11/08/2014

11/08/2014; 19:22

There is so much to write about and so little time. I just returned from a batch-meet, that was organized with the purpose of spurring everyone to work hard, these last 20 days, to make the fest a roaring success. Okay, I’m going to try to maintain a chronological order as far as I can manage.

On Wednesday, 6th of August, after the Logic Mid-term, I spent about 3 hours at the District Collector’s Office in Indore. We were all set to have a Clean-Up Drive in Rajwada, Indore, on the 9th of August and needed permission for the event. Luckily, I anticipated the wait and was all prepared with a novel. The best part is that they are really nice to IIM-Indore students. The A.D.M. walked into his office at 2:00 p.m. I was allowed in at 2:03 p.m., my document was signed by 2:05 p.m. At 2:07 p.m. I walked out of the office after getting the seal marked on my document. The thrill stemming from small victories in life led me to almost skip the whole way down to the main road. I ate ‘Chhole Tikki’ in the rain and got myself back to campus, just in time for the 3:30 p.m. class.

The PGP Sports Comm is all set to organize Chunauti ’14 – the intra-IIM Sports Event, on the 15th, 16th & 17th of this month. There shall be 2 teams each, from IPM, PGP-I and PGP-II for each sport. The sports include Basketball, Throwball, Badminton and Table Tennis for the ladies and Badminton, Football, Cricket, Volleyball and Table Tennis for the guys. There were trials to be conducted, to select the teams, on the 6th of August. Due to incessant rain, everything except the Table Tennis trials was conducted on the evening of 7th August. Teams have been more or less finalized and we are all eagerly waiting for the 15th.

i-Help, an IPM Student-Initiative, that entails spending a couple of hours a week teaching students of local government schools received approval and our first trip (not counting the pilot visit) was organized on Thursday, 7th August. We paid a visit to 2 schools near campus and taught English and Mathematics to students of class 3-8. It was a rather nice experience for everyone involved. The children were all too happy to have someone almost their own age acting as instructors, and really insisted on all of us coming in again, as soon as possible. Of course, we promised to be back, the following week and left amid smiles and learning.

On the night of 8th August, we sat planning our Bhopal Campus Outreach. On a crazy impulse, we decided to leave at 6 the next morning and go around Bhopal, conducting games and putting up posters in different colleges in Bhopal. Luckily, we were advised to hold our horses and put the plan on hold until we had a more concrete one. We re-made a plan for the 12th, only to realise that most colleges would be closed or empty on Saturday. We’re currently making another plan, probably for the 14th; hopefully, it shall materialize.


On 9th August, we were all prepared, with brooms, garbage bags and banners- 2 large printed ones and several beautifully-done hand-made ones, to carry out our Cleaning Drive. We left campus at 4 p.m., with volunteers from both my batch and the very enthusiastic new 2014 batch. We reached Rajwada and began vigorously cleaning the streets, sweeping, scooping garbage into the bags and flashing our banners. We soon began to shout out slogans along the lines of ‘Swachh Indore, Saaf Indore’ and ‘Indore ki sadkein saaf karo’; also, we locked people in an inspiring, powerful glance and chanted ‘ Aapka Indore, Hamara Indore- Saaf Karo!’ in order to instil a sense of responsibility and instigate people to work for something that is their own. A few students from the 2014 batch did a great job of the slogan-shouting and I’m sure at least 3-4 people lost their voices for a day or two after the event. About an hour into operations, we were greeted by the media who asked for a couple of details and took photographs. There was even a local news channel, who took an interview, asking questions on the lines of our action plan, our motivation and our fest-Atharv. The event went well and everyone was glad to return to campus, munching on hot samosas.

Later in the evening, lots of enthusiastic juniors and a few people of my batch gathered in the FPM Block Common Room, to make phone calls. We sourced all the contacts we could manage and sat in a large circle, making phone calls and confirming event participation and campus ambassador registrations.

Yesterday, i.e. 10th August, was Rakshabandhan. We had a promotional event lined up at Treasure Island Mall, Indore. We got there by 5, had a set-up ready by 6 and began to execute what I thought was a great show. It began with a musical performance by three talented guitarist-singers of my batch. This drew a fairly large crowd around the stage. We began with a simple game, where a song was sung, the participant had to identify the movie, the hero/heroine of the movie and sing another song of the same movie. This game was fairly enjoyable and every participant was able to correctly identify and sing! This then seamlessly merged into an on-audience-demand song dedication. Couple of people came forward to sing and dedicate songs to various loved ones. We then had a Push-Up competition- the first round of many more to follow. The winner managed a staggering 64 push-ups and left with the grand prize. We then had another round of the music performance. We then had a Rakhi-Themed game. The participant had to complete the phrase ‘Mera bhai sabse shaitan bhai hai kyunki…’ or ‘Meri behen sabsi nakhre wali behen hai kyunki…’. Then, a short shayari event was held, with one man stealing the show with his rendition of love shayaris! We then had at least 5-6 rounds of the surprisingly popular Push-Up competition. The 64-record was first broken by a school-age boy in a black shirt. The highlight of the evening was a young man who kept going at the Push-Ups well after 64. Once he had done 70, the crowd joined in the counting. He did a 100 and then another one for good-luck! He received loud applause and cheering from the crowd! We closed with a singing competition, which saw our youngest participant- all of 5 years. The evening was well-enjoyed and fruitful. All the while, our team at the registration desk kept talking to people, telling them both about our fest-Atharv and our EDM Dance Party to be held on the night if 7th September. There was also an on-going Lucky Draw with 5 free Dance Party passes to be won! We garnered well over 100 registrations and were very happy with our efforts!

Today was pretty uneventful apart from the batch meet in the evening. The idea of an ‘ideal type’ in social science is rather intriguing. An idea, born of the human mind, yet free of any external influence, an idea in its purest form.