Rekindling the strength of an Indian ardor at the Harvard Business School... New dean, Nitin Nohria, is truly proud of his heritage and his dynamic grooming at IIT-Bombay --- Nitin Nohria

The technocratic civilization has made colossal strides world over, amidst which India stands tall and proud. Nitin Nohria, an iconic Indian, heads an iconic institute, Harvard Business School, as a dean. Nohria's profile is the testimony of his expertise not only in his subject but also in harboring a perfect attitude of generosity. After graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology -Bombay (IIT-B) in Chemical Engineering in 1984, he went on to receive a doctoral degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1988, immediately after which he joined Harvard Business School and served in the prestigious position of the Richard P Chapman Professor of Business Administration since 1999. He has also published several significant works in his field.
Nitin Nohria is truly proud of his heritage and his dynamic grooming at IIT-Bombay. He believes that he would not have achieved anything without the significant contribution of IIT-Bombay in shaping his personality and enhancing his mental dexterity. He was able to make a big leap (by entering Harvard Business School) only because of the strong foundation developed at IIT-Bombay with which he explored extraordinary opportunities with Harvard Business School (HBS). Over the last 22 years, he has traveled across the world and performed research in almost all parts of the world. And that has given him a global perspective that he thinks is very useful in shaping  contemporary businesses and business education.
Nohria has been able to keep the four drives (Drive to Acquire, Drive to Bond, Drive to Learn and Drive to Defend) in perfect balance. He pursued the first drive which is achievement (drive) and feels proud of his successful career. For ‘the drive to bond’, he feels blessed for the bonds he has with his family and friends. Being an academician, he certainly pursues the drive to learn each day and all the time and this is the most important drive for him to which he is sincerely committed. And in terms of the drive to defend, he stood for a cause, a cause to defend the terror attacks in Mumbai.
According to him, IIT-Bombay taught him to grapple and survive under any circumstance and because of which  he has successfully survived the challenges at America. He feels very indebted to his alma mater, IIT-Bombay, for having prepared him for the vicissitudes of life. He completely trusts that he couldn't have been at HBS without having imbibed the leaning  at IIT-Bombay.
Harvard President Drew Faust chose Professor Nitin Nohria as the tenth Dean of Harvard Business School. A scholar of leadership and organizational change, Professor  Nohria joined HBS in 1988 and has served the school in several capacities  like that of the head of the organizational behavior unit, as senior ol's leadership initiative. Professor Nitin Nohria was awarded with a medal for the distinguished alumnus in 2007 in IIT-Bombay. He earned the outstanding doctoral thesis award in behavioral and policy sciences while pursuing his Ph.D. in management from MIT's Sloan School of Management. He is a co-author of 16 books, including “What Really Works: The 4+2 Formula for Sustained Business Success,” which is a systematic large-scale study of management practices that truly differentiates business winners. His most recent, Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice, is a compendium dedicated to advancing research on leadership based on a colloquium he organized during HBS's centennial celebrations.associate dean for faculty development, and as co-chair of the school's leadership initiative. Professor Nitin Nohria was awarded with a medal for the distinguished alumnus in 2007 in IIT-Bombay. He earned the outstanding doctoral thesis award in behavioral and policy sciences while pursuing his Ph.D. in management from MIT's Sloan School of Management. He is a co-author of 16 books, including “What Really Works: The 4+2 Formula for Sustained Business Success,” which is a systematic large-scale study of management practices that truly differentiates business winners. His most recent, Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice, is a compendium dedicated to advancing research on leadership based on a colloquium he organized during HBS's centennial celebrations.
Professor Nitin Nohria, in his own teaching and research exemplifies the school's (Harvard) strong commitment to both academic rigor and its relevance to practice.  He has a global outlook and an instinct of collaboration across territorial boundaries that promise to don the Business School with new panorama. He not only studies leadership but embodies qualities of leadership in how he engages with people and ideas, how he thinks about organizational change, and how he sees the consequential challenges facing business schools and the business world.  He is someone with both a deep knowledge of HBS and its distinctive culture and a clear appetite for innovation and change in the service of reeminence among business schools world wide.sustaining HBS's preeminence among business schools world wide.
“I feel a profound sense of responsibility with business education at an inflection point, we must strive to equip future leaders with competence & character,”  says Professor Nitin Nohria.
Nohria who succeeds Jay Light believes that an individual has to be different and distinct in order to achieve something substantial and should “think out of box” which he was lucky enough to have been taught by IIT-Bombay.
His experimental mind always searched for new and novel ideas. For hours together he used to experiment with different chemicals in the laboratory at IIT-Bombay. His professors did recognize his potential and understood that he was a perfect cut out for management as well which he later on proved to be the one. His academic interests include the theory and practice of leadership, the study of human motivation, the analysis of management practices critical to corporate success, and the strategic and organizational challenges of globalization.
According to him leadership suffers intellectual neglect and has yet to be considered a serious academic discipline and as an academician he focuses on developing leaders who can make a difference in the world. In his opinion, business leaders play a crucial role in shaping industries and in turn how the evolving context of industries shapes leaders.
A scholar of leadership and organizational change, Nohria has always played a significant role in his approach towards academia, a trend he intends to carry forward into his administration. Nitin Nohria opines that Harvard has always been committed to coming into India, and he too looks forward to strengthen the ties.Nohria's appointment breaks one of the highest glass ceilings in the world and with India's importance on the global economic stage on the ascent; Nohria has plans to take HBS's India initiatives forward.
With Nohria taking the reins of one of the world's most iconic universities,  it is believed that he will strengthen the relationship between Harvard and Indian Academia. He will take up new initiatives and case studies that will be developed at HBS with focus on India. His continuous profound sense of responsibility for ongoing Harvard Business School's proud legacy of groundbreaking ideas and revolutionary educational experiences will strive to equip future leaders with the competence and character to address emerging global business and social challenges.  He is happy to work with the School's faculty, staff, students, and alumni to forge a vision for Harvard Business School that will enable it to remain a beacon for business education for the next 100 years.
An IIT-Bombay alumnus certainly proves his mettle by occupying one of the prestigious positions in the world.  He says, “If you are generous, life gives you more than you can imagine”. ‘Generosity’ is one of the important values that has made him a good student and a renowned academician and a much loved business teacher.
For Nohria, to laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived- maintaining simplicity and generosity are life’s basic lessons.

A message of hope

Many aspirants (of Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Exam and other Engineering competitive examinations) find difficult to achieve their lofty dreams. The inner power and competency is very important in achieving the desired returns of the expectations inculcated within. Amplifying on one's dreams is not just enough but a holistic approach is necessary to realize the dreams of cracking IIT-JEE and other Engineering competitive examinations, which intends to remind the aspirant about his/her dreams and stir passion within at every conceivable touch point.
This year's IIT-JEE will be conducted on April 11, 2010. Your stay at Resonance was not a mere study of cluttered books but was an experience, the intention of which was to primarily trace out important and pertinent points and concept clearance, necessary for cracking IIT-JEE and other Engineering competitive examinations. Continual practice and revision; relying completely on Class Notes, Daily Practice Problems (DPPs) and Sheets will be instrumental in making you more confident in taking IIT-JEE. The guidance and direction of your experienced faculty members, who acted more as your mentors will certainly help in augmenting your potential and your morale.
Synthesized efforts of students and faculty members of Resonance will surely open the gates of knowledge of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for which I wish luck to my students.
I also welcome my new learners who have believed in Resonance to accomplish their dreams. I take privilege in making them clear that studying at Resonance is not mere by-hearting the books but it's an experience that makes a learner adept and clear in concepts and fundamentals which is not only important for cracking IIT-JEE and also for studies at Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
5276 selections (3345 from Classroom and 1931 from Distance Learning Programmes), in the span of 9 years, Resonance has developed and has taken a leap forward in making education more precise and accurate and also by obtaining rank in top 10 and producing highest score in mathematics in IIT-JEE 2009 ( by Anvit Singh Tawar-AIR 9).
The Department of Research and Development at Resonance continuously strives and keeps the study pattern at par with the patterns of IIT-JEE and accordingly restructures the curriculum planning. By maintaining equanimity in teaching methodology, to make the education more easily available, Resonance other than its 8 study centres and 4 information centres has come up with 3 new study centres at Udaipur, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar. We have never compromised for quality teaching at our origin Kota even after having centres across the country. The quality teaching is ensured by rigorous faculty training and developmental programs for fresh and existing teachers apart from recruiting faculty directly at the senior level.
At the end, I wish my outgoing students All the Best and encourage my incoming students to get ready with vigor to excel in their endeavors.

