D. Shivkumar is IIM Calcutta’s successful man of the year. He was one the prominent alumni at the ‘Batch of 84’s Alumni re-union and has now spoken at what is surely one the highlights of “Reverberations”, Intaglio’s guest speaker series. Shivkumar chose ‘Answers in an uncertain world’ Intalgio’s theme for this year and showed us what 25 years of experience gets you – sharp insight into the business world combined with an unmatched level of articulation. Uncertainly is not risk, Shivkumar said, and harped on the point that it is uncertainty that creates opportunities for growth.   As he addressed an enthralled and packed auditorium, members of audience left with one tangible takeaway – the state of the business world today, fraught as it is with uncertainties is a huge opportunity for future business leaders; its only disguising itself as a challenge.

JokaTimes talked to some students after the keynote speech and this is what they had to say:

“I think everyone thought it was a brilliant presentation, he definitely has stage presence and that made the address even better!” – Sriram, PGP2

“One of the key things was that he spoke from an industry perspective rather than just a Nokia perspective, and that was really good” – Anand, PGP2

A bus down memory lane

When D.Shivkumar got down from the bus outside IIM Calcutta’s main gate he achieved two things. First, he relived dusty memories of old times as a student at Joka when he would take the famous Calcutta buses with batchmates. Secondly, he made a point. In supporting Intaglio’s green theme this year, Shivkumar told us that it’s never too late to change our habits. Every little drop saved, every unit of electricity conserved and every mile walked makes a difference to our world. We at Intaglio thank Shivkumar by planting a sapling in his name. You too can support Intaglio in this initiative by taking a bus to come to SBI Quizzical, Intaglio’s flagship quiz event and plant a sapling to take another small step to protecting our planet. Large, policy level decisions at the global scale take remarkable tact and determination as the Copenhagen summit has shown. But following in Shivkumar’s footsteps requires only a bus ticket!

Click here for an interview with Mr. D.  Shivakumar

JokaTimes:  Tell us something about your experiences on this bus, Baro-C, and the last time you traveled on it.

Shiv:  BaroC (12 C) being the connecting bus from Joka to the city, every time we wanted to go anywhere, we ended up taking the bus. One thing I remember very vividly about my trips is the language of the conductor. Every conductor, on every trip, would continuously and most dutifully say, “As the ladies” (meaning ‘wait for the ladies’). There would always be a discussion among commuters on Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal. If one person got down at his bus stop, there would always be someone else who’d pick up the argument from where the previous person had left off and continue with all eagerness. This meant that we spent most of our trips listening to continuous streams of discussions!

JT: How was your dreaded first term on campus? Given that it is the most loaded semester in terms of course-credits and it’s the first few months in a demanding atmosphere…

Shiv:  Well, in our days, it was slightly more relaxed. But my first term was not so pleasant for a very different reason. On my way to IIMC as a new student, I took the train from Bombay to Kolkata, and lost my entire luggage in Bihar. I even remember the new blue VIP suitcase that I’d lost! This meant that I arrived on campus with a tennis racquet, two T-shirts, and an airbag. I’d lost my documents, clothes, and every other thing of importance. I spent most of 1^st term going to and fro to the police station at Howrah in relation to the complaint! Needless to say, my suitcase still remains lost.

JT:  What were the popular sports during your time? For example, we now have our own game with specific rules called footer-volley, based on Sepak Takraw. It’s something every student gets proficient at before graduation!

Shiv:  For us, the IIMC-XLRI meet was the only time we played with anyone from outside the campus. We had a pretty strong wing-culture, and there were a lot of tournaments where one wing was pitted against another. But as a college, I’d say football was the most played game. We also played a lot of cricket, hockey and badminton. Among indoor games, Chess and carom were the most popular, and there’d always be people playing either of these games. During every IIMC-XL meet, the entire campus would be charged up and enthusiastic. We’d lost against XLRI during my first year, but made up for it handsomely in my second year!

JT: What were the different clubs and other student activities in your time?

Shiv: We really did not have the club system; it was more like interest groups. We had an extremely active quizzing team. Apart from this, there were regular music nights in which the faculty would take part with a lot of enthusiasm. And we’d have movies screened in the open air next to the badminton court. A funny thing that would happen was, every time a song came along in the movie, there’d be a group of people who’d dance enthusiastically and then would vociferously request for the song to be played again. This led to each song being played four to five times to allow them to dance to their heart’s content before the movie continued! I used to write regularly during college, I’d been the editor of the college newsletter in IIT Madras during my under-graduation, and continued it in IIMC, writing extensively for the yearbook and for the campus magazine.

JT: Given that your batch had a group of around 90 students, how were the campus dynamics?

Shiv: Yes, all of us knew each other extremely well. The campus was a peaceful secluded area with just the faculty and us. We formed a very close-knit community. The teachers took part in and conducted various quizzes for us and we’d have numerous discussions with them inside and outside of class, which constituted a large part of our learning experience.  We had three spots where discussions would generally take place. The tyre outside Ramanujam hostel would always have some people sitting on it and discussing topics across the spectrum: from Bengal politics to Keats’ poetry. Another haunt was Mihir’s dhaba right outside campus, and another was the mess. During our second year, a coffee corner was opened in campus and immediately, that became another centre for discussions! Something else that greatly aided our learning was the library. It came up in its present form during our second year, and it had an impressive collection of volumes.

JT: The library is now a peaceful place to read, rather than a source of information. Most library resources and databases are available online. We should say our visits to the library have decreased compared to your time!

Shiv:  Yes, these days a lot of things are more convenient. For example, we’d have long and very regular power-cuts during my course! But again, things were also a lot simpler then. Our placements weren’t as hectic as they are these days. The learning process would invariably accelerate during 2^nd year, with a lot of people having learnt a lot during the internship process, and hence would add a lot of value to each discussion. And then before placements we’d have a suit season, where for a princely sum of a couple of thousand rupees, we’d all get impressive suits done. This was also the time where one would feel like one was walking into a new place, what with most people suddenly getting rid of their beards and tidying up after ages to attend placements!

