IIM Raipur Successfully conducts second edition of PRAYAAS

IIM Raipur successfully organized the second edition of its flagship Marathon event Prayaas 2.0 on 19^th November 2017. The event kicked off from the environs of Marine Drive, Telibandha with more than 2500 registered runners .The theme for the run this year was ‘Beti Bachao,Beti Padhao’ with the objective to create awareness regarding the importance of equal rights and opportunities for the girl child.

Bus arrangements were made to pick up participants from all points of the city to ensure the adherence to the schedule.Kits including t-shirts and caps were distributed to the registered participants.Ambulance, health check, route markers and volunteers were all in place apart from water and glucose before the start of the event and spot registrations continued smoothly at the multiple registration points.

The chief guests included popular Bollywood actress Mugdha Godse, widely known for her role in the National award winning movie Fashion,ace archers Rahul Banerjee ,Commonwealth gold medalist (2010) and his sister Dola Banerjee, the second woman archer to be honored with the Arjuna award and Prof. Bharat Bhasker, Director of IIM Raipur. The chief guests were felicitated at 6.30 am after which the flagship 11 km run was flagged off amidst a thunderous applause. Twenty minutes later, the 5 km run was also flagged off,an unprecedented number of 1900 registered participants ran in this group. This was followed by a special Divyang run conducted this year in 2 categories-one for the visually challenged and the second for other specially abled category ,both of which saw enthusiastic participation and appreciation from the crowd and chief guests.

Mr. Pintu Kumar Yadav walked away with the first prize for men in the 11km event whileMs. Chandravati Raswade won the women’s event. Both won cash prizes worth INR 50,000 as well as goodies worth INR 5000. 5 km event winners were Mr.Babkutudu and MsBhuneshwari Nishad for men and women respectively walking away with prizes of INR 10,000 and goodies worth INR 5000 each. Mr. Balram Singh was declared the winner in the Special Divyang run while Mr. Tikeshwar was declared the winner in the visually challenged category.Prizes were also given to the top 6 finishers (men and women) in the 11 km event, runners up in the 5km event and top 6 finishers in the Divyang run event for total prize money of INR 2.5 lakhs apart from goodies.

Various dignitaries graced the occasion including Mayor Shri Pramod Dubey; Shri Om Prakash Choudhary,Collector & DM;Shrimati Ramshila Sahu,Minister for Women and Child Welfare and Shri Sanjay Alung, IAS officer.

The event also saw several Cultural performances including dance performance by Columbia Global School, Zumba performances and Folk dance performance.This was followed by enlightening speeches of the dignitaries.The center of attraction, Bollywood star Mugdha Godse was very happy to be a part of IIM Raipur’s Prayaas 2.0 marathon. After the prize distribution, the Director of IIM Raipur, Profesor Bharat Bhaskar congratulated the team for pulling out a successful run. He emphasized on taking more effective steps towards betterment of the girls. The guests were pleased to see the crowd turning up in huge number. They appreciated all the team members, volunteers and participants for making the marathon a grand success. The entire amount raised from this marathon shall be used for supporting the PG Umathe Govt. Girls Higher Secondary School to support them in fulfilling the objective of educating the girl child. The marathon concluded with a message ,”Winning is only half of it, having fun is the other half.”

The World without God: Bidding Farewell to the Master

16 Nov, 2013, 8:00 AM

Finally, the day has come. I know that the wearing track of Wankhede, along with the feeble Caribbean batting line-up will make sure that this will be his last day on a cricket ground after a marathon service of 24 years to the game. I still remember, way back in early 90’s, when I was a kid, a ‘Boost’ TV commercial introduced me to a curly-haired young cricketer, who would later become the ‘God of Cricket.’ Eager eyes, child-like agility, elegant strokeplay, aggression ahead of its time, profound humility and immense love for the game; be it 1996 world cup semi-final, where he was the lone-warrior against a dominating Sri Lankan bowling, or his 1998 heroics against the mighty Australians that made Shane Warne reveal that Sachin haunts him in his dreams, he carried the burden of the expectations of the nation, with sheer pride and true grit. Who can forget his precious 136 runs at Chennai against Pakistan in 1999, despite being injured, like a wounded soldier, resolute Sachin kept his struggle on and took the team very close to the victory, though the team collapsed with his departure. Against the same opposition in World Cup 2003, he tore their bowling attack apart and exhibited supremacy over the lethal Pakistani bowling attack with his swashbuckling innings of 98 of just 75 balls. 

