Editorial Team : Ruchi Tewari (Faculty Facilitator)

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Shibanie Khare Sharon Dsilva (Batch 2011)

PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

Student Articles
A leader should know how to manage failure 2

Ping Pong Balls : The Next Generation Car Fuel

Book Review
Make Banks Boring Again : Leave the field, you may fail!! 9 Paths of Glory Jeffrey Archer 19

The future of Internet Marketing and Social Media 11

Student Activities
Just 1411 left, now the countdown begins 13 Freshers Party 2012 21

Clubs at IBS - A
Aristaeus : The HR Club The Finance Club Brand Klub : The Marketing Club 15 16 17

Leisure
The Legendary Lungi 23

Feature
The World (of Sugary folks)in a box Page

A LEADER SHOULD KNOW HOW TO MANAGE FAILURE

ailure is one thing which is unavoidable. Any task one undertakes one has to come across problem. The problem should not become the captain of the individual. The leader should become the captain of the problem and defeat the problem and succeed.

she should know how to manage failures. The leader must have the courage to take decision. A leader must have nobility in management. Every action of leader should be transparent. Work with integrity and succeed with integrity. Most importantly a leader must be continuously in touch with people. Think of any leader and you will find all above characteristics. To narrate a short story: India Rocket Program : In 1973 the ISRO was given the task to put Rohini Satellite in the orbit by 1980. For this IRSO had to build Satellite Launch Vehicle. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was made the project director. In 1979 in the month of August the rocket was launched but it was a failure. The rocket was launched at 7:00 am and there was press conference at 7:45 am. That day the ISRO chief, Mr. Satish Dhawan, attended the press conference and took the whole responsibility for the failure and appreciated the team for their effort. He also said that more technological support will be provided to make the mission successful.

A leader must have certain characteristics: A leader must have a vision. A leader must be willing to travel in an unexplored path. There is a normal tendency to travel in a well laid out path. But the leader takes the path which is untravelled and unexplored. A leader must know how to manage success and most importantly, failure. Any mission he or she takes up has to go through failures and hence he or

(Contd)

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The next year (1980) in the month of July the Rohini was launched with the SLV and the mission was a great success. Again there was a press conference and Mr. Satish Dhawan was also present but he said to Dr. Kalam that you go ahead and take the press conference. The message is that when there was a failure the leader took the responsibility and when there was a success he gave opportunity to others. Source: An Interview with Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at Wharton School Of Management

A small poem on creativity: Learning gives creativity. Creativity leads to thinking. Thinking Provides Knowledge. And Knowledge makes you great. ( Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam)

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Srikant Singh Batch 2011

THE WORLD (OF SUGARY FOLKS)IN A BOX

Summer Internship Program, an important part of our MBA Course Curriculum, is an attempt to bridge the gap that exists between the textual world and the corporate world. My SIP was at Dexter Consultancy where I did a few end to end projects and was involved in a host of other projects. One of the end to end projects which was also my main project was that of the creative conceptualization of a diabetes based website, while the other was a qualitative research to understand the online behavior of doctors.

This was an existing website created by Dexter but was not getting enough responses as regards visitors and memberships. Thus, the main aim was to completely revamp the website. The concept started from the name of the website i.e. Sugaryfolks.com A world of Sugary folks. A place where all the Sugary folks or the Diabetics live A town of Sugary folks A town called Misthidhanni

In this town the Diabetics or the Sugary folks live their life as any Indian person living in a Metro. The following story says it all

The first one i.e. creative conceptualization of a diabetes based website, was my main project where I had to do the concept development and content designing of a diabetes website called Sugaryfolks.com.

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Once upon a time, somewhere in India was a town a town unknown to many and known to only a counted few, where lived many valiant and

hardworking folkin a town called Misthidhanni. The folk in this town were called Diabetic by others and Sugary Folk by themselves. They lived their life with passion and vigor in spite of others saying, living with diabetes is very difficult. They all aimed to make a mark in their respective activities, be it the smallest or the greatest
Source: The Misthidhanni Page About

website. This was done by putting those ideas on paper and then creating them digitally either through a Power point or CorelDraw imagery.

