effulgence 3.0 - the official magazine of iim raipur

| EFFULGENCE 3.0 | IIM RAIPUR 2

(A student gets a quarter of his knowledge from his teacher, a quarter by his own intelligence. A quarter from his fellow stu-

dents and a quarter with the passage of time.)

This is the ideology that we follow here at IIM Raipur to create the leaders of tomorrow. From our outstanding faculty and

staff to our diverse and capable students to our distinguished alumni, we have ample human resources to develop the lead-

ers for the future. We strongly believe that, at this level of education, classroom learning is just a part of the overall growth of

the students. They develop by gaining valuable and enriching experiences by interacting with people belonging to various

facets. Thus, curricula of all the programmes in this institute are designed keeping in mind the dynamic and global nature of

the industry. Moving ahead in this direction, Indian Institute of Management Raipur marked a fruitful end with a lot of new

activities and better performing old ones.

The institute’s magazine is another step towards institution building as an output to the creative juices of those who build

it. It provides a stable platform to the students, academics and professional from the industry to come under one roof and

share their knowledge, views and discuss on issues related to management, leadership and any other aspect that becomes a

source of value addition. Talking about the theme of this year’s magazine, in the business environment that we thrive in, it is

very important to think in different and innovative ways to achieve excellence. While government policy has done a lot to help

individuals make their innovative ideas a reality, sustained effort by individuals, institutions and industry could expedite the

growth of start-ups and reduce the number of unsuccessful ventures.

In the end, I would like to add that, India has become a land of the largest youth population in the world. This young popula-

tion is the most powerful asset the country possesses. They can change the way things are today and propel the world to new

heights and brighter lights. All they need is a direction and little thrust to fulfil their dreams, which can be provided through

this and many other platforms in our institution.

Prof. Bharat Bhasker

Director, IIM Raipur

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

EFFULGENCE 3.0 | IIM RAIPUR | 3

FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Brexit, Demonetization in India and Donald Trump becoming the 45th US president:

the 3 major events that a vast population of world did not expect to happen yet they

did. The list of such happenings around us is incessant and the notion of dynamic and

ever changing world holds true today than ever before. On the flip side on account

of this dynamism that we are witnessing, new innovative business models which

address the new challenges emerging from this uncertainty and tackle the old ones

in a manner never thought before. At this juncture of life, we all have a latent entre-

preneurial spark in our heads and keeping in hindsight the creative ideas coming

from young minds, we dedicate this issue to talk about the plethora of opportunities

that lie ahead for each of us and hope this edition offers insights when the rubber

hits the road for each one of us. We have given special emphasis on women entre-

preneurship as women have been entrepreneurs in different ways. The main reason

for most start-ups and entrepreneurial ventures to fail are the operational costs and

overheads thereby directly affecting sustainability and women have been doing this

in every family. Each and every role that she performs since birth is analogous to an

entrepreneur. Therefore, we at Indian Institute of Management Raipur focused this

edition of our magazine on entrepreneurship and tried to inculcate different voices

from the industry on what should be the way ahead and how to learn from previous

mistakes to avoid ending up in the catalogue of dead startups. Effulgence, in essence

is a knowledge-sharing platform and encourages students to put forth their ideas

and opinions.

Editor In Chief KUMAR ABHISHEK

PGP 2015-17

Editor In Chief SIDHARTH SACHDEVA

PGP 2015-17

EditorNIKITA PENDSE

PGP 2016-18

EditorSHREYASH KEDIA

PGP 2016-18


FEATURES

EXPERTS SPEAK07 The Power of Networks Jagrook Dawra

IN CONVERSATION WITH

19 Kulpreet Yadav

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS15 Startup Success Mantras Sapna Mukherjee

17 How to Start-Up? K Vaitheeswaran

STUDENT OPINION

05 Unlocking the power of Women Entrepreneur Mekhala Karlawad

09 Industry Concerns and Impacts of GST Sai Dayitva Gaur 11 HR: Enabler or Disrupter Monika Vaswani

ALUMNI COLUMN

13 How safe is your Plastic Money Jason Paul

FICTION

21 The 13th Pillar Saurabh Lad


“How much time will you take off if you get pregnant? Are you planning on getting mar-

ried”? Honestly, I don’t see it coming when faced with such questions by senior officials.

The idea that women are not as good as men is so deeply embedded in the minds of so

many people in powerful positions that it is not even recognized. It leads one to automati-

cally and without awareness, connect ‘women’ with ‘lower standards’ and ‘woman as good

as a man’ with the exception.

Everyone dreams but only a few have the courage and conviction to turn them into

reality. And women do it with panache. Today young and dynamic women executives

are shunning blazers and making bold career leaps to the business. Their relentless zeal,

incessant quench for success and willingness to walk the extra mile has broken all myths

about their inborn limitations that were supposed to be major roadblocks on their success

expressways.

“It’s hard to be a woman: You must think like a man, act like a lady, look like a young girl

and work like a horse”. But nevertheless India has seen its own pool of such bold and

fearless women who have made a mark for themselves both within the country as well

as overseas. I will be talking of two such women who have inspired me and will be an

inspiration to 100’s as they are the ones who defied such steep odds to make it as entre-

preneurs in India. As the saying goes, be the change you wish to see. The two women

profiled below exemplify that adage.

UNLOCKING THE POWER OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR

Everyone dreams but only a few have the courage and conviction to turn them into reality. And women do it with panache.


It’s hard to be a woman: You must think like a man, act like a lady, look like a young girl and work like a horse”.

Sairee Chahal, founder of Sheroes.in symbolizes the intelligent idealism that a woman

entrepreneur should possess. Sairee Chahal has the quality of empowering women, a trait

that seeps through the fabric of her timeless entrepreneurial career. For a lot of women,

mid-career is a challenging time. That’s when many women begin families, which start taking

precedence over work. Some prefer to look for work from home opportunities, others seek

part-time employment and many others take a few years off before returning to work. To

bridge this gap and empower women, Sairee Chahal in January 2014 co-founded Sheroes.

in, which curates work from home jobs in India, is building a community of working women,

helping them find mentors and resources. The focus is on women who are seeking a career

along with a work-life balance.

The crux behind starting a business is that there should be a need for your product or service

in the market. With that in mind, the Zivame founder Richa Kar’s biography talks of how this

woman saw an opportunity and decided to grab it with both hands.

Known as one of the most influential women entrepreneurs of the country, she has changed

the face of lingerie shopping for women through their first start up, Zivame. Ziva-me implies

‘radiant me’. Richa Kar states that, “My advice to upcoming entrepreneurs is to dream big.

