Who’s got the highest score?’There was no answer, just a fat, rhythmic snore.He neared the sleeping oldie, did one of the four

‘Alas!’ he shouted, his throat turned sore‘He’s eaten the fruit and left us the core!’

Jagannath J

Jagannath is a 1st year student of the MBA program at IIM Bangalore. Prior to IIMB, he had a 28 month experi-ence working for Saint Gobain & Bridge and Roof. He completed his BTech in Mechanical Engineering from

Sastra University, Tamil Nadu.

Note: Wholly inspired by and totally dedicated to William Sydney Porter (More famous as ‘O.Henry’) a masterful weaver of Short Stories.

Perfect Strangers

(Haven’t we all come across strangers, who at the very first glance seem so known? Haven’t we made friends with people whom we never exchanged even a single word with… just a smile or a nod maybe: Some people whom we see daily but don’t know who they are, and then they fade away but we never forget

them. This story is dedicated to all such strangers who have been close to my heart.)

I wake up early at the sound of my annoying alarm and then push my blanket away unwillingly. My bed keeps screaming and asking me to not leave him alone. My pillow calls me back and the blanket weeps to be thrown away. But after this initial daily motion of 5-10 minutes, I finally get up, put my snooz-ing alarm to rest, brush my teeth then my hair, gear up in my jogging suit and out I am in the fresh air. I can breathe the freshness of the mornings. The best part of the day; sun shining and not burning, birds chirping and not tweaking, bicycles riding and no bikes racing and most importantly people smiling not sulking. I don’t have a particular route; I go where my feet take me. Usually a 4 km round and then some stretching in the park in my society. The jog is mostly a pleasant affair, except when some wild dogs make you run for your life or ghosts from some scary movie from last night haunt you and you feel they are follow-ing you. Some fast music quickens my pace and keeps me going. Finally when I enter the park I am always welcomed with a smile. Smile by a middle aged lady, she is present everyday at the park. We exchange a smile, a nod and then I start my exercise. She takes rounds of the park walking. We two have known each other for almost a year now. I note her expressions daily; at times she has a persistent tension on her face, that day she even walks faster than usual. At times, she seems to be too tired. Mostly she is jovial and smiling. I noticed a bandage on her hand once, out of curiosity I asked “Hey, hope everything is all right”, she replied smiling “Oh this! No no everything is fine, I just burnt my hand in the kitchen, it will be okay in a few days”. If I bunked my regime, she would definitely ask me the next day. If she did not, I would think that even she was a defaulter. We had a cordial mutual relation, that of perfect strangers. We never bothered to ask each other whereabouts or names. It was just as if we existed in some parallel worlds which met in

the mornings. At times she would get her cute little daughter along. She would run around singing “ring-a-ring-a-roses” and keep plucking flowers and presenting it to random people in the park. Her name was Roma,

must be 4 years old; Pretty girl. Today it has been more than a month, she has not showed up. For a few days I kept thinking of reasons that would have kept her from coming. Reasons like a vacation, maybe ill health, maybe her daughter is sick. I used to say a small little prayer for her well being. I imagine her warm smiling face every morning. We were strangers, yet I had some connection with her. I felt wanted in the park as if someone

was waiting. I went prepared with a reason if I missed my walk any day. It has been more than six months now. Well she might have shifted to a new city or a new locality maybe. Shouldn’t she have informed me? I wish we exchanged more than a smile. I wish I knew who she was. Some cosmic force or human nature, we were strange friends. I so dearly wish we would meet again, in the park on the road, somewhere, sometime and this time I would surely introduce myself. I wish she is

still in this universe.

Sukhda Dhal

Sukhda is a student of 1st year of PGPM program at Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai and a prime member of Gravity (GLIM magazine). Prior to GLIM, she had a 2 year and 9 month experience at Infosys and has

completed her engineering in Information Technology from MIT, Pune.

Memories Unlimited

YEARBOOKS by

VIEW FROM THE TOP

Few simple steps....What is success? In simple words success can be defined as achieving objectives. With a large and diverse population the world has and assuming human beings are complex, who live in various socioeconomic envi-ronments, having different needs and aspirations, it is quite likely that the human race has multiple objectives. The objectives of one human being can vary widely from another.Within this diverse set of objectives I must admit our forefathers have done a commendable job in designing our education systems, our socio economic systems, political systems which caters to the masses in achieving their basic common objectives such as gathering knowledge, achieving better standard of living etc. Though these systems provide us with a good base/ foundation but, at the same time it can be said there is no all-encompassing system which can be designed to serve and help achieve objectives of every individual.Hence the onus lies on each individual to find ways to achieve his or her objectives. These ways can be a small simple step taken by an individual or a step taken by the group of individuals. Depending upon the intensity and criticality of these steps they can be termed as a simple incremental step towards better life or social activism or a revolution.I would focus on a few small steps which are not revolutionary, not path breaking but are more of common sense which in general helps me in leading a successful life (in my terms). As is true for any other system these steps will not apply to all and at the end of the day it should gel with your individual objectives. Assuming we all have similar educational background, similar professions I think you will be able to associate with the thought process and derive some value from it.There is no replacement for hard work. Few people think work environment politics is an easy way to success. Many think a combination of hard work and politics is even a better and more acceptable solution for growth. Is this true? Human race has progressed till date on hard work and innovations not on workplace negative poli-tics. Take your own example, I am sure all your success and achievement till now has come on the back of your hard work and knowledge gathering process during the last 20 odd years and has nothing to do with politics.

