It started with Terah-Nau-Pachatar and an original script. Kashmkash with its genre of comedy and an original play took it a few steps further. The faculty play, Half a glass of champagne, showcased the prowess and reach of IIM Calcutta Dramatics Club. Few doubted the fact that the pinnacle had been attained. Few wondered if this could be repeated. Few felt that a genre other than comedy could have greater triumph in exhilarating the audience.

The challenge for the next cast and directors seemed insurmountable. Add to that the difficulty of reaching out to an audience in a social and cultural fest with a genre of drama far removed from the laughter and gaiety associated with the festival. That was till Carpe Diem 2012, when the Dramatics Club presented “The Devil Within” and changed quite a few misconceptions!

With its complicated backdrop of the Indo-Pak partition, the play deftly captured the underlying tensions existing in a society plagued recently by communal strife. The story is centered on the small town of Amargaon and the upheaval that its society faces after unscrupulous elements create disturbance during a religious procession. The ensuing conflict brings to the surface the hidden feelings of the society thereby exposing the past misgivings that each and every character is experiencing.

The characters themselves are well-rounded – from the blood-thirsty mob (Deepan Malik, Rahul Shresth, Aaditya Raut, Abhishek Gupta and Karan Sareen), who are baying for revenge and have been let loose like the proverbial ‘dogs of war’, to the college going Smita (Sneha Mundhra), who is forced to maintain a different stance and ways of life within and outside the confines of her home in order to adhere to familial prescriptions of what is right and wrong and yet exercise the feeling of independence that is commonplace; from the playful Daksha (Geeta Manasa) living in pre-independence India and unaware of the horrors that will be unleashed during partition to the now hunched with age Hardika (Shraddha Mehta), who still harbors deep misgivings and has not been able to come to terms with the reality of her past; from the remorseful dad Ramnik Gandhi (Arnab Ganguly), who wants to set things right and come to terms with his dark secret he has been harboring in his head and has tried unsuccessfully to come to terms with, to his god fearing wife Aruna (Divya Juneja) who believes every word of what “Baa” (Hardika) says and is unwilling to take any risk that might jeopardize her family’s peaceful existence; from the bloodthirsty Javed (Pranay Agarwal), who seeks to avenge every act of harm or disrespect done to his community, to the refined college educated Bobby or Babban (Kanishka Arya), who demonstrates aspects of rationality that many other characters seem to have forgotten during their vocal rantings for revenge.

The cast delivers a mature and a memorable performance in which they take the audience through a journey spanning time and geography and do justice to a script that intends to question the irrationality and fears of morbid hatred that grip sections of our society whenever plagued with an unfavorable situation. The soliloquies, and there are quite a few of these from each of the characters, bring to light the inner turmoil that each character has been facing over time and serve well to increase the depth of the characters. The characters themselves are not mannequins – a little scratch at the surface is sufficient to reveal the patina of guilt and remorse that each of them face – yet even in the most intense moments of their soliloquies, the characters often display their shades, thereby bringing to light that people are hardly ever black and white – most remain in the realm of what can only be described as shades of grey.

The haunting quality of the background score (by Sachit Handa and Chandrashekhar Venugopal), which by the way was another first for “The Devil Within” and accompanied every scene, made its impact most audible in the eerie scenes of the chorus – the music at every stage left the audience on the tip of their seats waiting for some new horror to unfold or be recounted. This intensity was only reinforced by the cast creating a virtuous circle and leaving the audience on tenterhooks as the drama unfolded.

                “The Devil Within” is a masterful display of the tensions plaguing a society still torn by darker aspects of its past. The terse nature of the play, which is itself interspersed by the rabid chorus of a blood thirsty mob, causes the audience to sit up, take notice, and question – even as they are taken through the horrors witnessed by each of the characters and see for themselves how legends turn into myths and myths into stories, how far removed the reality can be from the occurrence of real incidents on the ground, how each perceives the same set of incidents in a manner that suits his beliefs, how a passive acceptance of age old beliefs and views can only serve to reinforce the misgivings of a society that still harbors some feelings of the fracture it witnessed more than half a century back.