JT: Which was your favorite subject during your MBA?

Shiv: Marketing was definitely my favorite. Apart from that, being Calcutta, we had the strongest Economics department, and I immensely enjoyed most of my lectures.

JT: Yes, some of the professors who taught you still teach us! And we continue to be enthralled by their magic.  Economics is generally the topic of discussion or contemplation on any of the lakeside sit-outs. Oh, and wasn’t swimming in the lakes allowed in your time?

Shiv: Yes, but not many swam in the lakes anyway. With 7 lakes on campus, we spent most of our time sitting around a lake or another enjoying the view.

 

What a lovely evening” says the impeccably dressed Brandon to his friend and room-mate Philip, as he draws back the curtains to reveal the magnificent Manhattan skyline. “Pity we couldn’t have done it with the curtains open, in bright sunlight”. The “it” that Brandon describes is the cold, emotionless murder of their classmate David Kentley in their apartment. They choke the life out of David for apparently no reason, but for the thrill of getting away with the perfect murder. Thus opened the 3rd production of the Dramatics Cell of IIM Calcutta, an adaptation of Patrick Hamilton’s psychological thriller “Rope”.

The play revolves around an evening of intrigue and drama that follows, as Brandon throws a party, literally over David’s dead body, almost challenging the attendees to discover their “work of art”. The party opens with casual pleasantries among the guests – Mr. Kentley and Mrs. Atwater, the victim’s father and aunt, Ms. Janet Walker, the victim’s fiancée, Kenneth, a classmate and their former teacher, Rupert Cadell. However, when the conversation veers towards the art of murder and Nietzsche’s theory of the superman, Brandon’s sense of intellectual superiority becomes bolder. Philip, clearly the remorseful of the two perpetrators, starts acting cocky and out of character under the weight of alcohol and guilt. The plot thickens when David’s absence becomes increasingly mysterious, leaving Rupert wondering as to what exactly the two friends had done.

If the script was intriguing, the execution was simply superb. The cast, Mihir Rathod as the cold blooded Brandon, Nihansh Bhat as Philip, Himanshu Bagchi as the flippant Rupert Cadell played their roles to near perfection as they kept the audience captivated till the very end. Nihansh did justice to the role, his countenance contorted with nervousness, words dripping with remorse. Mansha Tandon was impeccable as Mrs. Atwater., delivering her lines with pompous elegance. Swati Baheti was charming as Ms. Walker, Sunil Chandrasekhar (Mr. Kentley), Mandawi Verma (Mrs. Wilson, the housekeeper) and Naresh as Kenneth, all gave the setting a touch of class.

The acting complemented with the perfect blend of lighting and the intricate care that was taken in designing the set, made it a night to remember. The selection of music was delectable and lent the occasion an air of poignant suspense. Himanshu and Mihir went about it like two thespians, one sharp yet subtle, the other, manipulative and composed. However, critical acclaim must be given to those that deserve it most– directors Naresh Krishnaswamy and Shehzad Kazi, whose efforts culminated in perhaps one of the most brilliant plays that IIM Calcutta has seen.

For Jokatimes,

Gregory Ipe

 

PS – Alfred Hitchcock (who directed the screen version of Rope) called it ‘an experiment that didn’t work out’. The experimental ending worked out by Naresh and Kazi, combined with the hours of practice the Dramatics Cell puts into each of its productions, gave Intaglio’09 the perfect start.

The game is called “Lost in Joka” – and was launched with much secrecy by placing countdown posters across the campus. Today at noon, the team revealed what the game is all about.

The first task given to the participants is to form groups of three and collect a variety of articles based around a story. This list of articles includes things as mundane as orange bags and red socks to weird and crazy things like a heart shaped key-chain, a photo of Sonali Bendre in a black top, an X Ray, and an Om marked Kurta! One of the queerest things on the list is a letter of recommendation from a second year student and a Microeconomics exam paper.

The announcement has sent first years scurrying across the campus looking for this stuff. The case prizes announced and the opportunity to take part in tomorrow’s finals seem too good to resist. The writer has personally received requests for red socks, a copy of Atlas Shrugged (which he had!) and white canvas shoes. Rohit Mehta, a first year student taking part says “It’s been a ton of fun so far. We have managed to collect all the items apart from 3/4. Its been really enjoyable so far. As for tomorrow, I’m not thinking too much. I like surprises!”

Abhejit Agarwal, the Sponsorship head for Intaglio 2010 said “Hosting an event to welcome incoming freshers is a long standing tradition of the club, and a great way for freshers to mingle with their own colleagues and get to know their seniors.” When asked about what the contestants could expect in the finals – he was non committal. All he said was “the treasures that teams will collect will be very important in the second round, which will be in L1 tomorrow.” This game is strategically positioned before Intaglio recruitment events, and as such serves as an ideal platform for the group to convince students that they are the club to join. Speaking about recruiting, Abhejit also added that “Traditionally, Intaglio is the first club to present during club presentations. We will present this Monday. We will be launching a website soon for freshers which will detail the way Intaglio is structured and what we are looking for in them”

We at Jokatimes wish all contestants the very best of luck and hope that we have a smashing Intalgio 2010!

for Jokatimes – Abhishek Nagaraj

The on-campus finals of Olympus saw eight contestants – 6 from the IIMs and one each from CEIBS and Wharton. The battle was intense and closely fought over the next two days. None of the participants had a clue about what type of tasks they would face until the start of each event. It was only after the competition was over that the finalists were made aware that the purpose was to test how well they demonstrated leadership skills during situations which could not be anticipated

The competition was extremely comprehensive, testing many different facets of leadership such as quick decision making, business acumen, and diplomacy in diverse individual and team settings. In addition, the evaluation was done by peers, experts and faculty –  in activities including debate, team tasks, physical labour, trading games and live marketing. In the end, it all boiled down to endurance and sense of purpose.

