November 11, 2014

Prodigy is a management oriented event organized by Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies for school students, which aims to tap the energies and capture the attention of all creative, innovative and talented minds of the age group 16-18 years by the means of an intriguing order of events taking place. The intentions of the same are in consonance with the SSCBS philosophy of spotting and developing business talent of the youth in the country.

The all India prelim of Prodigy has witnessed enthusiastic participation from over a 100 schools from the entire nation, including the cities of Delhi, Amritsar, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Agra, Vadodara, Lucknow, Dehradun, Hissar, Jaipur, etc. This year, the theme of Prodigy ’14 is “KICKSTART” and will be held on the 15th of November. Prodigy’14 seeks to inspire students to take up new challenges and risks to fulfill their dreams and gives them an opportunity to fulfill their corporate aspirations.

The event is 3 tiered, with online prelims as the first level, where the schools were asked to submit a solution to the case studies provided to them. These case studies, based on the concept of mergers and acquisitions, provided a platform for introducing a new concept to the students. From these, 50 schools have been shortlisted for the second level, where 2 teams from each school will compete, with the first team taking part in ACUMEN-the Business quiz, which will test the knowledge and logical prowess of the students. At the same time, another team from the same school will take part in the Bullseye- the stock simulation game, where the students will be given a virtual amount of cash to invest after carefully analyzing the market news and rumors.

After these grueling competitions, the chosen few will proceed to the arena of gladiators, where only the strongest will survive, and so we come to the final round, Corporate Simulation. This event has been designed from the ground up and promises to give the students a sneak peek in an ever changing environment, risks and challenges of the world of business. The event aims at providing a wholesome learning experience that will leave the students with memories and skills that will stay with them forever.

The defining goal behind Prodigy is to challenge students, inspire them to take chances,
and to provide them with hands-on knowledge that goes above and beyond what is taught in schools. And keeping that in mind, Prodigy has and will enable students to ‘kickstart’ their dreams.

Sanyam Khetarpal

(Writing for Prodigy)

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Biblio

Book review: Anti-Social Network By Piyush Jha

By DU Beat November 11, 2014

The story, as the name and the cover clearly suggest, is a crime-thriller. Based in Mumbai, it takes the reader through the murky world of tech-savvy miscreants who use social networking sites and the Internet for blackmail and ‘sextortion’. Inspector Virkar is the apparent protagonist, and just like all protagonists, he is supposed to solve the riddles in the plot. In this case, it means finding the connection between a string of gruesome murders, and the activities of a bunch of college students-turned-cyber criminals.

Now, it might seem an exaggeration, but it is not: I read the novel, cherished it and really likened it to the mystery thrillers penned by Satyajit Ray. Inspector Virkar is almost like Feluda in his contemporary incarnation.

This novel, at one level also tells the reader how real the threats of privacy and security are, in this age of internet-addiction, thereby giving us goosebumps. I, for example was scared to use my laptop, webcam and so on for days after reading the novel.

The plot has all possible ingredients of a bestseller- a group of college students gone morally decrepit, a psychologist with multiple roles to play, a police system marred by complacency and a hacker, who retains “ethics” in his activities, and deploys his talent to help Virkar.

A hitherto solid, foolproof expert network shatters on the altar of one woman’s revenge and another man’s incessant pursuit of a way beyond the deadlock. With its arcane description of the repugnant crimes, an insight into the threats posed by the virtual world, and an underlying manifestation of a troubled, frail teenage psychology, this book is totally worth the time and money spent on it. The crisp, accurate narrative which has, to the delight of the reader, no verbosity, is a major puller. A lot of colloquial phrases have been used, and this may be liked by some readers, detested by others. And yes, a character to watch out for, Naina our enigmatic psychologist, sarcasm personified!

In the beginning, until the plot settles into a chase, it might appear as if it is an episode straight out of CID. I implore the reader to keep reading and not assume that it is monotonous, because it is worth it!

Kritika Narula

[email protected]

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Spo(r)tlight

The Sporting Dilemma

By Brij Pahwa November 11, 2014

What comes first – the nation or the individual self? Well, for patriots, it would be the former. But what about the self-satisfying class that we have now become? What about our own needs? What about our own desires and free will, which the constitution of this nation entrusts us with? Here goes the dilemma – what should come first, the country or self?

Such a concern has recently confronted the lawn tennis players of this country and more categorically, the Sports Ministry of India. So here goes the controversy: the ministry was wary of the fact that some senior national tennis players chose ‘other’ tennis tournaments and not those which would have had made them serve India at the International tournaments, like the Asian Games 2014. The reason given by the players was that they needed to ‘revive’ their rankings. Though, this hasn’t been the first controversy as a matter of fact when it comes to players participating in tournaments where they are recognised as not playing for the country but themselves.

If one goes onto find the reason of why such a thing even takes place, the first thing which comes to mind is ‘money’. De facto, the international tournaments such as the Wimbledon and the US open give more as reward money than other tournaments such as the Asian or the Commonwealth games. But is money the only issue? Sometimes it is pride which instigates players to play for such tournaments rather than those which will propose their national identity. Other times, it is being just horns-locked with the government for not providing enough preparation funds.

Whatever may be the case, the whole controversy certainly demoralises the spirits of the nation as a whole. And for the fans in a country like India, one of the more enthusiastic sporting nations of the world, the feeling gets buried deep inside. But what if tomorrow, you are given a chance to represent your nation and at the same time in a private international tournament which gives you a chance to make more money? Which one would you chose? In a dilemma, are you? Such has been the case with the sporting veterans of India as for what to choose, the country or self.

Featured image credits: www.bigstockphotos.com

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