Ask no questions, hear no lies.

It is said that there is no avoiding war. It can only be postponed to the benefit of our opponent. The question is; have we been able to identify our opponent? Or are we fighting a battle which our opponents are making us fight against our perceived opponents? The confusion and unrest is certainly going on within every mind but very few of us are actually battling out with our real enemies. We are running towards a goal which when we finally achieve might not be victory at all.

It is also said that our greatest opponent will hide in the very last place that we can ever imagine. More often than not, it lies within ourselves. Have we meditated enough to search for it before we began our battles?

The internship period for most of the post-graduates is nearing its end. For some it is already over. It is time now to once again ponder over it, if we have not done it as yet. There are two things that we need understand. One: being aware of what is happening around us. Two: Accepting what is happening in our environment and how it is impacting us.

Most of us have failed in the doing the first and not understood the meaning of the second. We had closed our eyes to the external world or the ‘game’ that was going around us. We became the pawns of the game and let the players decide the moves. We did not realize it then, we probably haven’t realized it yet. This game did not begin when we joined college. It started the day we were born. It is being played since the time man gained controlled over his mind. What is the quality of your game and what is the nature of the game in which you are playing, are questions that should be worrying us now.

There is not much of a change that you can bring into the environment all the time. However, if you accept to be a part of it, you need to be aware of it. You need to be able to see the games that are going all around you and be aware of it as an external agent and not as a participant. A bird’s eye view of the board is what is required rather than watching close-ups of others from within the board on which the game is being played. Have you accepted to be a part of the environment being aware of what is going on around you; is what we need to ask ourselves today?

The second year at college would begin and get over. Another game would be over and a new one would begin from there on. We need to get to a position from where we know if we want to play a game or just be in a game. If we want to make our moves in the game when others attack or if we want to be able to predict the moves of others? Even if we get hurt in the game, we might not get hurt within if we are aware of the game. That is a position where we need to strive and get.

What is disturbing and inspiring is that people do not question. We rarely question rationality and logic. We do not always look beyond what is obvious to explore what lies beneath. We just talk and when we talk in a grammatically correct manner, we start thinking that we are making sense. We start thinking that we are heading somewhere in the war.

Paraphrasing the obvious, should not be considered as deriving logic. Most of us have entered into a war-zone without questioning the reason for our presence there. Our leaders might be chasing a dream which when achieved will not get us anywhere. Then why are we just following instructions without questioning the reason for our presence in any particular game. We are usually fighting a useless war just because we need to keep on doing something as a part of living. Our actual war might have been lost somewhere else. It is extremely disturbing for a race and very promising for a sharp mind. Where do you see yourself amongst the two?

I feel disturbed when people live without thinking enough. We are a waste if we do not utilize our intellect to fight the real battle. A battle which goes beyond running for a degree, beyond looking for a placement, beyond waiting for an increment, beyond taking coaching classes, beyond getting married, beyond partying out, beyond white collar jobs, beyond scenic locations, beyond two square meals and beyond glamour.

The real battle is to be able to exit the game, to be able to watch it if we have to be a part of it.

Let us understand that. Let us understand that getting a job offer is not enough. Let us understand that getting a high score is not everything. Let us understand that getting a good package is not enough. Let us understand that studying what is being taught is not enough. Let us understand that doing what is being asked is not enough. Let us understand what it is to understand and then understand it.

There is infinite scope for a mind that is able to look within itself and then look at the world from outside while being a part of it. The mediocre is waiting to get fashioned into games when you know how to begin one. The mediocre just wants to experience the journey thinking that they are heading towards a victory. We just need to make them fight themselves. Most of them would not believe you even if you told them who their real opponents are. Most of them would not even believe you if you told them that they are fighting themselves.

Most of them would ask you questions and humbly accept all lies. I don’t want anyone to ask me anything. I do not like to lie.

The Thing Is...

