ISSUE #01 JULY 2011

An Online Publication by the IBA Communication Club

PREFACE

PAGE | 02

Sharjil Muktafi Haque, BBA 16th

Mir Naquibul Islam, BBA 17th

Syed Arefinul Haque, BBA 17th

Kazi Hirok Al Arafat, BBA 19th

EDITORS PANEL

THANKS TO:

Ehsan Malek ChowdhuryBBA 16th BatchVice PresidentPress & PublicationsIBA Communication Club

Tasmia Tasbih NovaBBA 16th Batch

Nawazul KabirBBA 18th BatchCoordinatorPress & PublicationsIBA Communication Club

DESIGN & LAYOUT:Sheikh Ashraful Abedin, BBA 16th

Wikipedia describes kaleidoscope as container of a circle of mirrors containing loose, colored objects such that when the

viewer looks into one end, light entering the other end creates a colorful pattern, due to the reflection off the mirrors. Now

imagine IBA as the vessel and the life of IBA, its people, as the mirrors. Picture the many glorious achievements, the vibrant

events and even the everyday humdrum as the colored objects – the color to the LIFE in IBA. The very first newsletter in the

history of IBA, prepared by an extremely dedicated team of editors and designers, supervised and published by the IBA Com-

munication Club (IBACC), tried to capture this exact quintessence and reflect it through the name “Kaleidoscope”. It encom-

passed in its pages, the words of the students of IBA, expressing their thoughts and sentiments about the multifaceted aspects

of this institution and creating a retrospective recap of the eventful year.

An Online Publication by the IBA Communication Club

EDITORIALSlightly, but surely I can relate to the significance of this quote by the famous Mark

Twain, now that I have successfully managed to wrap up the month long toil and

endeavor of putting together this year’s issue of the IBA Newsletter. Cross checking all

the write-ups for the umpteenth time, pondering over a sentence that needed to be

re-structured, a word that needed to be replaced and not to mention the number of

times I had to call up the writers to do a status check on their progress! The fruit of all

this labor is now a polished print of the ‘Kaleidoscope’ in your hand, the very first issue

of our IBA Newsletter.

‘Kaleidoscope’ is a main course of the IBA moments of glory – the achievements of the

young aspirants of this reputed school of business and the grand events that took place

this year, with some contemplation and feelings on the side. It intended to encompass

the happenings of this year – the told & the untold, the many experiences of the high

fliers’ accomplishments. It holds the emotions of the senior most batch, who dread

every passing moment as a step closer to the end of IBA life, while it also embraces the

sentiments of the very new addition to our IBA family – 19th batch, who are bursting

with exuberance of starting the most amazing journey of their life, with a known gleam

in their eyes.

Before I put forth my concluding words, it would be wrong not to acknowledge some

saviors, without whom, the sole responsibility of putting together a great newsletter

would have seemed slightly daunting and maybe even impossible at times. I heartily

thank Sami, Nova and Ashraful for selflessly helping through the many tasks of compil-

ing, editing and designing the newsletter. I don’t know what I would have possibly done

without you all.

We have tried to capture the many multi-faceted IBA happenings and insights under

one cover, the essence of which is ‘Kaleidoscope’. The effort was worthwhile and the

journey, an enlightening and pleasurable one; I truly hope all of you will enjoy reading

this as much as I enjoyed publishing it.

Happy Reading!

Ehsan M. Chowdhury

“Substitute ‘damn’ every

time you're inclined to write

‘very’; your editor will

delete it and the writing will

be JUST as it should be”

~ Mark Twain

PAGE | 03

CONTENTS06 The Lemonade in the Sun

07 The beginning of something beautiful

08 26th March: Celebration at IBA

08 An evening in Black and white

09 IBA Renovation

09 Thank you 14th for a fantastic thanksgiving

10 Intra-IBA Debate 2011: Reminder of a Legacy

11 Reliving that scorching day at Gazipur

13 A Fight to the Finish

14 IBA suits down, boots up

15 Unmatched pride, passion & perseverance

16 ICC Cricket World Cup 2011: A Firsthand Take

18 IBA wins KUET Tourney

18 The Debate Realm

19 The OIC Experience

20 Bronze in Hong Kong

21 HSBC YEA 2011: Experience of a Lifetime

23 A Bitter Sweet Symphony

24 The trip That Ruined It All

27 Never Stop Believing

29 Trap!

05 EVENTS

12 SPORTS

17 ACHIEVEMENTS

22 IN RETROSPECT

28 FREESTYLE WRITING

PAGE | 04

EventsThe Lemonade in the Sun

The Beginning of Something Beautiful

26th March: Celebration at IBA

An Evening in Black and White

IBA Renovation

Thank You 14th for a Fantastic Thanksgiving

Intra-IBA Debate 2011: Reminder of a Legacy

Reliving That Scorching Day At Gazipur

06

07

08

08

09

09

10

11

The beautiful azure sky and scorching sun

announce the arrival of summer and it is time for

the IBA Annual Picnic 2011. It was a special

Friday on 8 April, 2011. Early in the morning, the

IBA students gathered together on the IBA

campus in order to launch for Shohag Palli Picnic

Resort, Kaliakoir, Gazipur.

There were T-shirts, cap and other kits in each of

the daypack distributed among the picnickers.

After having breakfast, we started for the picnic

spot. It was a hot morning with full of sunshine.

The sunrays were just intruding through the

windows and nearly baking us. The pure fun

started when we all started singing together in

the bus.

After reaching Shohag Palli, seeking shade

became our first and foremost task. The mid-

noon sun was just shining over the head then.

Some people started searching for beverages

while some others were taking preparation for

playing cricket and football. The spot included

forests and plantations, lake, swimming pool,

cottages, playgrounds, small hills, and even a

small mysterious cave guarded by an artificial

giant spider. The place was also populated with

the sculptures of deer, tigers, monkeys and a big

Genie.

The lunch was arranged on a big ground where

there was a stage aside equipped with a sound

system. The coolest thing of the picnic was the six

fabulous beverage icons on each ticket. Is there

any more blessing than the feeling of being

content? Definitely, No! ‘Beuty Lebur Shorbot’

(Beauty Lemonade) and juices were the topmost

demand until sunset.

After a good lunch, we enjoyed the amazing

Water Balloon contest where BBA boys showed

their throwing skills and running agility through

trees. Just after the water balloon contest, there

was another competition named Sack Race com-

petition where Ziad and Mashrifa, our two MBA

classmates, grabbed the first prize, a bottle of

Horlicks!

PAGE | 06

The afternoon came with the most exciting event

of the day-the Raffle Draw. Holding the coupons,

all were eyeing the first prize - a Dell Vostro

Laptop. The excitement reached its zenith when a

number of exciting prizes were being raffled off,

including prizes like Dhaka-Calcutta-Dhaka

airplane ticket, Hotel Sheraton Dinner coupon,

DVD-player, Pride Sari’s gift voucher for females

etc.

After the Raffle Draw, it was the evening already,

we arrived at the final event- the DJ dance. We

all danced with the music with our utmost zeal

and energy. On the way of returning to the buses

through the paths of the Palli, the tranquil

evening breeze was giving us a fluffy feeling. The

shimmering moonbeams through the leaves of

the trees and their reflection on the calm waters

of the lake created an ethereal atmosphere.

At about 7:30pm, we left the silent Shohag Palli

behind and started for the swarming city of

Dhaka. There was not an iota of fatigue in

anyone throughout the day. Some already began

updating their Facebook and twitter status: “a

high-voltage picnic”, “an awesome daylong fun”

etc. The big moon above the head in the starry

sky seemed like declaring the end of an unfor-

gettable day behind.

For sure, there will be picnic held every year, but

as the fresh MBA batch, this daylong fun will

always remain as an exclusive experience in our

mind. We want to thank all the sponsors involved

and specially BBA 16th for such a well-organized

picnic.

The Lemonade in the SunMd. Maidul IslamMBA 45th Batch

THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

Eager faces; the boys on their best demeanor, a

little fidgety in their formal attires; the girls too in

their best dresses, surreptitiously looking at each

other and talking in hushed tones. Some had

joyous pride on their faces, and were somberly

taking in the surrounding grandeur, already

making plans; whereas, others had a dazed

expression indicating that they were yet to

believe their good fortunes on their faces. Almost

everyone was out to make friends. The excite-

ment in the room was an almost tangible thing.

The rapid drumming of fingers, the quite hum-

ming of lost melodies were all subtle indicators.

Everyone was ready for the most important

orientation of their lives to begin.

It was ten in the morning when the IBA nine-

teenth batch orientation finally started with

recitations from the Holy Quran. Next in line was

a video showing the university’s rich history and

its countless achievements over the years. Then

professors G.M. Chowdhury, Syed Alamgir

Zafar, Nurur Rahman and Syed Ferhat Anwar

proceeded to inspire everyone with their moving

speeches. The students were exceptionally

delighted when Director GM Chowdhury

informed them of the recently established student

exchange program with Aston University. He also

added that there was a possibility of collabora-

tion of IBA with twenty other universities abroad

His words were met by tremendous applause

from the crowd. Everyone was excited at the

prospect of spending six or more months at such

a reputed university as Aston. The director then

handed over the responsibility of organizing the

21st February program to IBA’s newest batch. It

was around midday when the students were

finally ushered to the canteen for a sumptuous

treat of Shwarma and cakes. Most people did a

double take entering the canteen. There were no

chairs; instead, people were having their food

sitting cross-legged on the canteen floor. It was

certainly unique, just like everything else at IBA.