Another point that needed to be worked on was that of individualizing the concept and the site so that the viewers would be able to identify with the site. This required creation of the people of Misthidhanni which would be both unreal yet real. These people were later

thought to be animations which would perform the day to day life of a diabetic.

Implementing this idea was the biggest challenge, since the concept was thought out of the box and it had to be implemented or fit inside the box, since every organization and its projects have many constraints, mainly time, cost and resource. To ensure the sites implementation using this theme, I had to think which later became the sugary folk. Black Page through each page and navigation of the Here comes the creation of stick animation

shadows of humans, who performed various activities like jogging early morning, eating breakfast, taking medication or insulin, relaxing and enjoying music etc. I created these animations through stick-animation software called 'Stykz'. The main challenge here was to keep the fun element without making it too funny since it was a diabetes based website. Also, the

4. The importance of putting all your ideas on paper before moving to the next stage. And above all, thanks to Dexter and my company and my faculty mentor, Prof. Toby Mammen, I learned to think of the concept creatively and the content practically and still manage to keep them both i.e. the concept and the content, in the same line. In short, this SIP was a great experience of imagining Out of the Box and

toughest part was to explain the concept of diabetes in the most lucid and understandable form without the use of too many words and external videos, since most of them have copyright problems and the company did not want to link the website to any other website to show such basic and important information. I thus had to explain it through stick animation only. This project was an amazing learning experience since I learnt 1. The importance of imagery and the pictures one uses to create imagery or a specific feeling. 2. The importance of colors since every color signifies a feeling. 3. The detailing required when planning a website. For example, there should be enough navigation points to every page in the site. Enough i.e. not too much

implementing In the Box.

Neha Mehta Batch 2011

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and not too little.

PING-PONG BALLS: THE NEXT GENERATION CAR FUEL

One of the major problems of using hydrogen to power a car is that it is difficult to store. However, Lars Stenmark, inventor of hydrogen balls (Ping-Pong Balls), overcame the risk of fire and explosion by storing hydrogen gas in small glass balls. If the car crashes and the tank breaks, the hydrogen filled balls would just spread out and roll away and the gas from any broken ball would simply seep out and disappear into the atmosphere without causing harm.

he car of the future could be powered by small soccer ball shaped Ping-Pong Balls filled with hydrogen gas. If the project takes off commercially, it would be a golden step towards reducing the worlds dependence on fossil fuel for transport and help us to make a greener future.

Now, the major advantage of using these hydrogen balls is that they will burn cleanly. Hydrogen is so appealing as a fuel source for vehicles because while it creates efficient energy it creates no emission except for water. This is in marked contrast to even the cleanest automobiles that run on gasoline, which still release carbon into the atmosphere and contribute to the green-house gas problem which is the major cause of global warming. Nowadays, some hydrogen fuel vehicles like Honda FCX, BMW Hydrogen 7, and Chevrolet etc. are available in the market; however, they can only carry a relatively

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small amount of fuel and cannot be used for long journeys. Using these Ping-Pong Balls in these hydrogen powered cars would help eliminate that storage problem. Hydrogen car can also give more mileage as compared to gasoline powered vehicles eg.

A car using hydrogen fuel can go up to twice the mileage as a gasoline car on the same amount of fuel. So, the Indian Automobile Companies should go for such a technology to take competitive advantage over its competitors.
Sumit Chauhan Batch 2012

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MAKE BANKS BORING AGAIN: LEAVE THE FIELDYOU MAY FAIL!!