When you are your own boss you have to be ready to do the oddest and smallest of jobs as

and when required. Always hire people who are better at what they do than you because they

will help you grow faster. I believe that if you are strong, focused and passionate about what

you want to do, everything else falls into place”. Having read above the two inspiring women,

let’s talk about what kept them going, what motivated them to innovate and think what the

world hadn’t thought of, what pushed them to face host of challenges. Rewarding challenges,

but harsh challenges nonetheless.

Self-belief -If you don’t believe you can succeed, you won’t get very far. Then comes Ambition

which always strives to push forward. Always aim for the top. Confidence-Confidence will win

people’s respect, earn their trust and gain you a solid reputation. Successful female entre-

preneurs are always passionate about what they do because they tend to create businesses

around the things they enjoy. Find your own passion, believe in it and turn it into something

you can really be proud of.

Humility and a willingness to learn-Ability to never be afraid to admit they don’t know every-

thing and will always strive to boost their skills. Sense of purpose-To be a successful female

entrepreneur you have to believe in yourself and believe that what you are doing is making

a difference. That strong sense of purpose will be reflected in your business, which will only

stand the test of time. Assertiveness -Convey assertiveness by being fearless, speaking with

authority and purpose.

Hard work -Hard work is the secret to success. You have to be prepared to work long hours

and sacrifice your spare time to build up a business. Bravery-take risks and accept that when

things go wrong, you can always survive and turn things around. Be brave and you will never

look back. Persistence-there will be days when you feel like sticking your head in the sand.

Lastly, Melinda Gates states that “If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime,

someone gave you a life or an idea that started you in the right direction. Also remember that

you are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped.”

MEKHALA KARLAWAD PGP 2016-18, IIM RAIPUR


lthough the term

‘Marketing’ saw its origin

in 1100AD, till not very

long ago, marketing simply

meant selling and distribu-

tion. It was in mid 1960s that competition

forced companies to think beyond selling

to activities like advertising and brand

building. This paradigm shift in marketing

emphasised on differentiating the prod-

uct, segment the market and propose

a unique proposition to the customers.

Segmenting, targeting and positioning

became the cornerstone of all marketing

strategy.

The world of commerce is today witness-

ing another paradigm shift – the network

effect. The marketing expertise has gone

beyond activities like branding to creating

large networks. Huge business models

have been built around networks and a

substantial marketing effort is now dedi-

cated around building and retaining these

networks.

Network effect is defined as a phenom-

enon whereby a product gains additional

value when more and more people use

it. Maruti’s endeavour to woo its custom-

ers by boasting its extensive network of

service centres is an example of a very

simple network. All things being equal, a

customer derives more utility/ value by

being a part of Maruti’s network of deal-

ers and service centres because it is large.

A customer desires to be a part of the

Facebook network because all her friends

are on it. When she joins the network, the

network becomes larger and more attrac-

tive to her other friends who were not

on it, growing the network even further.

Apple customers want to keep buying

Apple products because they are a part of

the iTunes network, which offers numer-

ous apps, movies and songs that they

have bought and leaving it would see a

THE POWER OF NETWORKS

AFACULTY, IIM RAIPUR

JAGROOK DAWRA

Why network-based companies dominate the market?

JAGROOK DAWRAPROFESSOR, IIM RAIPUR


huge erosion of value.

Network effects are broadly of two types

– Direct network effects and indirect net-

work effects. Under direct network effects,

the consumer derives value from being a

part of the network – larger the network,

greater is the value that the consumer

sees in it. Facebook, Orkut, LinkedIn are

all examples direct network effects. Under

indirect network effects, consumers see a

larger incentive to be a part of the network

because of the size of the complementary

products the network offers. iTunes, Xbox

are case in point. The greater the size of

network of apps on iTunes, the greater is

the incentive for a customer to latch on

the iTunes. This large network of custom-

ers prompts more and more people to

device apps for iTunes.

Though the concept of network effects

is not new and was first believed to have

been given by Theodore Vail, the first post

patent president of Bell Telephone, its true

power was understood and exploited by

modern day companies like Facebook,

WhatsApp and LinkedIn. By exploiting a

fundamental need of human beings of

being connected, Facebook grew its net-

work exponentially to become one of the

largest networked companies. It became

one of the fastest companies to enter into

the Fortune 500 club. And it achieved this

by merely selling the idea of connecting

people.

Network size not only creates value for an

incoming customer, but also helps enact

tall exit barriers for its customers. Leaving

the Microsoft network would mean large

monetary loss of investment into software

that the customer might have purchased

for his Windows operating system.

Does this paradigm shift in marketing

strategy come at the cost of earlier strate-

gies that worked for decades? Well not

really. Orkut and Facebook were launched

around the same time in 2004 within a

gap of 11 days. Both were launched with

a concept of connecting people social-

ly. But Facebook realised the power of

targeting the youth and college goers,

who placed more importance on social

connectedness than anything else, Orkut

opened its services to people of all ages.

The result was that Facebook was able to

grow its network faster. Within no time

Facebook’s network was several times

larger than Orkut’s. Once the size of the

network became large enough, network

effect kicked in making Facebook grow

exponentially.

Network effect based companies have

one strange property – they are gener-

ally a dominant player in their markets.

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. do not

have competitors.

Challenge for the next generation of mar-

keters today is to devise ways and means

of giving formidable challenge to these

existing networks and also working on

strategies of retaining their number 1 sta-

tus once they achieve it.

Network effect is defined as a phenom-enon whereby a a product gains addi-tional value when more and more peo-ple use it.”


he industry has expressed concerns over the com-

plexity of the GST framework and the uncertainty

in the classification of goods and services under

the different tax slabs. It is expecting a final clas-

sification very soon. They are expecting the rollout as soon as pos-

sible to be able to comply with the new regulation before July 1.

While the multiple rate tax structure of the goods has been laid

out, clarification on the rates for the services is still awaited. Some

believe that the levy of cess is against the spirit of GST itself. Many

companies operate in multiple states and the requirement of reg-

istrations in each of these states is a huge burden of complexity.

Prashant Deshpande, Partner at Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP is

hopeful of getting a single tax structure for services. It is being

contemplated that the services sector will be at a standard 18%

rate. Some of the services that enjoy higher abatement may be

put in the lower tax slabs of 12% or 5%, depending on their cur-

rent overall tax incidence. Though this classification would further

complicate the pro-

cess, according to

Finance Secretary,

Ashok Lavasa, it was

done keeping in mind

the protection of con-

sumer interests.

GST will eliminate mul-

tiple levies. It will also

allow deeper penetra-

tion of digital services.