Everyone tucked in their food with glee. It tasted

especially delicious after the long and eventful

morning. After a while the students were again

told to wait in the auditorium. There Saif Noman

Khan, the Chairperson of the BBA program,

shared his life experiences with the students. He

also outlined the basic rules and regulations

which the students had to abide by. He then went

on to introduce everyone to Faiyak Rishad, the

president of the IBA Communication Club.

Rishad Bhaiya listed the various extracurricular

activities that IBA had to offer. To most, it was

very reassuring to know that academics was not

everything IBA was about. The students were

then split into two groups each comprising of

fifty-eight students. They were taken on a tour of

the IBA facilities by Sharjil, Shanil, and Shafquat

Bhaiya. The state-of-the-art library was lined

with shelves of books and had free wifi which

only served to add to everyone’s joy. Then the

students were shepherded down to the discus-

sion rooms. These rooms were frequented by

students for studying, the free wifi and everything

else. The computer lab too managed to grab

everyone’s attention with its old world charm.

Everyone was then free to go. The students

climbed down the stairs, still digesting everything

that had happened in the course of a few hours.

Every face was alight with new dreams and

hopes. At that point of time, the entire nineteenth

batch was truly united as one. In the words of the

great Bryan Adams:

"It's a new world - it's a new start

It's alive with the beating of young hearts

It's a new day - it's a new plan

I've been waiting for you

Here I am."

Mayesha MehnazBBA 19th Batch

PAGE | 07

26th March Celebration At IBA

For the first time in IBA history MBA 45th batch

organized a cultural program titled ‘Ekaturer

Bijoy Gatha’ to celebrate our nation's indepen-

dence. To celebrate the occasion IBA was given a

new look with a statue of a freedom fighter with

the Red and Green flag at the entrance. The

program which was held at the IBA auditorium

began with the singing of our national anthem.

The proceedings started with the speech of the

Honorable Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University,

Prof. A A M S Arefin Siddique who was the chief

guest of the ceremony. He congratulated IBA on

observing the Independence Day for the first time

and expressed his desire to see such programs in

the future as well. His speech was followed by

Major General(retd.) Amin Ahmed Chowdhury,

Bir Bikram, who is a renowned freedom fighter

himself. As the guest speaker, he shared his

experiences of the liberation war with all the

students. Following this was also a Q and A

session in which he answered different questions

asked by the students. Honorable Director of IBA

Prof. G.M. Chowdhury concluded the first part of

the program with a note of thanks.

The second part of the program consisted of

cultural performances by the students. The

performances included patriotic songs and

recitation of poems. After that a documentary

was shown describing the mass murder which

occurred on the black night of 25th March in the

was staged. The drama portrayed the struggle of

a freedom fighter, remembering his horrific

experiences during the war.

At the end of the performances a common

message was given to all- "We have been

through a lot as a nation. Though we're still

struggling, we have many achievements to be

proud of. And we should take pride in our coun-

try for those achievements. "

As the new comer batch to IBA we had a lot to

prove with organizing the program. But with the

help of our teachers and also from the BBA

batch’s we successfully pulled it off! And in the

process new experiences were gained and new

friendships were made and these will make our

stay at IBA much more enjoyable.

PAGE | 08

According to mythology, language is the divine

gift which has been bestowed upon the human-

kind by God Himself. And when the 'procession

of language' comes to Bangladesh , travels

through the Bangla language arena it glorifies

itself. On 21st February the bold and valiant sons

of our soils sacrificed their lives in front of the

erstwhile exploiters and snatched away our right

to speak in our own maternal essence. Now, the

historic 21st February is not only glowing in the

calendars worldwide but also stands as an inspi-

ration for all.

This year the newcomers in IBA,(BBA 19th Batch)

being inspired by our honorable director G.M.

Chowdhury took the initiative to organize the

observance of 21st February. In spite of time

constraints and lots of initial hurdles, 19th's

young minds with the direction of BBA chair-

person Saif Noman Khan Sir and in collabora-

tion with other senior batches paved the way

towards a successful program. After long antici-

pated hours of preparation , finally it took place

in the IBA auditorium on 23rd February. To

portray the real commemorating spirit of the red

lettered day Shamroze, Tahrima, Sabah ,

Nashwa and many of our 19th batch students

decorated the whole auditorium as well as the

stage with the heart felt love for their mother

tongue. At,3.30 pm, when the invited faculty

members and our director sir entered into the

auditorium, the jam packed auditorium

welcomed them. The program kicked off with

formal speech from our honorable director

G.M.Chowdhury. The very first performance was

a renowned song 'ami banglar gaan gai'

performed by Mashfique khalid , escorted with a

guitar percussion by Naznoor Rino ,and an

excellent slideshow created by Hirok which

delineated the true sense of the song.This

performance was followed by two consecutive

recitations of Taoseef and Tahrima. Then orpita,

pramiti, anika, juthi and their dance teams took

the stage and exhibited their dancing prowess

with various traditional and mesmerizing Bengali

music. A solo dance performance was presented

by Maliha Tarannum from the 18th batch.The

chorus performance on the revolutionary song '

Karar oi louho kopat' was presented by our

chorus singers Moshfeq,Hirok, Anas, Saeed,

and many others while Sayra took on the harmo-

nium accompanied by Mir Naqibul Islam(17th

batch) with tabla whom we cannot thank

enough for his cooperation . No sooner had they

got down from the stage then an epic perfor-

mance which completely grabbed the audiences

minds. It was a renowned drama on 'Kobor' by

Munir Chowdhury which was adapted and

directed by Hisham and performed by Nabil,

Jishan, Farhan, Naseef, Bivu .Well, drama team,

you guys were splendid!!!

The awesome procession of gorgeous perform-

ing continued and after the drama Tanvir

bhai(18th ),Rahat bhai( 18th ) and naqib bhai (

17th ) came to the stage with a flamboyant

instrumental performance. It was flawless combi-

nation of guitar and tabla and light projection.

While the program was approaching towards the

end Ahabara came on the stage with the final

solo performance. Finally it was our beloved

song , the one closest to our hearts 'Amar Bhai

er Rokte Rangano' was performed in chorus and

needless to mention the whole auditorium stood

up paying homage and reverence to the martyrs

of language movement.The program was

directed and presented by Muntasir ( 19th ).Thus

the program came to an end.

As soon as we entered into IBA , organizing the

whole program was a tremendous job through

which we explored IBA and its environment .

Initially we felt a lot of pressure and huge tension

but at the end of the day we came out with flying

colors. Behind our success we would like to thank

all the seniors, specially Md. Faiyak Zaman

Rishad( 16th batch) who co-operated in each of

our efforts. With this program we have started

our adventurous journey in IBA which we dream

of....

An Evening in Black and White

Mahran FadlullahMBA 45th Batch

Muntasir Tahmeed, BBA 19th Batch

IBA Renovation

IBA has been the leading business school of the

country; therefore it should have the touch of

grandeur in its manifestation. With the target of

giving IBA a grand outlook, the foundation of the

renovation of ground floor took place in the last

year. The renovation included the base of the

tree at the front yard entrance to the corridor of

the ground floor. This endeavor was sponsored

by British American Tobacco Bangladesh. The

inaugural ceremony of this renovated entrance

was held at the IBA auditorium on the 30th

September, 2010. Borwin Jung, the Regional

Director of HR, BAT, South Asia, Arun Kaul, the

Managing Director and Syed Imtiaz Faruque, the

Head of HR, BAT Bangladesh along with Prof.

G.M. Choudhury, Director, IBA were present at

the ceremony.

The IBA entrance now has a splendid appear-

ance with gorgeous looking gates of crafted

wood, artistic chandelier with fabulous lighting

enhancement, floor of tiles, newly groomed side

walls of bricks with three new notice boards on

them.

Recently, there has been a reconstruction of the

gents’, ladies’ and faculties’ washrooms. The

mosaic floors have been replaced by high class

and best fitting tiles and the washrooms have

been facilitated with all modern features and

neatness.

There are still some renovation works going on

throughout the ground floor and the first floor

which will also add more to the grandness of the

campus.

PAGE | 09

What do you get when you put Navjot Singh

Sidhu and Chowdhury Zafarullah Sharafat

together at the Oscars on Thanksgiving night?

Well, an extremely entertaining award show; one

that’s far more engaging than that fiasco put

together by Anne Hathaway and James Franco

Junior.

The highly anticipated Thanksgiving Dinner

organized by the 14th batch (and Wali bhaia) to

thank their 4 junior batches for last year’s 3-day

Graduation on March 5th at Saffron in Gulshan

was an immense success, partly due to the more

than lifelike impersonations of the two afore-

mentioned characters by Naheyan bhaia and

Aumio bhaia. Their repetitive adjectives and

unrelated proverbs, respectively, delivered in the

characteristic accent and style of the two com-

mentators managed to make the crowd laugh

every time.