The concept of narrow banking was foremost put forward by noted economist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman. Ultimately the view of narrow banking aims at making banking boring again. It aims at limiting the banks to their traditional functions of accepting deposits and lending loans, where the interest differential between lending and deposits rates would become the margin of banks and not involving in other riskier function (for the fear of failure). It is like leaving the ground for the fear of losing. Before implementing such measure it becomes necessary to have a second thought on the issue.

ankers over the world are held responsible for the recent financial crisis that lead to losses of over USD 1.4 trillion and the number of bank failure reaching to the mark of above 150. It is apparent that such huge intensity of crisis is going to spread a feeling of fear regarding the uncertainty and risk involved in the future role of banking.

Hence many experts from the industry have come up with the idea of narrowing down the scope of banking. Mervyn King, Governor of Bank of England has put forward the idea of Utility-Casino Model for banking where Utility would deal with the retail banking concept while Casino would include riskier financial services like proprietary trading. Dr. Y.V. Reddy the former governor of Reserve Bank of India is putting stress on his theory of back to basics.

One of the important events to be noted here is the failure of traditional banks like the Northern Rock which worked on the concept of narrow banking. If an already existing bank that was working on the narrow banking concept FAILED during the same crisis then would making the entire banking industry boring help? More over the customers over the world corporate as well as retail- are demanding for an integrated banking system a single financial institute that would cater to all their financial needs of banking, insurance, investment management, tax planning etc. It shows the future structure of banking system and the broadened scope of their business

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which is contradicting to the concept of narrow banking. It is also argued that after the adoption of this concept, the narrow traditional bank would be assured protection by the regulators while the casino function of the financial institutes (investment banks as known now) would be left to their destiny.

banks. But in case of increasing problems and stress, the flow of deposits would again divert towards the narrow banks.

This points out to the problem of too big to fail. In contrary to this it is worth noting that the too big to fail entities were supported with huge rescue because of the interdependency of large number of financial institutes on such firms and the failure of such huge firm would lead to great losses to the economies world wide along with the loss of confidence of the customers. Here comes a question - is their any guarantee from regulators and government for not supporting the financial institutes which have similar huge sizes and enjoy the dependency of a large number of other firms on itself? If not then the problem of too big to fail would not be addressed. More over, the co-existence of Utilities and Casinos, provide an arbitrage opportunity, where by, during the soothing period financial institutes with attractive risk and reward model would take away the deposits from the narrow

The global economy has left behind the narrow banking era in the phase of 1950s. It would be a backward move to adopt the concept once again for the fear of risk and failure. The industry expert should look forward towards new emerging opportunities and expand the scope of the industry. Leaving the field before playing the game is not the solution to the issue. We should look forward towards the challenges of improving efficiency, strengthening risk management, investing in financial infrastructure and meeting the new emerging needs of the customers in a secured manner. We need to establish institutes that move beyond the scope of narrow banking and cater to the emerging needs of customers, market, and economies through the whole length of financial services. We should learn from the lessons of experience and establish a safe and enterprising banking sector that supports growth along with financial stability. Making banks boring again is not a cure one must look forward to.

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Hardik Barot Batch 2011

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The Future of Internet Marketing and Social Media

By ZOHDI RIZVI Internet Marketer| JUNE 26, 2010 Social media sites have revolutionized the way online businesses market themselves and their products or services. Tapping into a community which often is predisposed to your particular brand, product or service has led to increased

developing websites and media campaigns. We are likely to see memberships on business websites. Much like popular social media sites such as FaceBook and Twitter, businesses may be making the leap towards fully incorporating social media directly on their sites. Businesses will continue to utilize the popular social media sites as a part of their advertising campaigns. In fact, they are likely to begin to designate more time, effort and even funds towards developing strong social media campaigns. For example, many businesses have seen fast paced organic growth on their FaceBook profiles. Because of this, many startups are buying ad space on FaceBook as soon as they begin marketing their website or business. This trend is likely to increase and will encompass all of the major social media sites. Another key change will be in the way businesses use social media. As companies trend towards controlling their online image and presence, social media sites will begin playing a larger role in developing a positive online image. Companies are likely to utilize Twitter much more extensively to announce positive changes, sales or other pertinent information. Other social media sites will be used to combat negative press and to release positive information to the community. Finally, we are likely to see a growth in video based social media. Video blogs, introductions and commercial-like clips are already beginning to see an increase in their popularity and relevance. Companies will find new and innovative ways to use video social media to increase their presence on the net.