R K Verma
B.Tech., IIT-Madras, 1994

Know more about the following acronyms:

IOC

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. is India's largest commercial enterprise, with a sales turnover of Rs. 2, 85,337 crore  the highest-ever for an Indian company  and a net profit of Rs. 2, 950 crore for the year 2008-09. IndianOil is also the highest ranked Indian company in the prestigious Fortune 'Global 500' listing, having moved up 11 places to the 105th position in 2009.

ONGC

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited is an Indian public sector petroleum company. It is a Fortune Global 500 company ranked 152nd, and contributes 77% of India's crude oil production and 81% of India's natural gas production. It is the highest profit making corporation in India.
It is involved in exploring for and exploiting hydrocarbons in 26 sedimentary basins of India. It produces about 30% of India's crude oil requirement. It owns and operates more than 11,000 kilometres of pipelines in India.

SEZ

A Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a geographical region that has economic laws that are more liberal than a country's typical economic laws. The category 'SEZ' covers a broad range of more specific zone types, including Free Trade Zones (FTZ), Export Processing Zones (EPZ), Free Zones (FZ), Industrial Estates (IE), Free Ports, Urban Enterprise Zones and others. Usually the goal of a structure is to increase foreign direct investment by foreign investors, typically an international business or a multinational corporation (MNC).

NREGA

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is an Indian job guarantee scheme, enacted by legislation on August 25, 2005. The scheme provides a legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage of Rs.60 per day. The Central government outlay for scheme is Rs. 39,100 crores ($8 billion) in FY 2009-10.

ERP

Enterprise resource planning is an integrated computer-based system used to manage internal and external resources including tangible assets, financial resources, materials, and human resources. It is a software architecture whose purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders.

NASDAQ

The NASDAQ Stock Market, known as NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations," but the exchange's official stance is that the acronym is obsolete. It is the largest electronic screen-based equity securities trading market in the United States. With approximately 3,700 companies and corporations, it has more trading volume than any other stock exchange in the world.

NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in lower Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. It is the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at US$28.5 trillion as of May 2008.

Giant Size Work In Nanotech

Ashutosh Sharma
Institute Chair Professor & Coordinator, 

DST Unit on Nanosciences at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

A renowned figure in nanotechnology and currently Institute Chair Professor & Coordinator, DST Unit on Nanosciences at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Dr. Ashutosh Sharma has benefitted the society not only with his analytical precision that aids seeking solutions to the problems of science and technology, but also with his human interactions and behavior guided by a rich set of societal feelings & emotions, deeply imbedded in the Indian culture and civilization.
Ashutosh Sharma believes that in order to reach the path of satisfaction, a balance between cooing of heart and the call of intellect is essential which can only be achieved by Karma or the path of action.
Hailing from Rajasthan, Ashutosh Sharma completed his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering in 1982 from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Thereafter he completed M.S. in 1983 in Chemical Engineering from Penn State University and then completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 1987 from State University of New York at Buffalo. There at Buffalo he worked with Eli Ruckenstein, a recipient of the US Medal of Science, with whom he made some breakthroughs in understanding of tearr film and dry eyes!  While doing some ophthalmolic science and some thin films, he also learnt some Sanskrit, did some Bhajan singing, and made some strong friendships that last even today. He got married in 1985 while doing Ph.D. He then in 1990 came to IIT- Kanpur and from then he decided to take up teaching as his profession as he always believed to set standards which can impact the society and can benefit it and since then he has been devotedly   working for the future (youth) of our country, constantly motivating them to fulfill their true potential and to follow the path with a heart.
Profusely read, the scientific dispositions in Ashutosh made him not only do the scientific research in various fields other than chemical engineering  and  chemistry, like that in bio-medical science, physics and materials science, but also ratcheted him to produce many scientific papers, books and patents .
His precise and accurate writing is not only recognized and implemented domestically but also internationally. His writings dispose not the country club preppy (traditional) but the astute and innovative deliverables to groom the smart IITians and promote research and development. A perfectionist, the writings reflect
Mr. Ashutosh's persona which simply strives for the unique and different and that which can be used for the development of the mankind.

Some Selected Publications
1. Advances in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Eds. Ashutosh Sharma, Jayesh Bellare and Archana Sharma, National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi (2004).
 http://www.allbookstores.com/author/Ashutosh_Sharma.html
2. Wave Dynamics and Stability of Thin Film Flow Systems, Eds. R. Usha, Ashutosh Sharma, B. S. Dandapat, Narasoa Publishing, New Delhi (2006).
o   N. Arun, Ashutosh Sharma, Partho S., G. Pattader, Indrani Banerjee, Hemant M. Dixit and K. S. Narayan, Electric-Field-Induced Patterns in Soft Viscoelastic Films: From LongWaves of Viscous Liquids to ShortWaves of Elastic Solids, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 254502 (2009).
o  R. Mukherjee, D. Bandyopadhyay and A. Sharma, Control of morphology in pattern directed dewetting of thin polymer films, Soft Matter 4, 2086-2097 (2008).
o    J. Sarkar, A. Sharma and V. Shenoy, Electric field induced instabilities and morphological phase transitions in soft elastic films, Phys. Rev. E 77, 031604 (2008).

He has been honored by several awards for his revolutionary and cutting-edge work. Some awards that he has won are as follows:
•    The TWAS Prize in Engineering Sciences, TWAS, The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, Trieste, Italy (2008).
•    Elected Fellow, Indian National Academy of Engineering
•    Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2006)
•    RPG Life Science Padma Vibhushan Professor M M Sharma Medal and Chemcon
•    Distinguished Speaker Award of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (2006)
•    Member of Editorial Board, Chemical Engineering Science (2007-2010)
•    Member of Editorial Advisory Board, Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering (2006-2007)
•    Member of Editorial Board, Indian Chemical Engineer (Journal of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers; 2006-)
•    Member of Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science (2000-2002)
•    Herdillia Award of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers for excellence in basic research (2003) 

The Police Captain wears medals of values and principles

The psychological satisfaction is richer than physical gratification; the subtler the personality, the greater is the satisfaction, one readily transforms oneself into stoic and balanced individual and becomes focused as the grosser and its joys and sorrows lead to futility of efforts and thoughts.
This pursuit led Sushant Saxena plan technical methods by which the integration of the personality can effectively take place and he strove to raise a better-constituted society of dynamic men, healthy in body, cheerful in mind, strong in intellect and firm in spirit. Love and ambition were the compulsion that made him think beyond the fanciful realm of the magnificence offered by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
Sushant Saxena had not the taint of commonness but had a distinction in his manner. His pursuit for the excellence always kept him on toes making him an industrious and laborious individual from the very beginning. A domicile of Lucknow, he passed his X & XII with 80% & 90.75% respectively. Thereafter, he prepared and cracked the Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE) and completed his B.Tech. with electronics and communications from Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati in 2001.
Behind his impish, sparkling eyes and a disarming boyish smile, Sushant Saxena is a man of simplicity and integrity. “You lose your concentration and woof, it goes out of your hand”, says Sushant Saxena in a telephonic interview. After passing out from IIT-Guwahati, he got a money-spinning offer from Phillip Software System, Bengaluru, but his larger than life attitude kept him moving and did not let him lose his focus to dream big for the society at large. He turned the offer down and streamlined his efforts and started preparing for civil services. With undying and relentless efforts, he cleared his Indian Police Services (I.P.S.) in the year 2005.
Sushant Saxena always believed in himself and his ability. He always wanted to work for the nation and do well to its people and so he diligently kept on working hard for it and he then after clearing I.P.S. finally got posted as Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) at Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh) and then moved to Tikamgarh as Superintendent of Police (S.P.). His tenure at Tikamgarh as an S.P. was a very challenging and a fruitful one as he faced and learnt many new things in dealing with people and also he encountered many situations which required spontaneity and vigilance for effective resolution of the problems.
The resolution of different problems at different towns might have taken Saxena aback but proclivity towards fulfilling his goals with passion and penchant to serve the people of India, kept faith and burning fire in him alive.
The horrendous situation that he faced in dealing with criminals and the 'red-tapism' that he set right are not by chance but derived out of his inner urge to serve the society with pure heart and clear mind.
“Success follows excellence”. One has to shun thoughts that are discouraging. Vague and negative thoughts are a hindrance and can negate one's true and selfless intentions of achieving one's goal. Discouraged by horrific circumstances and appalling situations, Mr. Saxena could have succumbed to the troubles in his personal and professional career but he took decisions bold and untainted from his heart and carried on with determination and dedication.
Currently, he is posted as the Superintendent of Police Shivpur, Madhya Pradesh and when asked to sum up his personality he quipped, “An ordinary man with ordinary set of strengths and weaknesses, who misses no opportunity to learn from the mistakes of life.
Devoured in honesty, truthfulness and sincerity, Saxena is a man of values and principles, who struggled to pave his own way that leads to selfless service of the mankind.