The competition’s most memorable event occurred at three o’clock one morning, where in an abrupt wake-up call, finalists were informed about a role-play, where they were ‘CEO of an Indian company’ and a factory accident had resulted in death of a worker and all the workers were now on strike. Each was taken on motorcycle to a location – where chants of “Down with the CEO” could be heard from outside the door – and were evaluated on how well they could handle the situation.

The scores between three contestants in the final round was extremely close – Joo Yi (CEIBS, China), Harsh Vardhan (IIM C, India) and David Larson (Wharton, US) were separated by just three points! Joo Yi emerged as the ‘The most promising future leader’ and walked away with a whopping INR 150000 as prize money.

It was indeed a memorable event for all the competitors, organizers and every person associated with the event. More about the experiences of some of the contestants, published in their school’s web-sites:

Joo Ohk Yi – CEIBS, China

David Larson – Wharton, US

The link to Intaglio’s Leadership Portal – www.waytolead.co.in

For Jokatimes
Guhan M

Intaglio Day-3 Report

(11^th January 2009)

Reverberations: Mr. Joy Bhattacharya

Mr. Joy Bhattacharya, ace quizzer, quiz master, television show producer and Director of Kolkata Knight Riders, was in IIM Calcutta to share his sports management and entertainment experiences with eager students as a part of IIM Calcutta’s annual international B-School meet Intaglio 2009. Mr. Bhattacharya started off with a couple of funny anecdotes to put a packed audience at ease and the opened the house for questioning, ever so adept and sensing a crowd’s need.

Mr. Bhattacharya answered questions on the operations of Kolkata Knight Riders and IPL in general. On whether T-20 was killing of classical cricket and harming cricket’s status as a national rather than regional identity, Mr. Bhattacharya stressed that all forms of cricket should be played for fun, implying that test cricket was not an examination to be taken so seriously, apart from replying to thunderous applause that he felt that Indian fans were mature enough to wear different hats while watching India and IPL and that there would be no conflict of interest.

Going deeper into the operations of KKR and IPL, Mr. Bhattacharya spoke about KKR’s proposed ‘A’ and academy teams to develop a talent pipeline, narrated an anecdote of an Orissa kid not on Ranji reckoning named Natraj Bohra being offered a KKR contract breaking through the traditional nepotistic barriers and pinned down KKR’s poor performance in the inaugural edition of T-20 to Chris Gayle’s non appearance, Shoaib Akthar’s injury and Brad Hodge’s Australia call up, apart from the departures of McCullum and Ponting. Mr. Bhattacharya felt that KKR had erred in not going for an extra young Indian batsman and was left without a strong top order batting lineup.

Claiming that KKR were the only team to make a profit from the IPL, Mr. Bhattacharya stressed on the fact that while a tug of war between marketable and performing players will always exist, KKR did not face it because of the fact that Shah Rukh Khan himself had more than enough marketing potential to take care of that side of the pull.

Mr. Bhattacharya commented on a few touchy topics, like the media’s wrong propaganda on Shoiab arriving in India with syringes and noted when addressing a large group of IIM students that while Charu Sharma’s attempt to run a team according to classic management principles might have failed, it would not have been because of Rahul Dravid’s inability to understand the system. Mr. Bhattacharya chose to lay the blame squarely on the doors of Mr. Vijay Mallaya’s ego and felt that Dravid was one of the most well-read men in cricket and certainly amongst the keenest students of the game.

Looking back into his career, Mr. Bhattacharya recalled the introduction of Samsung Super Selector when he was working for ESPNStar. He recollected how the idea of a capped fantasy game went on to become during periods the most popular fantasy game in the world and how the game’s progress was impeded by frequent server crashes caused by a British company being unable to gauge the scale of its popularity in India. Mr. Bhattacharya recalled a hilarious incident involving Bappi Lahiri’s mixture of Hindi and Bengali words for song while composing the song for the Indian Football League and also found time to take a potshot at Himesh Reshamaiyya, much to the general delight of the public! Mr. Bhattacharya interestingly pointed out the beginning of Mastermind series, Indian Football League and the KKR franchise as the proudest moments of his distinguished career.

Looking into the future, Mr. Bhattacharya boldly claimed that nobody at KKR was secure, including Sourav Ganguly, and that it was the fans and the franchise which mattered more than any one individual. He icily put down questions on match fixing in IPL, remarking that while cricketers and administrators might be greedy, they were not stupid enough to kill the golden goose. Mr. Bhattacharya felt that IPL had not even scratched the tip of the iceberg, with there being limitless potential for organized private sport in a country like India. He predicted a similar enterprise revolutionizing hockey within the next 5 years and football within the next 10.

While the watching public just could not get enough of the indomitable Joy Bhattacharya, time was almost up and he concluded by gazing into his crystal ball and claiming that the IPL would go on to become the “chicken tikka masala” of Indian sport, as ubiquitous and popular. The applause lasted for a full five minutes.

Quizzical

The Open Quiz at Intaglio is one of the most respected forms of quizzing in this part of the nation. Attracting the best from across the country and from all age brackets, it always promises to be a delicious cornucopia for the quizzing connoisseur. This year’s edition featured Mr. Joy Bhattacharya, CEO of Kolkata Knight Riders, as the Quiz Master. The preliminary round was met with a very highly enthusiastic response, with the auditorium packed completely with participants. Six teams made it to the finals. Among the finalists were quizzers such as Mr. Charanpreet Singh (Associate Dean, Praxis Business School), Ms. Jayashree Mohanka (Vice President, Anand Bazaar Patrika) and Prof. Gautam Ghosh (Professor in Marketing, International School of Business & Media). Ms. Mohanka and Prof. Ghosh are both alumni of IIMC. Prof. Ghosh is one of the most illustrious quizzers from this part of the country, having been the second runner-up in the BBC Master Mind Quiz in 1998 and winner in various quizzers since his college days. Students from IIT Kharagpur and IIM Calcutta too qualified for the finals.