visibility and sales. The viral nature of some social media sites, like YouTube has also increased brand awareness. As we move forward, the tools and techniques we utilize for our social media campaigns will continue to change. The future of internet marketing and social media is bright. Perhaps the biggest change for social media marketing will be incorporating social media directly onto business websites. Allowing members to post videos, comments, pictures and more will become more commonplace. Other popular social media tools such as sharing will continue to become a large factor when

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Social media is quickly replacing the old networking system under which business owners went out into the community to meet with fellow businessmen and potential customers. Developing contacts was a time consuming process that social media sites has managed to neatly shorten. Relying on social media as an integral part of your internet marketing program will allow you to quickly and effectively control the flow of information, keep in touch with your client base and track current trends and requests, all from the comfort of your office. The past few years have shown us how important social media can be for any online business. Today, it is apparent that any business that does not put effort into their social media campaign is missing the boat.

Many Thanks

Zohdi Rizvi Batch 2011

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JUST 1411 LEFT, NOW THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS

You might be wondering what this figure states or indicates, but people who are environment conscious would definitely have understood it. Tiger, the "so called" national animal of India is standing on the brink of extinction. Could you imagine that "the pride of jungle" has to struggle in its own country for its survival? Even more shocking is that India is the only country where you would find the highest tiger population. So it is obvious that it is a hot spot for people ranging from conservationists to wildlife enthusiasts to researchers and of course, cruel hunters.

zones" to manage tiger population. Funds of around Rupees 75 crore have been allocated by the Government of India for Project Tiger. But, as usual, it did not reach the right hands.

The problem is not only in India. Our neighbouring country is again troubling us and it is none other than China. Today, according to a recent study done by "National Geographic Magazine", it is China which constitutes the largest market for tigers. From skin to penis, each and every body part of tiger fetches a handsome amount. The people who are involved in it are local tribesmen who are generally nomadic people and in the quest of earning fast money. They lay traps for the tigers. You would be shocked to know that a tiger skin costs around 2 to 3 lakh in an international market. So when someone gets such a rich amount why would he/she be engaged in any other job? Today the Government of India needs a very comprehensive plan in order to protect the majestic creature of the jungle. The locals have to be involved in it because they are the main source in the chain. Further, trained rangers are the dire requirement for the protection of the core as well as the buffer zones. One major requirement is to rehabilitate the villagers living in the core area which comprises majority of the tiger population.

The most ambitious project started by the Government of India was "PROJECT TIGER" in 1973. 37 years have passed since, and the numbers are dwindling. During the 1980s, there was a considerable tiger population of around 4000. But it started declining soon. Some greedy and hungry, not to be called human has found a new lust. Today, in India, there are 27 tiger reserves which have "core and buffer

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Now the time has come to really do something for this magnificent creature of the jungles. The new ray of hope in the form of the Environment Minister, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, has come as a lifeline for the few tigers left in the wild. The Government no doubt is doing its best, but some new strict laws have to be introduced so as to curb the hunters. Very little time is left and much work has to be done. In fact, you and I can also contribute by writing articles and putting them on social networking sites and spreading awareness or by campaigning.

I have kept my fingers crossed, and can only hope that this animal is conserved not only for the present generation but also for the future so that they get to see it in the wild jungle and hear its roaring voice which, since ages, has enthralled the whole jungle.

Addvait Tandon Batch 2011

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ARISTAEUS: THE HR CLUB

IBS campuses were also members of Aristaeus. Not only that, non HR students were also members of it.

or giving recognition and creating a brand for the most important function of business i.e. HR, students of IBSA batch 2010 thought of starting an HR FRATERNITY which resulted into the birth of ARISTAEUS The HR Club of IBSA.