All in all, the play is a tumultuous journey of each of the characters – a journey of self-exploration where they are forced to face the devils running amok within their inner selves. The play takes the audience on a journey of self-exploration and forces them to think about that which is the basic tenet of any human society – can civility and rationality ultimately triumph over the feelings of jingoism and xenophobia that still exist in some sections of our society.

Carpe Diem is the annual cultural festival of IIM Calcutta. For more details, log on to http://www.iimc-carpediem.com/

Carpe Diem kicked off with much fanfare on the 3^rd of February 2012. The event was inaugurated by the Dean Prof. Ashok Banerjee, who appreciated the efforts of the students who were part of this festival, and also promised more support in the future.

This was followed by a play produced by the Dramatics Cell of IIM Calcutta, The Devil Within, which tackled the issue of communal hatred. Directed by Khushboo Kaushal, Ravi Bhushan and Gaurav Jindal, the play had performances that left the audience spell-bound. It concluded to a standing ovation from the crowd.

Bandish, featuring grammy nominated artist Shubhen Chatterjee, enthralled the audience with their fusion music, producing a unique blend of Indian classical as well as western music. The auditorium lawn was the perfect venue for the large crowd, a large part of which had just arrived from other colleges.

The mime performed by Mr. Niranjan Goswami was one to remember and cherish. The Padmashri award winner kept the audience spellbound with the lively act, be it the role of a dentist or of a master playing with his dog. The depiction of a woman getting ready; putting makeup, dressing up, waiting for someone, was surely one to savor.

 Mr. Niranjan, who keeps experimenting and redefining his art gave us an evening to be remembered. The act beautifully depicted how little we value the things we possess and our fixation with beauty. The crowd rose to the occasion, greeting them with a well deserved and thunderous applause.

 With such a great start on the first day, Carpe Diem promises to only get better.

For more photos, click here.

The event has been conducted in association with Breakthrough Management Group India (BMGI) who will give Pre Placement Interview offers to select individuals for outstanding performance along with generous prize money.

The first round of the event saw enthusiastic participation from over 300 students from Top B-Schools across the country like IIM’s, XLRI, XIMB, FMS, Great Lakes, Symbiosis to name a few. 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.

BMGI India is the Indian arm of BMGI Global consulting firm specializing in providing management consulting solutions to India and the Asia Pacific region in strategy, innovation, problem solving and business transformation across all industries.

Contributed by : The Consulting Club, IIM Calcutta

Whether it  was  the JBS Jam session on the Jetty at 4 in the morning ,  or the thrill of  being a wholly different character “Kiran” as part of The Muggy Night in Mumbai, or all those evenings doing Random bakar at the NC, the culture of Joka surely cannot be attributed to a single moment. Now waiting for the last leg in this line of celebrations-Carpe Diem!!

More on Carpe Diem at http://www.iimc-carpediem.com

Today, at the onset of February, with barely a month to go before the end of this joyous journey called IIM Calcutta, let us attempt to make these last few days the most memorable of the two years. Yes, we’ve gained knowledge, but we’ve not forgotten to have fun.
This Carpe Diem, let’s have the time of our life! As our beloved PGP2s bid adieu to life at Joka, they share with us some of their most coveted memories.

Live. Revel. Escape.

A moment where they’ve felt alive in culture that is “C”, revelled in the glory of the Tribe of Joka, and escaped from the realms of mere mortality to become a true Jokar!

Starting in a while with Paridhi Agarwalla’s post.

Press Reports say that his visit was aimed at promoting peace. What kind of peace?- I fail to comprehend. The internecine warfare between the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) and LTTE ended a good 30 months back, in May 2009. There hasn’t been any major unrest since then. What sort of a peace process is our former president trying to broker?

In a war that had more collateral damage than direct, the SLA wiped out LTTE. News reports indicate that the northern region of Sri Lanka saw Tamilian killings and forced evictions at the hands of the army. In what can only be called a fiendishly orchestrated genocide, the SLA murdered dozens of thousands of innocent Tamils, with the Indian Union Government turning a blind eye. Many European countries including the U.K vehemently condemned Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksha for unleashing a run of terror on his own subjects. What did Dr. Kalam say about this genocide?

