Indian Institute of Management, Indore is one of the very few prestigious institutions which have a very specially crafted event for school students in its annual fest – Atharv. This fantastic event is the “Pi-Quiz”. This year it was divided into three stages.

The first, was appearing for an aptitude test at school level. Students of grades 9, 10 and 11 from AVM appeared for the test. The results of first round were announced on 6th September and six students from our school qualified. Niramaybhai Mehta (STD-9), Devarshibhai Patel (STD-9), Jigarbhai Italiya (STD-10), Nisargbhai Patel (STD-11 COM.), Smitbhai Lad (STD-11 COM.) and Aayushbhai Sagar (STD-11 COM), qualified for the second round and their happiness knew no bounds on knowing that they were the chosen ones.

The second stage of the competition was held in the campus of IIM itself. 60 participants had come to compete from all over the nation. The participants from AVM had a jaw-dropping experience as they arrived at the staggering and a beautifully landscaped 193-acre campus of the Institute. Just as they were starting to get familiar with the gigantic infrastructure, an informal event was declared – “The treasure hunt”. The participants found a new building with every clue they were given. With the randomly made teams and the kilometres of running to find clues, the participants got to know each other and were able to comfortably mix in the environment.

On the first official day of the contest, the participants were greeted with a fresh new round called “The game of shadows”. The main aim of the game was to manipulate one’s way to the next round. The game comprised of two divisions.

  • The first sub-part of the game required the participants to select a number from 50 to 250. The number should be such that when the sum of numbers selected by all competitors is divided by an individual’s selected number, the remainder must be the least possible. The one who gets the lowest remainder from the lot, gets the highest points and vice versa. As it was all about manipulation, people stood up and addressed the crowd like they were Mark Antony but were rejected like Brutus since all the participants had braced themselves for manipulation. Despite the crowd’s fruitless efforts to unite people’s opinion in the end, the participants had their own answers.
  • The second part included the competitors to select any number then decide whether the sum of the selected numbers by the participants is odd or even. And also decide whether the minority was odd or even. As the round ended, the contestants were uncertain as to whether they would qualify or not, but they proceeded to the next round all the same.

The next round was all about figuring out about the right prices of the articles that were displayed on the screen. Each team comprised of four people. A limit of 20 million was given and the prices of the articles were to be set in such a way that the limit is not crossed. The articles consisted of either modern day expensive items or items related to an important event or person. Once the team members were done estimating the prices of the articles, they were excited for the results but were yet again told that the results would be declared later. A short break was given in between the schedule during which the teachers and participants explored the menu of the canteens of IIM. After the break, the contestants awaited the guest lecture that was scheduled next.

The lecture was delivered by Professor Siddharth Rastogi who was an alumnus from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. The lecture consisted of a discussion on whether culture shapes economy or economy shapes the culture. He explained with examples of eating habits and skin tone preferences that it is the respective economy of the place which forms its culture. The session ended with the professor’s felicitation by our dear Prajval Sir.

After this, it was time for the third round – “Criconomics”. This round, though it sounds exciting to cricket fans, did not have much to do with cricket! Groups of two were made and each group was given a total limit of Rs 1.8 crores. There were four steps to be followed. First, a team was to be selected from the 20 displayed on the screen. Next, individual players were to be bought. Third, players could be traded amongst all the groups based on their own terms. Finally, a list of five players was to be created such that the total of their given points gives the highest sum from the team they created. After submitting the list came an expected instruction that the results would be declared to the mentors of the participants later in the day. Hence, ended the qualifying round of The Pi-Quiz. The anxiousness of the participants could be seen on their faces as they awaited the results as only 10 would make it to the finals. However, when the results were out, the AVM team celebrated with great joy as 3 out of the six of us: Niramaybhai Mehta (STD-9), Devarshibhai Patel (STD-9) and Aayushbhai Sagar (STD-11 Com.) made it to finals.

The finals started on the last day of the event. The 10 gladiators were summoned. The 3 finalists of AVM received lots of cheers and encouragement from peers and teachers as they entered the venue.

  • The first phase of the finals included two rounds. The first round was a written test of 20 questions, on simple logic and current affairs. The marks scored in this test would be the number of points that each player would start with in the second round.
  • The second round involved betting of the points again, but these bets were rewarded with extra points. There were total of 8 questions involving 4 images each and the relation between these images was to be determined. If guessed on the presenting of the first image itself, then 3 times the amount of points bid was awarded and so on, for the remaining three. If guessed wrong, the bidding amount would be deducted from the points. In the end, the participants with the top 4 points from the lot, would qualify for phase 2 of the finals. One of the AVM participants made it to the top 4, contending for the reward positions.

Phase two of the final round consisted of 6 mind games that required alertness of mind, common sense and a great deal of confidence. A total of 3 points were awarded on every victory and were added to the already accumulated points. At the end, the 3 winners were decided. It was celebration time for AVM because Aayushbhai Sagar (STD-11 Com.) stood third nationwide in the Pi-Quiz Competition.

Apart from these events, the AVM team had long, informative and engaging discussions with the undergraduates studying there. There are three AVM alumni brothers in the IPM course across the first three years.

  • Tanmaybhai Patel (3rd Year-IPM; AVM Class of 2015) shared his opinion on ethics and values. He stressed on importance of holding on to whatever the teachers at AVM are trying to give. He said the values & lessons learnt at AVM are lessons for lifetime and they are still helpful to him.
  • Sumitbhai Choudhary (2nd Year-IPM; AVM Class of 2016) shared his views regarding hard work. He said that one should not have self-pity while working on a task. He boldly claimed that without God’s grace one cannot sustain working hard. Therefore, prayer is a must.
  • Dinalbhai Patel (1st Year-IPM; AVM Class of 2017) expressed his resentment over not having obeyed teachers or obeyed them half-hearted. Moreover, he valued AVM teachers as jewels to be stored forever, never to be lost. He described them as true companions because of their unbiased guidance throughout.

Apart from this, all of them commonly agreed on having good company in order to live a happy life and learn effective time management.

Overall it was a great learning lesson for the team. The game of shadows taught how to be pragmatic and rational. The game of bidding taught how to be shrewd and persistent. The game of criconomics taught us fund management. Moreover it tried to teach the participants an effective way of communication and how to deal with people of different mindsets. The final round taught a person how to keep cool in the most stressful of the situations.

In the end we returned back to AVM with renewed energy and enthusiasm with many new life lessons.

Reported by: Niramay Mehta (Class 9), Jigar Italiya (Class 10), Aayush Sagar, Smit Lad & Nisarg Patel (Class 11 Commerce)