Lord Ram’s life, events from ‘Ramayan’ to be showcased at this year’s Manfest-Varchasva

IIM-Lucknow’s annual festival, to be held from November 15 to 17, will include a quiz and a play based on ‘Ramayan’

Budding managers will get to pick some crucial lessons from the life of Lord Ram and the epic ‘Ramayan’ during IIM-Lucknow’s upcoming three-day festival ‘Manfest-Varchasva’. This annual business, sports and cultural festival, to be organised from November 15 to 17, will include a quiz and a play based on the epic and Lord Ram’s journey.

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Acting on a proposal moved by the convener of Manfest, the Ayodhya Research Institute -- a body of the UP government’s department of culture -- wrote to the director general, tourism directorate of Uttar Pradesh, on October 18, to sanction Rs 2.5 lakh for the festival.

Significantly, these developments come a few weeks after chief minister Yogi Adityanath, his ministers and bureaucrats attended a three-day training module on governance at the Indian Institute of Management - Lucknow in September.

“There are several management lessons to be learnt from our epics. Some of the top management institutes of the country run courses on lessons from epics and mythological figures,” said Pranav Soni, an IIM-L student.

Recently, a team of students from the institute also visited Ayodhya during ‘Deepotsav’ 2019, which got itself a place in the Guinness World Records for ‘the largest display of oil lamps’.

Meanwhile, IIM-L director Professor Archana Shukla said that events such as the Manfest-Varchasva were unique in that they were solely organised and managed by the students.

“The students raise funds by approaching corporate houses and government organisations. There is a possibility that some students went to Ayodhya to witness the ‘Deepotsav’. That could have been due to sheer excitement. After all, they are young and must have been excited,” she said.