During his Presidential stint, scores of Indian fishermen were murdered by the Sri Lankan navy on specious grounds that they ventured into their waters.  If not as an influential Tamilian in office, at least as the President of the world’s second most populous nation, he could have done something to alleviate the miseries of poor fishing folk. If my memory serves me right, he did not do anything great. The former President is no stranger to the ordeal suffered by fishermen. Having born into an impoverished fishing family, Kalam did experience himself all the pain during his early days. However, he never took a concrete stance when it came to the slaying of Tamil fishermen at the hands of Sri Lankan Navy. Also remarkable was his muted silence about the Godhra pogrom. He assumed office barely six months within the riots, riding on the support of the party whose C.M was allegedly behind that national shame. He didn’t utter a single word against the then Union as well as Gujarat governments.

Two and a half years have elapsed since the war got over, yet there hasn’t been any respite to the Sri Lankan Tamils. Sinhalese from the southern parts were relocated to the original Tamil strongholds of north, thereby displacing the locals, condemning them to the sub-human conditions of IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps. By visiting the island nation, Dr. Kalam has no doubt endorsed Rajapaksha and his barbaric acts.

sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13772407

http://www.thehindu.com/news/article2828241.ece

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kalam-proposes-pura-for-lankas-rural-development/223273-3.html

http://transcurrents.com/tc/2009/08/monsoon_miseries_of_manik_farm.html

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2470599.ece

http://groundviews.org/2009/04/17/sri-lankas-idp-camp-manik-farm-is-what-it-is-but-what-is-that/

Then, a friend’s brother recommended ayurveda. Though sceptical, Bharath decided to give it a try. He went to an ayurvedic hospital called AyurVaid at Domlur in Bangalore. Bharath was pleasantly surprised. AyurVaid resembled a modern private hospital. He was shown some case studies where AyurVaid’s treatment had cured patients with similar problems.

Today, Bharath is a happier man. He is optimistic that one day he will be completely free of the pain that almost derailed his perfect life.

For the doctors at AyurVaid, Bharath is another case study. Sometimes AyurVaid uses a combination of ayurveda and allopathy to treat patients. This is one of the few things that sets AyurVaid apart from the 2,400-odd ayurveda hospitals in the country.

“We bring out the best in both [allopathy and ayurveda],” says Rajiv Vasudevan, founder of AyurVaid. To change people’s perception of ayurveda, he has used a business model that is similar to some allopathy hospitals.

AyurVaid documents every treatment administered in its network of six hospitals across four states. This detailed documentation and process-driven style of practice has also helped AyurVaid get the first NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers) certification for an ayurveda hospital.

The Origin
This evidence-based approach is also what makes Vasudevan sound like an ayurvedic physician. Though not formally trained, he can identify and rattle off cures for various diseases. He says, “The personality driven thing [practice] is the bane of a system like this. They say it is divine capability as opposed to science, which everybody can learn.”

But not long ago, Vasudevan himself was a non-believer. A mechanical engineer from NIT, Calicut, and an MBA from IIM, Calcutta, his foray into ayurveda was accidental. In 2003, Vasudevan was working as a special officer for biotech with the Government of Kerala. The government had asked him to create a road map for the development of biotechnology in the state. While researching the field, he saw the connection between biotechnology and ayurveda. His began to delve more into ayurveda and saw a process hidden behind years of tradition. He decided to turn that process into a business model when he started AyurVaid.

Vasudevan opened his first two hospitals with funds, to the tune of Rs. 50 lakh, borrowed from family and friends. The first hospital was set up at Ernakulam in 2005. The hospital, which has now shifted to Kochi, had 15 beds. Today, AyurVaid has five more hospitals — two in Bangalore and one each in Chennai, Hubli and Mumbai — and a customer base of 20,000 patients. From the beginning, Vasudevan ensured that systems such as the customer relationship management (CRM) were in place. After he formulated the other standards for treatment, in 2008, he went in for an initial round of funding and received Rs. 4.5 crore from Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund.