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With the guidance of Dr Bharti Thaker Associate Dean Academics and Prof Prashant Saxena Associate Dean SIP & Students Activity of IBS-A, batch 2010 HR students had started Aristaeus in June 2009 with more than 30 members for creating the Brand. Last year, various activities were conducted like Guest Lectures, Industrial Visits, Debate Competitions, Knowledge Sharing, Placement Support, Short term business exposure etc. All these activities had helped the members to improve competency, which ultimately led them to become better managers. HR students of other

This year also Aristaeus has started its activities. It is looking for adding some more activities to its agenda such as live projects, know yourself activity to know SWOT of all members of Aristaeus, launch of website of Aristaeus and many more. Activities and membership of Aristaeus is not short term. Aristaeus is looking for long term association with all its members. Aristaeus will provide a platform to young HR Managers to share their thoughts and views, to discuss their queries and help each other in their profession. Aristaeus is thankful to its founder members Dr Bharti Thaker and Prof Prashant Saxena, R. Mayen first president of Aristaeus - and all members for their efforts.

Nirav Brahmbhatt Team Aristaeus Batch 2011

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THE FINANCE CLUB

Activities conducted till now: 1) Guest lecture on Career in Finance. 2) Presentation on Securities Market in India and Trading System. 3) Presentation on Debt Market in India and its functioning. 4) Guest lecture on Restructuring of Assets: Scenario in India by Mr. Sharadkumar Bhatia, CEO of Phoenix ARC Private Limited. 5) Plan Du Portefeuille The Portfolio Management Game A simulation game where participants were given virtual money of Rs.50,00,000 to invest in various investment options like equity, bond, mutual fund, real estate and fixed deposits. They had to take the decisions to manage their portfolio on the basis of the news provided on a regular basis. The team having maximum value of the portfolio at the end of the game was declared as the winner of the game. A team consisted of two members, one from senior batch and one from junior batch. The theme of the game was: Do you think you can beat the market ? Do you think you can become a good Portfolio Manager ? Do you think you can earn profit in a volatile market ? Then its time to prove your ability. Winners : Vishal Patel & Soumya Mondal Runners-Up : Ajay Varma & Anurag Bihani

he Finance Club of IBS-A was formed in June 2010. It is an active organization where students concentrating in finance are able to build a social network with fellow students. It is entirely a student-driven initiative that collaborates with corporate professionals from the financial sector to hone the qualitative and analytical abilities of the students. The goal of the finance club is to create learning opportunities outside the classroom, to bring together all students inclined towards finance, to increase the interaction between the students and the faculties and to have interactive sessions with industry experts. This is done through various activities such as guest speakers, projects, presentations, games and competitions and seminars etc. The club provides the students various opportunities to explore issues concerning the nation's economy and financial markets. Being a club member gives you the opportunity to interact in such matters as financial planning, asset management, investment banking, commercial banking, portfolio management or anyone generally interested in financial markets.

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Gaurav Setia Sunny Agrawal Batch 2011

BRAND KLUB: THE MARKETING CLUB

Brand Klub ahmedabad intends to organize such fruitful events in frequent intervals.

rand Klub Ahmedabad, a club of and for like minded individuals involved in the various facets of advertising and marketing communication. The mission of the club is to create forums and events to help its members improve their professional competencies thereby raising the standards of advertising in the state.

Activities in pipeline: (Exclusively on advertising and marketing communication area) General Tea Meetings. Screening of Ads/Commercial Seminars & Guest Lectures Awards to recognize Talents & Efforts Exhibitions Workshops & Training Programs

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Activities In recent past Brand Klub ahmedabad has organized the following events Screening of Best of Indian Ads: ABBY Award Screening of Best of Outdoor advertisements:OAA awards Screening of Cannes Ads Screening of Mirchi Kaan Awards These events were organized in Ahmedabad. Individuals from corporate and academic area have been present and they were thrilled with the initiative. They showed their keen interest to provide their support, co- operation and participation in all the forthcoming events.