With GST, companies

might require each

center to generate

a separate invoice

to every contracting

party. Duty on manufactured goods is going to go up from exist-

ing 14-15% to 18%, which means the cost of electronics from

mobile phones to laptops- will rise.

Companies can generate significant reduction in logistics and

distribution costs as the need for multiple sales depots will be

eliminated. Their 24-25% inclusive of VAT, excise and entry tax will

be replaced by 17-19% tax under GST. Warehouse rationalization

and reduction of overall tax rates, is expected to generate savings

which could cumulatively range between 200-300bps.

The aerated beverages and tobacco products will see an increase

of up to 20% in prices. The food companies may observe an

increase as they currently enjoy a concessional excise tax.

Automotive players such as Mahindra & Mahindra were surprised

when even the smaller cars were placed in the 26-28% slab. They

were expecting these cars to be placed in the 18% slab.

Now it is not going to make much of a difference for small cars

because small cars today depending on which state you are in and

what kind of fuel getting used attract approximately 20.5% on the

low side to 30-31% on the high side. So, there will be a marginal

if at all a marginal reduction in price of the small cars that should

not make any difference in the consumer sentiment because the

total taxation will be same as what it is today and therefore there

would not be much of a change in price.

But with the GST, the economic activity will go up and if the eco-

nomic activity does go

up we hope the gov-

ernment will look at

rationalizing the taxes

in future after a year,

two year, three years

depending on how

the collection is. Right

now, perhaps there

has been a very con-

servative approach

in terms of assuming

there will not be any

increase in economic

activity and therefore

the tax rate is being

maintained almost same as what it is in the excise and VAT.

For the companies, of course the benefit of GST that we have

always been talking about of making India one market not having

to worry about location in terms of where to put up plants, where

to put stock yards, where to buy from all that simplification that

we were looking forward to will still happen with GST. There is lot

of sort of embedded taxes that become a burden on manufactur-

INDUSTRY CONCERNS

TWILL GST DELIVER ON THE EXPECTATIONS

The main issues of concern seem to be the complexity brought by the multiple tax rate slabs of 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent, and 28 per cent, and the uncertainty about the additional cess that will be lev-ied on luxury goods and tobacco products.

AND IMPACTS OF GST


ers that will hopefully go away so if you put all of those benefits in

front of you there is lot of benefit coming in terms of the reducing

complexity of doing business.

The e-commerce industry will see a reduction in product costs as the

goods can be easily and cheaply supplied to any part of the coun-

try. At the same time, tax collection at the source (TCS) will lead to

increase in documentation and paper work which will push up costs.

Following options have been accepted in January 2017 by the gov-

ernments:

1. 90% of the assessees with a turnover of less than Rs. 1.5 crore

will be assessed by the stategovernments and the other 10% by

the central administrative machinery.

2. For those with turnover of above Rs. 1.5 crore, 50% will be

assessed by each of the governments.

Now the next step is the categorization of the industries into the

different slabs which is expected to be finalized in the meeting in

February. Also the deadline for the implementation of GST has been

pushed to July 1 which was earlier April 1, 2017. However, the actual

implications of the GST on the industry will be clear once it is imple-

mented. Until then it is as good as anyone’s guess!!

Bottom-line sentimenmt from the industry is that the govern-ment will have completed a commendable job if the classifica-tion is completed and passed in this winter session.”

DAYITVA GAURPGP 2016-18, IIM RAIPUR


HR: ENABLEROR DISRUPTER

‘People’- are the core building block of any

organization. It is the workforce that gives any

organization its real identity. Human Resource

Management; the function that deals with the

same, has undergone tremendous transformation over the

decades. We have moved from mere personnel management to

strategic HRM so as to maximize and sustain workforce productiv-

ity.

Talent management has moved far from mere administrative to

a strategic job supporting the B&E and affecting the bottom-line

of businesses. This evolution in the people management domain

was impossible if it weren’t for the support of technology. Big

data analytics has changed the manner a firm executes the vari-

ous HRM functions and the way in which it views its current and

prospective employees.

Today, the HR professionals have innumerable online portals and

sources to access the relevant talent and map the skillset to the

right individuals. It is no more required to analyze the candidate

in person, as many processes are leveraging the use of virtual

arena for hiring. Recruiters can easily visit the social media profiles

of the applicants and make relevant observations regarding their

choices in various walks of life; thereby tracking their behavior

and attitude. Online interviews are not uncommon; and so is the

case with other recruitment tasks. The employee/recruitment

databases constructed once can be easily referred to at any time

in future to access the talent pool as per the requirement.

Moving on to the next HR function, the role played by technol-

ogy in the Training and Development process has been immense.

E-learning sessions and virtual lectures have made learning

possible for employees even at remote locations. The Training

professionals need not spend as much time in training for every-

thing and may contribute more time to very specific areas where

P


employees face issues in understanding

and implementing. More focus can be

given to project based real time on job

learning.

Performance management is another

area where technology has enabled the

managers to track the performance con-

tinually on a real time basis and also

give immediate feedback for accelerated

improvement. With most data available on

cloud, the real time access has been made

convenient for most authorities. Even for

an employee, it is always good to track

the progress on a regular basis. Predictive

analytics surely helps in determining the

expected returns and addressing the

same if need be. With KPMG seeming to

develop a model for enterprise engage-

ment, clearly the process of employee

engagement is being targeted. Models

are already in place where the provision of

benefits and incentives are all automated

for employees and can be easily tracked.

All of this puts productivity and employee

engagement as paramount which eventu-

ally results in fostering staff loyalty.

Any progress doesn’t come without its

own set of demerits and limitations. The

upheaval in the domain of technology

also poses a threat to jobs as automation

takes over. An HR professional needs to

take care of this aspect too. Employees

therefore, need to be kept updated in

every respect through optimum training

solutions focused on skill development

for changed careers and service activities.

Also, while using analytics to determine

the right talent, appropriate checks must

be put in place so as to avoid any biases

and errors must be taken into consider-

ation.

In a nutshell, technology has rendered

the professionals to focus more on sig-

nificant tasks related to leadership devel-

opment and enhancing people’s skillset

and competencies rather than just getting

engrossed in administrative tasks. Here

is an opportunity for the HR Managers

to keep continuous track of growth and

development of employees and interfer-

ing wherever a discrepancy is detected

in the behavior, which might lead to mis-

alignment between the individual and

business goals.

Talent management has moved far from mere administra-tive to a strategic job, supporting the Business Execution and affecting the bottom-line of busi-nessThis evolution in the people man-agement domain was impossible if it weren’t for the sup-port of technology.”

