It was a blend of the right managerial skills and presence of mind that won the students of Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development, the first prize in the event called Trishna, at the Manthan, intercollegiate festival organised by the Tata Institute of Social Science recently.

Trishna or the amazing race, a sub-event of Udghosh (the flagship event of Manthan), was akin to a contest based on business managerial skills, wherein the participants had to crack clues laid out in the game. Arun Mirchandani, team member of Manthan says, “This game was devised in a way that it replicated treasure hunt in more than one way. A team of four tracked a location with the help of clues, playing the game at every location. The time taken to complete the game determined the points that were awarded.”

Full of adventure and a whole gamut of managerial games that could test one’s negotiation skills to the hilt, the winning team learnt a lot. Vikas Parchanda, one of the participants from the winning team, says, “The most challenging part of the game was to decipher the clues in an alien place, tracking such a place, and completing games like Crossword. Selling a product was also accommodated as a part of the game. Doing all of that in a limited span of time seemed implausible initially.”

Overjoyed on winning the event, he adds,” It was an honor to be bestowed with the award from none other than ad guru Prasoon Joshi.” That coupled with an endless applause is sure made for a moment these young managers are not likely to forget in a hurry.”