Abhishek Agrawal

Reso Roll No.: 4083, Batch: P1IIT-JEE, AIR- 2050|B.Tech., IIT-Bombay, (Civil Engineering) 2006Working as a Senior Analyst in HSBC Analytics, Bengaluru, 

The vast majority of the success stories that are generally encountered come from simple and ordinary people with unenviable backgrounds. Yes, the only common thread they all had stood them apart, was their phenomenal confidence levels in their inner strength, an acquired ability to effectively communicate that very same confidence and above all a very positive attitude to see an opportunity where others saw a problem.
Abhishek Agrawal, one of such an ordinary boy, whose attitude towards life and deft handling of difficult situations made him create a difference when he cracked Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE) with All India Rank (AIR) 2050. He belongs to a business family and was first engineer from his whole family tree. He was also awarded merit certificate at Junior & Intermediate level in National Mathematics Olympiad Contest organized by the Delhi Association of Mathematics Teachers (DAMT). Abhishek was among the top 0.1 % of the students appeared in AISSCE and was awarded scholarship under National Scholarship Scheme.
He joined Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) in the year 2002. He always had a passion for Physics, because of which till date he is deeply indebted to R.K.V Sir, as he expressed in his telephonic interview. He passed out from IIT-B with B.Tech. in Civil Engineering in the year 2006.
His Graduate Thesis, "Travel Demand Modeling using GIS Tools", at IIT-B provided an insight into various steps implemented while defining land use patterns and planning transport facilities. It also dealt with the development of the Travel Demand Model and traffic analysis for IIT Bombay Campus. A transportation modeling software, TransCAD, was used for transportation planning and modeling. His project, "Innovation and Automation in Railway Transport System, D.I.T.I.C, Politechnico di Torino, Italy", studied the underlying differences between the traditional and innovative aspects of railway transport systems. As part of the project, Abhishek visited institutions like that of such as Research Centre of FIAT in Torino, ALSTOM and traffic control centre of Torino, Italy.
He in July 2006, through campus placement joined Modelytics Inc., Bengaluru, as Analyst and continued with it till August 2007. He always believed in himself and strove hard to raise his efforts from mediocrity to excellence. On the job, he developed his capabilities in statistics and in the short span of time learned and implemented techniques like time-series loss forecasting model to predict the portfolio losses for a leading credit card issuer. He was also involved in developing 'innovative collections strategy' for a UK's major credit card issuer by developing value based collections response model to target the potential customers.
Currently, he is working as a Senior Analyst in HSBC Analytics, Bengaluru, India. His profile primarily centers around developing strategies for credit card marketing business spread across north America and had also spent considerable amount of time in collections operational analytics team. During his stint at HSBC, he developed a structured statistical framework to benchmark internal collection centers performance gap. He was also instrumental in developing a decision framework which considers the NPV of a long term modification treatment in response to mortgage crisis.
Scientific aptitude with managerial ability inculcated at the time of the preparation for IIT-JEE and IITs brought in tremendous poise and capacity to lead. His role as a leader not only supported him but made him self- motivated. As part of Corporate Social Responsibility group at HSBC, he conceptualized and took initiatives to organize successful Blood donation drives since 2008 in tie-up with Rotary Blood Bank Bengaluru. He also involved himself in various initiatives taken by HSBC for AIDS affected kids during the year 2009-10.
In like manner, the choices of making things happen the best way in our lives lie dormant within all of us. All we need is the magical key to unlock the pent-up energies within.
“Attitude right; spirit alive can set our lives right”

Some Salt Shakers of 2009

Barbarika, The disciple of Krishna

The character of Barbarika in Mahabharat is symbolic of a pupil's devotion and sacrifice for his teacher. Before the Mahabharata war started, Lord Krishna asked every maharathi how many days he would take to finish Mahabharata war alone. Lord Krishna asked Bhisma, who said he will take 20 days to finish the Mahabharata. Lord Krishna asked Dronacharya, who said he would take 25 days. Then he asked Karna, who said he would take a month, and so on. He then asked Arjuna, "how many days would it take for you to finish the Mahabharata". He replied, "18 days".
After this Krishna asked Barbarika the same question. Barbarika replied that he would take one hour. Krishna asked Barbarika to prove his claim of finishing the great Mahabharata battle in one hour. Krishna said, "if you can tie all the leaves of the peeple tree, I will believe that you can finish the war in one hour."
Barbarika took one arrow from his quiver and put it on his forehead and chanted a mantra, meanwhile Krishna broke one leaf from the peeple tree and hid it under his foot. Barbarika left the arrow tied every leaf of the tree and finally started revolving around Krishna's feet to tie the leaf under Lord Krishna's foot. Lord Krishna blessed Barbarika, "you are the greatest living Kshatriya on this earth today, and no Kshatriya will be as brave and powerful as you are".
Lord Krishna asked Barbarika on which side he would fight in the great battle of Mahabharata. Barbarika told Krishna that he had a pledge that he would always fight from the losing side. Krishna said, "When you fight, the other side will always be the losing side, so decide which side you will fight". Barbarika could not decide which side to fight due to his pledge of "to fight always from the losing side". Though he always wanted to fight from the pandava's side due to his son and child relationship.
Krishna asked, to whom you consider your teacher. Barbarika replied, "O supreme Lord, to You". Krishna said, then give Me My Gurudakshina (gift to teacher). On this Barbarika replied, "please ask, what do You want in Gurudakshina". Krishna asked, "give Me your head". Barbarika took a sword and cut his head and gave it to Krishna on his own hand. On this Krishna became very pleased and said, "ask what you want Barbarika". Barbarika said, "I would love to watch the Mahabharata battle live." On this Krishna made special arrangement and placed his head on two bamboo and placed it on nearby mountain so that he can watch the complete Mahabharata battle. Barbarika watched the great Mahabharata battle live.
After the Mahabharata war every one alive on the Pandava's side claimed that, he finished the war. And they started fighting, on this Krishna told that, "let's go to Barbarika, he has watched the complete Mahabharata battle live, so he can give his decision on this". They all went to Barbarika and asked, "who do you think finished the war?" To this Barbarika replied, "O Lord Krishna I have not seen anyone other than You doing anything in the war, You have done everything". On this everyone returned and understood the Krishna's role in Mahabharata.

Nawabs Of Lucknow Raise A New Hoarding In South.