The favourites of the night, Takar khela, walked

away with the most awards, including the presti-

gious best video award and best dialogue for

“walai-kumassalam”. 15th managed to attain all

4 nominations for technical difficulties and even-

tually clinch the honor while 18th‘s musical mas-

terpiece “Ami IBA Graduate” won packets of

Rajar Dudh in the best song category. 17th’s

boys took home the prize, which was fittingly a

banana, for best dance number for their some-

what lewd but highly amusing interpretation of

Momtaz’s classic “Doyal Baba”. The award

session ended with the “Never Stop Clapping”

video, a humorous yet relevant take on Maverick

Studio’s “Never Stop Believing”, placing the 14th

batch in the central role previously occupied by

the Bangladesh cricket team.

Next came the scrumptious buffet dinner,

followed by the zenith for some and the nadir for

others; the raffle draw. Over 20 prizes, of which

yours truly won nothing, were announced.. The

exhilaration on several lucky faces was

contrasted with the dissappointment felt by the

less fortunate sitting beside them. Tasnim’s com-

mentary at our table was comprised of interest-

ing statistics which seemed to show beyond any

reasonable doubt that only a select group of

blessed people, the “chosen ones”, consistently

won at these events. It appeared to prove her

right when Afrida Mahbub, winner of a netbook

at the picnic and an LCD monitor at the previous

thanksgiving, stood up as a contender for one of

the best prizes. Bad buzz did its work that day as

the collective consciousness of the people

around her stopped her from winning this time.

Another interesting theory was that raffle draws

increase disparity in the IBA population, with the

rich getting richer and the poor remaining in

poverty. This hypotheses was further strength-

ened when the somebody won his 3rd X-Box and

the 1st prize of a 32” LED TV went to someone

who already had a 3D one!

Last but not least, there was the dj party; speak-

ers blaring with the most popular club songs (a

few rock numbers like Summer Of 69 and Its My

Life managed to creep in too), people dancing

on and near the stage with all self-consciousness

strewn aside and singing along with the music in

their loudest, most off-pitch voices.

The party ended after 11:30 that night; a bunch

of tired but happy students went back home in

high spirits, some with prizes, others with their

consolation goody bag, all thanks to the brilliant,

co-ordinated, organized and above all united

efforts of a batch that once again showed the rest

why 14th is the best!

Thank you 14th - For A Fantastic ThanksgivingNawazul KabirBBA 18th Batch

Rishad Habib, BBA 17th Batch

Intra-IBA Debate 2011: Reminder of a Legacy

“The fresher gets up from the chair with a piece

of paper in his hands. The room is emerged in

utter silence while only his footsteps towards the

podium are resonating. His eyes pop out as he

figures that he has become the center of atten-

tion. After a gulp, he utters the first words,

broken yet approaching logic”

The above happens to a debater at the Institu-

tion of Business Administration, University of

Dhaka only once. After the Intra IBA Debate

Tournament, there is no looking-back, neither for

the freshers nor for the others. This year’s edition

of the Intra IBA Debate Tournament has been a

big success.

The objective of the tournament was to create the

debaters’ and adjudicators’ pool for the year

2011-12. A total of 66 students signed up for

debate while 30 students tried out for the adjudi-

cators’ pool. A majority of our participants were

from the new entrant to our IBA family, BBA 19th

batch. Some of them never even debated in their

life. Therefore, before the real deal of the

debates, a workshop was organized for the

participants on March 28th, 2011. It was

conducted by our veteran debater and adjudica-

tor Tausif Hossain from BBA 15th batch who has

represented IBA in both international and

national endeavors. Tausif Bhai provided the

participants with great insight into both debating

and adjudication. The participants were also

PAGE | 10

given supplementary resources to aid their

understanding of debating and adjudication. On

the same day, a lottery was conducted to form

the teams. The participants were initially divided

into three tiers. Tier A included those debaters

who have represented IBA in national or interna-

tional tournaments previously. Tier B included

those who were in the pool previously and lastly,

Tier C consisted of the debaters from the fresher

batch.

The big day of debate came on the 1st of April,

2011. Four rounds of debate had to be arranged

within one day- a difficult task in its entirety. As

always, we invited our great Alumni debaters

and adjudicators who have carried the flag of

IBA in many tournaments and have given us

occasions from which we still take inspiration to

become chairs for the debates. This year we had

Waheed Bhai (BBA 12th), Fahmida Apu (BBA

12th), Shakil Bhai (BBA 13th) and Sagor Bhai

(BBA 13th) coming in for adjudication. There was

great participation from BBA 14th from which we

had Kibria Bhai, Ridwan Bhai, Arif Bhai, Salmina

Apu, Albaab Bhai and Laila Apu. Tausif Bhai

(BBA 15th) was surely there all throughout the

way. Apart from the Alumni, we also had as

chairs some adjudicators who have participated

in national and international tournaments last

year. The alumni were also the ones who got to

decide the motions for the debates.

Our first debate started at around 10:30 a.m.

Once it ended, the results were put into the tab

and power match ups for the next round were

prepared. Although there was a doubt about

whether we will be able to finish the second

round before Jum’ah prayers, we cruised

through the second round and settled for a

break. After offering prayers and having lunch,

the debaters hurled back to the podium for the

third round. Raging debates took place for the

last two rounds as everyone battled for their

place in the pool. With the end of the fourth

round, the debating came to an end.

Everyone waited as the final scores were being

submitted and tab was sorted out. In the mean-

while, Arbaaz Bhai (BBA 13th) joined us before

he along with Shakil bhai and Kibria Bhai

announced the pool for the year 2011-12. In the

end, we had a pool of 30 debaters and 10 adju-

dicators selected from the four rounds of debate

based on individual scores. All of them were

ecstatic since they had the prospect of represent-

ing IBA and leaving their mark on the legacy that

has been created by their seniors. For many, the

feeling was totally new, especially for those from

BBA 19th batch. Yet, they all had the same flare

in their eyes, ready to make IBA proud; ready to

continue the legacy.

Nazia Zebin, BBA 17th Batch

Even before getting to know about the ‘pham-

ous’ lingo of IBA or where each corridor leads to,

I was very well informed about the most longed

event of the IBA-ites _the IBA Annual Picnic. So

finally after the long wait and a lot of anticipation

we finally bumped our way on the 8th of April to

Shohag Palli Picnic Resort in Kaliakoir at Gazipur.

The picnic attendants gathered at the IBA prem-

ise early in a Friday morning which depicted the

level of their enthusiasm and anticipation for a

fun filled day. And boy oh boy, they surely

weren’t disappointed!

Unfortunately for us it was a very warm and

humid summer day. We all gathered in IBA to see

the sun beaming at us with probably the same

outburst of excitement as us. The picnic spirit was

reflected through everyone’s attires and their

high spirits.

Almost the entire IBA along with many of the ex

students were present. A long queue was formed

in the ground floor corridor where we were each

given our picnic backpack with some exciting

gifts, two t-shirts, a cap and other goodies. Most

changed into their t-shirts and jumped into their

respective buses for the 2.5 hour ride to Gazipur.

For us, the 19ths, the bus ride was probably

almost as fun, if not more, than the picnic itself.

With the cameras clicking away and capturing

our beaming smiles, we sang and screamed to

our hearts content. The road to Gazipur was very

dusty which probably added to our discomfort

due to the heat. In each bus a senior was

assigned who helped us out, and distributed the

PAGE | 11

(yummy) food. And after a very short 2.5 hours

ride we finally arrived at the picnic spot.

The panoramic view of the venue, surrounded by

forests and plantations as far as the eyes can

see, awed and mesmerized everyone. In spite of

the weather, the slides, the slippers the huge

dummy cow and the monster turned us all into

the naughty kids that we once were. People took

their turns in posing with the big monster, the

fake cart, and then riding on the boat. The picnic

spot had it all; literally! It’s very own resident

monkey, two very proud deer, a giant spider

cave, see-saw rides, football field, waterfall,

boating lake, suspension bridge – you name it!

We were assigned a few cottages where we took

refuge after the long bumpy and dusty ride.

There we freshened up, said our prayers

changed into comfortable clothes and got

prepared for spending an exciting day out in the

sun. Also waiting for us, was probably the most

refreshing and satisfying lemonade I have had

till date. ‘Beauty’r Shorbot’ was like heaven in

that hot sticky afternoon.

From then, till lunch was served, we were free to

do what we wanted. So people got engaged in

exploring the area, taking pictures, playing

football and more or less having a fun time. Very

soon food was served. And the food was mouth

watering. With a lot of items in the menu the

lunch was delicious!

After lunch, a few games were arranged for us.

Best among which was probably the water

balloon fight that took place in the wood outside

the premise. BBA 17th batch won the Water

Balloon fight.

Shakira motivated dancing competition and

sprint sharee race for the guys made everyone

gasp for breath and grasp their stomachs with

laughter. But the best part of the day was the

raffle draw. The 19th batch left their mark in this

round. The first prize which went to a fellow class

mate was a Dell laptop. The second and the third

prizes were a home theater and a gift hamper

from Apex.

Soon after, we all cheered as the BBA 16th and

the BBA 18th batches danced to some popular

and chic music. The fun filled day ended with a

crazy DJ Party! And trust me when I say this,

everysoul out there turned absolutely wild! But

ohh wait, calling it wild would be an understate-

ment – yes, it was that awesome!