Advertising Career Counseling Library Brand Quizzes Newsletters / E.mailers Social Projects: Scholarships /Social ads Affiliated programs in association with other ad clubs of India. Other related activity

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Location: Initially to start in Ahmedabad and at a later stage we wish to spread the activities and involve participation from major towns of Gujarat (Baroda/Surat/Rajkot)

Gujarat has given to the nation great brands and hence we feel it needs an organized platform that encourages advertising and marketing communication area to constantly update and enrich the fraternity in Gujarat towards the betterment of communication at large.

Members /Participants: The club shall comprise selective individuals/teams from the following areas Corporate Communication, Brand & Product Management, Advertising Agencies, Electronic & Print Media, Students, Communications & Advertising Institutes & Entrepreneurs. Kathit Shah Batch 2011

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'PATHS OF GLORY' BY JEFFREY ARCHER

istory is always disputable. Some say that history is what the victor writes and that might not be necessarily true. The one who dies isn't there to tell his side of the story...so who would dispute the victor??? This dispute again came to the fore with the launch of Jefferey Archer's " The Paths of glory". The book is the story of a British gentleman, George Mallory whose ambition was to climb the Mt. Everest which was unconquered at his time. The story is based at the start of the 19th century. The author gives an account of his childhood and his afteryears in an attempt to build a character that Archer's fans would find hard to forget. Mallory's astuteness for climbing is shown when he climbs the mountains of Europe, the Eiffel tower of Paris and St. Bascilia's tower in Rome in an attempt to impress his future wife. George Mallory was also a modernist. He was a follower of George Bernard Shaw and believed in equal rights for men and women which came true in his lifetime. He became a schoolmaster and married Ruth. With the start of World War I, his hopes of climbing the everest, referred to as "Chomolunga" by the locals get dashed temporarily. Though he wasn't required to serve in the war, he still joined the British forces

and was wounded. After the war, he became the climbing leader for his team's assault to the Everest which did not succeed the first time unfortunately. In the second attempt the next year, he does succeed in climbing the Everest but dies while coming back. His body was found in the year 1999. He had promised his wife to leave her photo on the peak of Everest in case he reaches there. When his body was found, all other things were recovered except his wife's photo leaving the climbing world in a dilemma if to accept him to be the first man to climb Everest.

He shows generosity by allowing his fellow climbers to try to scale the Everest first though he was the climbing leader. The whole novel shows how a ferocius competitor, George Finch fights Mallory inch for inch. But still Mallory

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fights the beuraucrats to allow Finch the chance to be part of the team to climb Everest. If George Mallory's name is to be included in History, we will have to remove the names of Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary...but sadly we do not have concrete proof for a great person who died when his moment of glory came. He was a character who tried to climb Everest when nobody knew any routes and its luring alleys.....

Kripa Mehta Batch 2012

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FRESHERS PARTY 2012

Its colorful and loud. The place is full of energy and zeal. The freshers all excited and nervous in anticipation of what is going to come. The evening started with Bhavik Shah and Sharon Dsilva welcoming the juniors in a Bollywood fashion. After which Prof. Prashant Saxena took the center stage and welcomed the students on behalf of the faculty.

As tradition shall have it, the Mr. & Miss Fresher contest commenced, there were 5 boys and 3 girls who were competing for the prestigious title. The contestants had to go through three rounds, in the first round they had to introduce themselves, in the second round they had to show off their talent and in the third round they had to shield questions from our jury members, Prof. Prashant Saxena, Prof. Mayank Patel and Anil Shali. After that grueling, the jury tallied their scores and the winners were announced,Ms. Mohini Kawade was titled Ms. Fresher and Mr.Akash Mhowwala was titled Mr. Fresher.