When two young men from Lucknow landed in Chennai a few years ago one of them to study engineering at IIT-Madras, the other to explore business opportunities not in their dreams did they imagine they would end up making ads for a living one day.
 “Don't ask me about the initial days...It took me a long time to adapt to this city's culture and food habits, ” says Ravi Dixit, who left Lucknow in 2001 after finishing school from City Montessori School (CMS) to join the B.Tech. course at IIT-M. Lucknow was the quintessential land of Nawabs and kebabs. Chennai was intellectual, and about idlis and dosas. As it turned out, the Lucknow lad fell for Chennai and decided to fulfil his life's dreams there.
After completing his engineering, Dixit was joined by childhood friend and CMS school-mate Vinit Sharma, who landed in the city after his attempts at starting a few businesses failed. The two decided to set up an advertising agency, arranged for seed capital of Rs 10, 000 and started the business on the side. They were sceptical that their families wouldn't want them to pursue business for all the risks, so they hid their venture from them until early this year.
“In 2007, we decided to set up an ad agency as we saw the need to do something together and could chip in only with creative capital, ” muses Sharma, co-promoter of Ideagram, which in barely two years has notched up accounts like Nippo, Grundfos, Scholl, Orthaheel, Chola MS and Pearl Constructions, among others.
The first work Ideagram bagged involved designing calendars for jewellery chain Vummidi Bangaru Srihari Sons. Though they made only Rs 5, 000 from that order, it instilled confidence in the duo who had no money, no godfather and no experience in the industry. Worse, they weren't conversant with the local language and the way business was conducted in the city. “We continued to steer the agency amid challenging times, thanks to a few industry mentors and some others who chipped in with funds, ” adds Dixit.
Ideagram is expected to earn Rs 3.75 crore in revenue this financial year on the back of new accounts which include the Nippo TV commercial which comes with the tag, 'Power nahin hai to kya, Nippo LED Torch to hai'. The ad, which has been on air since November, has won rave reviews, says Dixit.
Both are now trying to leverage their technical competence and tap opportunities in the interactive media segmentthe Internet and multimedia displays. One of the recent assignments using this medium was for Chennai-based bio-medical training company Sachika. Ideagram also added Puducherry Tourism to its kitty recently. “Our endeavour has been to create a long-lasting impression in the minds of our clients. We strive to be an agency that is of, for and by its employees and clients, ” says Dixit, not wanting to dwell too much on the challenge of 'being small' when an English-learning institute earlier refused their services on that account. So, competing with established agencies has always been an issue, but not something that could bog them down.

'How to reap the best' --- TIPS From --- Reso Reaper

Name: Ankur Nahar    
Reso Roll No: 817062  
AIR: 4063
IIT-MANDI, Branch -MECHANICAL

Q.1. What is required to get into Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)?

Ans: To get into IITs, one has to first clear the Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE). Patience, faithfulness towards one's goal, ability to work hard, confidence and honesty can make one fully equipped to crack IIT-JEE and enter IITs. It is a tapasya of 1 or 2 years and if done with conviction can bear fruits of the efforts put in.

Q.2. How much time on an average did you devote for your preparation? What was your daily time table? How did you divide your course in those hours of study?

Ans: The study material provided at Resonance is adequate to study for
IIT-JEE. I never studied to complete any particular chapter; my basic emphasis was to study as long as I could with full concentration. According to me, Mathematics and Physics require more practice and so I used to work more for these two subjects.
I did not follow any fixed time-table and used to study after the completion of my coaching classes. I would brush up all the notes of any particular topic and then used to solve related problems. Then I would start with Daily Practice Problems (DPPs) as they are a great source of learning. Sheets also helped me gain a good knowledge base but if not skillfully managed with daily routine can mess up one's routine.

Q.3. How many questions should an individual attempt to get into IITs? How tough is the paper?

Ans: I would suggest one should attempt all the questions so that one can score marks and can remain in the safe zone. Think, if the paper of 180 marks is attempted out of 480 then the probability of getting selected can be easily evaluated which will primarily be negative and so attempting complete paper is always good and safe. Accuracy matters a lot while answering the questions. The IIT-JEE paper is not tough but the pressure and the nervousness of taking it makes it tough so if that pressure is shunned, the paper becomes much easier than presumed.

Q.4. Give some tips for increasing one's efficiency while studying? How did you refresh yourself from the hectic schedule?

Ans: Efficiency increases when one really wants to prove one's potentials. When you get disheartened or doubtful of your success, just close your eyes and think of that person who dreams of your success and who will be happy for you if you successfully achieve your dreams. If you fail to sustain confidence on yourself then you should think of such an individual, faculty members or parents who desire to see you victorious.
Mistakes should never be ignored but should be sincerely catered to. Making mistakes is not bad but not improving on them and repeating them can prove fatal. One should practice and work hard on DPPs, sheets and the tests taken at the coaching institute to improvise. Always try to understand what kind of answer the examiner expects so that you can master the right technique to answer the paper and this in turn increases efficiency.
For refreshment, I preferred music, roaming about or talking to some friends who could motivate me.

Q.5. What is your Success mantra? Give some advice to your successors at Resonance who are preparing for IIT-JEE?

Ans: For success 3 things are important:
1.Hardwork 2.Faith 3.Honesty
In-spite of many failures, I continued to have faith in GOD, in my faculty members, in my study material, in my hard work and faith in my parents that they sent me to the right place to study and make my career. I always tried to be honest with my work and my commitment to get selected in IIT-JEE. One should always remember that one can fool anybody and everybody but cannot fool oneself. Lastly, hard work at every stage of life is necessary.
The study material provided by resonance is more than sufficient so unnecessary involvement to procure extra is futile. Take the tests and solve questions with the same spirit as that of the questions of IIT-JEE. Always remember and follow KABIL BANO, KAMYABI JAROOR MILEGI.

Q.6. What was your first reaction after giving the IIT-JEE examination? Which topic did you think should have been given more importance for the increase in your percentage or performance in JEE?

Ans: I just closed my eyes and thanked God, Almighty for always being there around me and supporting all my efforts. After taking IIT-JEE, I realized that I should have given more time to Mathematics and should have practiced more questions. Had I done this, I would certainly have scored much better.

Kiran Bedi

"Be a Master at what you are doing - cultivate excellence, balance the head and the heart. Be a Member of the community - live an unselfish life and learn to give, be responsible, and contribute something of value. Find Meaning in life - live with a sense of higher purpose. For me, this meant policing became the power to correct, not arrest. At an institute like IIT, it is criminal to be ordinary. Let us do better with our lives and resources"

