November 27, 2010
School of Business, Coimbatore
 

In order to do our duty, it is sometimes necessary to fight. On the battle-field, Lord Krishna had advised Arjuna to take up arms to help restore dharma. Stories about the bravery of warrior clans from all parts of the world inspire, celebrating the ultimate triumph of the righteous.
 

This same spirit was recently celebrated at the Amrita School of Business at Coimbatore also when MBA concluded their month-long festival Utsav. Conducted annually, the fest featured several extra-curricular activities that saw enthusiastic participation by students.
 

“Competition is not only about winning,” Dean Dr. Sanjay Banerji had reminded the students, while speaking at the inauguration. “It should also ensure overall positive development.”
 

As if taking these words to heart, over the next few weeks, students had organized and participated in a wide variety of events, both in auditoriums and on the sports fields.
 

They were busy.
 

As student president of the organizing committee, Jaichandra Subramaniam, 1st year MBA student, reflected on the celebrations.
 

“Right from organizing sports activities from 5.30 am in the morning to scheduling cultural events in between and after our classes, our days were full.”
 

“In the end, we were all inspired by the Gladiators with their never-say-die attitude, the Samurais who displayed exceptional skill and discipline, the Knights, who upheld their chivalrous ideals and finally the Spartans, who were united as one.”
 

Jaichandra was referring to the themed participation of the four student houses.
 

“Core committee members were not able to participate in any event. However, we gained so much valuable experience. We also enjoyed seeing our classmates and seniors enjoy.”
 

Akshaya M. Rajee, Ansu Thomas, Soumya Sucharita, Madhav Krishnan, Ram Lakshmanan, Shyam Krishnan, Sreeram C. and Sudarshan Kashyap agreed. As members of the core committee they were placed in leadership roles, that called for excellent organizational skills.
 

The team organized a competition, wherein every house was asked to prepare a video that highlighted the special characteristics of the warrior clan, whose identity it had taken on. The mock press event saw students assume roles of several famous personalities and field questions from their colleagues who acted as journalists.
 

Akshaya M. Rajee, of the core committee, summed up on behalf of her friends.
 

“We will never forget this one month for the rest of our lives. We had a great learning experience. We learned a lot about event management and scheduling, skills that will be useful to us in our professional lives as well. And we had loads of fun!”