The quiz, as expected, maintained its standards. It was excellently complemented by Mr. Bhattacharya, who kept everyone, including the audience, riveted to their seats. “The quiz was brilliantly conducted by joy, and we had to really think hard to crack the answers. Personally, it was great for us to be quizzing with some of India’s finest quizzers and being able to match up, to some extent” said Abhishek Nagaraj, a student of IIM Calcutta and a finalist in the quiz.

The Team Excalibur, with Ms. Jayashree Mohanka as a member, walked away with the top honors.

Creative Writing Workshop

“Pen is mightier than sword, say some. Let’s have a demo first, we said.”

Catering to the creative appetite of people by your words is not the easiest task. But for those who felt like taking an initiative or honing their skills further, Intaglio organized a creative writing workshop which was conducted over the entire day by eminent author Rimi Chatterjee. The workshop was based on the 4 key elements of story writing – plot, character, location and mood. By simple exercises like clubbing random locations with specific moods and expressing it in words, Rimi illustrated the keys to complete expression while writing. The participants had a day full of fun and learning in what can be termed a wholesome intellectual exercise. Neeraj Kumar, a student of IIM Calcutta, was visibly satisfied with the event, “We gained some deep insights into the nuances of writing. I am much more informed about the structure of a well written story and the fine difference of approach required while writing in different genres like novels, long stories and short stories.” The workshop was attended by aspiring writers from leading B-schools and if their reaction was any indication, it served its purpose.

Pronite ( HipPocket)

The third and final day of Intaglio, IIM Calcutta’s international B school fest saw huge participation from B schools across the world. After a hard day’s work, there was a lot to party about as the famous Calcutta rock band “HipPocket” came to campus.

They began the night with a lively self composition for an upcoming Bengali movie. The band showed its expertise in various domains of music flitting between genres with exceptional ease. They catered to all the audience’s favorites ranging from John Denver and Bob Dylan to Pink Floyd and even popular Hindi and Bhojpuri songs.

The style of music played was very unique with both the band members singing in synchronism and with absolute perfection. In an informal chat with the Intaglio team they told us of their plans to release an album on similar lines. The band has been touring the circuit of Calcutta for over 15 years and is considered one of the top bands in India and they sure proved their mettle to IIM Calcutta. The band left the crowd enthralled as they finished with the crowd chanting for an encore.

Karaoke Night

Intaglio’s chill-out component, Regalio, continued with more shows following HipPocket’s performance. For the first time, a Karaoke Artist was brought to campus to enthrall the crowds.

Bangalore based Tech Jock KJ SUBZ is widely regarded as the World’s #1 DJ in Bollywood Performance Music. “THE COUNTRY’S MOST ROCKING KARAOKE JOCKEY” is how Times Of India describes him. An IIT Kanpur Alum, KJ Subz is a self-confessed Software Engineer turned Heartware Entertainer.He is the only karaoke jock from India to be featured in the seminal book “Karaoke: The Global Phenomenon.”

Subz’s gigs use singer-friendly, audience-centric Fourth Generation Karaoke Technology. He was interviewed by Businessworld Magazine and featured on National Television (CNBC, Channel V, ZOOM, NDTV and more). The itenerant jock’s gigs take him across the country and overseas.

The karaoke night commenced at nine in the night, but Subz had already started attracting crowds immediately after lunch. Many people signed up with him to perform during the night, as he handled the karaoke engine. The party found many takers, with the audience, for the first time, getting to sing in front of the crowd. Songs were chosen without any barriers of time and language. Old Hindi numbers gave way to Bryan Adams, which was followed by newer Bollywood tracks such as those from Rock On!!!. The crowd thoroughly enjoyed it, making the first karaoke night in the Joka campus a success.

(10^th January 2009)

The Jokatimes Intaglio Series

• Day Zero
• Day One
• Day Two
• Day Three

Empires of the Mind – Finals

After a thoroughly impressive first round which saw a participation of over 600 teams from across the world, six teams made it to the finals of Empires of the Mind. The first round was designed as a quest where the members visited locations across the world, answering questions relevant to the locality visited, to earn points. The participants had to strategize on maximizing points (which were in terms of a fictional currency) by wisely choosing locales, difficulty of questions, and trading of turns.

This highly innovative round was made to look bland by the final round. Here, every team represented a planet and prepared for an inter-galactic war. A direct application of game theory in competitive setting, this game consisted of seven rounds. The teams could buy / sell raw material and weapon-making technologies between themselves. The team which was best prepared to fight the war at the end of the seven rounds came out as the winners.

The event had finalists from various B-schools in India. The winners were from IIM Calcutta. Highly appreciated by participants from all over, Empires of the Mind was a grand success.

Christopher’s Compass: Marketing Research Event

The Marketing Research Event at Intaglio, Christopher’s Compass received a good response as interest in marketing is in an upswing all around the country. The participants had to develop a Market Research Plan and carry out basic field work within IIMC to help a MNC locate its proposed top end retail apparel outlet from one amongst three locations in Kolkata. The knowledge partners for the event were IMRB, and Mr. Prasonjit from IMRB judged the final rounds of the event. The initial round saw close to 250 participants with only 5 teams making the last round. The event was won by the team “Rats On The Paddle Wheel” from IIM Bangalore.