While Addressing  to the students of IIT-Madras

Activity is the insignia of life. The highest type of individuals is called individuals of achievement. They work not merely as laborers or workers, not for the sake of wages, nor for the sake of success but they live and act seeking only a sense of fulfillment.
Who is mightier, the one who is making a history in the world or the one who is earning his livelihood?
Three hundred and sixty-five days make a year. You find that some individuals make history  within a short time of ten to twenty years  carry out such wonderful achievements as to leave behind something remarkable for which the succeeding generations are grateful.
Kiran Bedi is truly one such icon of heroism. She was the first Indian woman to join the Indian Police Services. She was born on June 9, 1949 at Amritsar in Punjab. She is one of the most renowned police officers, who have put in their whole hearted effort in serving the society. She is the pride of our Indian police force.
Rising from the realms of unactivity and not succumbing to inactivity, Kiran Bedi always kept herself moving and in action. She kept on going, even when the going got tougher. When we act the glory of action is dependent upon, not the environment, not where you work and how you work, but it is the intention or motive behind the work that lends enchantment to the very work. Due to her astute ardor, in the recent times, she has been appointed as the Director General of India's Bureau of Police Research and Development. Earlier, she served as the Police Advisor in the United Nations peacekeeping department. For her noteworthy performance, she was awarded with the UN medal. In the year 2005, she received the honorary degree of Doctor of Law.
She did her schooling from the Sacred Heart Convent School in Amritsar and completed her graduation in the English language from the Government College for Women in Amritsar. She received her Masters degree in Political Science from Punjab University, Chandigarh and continued her studies, even when she joined the Indian Police force. In the year 1988, she obtained a degree in Law (LLB) from Delhi University.
In the year 1993, the Department of Social Sciences, the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi awarded her with a Ph.D. degree. Her topic of research was Drug Abuse and Domestic Violence. Kiran Bedi has won the championship of all-India and all-Asian tennis competition. When she was 22 years old, she won the Asian Ladies Title.
Kiran Bedi believes in the 3 M theory for success: 1) Be a master at what you are doing  cultivate excellence, balance the head and the heart. 2) Be a member of the community  live an unselfish life and learn to give, be responsible and contribute something of value. 3) Find Meaning in life  live with a sense of higher purpose as for her policing meant the power to correct and not to arrest.
A woman of substance, she not only glorified Indian womanhood but personified justice, integrity and meaning of fulfillment of life. The work when glorified, gathers a new momentum, bristles with a new fervor only because of the faithful intentions of the heart behind the worker's hand. Her profundity manifested itself into writing and she became the author of books like “Empowering Woman as I See”, “Indian Police as I see”, “Leadership and Governance as I See”, “It's Always Possible”, “As I See”, “What Went Wrong”, “I Dare”, “Shadows in Cages”, “The Kindly Baton”.
“I dare” opines the saga of woman officer in the Indian Police Service  who pioneered a humane method of policing  marked by willpower, devotion to duty, innovation, and compassion and, above all, a never-say-die attitude. The eyewitness account  forthright and unsparing  in this fully revised and updated edition provides a well-documented exposé of the sabotage of police reforms (to be implemented as per a verdict of the Supreme Court of India) by certain bureaucrats and by some members of Kiran Bedi's own service. This kind of sabotage was the proverbial last straw that compelled her to 'shake off the shackles'.
 As she asserts: 'My self-respect, my innate sense of justice and my beliefs and values in life propelled me to throw off the “yokes” that were already obstructing my growth and I now made up my mind to set myself free and be a master of my own time.' This is a no-holds-barred narrative packed with punch, spirit and vitality.
 “As I See” is a persistent effort by the author to encourage greater awareness about various social and ethical issues to invoke, provoke and inspire readers to heighten their levels of sensitivity, participation and response. Her experience and expertise include more than 33 years of tough, responsive and interactive policing within India and outside. She has worked with the United Nations as the Police Advisor to the Secretary General, in the Department of Peace Keeping Operations. She has represented India at the United Nations, and in international forums on crime prevention, drug trafficking and abuse, prison reform, women's issues and peace-keeping operations.
“It's Always Possible” illustrates fundamental changes she brought, giving a human face to the administrative structure - creating an exemplary system covering every possible aspect of prison management. Her primary objective was to collectively and individually manage the transition from a moribund system to a responsive and sensitive administration. Her efforts unfolded the process of reformation involving prison administration, prisoners and the police.
Not letting her swayed by the very nature of mind that is ever running into its own self-chosen, instinct-ploughed ruts; she always attempted to bundle up all the wasteful channels and made the waters of the mind run through definite channels and made it irrigate, the field of the divine within herself.
She broke the barriers of tradition and normalcy and strove to attain noble ideals. She dreamt and had the courage and tenacity to turn her dreams into reality.

The incredible IITian empowering exporters at Tirupur

Man is the roof and crown of creation. Gradation among the human beings is created by differences in the 'quality and texture' of their emotions and intellectual convictions. Sanjay Gupta, one of IIT Delhi's brightest students, did create that difference. A graduate in 1983, Sanjay Gupta left the abode of opulence which was brought in by several job offers, many of them from multinationals and rather decided to follow his heart over his head. Ignoring the offers, he shifted his bag and baggage to Tirupur, a small town in Tamil Nadu near the Nilgiris.
Gupta's move seemed a disaster as in those days not many outside the state knew of Tirupur's existence. (It’s rise to fame as a textile export hub happened later). But he was unfazed. It was always his ambition to do something on his own. Besides, being the only son, he felt he had to help his father in the family business. In 1982, his father had bagged a Rs 32-lakh contract from Europe and shifted to Tirupur.
“We always knew that Sanjay would be on his own and not join a company, ” says Sanjay Sangal, who studied at IIT with Gupta and is now running his own software consulting firm Microware in Delhi.
While the first few years were primarily spent on understanding the business of textiles, Gupta gradually learnt that Tirupur exporters, including his own family business, were unable to compete with global rivals because of inefficient processes and lack of automation. “One couldn't have asked for a better internship as the first 10 years helped me understand the business, realize the inefficiencies and also gain trust of local exporters, ” recalls Gupta.
Gupta brought several exporters in Tirupur together to form their own IT Company called G-Tech Info Solutions. The company was formed after Gupta. Many others realized that they needed their own firm to oversee procurement and deployment of new IT solutions. “The real benefit of technology lies in its application, and not in the hype, ” says Gupta succinctly.
“We now plan to have a centralized ERP that can be delivered to exporters for monthly fee of Rs. 3-4, 000 without having to invest upfront, ” he says. These exporters are hoping that this proposed enterprise resource planning software will help them track export consignments in real-time, through computers and even mobile phones, helping them erase almost Rs 800 crore in losses each year because of delayed shipments, apart from saving another
Rs 200-300 crore from supply chain efficiencies.
Today, he has no regrets about what he is doing. “It's a tricky issue and we have had discussions around this recently, but we must give back what Tirupur has given to us, ” says Amita Gupta, his wife who manages the family business and helps him find enough time to fulfill his mission.

Water, Drop Of Life.

Pour In Your Glass Clean Water !
Discover the efforts of an IITian
to keep a healthy body.

Water is life. It is vital for our body functions. Five and half cups of water per day is required for the normal metabolism of the body. Here the stress is on pure water. Mr. Mahesh Gupta, creator of Kent RO system realized this fact in 1999, when both of his children were caught up by jaundice, a water-borne disease. At that time it struck to him that application of a water purifier might have saved his children from the disease. This incident made him search for the water purifiers in the market but soon it came to his comprehension that none of the purifiers available, met the standards he was looking for. And so he decided to make one of his own purifier by importing components from abroad. The proper functioning of the purifier, meeting his needs and specifications of the purification of water made him think to launch the same water purifier for the entire nation. Today, Kent RO System has a much bigger turnover of Rs. 25 crore as compared to Rs 5 crore of S.S. Engineering, his first venture and more people know him as the founder of Kent RO Systems than his first company.
He started off, working in the garage of his house. He took care of everything, including being the peon, typist etc all by himself. He dissolved his ego at that time. He did not want to approach any of his contacts because he didn't want anyone to feel like they were doing him favors. He knew that if his product was truly valuable he will be able to convince people he didn't know to buy his product. It was only after the first year that Mahesh Gupta bought a place to put up his factory.
Mahesh Gupta graduated in mechanical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and then did his masters in petroleum from the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun. He then joined Indian Oil and worked as a manager in technical services department for about 10 years.
The latent burning desire reinforced itself on him and made him get through all the perspiration necessary to overcome the inevitable obstacles along the way to reach the desired goal. In 1988, he realized that his inner urge was to do much more than just a routine job. He possessed some brilliant ideas for petroleum products and to accomplish those ideas, he decided to quit Indian Oil and that marked the beginning of his first venture, S.S. Engineering Industries, which commenced with a meager investment of Rs. 20, 000. This company is in the business of manufacturing innovative oil flow meters and oil testing kits and till date, this company is a profitable business with an annual turnover of Rs 5 crore.
What makes Kent RO different from other water purifiers is, first, its technology. It uses a reverse osmosis process, followed by an ultraviolet process, which is followed by a system to retain essential natural minerals in the water. This product is patented. Technologically, it offers a great advantage as it removes dissolved impurities like salts and heavy metals, while retaining essential minerals. Also, the UV process in Kent RO kills the bacteria that pass through the membrane. 'Of course, other than technology we also differentiate our products in terms of performance, servicing, branding etc.'
Over the past few years, a number of competitors have come into the RO segment. Mahesh Gupta had competition from Eureka Forbes, Whirlpool, Phillips etc, but his product still performs the best. It has an X-factor that is difficult to quantify to the public. The components are same as that of other manufacturers, but it is that slight modifications in the way RO use these components that give RO an edge over the others.
'Today, a major chunk of our business comes from household consumers. The demand comes more from homes than offices.' Mahesh Gupta has created a competent marketing team that approaches institutions, interested in ordering the product.
Kent RO Systems, which has Bollywood actor Hemamalini and her daughter Esha and Aahna as its brand ambassadors, has earmarked Rs 15 crore towards marketing and advertisements.
Rs 1, 000 -crore Indian water purifying industry is growing at 20 per cent annually and according to Gupta, Kent intends to capture a 25 per cent share of this industry by end of 2010.
To further strengthen its marketing ties, the company has done strategic marketing tie up with Indian Oil and Big Bazaar to make the product range available to the consumers.
“We are also stepping up our presence in all the new formats stores across the country. The distribution channels are also being scaled up. The tie-up with IOC will help to market the purifiers at select outlets, ” he added in one of his interviews.
The challenges are many but in those challenges lay several opportunities and a good entrepreneur captures the lucrative opportunities to build the brand and raise consumer awareness like Mahesh Gupta did for clean water technology.
Mahesh Gupta is looking forward to increase international focus but currently his main markets for exports are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kenya and Sri Lanka.
Being extremely passionate for work, Mahesh Gupta moved ahead facing the challenges and looking problems as opportunities. He grew an attitude  which helped him reach his full potential in every activity he took up.
Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
And you never can tell how close you are
It may be near, when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight, when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit!