January 5th, 2008, eh? Been a very long time since this blog was updated, and it really hasn't said much that was substantial, has it?

Bloody hell.

It's not as if we haven't had much to say, or done much over these past few months. We've done a lot more than you'd think.

It's just, well, how do you describe something that's so complex, and so dysfunctional that it loses its charm the second you put it into words? Essentially, you can't.

You show up, hate it, understand it, and then for the oddest reason, fall in love with it. So experience FLAME for all that it is, and go from there.

You'll show up and whine about things for a while. You'll contemplate leaving for what you think is a better institute, and you'll talk about why FLAME isn't for you. In the end, you'll never leave. For all its crap, FLAME is unique. There is perhaps no place like it in this country, and there never will be.

So enjoy it, because the next year of your life is one that you'll never forget.

To the new Torch Bearers…

I envisage our minds as flint stones which have the capability to kindle a fire when ignited. They say that a good education adds on to this fire. The flame then glimmers in the mind and stays with ones core forever…However, I am not sure…am yet to experience it!

The intent of this write up is not to promote anything. This is a candid forthright attempt to paint a myriad picture at Flame.

If you fall into the addiction of seeing the glass half full, then you are sure to be positive about learning at Flame. If you are the kind of person who loves to taste an innovative cuisine at the inauguration of a new restaurant and then weighing it in your mind machine to appreciate and criticize it on different parameters to then tell your friends and relatives about it, Flame is for you. It’s an experience that you may be reluctant to dive in, but it will sure be something to cherish about once you have come here.

You may miss the city, but countryside has its own fascination… And that too, a hi-tech countryside where you sit your machine coffee at the water cascade with your lappy…! You may feel claustrophobic at times, when you want to get out of here and go to the city. It’s the time you die for weekends. One can actually feel the joy of witnessing cars and crowd, roads and restaurants!

What may sure magnetize you to come here is the top view of the beautiful green golf course while you traverse through the unmade roads towards the campus! There may be times when you just want to jump from the roads onto that green patch of land. It almost feels like your treasure lies just beneath and yet you hardly get there!

There are mixed reviews about the food that feeds us in flame. But the half glass full theory works here as well! You will have no qualms about the food here if you have already had the experience of being away from your family deprived of “maa ke haath ka khana”, only to eat in a typical mess where a ‘roti’ can be used as an eraser! You will feel blessed with the food Sodexho provides you at Flame. There are days when they let you indulge in sinful bliss with hot chocolate and brownie and there are days when you may just wish to consume as much buttermilk as you can!

Multi tasking and time management skills will get honed to their best. From yoga to sports to developmental activities to attending classes, doing assignments, participating in events, squeezing in time to eat lunch, running for lectures, not being allowed in accounts classes at 9.01 am, watching late night movies of course under ‘movie club’, learning not to rely on only one alarm and much more!…
Flame will sure train you to be the superman and the superwoman of the 21st century!

Pankti Vora
Flame School of Communication
Foundation for Liberal and Management Education, Pune

Pareen, you were not the only one

So what if you are the thinnest in the college, so what if its your birthday, so what if you have most of the students in the college in your friend's list, what has to be done, has to be done. And you were not the only one.

Confused? Well I am talking about the birthday bash of our very good friend Pareen Lathia who was ornamented with infinite kicks on his rear side and decorated with cream (in all possible locations accessible to male friends on his body). This is the B - Ware Block style of making your birthday memorable and you certainly did walk away with a smile when you were heading to your room for a shower.

B Block - the haven for goodliness, the adobe of the Hyderabadi and Rajasthani folk, the place in the thick and thin of all action on the campus, the place where we initially didn't want to shift to and the place where we would hate to shift out of at present.

The three bungalows located at more than the outer end of the outskirts of the extended campus is where around twenty of the most weird (spell lively) people reside. What you will find here is a guitarist, cartoonist, drummer, disk jockey, event manager, cricketers, stock traders, bullies, cuties, teddies, geeks, women enchanters and a puppy which gives you company all the way each time anyone heads on the long journey to the class room.

