There is an old saying, “Empty Mind is devils workshop.” And in my case this workshop works with at least 2-3 times the optimal efficiency rates. For past year and a half I had been in Kanpur, mostly sitting in my room thinking about various ideas. My computer is now over loaded with hundreds of half cooked business plans, marketing ideas, analysis of various issues that rocked our world. A few even spilled out of my computer and reached my blog. (This was again created, during the past year of my empty mindedness.)In this article I will be talking about an event, which was created by me and a few of my friends. It was called IML or IIT MBA League. The basic idea for this was inspired from the very famous IPL. But before I take you further with it, let me talk a bit about making of IML.
IML: How the idea was born
Let me take you people to January’09. We were cheerful 21 management students who went down to IIT Roorkee for Spornado, an inter IIT MBA sports competition. In this event, MBA students of 4 IIT’s (Delhi, Roorkee, Kanpur and Khadagpur) compete in various sports events for the overall cup. So we participated in all the competitions and to be very honest with you guys, we were virtually thrashed out in all the sports we played. I had never been a very active and passionate sportsman at any point of time, but still it was hurting me that we lost nearly all our games. As per my understanding of my classmates, the main reason for our whitewash was quiet simple and straight… “We never played”.
It is an open secret that IIT Kanpur boosts about its world class sporting infrastructure. But the thing that many people don’t know about is that IIT Kanpur also has one of the most developed and robust LAN infrastructure. Most of the students from our batch, were optimally utilizing the later of the two state-of-art facilities that our college has.
So I was thinking of something that can motivate people from our batch and push them out of their rooms and play. (I believe talent makes a player but practice produces winners.) So I zeroed upon the competitive event that can involve a lot of students. I along with a few batch mates of mine decided on the number of sports to be played, number of teams the batch should be divided into etc.
I had a lot of ideas up my sleeve and I used all the tricks in my bag to do the publicity of the event. I worked over time to create catchy teasers for the event, which were sent by people who had been traditionally the least active members of the class (Thus including them into the group). For many days every one was talking about IML, but could actually not figure out what it was. A friend of mine commented, “These days if I find you guys talking about some thing that no one else can understand then that is IML”. The first teaser was so random that people thought that it was some B-Club type literary activity that we are planning.
It is an open secret that IIT Kanpur boosts about its world class sporting infrastructure. But the thing that many people don’t know about is that IIT Kanpur also has one of the most developed and robust LAN infrastructure. Most of the students from our batch, were optimally utilizing the later of the two state-of-art facilities that our college has.
So I was thinking of something that can motivate people from our batch and push them out of their rooms and play. (I believe talent makes a player but practice produces winners.) So I zeroed upon the competitive event that can involve a lot of students. I along with a few batch mates of mine decided on the number of sports to be played, number of teams the batch should be divided into etc.
I had a lot of ideas up my sleeve and I used all the tricks in my bag to do the publicity of the event. I worked over time to create catchy teasers for the event, which were sent by people who had been traditionally the least active members of the class (Thus including them into the group). For many days every one was talking about IML, but could actually not figure out what it was. A friend of mine commented, “These days if I find you guys talking about some thing that no one else can understand then that is IML”. The first teaser was so random that people thought that it was some B-Club type literary activity that we are planning.
IML launch
IML was formally launched on 7th of February 2009, with a cake cutting ceremony. With just the launch of the event it became the talk of the town. We had a 100% attendance in the opening ceremony and it was an achievement considering the fact that even our professors can’t ever touch that 100% mark.
IML was formally launched on 7th of February 2009, with a cake cutting ceremony. With just the launch of the event it became the talk of the town. We had a 100% attendance in the opening ceremony and it was an achievement considering the fact that even our professors can’t ever touch that 100% mark.
Team Distribution
For team distribution we had a bidding system. A few players were declared as owners, they had to bid for each of the remaining classmates with the virtual money they had. The excitement for the event was already Himalaya high. I remember people staying up till late in the night, a day before the bidding for the event. One team even used complex mathematical function to gauge the value of players. Each of the teams came full prepared with their prices, expectations and wish lists for the bidding process.
For team distribution we had a bidding system. A few players were declared as owners, they had to bid for each of the remaining classmates with the virtual money they had. The excitement for the event was already Himalaya high. I remember people staying up till late in the night, a day before the bidding for the event. One team even used complex mathematical function to gauge the value of players. Each of the teams came full prepared with their prices, expectations and wish lists for the bidding process.
The Rise of IML
The event started with a bang. The first sport for the competition was Cricket. It had participation from the girls as well. Each game of the sport witnessed a full house. People didn’t only stay for the full length of the game; IML also became a regular topic of discussion over a cup of tea in the hostel canteen. Due to this event, some of the unknown and untapped players of our batch became over night stars.
The event started with a bang. The first sport for the competition was Cricket. It had participation from the girls as well. Each game of the sport witnessed a full house. People didn’t only stay for the full length of the game; IML also became a regular topic of discussion over a cup of tea in the hostel canteen. Due to this event, some of the unknown and untapped players of our batch became over night stars.
The cracks appearing
The best thing of all the sports is that it creates a special bond between the team members and a sense of rivalry between the competing teams. Team spirit is one of the biggest gifts of all competitions. But strangely that was the biggest flaw in the concept of IML.
As usual a person can not be equally fond to all the other 50 people in the group, same happened here. The charged spirits and excitement due to a few close games created a few quarrels which even continued off the field (which should have not been the case). These petty quarrels acted as the epicentres or primary stress points on which bigger issues were born.
The best thing of all the sports is that it creates a special bond between the team members and a sense of rivalry between the competing teams. Team spirit is one of the biggest gifts of all competitions. But strangely that was the biggest flaw in the concept of IML.
As usual a person can not be equally fond to all the other 50 people in the group, same happened here. The charged spirits and excitement due to a few close games created a few quarrels which even continued off the field (which should have not been the case). These petty quarrels acted as the epicentres or primary stress points on which bigger issues were born.
Closure of the event
The recurring issues and fights that started on the field at the heat of the moment escalated to such a high level that we had to unwillingly call the event off for this year. It had been a very ambitious event with 7 sports in it, but just one wrong assumption (on field emotions are left on field only) killed the whole event.
The recurring issues and fights that started on the field at the heat of the moment escalated to such a high level that we had to unwillingly call the event off for this year. It had been a very ambitious event with 7 sports in it, but just one wrong assumption (on field emotions are left on field only) killed the whole event.
Rise of the ashes
IML was an event and a culture that was and is must for budding managers more than anyone else, as it teaches the nuances of team dynamics that no book can teach.
After months of soul searching, thinking and planning I promise that the new version of IML that will be starting soon will be meaner and tougher competition but will also have vents to release all the heat and friction to make it a sustainable and a popular attraction at IIT Kanpur.