But we all know that, all good things must come

to an end, and the mind blowing picnic was no

different. But even though the picnic was over

there was no stopping us. The bus ride home was

even wilder!! So here goes three cheers to the

BBA 16th batch for their wonderful and orga-

nized effort! That was indeed the ‘BAST’ picnic

ever!!!!

Reliving that scorching day at GazipurLamia Aroni, BBA 19th Batch

SportsA Fight to the Finish

IBA Suits Down, BootsUp

Unmatched Pride, Passion & Perseverance

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011: A Firsthand Take

13

14

15

16

against IER. It was a good test for the newcomers

from BBA 19 to show off their skills and fight for

a place in the starting line-up. Clad in not so

subtle black and (disquieting) yellow, IBA started

the tournament with a convincing win!

The next game against International Relations

(IR) stretched the IBA players to the limit. The

whole game was a struggle to keep up with the

pace, and at one point, IR was up by 12 points.

Still trailing at the start of the fourth quarter, IBA

finally pulled together and started an unstop-

pable scoring run that saw them take the lead

and eventually triumph at the end of the whistle.

The next game against English was rather the

opposite, with the team walking to one of the

easiest wins in the tournament.

At this phase of the tournament, it took the form

of a league, with each of the 4 remaining teams

playing each other. The last 4 teams standing

were from the following departments– IBA,

Applied Physics (AP), International Relations (IR)

and Economics. The team with the highest points

at the end of the league would be the champi-

ons!

The first game for IBA was against Economics.

This was the game where IBA was finally able to

show their true potential. It did not seem like

Economics was one of the favorites for the

tournament, as IBA ran riot and scored with

ease. Supported by the airtight defense, IBA

eventually won by an 18 point difference.

The second league game was against IR – a

team IBA had struggled against in the earlier

stages. However, it seemed that the team had

learnt from their mistakes, and were easily coun-

terattacking whatever IR was throwing at them.

IBA won by a difference of 12 points.

And finally the tournament comes to the point

that has, for the last 3 years, defined the results,

Applied Physics vs. IBA - fittingly the last game of

the tournament, where the victor would be

crowned champions. Every time IBA got close to

touching the elusive championship, there was

always AP standing in the way – but IBA seemed

determined to change that. Dr. Ziaul Haque

Mamun was one of the chief guests for this

match. As the crowd settled in and the teams

took to the field – the game erupted in a blister-

ing atmosphere.

The whole game was an intense power struggle.

The supporters from each department were

definitely making their presence felt and the

noise was bringing the roof down – an atmo-

sphere that would put Nou Camp or Old

Trafford to shame(!?). As soon as one team had

the lead, the other team would make a come-

back. This went on until by the end of the

allocated normal time - there was no winner and

the score was tied. The game went into overtime.

The intensity continued to the last minute of over-

time when AP was leading by just 1 point. With

10 seconds remaining – IBA had won 2

freethrows, and had the chance to win their first

championship. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be.

IBA failed to convert the freethrows, and as the

final whistle went, AP was crowned the champi-

ons. Being runners-up itself is a big achieve-

ment, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the

IBA players – who had almost grabbed the

championship itself. History had repeated itself,

but it was the closest they had gone to winning

the elusive prize.

Dr. Ziaul Haque Mamun had some words of

encouragement for the distraught players. When

the game becomes this close – you have to

sometimes rely on luck. Unfortunately, luck was

not with them that day. IBA’s Ahnaf was awarded

the player of the tournament, and as Siam lifted

the runners-up trophy, the players realized what

they had achieved, and their spirits lifted. But it

could also be seen that they couldn’t wait to start

the tournament again next year – and hopefully

go all the way.

PAGE | 13

A Fight to the FinishIn terms of sports achievements, the IBA basket-

ball team can be said to be the most successful

in the department for the last few years. In the

Intra-Basketball tournament held annually in

Dhaka University, IBA has been runners-up twice

and semi-finalists a few times – but the ultimate

prize had always seemed to be just out of reach.

This year, IBA’s very own - Dr. Ziaul Haque

Mamun, has been appointed the Dhaka Univer-

sity Sporting Director, and with Siam from BBA

16 appointed as captain of the team, IBA was

determined to win silverware. Even though the

team lost some key players from BBA 15 to the

‘corporate lifestyle’, everyone went into the

tournament believing that the Force was strong

with them, and this year will be the one.

The team line-up this year: Siam (captain, BBA

16), Niaz (BBA 16), Andalib (BBA 17), Mushfique

(BBA 18), Ahnaf (BBA 18), Maugham (BBA 18),

Sadman (BBA 18), Shamjid (BBA 18), Saif (BBA

19), Tamjid (BBA 19), Dip (BBA 19), Akash (BBA

19), Asif (BBA 19).

Being last year’s runners up, IBA got a free pass

on the first phase of the tournament. The first

game of the second phase started on the 8th of

April – and IBA was picked to start off the season

DU Basketball Tournament 2011:

Siam Hossain, BBA 16th Batch

To make the tournament even more eye catching

(!), there was also a friendly match between the

girls from BBA 17th and 18th batch (Aww FC),

which was won by 18th thanks to their star

defender Nazika’s goal.

Now back to the main tournament, we saw an

awesome futsal display on that day. There were

surprise wins, even more shocking losses and

every match managed to keep the spectators on

the edge of their seats, with 4 games ending in

penalty shootouts. As always, the alumni teams

were dominating the tournament, but the exist-

ing batches did not let go without a fight. Even

though BBA 16th was shocked by 19th in the

qualifiers, ironically it was their players who were

making other teams win.

In the quarter finals, they managed to give the

alumni teams a big fight and as GDFC and BBA

1st faced each other off; the tournament had

reached its peak.

PurplePool, AC 15th, BBA 1st and BBA 13th

reached the semis to bring themselves on step

closer to victory, but only AC15th and BBA 1st

went on to the final.

As the night grew older the tournament reached

its finale and BBA 1st held that cherished cham-

pions trophy tightly. Vuvuzelas blasted our ears,

dust covered our faces, few angry words were

exchanged, dreams were (At least for another

year) crushed and under the floodlights, some

man-tears were shed. But at the end of that day,

what we had witnessed was a brilliant display of

football talent and sportsmanship on the very

futsal ground that we all have come to know and

love.

PAGE | 14

IBA SUITS DOWN, BOOTS UP

IBA-ites suited down and booted up on a fine

Friday morning to fight for the ultimate glory in

IBA Futsal as the Intra IBA Futsal tournament

made its annual visit this year. On 18th march,

this year’s tournament came back bigger and

fiercer than ever as 24 teams fought for the

trophy.

Co-ordinated by Mr. Iftekharul Amin sir, assist by

Maayas Secutronics Ltd. and Organized by BBA

18th batch, this year’s tournament saw some of

the best names in futsal (in IBA), fight each other.

10 teams from IBA alums and 14 from the

current batches were the hopefuls for this year,

but only 6 from the current batches got past the

gruelling and sometimes heartbreaking qualifi-

ers.

The teams were from IBA alumni: BBA 1st, 911,

BBA 12th, BBA 13th, ac 15th, inter 15th, Pinduck

Red, Pinduck Black, Pinduck White, BBA 14th,

and from existing batches: GDFC (18th), déjà vu

(45D), The underdogs (19th), Modhyorater

Rakhal (19th), Amateur 19th, P.F.C (19th ),

Purplepool 18th, Juvenile MBA 45th, backteria

(19th ), BBA 16th (1), SWOT, Aguner gola(17th),

BBA 16th (2) and guinea pigs.

Intra-IBA Futsal Tournament 2011:

Orin Tasnima Haque, BBA 18th Batch

Finally, the day had come! Our first match was

against Development Studies. Although it is

small compared to other departments, Develop-

ment studies were definitely not short of inspira-

tion and talent. But IBA was equally up to the

task. Anyways, our captain, Md. Abir hasan(BBA

16th) won the toss and chose to bat first without

any hesitation. The decision seemed to back fire

us once the match started. The top order

crumbled under pressure and we were in a spot

of bother. Under those grave circumstances, we

seemed to find our Messiah in Nazibur

Rahman(BBA 15th) & Ahmed Niaz Murshed(BBA

16th) who counterattacked and actually took the

game away from the opposition. After a stroke-

filled partnership, the rest of the team’s job was

to maintain the flow of runs and that we did

successfully. Development Studies were never

able to threaten to chase down the mammoth

total as our bowling and fielding were top-notch.

Our bowlers bowled to a specific plan and due

to the spirited fielding, our opponents were

always behind the required run rate. Inevitably,

we won the match by substantial margin and

roared in joy together!

After our first win, we hoped to keep the momen-

tum and play with our heart for the upcoming

matches. We had a tough task in our hands as

we were against the defending champion of the

tournament- Political Science. Our captain won

the toss and chose to bat again. To avoid the

collapse of the top order, we were a bit tentative

in the beginning and it was a slow start for us.

After a steady start, the middle and late-middle

order’s job was to accelerate and reach a com-

petitive total. Unfortunately, we lost wickets at

regular intervals and despite a spirited innings

from our captain, Md. Abir hasan, we simply

didn’t have enough runs in the board to defend

against the defending Champions.

