ERGO
Thursday, May 28, 2009
NAMMA CHENNAI
02
Ready, Steady, Write
SMOT Business School, a premier managementschool based in Chennai, is organising anEnglish essay writing contest – Ready, Steady,Write - for the final year students of arts andengineering stream, who are passing out ofcollege this current academic year (2008 –2009).
Topic
The contestants have to write an essay on thetopic ‘As a responsible citizen of India, howwill I take my country through this financialslowdown’ (or) on ‘Out of 30 Lakh students,who graduate every year, only 5 lakh choose amanagement course for their PG. In whatways this figure could be doubled?’ The wordlimit is minimum of 1000 words.
How to send
The essay needs to be first submitted throughemail to pg@smot.edu.in (MS Word format)and the handwritten copy to be couriered toSMOT campus address.
Prize money
The best three essays will be awarded theprize money of Rs. 25,000, Rs. 15,000 &Rs.10,000 respectively. Winners who areaspiring to join SMOT Business School forPGPM course stand to win a prize money ofRs. 1 lakh or 50 % scholarship on the coursefee as first prize, Rs.50,000 or 25 % scholarshipas second prize and Rs.25,000 or 10 %scholarship as third prize.
Registration
The contestants have to regsiter atwww.smot.edu.in and get the UniqueRegistration Number (URN) and this numberneeds to be quoted for all futurecommunications. Last date to register onlineto get URN is June 15 and last date to submitis June 30, 2009. The contest is open tostudents across India.
For more details mail pg@smot.edu.in or call SMOT @ 98845 45898
A
nuradha Sawhney loves her job. A former employee of atop leather buying house,Sawhney is now a formid-able campaigner against leatherproducts. “Like many people, Inever gave a second thought tothe fact that my shoes used tomoo,” she says, denouncing theleather-manufacturing process as“abhorrent”.In her role as PETA India’schief functionary, she’s seen theinternational non-profit groupthrough many milestones includ-ing PETA’s entry into the LimcaBook of Records as the country’slargest animal rightsorganization.She reveals that a career in anNGO is far from being a hobby aspopularly perceived and thatthough they officially have five-day weeks, employees are alwayson call for emergencies routed tothem in the absence of otherhelp. “I even make stops on thehighways and check my emailthrough wi-fi,” says Sawhney,adding that she doesn’t think of itas a job. “You lose track of time,because it’s not work”.Her colleagues include accoun-tants, lawyers, MBAs and com-puter professionals whom shedescribes as “articulate and ratio-nal, and the extra thing everyonehas is compassion”. Speaking about the difference between aregular job and one in the socialsector, she says: “I know that noone in my office is hurting an ani-mal. We don’t have chairs madeof leather. Only vegan food is con-sumed here. And we all have onecommon goal.”Our interview is interrupted by a cheerful bark. She puts me onhold to ask someone - “Why’s Rex jumping about like that? Is heok?” Rex, who was rescued by PE-TA (from people who kept himhabitually chained), is a regular ather office, alongside other com-panion animals who can come to work provided they get along withhim.Like her colleagues, Sawhney isalways looking towards the nextgoal, the next cruelty issue to ad-dress. “I might get into politics tospeak out for animals. And I’mplanning a book on animal wel-fare in India,” she says, quoting from Robert Frost’s poem -“What’s that line again? Miles togo before I sleep”.She walks the talk, and men-tions that she hasn’t switched off her phone in nine years.Has it all been worthwhile? Heranswer comes without hesitation.“I can’t believe I ever did anything else with my life”.
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A career in a non-profit organization comes with bigchallenges and even bigger rewards according to Anuradha Sawhney, PETA India’s chief functionary
SRIYA NARAYANAN
pets@goergo.in
ASSION ANDURPOSE ARE THE
P
RIZE
I can’tbelieve I everdid anything else with my life
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