There are several firsts when it comes to B Block. The first cricket pitch in the campus was the walkway between the two blocks with the lush green lawns forming cushions for daredevil stunts of the fielders. The first jamming sessions were organized here before they got recognized and moved on to the process of forming the college Rock Band. The first impromptu public speaking sessions were organized in the courtyard area providing hands on experience in polishing many skills along with stage fright, were among the few of the events which frequent the lives of all its residents.

B Block, though farthest from Pit Stop has now become the paradise within Flame for me and most of my friends out here. There is a gradual code developing and a process of living emerging out of this place which has started to infest the rest of the campus as well. With time, I hope, all the students on the campus would begin to appreciate and also 'live' life in the true fashion of how students ought to live away from home in the middle of nowhere.

Happy Birthday Pareen. Hope it remains a fond memory. If not, we are ready to celebrate again tonight. Same time, same place. God Bless.

Dipayan Kundu
FLAME School of Business
Foundation for Liberal and Management Education, Pune

Idea A Day

Coffee can do wonders and when it is free of cost, you can’t ask for a better treat. This article is dedicated to those two cups which I wasn’t asked to pay for at the inauguration of “The” Pit Stop yesterday evening, which motivated me to take up this book, which in turn inspired me to scribble these lines.

When Mr. Neeraj Swaroop was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank, India, one of his earliest introduction, was the creation of two email addresses: ihaveanidea@in.standardchartered.com and ihaveanissue@in.standardchartered.com both of which would be directly managed by him and any of the 5000+ employee force in India could write to him. Both of these formed his strongest tools in looking at innovative solutions to business problems and also getting a chance to remove issues at all levels which could otherwise remain unreported, under-reported or incorrectly reported. The improved performance of the bank and higher satisfaction levels in the employees can also be attributed to the above to a certain extent.

Similar to the above is this book called ‘The Big Idea Book’ edited out from the online website ‘idea-a-day.com’, which is an online archive of ideas on varied subjects as thought by the authors and submitted by the readers. This book and the website has ideas collected and visualized by the authors and presented in a copyright and payment free mode for the benefit of anyone and everyone who might be interested in it. While some of the ideas are funny and far stretched from any practical relevance, there are many, which could be converted into viable propositions. The idea behind the project though is not to find out as to how many of their published ideas are actually converted into full scale projects.

This brings me back to one of those things which I purposely avoided this new years eve: resolutions. If there is one that I now wish to make now, it is to generate ideas, insane or relevant they might be, but the process will not be useless ever. This also makes me feel that if this thought is absorbed and worked out by the management, we might be able to see several innovative solutions and great ideas on the campus. I would love to see anything at all being initiated in this direction.

For the moment, I will just leave with the idea which is posted on www.idea-a-day.com today.

“Award honors (like New Year Honors in Australia and the UK) only to individuals voted for by the wider population. The public would be encouraged to submit nominations and, subsequently, to cast a vote for the nominees they would like their nation to reward in this way. A combination of voting methods, including online and phone options, would maximize democratic participation and media interest.

Day 2694 2 January 2008 by Steve Evans”

The archives on the website and the book 'The Big Idea Book', a copy is available with the library are a must read.

I have an idea as well. There should be some free coffee coupons awarded for any good idea submitted to the management.

For the Record

Bridging the Gap

“There is a disconnect between information and life.”
- A man of few words, but an intellectual of the highest standards. Meet the chairman of NABARD, Dr. YSP Thorat.
He said this with reference to the structure followed by our educational system.

We all at FLAME have an inkling about the powerful individuals associated with the development and progress of our alma mater. But each time we meet someone from the esteemed circle, the urge to strive ahead becomes ever stronger.

His words struck me to ponder upon an incident just the day before in our cinema class. We were expected by our professor to analyze a film and some students insisted that he provide a structure, a basic frame of reference for the assignment.

