Students play a game during the XL-Utsav. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, March 25: Students of XLRI abandoned their books for a game of cricket and a treasure hunt with their teachers on Sunday.

XL-Utsav, the annual students’ faculty fest of XLRI organised today, was an ideal platform for students to get to know their professors, beyond the confines of the classroom.

“Our first year would end in two weeks. So, this seemed to be an ideal time to organise a match and an event, which is a get-together of sorts. What better way to get to know each other than a match of sorts,” said Srivatsan, a first-year student at the B-school.

The fest started some three years ago to boost the camaraderie between faculty members and students.

“The main idea behind the event is to strengthen interaction between students and teachers through informal activities such as game shows and cultural programmes,” said Sriram, an executive member of the organising committee.

“This festival is jointly organised by three committees in XLRI — Sports Com, Dracula and SpicMacay — with fun games and competition. It’s all about rapport building,” added Ram.

But, like any typical B-school event, XL-Utsav was not completely devoid of management fundas.

Some events were based on theories from various fields of management.

“This year we had a new round called Treasure Hunt where each clue was written keeping in mind a company’s ethic or some famous tagline,” said students.

While clues like “look for the green in the red and white” stood for the ICICI ATM on the campus, “German car” stood for the Tata Auditorium. Divided into seven teams, the hunt saw teachers change avatars just for a day.

The cricket and soccer match involving the family members of faculties was another major draw. But the highlight of the evening was a rocking performance by Bodhi Tree — the in house rock band of XLRI.