MONIKA VASWANI

PGP 2016-18, IIM RAIPUR

Bank credit cards, on Tuesdays for Citi credit

cards and on Wednesdays for Axis Bank credit

cards. BigBasket runs a promotion offer of

25% off on Tuesdays for specific purchases

paid using ICICI Bank cards. SBI cards are now

offering 7,000 rupees cashback on select

models of Macbook and iPhone. Having one

card is not anymore enough. The offers never

end. And if she is to make the most of this

madness out there, she better equip her

financial arsenal with enough plastic power.

Well, as she celebrates the mainstream mate-

rialism and the digital payments era, let us

put some serious thought into her. Wouldn’t

she be worried if she were carrying 3 lakh

rupees in her wallet daily, imagining it is even

physically feasible with adequately denom-

inated rupee notes? Think how wary she

will be of those quick, cunning arms in the

crowd? What about her own carelessness

forgetting her wallet now and then? Are the

cards she carry any different? Are her credit

cards completely out of reach of those pick-

pockets? Beware; pickpockets have evolved

too, with technology. Winter may be coming.

Is she aware?

That’s what I wish to accomplish here. To

make her (and you) aware. To start with,

plastic money comes in two broad forms,

debit cards and credit cards. When it comes

to fraud, the form hardly matters. You might

still be having those cards in your wallet

which come with just a magnetic stripe on

its back. A CVV number may or may not be

ook at a smart, young Indian

Gen Y. She is grateful to walk

the Indian urban soil in this

golden age, as she knows

that a significant quantum of her lifestyle

expenses is willingly bore by extremely opti-

mistic foreign investors trying to woo the

Indian urban consumer cohort. Be it Ola,

Uber, Amazon, Prime Video, Makemytrip,

Swiggy, Flipkart, Snapdeal or Freecharge, she

is bombarded with unbelievable offers. She

brags her knowledge that Amazon made

losses higher than its gross sales last year but

sincerely hopes Jeff Bezos is not worried at all.

Yet she wants more!

Heeding to her wish and recognizing the

optimistic generosity of the online retail

aggregators and market places, aggressive

banks (and online wallet providers) have

tied up with multitude of online retailers for

special offers on credit card purchases. For

instance, Makemytrip has a cashback offer

on Mondays for purchases made by ICICI


there. They are often called magstripe cards.

They are the most vulnerable of the cards

out there, prone to what is called credit card

skimming. In credit card skimming, fraudsters

use deceptive devices to intercept the data

stored in the cards’ magnetic stripe and make

fake cards using the stolen data. What makes

the magstripe cards vulnerable is that the

data stored in the stripe is static. If an inter-

ceptor could capture this static data while

being transmitted at an ATM or PoS machine,

it could be reused to commit frauds. They

may also plant video cameras to steal the

PIN while being entered at an ATM outlet.

At POS machines, a fraudster cashier may

be directly watching the customer entering

the PIN. Now that they have both the card

information and PIN, the card becomes fully

compromised.

Card skimming, as you may have realized

now, could be carried out quite easily put-

ting a serious question on the security of

magstripe cards. That is the reason why all

the banks are now bragging about their Chip-

and-PIN cards, effectively telling the custom-

ers they are better safe. But only BETTER.

Chip card technology is also known by the

name EMV technology, a tribute to Europay,

MasterCard and Visa- the original network

providers who developed the technology.

While we are here, I think it will be valuable

for you to know that America is the largest

laggard in the transition to Chip-and-PIN

cards. Even if they have a chip on their card, it

HOW SAFE IS YOUR PLASTIC

MONMEY?

Decorating one’s wallet with plethora of cards has become the new financial trend. Can it be called the new financial fashion statement?

HINT: PROBABLY NOT MUCH

L


Plastic money comes in two broad forms, debit cards and credit cards. When it comes to fraud, the form hardly matters.

will be most likely a Chip-and-Signature card

where signatures are collected on a digital

screen. Otherwise, it is a magnetic stripe and

signature card – the most vulnerable combi-

nation. Much criticism exists that banks do

not always take the effort for stringent sig-

nature authentication. Why is the supposedly

early-adopter a laggard here? Apparently

because American banks think it will be too

much to ask the customers to remember

their PINs. Also because, America has got very

good connectivity infrastructure which gives

them less incentive to move to Chip cards

which can work offline also. But the main

reason is the huge cost involved for the banks

to issue new cards and for the merchants to

buy new POS machines. As a result, financial

crimes have increased appallingly in the US.

One may wonder at this complacency of

American banks and merchants, especially

because Europe, Canada and Australia have

almost completely moved to Chip-and-PIN

cards.

Now that you have been hearing a lot about

chip cards, how does the chip help to protect

our data? When we dip a chip card, WAIT! Did

I say ‘dip’? Yes, I did. Technically, you swipe a

magnetic stripe card but you only need to

dip the chip on the chip card to read it. So,

when you dip a chip card, it produces a one-

time code and communicates the code with

the network to authorize the transaction. So

even if a fraudster manages to intercept the

encrypted one time code, he cannot use the

code for a second transaction. This makes

making fake/counterfeit cards extremely dif-

ficult. In a Chip-and-PIN card, you have the

additional second factor authentication of

the PIN. Thus, Chip-and-PIN cards apparently

reduces the possibility of financial fraud dras-

tically. Did you smell it? apparently, possibil-

ity, drastically..? Well, you got it right!

One may now be wondering why our Chip-

and-PIN cards still have magnetic stripes on

the back? It is simply because Chip cards have

not yet become ubiquitous and not all the

merchants/countries around the world have

upgraded their systems and PoS machines to

chip-compatibility. Therefore, we are going

to have the black stripes on the back of our

cards for some time. Then, won’t our cards be

vulnerable even now? In fact, yes. Until chip-

compatibility becomes universal and as long

as the magnetic stripe is being used at PoS

machines, you are still at risk. Remember, if

your card is being swiped the magnetic stripe

is being used. Make sure you do not expose

your PIN too. If only the Chip part of your

card is dipped into the PoS machine, you may

sleep peacefully.

What do data speak about fraud trends? Let

us look at UK data as they had adopted Chip-

and-PIN cards much earlier. The following

pie-chats shows the share of total card fraud

losses emerging from five scenarios, namely,

lost/stolen cards, non-receipt of card mailed,

wares and online attacks are sophisticated,

inconspicuous and spooky. Malwares, once it

gets into your system, starts collecting your

browsing history and key-loggers track your

keyboard strokes and relay the data to the

fraudster who could then use this data to

collect your personal information, including

payment information. One can guard oneself

against malwares using internet security soft-

ware and/or anti-virus software. Using virtual

keyboards is also a good precaution.

