Yatra

Ed's Note: When this blog started, our promise to you was to provide a platform for any and all information regarding FLAME. Now this was, as far as promises go, a fairly generic one. So when Pareen Lathia sent us this, we were fairly divided on it. Rahul thought that the "Yatra" poem/story published by FLAME was fairly relevant. I didn't think so, and a bunch of people I talked to agreed. Rahul's argument was this was what really distinguished FLAME from other institutions, and the fact that they were brave enough to publish this instead of talking about infrastructure the way other Institutions do was what initially convinced him to join FLAME. Mine was that this thing was an awful copy of previous poems, and holds no real information. This wasn't a journey anyone at FLAME went though, be it students, Faculty, or the Founders. It had nothing, really. So we laid that argument to rest and resolved to think on it further. Then it occurred to me that it wasn't really our opinions as individuals that mattered, but the collective opinion as a whole. So, we lay this out to the people now: What do you really think about "Yatra"?

On a side note, regardless of what we all think of the book, I think Pareen deserves to be applauded for taking time to actually scan all the pages of the 'Yatra' booklet and converting it into a Power Point presentation with some good animation work as well. So, thank you Pareen, on behalf of all the people who would want to download a copy of it and preserve it on their computers.

Without further ado, here are Pareen's thoughts on this, and the link to the show. It's about 14MB, for those of you on dial up or metered connections, it would take some time to download.

Friend: "What are you doing these days?
Pareen: I'm going to Pune for my MBA.

Friend: Ohh! Thats great. Which institute? Symbiosis?
Pareen: No. It's called FLAME.

Friend: FLAMES? ...
Pareen: FLAME

Friend: OK! FLAME. But never heard of it before.
Pareen: Yaa...it's a new institute. We'll be the first batch.

Friend: Why? You did not get admission anywhere else?
Pareen: No! Actually...

Friend: How much do they charge? Fees and all?
Pareen: Actually, its a bit high...11 lakhs

Friend: What? Does this include the donation? Man! Why don't you try abroad then?
Pareen: Ohh! No...this is a good institute...faculty and all...

Friend: Do they guarantee placements?
Pareen: Ahh yes! The people behind this institute are big shots in the market dude! They will surely get good contacts!

Friend: And you know what, our President is the ex-Dean of IIM-A. And we have 110 acres of campus. We also have cottage apartments…and soccer field, golf course, cricket ground, open-air café, and we are getting Tablet PCs and just have a look at our menu…

Friend: Now this seems to be something. But still, 11 lakhs it a bit expensive.

I have had this experience every time I meet or even talk to any of my friends, relatives or even acquaintances. These are the times when, just for the sake of saving my face, I list all the "marketable" reasons for my joining FLAME.

But, there is one reason, which I consider more important than all the above put together, which I do not usually tell. That reason is FLAME's philosophy, the concept of Liberal Education, and the spirit with which people behind FLAME are working.

I hesitate to explain this to most of the people - just because they come with a different mindset. Also because I doubt my capabilities to explain these concepts and their importance.

So I decided to tell them a story. Yes, the same story that put some "Gyan" into my head and made me realize the true spirit of FLAME. The story that, I believe, would surely provide all the answers for the questions they asked.

People know what we tell them. And by telling them that FLAME is great just because of its faculty or infrastructure will limit FLAME's identity to that. But finally I won't have to create "a wrong image" of FLAME. I would be able to portray the FLAME that I am going into. And most probably I won't ever be able to explain what FLAME really is in a manner better than what this book does.

So I made the book called "Yatra" into a PowerPoint presentation – a presentation which will not only portray FLAME as it is, but also will serve as an answer to most of the questions. And not only can I show it to all my friends who want to know "What is FLAME?", but also keep it with myself for a lifetime. "

Pareen Lathia
Flame School of Business
Foundation of Liberal and Management Education, Pune


Here's the link for downloading the above file: http://www.devshard.net/yatra.pps

Credits for 'Yatra':

Concept: Subrata Bhowmick and Parag Shah
Sketches: Architect Rajeev Kathpalia
Photography: Parag Shah
Text: Abhay Joshi
Design: Subrata Bhowmick and Payal Nanavati
Published By: Foundation for Liberal and Management Education, Pune, India
Printed At: Pragati Offset Pvt. Ltd. Hyderabad, India