Olympus

All the hard work and perseverance of a group of immensely talented and focused individuals came to a head on the second day of Intaglio 2008-09 as Olympus reached its final stages. The extensive and exhaustive leadership hunt, the first of its kind when launched last year, culminated with a debate on the leadership abilities of the main protagonists in two contrasting movies, Braveheart & Hotel Rwanda, with three final participants selected from the chosen 8 moving to the final round titled “The Prestige”. Prestige saw each set of two participants out of three take turns to recommend or disparage the claims of the third contestant for the post of the CEO of a new subsidiary with the judging panel, comprised of Professors Anup Sinha, Debhasish Bhattacharjee and popular quiz master speaker, and Director of Kolkata Knight Riders Mr. Joy Bhattacharya, acting as the board of directors of the company. In between the rounds, the 8 participants, including one each from the Wharton Business School, America and CEIBS, Shanghai, China, spoke about their incredible experiences and amazing fun they had during Olympus. The finalists turned out to be Mr. Harsh Chapparia from IIMC, David Larsson from Wharton and Ms. Joo Yi from CEIBS. “The Prestige” separated Joo as the outstanding candidate for the year and she was awarded Rs. 1.5 lakhs as prize money for successfully scaling Olympus. In short, an event worth remembering for the viewers, worth cherishing for the participants and totally impossible of ever forgetting for the wonderful organizational team, headed by Debtosh Mishra and Jignanshu Gor, both of IIM Calcutta,

Ad Labs CEO Mr. Anil Arjun Talk

Intaglio 2008-09 saw the CEO of Ad Labs, Mr. Anil Arjun give a talk on the Indian entertainment industry as a whole and the scope and activities of Adlabs in particular. Comparing the Indian entertainment industry to the U.S. Mr. Arjun elaborated on the similarities and differences, with the former increasing and the latter melting away. Mr. Arjun talked about the tremendous demand in India for the entertainment content, and correlation between movies, television and radio in terms of audience preferences, providing a variety of market opportunities. Mr. Arjun then delved into the various productions Adlabs had gone into in the past one year, explaining how the company saw value in producing, distributing and screening the content, each in a separate way. The head honcho of the growing entertainment house commented on the Indian nature of the fim industry and its aspirations and necessities to get to the global standards that are set by the few English movies that sell well in India. Mr. Arjun proved to be very popular amongst a rapt crowd, who questioned him on all issues from the salaries of film stars to the minute details of production to the 3D and 6D experiences. If anyone doubted a growing India’s tendency to get stuck into their entertainment, here was the dispeller.

Addict – Day 2

The second day of Intaglio 2008-09 saw an extremely popular and innovative hands on marketing event as a part of the expo Selling Point. The participants were given a budget of around Rs. 2000 and asked to develop a catchy Below-The-Line (BTL) campaign for one of the given product categories: Hair Care, Oral Care, Body Care, Male Grooming Products and Great Value Products. The campaigns were meant to target the student participants at Intaglio, the consumer segment which the event partner Amway sees at matching its long term consumer profile. The teams came up with several innovative solutions to involve the audience and make them sample and in some cases even buy the products in their stalls, with one team going as far as to offer professional manicure and head massage in return for trying a hair oil. The participants were judged by Prof. Prashant Mishra, PGP Chairman IIM Calcutta and senior Prof. in Marketing. Prof. Mishra commented that it was heartening to see the students come up with breakthrough promotional campaigns to escape from the advertising clutter around them.

Reverberations – Mr Sabyasachi Hajara, CMD, SCI

In the second session of Reverberations – the lecture series, the student community from top management schools had an illuminating session with Mr. Sabyasachi Hajara, the Chairman of Shipping Corporation of India. Nostalgia, experience, advice and information – Mr. Hajara’s address had it all and the huge audience listened, captivated. And when it came to the interaction part – there were questions aplenty, asked with curiosity and answered with wisdom.

Mr. Hajara started his address by recounting his days as a management student. The fact that he also happens to be an alumnus of IIM Calcutta added to the nostalgia. Offering a glimpse into his student days, he shared his interactions with teachers and took the audience on an informative trip down the memory-lane. As Mr. Hajara is the current chairman of a “Navratna” PSU, the talk was bound to come around the topic of public sector and its role in Indian economy. It came sooner than later and thanks to his 32 years of experience in the public sector, Mr. Hajara enlightened the audience with deep insights into the making, functioning and growth of the PSU’s. His knowledgeable speak also helped clear many apparent misconceptions that some of the students had about the public sector. Talking about decision making, he reminded that barring a few notable exceptions (like L & T) almost all the private sector companies were promoter driven and hence the decision making process was far more centralized in the private sector companies as compared to public sector companies. He also drew attention to the fact that leading public sector companies have been the breeding ground for the best managers of the country who currently call the shots in both private and public sector as the most successful professionals.

Being an expert of the shipping sector, he also talked about the structure and prospects of shipping industry in general and SCI in particular. Tackling questions from a whole gamut of subjects like the Sethusamudram Project, the impact of inflation on shipping industry and the managerial challenges of leading a PSU he enthralled the audience by his wisdom and insights.

Pixelated Chaos

Taking place for the very first time was IIM Calcutta’s own Game theory and Treasure hunt event. The two rounds of the game, both held on campus saw great participation from different colleges. The game began with students deciphering clues, which would lead them to various locations. At these locations the participants had to give out the answer to a key, also in the form of a puzzle. There was a buzz in the campus as people rushed all around looking for the ‘right places’ to visit.

After four rounds of translating messages and reaching all the locations, the contestants found out the journey was only half over. Their rewards for reaching the various locations were yet again clues which would lead one final team to the final location with the password in hand, however this time there was another twist in the tale. No team had enough clues to crack the answer on their own, and so came the most important lesson about ‘Fruitful Collusion’. All the teams looked to form partnerships which would benefit them, but there was an aura of mystery in the room with no one knowing what the other was planning.

As the teams decoded the answers and formed the final passkey, waiting to run the final leg of this mental obstacle course, the organizers looked happily at a game gone well, which had transformed this serene IIM Calcutta campus into a hotbed of activity.