Last October (2016), the Indian cards industry

panicked on the news that 3.2 million debit

cards were compromised, the biggest finan-

cial data breach ever in India. It was allegedly

caused by a malware introduced in ATM and

PoS systems of Hitachi Payment Services.

Though the banks did immediate damage

control by deactivating the breached cards

and reissuing cards to affected customers,

the incident made one point very clear. The

supposedly complex and secure online pay-

ment systems are not as safe as they seem

to be.

How safe is your plastic money? You are now

better aware.

counterfeit cards, remote/card-not-present

and card ID theft. You will be all the more cau-

tious on finding where the wind is blowing.

How do fraudsters manage to do fraud even

while they do not have physical possession

of cards?

They use broadly two methods:

a)Deception crimes – eg. Phishing, Vishing

b)Online attacks – eg. Malware, Data Hacks

Phishing is when the fraudster attempts to

obtain your account information by making

you enter sensitive information on appar-

ently trustworthy websites/forms/links. You

may be receiving emails disguised as emails

from your bank. You may be redirected to

wrong websites which look exactly like your

bank’s website. Vishing is when the fraudster

has the same intentions, but contacts you

over phone. Generally, uneducated or below-

informed citizens fall prey to vishing calls

whereas even well-educated people fall prey

to phishing.

With a little care at your end and enough

awareness, deception crimes could be tack-

led and contained to a great extent. But mal-

JAYSUN ANTONY ALUMKAL

PGP 2014-16, IIM RAIPUR


As boring as it may sound, and as tempt-

ed as you might be to start bringing

your idea to reality, it is wise to complete

and finalize the paperwork beforehand.

Choose the right form of legal entity

to avoid any legal hassle and payment

of higher taxes. The registrations, nature of the company, the

Copyrights, the Intellectual Property rights and non-disclosure

Agreements must all be in place before you even meet investors.

It is also important to have a fair idea from legal perspective about

the government regulations, any permissions or undertakings

required depending on the nature of your business so that you

may keep yourself prepared and save from any last minute glitch

STARTUPSUCCESS MANTRAS

3.

2.

1.

Another mistake commonly made by startups is not keeping track of their expenses, however big or small they maybe,

throughout the year. Many try and gather all receipts only when tax returns have to be filed! What is not documented is

not deducted, and therefore, it is like leaving money in the open. There are many options available to record and man-

age expenses. Entities can also hire accountants to manage these records, if volumes are high.

Time and money are the biggest investments in a startup, and often the personal and business expenses become indis-

tinguishable. This can be a source of confusion when taxes are being filed, and in some cases, can lead to deductions

being disallowed on an ad-hoc basis by the revenue authorities and higher tax outgo as a result. The company should

therefore have a financial account at the onset and separate records as well.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and so does no business. There is an immeasurable amount of thought, dedication, convic-tion, perseverance and hard-work for a long period of time that translates into success. However in this fast replicating and super competitive world, there is more to the success formulas than just all of these.


5.

4.Every startup may or may not run or be

essentially successful. It is therefore impor-

tant to have a solid founders’ agreement in

place, because it is worth thinking about

how you and your co-founders might

deal with failure. The founders’ agreement

should contain all essential clauses such as ownership, vesting

rights, and the roles and responsibilities of each founder, includ-

ing salaries and terms of employment.

When starting with something new, it

is very natural to start with enthusiasm,

which gets chiseled away with time, with

rejections, teething troubles and even fail-

ures. Almost seventy percent of the times,

entrepreneurs gave up just before the

same idea clicked when someone else tried it. Always remember

that the darkest hour is just before the dawn, so always hang in

there for a little more than you would want to, and you might just

cross that rough patch.

It is a basic principle of life too, but is of

greatest importance when it comes to

startups. There might be a lot of tempta-

tion for advertising big and let the world

know of your great product or service,

however it makes sense to take it slow

and spend every penny wisely. Find cheap yet effective ways of

advertising e.g. choose free social media rather than going for

sponsored ads from the very beginning. A new toy store chain

organized a ramp walk camp for kids, with the enrollment criteria

of buying toys worth a certain amount. Many parents who wished

their child to walk the ramp, enrolled. Sales!!! They then organized

a competition for selecting the top ten children who would walk

the ramp how organized in the toy store itself, on the basis of how

many likes they get on the picture of the child posted on the toy

stores Facebook page. It was a very successful campaign and got

the toy store huge visibility in a matter of a week with very less

investment.

You might hold yourself in high regards

in terms of knowledge, potential and

expertise, yet not everything can be done

single-handedly. Having optimistic, like-

minded people, with similar interests and

a positive attitude is what great teams are

made up of and that is what keeps you motivated through the

rough patches. Have people who are risk takers and would intend

to stick through the end and not leave the startup struggle mid-

way with initial rejections. At the same time you need to learn the

art of being humble, understand the importance of relationships

and getting along with the people around you. The happiness or

grumpiness of employees reflects on the customers in long run,

so keep happy.

6.

7.

Nothing appeals to kids, teenagers and

adults alike, and there is never too much of

knowing your customer, even if you feel you

know. Market research helps you understand

the target customer’s sensitivities, shopping

and spending trends, timings of shopping

and things of interest. This gives an edge to understand when and

where to advertise and even if the market research will incur some

additional costs, it will help you save in advertising and get better

sales.

There is no easy way to say this, but some-

times ideas just do not click or the profits

just are not there, or the business model fails

even after a lot of deliberation on each and

every detail. It is always advisable to have a

backup plan when you really have to quit.

Remember still, to hang in there a little longer than you would want

to and then take the decision of giving up, if you have to.

There is not a recipe to start up success, but the ingredients are more

or less the same. Maintaining quality, fulfilling customer’s expecta-

tions in terms of timeliness and value and have the vision of your

venture clear right from the very beginning to help you tread along

the correct path will definitely help you achieve success.

8.

9.

There is no single mantra that can guarantee you suc-cess, however it is always wise to learn from other’s mistakes rather than making the same ones yourself and then learn.”

Author, Sapna Choudhary has worked with renowned names such as Standard Chartered bank, ICICI Retail, Deutsche Post Bank Home Finance and is backed by a strong industry experience in Finance, and is highly proficient in Sales, Audit & Operations. She along with her partner and best friend, Anu have weaved their dream together and are edging at making big to in the Gift Registry industry – MakeMyWishes.com


These are indeed exciting times. Thousands of

Indians are throwing away the security of a job and

starting up. For all those who are planning to start

up, I am sharing some thoughts from my experi-

ence as an entrepreneur of over 15 years. Do keep them in mind

as you begin your adventure.