Reso Seeds --- Investment at Resonance pays rich dividends at Standard Chartered Bank, Chennai

Resonance Alumnus: 2003- 04, Batch: PB1
IIT-JEE, AIR- 758
B.Tech., IIT-Madras, (Mechanical Engineering) 08
Working as a Business Analyst,
Client Access (Channels)
Standard Chartered Bank, Chennai

Man essentially is perfect and therefore infinite are the possibilities that lie lurking in him. We must realize that we have within ourselves all resources, ability, energy and power for building up a supremely successful life for ourselves and for others in the world. There is one great and covetable gift which is distinctly ours at all times, and this is our profound capacity to discover, develop and usefully employ the Infinite Essence in us. Shikhar Pant's victory of his dreams and ideas elucidates the unwinding of the Infinite essence within. 
Shikhar Pant joined Resonance in the year 2002 in B1 batch. Life according to him was pretty smooth at Resonance.  He says that he used to love the classes especially of RKV sir, BKM sir and Ajay sir. Less academic pressure and regular solving of DPPs (Daily Practice Problems) religiously gave him enough confidence to crack IIT-JEE. After cracking IIT-JEE in the year 2004 with All India Rank (AIR) 758, Shikhar joined Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and completed his B.Tech. in the year 2008 with Mechanical Engineering.
'Design of Single Pressure Transducer Probe for 3D Flow Measurements' was his under graduate thesis which opined the design of Single Pressure transducer Probe in place of commonly used Multi-hole probes. Later, he published his research paper on Single hole pressure transducer probe for 3D flow measurements in INCAST 2008(International Conference of Aeronautic Research and Technology) in Bangalore. He took his summer internship on 'Mathematical Modeling for Vibration Isolation of Power train Mounts' in Advanced Engineering Lab of RND, TVS Motors Company, Hosur, Karnataka.
His ebullient attitude always made him strive for the best and his quest did not end in simply donning the tag of an IITian, he further took certification in Business Analysis from the George Washington University School of Business. He successfully completed trainings on Basics of Banking; Payments & Collections; and Security Services. He also acquired SCB e-learning on Debt Securities, Equity Shares & Treasury Bills; Anti Money Laundering. Intermediate knowledge of R, MATLAB, SQL and Oracle, and proficiency in SAS, SPSS, Microsoft Excel, Project, PowerPoint, SharePoint and Access infused in him incredible confidence to accomplish his tasks and jobs with utmost skill and adeptness.
He took his first job in July 2008 in Standard Chartered Scope International (Chennai) and till date is handling his profile of Business Analyst, Client Access (Channels), Wholesale Banking (WB) with techie alacrity and fine managerial acumen. His team caters to the products related to four key areas of Standard Chartered Bank's Wholesale Banking business and they are Cash, Trade, Securities and Foreign Exchange. Shikhar has been a part of million dollar projects and voraciously involved in Research and Development.
Shikhar undertook 'Research on Web'. ROW is a research publication, distribution and monitoring system designed to exploit the high quality research produced by Standard Chartered Wholesale banking and to allow improved efficiency within the research team, wherein he, frequently interacted with Global research team and SCB Compliance team to bring out the exact requirements and understand the functionality to provide a high level business requirement document. He acted as a bridge between the business users, interacting systems and the technology design, development & testing teams.
Also a part of WB, Web Content Management, he prepared Business requirement and Functional specification documents for IWD (Internet Web Designs) upgrades. Also he frequently interacted with UK based vendor for application knowledge transfer & production system support.
He also handled the responsibility of Volume forecasts and capacity planning for icas reporting framework. This involved detailed mathematical analysis for all clients, all reports in all formats in different time zones. He optimized the report generation schedule for minimal load on the servers.
Shikhar conducted impact analysis for projects related to broker-dealer community and virtual accounts where prodigious number of accounts and transactions were involved.
A persona with irrefutable genius has too many accolades sewed to his name as he Scored All India Rank 83 in Science Olympiad in the year 2001; was awarded CBSE Merit Certificate for excellent performance in class X board Examination with 95.6 percentage; was awarded NTSE scholarship (National Talent Search Examination) in 2002 and finally obtained All Indian rank (AIR) 758 in JEE 2004 among more than 150,000 students who took IIT-JEE examination.
 Toady also he does not hesitate to give credit to Resonance for developing in him a focus and bringing out, a Shikhar who can truly stand by his name. Today also Shikhar feels delighted to take up different and varied challenges as he feels that the key to progress and succeed is to break the rigid and the predictable and to explore the latent and the unpredictable which alone can lead to the new and the out of box which is certainly beneficial to the country at large.

Upmanyu - The great disciple

The recent changes in the world whether in technology or ideology, underline the fact that emerging Indian talents are monumenting their own alcove globally. The age old 'Guru-shishya padhatti' though taken a new shape in the modern context but still clinches tight to the same roots of dedication, conviction and a strong bonding between a teacher and a student.
The values generated and the energies channelized rightly by 'Gurus' for their pupils have given birth to some great geniuses like Yudhisthir, Arjuna, Eklavya, Rizwan, Upmanyu etc.
Upmanyu was one of the favorite disciples of Saint Ayodhdhaumya. He was assigned the task of looking after the cows. One day when he returned after his days work, the Guru called him and said, "Son, you look very healthy and radiant. What do you eat while you are working?" Upmanyu replied with all humility, "Sir, I eat whatever I get in alms." The saint who wanted to test Upmanyu stopped him from feeding himself on alms and asked him to give those to the Saint (Guru of Upmanyu) himself. Upmanyu agreed and from then on offered all that he received to his guru. The Guru used to take everything and gave nothing to Upmanyu.
A person like Upmanyu is recognized as one of the geniuses in the East. In contemporary parlance, a genius is not born but is the result of self-discipline, self moulding and self development guided by their teachers and shaped by the individual himself/herself.
A few days later, the Guru again asked Upmanyu, "I take away all that you beg for, so what do you eat?" Upmanyu replied that whatever he received by begging the first time, he offered it to his Guru and then went out and begged again a second time. The guru said, "Son, this conduct is inappropriate for a resident of the hermitage. By begging twice you hinder the earnings of other pupils as you cut into their share of alms. Besides, this also confirms your greed."
Upmanyu listened to the guru and agreed not to do so again. A few days later, the guru again asked Upmanyu how he still looked so robust when he had stooped him from eating anything. To which Upmanyu replied that he drank a little of the cow's milk while he took them out to graze. The guru forbade him to do that without his permission. A few days later, on seeing Upmanyu still looking healthy, the guru again called him and asked how he was surviving. This time Upmanyu said that he drank the foam that the calves drooled while feeding on their mother's milk. The guru again forbade Upmanyu to do so and said that this would affect the health of the calves as they would drop more and more foam for Upmanyu to feed out of the kindness of their heart.
Upmanyu agreed to this too and went back to graze the cows as was his duty. Now that all avenues of getting food were closed, Upmanyu felt really hungry. When he could not tolerate the intensity of hunger he went and ate the leaves of a plant called `Aak', the leaves of which produce a bitter, sour, acidic and poisonous juice. Due to the effect of this juice Upmanyu was instantly blinded. He kept wandering in the woods and fell into a dry well.
After sunset, when Upmanyu did not return to the hermitage, the saint started worrying about him. He said to his other pupils, "I have closed all avenues for Upmanyu to get food. He is probably angry at this and hence has not returned, so let us all go and look for him." So they went to the woods to look for Upmanyu. They called out for him and heard a feeble voice from the well. They hurried to the well and when they peeped inside they saw Upmanyu. They asked Upmanyu how he fell inside the well. Upmanyu said, "I was so hungry that I ate the leaves of the Aak plant. I then became blind and while I was trying to find my way home I fell into the the well." After hearing his story they pulled him out of the well and his Guru told him to pray to the physicians of the Gods, Ashwini Kumar, so that his eyes would be healed. Upmanyu did as he was told. Ashwini Kumars (twins who are the Physicians of Gods) appeared before him. They said, "Upmanyu, eat this sweet that we have brought you and you shall be healed." Upmanyu declined and said that he cannot eat anything without the permission of his guru. The gods then told him that they had offered his guru some sweet and he ate it without asking the permission of his own Guru. So if it is okay for your Guru to eat without first asking permission from his own guru then it is okay for you too.
But Upmanyu again declined and this devotion and obedience of Upmanyu towards his guru pleased the gods. They blessed him and Upamnyu's eyes were healed and all his teeth turned into gold. Upmanyu then went to his guru and was blessed by him. His guru was so pleased with him that he blessed him with instant memory and told him that he will know the Vedas and Dharamshashtras (other religious texts) automatically without any effort.
To make life worthwhile and fruitful, one must generate enthusiasm and conviction in oneself that is inculcated by none other than Guru and should be followed religiously. Generation of enthusiasm righteously directed by the teachers will help their pupils discover a goal and attach them to the Alter with a spirit of dedication, reverence and love. Once the pupils have surrendered themselves to it, the ideal itself will provide the pupils with the inspiration and strength. Then nothing can hinder the progress of pupils to march towards their goal and the ideal.