He tried explaining that this was an experience that would help us stretch our imagination and if he were to give us boundaries, we would perhaps not give our creative best.

Dr. Thorat simply reiterated those words. Students today, are so attuned to a set pattern, style of functioning, that if we were surprised with a different form of work – we would simply not survive. This process needs to be tackled at the grass root level – in the class room – where in teachers instruct students about the A – Z of a particular problem and its solution. That would be fine in the short run, but in the long run, it would make the student dependent on some one for the solution in every walk of his life.

He gave us the example of a carpenter, when given a block of wood would shape it the way he wants. But a student as a human being, alone has the right to shape his life and his destiny. Thus, sticking to a structure, an old redundant pattern would only stagnate our evolution.

I hope FLAME as a heaven for Liberal Education, will break this pattern and facilitate the flow of creative energies in the hearts and minds of all its students.

Prisoner’s Dilemma

I was forced to think deeply over the concept of ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’ ever since we studied the topic in our economics class the other day. For those who are not aware of it, here is the explanation using an example from Wikipedia for your understanding:

“The classical prisoner's dilemma (PD) is as follows: Two suspects, A and B, are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal: if one testifies for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both stay silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a five-year sentence. Each prisoner must make the choice of whether to betray the other or to remain silent. However, neither prisoner knows for sure what choice the other prisoner will make. So this dilemma poses the question: How should the prisoners act?



In deciding upon this kind of a situation, both the prisoners will try to reduce their risk and also try to predict what the other prisoner will do. If Prisoner A confesses his crime and Prisoner B does not, he would walk free without having to serve any sentence at all and the opposite is also true. If both the prisoners do not confess their crime at all, both of them would walk away with a minor sentence of just 6 months, which seems like a win-win situation for both of them. They are also told that if both of them confess then they will both have to serve a term of 5 years.

In this kind of a scenario, it is usually seen that both the prisoners will not confess and hence serve a term of 5 years each. The paradox of the situation lies in the fact that that both of them will confess no matter what even though they are fully aware that they would be better off had they not confessed. This happens mainly when each of them try to judge how the other prisoner would behave and accordingly try to reduce their own risk.”

When the same is seen in context with various kinds of competitions and the system of relative grading in our college, the results could be startling. In the case of competitions which would provide a chance to individuals to mutually accept a win-win situation for both, they would not normally do so and would defect thus resulting in a lower win for each of the competitors. Even when it comes to relative grading, students could arrive at a common consensus where each would be benefit out of sharing rather than being frightened of their peers and over working or stressing out. However, would this does not normally happen and it leads to a situation where one is not sure about the other and at the same time wants to reduce his chances of losing out leading to a relatively poor result for both.

Research also shows that when Prisoner’s Dilemma is played more than once in succession (with both the players having memory of the previous encounter, then there can be more cooperative outcomes beneficial for both.

Will that be one of the situations that we could encounter on the campus?

There would definitely be many more such scenarios which we would come across in the course of our stay. From inter-house competitions, to individuals working in group projects, to forming groups to negotiate deals from the council or the management, to the placements; these dilemmas would certainly affect most of us. Our reactions would be interesting to study to see if we actually end up mutually co-operating with each other or not.

Connected at Last!

Happy Diwali!

Happy Diwali guys, and I hope you're having fun over this week.

Oh, FSB Students, I've been asked to remind you guys of your upcoming midterms.

If you guys do have any meet ups, we'd like pictures. You know where to send them by now.

Things that all future generations at FLAME need to go through:

1. Sleeping with four other people in a room only meant for two.
2. Taking a cold shower at 6:30 AM.
3. Living out of a suitcase for a week.
4. Indira Parikh's Induction Lab.
5. Falling in love with a pre-fabricated cupboard.
6. Learning the true value of salt in food.
7. Sharing ONE toilet among fifteen people at 8:30 AM, when classes are starting at 9AM.
8. Watching Hazel Mehta tell a room full of students that Rajastan is backwards.
9. Watching hot water gush out of a tap after a week of cold showers.
10. The first two weeks at FLAME.