1. Most entrepreneurs are obsessed with the next big innovative

idea. Do not think about ideas. Instead think of the customer

problem you are trying to solve, think of a customer need you are

fulfilling. This problem-solution should define your startup, not

the idea. Once you are clear about the problem you are solving,

check if this is a new problem you are solving or you have a dif-

ferent solution to an existing problem which is fine. Just ensure

your solution is better, faster or cheaper than existing solutions

(your competition). One is good but try and tick at least two of

the boxes. If you can tick all three, which means your solution

is better and faster and cheaper than competition, you have a

potential winner on your hands. Also remember, your business

must be scalable. So verify through market data that there are

enough customers out there who will need your solution to build

a sustainable business.

2. The next step is to put together a team. There is no specific

rule that you must have a minimum number of co-founders but

anything beyond four may become hard to manage. You can

even be a sole founder if it works for you. The most important

thing though is to make sure that all co-founders have some com-

mon backgrounds: friends, college mates, hostel mates, school

classmates, colleagues or ex-colleagues at work. The experience

of having spent time together earlier will help you when you go

through tough times. Once the co-founders are fixed, work on the

core team. Hire people who bring different skills to the table and

are fundamentally smarter than you. This is a hard challenge but

do not compromise. If you do not surround yourself with people

smarter than you, the entire burden of thinking stuff and solv-

ing problems will be yours alone and this is a definite recipe for

disaster.

3. Next step is to build a business plan. Make this as detailed and

comprehensive as possible with clear numbers and detailed strat-

egies. I have a 2 X 2 X 2 theory to make your plan robust. After you

finish the plan try this: divide your sales by two, divide your gross

margins by 2 and multiply your costs by 2. This is your real plan

because it allows for things to go wrong and rest assured, things

will definitely go wrong. Remember, in a startup, shit happens.

4. The purpose of your business must be to make money and

not raise money. Too many entrepreneurs in India, inspired by

HOW TO START-UP?

T

KEY POINTS FOR ENTREPRENEURS

TO THINK ABOUT WHILE STARTING UP

The author K Vaitheeswaran is known as the “father of ecommerce in India” He co-founded India’s first e-commerce company Fabmart (later branded Indiaplaza) in 1999. Vaitheeswaran holds an elec-tronics and communication degree from the Government College of Engineering, Tirunelveli (Anna University) and is a regular speaker on retail, ecommerce and startups. He has consulted with top global brands like Deloitte, Diageo and the Tata group.


wrong role models believe that the only

metric for success of a startup is based on

the number of funding rounds you close.

Nothing can be further from the truth.

If you raise lots of funding and still need

more capital to fund your losses, it just

proves that you are incapable of build-

ing and running a sustainable business

and you are an incompetent businessman.

Remember, a business has no business

being called a business if it does not make

money.

5. You will be advised by pundits to fail fast

and pivot. Do not believe this. You should

think hard, evaluate all options, asses the

risks and challenges and then start a ven-

ture. Once you do this, you should perse-

vere with your mind, body, heart and soul

and give your startup the time and respect

it deserves. Too many entrepreneurs start

a venture and after six months decide to

do something else. This is neither pivoting

nor failing fast. It just shows poor thinking

and planning.

6. Keep a tight control on costs and

expenses. Follow this simple rule: till you

achieve break even, do not spend any

money on anything that your customer

will neither see nor experience. Too many

entrepreneurs raise funds from investors

and promptly spend it on buying fancy

personal cars and renting expensive office

spaces which is a bad practice.

7. Last but not the least, right from day one

you should build systems and processes.

Many entrepreneurs push this activity for

later. Unfortunately, later never happens.

Systems and processes must be in place

for a business to scale well.

Go ahead, start up. Remember, business

may fail but entrepreneurs never fail.

Starting up is success in itself. All the best.

The purpose of your business must be to make and not raise money. Too many entre-peneurs in India, inspired by wrong role models believe that raising funds is the only metric for success.”

KULPREET YADAVKULPREET YADAV IS A BESTSELLING AUTHOR, MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER, STARTUP MENTOR,

AND FOUNDER-EDITOR OF OPEN ROAD REVIEW, SOUTH ASIA’S LEADING ONLINE LITERATURE ANDCULTURE MAGAZINE. KULPREET’S LATEST NOVEL, THE GIRL WHO LOVED A PIRATE, IS INDIA’S FIRSTTHRILLER BASED ON MARINE PIRACY &AMP; HIJACKING. PASSIONATE ABOUT CREATIVE WRITING,KULPREET ALSO MENTORS ASPIRING WRITERS AT SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES AND HAS SPOKEN AT

MANY LITERARY FESTIVALS IN INDIA &AMP; ABROAD INCLUDING SINGAPORE, HYDERABAD, DELHI,BANGALORE, GOA, BANGKOK, GURGAON, PUNE, PANCHKULA, LUCKNOW ETC. AN EX-ARMED

FORCES OFFICER, HE LIVES IN NEW DELHI.

IN CONVERSATION WITH

Q

Q.

Can you tell us a little bit about your journey, from being into armed forces to setting out on the unpredictable journey of being a writer? I joined the Naval Officer’s Academy soon

after college. I was very keen to wear the

officer’s uniform and serve my motherland. For twenty years, I

worked very hard and was transferred to almost all the coastal

cities. But slowly, as I became senior in the organisation, I found

myself doing more and more administrative work. To break the

monotony, I began to write novels. I was lucky that my books

were published and the readers appreciated them. Soon after, I

found myself thinking only about writing and realised that it was

not right for me to pretend to work for the government whereas

all I wanted to do was to write novels. Therefore, in 2014 I sought

premature retirement and charted a new course for myself.

You are the founder of the Open Road

Review. What inspired you to start the

international literary magazine?

I found that creative writing is not taught

in the Indian colleges. The only option is

to study English literature. So, for aspir-

ing writers, there is practically no training available. To make

matters worse, we don’t have literary magazines. Even the top

colleges in India don’t have professionally run literary maga-

zines that can be bought at bookshops. In short, there is no

ecosystem in India that can nurture good writing. Not by the

government, or by the private sector. I started Open Road Review

with an Amercian editor in 2011 and now we have editors and

interns in three continents. Our staff is more than 10 and we

have published more than 300 writers from two dozen coun-

tries.

Talking about following your passion,

thousands of young minds in India today

to do so as India slowly transforms into a

nation of Startups. If I ask you to prepare

a checklist for them before they ‘Star-Up’,

what would it be like?