Although there were ups and downs, it was

simply a privilege to be a part of IBA cricket

team. One or two students from almost every

current BBA & MBA batches played their part in

the team and it was a rewarding experience for

all of us to go out together to wave the flag of

IBA.

PAGE | 15

Unmatched Pride, Passion & Perseverance - IBA Cricket

Without any doubt, Cricket is the buzzword in the

whole subcontinent for the last two months.

Being one of the host countries, people of

Bangladesh were in a frenzy mood during the

whole tournament. As the heat and hype of the

World cup increased, it was time for IBA-ites to

go out there and show our skills in the field. Like

every year, University of Dhaka organized

‘Annual Inter Department Cricket Tournament’.

Under the guidance of our respected faculty, Md.

Iftekharul Amin, lecturer of Institute of Business

Administration, University of Dhaka, we

prepared ourselves for the battles to come and

worked hard in the nets to make our prepara-

tions as thorough as possible.

Abdullah Al Rezwan Fuad, BBA 18th Batch

tor of Asiatech- the organization in charge of

conducting the opening ceremony along with

Wizcraft India- mapped out the entire idea of the

grand event. Here I should also mention Gausul

Azam Shaon- another IBAite from BBA 7th batch

and currently the managing director of Grey

Bangladesh- the organization appointed by ICC

to take care of the promotions and activations

done in Bangladesh. He had a major contribu-

tion in conceptualizing “School of Life”- the

renowned promotional ad which also premiered

in the opening ceremony.

The much-treasured memories of the opening

ceremony actually worked as an incentive when

we were running around during the matches and

doing all the mundane tasks thrown upon our

back. As a member of the commercial team, I

had gate duty, which was perhaps one of the

worst jobs ever. We had to stand there for 3-4

hours straight after the gates opened asking

people to read what was written behind their

tickets and not bring the things that had been

prohibited inside. In that period, I made three

important observations about Bangladeshi

people-

1.We think that we are right and others are

wrong- even if every reasoning and rule stands

against us.

2.We would rather stand in long queues than go

to relatively small ones because we, as a nation,

have been standing in queues almost everywhere

since ages.

3.People would rather listen to the tokais than

people in uniforms.

The best part of watching matches in the stadium

was the crowd. I remember the last minutes of

the match Bangladesh played against Ireland.

You could feel the joy and pride in the air and in

everyone present there. The roars, the screams,

the smiles, the celebration of victory. I was com-

pletely overwhelmed by the feeling of unity and

by the end of the night I had a broken throat due

to shouting at the top of my lungs. But who

cares?

Bangladesh is a very small country. But I can

definitely say that through hosting the Cricket

World Cup successfully, we have affirmed that we

are not far behind than others. The Bangladeshi

cricket team may not have performed their best

this time, but should we lose hope? Henry

Kissinger once said about Bangladesh- ‘It is and

will always be a basket case’. I bet he never

thought we would be able to earn independence

by kicking the Pakistani army out of our mother-

land. Nothing is impossible if we set our mind to

it. Victory shall be ours one day. And that day, we

shall hunt down Sidhu and give him a black eye

and a broken nose!

The most sensational event in the history of

Bangladesh took place this year. And no, I am

not talking about Ashraful dancing gracefully to

Momtaj’s songs. “Jitbey! Eibaar jitbey CRICKET!”

Does the verse sound familiar? I bet it does!

For years we have been looking forward to host-

ing one of the greatest sports events of the world-

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. When the time

came, I had been very fortunate to get the

chance to work with the local organizers of the

event NOT as volunteers, but as ‘service provid-

ers’ which our id cards read. There were a total

of around 24 students from IBA who worked side

by side with Local Organizing Committee (LOC,

ICC CWC 2011) under Bangladesh Cricket

Board in different departments- Commercial,

Logistics, Media, Enhancement, etc. I am sure

when I say this, I am saying it on behalf of every-

one in the team- This was by far the most exhila-

rating experience of our lives.

Cricket World Cup 2011 started with a bang in

our own Bangabandhu National Stadium. The

opening ceremony was, in one word, legendary!

Although at first we were bombarded by stupid

political speeches and poorly and wrongly

pronounced numbers (read: two-jiru-jiru-one),

we were blown away by the grand display of

Indian, Sri Lankan, and Bangladeshi cultures

proficiently done by participating students of

various schools of Bangladesh and national and

international artists. And the fireworks, aerial

cricket, LED kites, Bryan Adams- All of them took

our breath away. Tahsin Saeed- an IBAite from

BBA 5th Batch and currently the executive direc-

PAGE | 16

ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP 2011 A FIRSTHAND TAKENazia Zebin, BBA 17th Batch

AchievementsIBA wins KUET Tourney

The Debate Realm

The OIC Experience

Bronze in Hong Kong

HSBC YEA 2011: Experience of a Lifetime

18

18

19

20

21

IBA Wins KUET Tourney!

Khulna University of Engineering and Technol-

ogy (KUET) campus is a serene place with lash

green fields all around the beautifully planned

structures. A fierce battle of words took place in

this serene place during the 2ndProthomAlo –

KDS Debate festival organized by KUET Debat-

ing Society (KDS) from 27th to 29th January. The

Bangla and English tournament ran simultane-

ously during the festival.

IBA participated only in the English tournament

of the festival. Team IBA comprised of Gaows

Mohammad, Mohammed Masudur Rahman

and Ashiq Alam. All of them are from BBA 18th

Batch. It was a very new combination. Moreover,

the name IBA added a lot of pressure. Nobody

was expecting anything less than a champion-

ship. But the competitors were not that easy. The

other teams participating in the tournament were

Dhaka University Debating Society (DUDS),

Rajshahi University, Khulna University, Stamford

University, Chittagong University, United Interna-

tional University, East West University and the

host institution, KUET. All of them were very

talented teams and could give any other team a

run for their money on their day. But Team IBA

managed to pull it off. And they did it in style.

In the 1st Round, IBA as the Government

defeated Chittagong University in 3-0 ballots on

the motion ‘This house believes that sanction on

Iran is no good’. For the Quarter finals, IBA

faced the home team, KUET. It was sheer pres-

sure from the home crowd who applauded the

KUET team when they were talking and even

when they were not! On the motion ‘Yellow is the

new White’ IBA knocked out the home team by a

2-0 ballots. The semi-final was a treat for the

neutral. On the motion, ‘This house believes that

SEC is not responsible for the share market

crash’, IBA and United International University

(UIU)-2 faced each other in a close debate. IBA

once again came on top with a 4-0 ballot win.

PAGE | 18

The Debating Realm

Moshfeqa Karim, BBA 17th Batch

IBACC debate team consisting of Syed Ibrahim

Saajid (BBA 17th), Moshfeqa Karim (BBA 17th)

and Nawazul Kabir (BBA 18th) became runner

up in the Sandalina-Prothom Alo 14th Inter Club

Bengali Debate Competition 2011 organized by

Viqarunnisa Noon Debating Club in February.

Total thirty-six teams participated in the competi-

tion and after four knock out rounds they made

it to the finals. Topic of the final round debate

was-“This house believes that information war

would be the third world war”. The team was in

the proposition side and lost it to the Dhaka

University Debating Society. Moshfeqa Karim

also stood second in the public speaking compe-

tition held among the best speakers of the first

round.

DEBATE COMPETITIONS &TOURNAMENTSIn the grand finale, IBA was poised with team

UIU-1. The motion was ‘This house believes that

Palestine is responsible for its own status’. IBA

was the Government side. The debate was a

high voltage one. IBA was confident but the

debate might go to other side. After an hour or

so of formal ceremonies, it was time to

announce the results. The master of the

ceremony declared IBA the winner on a stagger-

ing 5-0 ballots. It was a flawless victory. Not a

single ballot was lost by IBA in the whole tourna-

ment. The young Team IBA finished it in style.

Gaows was ruled to be the best speaker of the

final. Prizes were handed over by the Vice Chan-

cellor of KUET, D. Md. Alamgir and few other

dignitaries.

The tournament might not have been that big

like a tournament in Dhaka, but the quality of

debating made sure everything had to be done

right if the trophy was to be won. IBA did just that

once again.

Ashiq Alam, BBA 18th Batch

International debate tournaments are always a

lot of fun. I had my first exposure to international

tourney when I was in my second year at IBA and

I still treasure that as one of my memorable

experiences. Representing my institute, making

friends from different parts of the world (having

a German friend added in facebook really

seemed awesome :p) and most of all, addafying

with bhias and apus and ‘polapains’ from all

batches (from 14th to 17th means all for then,

sorry 18th and 19th) was amazing!

Experience at OIC was a bit different though. We

had only one team from IBA which had me, Abir

and Gaushey in it. But we had Masud from 18th

Their campus, which had hills, rivers and cloud

in it, was huge and there were a few Bangla-

deshis who joined in the tournament as specta-

tors and supported us throughout the tourna-

ment.

As like any other debating tournament, OIC IV

was also not confined in debating. We had gala

diners and barbeque parties after the debates

were gone every day. And that is where the

Bangladesh contingent proved how spontaneous

they are even outside the debating rooms. We

made a huge noises in the diner party and our

fellow Bangladeshi debaters performed songs

like ‘Saadher Lau’ which seemed to mesmerize

the audience (if not with the singing talent then

with the ever flowing enthusiasm of us).

