OPEN ART: Students participate in large numbers at a painting competition at La Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta.

Recently XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur, hosted the first-ever national sports meet for B-schools. Students from management colleges such as Xavier Institute of Management (XIM), Bhubaneshwar, and Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow took part. True to the spirit of sportsmanship, contingents from all three colleges fought it out in every sport, with scores of students cheering on their respective teams. There were events galore for lovers of outdoor sports such as football, cricket, volleyball, basketball and lawn tennis tournaments, as well as swimming and field and track competitions. The entire gamut of indoor sports, including table tennis, chess, carom and badminton, were also well represented. For those preferring the auditorium to the field, there was a sports quiz and cultural events which kept the audience engrossed. After two days of intense competition, XLRI emerged winners with 40 points, while IIM Lucknow were runners-up with a tally of 24 points and XIM had 10 points.

It would be nice if such an event could be held every year. For, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and Jill a boring girl.

Inderjit Singh, MBA batch of 2012, XLRI

CALCUTTA

Seely grit

Recently, I participated in a national competition for the best innovative structural steel design for civil and structural engineering students held by the Institute for Steel Development and Growth (Insdag), Calcutta. This year’s theme was a steel-intensive G+6 residential building, which, according to the experts, is in great demand in India. Among others, students from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, IIT Madras, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, and L.D. College of Engineering, Ahmedabad, participated in the competition.

Eighty six groups consisting of 295 students participated out of which 16 groups (four each from east, west, north and south zones) comprising 60 students from different engineering colleges were short-listed for the final round.

The team from IIT Roorkee won the first prize this year and the second prize was won by the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University.

It was a great learning experience to witness innovative designs of so many students.

Arunava Sarkar
fifth year, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER)

CALCUTTA

Go it alone

Recently, I attended the e-Cell Induction programme organised by Icfai Business School (IBS) in association with the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN). The seminar was aimed at briefing the new batch about entrepreneurship.

We had two guest speakers, Avi Das, an entrepreneur, and Bappaditya Roy Biswas, coordinator, NEN. They not only told us the thrilling stories of their success but also explained what exactly makes a successful entrepreneur. We were given inspiring examples of such successful Indians as Indra Nooyi (CEO of Pepsico). The speakers challenged us to come up with innovative ideas about the kind of services or products we would like to introduce in the market. By the time the seminar came to an end, we were all motivated and ready to start our own start-ups.

Nutan Shahani
Second year, PGPM, IBS

NEW DELHI

Quiz time

Instituto Italiano di Cultura, New Delhi, and brand Del Monte recently announced the launch of Quizitalia 2011, a contest for schoolchildren in India. The quiz is part of the 150th year celebrations of Risorgimento, the movement that led to the unification of Italy. It will involve 2500 schools across the country. Quizzes will be held in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Calcutta, Chandigarh, New Delhi and Jaipur. The 10 city-level winners as well as wildcard entries through the online quiz will meet for the final in New Delhi on October, coinciding with the 11th edition of the Italian Language Week.