Young Indians are brilliant. But just like writing, there is no ecosys-

tem that can nurture their talent. Yes, there are companies who

are running incubators, but we haven’t made any noteworthy

product of global standards so far. To make matters confusing,

there are many HNIs and fly-by- night fund operators who are

scouting for talent with the sole objective of making a quick buck.

My failsafe checklist for youngsters:

STEP1: Build your product without funding,

STEP 2: Make your model self-sustaining.

STEP 3: When it is stable, go for funding and expand aggressively.

Remember, the best startups in the world were dreamed of and

sustained in garages without even air-conditioning and bath-

rooms.

Q.

Q.How do you look at the current ‘Star-Up

Ecosystem’ in India?

Poor. We have talent, as I said. The govern-

ment has made some guidelines recently

too, but the awareness of the need to have

a healthy environment is missing. There are

a few bright sparks here and there, I mean people and companies,

who are slogging it out to make a difference and I hope with all my

sincerity that they succeed.

Here at IIM Raipur, we are soon coming up

with our own incubation center to help bud-

ding entrepreneurs. How important can that

be according to you?

It’s a good step. I hope the guides who are

selected to nurture raw talent are innovative,

competent and nonconformists themselves.

Any final word of advice to our readers?

Most Indians think that they can better man-

age their personal and professional lives

by reading self-help and business biogra-

phies. While these books do help, the real

change can be experienced by reading fic-

tion. Because only the unreal can teach us how to survive the real.

So yes, please do read my Andy Karan spy thrillers and send me your

reviews.

Q.

Q.


THE 13TH PILLAR


clan has ever set foot on her banks. From a

distance, she looks just like a simple blue line

drawn on a grey limestone plateau. But here

it’s a gorge dividing the land into two conti-

nents, cutting and shearing through every rock

and stone which dares to come between her

and the sea. Now I somewhat understand the

tablet! It looks a daunting task to cross her with

army though she has a meagre flow. A single

word on the tablet, the sovereignty clause,

is difficult to materialize. Forget crossing the

river! It is rare enough to be a sovereign king

in the South.

But it’s not a problem for me. I am already

crowned as the King of Marathas a decade

ago…

Tick, tick, tick… This ticking sound always

reminds me the flow of time. It takes me

back in my past, showing me the memo-

ries which are trapped in the kaleidoscope of

my mind! My childhood, marriages, teenage

heartbreaks, endless quarrels with my father,

struggle for power, the constant wars-wins-

defeats, deaths! But all this looks distant after

the last year. The year changed my mind-set; it

changed me and my kingdom. Last year, in the

month of February, Alamgir tried to capture

me. Everybody knows him! After all he is the

Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb! I clearly remem-

ber the evening…

We had just suffered a defeat in the Battle of

Wai. Many deserted me. But the actual loss was

my Senapati Hambirrao Mohite. I cried beside

his mortal remains… The blow to my army and

my psyche was unprecedented. We pondered

for a while and decided to hide in the Konkan

instead of fighting on the Desh. People call


he day looks perfect! A

mid-May sunny morn-

ing… the flow of Rewa is

at minimum… And JoshiJi

said the day is auspicious. Except the

scorching sun everything is pleasing. I

am going to cross the mighty Rewa today

along with my 12,000 strong army. It’s

unbelievable.

Much more astonishing if one reads the

petroglyph of Grishneshwar! When I think

about it, it really scares me. Even in my

wildest dreams I can’t imagine destroying

this Mughal Empire singlehandedly!!!

But the tablet says so… ‘The sovereign

king, the one who crosses Narmada, from

South to North, with his army, establishes

an Indian Empire unparalleled in glory,

might and existence. More prosperous

than the wealth of Kubera, more gigantic

than the realm of Indra!’ It is impossible

for my wit to understand… The tablet

goes on to clearly mention the expanse

of the empire. How can I establish an

empire from the shores of Caspian Sea

to The Ocean… I don’t even know where

this Caspian Sea or Kashyapey Samudra

as mentioned in it is! How, in this wanton

world, is a 33 year old king who has been

fighting a guerrilla war for the last 10 years

just to keep his small kingdom alive sup-

posed to imagine his vast domain from

Khorasan to Yunnan, nearly 7000 kilome-

tres in stretch? How the son of a chieftain

could lay the foundation of a new world

order from Papua to the shores of Zhanj!

Who in this world thinks that, me and

my sons will defeat the Mughals and

the Chinese, the Iranians, the Burmese,

the Thai and all the Indo-Chinese tribes

and the nomads beyond the Hindu Kush

and the Himalayas... And all the firangis-

the English, the French, the Dutch, the

Portuguese… At this point I stop thinking!

Tick, tick, tick… I can only hear this sound

when my mind is clear. It’s the clock-

watch. The English call it a pendent. A cou-

ple of years ago my father’s coronation,

the pendent was invented in the English

homeland. Calling this amazing piece of

artistry just a pendant is disrespectful to

the artist and more so to the art itself…

I call it a timepiece, Kalyantra. From the

day I first saw it, I was mesmerised… The

English emissaries in the Rajyabhisheka

of my father presented it to him among

many other gifts. Raje did not have time

just to open the timepiece! Ironic indeed!

He just gave it away to me as jewellery.

The people around me thought that it is

some Kala Jadu. Fools!

From that day Kalyantra is with me. It is

not that accurate as sometimes it errone-

ously shows time of a prahara behind. It

is more useless when I am the only one in

my kingdom who can read the time and

others understand it as the black magic

obsession of Prince. Nevertheless I hope

someday every man and woman in my

country will be able to read and use it as

a timepiece. I have some ideas to improve

it but I have no time. If I were ever permit-

ted to retire by the destiny, surely I will

improve it! But the current task in my hand

is crossing the river.

Rewa! I think people here call her Narmada.

We Marathas call her Rewa. Nobody in my

THE 13TH PILLAR

T

TIME: MORNING, MAY 14, 1690

SOUTHERN BANKS OF NARMADA, PROVINCE MALWA

this timidity; I prefer to call it tactics- the Shivsutra. It was not at

all easy… Hiding from the enemy when you have a heart burning

desire to squash enemy heads! But we sustained. For more than a

year we tried to regroup. Men, money, resources and most impor-

tantly the moral of our army! I wandered in the whole

region and gathered all these vitals.