The story of a creative writer from an IIT

A life organized for the discovery of the potentialities already existing within ourselves, and the ordering of our behavior so as to nurture and nourish them, is a life well spent. Herein our success depends upon the amount of transformation we can successfully bring about in our personality and character. The vital question is not how many talents each one of us has, but how much of our existing talents we can explore, develop and exploit. An individual may have many talents, and yet, he can be a miserable failure in life. That person is successful who makes a practical use of at least one great talent that he possesses.
To an intelligent man alone is given this freedom for rebuilding his future. A true seeker is he, who is constantly asserting day by day, hour by hour, and he alone has this privilege of ordering his future life style and Chetan Bhagat is no exception to it.
Chetan Bhagat is one of the most popular novelists in India, whose books have been adapted into movies. Chetan Bhagat was born on 22nd April 1974 in New Delhi, India. After finishing school at The Army Public School in New Delhi, he joined IIT Delhi and graduated from mechanical engineering. He completed a post graduation course from IIM Ahmedabad, he received a medal for the 'best outgoing student award'. 
He worked as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, since 1999 and lived in Hong Kong for eleven years before moving to Mumbai. He is married to Anusha, whom he met at IIM. The couple has twins Ishaan and Shyam.
Chetan Bhagat rose to fame with his first novel Five Point Someone (2004) about what it feels like to be below average students at IIT. He won the Society Young Achiever's Award (2004) and Publisher's Recognition Award (2005). The book has taken the form of a movie, 3 Idiots which will be released in 2009. It is directed by Rajkumar Hirani and stars Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi and Kareena Kapoor.
His second book One Night @ a Call Center was yet another success. He wrote the script for the movie Hello (2008) based on this book. The movie had a special appearance by Salman Khan and was an average success.
His third novel was Three Mistakes of My Life (2008) which has a lot of cricket in it.
A creative act can be explained as one in which our powers to know our reality, to get absorbed in it and to project out of our fullness, are heightened and harmonized.
His first novel 'Five Point Someone' reveals his own days in IIT through the light-hearted story of three IITians who do not live up to others' academic expectations. The book, with its humorous narrative and contemporary Indian student argot, achieved a sort of cult popularity and has topped national bestseller lists.
In March 2008, the New York Times called him the “biggest selling English author in India's history”.
His second book, One Night @ the Call Center, was released in India in October 2005 and continues to be a bestseller as of January 2008. The book is about six people who work at a Call Center and one night which changes it all for them. The book was made into a big budget Bollywood film called Hello starring Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sharman Joshi, Gul Panag among others.
His third novel, The 3 Mistakes of my Life, written as if based on real events, is set in the year 2000, when a young boy in Ahmedabad called Govind dreams of starting a business. To accommodate his friends Ishaan and Omi's passion, they open a cricket shop. However, each has a different motive: Govind's goal is to make money; Ishaan desires to nurture Ali, a gifted batsman; Omi just wants to be with his friends. During the story the characters have to deal with religious politics, earthquake, riots, unacceptable love and their own mistakes.
Chetan Bhagat considered as a youth icon, recently gave a talk to the youngsters at Maharana Pratap auditorium at Vidyashram School, Jaipur (Rajasthan) on Sunday organized by The Times of India and Taxila Business School, witnessed jam-packed auditorium, especially college students. Other than sharing his own experiences about his books, there he highlighted the importance of language and it effective usage.
Hinting about importance of English in corporate world, he said all firms need people who can speak good English and handle clients properly. "Learning English language is in no manner attacking the mother tongue. Today it is not just a language but a skill," he said and added that this does not mean Hindi should be neglected. He also said that one should become people's person; he should be able to deliver what people want and become their favourite.
In our experience in life, we find that we are what we are because of the calibre of the mental and intellectual equipment in us. The texture and quality of the mind-intellect equipment in us depends upon inherent and innate tendencies or inclinations.
When birds twitter, its music, when blades of grass appear greener with glossy drops its beauty, when one unleashes the innate inclinations wild its creativity, let us let loose our creative instincts just like Bhagat and develop our emotional and mental alacrities.
“Life is a tragedy to those who feel; life is a comedy to those who think”.
Lets learn the traits of being smart, intelligent and the most important creative from Chetan Bhagat.

Chetan Bhagat Speaks to you

What is ‘2 States’ about?
2 States is about a boy and girl from two different states of India, who fall in love and want to get married.
Love marriages around the world are simple:
Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy.
They get married.
In India, there are a few more steps:
Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy. Girl's family has to love boy. Boy's family has to love girl. Girl's Family has to love Boy's Family. Boy's family has to love girl's family.
Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married.
The tagline says ‘The story fo my marriage’. Is it inspired by real events?
Well, like my first book, this book draws a lot of inspiration from my own life. I am Punjabi and my wife is Tamilian, same as the protagonists in the story.
What is the message?
The message is simple – if India is one country, why can’t we marry a boy/girl from another state? A modern India will never emerge with so many differences between people.
Are you nervous before the release given the extraordinary expectations?
Of course I am nervous as the size of the print runs is unheard of Indian publishing. The book has to deliver to these expectations. However, two things make me more relaxed. One, the initial feedback from editors is highly positive and two, I feel secure about my reader’s love for me. If I won’t let them down, they won’t either.
You moved to India, you quit your banking job. What else have you been upto?
Quiting the bank was indeed a tough decision, as I didn’t actually dislike my banking career. I was reasonably senior, had a lot of perks and of course investment banks pay well. However, I found it difficult to invest the required amount of time in my writing.
I wanted to write beyond the novels and take on youth based issues, something I have done since leaving the bank. I have opted columns in Dainik Bhaskar, one of the biggest Hindi newspapers and Hindustan Times, a leading English daily. These columns allow me to bring out important issues and my take on what will make a progressive Indian nation.
I also do several events/talks across the country – with the aim to motivate and inspire youngsters in smaller towns.
What is your next project?
To take a break! I’ve had a hectic two years with the new book, film adaptations, columns, talks and taking a decision to quit my job. It has taken a lot of emotional energy and I want to rejuvenate myself, maybe get back to yoga. After that, it is possibly a screenplay.
Any message for your readers?
Most of my readers are young who, always try to look at the brighter side of life, even in the toughest of times. This attitude makes us surmount the biggest challenges, just as the characters do in my books. And keep love above everything else in life.

