The first day of Pragati dawned bright and shiny as the Teams dreaming of carrying home the coveted title of Winners of ‘Pragati 2006’. The event kicked off with an Inauguration by Capt.T.KAsokan. He prides in being the one to set up the first amusement Park in the whole of South India. He addressed the students in a manner that was most gentle, but succeeded in conveying the message that what was important was being a ‘Sport’ in the game of Life. There are no ‘losers’ he taught us, only winners and ‘participants’. In an Event like this when the competition is so intense and each Team vies with the next for being the one that would steal the show, it was definitely something that all the Teams would keep in mind. His inspiring speech was followed by Flash presentations of all the games of the different Forums of Pragati: Fortune (Finance Forum), Gen-M (Marketing Forum), Technocrats (Systems Forum), Ozone (Operations Forum), Relations (HR Forum) and Jagriti (Self-Awareness and Personal Growth Forum).
The excited Teams, many still arriving, rushed off the Register for the first two games for the Day: Espresso from the Finance Forum and Adage from the Marketing Forum. The games for Pragati 2006 began with a bang with BIM (Bangalore) claiming the top prize in Adage and ICFAI (Chennai) ruling in Espresso. ’Adage’ was an out-and-out Marketing competition with the participants being asked to market one of the most normal products: Breakfast cereal. Doesn’t it make it more difficult to market? ’Espresso’ the Finance Game was all about making decisions as a CFO would: capital structure decisions and managing a Coffee Chain. Sounds easy to you? The teams rose to the challenge magnificently and played the game with much involvement. The games for the afternoon session were ‘Blitzkrieg’ from the HR Forum and Procura from the Operations Forum.
Blitzkrieg tested team communicaton skills with a series of hurdles thrown in: XIME (Bangalore) came out trumps in this Game, while SDMIMD (Mysore) turned out top-dog in ‘Procura’. Procura was a challenging Operations game wherein the Teams had to transport resources to manufacture a Car, and the one which managed to do so with maximum cash left back in hand: was the Winner!
In the night, there was the Stock Market game from the Finance Forum:
‘Capital Mayhem’, it was conducted smoothly. The tension and risk in a Stock Market was simulated in the lab in ASB and the teams traded with great rigour. ICFAI (Hyderabad) came up trumps creating a portfolio that none could best. The other game that happened parallely was ‘Rush Hour’ from the Systems Forum. It was another exciting game wherein the Teams were Kings vying for each others’ Kingdoms. The King who amassed maximum of his competitor’s resources won the Game: and this titan was ICFAI (Hyderabad) again.
As of the second day of Pragati 2006, the action continued! There were three games in the morning: ‘Labyrinth’ from the HR Forum again: a game based on Maslow’s need hierarchy theory, no less! BIM (Bangalore) bagged the top prize with a sterling display of determination and confidence. Parallely, there was ‘Mineatus’ from the Operations Forum being conducted: the Teams have to handle an epidemic. Sounds hair-raising! The one that saves maximum number of lives won that game! And that mighty savior was ICFAI (Chennai). ‘Espionage’ from the Operations Forum was the surprise package that effectively captured the imagination of the participants. It turned out to be one of the most popular games of Pragati 2006 and the Teams greatly enjoyed it. ICFAI (Hyderabad) proved to be the best of all the aspirants and walked away with the much-envied first prize. Finally, there was the highlight of the Marketing Forum: ‘Gladiator’: the Best Manager game. This is the one game that every student who enters the portals of ASB hopes, that by some quirk of fate, they would win that title! The charmed one this time: sweating it out in rounds filled with stressors and impossible-sounding situations was Mr.Rangarajan from BIM (Bangalore).
That was the last of the games for Pragati 2006. The event melted away into the exciting finale: the Closing ceremony. The Chief Guest for the evening was Mr.Jayaramakrishnan who delivered an address that befitted the occasion perfectly: he gave a great number of anecdotes that sunk in very well with the excitable group of youngsters in the audience. He graciously presented prizes to the winners of the various events; there was also the declaration of a surprise event: that of ‘Mr. and Ms.Pragati’. Ms. Shuba Sethi from ICFAI (Hyderabad) walked away with the title of ‘Ms.Pragati’, and Mr. Thyagarajan from ICFAI (Chennai) clinched the title of ‘Mr.Pragati’ after having been continuously evaluated on campus on various criteria by the watchful students and staff of ASB! The highlight of the ceremony was obviously the golden, gleaming rolling trophy of ASB Pragati that was lifted to stupendous cheers by ICFAI (Hyderabad)!! There was not a happier group of people that evening!
The cheers and smiles soon metamorphosed into spell-bound wonder, as a variety of entertainment was put up by the students of ASB which seemed never-ending! There were about five different kinds of dances: ranging from classical to out-and-out western and vintage Malayalam! There was breath-taking rendition of the song ‘breathless’ by our student Vidyashankar. It could have made even Mr. Shankar Mahadevan proud! Followed by that was a guest performance from a student from Gandhigram Rural University who really had the crowd: he sang to karaoke mimicking an instrument. The wrap-up was with a rendition of the ‘ASB Pragati’ theme by three talented first years. It was the most befitting end to the evening: evoking the sentiments of pride, nostalgia and for us, the satisfaction of an event well-done. The Core Committee went on stage to take a final bow, and received ear-shattering applause. There was never a group that deserved it more! Their smiles turned into tears: as they realized that two months of hectic preparation and sleepless nights had culminated in a manner that none associated with ASB Pragati 2006 would ever forget. The pats on the backs and rounds of congratulations that went to each and every student after the ceremony was more than just that: it was an acknowledgement of a team that worked together; and stuck it through every crisis that arose. Having seen disappointment, failure and endless hurdles, seeing the end result turn out just as you hoped for: is indeed the best possible reward! That was Pragati 2006 for you: a dream come true for everyone involved with it!
Rajeswari Mani
(I MBA)
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