We camped near Sangameshwar. Just outside the village. It is rela-

tively a large village. The villagers respected me as a king. They have

a martial history and a reputation as fierce fighters. They helped us

setup a camp. It was not quite a camp if you compare it with my

current camp site. One can say a campfire of 25-30 soldiers. It had

5 small huts and a fire in the middle. All the huts were the same so

that nobody could guess where I was staying. Besides I changed

my hut periodically. The camp was surrounded by the pristine

Sahyadris, I felt safe and confident. Sahyadri is always like a mother

to me. Many found the high peaks intimidating and unwelcoming.

For me they are the abode of motherly love! It is the actual strength

of my kingdom. No enemy can follow us through these mountains

and nobody can defeat us in its valleys. Actually the real enemy is

the enemy within. And that’s what happened. I was told by my spies

that the Mughals were tracking my position. They roughly knew

my location and when they pinpointed it they would grab me from

these valleys like a hawk taking away fowl… Though such kind of

information always comes once or twice a month, this time the

threat was serious. I was told that the Shirkes are the ones providing

my whereabouts. But I could not act immediately as I had insuf-

ficient manpower. Besides if I had acted against them and the news

had been wrong, I was sure to lose Shirkes’ and many other sardars’

support! But I was curious. If there were anyone other than Shirkes,

I might not have thought this much. But them? Shirkes were my

in-laws! How could they act against their own daughter’s husband?

I was just curious, not disappointed. I know a son can kill his father

for political power. I was a mere son-in- law!

Initially we planned to camp for 5 days. But the alert changed our

plan. We camped for a day.The next morning I met the village chief

and other influential persons in the village. It was imperative to get

assurance of their support for our cause. The villagers were ami-

cable and amenable. We sketched a plan for village defences and

martial training of youth. Work done! We decided to move to the

jungles out of Shirkes’ territory during the night itself. It was very

risky but extraordinary situation demands extraordinary measure…

In the evening many of my men were packing and some were on

vigil. Meanwhile I got some time. I was with my timepiece. Watching

it closely! The hands moved in discipline but sometimes they just

skipped a beat or suddenly moved fast. And all these aberrations

were caught by my keen eyes. It just skipped a beat and I heard a

sound… It was faint and usually unnoticeable. It was more like a

blade slashing flesh! I alerted thesoldier outside my hut and I did

something that is not expected from a future sovereign emperor. I

hid in a ditch just beside the door inside my hut. I covered the ditch

with a small table. The table was hollow and had openings so that one

can have a constant supply of air inside the ditch. This ‘ditch and table

strategy’ was devised many days ago. Before hiding, I lit a fuse lead-

ing to a firecracker stash, a tactic born just a few hours ago! I could

see the fuse fire marching ahead. The time till detonation was nearly

20 sec, my wild guess! I was checking my watch nineteen, eighteen,

seventeen… And suddenly a soldier barged in the hut. He wasn’t one

of us! He checked the entire hut. There was no one. He turned around

in a swift manner. I observed him carefully as he walked to the door.

I knew that time was running out but suppressed the urge to check

my watch. I took a deep breath and started counting in reverse under

my breath. "Ten, nine, eight, seven..." I was holding the

watch and I could feel its motion! It skipped a beat at five; even in this

dire situation I noticed it! The returning soldier had some suspicion

about the table. He approached the table and just as he was about

to displace it, a blast was heard. The sound waves rippled through

my body and surroundings. The soldier was shell-shocked with that

noise. I wasted no time and moved the table and my blade pierced his

stomach. The next moment I slashed apart his head from his torso! He

must have cried with pain but nobody heard, not even I in that sound.

The bang was not actually to distract the enemy, it was to call rein-

forcement. Yesterday as soon as I got the information, throughout the

night we created plans. It was not known when or with how much

force the enemy would strike. We didn’t even know if the villagers

would support us or not! So we created 2 plans. One assuming their

support and another without… Fortunately the next day when I met

the village people, they extended their support. So I finalised the plan

A. In the expedition we always carry some firecrackers. They prove

handy in encounters against beasts. But here we used it as an indica-

tor of threat. During a quiet night, the bang can be easily heard till

the end of the village. That night too it was heard by everyone and

ready pastoral fighters attacked the enemy party. It was a small battle

won without much human loss. We captured Shirkes. They came with


the Mughals to show them our location. I immediately executed

them without any hesitation! This will surely give a message to

everybody.

From that day, the tide changed! After hearing this incidence, the

whole divided Maratha forces were galvanized under my com-

mand. Those who were loyal to me felt the need to support me.

Those who were acrimonious to me understood that I was the real

king who might kill them if they went against me! We attacked

the Mughals, plundered every camp of their army and destroyed

their moral steadily. We threw them out of the Konkan and the

Sahyadris. We lost many forts in the aftermath of the Battle of

Wai. We regained most of our lost forts one by one. I got the

real boost when we captured our lost capital Raigad! I was again

declared Maharaj, the worthy successor to the Maratha throne,

ceremoniously and wholeheartedly by the people. The capture

of Raigad reignited the fire of hope once again in my people. And

then we never turned back! We conquered the Desh, attacked the

Marathwada and even raided the Khandesh. I defeated and killed

Shah Alam, son of Alamgir in the Battle of Ahmednagar! Alamgir

was in total despair! His every move and tactic, at the end of the

day, proved futile. My legions looted his regions and made him

bankrupt. The Mughal economy crumbled under the war expense.

Still he persisted on the war. But till that point of time I made sure

that even if Aurangzeb had won, it would be a pyrrhic victory.

As the months passed, my army became like a flooding river…

Unstoppable! The Mughals were losing their hope, were running

from the battleground and were deserting their well-guarded

forts… The mightiest Mughal army was reduced to a large flock

of coward baboons.

Alamgir completely lost his hopes and started visiting Fakirs

around the region. The epoch occurred when one fine day I

captured Aurangzeb while he was secretly visiting a Fakir near

Khuldabad! The modus operandi was the same as his. But this

time he was the prey! Respecting his age, I gave him a quick

death.

The news of the Badshah’s demise spread across the entire

Mughal Empire like wind. He never appointed his successor.

His many heir started a petty war against each other without

any considerable army at their disposal. So the whole empire

was in disarray! I started my march from Khuldabad-Jalgaoan-

Burhanpur-Khandawa and now I am here at

Omkareshwar. After the retrospection, now I am confident about

my destiny. I escaped my death, killed a sitting emperor and now

am eager to capture Delhi! Still the last part of the petroglyph is

incomprehensible. It mentions a 13th Jyotirlinga – a 13th and

the last pillar which is actually not a pillar or a linga but a person!

‘He will be the one and the last, the 13th pillar of Shiva’ Can I,

Sambhaji, son of Shivaji match that glory?

SAURABH DINESH LADPGP 2016-18, IIM RAIPUR