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There was a twist in this years Freshers Party, where the juniors were challenged to show their talent, incase they had missed the auditions for the Freshers. Out of the crowd came a hunky-dory Punjabi boy, Karan Arora. He performed on a medley of Punjabi songs and got the crowd to groove to his moves.

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The seniors were not left far behind where enthusiasm or performance was concerned. There were several performances by Shibanie Khare, Arunima Rana, Himanshu Jain, Neha Mehta and Anand Soni.

All of this was possible due to the sincere efforts put in by the members of the Freshers Team. Keep up the good work and Good Luck.

After that a scrumptious meal was served and the DJ played foot tapping music while the students burnt the dance floor till the wee hours.

Sharon Dsilva Batch 2011

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The Legendary Lungi

Just as the national bird of Kerala is Mosquito, her national dress is 'Lungi'. Pronounced as 'Lu' as in loo and 'ngi ' as in 'mongey', a lungi can be identified by its floral or window-curtain pattern. 'Mundu' is the white variation of lungi and is worn on special occasions like hartal or bandh days, weddings and Onam. Lungi is simple and 'down to earth', like the mallu wearing it. Lungi is the beginning and the end of evolution in its category. Wearing something on the top half of your body is optional when you are wearing a lungi. Lungi is a strategic dress. It's like a one-size-fits- all bottoms for Keralites. The technique of wearing a lungi/mundu is passed on from generation to generation through word of mouth like the British Constitution. If you think it is an easy task wearing it, just try it once! It requires techniques like breath control and yoga that is a notch higher than sudarshan kriya of AOL. A lungi/mundu when perfectly worn won't come off even in a quake of 8 on the richter scale. A lungi is not attached to the waist using duct tape, staple, rope or velcro. It's a bit of mallu magic whose formula is a closely guarded secret like the Coca Cola chemicals. A lungi can be worn 'Full Mast' or 'Half Mast' like a national flag. A 'Full Mast' lungi is when

you are showing respect to an elderly or the dead. Wearing it at full mast has lots of disadvantages. A major disadvantage is when a dog runs after you. When you are wearing a lungi/mundu at full mast, the advantage is mainly for the female onlookers who are spared the ordeal of swooning at the sight of hairy legs. Wearing a lungi 'Half Mast' is when you wear it exposing yourself like those C grade movie starlets. A mallu can play cricket, football or simbly run when the lungi is worn at half mast. A mallu can even climb a coconut tree wearing lungi in half mast. "It's not good manners, especially for ladies from decent families, to look up at a mallu climbing a coconut tree"Confucius (or is it Abdul Kalam?) Most mallus do the traditional dance kudiyattam. Kudi means drinking alcohol and yattam, spelled as aattam, means random movement of the male body. Note that 'y' is silent. When you are drinking, you drink, there is no 'y'. Any alcohol related "festival" can be enjoyed to the maximum when you are topless with lungi and a towel tied around the head. "Half mast lungi makes it easy to dance and shake legs" says Candelaria Amaranto, a Salsa teacher from Spain after watching 'kudiyaattam' . A mallu wears lungi round the year, all weather, all season. A mallu celebrates winter by wearing a colourful lungi with a floral pattern. Lungi provides good ventilation and brings down the heat between legs. A mallu is scared of global warming more than anyone else in the world.

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A lungi/mundu can be worn any time of the day/night. It doubles as blanket at night. It also doubles up as a swing, swimwear, sleeping bag, parachute, facemask while entering/exiting toddy shops, shopping basket and water filter while fishing in ponds and rivers. It also has recreational uses like in 'Lungi/mundu pulling', a pastime in households having more than one male member. Lungi pulling competitions are held outside toddy shops all over Kerala during Onam and Vishu. When these lungis are decommissioned from service, they become table cloths. Thus the humble lungi is a cradle to grave appendage.

Anonymous

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