Intaglio-Red FM talk show

The third day of Intaglio witnessed an enthusiastic student community expressing itself candidly about the current Media and its impact on the society. In a talk show organized by Intaglio in partnership with Red FM, participants from various B-schools delved deeper into the topic “Media reflects the society”. Speaking about the topic, Akshay Lal, a second year PGDM student from IIM Calcutta said that social reflections were found in works of art and media was rather supposed to be an information broadcasting mechanism. That it has lost much of its objectivity is a subject of regret and should be corrected by media itself. While many participants felt that media has done a wonderful job in terms of increasing activism among citizens and promoting civil vigilantism, they also felt that the media needed to restrain itself on controversial topics. While the show helped participants raise many questions and approach many plausible solutions to the issue, some cool Red FM merchandise acted as an icing on the intellectual cake. The show was moderated by Jimmy Tangree, station head of Red FM Kolkata.

Pro-Nite (“Fifth Dimension”)

Regalio concluded Day 2 of Intaglio, with a pronite that featured popular Calcutta band Fifth Dimension. The five-member band entertained the audience at the auditorium with both Hindi and English numbers. Apart from the usual songs, the band also displayed the individual talents of the members with scintillating solos by the drummer, the keyboardist and the bass guitarist. The crowd, having thoroughly enjoyed the English vocalist’s rendition of songs by artists as diverse as the Scorpions, Bryan Adams and Santana, shouted for an encore.

Intaglio Day-1 Report

(9^th January 2009)

The Jokatimes Intaglio Series

• Day Zero
• Day One
• Day Two
• Day Three

Modulus

Modulus, described as one of the most intense events of Intaglio, was conducted successfully today at IIM Calcutta. The event tested the financial acumen of the participants and the proverbial capability to “think on their feet” in a live trading market. This event was conducted in its entirety across three rounds. The first round saw tremendous participation from the student community with over 100 teams registering for the event. Thereon 8 teams were selected for the final round based on their proficiency in data modelling and securitization. The final round was the trading round wherein all teams were given the target of maximizing the worth of their portfolio in futures trading market. The complete trading round and the rounds before that were conducted online, with the provision for a stand-up-and-shout-your-bid, which gave the venue the feel of a real market place. Participants from IIM Calcutta, Lucknow and Kozhikode made it to the final round.

The event was designed in-house by the events team of Intaglio. The high quality planning and execution of the event reflected in its conduction.

Consulting Knights

The most awaited national consulting challenge, Consulting Knight, was back this year at Intaglio, IIM Calcutta. The knowledge partners for the event were McKinsey & Company. The popularity of this event can be gauged by the fact that above 1000 teams registered for it and participated in the qualification round. However, only 6 select teams from IIM Bangalore, Calcutta and SJMSOM IIT Mumbai were able to make it to the final round.

The innovative design of the event had the first round based on the unique concept of an audio pitch of 2 minutes. However, the final round was as intense as the role of a professional consultant. The participants were exposed to real life business problems by consultants from McKinsey and Company. This included simulated client interviews and detailed information regarding the business problem.

The participants were clearly impressed by the innovation and challenge of the event. Talking about the event, finalists Shouvik Nandi and Avishesh from IIM Bangalore said, “The event was refreshingly different. We were surprised by the audio-pitch round as it was a totally unique way to display your persuasion skills and understanding of the pitch.” The well-structured format of the event also drew appreciation from the participants. Mayank Jain, a finalist from IIM Calcutta said that the event was very conducted very professionally and the deadlines were very strict. The best part, he said was that they felt like real consultants.

Deloitte Consulting’s talk on “Disruptive Innovation”

Day 1 of Intaglio witnessed a number of exciting events and discussions in different areas of management. One such event was the seminar by Mr. Santosh Anoo, Head of Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy and Operations practice in India. Mr. Anoo spoke on the ‘Disruptive Innovation‘ framework, which is based on the work of Michael Raynor of Deloitte Consulting LLP, co-author of the bestselling “The Innovator’s Solution“. Mr. Anoo is an actively sought after speaker in the areas of Technology, Media and Telecom convergence and disruptive innovation, and has more than 15 years of experience in the industry.

A packed auditorium full of students buzzing with excitement had gathered to listen to the expert and Mr. Anoo, with his pinpoint analogies and light hearted humour, managed to capture everyone’s attention. We listened enraptured as he compared growth to a “Sisyphean task”- The more you grow, the higher the expectations and therefore the more you need to grow.

Mr. Anoo went on to explain how companies often innovate beyond what the market desires, and therefore there is a great opportunity for companies who realize the need of the market. Disruptive Innovation is all about redefining the market instead of refining the product. Mr. Anoo recounted that in many cases Disruptive Innovation has presented the new entrant with a great opportunity to challenge an established player, for example Wal Mart challenging Sears or Nirma challenging Surf. In both these cases Disruptive Innovation helps explain how the players sidelined competitors in the market to reach their destination.

One could sense the atmosphere of learning as the future leaders of India sought to learn from one of the stalwarts in the industry, and when Mr. Anoo concluded his talk a number of hands shot up in the air, refusing to end this brilliant session.

Talk By Hemant Kanoria

Yet another talk that ran houseful on Day 1 of Intaglio was the one delivered by Hemant Kanoria, the Chairman and Managing Director of SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd., one of India’s leading Non Banking Financial Institutions and the only private sector infrastructure financing NBFI. His talk was based around his experience for the last 20 years in the company and the lessons any manager could derive from it. Unlike many other industry stalwarts, he stressed on hope in the current financial crisis. He elaborated that crises in the past that looked like the end of the world seemed so insignificant today, and this cycle would repeat over and over again. He pointed to positive aspects in the Indian economy, such as the growth rate, which is 7% today at its worst, whereas 20 years ago it was 3% at its best. “There is too much panicking today” he said.