“AyurVaid presents an innovative business model to leverage traditional medicine in a way that can provide high quality care for growing chronic diseases,” says Meghna Rao, country head, India, Acumen Fund. The year he received funds from Acumen, Vasudevan started the Domlur hospital with 30 beds.

Not Just Grandma’s Remedy
Ayurveda is a systems approach to health,” says Vasudevan, “and a systems approach looks at multiple systems and their approach to each other. It’s got a language. It’s got physiology, anatomy, pharmacology. It’s got a conceptual framework, where you say this is the thing I see in the system; so if this is happening in this system, the root cause for that is something happening in another system.” Put simply, ayurvedic science believes in going to the root cause of a problem before recommending treatment.

Although this conceptual framework is taught in ayurvedic colleges, it is not practiced systematically in ayurvedic hospitals. Vasudevan and his team of doctors formulated a patient chart that goes deep into a patient’s history like previous treatments, allergies, reports, etc. They make a conscious decision to refer a patient to an allopathic hospital should they feel the condition is not manageable. Consequently, they also get referred to by allopathic doctors when patients cannot find treatment in allopathy.

]]> http://www.jokatimes.com/2012/02/01/ayurveda-nothing-divine-just-science/feed/ 0 http://www.jokatimes.com/2012/02/01/nokia-md-d-shivkumar-talks-about-common-mistakes-ceos-make/ http://www.jokatimes.com/2012/02/01/nokia-md-d-shivkumar-talks-about-common-mistakes-ceos-make/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:49:49 +0000 JokaTimes http://www.jokatimes.com/?p=3386

Ten of the big yet common mistakes that organisation heads make while running the show.

At a recent breakfast roundtable in Chennai organised by the Delhi-based International Market Assessment (IMA), D. Shivakumar, Managing Director, Nokia India, addressed the CEOs of a host of medium-sized companies on leadership issues and the mistakes that CEOs often make in dealing with the organisation team that reports directly to them. Shiv, as he’s known widely in the corporate world, drew on his almost 10 years of leading the country’s largest multinational corporation, also drawing and distilling knowledge from his many years of experience in that school for CEOs, Hindustan Unilever. His crisp presentation was followed by a vibrant exchange of views by the assembled CEOs of several leading Chennai-based companies. Business Line was invited exclusively to sit in on this talk and presented here are some gleanings from Shiv’s presentation. He prefaced his talk by setting the context for CEOs today.

The world is getting far quicker. Cycle times have dropped by half for every single product category from cars to mobiles. It has huge implications for your innovation plans, on the way you go to market, and the way you invest in new businesses.

Second, the world is less predictable and much more complex. In the past you were confident that 40 per cent was in the white zone, another 40 per cent in the black zone, and the rest in the grey zone. The ability to handle that 20 per cent was what defined you.

Today, I will say that grey is much larger, more like 60–70 per cent. So, the CEO’s role has changed. The CEO’s role used to be a reward in the past, but now, a number of CEOs I speak to are not sure if it’s a reward or a punishment. The challenges for a CEO are immense.

In the past, if the CEO wanted to take a holiday, he could, and it would not be possible to contact him. He would have assigned a deputy.

But, today, technology has changed all that. With e-mail and mobile, the CEO is on an electronic leash 24/7.

Now, anybody from your stakeholders and mediapersons to suppliers can contact you. The demands of the CEO are of a higher order than ever before.

The two qualities that people are pushing for much more in CEOs are decisiveness and holding people accountable. Today, you have to decide in the grey zone (a lot of flux), you cannot make that an excuse. And you also have to hold people accountable in the grey zone.

What are the common mistakes that CEOs make, especially with their direct reports?

I’ve been a CEO for some years and made a number of mistakes as well in my career. Here are some learnings:

The CEO sets lenient standards for himself and his/ her direct reports

This is a big common mistake, but the standards that you expect from yourself and your team have to be significantly higher than what you expect from everybody else. I can give you a number of examples: let’s take time management. Most CEOs don’t arrive in office on time, which is an empirical fact. They believe that being CEO allows them that perk, but the organisation does not believe that. If you expect everybody else to be on time, you better be there. Also, very few CEOs read the papers they are sent before a meeting. CEOs expect meetings to be run promptly and minutes to be recorded, yet, they don’t have their ship in order.

