SIIB Diary

A ten member team from SIIB comprising of first year students traveled down south to compete among the best of B-schools in India at the Atharva management fest in Manipal. The event was hosted by the T. A. Pai Management Institute and the SIIB team received a warm welcome from their students.



The team arrived at Manipal on 2nd December 2004 and we got an opportunity to meet the local press who interviewed the students on their views and thoughts about this festival. Here we got to interact with students from other B-schools as well and by then we had also developed a healthy rapport with our hosts.



Day two at Manipal, the entire team was abuzz with excitement as this was the first day of the competition. The first event of the day was Sankalp- a business plan formulation contest in which students from different B-schools got an opportunity to unleash their entrepreneurial spirit. Although there were no entries from students of SIIB, our presence was well noticed by the judges, all well known names in the corporate world, during the Q&A session. The excitement continued into the day with the Young Business Leader Contest. This event involved the most rigorous framework for testing the leadership skills of the contestants over a period of three days. Unfortunately none of us in the SIIB team could participate in the contest as the rules demanded that the participant should be a final year student. The other events of the day included the Global Investors in which our team comprising of Ajay Punjabi, Arjun Prasad and Naina Gupta narrowly missed out on the victory podium. This game involved a simulated investment environment spanning investment avenues ranging from stocks to commodities. The other event of the day was Treasure Hunt, a game that presented the players with a set of challenges that test their IT and business knowledge. Arjun Prasad, Anuradha Malpani and Namit Bhatia were part of the SIIB team that eventually finished third in the event. Our team comprising of Arijit Sengupta, Shriya Kanodia and Megha Gupta also did a commendable job at Duvidha, a game about Corporate Social Responsibility. The eventful day was rounded off by fun and frolic at Brouhaha- the Informals, where participants got a chance to let their hair down through events such as Just a Minute and other exciting games.



The following day, after a good night’s sleep our team was all geared up for the next round of contests. The first event of the day was Crisis, a management game dealing with contemporary corporate communications. Our team that included Arijit Sengupta, Naina Gupta and Anuradha Malpani clinched the third place in this event. This was followed by Markatti, where our team comprising of Abhishek Kumar, Namit Bhatia and Ullas Pandey were pitted against some of the best in the field of Marketing Strategy including teams from the IIMs, MICA, NMIMS, among others. The day also included the preliminary round of Biz Blitz, a strategy game that tests warfare skills. The team of Ullas Pandey, Abhishek Kumar and Shriya Kanodia steamrolled their way into the finals of this event. But the highlight of the entire fest was yet to come. Later in the afternoon bus loads of participants were taken to the picturesque Kaup beach about 15 kms from Manipal. Here we got to witness one of the most exhilarating business quiz contest ever, aptly titled Quiz on the Beach. The finals of the event saw six teams which included both corporates as well as management students. The stage was set for an exciting contest set against the backdrop of a beautiful lighthouse. The crafty quizmaster, Mr. Giri “Pickbrain” Balasubramanium added to the thrills and chills of the evening that brought about nail biting end to the contest.



The final day of the fest saw our teams participating in two events, Sellibration, a hardcore sales negotiation game in which Ajay Punjabi, Megha Gupta and Anuradha Malpani slugged it out to clinch the second place. This was followed by the finals of Biz Blitz. Although there were more events lined up for the day, leading up to the finale, we had to bid adieu to Manipal in order to make it back to Pune in good time. During our stay at Manipal we got a chance to witness superb hospitality from the hosts at TAPMI who went out of their way to make our stay as enjoyable as possible and coming forward with unhindered assistance, whether it was offering to use their library and computer lab facilities or offering us a ride back to the lodge when the events extended late into the night. In the end the entire team returned with pleasant memories and a valuable experience that would put them in good stead for years ahead.


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