But it was definitely all about party, it should not

be even. Yes, we waited for the parties every

night but before that we had to go through

grueling sessions of debating everyday and we

were determined to do well to take the IBA and

Bangladesh Flag one step higher.

The day of the final started early in the morning.

We were less than 5 minutes late and that

resulted in a huge queue of buses because no

buses could start until the bus carrying the final-

ists start its journey. Not knowing how to feel

after receiving so much of embarrassment (it

doesn’t feel nice to know that you kept more than

150 people waiting, even if that is for only 5

minutes) I myself decided never to be late again

in my life in these debate tournament.The final

had a huge arrangement. Malaysian govern-

ment officials, ambassadors from different OIC

member states and an enthusiastic crowd waited

for us there and it felt so nice to make our

supporters happy after the results.

Before ending this piece, let me get a bit serious.

As we all know, achieving anything might be

tough but keeping that is even tougher. I hope all

the junior IBA-ites understand that how huge

responsibility has bestowed upon them with this

win. I believe, you all understand that and you

will act that way and you will take the flag of IBA

and Bangladesh even further. My time is running

out really fast and it’s a nice feeling to handover

the responsibility to you guys because I know,

YOU CAN! Signing off-

PAGE | 19

waiting in Malaysia to join us. Four of us together

had spent some great times together the day

before the tournament started. Roaming around

in KL, tasting something in almost all known and

unknown food shops (from SubWay to Indian

roadside cafes) and annoying the superstore

salesmen did a lot to relieve us from the tension

that we were feeling about the debates.

The debates went great though. Starting with an

opponent from Egypt, we faced team from many

nationalities and whatever the result came out,

we became good friends after the debates,

having a few more foreigner friends in facebook.

And IIUM was just mindboggling as organizer.

THE OIC EXPERIENCE Ashfaqul Haq Chowdhury, BBA 16th Batch

For the first time ever, Bangladesh won a Title in

the “PolyU Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Global Student Challenge (GSC) 2011” orga-

nized by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University

during June 11th to June 17th, 2011.

Team Reborn consisting of Nusrat Tamanna

Prianka, M. Faiyak Zaman Rishad, and Asif Iqbal

Arnob, final-year students (BBA 16) of Institute of

Business Administration, University of Dhaka

won the Bronze Award in this prestigious Global

Competition. After three rounds of keen compe-

tition, the Gold Award for the University Division

went to Purdue University of the US and the Silver

Award went to the Hong Kong Polytechnic

University. The Finalist Teams included big

names such as the Princeton University, South-

east University, P.R. China, etc. It is an extremely

great honor for the Bangladeshi Team to beat

such big names and bring back glory for its

home country.

Apart from the competition, the 7 days spent in

Hong Kong turned into a melting-pot of culture

and heritage of 21 different countries. Starting

from the University Tours to visiting Ocean Park

and trying out Tai-Chi, every little experience was

once of a lifetime.

Talking of shopping in Hong Kong, it was one

hell of an experience. None of us knew that we’ll

be bargaining like how we do that in Bangla-

desh! Whenever you ask a price, they would

bring out a calculator and type a number, which

is actually the price! We somehow managed to

end up with a good strike price (!) and buy the

things.

Memories have we had all throughout the trip!

Starting from Prianka getting locked the fire

escape staircase to Arnob talking about

“Random” stuff with a random French guy at

7eleven and me having no idea where to find

Arnob at 2 at night in lung kuo feng popularly

known as the party place (!), everything was like

little pieces of puzzles which made up the whole

trip a lot more fascinating.

We made friends, a lot of them! One guy from

Australia amazingly understood very well what I

said when I shouted “Arnob, birir packet tor

kase?” He was actually from Assam, and one of

his teammate also enlightened us with the fact

that, this guy smokes so much that probably he

knows what Cigarette is called in every

language! Then there was Idris from Kenya who

would carry a Dagger (trust me, it was!) with his

traditional dress.

Ok I might now move to the details to competi-

tion, or else the editor will have me beaten up for

writing these “faul pechal” all along! This unique

event was launched by PolyU in 2010 as a major

initiative to embrace internationalization, inno-

vation, and entrepreneurship. This year, a total

of 60 teams from 21 different countries partici-

pated in the University Division and out of these

60 teams, only 6 teams were chosen to compete

in the Final which was held on the 16th June in

the Jockey Club Auditorium of The Hong Kong

Polytechnic University. The competition attracted

prestigious and world-renowned universities

from all round the globe, including Princeton

University, Purdue University, Johns Hopkins,

Georgia Institute of Technology, Carnegie

Mellon, University of Manchester, UTS Australia,

National University of Singapore, and many

others.

The idea that won us the Bronze Award was “To

produce and market more affordable, more

effective, and eco-friendly bio-diesel and

bio-fertilizer from Jatropha in Bangladesh”. This

business primarily focuses on pulling down the

cost of fuel and fertilizer used by farmers by

producing the alternatives from Jatropha seeds,

a plant that naturally grows in abundance in

Bangladesh. We found out that the centralized

nature of the distribution system of diesel oil for

irrigation pumps in Bangladesh rarely meets an

adequate amount supplied to the farming com-

munities. Also, high import cost of fuels and

chemical fertilizers worsen the situation. To

mitigate these problems of high cost, we plan to

has introduced Jatropha Bio-diesel and

Bio-fertilizer, both of which are organic,

environmentally-friendly, and most importantly,

cost-effective. The idea was very much praised

by the judges of the semi-final and the final

round.

Last but not the least, mingling with students

from all over the world, the International

Students came to realize that us, the Bangladeshi

students, are not far behind than the rest of the

World. We might be a developing country, but

the young talents that we have are absolutely

capable of competing with the best brains of the

world!

PAGE | 20

BRONZE IN HONG KONG M. Faiyak Zaman RishadBBA 16th Batch &President, IBACC

The journey began in January 2011, when

suddenly one day we, Upoma, Shehreen and I,

decided to participate in HSBC YEA 2011. After

one or two days of brainstorming, Upoma first

came up with the idea of CocoCrete™, an idea

that became so close to our hearts that it literally

changed our lives 6 months after its inception.

We, team Stalwarts, started working on the idea

and after the rigorous preliminary selection

process; seven teams out of more than 300

applicants were shortlisted based on their

submitted business plans for the final presenta-

tion to be held on April 26, 2011.

April 26. We arrived a little late at the Lakeshore

hotel, the venue for local finale of YEA, which

only accelerated our already palpitating hearts!

All of the other six competing teams were

brilliant. Either they had the YEA experience of

participating in YEA in the previous years or they

were experienced in participating in business

competitions. In comparison with them, we felt

like novices! After four astounding presentations,

we were up next! I do not know how we did, but

half an hour later, when all the presentations

were over, the judges announced us as the gold

winners of YEA 2011!

Preparations begin for the regional finale. From

making PowerPoint presentation, brochures,

CDs to designing ‘sharee’ for our final presenta-

tion and shopping for our anticipated tour to

Hong Kong- all had to be done within 16th of

June. To make matters worse, this semester

turned out to be the toughest and we had to

attend four finals before departing for Hong

Kong, one of which was on the very morning of

our flight, 16th of June!

17th to 25th of June- 9 days of our lives we will

never forget. HSBC in collaboration with

Chinese University of Hong Kong arranged

programs for us, which included team-building,

trip to Ocean Park, visiting the culture and

heritage of old Hong Kong at Wan Chai, semi-

nar on cross-cultural communication, and a

guided tour to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clear-

ing Limited. And of course, the heart of the entire

tour-the grand finale, which was held at the

HSBC Head Quarter on June 20.

7 gold teams from 7 different countries with

innovative ideas, battled to become the Best of

the Best, Diamond and Jade award winners.

With the dream of continuing the IBA legacy of

getting a place in the top three in YEA regional

round, with the help of brilliant seniors like Siffat,

PAGE | 21

HSBC YEA 2011: Experience of a Lifetime

Rifat, Laura, Lamia, Sababa Apu and Aumio

bhaia and with the support of wonderful friends

like Sumaya, Amani, Rishad, Adib, Walid,

Adittya- we managed to give our very best.

The moment we had all been waiting for came

finally. Thailand was announced as the Jade

winner. ‘Team Stalwarts from Bangladesh is the

Diamond award winner’! All the hard work and

sleepless nights of the past six months seemed

worth it! It was an amazing feeling!

This entrepreneurial tour to Hong Kong was an

experience of a lifetime that taught us so many

things. It helped us to become closer to our

seniors, provided us with the opportunity to have

a glimpse of the business hub of Asia-Hong

Kong, to work with the brilliant young minds of

Asia, and to have some of these brilliant people

as friends. Even if we had not won the Diamond

award, I think we would not have had any

regrets. Because this experience was just a

steppingstone to achieving something bigger in

life, sky SHOULD be our limit!

Nusrat Sharmin Moutusi,BBA 17th Batch

In RetrospectA Bitter Sweet Symphony

The Trip That Ruined It All

Never Stop Believing

23

24

27

we have exhausted a lot. But we still try to hold

onto some precious time of togetherness. A little

bit of respite, a lot of laughter. At least I do. hang

outs, the birthdays, the last minute report and

assignment works, the month-long busting our

backs to organize events and SO MUCH MORE

have been captured in an irreplaceable time &

frame. And when it’s hard to catch a break with

my friends, I indulge in reminiscence. I switch on

my laptop and browse through the countless

photo albums that are neatly categorized,

semester-wise, in my ‘IBA’ folder. Some of the

pictures make me smile, some make me laugh

out loud and some bring a lump in my throat.