Please remember, today, CEOs are more than ever under a microscope. The average life of a top Fortune 500 company is 18-24 months. There is very little room for error. If the CEO is not disciplined, you cannot expect the same from the team. You have to demand a higher standard from yourself as CEO and from the team.

The CEO vacillates on the infighting in his team

By definition, a CEO’s team comprises people who have functional responsibilities. The challenge with such functional heads is that they bring that bent of mind to the table. But the CEO is supposed to be thinking of the business overall, not the function alone, where turf battles are being fought. The CEO cannot vacillate and favour one function above the other. This is a common mistake. In order to overcome this challenge, the CEO should be good at at least three functions. One, is the function of their calling, from sales, marketing or accounts; the second is people, you have to know people and the dynamics of HR well; and a third one of his choice. Typically, seven-eight functions report to the CEO. You should be good at least three of them, or the ability to add value down the line is compromised.

Your team will see you as a uni-dimensional person. The questions you need to ask yourself is whether you need a team of stars or a star team. It’s very easy to get the former. When you get everybody to think business and brand, then you have star teams.

CEOs overcook the consensus part

We try to ensure that everybody is on board on a decision — big mistake! After making that mistake, I learnt a simple rule — 60 per cent agreement, but 100 per cent commitment. I go around the table, take all the views from my team, and tell them I understand where they are coming from, but this is the decision, and I expect 100 per cent commitment from everybody.

You will never get 100 per cent agreement on everything. Let them know their voice is heard but once a decision is made, they need to go along with it.

The CEO treats everyone on the team equally

Another mistake a lot of CEOs make is that one tends to treat all the people in one’s direct team equally. I would say you need to treat your team equally but differently. On discretionary parts, you must be equal, but on emotional parts, you must treat them differently.

Some people need emotional support, and others don’t need it all. Some are worried about their children’s education, relocation and so on. So, the emotional needs of people are different. Only when you vary your emotional response to different people, can you get the best out of them.

The CEO believes what he is told by his direct team

I am a great believer in what Ronald Reagan used to say: trust but verify. I trust what I am told, but independently verify the details. You need to have your own bearings, otherwise, you can be misled by the very intelligent, super-efficient, articulate people who report to you. If you want to get the best out of them, verify. Just walk around the company and ask naïve questions and you will get the right answers. This is an important lesson I learnt early in life; if something matters to you, you will remember it. Naïve listening and lunch-time conversations can help you glean info.

The CEO is susceptible to a healthy ego massage

The CEO is susceptible to an ego massage and you need to be careful. The best CEOs shoot for wider respect in the organisation and don’t shoot for popularity. If it’s for popularity, you can end up doing the wrong thing. Shoot for respect and you can end up doing the right thing. Please think legacy of your term as CEO, not your tenure. And, never confuse personal loyalty to institution building — a person who may not be loyal to you may be a great guy at institution building.

CEO mistakenly assumes that his direct reports will always do what’s right for the company

This invariably happens. The biggest issue is on resource allocation — whether of people or material. This is where people do all the wrong things because they are protecting turf. The biggest challenge for the CEO is that 90 per cent of your team will think function first and business next. Because, in their own minds they feel that if they don’t fight for their functions, they won’t be seen as strong leaders by their teams. Here, the CEO has to step in and stop the insecurity. Second, you will always have people who will be very good at managing you and very poor at managing the team. Trust me, this is because the CEO is turning a blind eye to him. People will ask why the CEO is tolerating that kind of behaviour? CEOs are responsible for the bullies in the organisation, because the CEO tolerates them.

Nothing is more weakening of the CEO’s role than this. The organisation expects to listen to the CEO and talk to him, that’s the reason they have given him the job. Mother Teresa said it best when she said the role of the CEO is a contact sport, you need to go around shaking people’s hands and holding shoulders. That’s the role of a CEO. This cannot be outsourced! The CEO’s role cannot be communicated through direct reports. There’s nothing called enough communication, you’ve got to say it again and again. Putting it on the Intranet is a silly thing to do, nobody goes there. You have to communicate what matters to you and the company, whether it’s values or compliance.