Injuries are part and parcel of every cricketer’s life. Sachin too, had to struggle with tennis elbow problem and there was a time when it appeared that he would never be able to play his natural game again. It reminds me of the famous article (February 2006) titled ‘Endulkar’ writing him off and proclaiming that his retirement was near. But again it was his unconquerable will with which he fought back. Resurgent Sachin silenced all the critics with his fabulous performances in 2007. In 2010, at the age of 37, he was awarded ICC cricketer of the year award. On 2^nd April, 2011, India won the world cup and he was the highest run getter for India with 482 runs in 9 matches. 

With more than 34000 international runs, a century of centuries and most of the batting records in his name, Sachin is set to bid adieu to the game. We are on the verge of the culmination of an era that witnessed the indomitable spirit of the ‘little master’, who earned a godlike stature in India with his unfading grace and truest form of dedication. It is 9:30 AM now, and I am entering my class in spite of knowing that the match will surely be over in next two hours, and very soon, he will be hanging up his boots ending one of the greatest cricket careers ever seen, and I will be sitting in a corner of the classroom, 1200 km away from Wankhede, along with 1 billion other teary eyed devout, giving him an emotional send off .God is great!

This article is written by Siddhartha Tiwari, PGP 2013-15. He can be reached at pgp13055.siddhrtha@iimraipur.ac.in .

The MOB Testimonies: Queen of the Clouds

It was 6 am …after a sleepless night of banter with my mates it was finally time to sleep. On the way to the toilet, I met Mudit dressed up and backpack slung on his shoulder, and asked the first question that would make the rest of my day “Are you going somewhere?” Mudit, as always his smiling and excited self said that they were a group of 11 riding to a place called ‘Ghatarani’ known for its waterfall. He was looking for people who would come along and started pestering me to join. One of those moments where the mind says yes and the heart says no. I wanted to go …but with having wasted the entire night before and the one before that, the ghost of pending projects and studies haunted me. I came back to the room seeing others on their way to join Mudit. I sighed; maybe some other time. When I entered the room Alok (my roomie) asked what was up. I told him about the ride these people were going on and how I wanted to go too. I had not even finished my sentence when his bike keys hit me in the chest, “Go on bro!” he said. Those three words were the stimulus that made me get ready in 2 minutes and on the bike with the others.

The pack (if I may call it) started from our residence at IIM Raipur, heading northwards towards NH-30 after fuel and air checks. On NH-30 and outside city limits, we stopped at a ramshackle tea-stall for tea and cigarettes. After tea, it was time to twist the throttle and burn some rubber as we zoomed away through the green paddy fields of Chhattisgarh towards the small town of Abhanpur. With the wind in my hair and Metallica pounding away “I disappear” in my ears I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else, that moment. To top it all, Partha zoomed in from behind me throwing up a challenge. I quickly responded with a change of gears and twist of the accelerator to get ahead of him; our little race went on for a while before I left him in the lurch and put distance between myself and the rest of the group. I finally reached Rajim and waited for the others to come; meanwhile I bought cigarettes and had tea. Seeing that it was taking them too long and fearing something wrong I turned back, to look for them. After going back a considerable distance without a sign of the rest of the group, I asked the second question that would make my day this time directed towards me.”Should I go back or continue towards Ghatarani?” Still don’t understand why I chose the latter but would be thankful to god later. 

What followed were few very anxious moments with all sorts of things bouncing inside my head. Despite everything, I went on… The road had by now become a narrow track with paddy fields on both sides and cattle in the middle (yes, on the road!). As I weaved through oncoming obstacles, I brushed on more than one occasion by their tails…. Not a good experience. But despite the thoughts going on in my head and the trouble I was having in maintaining speed, I could not stop myself from soaking in the serene beauty all around me, from lush green paddy fields, fresh air laced with incense from a nearby temple to the sights and sounds of a quaint village waking up. Not really the romantic.... I tried concentrating on the road ahead but couldn’t help my eyes from wandering towards the simple yet touching beauty. Stopping at a place to ask for directions, I was told that the remainder of the group had passed before me. It was the moment of relief that I was looking for, flipping gears and opening the throttle my bike reflected my emotions.

Coming down a slope I suddenly saw a blur of colors mainly yellow with some pink and bit of others. The next thing I knew was that I was on the ground my clothes dirty and some blood on my left leg below the knee. It was nothing serious actually, I had taken a skid and a fall in the process of avoiding a collision with a “family travelling on a bicycle” (man, wife and child on one cycle ….can you believe it!). The bruises were minor and to avoid any further embarrassment in front of a group of giggling schoolgirls, I picked up the bike and whatever was left of my pride and rode on.