The IIT entrepreneur with an Idea Bank!

T he implementation of a potentially   innovative idea inevitably involves  risk. Broadly speaking, the more  innovative an idea is, the greater the risk. That's because highly innovative ideas are by definition very different to the current situation (be it a product, service or process). Thus its success cannot easily be measured against existing cases. As a result, the more innovative an idea is, the harder it is to determine the result of its implementation. Ankit Mehta stood tall and erect on the 'Baumgartner's Axiom of Innovative Risk'.
As a kid, he dreamt of the impossible. When he saw Superman, he wanted to be like him and do whatever he did. At school, his teacher told him his ideas were good, but there is still a lot more to learn. He started thinking about the mechanics of engines very early in life, wondering how they worked and how processes could be changed to make things work better. His father used to have long chats with him everyday on the achievements of great inventors like Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison. This made a profound impact on him and fuelled his imagination further. 'Why can't I be an Einstein?' he wondered. The ability to question and probe everything was his motivation to keep moving forward.
This deep interest in engineering brought Ankit Mehta to the Indian Institute of Technology. Ankit, a top ranked student at IIT Bombay, did not attend a single placement interview when his friends got the greatest offers from the best of companies. For him, it was a pursuit of ideas, a journey to achieve what he had always dreamt of. "The journey was tough as it took him a year to actually give shape to the start-up a company. The lack of experience, opposition from parents, and financial problems made it tougher and proved a great hindrance in shaping his dream company.
Strong belief in the idea and support from friends, Rahul Singh and Ashish Bhat, and a grant from the government led to the birth of Ideaforge in 2007 when Ankit Mehta was just 24 years old. Ideaforge got started with its pioneering work at the Technology Business Incubator, SINE at IIT Bombay.
"I have been very fortunate to get like-minded people like Ashish, who has been innovative and designing electronic gadgets ever since he was a schoolkid, and Rahul who gave up a plum post to be a part of this start-up," Ankit says.
Today, Ideaforge develops human powered cell phone chargers and fully automated Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs). With these chargers, you can charge your phone while in a car, bike, etc. The Fully automated Micro Air Vehicles can be trained to even go inside buildings and take photos. In the age of increased surveillance, these products come in handy. Ankit has also been able to establish a good distribution network. Ankit lives with an idea bank and that's why he calls his company Ideaforge. Money has never been an incentive for this true innovator.
"The joy of creating a product gives you the satisfaction which no high-paying job can," he says happily.
Risks bring with them challenges but people like Ankit find pleasure in fighting challenges and turning them opportunities. Ankit has never been scared of challenges and risks. According to him one cannot be fickle when one decides to become an entrepreneur. One has to be very tough, strong and confident about everything one does. Risks are the part of any start-up.
An individual either fails or succeeds. If one fails, one has to accept it, but if one succeeds, there is no limit to where one can reach. It is important to see the viability of the new idea, probe deep into the idea and understand how important it is for the technocratic civilization.
Ankit admits that in order to be a part of technocratic world, generation of new ideas and their valiant and intelligent implementation can only bring India at par with the upcoming 'techie' civilization and for him IIT played a huge role in overall development. It boosted the confidence level high up, to become better than the best.
We have an amazing faculty, great atmosphere, you have 24 hours to do what you want to do. Sometimes you get intimidated seeing some dedicated people. The environment is very competitive, yet friendly.
According to him the atmosphere at IIT broadened his mental horizon and he learnt to dream and consequently generated ideas. He realized his true potential in the vicissitudes of the Indian Institute of technology. He and his team represented India at the China robotics meet called Robocon and won an award during his stay at IIT and this gave him immense exposure to the topical world.
Ankit re-educated his values, mastered the outer world and is no more tossed about by the fluctuating environments. He followed religiously what he wanted to achieve and today he with his team is able to establish many mile stones for the benefit of our nation.
Ankit's company has initiated a pilot project with the Tatas and as such his company products will also be available at Tata stores.
Ankit followed his ideas ceaselessly in the pursuit of excellence to bring to the nation the desired revolution and transformation which indeed is the foundation for posterity to come. People with firm determination and with inbuilt conviction can only achieve the desired output so let the subtleties of mind go unbridled to let in innovation of dreams flow.

A message of hope

Intellectuals can bring refinement with their ideas in the scheme of nature. An individual, who puts orderliness and tames his/her imagination for the goodness, is a real intellectual. Let your dreams and ideas be chased with meticulous conviction to convert them into reality for the new and a different world.
IIT-JEE will be held on April 11, 2010, unleashing the territory of learning, self realization, success, prestige and achievements of being testified on the anvil of one of the world's toughest examination. Cracking JEE opens one's way to enter the portals of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). These are the institutes of national importance and are very crucial for the growth and the development of our country. The rigorous curriculum followed at IITs brings out the best in the individual and grooms and cultivates the intellectual faculty so much so that an individual finds himself/herself completely revamped.
At Resonance 859 classroom students cracked IIT-JEE in the year 2009 in comparison to that of 612 students in the year 2008. A total of 1621 students (859 from the Classroom contact programmes and 762 from Distance learning programmes) were among 10035 IIT-JEE 2009 successful students, which implies that every 6th student selected in IITs is from Resonance. Our results have excelled all expectations. We strived hard to raise the bar close to the level of excellence. Our selections of Hindi medium students this year have witnessed 117.56% rise over the previous year. The best of All India Rank (AIR) in 2009 in Hindi medium from Resonance is 79 in general Category, with over all best rank of 9, achieved by Anvit Singh Tawar. This Reso Student also had the distinction of securing 156 out of 160 marks in Maths, three marks more than the first ranker thus becoming the highest scorer in Maths in JEE 2009. I am sure, these figures will become a source of motivation and hope for a splendid performance to all the students of Hindi and English medium batches.
The IIT-JEE aspirants must make sincere and serious efforts to see their future bright and colorful. I find some students are very intelligent but not as disciplined and systematized. They do not attempt their DPPs and Sheets seriously. Being regular in the classroom is not enough. Understanding what all is taught and given for practice should be religiously followed at home. 'Passion, persistence and performance should only be the focus of students at this point of time. Continuous hard work concretizing the concepts in the coming months can make an IIT-JEE aspirant realize his dreams of being a student of Indian Institute of Technology.
All 12th appearing students should learn from the success of their predecessors at Resonance that they too would make good grades at the board exams  without compromising  JEE performance if they continued the revision systematically and sincerely as suggested by their teachers  keeping  unnecessary fears  of  their board results at bay. The successful students at JEE have had good board results so far.
I would also advise the 12th students to keep their Class notes, DPPs, Sheets well arranged and in order to find them in place for the revision as planned.  In case some students are not able to find them, they should manage them from their friends. A word of caution for those students who might fall prey to misleading advertisements to join individual subjects / topic specific classes or test series from outside. These temptations will hardly bring any benefit to you but waste your precious time. With the practice that you have got through the periodic tests at Resonance, you should well exceed the cutoff. IIT-JEE is not so difficult to crack if you do enough practice and maintain good confidence. I ask all my dear students to get ready to take IIT-JEE with stoic mind-set brimmed with poise relying on your own study material. You should work hardest possible of your life in the next three moths. In no case should one think to surrender.
You should also fill form for AIEEE. It is a good examination and is of national repute.
I also welcome new students in Resonance, as they will positively find in Resonance the required and conducive environment for cracking IIT-JEE. Their morale will unquestionably get boosted up as they will face enough and healthy competition which can be a great parameter to measure one's performance. Our centres are also striving hard on exactly identical grounds and parameters as followed at Kota Centre.
Be ready to lead with 'Practice, Persistence and Performance' at Resonance maintaining faith and trust in the guidance of your faculty members at Resonance.
Best Wishes for IIT-JEE 2010.

R K Verma
B.Tech., IIT-Madras, 1994