Manoj Swain is a post graduate from XIM Bhubaneswar and has more than 15 years experience in the financial markets primarily focussed in the fixed income area. During this time he has worked with NBFCs, Primary Dealership firm, mutual fund, private sector Banks and foreign banks. This diverse type of companies has giv-en him a complete perspective of the financial markets from various prospects and also given an opportunity to learn different work cultures. He has spent a large part of his career with the Standard Chartered group before taking up his current assignment with Morgan Stanley around four years back. In his current role after setting up the fixed income division for Morgan Stanley in India he heads the Primary Dealership firm of Morgan Stanley. He is also an active angel investor and supports pas-sionate young entrepreneurs

Manoj SwainCEOMorgan Stanley Primary DealerMBA, XIMB 1997

I strongly believe that the next 20 years should not be any different. Continue with your hard work and do not get involved in time consuming office environment politics.Concentrate on your objectives and achievements. At any point in time we would find many people who we perceive are less capable than us but doing much better than us and this may tend to make us unhappy. At the same time there would be numerous examples where people more capable than us but not doing so well, and we tend to ignore this. This type of analysis is highly subjective and most of the time may be inaccurate par-ticularly when we do not know the objectives and capabilities of other persons. So it is better to concentrate on what we want and how to achieve it.Do not be desperate for socially measurable achievements. It is quite natural for human nature to have the feeling of being under paid, not getting the promotion you deserved. Sometimes it is just a perception and sometimes it is true. Do not be desperate to take steps to make it up in short run by doing things which do not fit into your objectives. However continue your hard work. Wait for your opportunity, wait for your calling and I am sure they do come your way. If your boss, your organisation does not recognise your hard work somebody else will, the world is too big and too hungry for talent. Team work. You may not get the same response from a teammate whom you think is a friend and whom you behave well with, but be an optimist life is generally good. However if you are bad to your teammate most likely you will get it back someday or the other, everybody is smart. On the positive part two brains are better than one. Do not consider your team mate as your competitor, the world is too big and it will offer you may more competitors whom you can fight out together.Be a good corporate citizen. This can be highly prescriptive and has a long list such as hard work, team work etc…I think all it needs is, being a good human being, creating a good environment which provides equal op-portunity to everybody to utilise their talent irrespective of race and gender.Till now I have been concentrating on corporate life. However a large part of our time is spent outside office. Both we as an individual and the corporates we work for are a part of the larger society. Like a healthy office environment makes us more productive a healthy society is an essential environment for a meaningful and more enjoyable life outside office.Give back to society. If we grow alone and people around us do not grow we will find ourselves alone at the top. Moreover one of the biggest problems of any growing society is income inequality which tends to feed on itself if it is not addressed at an appropriate time. A child of a poor man gets poor education poor healthcare and hence will be disadvantaged compared to the child of a rich man when he grows up. So the inequality grows by birth. This inequality cannot lead to a healthy society. So how do we fight it? The best weapon we have seen in our generation is education. Most of us, the knowledge workers are economically well off due to education and I believe education is the single most important instrument to break the growing rich poor divide. Governments have to focus on education of the poor and so do we. Divert some part of your income and money towards the upliftment of education of the poor. There are many ways to do it either through well recognised NGOs or your-self. You can do simple things like sponsoring part of the education of a family of economically weaker people we know in our day to day life may be the domestic helps may be some poor people we know in our ancestral village etc.Social activism-I always try my best to be positive in my thought process. However in our society bad things do exist. Corruption does happen, violation of laws does take place. We do face it in our day to day life. My advice to the young generation is Rise against it. To what extent? I do not know, but at least take one step. At least write an email to the competent authority against any corruption or breaking of law you face or see. Do not wait start it, its our responsibility and a clean society will help us immensely.Last but not the least stay fit and play a sport you love.Life is complex as many variables are out of our control and with time as we interact with more variables it be-comes even more and more complex. Imagine when we were children our variables were limited to interacting with parents, few relatives, neighbours and a few community helpers and our basic objectives were limited to satisfying the basic needs such as hunger. The skills you needed as a child to fulfil your needs was to charm others with a smile, some good behaviour or on the worst a loud cry. As we grow, our set of interaction and our needs keep growing and so does the level of difficulty and complexity in achieving the needs. In all these complex situations the one simple solution that remains intact is to find out what makes us happy and ask our-selves are we doing the same……..