Editor's Note: It has just come to our attention that people believe that this post speaks badly about FLAME. This was not the intention behind this at all. The only way that a person will understand this, and the emotion behind it is to live the way we've lived for the past two weeks. You truly do become closer to people. Among all of this stuff we've gone through, we really have bonded. In the immortal words of Aman, we're now "FLAME-ily".

Most of you that know me from Orkut know that I pretty much disliked all of the PG students on there. Now, if you ask me, I honestly can't see why I disliked them in the first place. I really can't imagine life without Kunal, Miten, Mishal and the rest of them. As I sit at home now, sick, life at FLAME is the only thing going through my mind. That's after just a few weeks like this.

First Trek at Flame

India won the World Cup. The euphoria reached a hilt at one point when enthusiasts demonstrated their emotions on the furniture outside pitstop! 6.30 am next morning. 23 sleepy students. Waiting at Pit Stop. Still celebrating???

Naaa! We left behind Bhaji's captaincy for something even more fun – a trek with General Mehta, our CO and inspiration for numerous initiatives at FLAME.



There were some samples of course; some were literally dragged out of bed like our Gandhiji Vickey (ahem... Dipika had to do the honours of dragging her bhaiya out!)

On the way up the hill, General Mehta shared a few precious memories of his time spent in Kashmir and the jawan's life in the Indian Army, extremely inspiring. It felt so great...an honour to be able to hear his stories and be a part of the experience.

As with all awesome things, the fun part came right at the end, while walking half way down the constructed road, some of our crazy UG girls came up with the brilliant idea of taking the 'off the beaten track' - a slope cutting almost 75 degree right down, leading us to the golf course! Now, normally, we would have taken the sane road and come down like respective (read boring people) but no, the crazy gang with our 60 year young leader went down the rubble filled slope! Slip! Tumble, scratch! Ouch! Through muck, slippery grass, and a lot more, we managed to paint our bottoms a healthy earthy shade, what with everyone sliding down with no clue as to where their feet slip next!

It wasn't exactly the most strenuous trek, neither was it tiring, yes we all came back all dirty, but with big grins all across our excited faces, and most important of all - the fun-o-meter – I rate that a 100%!

Cheers to more such adventure at FLAME!

Deepti Jhangiani

Flame School of Communication

Foundation for Liberal and Management Education

Pune, India

Credits for Images:

Deepti Jhangiani

Flame School of Communication
Foundation for Liberal and Management Education
Pune, India

http://deeptijhangiani.blogspot.com/

Bollywood Night - Special Photo Feature

Event: Bollywood Night
Venue: Indoor Sports Complex
Time: Dark Hours
Dress Code: Formals or Elegant Wear
(Entry by invitation only)


The CEO of the evening, MS. POOJA SHAH:

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

And her small team of people:

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

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Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

The people who graced the occasion:

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

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Image Courtesy: Dipayan Kundu

Image Courtesy: Dipayan Kundu

Image Courtesy: Dipayan Kundu

And this is what happens when they all go CRAZY, DANCING:

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

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Image Courtesy: Dipayan Kundu

Image Courtesy: Dipayan Kundu

Image Courtesy: Dipayan Kundu

Image Courtesy: Dipayan Kundu

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

Image Courtesy: Dipayan Kundu

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

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Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

Image Courtesy: Deepti Jhangiani

Credits for Images:

Deepti Jhangiani
Flame School of Communication
Foundation for Liberal and Management Education
Pune, India

And

Dipayan Kundu
Flame School of Communication
Foundation for Liberal and Management Education
Pune, India

P.S: More images expected by tonight from Rahul Khamboj. So hang on to this space for some more time.