“Is that them?” Yes, the third question which made my day came after about 15km later …on a road with curves which could put Jennifer Lopez to shame, I had arrived within seconds of the group and the anxious faces returned to being their usual grinning selves. We went up to the waterfall and posed for photographs trying to look the best we could while being semi-naked (Special mention to Sumit Ranjan for this). Partha was in his element while under the falls and surrounding forest, from making gorilla mating calls to dancing in ways considered offensive in many civilized societies. The temple of Jamtaimata at the head of the falls must have been at least many hundred years old, it made me realize that no matter what changes, but man’s faith in god is perpetual.

As we sat for lunch in a sleepy dhaba in Rajim, the fatigue showed but what showed more was joy. Everyone was happy about the trip and then past incidents were narrated. The laxity in service at the dhaba only gave us more time to chatter about, but suddenly it turned very formal more like a group discussion on topics ranging from Clubs in college to the CR’s. Time seemed to have slowed down (especially for me and Partha; the most uncouth in the group) ….and then the food finally came…spicing things up a bit (quite literally actually). 

On the way back, I tried to reminisce all that I had seen on the trip and all that I had done (The stinging bruise on my leg a mute reminder)…. I guess most of all, I remembered faces…smiling faces, be it the bearded ‘Babaji’ at the first tea-stall we stopped at, the giggling schoolgirls, the smile of relief on the faces of my mates when they saw me come over the hill and many others; it showed more than just happiness and contentment …what I saw in them was resilience, for which I arrived at a new definition. It’s not really what people say it is …. It is actually the ability of a person to curl his lips upwards and display his dentures in times of adversity (so much …for an MBA).

I can’t really describe the feelings my posterior had while riding into the campus. Finally it was going to be relieved of all the weight it had been carrying for so long …Now the 80 kg of man would be transferred on to the back on a Godrej mattress, until we ride again!

This article is written by Aniruddh Mukerji, PGP 2013-15. He can be reached at pgp13063.aniruddh@iimraipur.ac.in .

My First TEDx Experience- Courtesy IIM Raipur

What do you feel on hearing about of an event lined up with speakers talking about their life stories? Excitement…Nah!!! But if the event is called TEDx, then you know for sure that there is something worth looking forward to. After all, TEDx celebrates human imagination by bringing in speakers who are achievers in their own way. So the buzz created in IIM Raipur campus over the TEDx event was a given.

TEDxIIMRaipur, organised on 10^th August 2013, had five guest speakers from different walks of life to share their stories. The string connecting each speaker was that they were simple people with brilliant ideas which they converted into actions and also delivered what they had in mind.

The event’s first speaker was Vishnu Tadimeti. I was looking forward to his speech for a very simple reason- his achievements and the way he ideates was far beyond what one would expect out of a seventeen year old and that amazed me. His speech reflected his obliviousness to the amazing feat that he had achieved through his website for students Aspirebest.com.

The next speaker was just as inspirational, Mr. Akash Gautam. His simple yet immensely powerful message “Bunk junk thoughts, take actions and the beyond is for the world to see” made me reflect on my way of life. What he said was so true, that we spend so much time trying to master everything and as a result we are not truly satisfied. Developing thought leadership is an essential part of life and the failures we may face will only bring us closer to our goals. 

The event was turning out to be much better than what I had expected. The next speakers took things up several notches. When Neha Juneja, a young successful entrepreneur, spoke of how she started her own venture, the troubles and failures she faced and how she finally figured her way out through the haze. She narrated a story that spoke of faith in oneself.

That football can change lives is probably a story one would find in movies. But this is the true story of Mr. Vijay Barse, a sports teacher from Nagpur who through his venture ‘Slum Soccer’ taught slum kids more than just the game of football. When he spoke of how he used football as a medium to educate these children on various social issues, it made me realize how simple people with immense conviction in their dreams can change lives. Superman need not be a figure of our imagination after all.

So while we were soaking in the stories of the extraordinary achievements people can accomplish, we witnessed a hand shadowgraphy event which was the icing on the cake. I could never imagine how beautifully stories can be narrated by creating visual imagery using hands. Amar and Sabyasachi Sen left the entire audience amazed. This was evident through the frequent rounds of applause that followed every minute of the act.

As the event was drawing to a close, the final speaker of the day, Pankaj Johar, a financial consultant turned television producer, spoke on how life is about living dreams, by acting on what you truly feel is meant for you. “Brain is a factory of countless thoughts. What we do with it defines what we are.” That was the message he wanted to convey through his words and snippets of his documentaries.

‘Ideas worth spreading’ that is what every TED event aims to achieve. At TEDxIIMRaipur – Thoughts, Actions and Beyond that was a promise delivered. Every speaker left an impression on every mind present in the room. It definitely gave me food for thought. Perhaps it is time for me too to convert my thoughts into actions and beyond.

Contributed By: Anwesha Dasgupta, PGP 2013-15. She can be reached at pgp13067.anwesha@iimraipur.ac.in.