Mr. Kanoria highlighted the five principles that have been the underlying factor for Srei’s phenomenal success story, viz. innovation, thinking a case through like in a game of chess, entrepreneurship, teamwork which averages out individual errors, and benchmarking against the best in the industry, no matter how big they are. Among these five, he positioned Innovation as the cornerstone. “The Indian mind is always adept to change”, he said. He pointed out that the only way out of crises is to innovate. “Do not worry that you may not get a job. Go innovate and create them”. He illustrated that it was Srei’s innovation tactics that has made it not only survive the competition from world leaders such as GE Cap, but dominate the market with over 36% share as compared to the second highest slice of the market, 6%, belonging to GE Cap. He said that the Srei model in India was so successful that they have implemented it in Russia too.

He concluded by bringing in ethical aspects of companies in the corporate world, and how CSR should be taken up for the sake of helping someone, and not for the sake of getting a tag. He believed in the proverb “Give a man a fish and he won’t feel hunger for a day, but teach him to fish and he won’t ever feel hungry”, and implemented this philosophy through Srei’s various CSR Programmes.

This enlightening and inspirational talk was followed by a Q&A session, wherein participants quizzed the speaker on various issues ranging from Srei’s business models to its rural innovation programmes, all of which Mr. Kanoria answered convincingly.

GIC

The Great Innovation Challenge was a refreshing attempt at promoting corporate entrepreneurship.  Sponsored by SAIL, Infosys, Johnson & Johnson the event also had Deloitte as its Consulting Partner and the likes of CRY and TIME as the other knowledge partners. The event saw 2000 participants in the initial round, out of which 80 teams were selected for Round II. Round II saw the teams working with the various Knowledge Partners, submitting a basic proposal containing innovative solutions for branding, models for equitable justice, internet marketing etc. The teams were given feedback on their projects by senior practitioners from Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy and Operations practice in India and the final 9 teams were whittled down and flown down for on site interactions with the knowledge partners. The selected teams made their final presentations during the event at Intaglio 2008-09 and were judged by an eminent panel of judges comprising Mr. Santosh Anoo, Head of Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy and Operations practice in India, representatives from CRY, J & J and Prof. Ravindra Chittor, Professor in Strategy, IIMC. Mrs. Shailaja K., GM Marketing, J&J spoke on the concept of innovation during the course of the finals and all the judges remarked on the high quality and creativity of the student presentations.

Prof. Sougata Ray represented Infosys and Prof Ravindra Chittoor formed the panel which judged the two teams which worked closely with Infosys. The participants personally thanked the event organizers for conceptualizing such a hands-on event and putting on a good show and it was cheers all around as the Great Innovation Challenge drew to a close.

Addict

Procter & Gamble sponsored the Marketing Event Addict in Intaglio 2008-09 and the event turned out to be a roaring success. Unlike traditional promotion events which involve ad-making, Addict required its contestants to launch a new product and brand in the existing laundry market in India. Interestingly, the company the brand was supposed to be coming from was a multinational young in India, not the established stalwart like P&G! Event coordinator Aniruddh Soory revealed that he had researched into a number of product developments in several multinational companies before setting a problem statement encompassing consumer segmentation, brand positioning and launch, communication strategy, right down to allocation of budget to different communication channels. About 600 teams participated in the event with only 6 teams selected for the finals. Judged by Mr. Shivendu Nadkarni, India head for Fabric Care, Health Care and Rural Marketing, P&G, participants delved into ideas for fabric softeners, colours and whiteners with relish. Mr. Nadkarni remarked that he really enjoyed the presentations and shared his own view on the future trends in the Indian laundry wash market. Mr. Nadkarni lauded all finalists for the quality of their thought and Intaglio for organizing such a get together. Finally, Mr. Nadkarni drew attention to the fact that none of the participants were targeting the economy segment and suggested that while he was happy that the participants did not take the easy way out, there was still enormous potential in the Bottom of Pyramid marketing in the country.

NGO event

Intaglio 2008-9 saw an innovative event aimed at bolstering social entrepreneurship in the region. An event involving NGOs displaying their products for sale and a team of students competing with each other to hard sell the products onto willing customers made for a Christmas viewing. With NGOs Silence from Kolkata and Crafts Council of West Bengal setting up one and two stalls respectively, selling handicrafts, waxworks, jute and pottery, Intaglio was a place for people interested in these finer arts. But it was not just about the products. Buying from Silence, for instance, was much more meaningful because of the sterling work they do with the deaf and dumb children. Silence also promotes the ideology of fair trade in the ruthless world of business. CCWB, which had two stalls, is renowned for its work in reaching out to village and home craftsmen and providing them a consolidated audience base to get heard. The NGOs manning the stalls were very happy with the response of the students, who themselves were delighted with watching applied social entrepreneurship before them. All in all, a meaningful event worth repeating for many editions in future!

Jaagore! – Awaken the voter in you

The Jaagore campaign was taken up by IIM Calcutta as a part of Intaglio to encourage students in the age group of 18 to 30 to vote and also be aware of a lot of facts and myths behind the Indian electoral process. To get all the participants from our other events to register, we ran a quiz on the elections which was actively contested by over 2000 contestants. All the contestants of Intaglio were sent a mailer on the Jaagore campaign and the benefits attained by registering at the site.

Continuing the good work, we used the services of our campus relations team to publicize the campaign and reach out to 85 B-Schools and over 175 corporate houses in the country. Some of the pictures are in the album whose link is given above. We sent across posters for the campaign which were put up at these colleges. During the event, we put up a booth for registration and helped a lot of students to register at the site. GD PI sessions were held for students from undergraduate colleges who are in their final year & had the topic on the electoral process “Voting – The first step to Democracy” which propped up many students to register at the site.

Corporate Dinner

The second day of Intaglio saw its marquee corporate dinner being held at the Fortune hotel. Situated close to the new Howrah Bridge, the hotel premise was nestled in a tranquil spot, away from the city bustle and was the ideal location to host such an event; its sprawling lawns and grand architecture only adding to the already immaculate atmosphere.

