Cambridge: Varun, Co-founder, Aspiring Minds was recently invited by the Legatum Centrer for Development and Entrepreneurship to speak at the 2013 Legatum Conference at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The conference invited entrepreneurs from the developing countries around the world to share their stories and inspire budding entrepreneurs.

Varun shared the story of Aspiring Minds and its dream to provide an inclusive employability platform to youth across India and the world to over 200 people present from atleast 20 countries and diverse business sectors at the conference. Varun talked about Aspiring Minds’ innovative products in the space of human capital evaluation, challenges faced in the developing world and tips to build a successful business. Varun also talked about the company’s new products such as AM-Disha which aims to offer guidance to K-12 students in the country.

Aspiring Minds witnessed it’s first Book-reading session today. However, little did we know that this session would turn out to be a relaxing and a recreational session that we were looking for!

The session began with Varun’s interpretations of Premchand’s famous creations ‘Godan’, ‘Kayakalp’ and Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s ‘Madhushala’ which soon was followed by Bhargava, Oaskanta, Amrita and Vinay Shashidhar’s self composed stories and poetry – each in its own way thoughtful and gripping.

Interpretations of ‘The Kite Runner’ and biographies of Dawood Ibrahim & Sir Vivian Richards too were discussed. Oh, how can I forget to mention Vinay Sachdeva’s poetic composition which he claims not to have written on his own (we do agree on that Vinay! )

To sum it up – a session about exploring, delighting and laughing for Aspiring Minds’ bibliophiles!

And now I’ll leave you with excerpts from Oaskanta’s and Bhargava’s self-composed writings…

A Bloom In The Gloom (Bhargava Gade)

In the aftermath of a merciless rain
In the cacophony of croaking frogs
In the gushing waters’ roars of pain
You’ve been that mellifluous blissful chirp

….

In the ceaseless stretch of the moor
In the undulating golden grass
In the lands of the resonating gloom
You’ve been that lively verdant bloom

The Smile… (Oaskanta Mishra)

I am still waiting for that smile,
The one that my angel gives,
I see it and my drowsy eyes,
are lighted up and shine.

……..

The cozy winter sun,
The thinning drops of water,
The soothing spring breeze,
All vague in front of that smile.

Ciao!

The day for which we’ve been slogging harder than ever was finally here – on the eve of going live on the television, Himanshu and Varun addressed a session discussing what we have for the prime time. Yes, that’s true! AMCAT is finally flaunting its first presence on television. Airing on almost every popular TV channel, this is surely gonna be the talk of the town!

The show is already Housefull! – we just got to see the first AMCAT T.V commercial!

Unfortunately the blogger won’t be able to show the ad on the blog as you gotta see it on TV , but it’s pretty cool and worth your time!
Enjoy!

A perfectly planned out, fun-filled and an altogether rejuvenating experience this weekend as Aspiring Minds visited Pratapgarh farms – small charming holiday village, with its lush green fields and ethnic mud huts, serene pond, jumping sprinklers and lively cattle barns!

The great camel ride! This isn’t all – there was a tractor ride too..!!

Nishana lagaya jaye!! (Archery, Dart shooting, sling shot etc. etc. )

From pottery, trampoline jumping, spinning the yarn on Charkha to Cricket and sack race – this was a day well spent!!

What could have been better than ending the current financial year with a session on Investment and Tax Planning??

Yet another knowledge session accompanying loads of learning, exploring and sharing – a team from Standard Chartered helped us understand all about the nitty-gritty rules of finance!

A perfect time to understand and organize funds into smart investments – an intelligent way of putting our money to work for us!

With the three festivals of Lohri, Pongal and Makar Sankranti kick-starting the festivities in the year of hope, it was befitting that the AM family took some time off for Pongalo Pongal Social.

The high intensity, ever-challenging work-atmosphere anyway called for a break so why not have a rocking start to the year!
Amidst the sweet dish and the festival, was a small quiz to tickle our knowledge-bone…

Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse.

Will she be able to make it through to her aim?? Or will the curse win over?? Come, join us at the AM Kaleidscope to find out!

When: Thu, November 29, 17:30 – 19:00
Where: Conference Room (1st Floor)

If you believe in the fact that dreams are achieved only by the Brave who dare to do what they want, this one is for you!

Diwali is all about rangoli, diyas, lights, decoration, sweets – and couldn’t have been better this time @ AM! While dressed in ethnic wear, the teams decorated their bays and work stations in traditional diwali hues…

Our attempt at making Rangoli!!

Celebrations..decorations around…

No brushes to paint, no themes or topics, just colours and the AMites! Yeah, this time we had a painting social at AM.
The teams got 30 minutes to put their ideas onto the drawing board..Take a look at some of the master pieces we created!

‘If I’ – an award-winning comedy one-man show written and performed by Demetri Martin at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The show, an autobiographical examination of Martin’s life, as seen through various definitions of the word ‘if’, was also aired on British television as a special.