They remind me of all the bitter sweet memories,

the big IBA events, the most humdrum of days. A

photo from our first picnic – us girls doing what

we can to win the tug of war, Aumee sprawled on

the ground after slipping on the soap water! Our

very first Pohela Baishakh, where we performed

our very first dance and managed to look like

white-faced, red-lipped ghosts in broad daylight!

A photo where Raquib is dressed as Rupbanu in

a saree for our Bhanga TV shoot! A photo from

the Comilla road trip for Bangladesh Studies,

where our car broke down and we sat on the

bonnets drinking ‘dab er pani’! The Grads, the

Fresherz, the countless aimless hang outs, the

birthdays, the last minute report and assignment

works, the month-long busting our backs to

organize events and SO MUCH MORE have

been captured in an irreplaceable time & frame.

I cannot quite fathom the intensity of affection

that my friends and batch mates have towards

IBA, but I can certainly say it’s more than I can

comprehend, more than they portray. Just like

me. It has always been easier for me to pour out

my feelings on paper than in action, and this

article is an outlet for my pent up sentiments. I

believe my life had started when I stepped into

the doors of IBA for the first time. I learnt to grow

up here, to devote, to hate, to envy. I tasted the

sweetness of true friendship, the bitterness of

losing friends who weren’t meant to be. I fell in

love here, I got my heart broken. I was praised, I

was reprimanded. Sometimes I was disap-

pointed, sometimes devastated; I learnt to get

back up on my feet and embrace what I had. I

was let down, I let others down; but I learnt to

forgive and forget. I learnt to laugh like there’s

no tomorrow, to care unconditionally and to be

happy. And I learnt not to regret, for my experi-

ences are what made myself ‘ME’.

Truth be told, it was out of boredom that I had

offered to do this write-up for the news letter. Had

I known then that I’ll be coming to the harsh

realization of the fact that I’m only a few precious

months away from the end of what was the most

inexplicable, overwhelming journey of my life, I

would probably have written about something

mundane. For I am not ready to believe my IBA

life is coming dangerously close to the ‘Finish

Line’. I am NOT ready to let this aching numb-

ness and anguish sink in yet.

The IBA premise was beautifully lit and adorned,

ready to greet us freshmen. With some nerve and

unmatched valor we walked through the main

gate dressed in the most outrageous outfits ever!

The guys of our batch sported ‘punkjabis’ & real

short ‘shorts’, gelled up spikes & collar high

attitude! And us girls?! Clad in neon orange and

yellow “bua der shari” with a pair of sunglasses

to (mis)match, we had all marched in, leaving

the senior bhaiyas and apus completely stunned,

and for most of them, not in a good way. As

hilarious as the situation was, the desired effect

was not very desirable; a practical joke had gone

wayward. We had, most unconventionally,

violated the dress code and were in for a REAL

reception! The director was ever so mad and

declared that we were not to step into the audito-

rium before we had a change of clothes. And I'll

tell you the truth, we WERE scared. And we felt

horrible for letting down our seniors the very first

day they were to welcome us into the family.

Three long years have passed by since then but

the memory is raw, like an un-attended cut. And

when I jog down the memory lane right into the

corridors of IBA that night, it is not bitterness or

regret that I see. What I see is the closeness that

we shared when the entire batch had taken the

blame on its shoulders instead of pinpointing at

any one. What I see is the unimaginable spirit

that we managed to display even after being

chastised by the director for our wardrobe

malfunction. What I see is the undaunted cour-

age and unity with which we faced the ‘pochani’

of the evening……

This seems like such a long time ago. Heck, I am

a “senior” now! My life is mostly a blur of all

kinds of 7th semester ‘pera’. Everyone’s at the

point of their life where they are shaping up and

honing themselves for the corporate world out

there, for very soon, we are to step out of our

shells. Priorities, they are called! It’s true that the

carefree fun we used to have in the first couple

years are rare occasions these days, it’s true that

FLASHBACK: The eve of Fresherz ‘08

PAGE | 23

A BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY

Tasmia Tasbih Nova, BBA 16th Batch

THE TRIP THAT RUINED IT ALLBatch trip has ruined it for me.

Seriously. I had a post batch trip depression

period of one month. Family trips bore me to

death now. Overnight stays at friends’ houses

are much less fun without the 4 am walks on the

beach. And whenever someone uploads an

album of a Cox’s Bazaar trip on Facebook, I go

through all the pictures and inevitably come to

the conclusion that we had 10 times more fun!

So what happened in the 6 days between 21st

and 27th December that made it THE trip, the

best trip ever, the trip that made life worth it for

those 34 people? Well, let’s take a look.

The Train JourneyOur trip plan was something like this: Dhaka-

Chittagong-Teknaf-Saint Martin’s-Cox’s Bazaar-

Dhaka. Why the unnecessarily complex route?

Because everyone wanted the trip to start with a

TRAIN JOURNEY! And Turna-Nishitha it was, set

to leave Dhaka at 10 30pm. Batch trip was

finally going to begin!

So everyone reached Kamalapur on time. There

was just so much of excitement that when it was

announced the train will leave at 12 am instead,

nobody cared much. Instead, the entire batch

just sat on the platform, took out our guitars and

started to sing in front of an extremely diverse

audience (parents, random travelers, railway

officials, cha-walas, beggars, dogs). Things did

get worse, however, when we got to know there

will be another hour’s delay. And finally, when

the train did start at 3:30 am in the morning,

“bad buzz” was the only word on our minds. The

word became “BADD BUZZZZ!!” at 8:30am,

when news came that there was some problem

with the rail line or something, and we were only

halfway through! When the journey did end at

1:30 pm in the afternoon, we had lost an entire

morning and all our energy by then. Not the best

start to the trip, and everyone prayed the rest of

the trip would go smoother. Well, our prayers

were answered, and not for a single moment did

anyone feel bored in the next five days.

Astounding Astronomic AcumenWe carefully timed our trip so that it coincides

with the night of full moon. Naturally, when night

came on our first and only night at Saint

Martin’s, everyone expected the moon to come

out and dazzle. Except that it didn’t come out. It

was past 6 30, an hour after sunset, and there

was still no trace of that thing! And then some-

one uttered the following words of wisdom “Ami

to agei bolsialm purnimar porer raate chaad

uthe na”!!! Seriously? And yet, no one had

enough knowledge on the topic to challenge that

statement! Almost accepting that the night was

going to be dark, we just sat and sang together

on the beach with a guitar. So, when out of

nowhere, an orange disk (yes, orange) twice the

size of a football (yes, twice) appeared through

the middle of the two large swaying boats in

front of us, its out-of-this-world beauty was

enough to make us speechless. The light, the

reflection on water, and the rocking boats – that

is one wonderful image to cherish for years to

come.

“BHAAT DE”Food has been a mixed experience throughout.

Hundy’s Biriyani of Chittagong is by far the best

biriyani I have had I my life, and 90% of my

classmates will agree. Mermaid Café in Cox’s

bazaar, on the other hand, was an entirely differ-

ent experience. Let’s just say unbelievably over-

priced food, annoyingly long cooking time and

half cooked food was not worth the two hours of

make-up that our girls put on before going to

this supposedly best restaurant in Cox’s Bazaar.

The night we reached Cox’s Bazaar, everyone

headed straight to the famed Angel Drop right

after unpacking. It was 11pm already and we

were ravenous. Naturally, when food didn’t

come even by 12pm, it was really hitting the

nerves. 12:30am and still no food - it was finally

too much. So some resorted to the desperate

trick of crying out “Bhaaaaat deee!!!”, which was

met by the “oshobhhogula kotha theke aschhe?”

stare by the waiters. “Bhaat” came at 12:45, and

it tasted like heaven. If there was any discontent

over the food, it was wiped away by having

coffee at Sweety’s at 2am, and late night walks

on the beach till 4am! Ahhh I miss those days!

PAGE | 24

Sami Ullah Khan, BBA 16th Batch

The Bond That Will Never Break

This is the most emotional event of the trip.

Memories will fade, but the union of the souls

that took place on the night of December 25th

will remain for eternity. There were 10 of us. It

was way past midnight. The beach was cold and

empty. The moon shone, the sea roared. Even

though we stood in a line, one meter away from

each other (the hygienic distance), we felt

PAGE | 25

connected like never before. We were the band

of brothers. The unbreakable bond had been

formed. A bond that could only be created by

urinating in the sea together.

Fear of the Dark

It was with a heroic effort that I was able to

repress a scream when our speedboat took an

almost 90 degree turn, and managed to say with

all my masculinity and cool attitude “Haha. Bhoy

e to lage dekhi. Haha.” Stupid social norms that

say men cannot scream!