One company that over-communicates on safety is Castrol. Every Castrol meeting starts with a safety drill. It’s become a rule with them, wherever they sit, they start with a safety drill on how to get out in case of an emergency. You are the leader and people want to hear you, see you and chat with you.

The CEO overprotects his younger team members from the wolves

You don’t need to protect your younger members. If he’s good enough to be on your team, then he can take care of himself and he better learn to swim. The moment you protect someone, you create artificial barriers. In a board room, everybody there has their roles to play. At that level, he should know how to handle himself and win or he shouldn’t be there.

The dilemma of being hands-on and hands-off

If there’s a problem, the tendency for a CEO is to jump in and solve the problem. I believe in the philosophy of micro sensing – I have a sense of what’s going on by meeting customers and suppliers and talking to a number of people in the organisation. I refer back to the guy on the field that this is going wrong and attend to it. I mention it once and twice, if it’s serious enough and he’s not doing it, then I pull him up. He has his own way of dealing with it and I leave it to him. Micro managing takes away the power from your subordinate, but micro sensing can actually empower him. For that you need to talk to a number of people and be aware of what is happening in the organisation. Talk to your competitors, they invariably know better than you, what’s wrong in your organisation!

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/fea … epage=true

He left the city as an IIM graduate, dreaming of a high-flying career in finance. Fourteen years later, when Amish Tripathi returned to Kolkata on Wednesday, letters, not numbers, had become his muse. The author of the bestselling ‘The Immortals Of Meluha’, the first book in the Shiva trilogy, was in town to inaugurate the Crossword bookstore at City Centre, Salt Lake. Excerpts from an exclusive chat with TOI.

How did ‘Meluha’ shape up? Did you always plan a trilogy?

When I was writing, I didn’t have the slightest hint about where this would go. Before this book, I’d never really written anything substantial. When I started writing this story, I wanted to be genuine with it as it came from my heart. I hadn’t planned it as a trilogy. I just kept writing. The story started stretching, so I decided to break it into a trilogy.

The book is set in 1900 BC but your protagonist, Shiva, speaks the language of the 21st century. Would you call it a literary gamble?

That was a conscience call…one of my first editors, who didn’t publish me eventually, asked me to write the book in classic English. I was against this because it is unnatural. English as a language didn’t exist in the region I concentrated on in the period I based the novel on. I wanted the style to be ‘easy unnatural’, using modern, simple English. The point of my book is to convey a certain philosophy. How will that happen if they do not understand a single word?

Commerce is now a subplot in almost every writer’s script. What about you?

I think when an author writes a book, he or she should not care about critics, publishers or editors. Once you start taking such factors into consideration, you’ll corrupt your story. Only once your book is finished, should you think about marketing the book.

There are several instances of promising authors not making it big due to bad marketing. What advice would you give to talented writers?

My first and most important advice will be to go with the flow of the writing and be true to the story. Once you finish writing, think practically and tactically.. In my case, my wife (Preeti) was very helpful as she came up with excellent marketing strategies. Quite a few publishers actually look down upon new authors, but I would advice them not to take it to heart. I have a lot of respect for self-published authors. They, too, are entrepreneurs.

Do you see the Shiva trilogy being made into movies?

Yes, I do have such plans and discussions are on at the moment. Shiva is my Lord so I want the movie to be made properly. I’m going to take some time to make my decision.

How does it feel coming back to Kolkata?

I’m biased. I’ve studied here and I love this city. It’s a lovely, romantic city. I’m coming here after 14 long years and I was spellbound when I saw the stretch from the airport. This development was very necessary, but I sincerely hope Kolkata doesn’t lose its soul in the process.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city … 389290.cms

Both professionals have been serving the bank for more than 18 years in different verticals. Currently, Jayaram looks after wealth management and international subsidiaries while Gupta takes care of commercial and retail banking.

An alumni of IIM Ahmedabad, Gupta has over 24 years of experience. Jayaram, another management graduate from IIM-Calcutta has served the industry for 32 years.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/busine … 68161.html