The highlight of the evening was the talk by Mr. Sabyasachi Hajara, CMD of the Shipping Corporation of India. He is also an IIM Calcutta alumnus from the 8th batch. He started his talk with something which is very much on all our minds – the global meltdown – and its effects on the shipping industry in particular. Interestingly, the Shipping Corporation of India has been working on a profit margin of 20 – 30 % on total revenues of around one billion dollars for the last 3-4 years! All of this, despite the extremely competitive nature of the shipping industry.

Mr Hajara, then delved into the differences in the functioning of a PSU and a private company, and how a person who is willing to take responsibilities and make decisions may actually be more satisfied with the former. All in all, he spoke with the confidence and affability, characteristic of a thought leader addressing his beloved alma mater.

The second half of the evening saw the finalists of the prestigious Olympus give a brief introduction of themselves along with a candid choice of another candidate whom they felt was their most serious threat in the competition. This year, Olympus attracted two international students – David Larson, from Wharton School of Business and Joo Ohk Yi from China Europe International Business School. The eight finalists were filtered from over a hundred applications from the 6 IIMs and 2 international B-Schools, through a rigorous process, which consisted of evaluation of resumes and essays by IIMC faculty and interviews with senior executives from industry and academia. The result is a group of highly accomplished individuals from extremely diverse backgrounds, including I-banks, consulting firms, private corporate companies, PSUs and NGOs.

If the choices made by the candidates are anything to go by, then it looks like this competition is a two-horse race, with David and Joo garnering seven of the eight votes; the lone IIM vote going to Harsh, from IIMC.

After the completion of the candidates’ introduction, the house broke for dinner.

Intaglio Day-0 Report

(8^th January 2009)

The Jokatimes Intaglio Series

 

• Day Zero
• Day One
• Day Two
• Day Three

Inauguration ceremony

Intaglio 2009 – the annual international B-School meet of IIM Calcutta was inaugurated today. The inauguration ceremony found a soulful in start in the performance by the students’ musical band of IIM Calcutta JBS BaroC. Dedicating their performance to the Mumbai massacres, they held the audience spellbound for the next 20 minutes. In what can be called an expert rendition by an amateur band, their music contained an engrossing fusion of the modern with the classical.

The fest was inaugurated in a solemn lamp lighting ceremony by Mr. Ajay Sinha, MD (Rural Marketing), Aditya Birla Group and Mr. Sudeep Grover along with Mr. Saibal Chattopadhyay, Dean, IIM Calcutta and Mrs. Leena Chatterjee, Faculty Advisor, Intaglio 2009. Speaking on this occasion Mr. Chattopadhyay underlined the importance of Intaglio 2009 for the students in the current scenario more than ever. He said that Intaglio provided a host of opportunities to the student community to interact with the business leaders and keep abreast with the changing times and the changing ways of business. Acknowledging the fact that Intaglio carved the niche people from top B-schools he stressed upon the strategic importance of community interaction in the backdrop of the current economic meltdown. He invited the corporate and B-school participants from across geographies to use Intaglio as a platform for sharing ideas and collaborating to solve real life problems.

Mr. Ajay Sinha pointed out that the current global economic meltdown was a “passing phase” in the context of Indian economy which was to stay for a short-term. Speaking on the theme for Intaglio 2009, “Cultivating leadership, redefining horizons”, he related traits of leadership to the spiritual and human virtues. Five spiritual virtues viz. love, peace, truth and non-violence were central to human growth, he said and stressed that a leader ought to be guided by them. The cross-cultural and individual expression of these five values would bring good to all, he felt. Leaders must be intuitive and interactive and they needed to shift from the age-old dictum of accommodation to empowerment. Addressing the importance of a balance between task and relationship orientation, he said that for a leader sensitivity was the key.

Ritesh Kamath, the overall coordinator for Intaglio 2009, welcomed the audience on behalf of IIM Calcutta and Team Intaglio. “Over the course of the next three days, you’d be served a cocktail of events, lectures, shows and entertainment. With 175 corporate houses as our partners, 5000 students from 120 colleges as participants in various events and some of the best leaders from different walks of life as our speakers and advisories, it is no coincidence that Intaglio 2009 has Cultivating leadership, redefining horizons as its underlying theme.”, he said.

“With enhanced focus on innovation and rural initiative, we introduce the Great Innovation Challenge. This event would lead Intaglio to a few villages where the future managers of the world would apply their classroom knowledge and bright minds to improve the existing conditions. To identify and encourage the future entrepreneurs, we have i2I – the entrepreneurship fest – incorporated in Intaglio. In recognition of their contribution and relevance in the current context, we have also shared space with Non government organizations and trusts.”

Leena Chatterjee, faculty advisor, praised the efforts of the student community in pulling off this extravaganza. “As the faculty advisor, it was a very pleasing experience for me to see a bunch of students sharing responsibility and putting in hard work for this mammoth annual event. All the competitive and non-competitive events have been designed in-house. That the student team came up with a complete simulation server for one of the games on its own and implemented it successfully speaks volumes about the kind of effort put in”, she said. She went on to highlight some of the flagship events this fest. “Innovation and entrepreneurship have got their due share of stage space with events like Great Innovation Challenge and i2I, the entrepreneurship fest.”

The CSR aspect of Intaglio was also brought out by her. “Recent times have also seen an enhanced role being played by Non government organizations in various fields supplementing the efforts of the government. A lively discussion on corporate social responsibility and public private partnership has been extended beyond the classroom by Intaglio. The team has partnered with many NGO’s and used its forum to disseminate information about many of them.”

The event concluded with a scintillating performance by the Dramatics Cell of IIMC which staged its flagship play “Where there’s a Will”, written by noted playwright Mahesh Dattani. A delightful play with undercurrents of deep humour, it kept the audience riveted to their seats till the end.