The trip to Maheshkhali was totally unplanned

and totally worth it. It took a 15 minute super

exhilarating speedboat ride from Cox’s Bazaar

to reach the island. And right after getting down

on the jetty, we were flooded by numerous

proposals by locals that made many wonder

whether we were in Thailand! Anyway, we

politely declined (stating time constraint as the

reason), and took 90 minute rickshaw rides

through this exotically beautiful island. However,

after getting back to the jetty, it was discovered

with horror that there were no speedboats

waiting for us! So we waited with anxiety, and

when the speedboats did arrive, there was com-

plete darkness. Thus began the most hauntingly

memorable journey of our lives. Through the

middle of the Bay of Bengal, with huge waves

and no light whatsoever, not even a searchlight

on the speedboat. The memory still gives me

goose bumps. Unbelievable.

Fall of the Wall

Dear 18th batch, your crushing of the wooden

stairs in this year’s IBA picnic was not the first

time IBA students have destroyed others’ prop-

erty and gotten away without paying for it!

There’s this nice open beachside place called

pacific café where we had a barbeque dinner on

our last day of the trip. Good food, good music

and the fact that we had the entire place to

ourselves put us in a real festive mood, and

accordingly many went dancing in a newly built

open cottage of the café. Everything went well,

until suddenly all the dancers came back with

faces full of fake innocence that said something

was wrong. What had happened? The mystery

was solved when the clearly irritated manager

came and said “Sami bhai, oi BORO Apu ta to

amar wall bhenge felse”! Someone had actually

broken a part of the 2 feet wall by sitting on it!

And it was very confusing when Navid Sarwar of

our batch came forward and casually confessed

that he did it. Navid cannot possibly be the

BORO Apu, he is not BORO by any means! The

mystery remains, and we are just happy the

manager didn’t charge us extra!

The Minor Hiccup

No trip is completed without some small compli-

cations, right? On the last day of the trip, we had

a minor problem. And by minor, I mean one of

us sitting over the side railing of a chaander gari

and hitting the steel bars of a bridge at full speed

and falling off the vehicle and rolling over the

bridge for 10 seconds and in the process

convincing us that he is not going to live. Well,

he did live, and turned out the injuries were,

miraculously enough, only minor. But the major,

permanent damage was done somewhere else.

Those of us who had to lift that 200 pound lump

up on the chaander gari had waist pain for the

next two months. More tragically, those who had

to witness him in the disturbingly disordered

state of clothing right after the accident and in

the hospital are yet to recover from the trauma.

And…BBA 16th Batch

I’ll only say that I am proud, glad, thankful and

fortunate. Being a part of BBA 16th has been a

life changing experience, and this trip would not

have been half as much fun without this group of

multitalented high-spirited awesome people. No

need to say anything else.

So many other stories that I couldn’t tell here –

regular verbal molestation of Sharjil by everyone

during the Mafia games; the failed attempt to cut

NIaz’s birthday cake with a steel ruler; the RAM-

BOBRA; rise of the addictive game of Bhabi-

Bhabi; improper dancing moves; Shafquat-

Tasnuva-Sidrat triangle; Kawsar’s cowboy hat;

Arnob’s ‘motivational’ speech; custom made

super-cool hoodies for the trip; certain disap-

pearances, sightings and new beginnings that

keep us talking even today – the list goes on. End

of this year, there is nothing stopping me from

going on the Batch Trip: Volume 2, and I am sure

everyone else feels the same way. So, my dear

classmates, let the planning begin, again!

PAGE | 26

This is a story of how the tiny efforts of a faithful

few can still make a difference.

11 March, 2011. ZAC Stadium, Chittagong. As

the ninth Bangladeshi batsman walked onto the

pitch that night, hundreds of disappointed fans

started to leave the stadium. Across the country,

many more switched off their TV's, unable to

swallow the bitter disappointment of early elimi-

nation from the first Cricket World Cup to be

held on home soil. At 169-8, with another 57

runs required for victory against a resurgent

England side, and with the memory of an

embarrassing capitulation to the West Indies still

fresh in their minds, Bangladeshi cricket fans felt

something far too familiar: a sense of utter

hopelessness.

But not everyone had lost faith. And as those

who kept watching would soon find out, a little

belief can truly make a world of difference.

Mahmudullah Riyad and Shafiul Islam - the pair

at the crease - did not give up hope. Together,

they put in an inspired and heroic last-ditch

performance. Their partnership turned the

match around - ball by ball, run by run - so that

by the time the bewildered Englishmen realized

what was happening, the two had scripted one

of the most dramatic and sensational comeback

victories of all time.

At the post-match press conference, the new

heroes were asked about their performances.

use the submitted photographs in our video, as

well as print them out as a mosaic-poster that

would be given to the Bangladesh team prior to

the match against England.

Within hours, the event had some 3000 invited

guests, and the pictures started rolling in. People

of all ages, from all walks of life, and from all

over the world joined in to show their unabashed

support for the national team. In the end, we got

some 350 photographs, along with a similar

number of supportive wall posts, in just three

days.

Using this material, we were able to create the

“Remember the Spirit” video, and a quartet of

posters with the message “Amra kokhonoi

bisshash harabo na”, which we hand delivered

to the national team coaches Ian Pont and Julien

Fountain in Chittagong just hours before the

match got underway. Later, the were kind

enough to notify us that posters were hanging

proudly in the team’s dining room, and that the

team had seen the video. The rest, as they say, is

history.

In conclusion, although it is easy to be disap-

pointed by the Bangladesh Cricket Team in the

world cup (since they got knocked out early), we

prefer to look at it differently. Rather than letting

the nervous defeats or the wholesale drubbings

be the highlight of our World Cup, we like to

remember those moments against Ireland and

England, especially the dewy night in Chit-

tagong, when we could have capitulated so

easily, but against all odds, we didn’t. We want

to remember how, after those matches, our

chronically divided nation was united in frenzied

celebration for just a few moments, forgetting all

the hardships of life. That was the whole point of

our movement., after all: to show people that

anything and everything really and truly is

possible, as long as there are enough people

who Never Stop Believing!

Where did they find the strength and the guts to

do what they had just done? “We were heavily

inspired,” they replied, “by a video.”

That video, entitled “Remember the Spirit”, was

made by us, Maverick Studios. Along with

another video titled “Never Stop Believing”

(shown to the team before the Ireland match), it

was part of an internet-enabled, fan-based

movement that centered around the slogan

“Never Stop Believing”. The objective of the

movement was simple: to inspire the Bangladesh

Cricket Team to play their best in the World Cup.

And after suffering a crushing defeat to West

Indies in their third match, the Tigers’ bowling

coach (with whom we had worked before) asked

us to do whatever we could to raise the team’s

spirits before the do-or-die England game. So

we got to work. We brainstormed. We asked

each other: if we were them, what would inspire

us? What would lift our spirits and drive us to

play our best?

Two approaches came to mind. The first was the

Bengali heritage. If there’s one thing that we’ve

proven in the dark days of 1971 and in the innu-

merable disasters that we’ve faced throughout

our history, it’s that we, as a people, never give

up.

The second idea was fan support. Few other

national teams can boast such emotional

(sometimes over-emotional) fans. We knew that

if the team could just see how much the whole

country was backing them, through thick and

thin, they would feel less insecure and more

confident about playing their best. But how

would we communicate this fan support to the

team?

Enter Facebook! We created an event where we

invited every supporter of Bangladesh cricket to

send in a picture of themselves holding up a

supportive message for the team. We would then

NEVERSTOP

BELIEVING

PAGE | 27

Sidrat Talukdar, BBA 16th Batch

Freestyle Writing

‘’Deep beneath the coverOf another perfect wonder

Where it’s so white as snow..

Privately dividedBy a world so undecided

And there’s nowhere to go..’’ Snow - Red Hot Chilli Peppers..

[ ~ ]

‘’You do know that it’s not the stuff that makes me come here, don’t you?’’, the boy would always ask. The girl would just smile back at him.

The white flakes of snow infiltrated their nervous system with amazing effect. Nothing else mattered now- all the problems and harshness of life were now suddenly a distant past. Utopia. Zenith. Ecstasy. Call it whatever you want, all that mattered to the two of them now was that they were together, the syringe full of the drug amplifying the experience to tremendous extents.

By street language, they refer places like this as traps. Very justifiable given the number of hours the young couple spent here in the old, abandoned warehouse, getting high all the while. In a way, both knew what they were doing was not the right thing to do, but every single time, the human conscience gave in to the mighty syringe in their hands.

It was all so easy. Just one little push, and your off to wonderland.

Holding hands and getting high- not the most romantic of scenes, but that was love to them in their own little world. In a weird way, yes, but love nonetheless.

So the day when the girl suddenly dropped lifeless on the dusty warehouse floor right next to him, the boy wondered where he really stood: the reality, or in a realm of fake promises? Next to the exhausted syringe, her numb body still emitted the usual, warm glow. Her dark, slender hair covering half of her peaceful face; of the other half, the familiar hazel eye seemed to beckon for one last kiss.

Her lips were cold.

He took her in his trembling arms. ‘’You do know that it’s not the stuff that makes me come here, don’t you?’’, the boy whis-pered softly to her.

She never smiled back.

[ ~ ]

‘’Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball,Where were you when we were getting high?

Someday you’ll find me, caught beneath the landslide,In a champagne supernova in the sky..’’

Champagne Supernova - Oasis..

PAGE | 29

Trap written by

Anik Ehteshamul Arefin,BBA 19th Batch

0711-01 FREE!

An Online Publication by the IBA Communication Club