Walk through the halls of the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business during the school year, and along with students cramming facts for macroeconomics and operating strategy you may encounter some students stretching their bodies and doing something really unusual for business school students: relaxing.

They’re members of Chicago’s yoga club, a student group founded earlier this year by two GSB students and which last term attracted 15 to 35 regular attendees to classes in the school’s Harper Center. The classes are “time to shut your brain off,” says Jody Kirchner, one of the group’s founders.

The Chicago GSB yoga classes reflect a growing popularity of yoga in the U.S., with about 16 million Americans engaging in the practice, according to statistics released by Yoga Journal. The publication said $5.7 billion is spent annually on yoga classes and products, nearly twice as much as four years ago.
Indian Odyssey

During a school-sponsored trip to India last year, Kirchner and fellow student Doug Neal bonded over a mutual interest in yoga. Kirchner and Neal, who both had been practicing yoga for years before they met, eventually decided to start a group dedicated to the practice on campus—after Kirchner noticed that other business schools had yoga groups, but Chicago didn’t.

In midyear, Neal, a 2008 MBA graduate, and Kirchner, a rising second-year student and co-chair of the club, conducted an interest survey for the group. Of the 1,100 students attending the school, about 200 expressed interest.

Kirchner said she was surprised at the large response the survey garnered, finding that a sizable portion of the student population already practiced yoga, at least to some extent. “People I know outside of school say the same thing,” she said. “After a stressful day, it’s time they can do something easily to take their mind off their stress.”

Neal says yoga isn’t just for stress relief. “Yoga is very multifaceted, and the benefits of yoga are different for each person,” he said. “Some use it for exercise, for meditation poses, some for relaxation, some for injuries.”

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The Government of India Tourist Office and the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM), New Delhi, Gwalior and Kurukshetra University offer training tourist guides. These are short term (3-4 months) courses for graduates with a background in art / archaeology / history. Tourism and Travel Administration / Management Course is supported by several institutions, including DU, Delhi, Vikarm University, University Utakl, Sri Venkateswara University, Kurukshetra University, Garhwal University, Annamalai University, Lucknow University, SNDT Mumbai, and so on.

Who are the Snow White and Seven Dwarfs of the corporate world? Ever heard of co-opetition? And how does one term mutual funds that will not cover liquor companies?

Not just the competitors, even the audience had a fun time, guessing answers to these questions at the finals of the business quiz, conducted by the IIM-Ahmedabad Alumni Association’s (IIM-AAA), Chennai chapter, here on Sunday.

In the end, when the Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Tiruchi, walked away with the IIM-AAA Anchor Cup 2006, it was a well-earned victory, followed by S.S.N School of Management in the second place and Bangalore’s ICFAI Business School in the third. The P.S.G Institute of Management, Coimbatore, stood fourth.

The quiz was being held to sensitise business school students in south India to the latest corporate happenings, said A. Satish Kumar, president, IIM-AAA Chennai chapter. Anchor Health and Beauty Care was the chief sponsor.

The preliminary written test had been conducted in Chennai, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Madurai. The finals consisted of 12 rounds, including an audio-visual round, two oral rounds and a rapid fire round, with quizmaster S. Jagan keeping the momentum going.

The last winner of the trophy was also BIM in 1994 after which the quiz was discontinued till the IIM-AAA decided to re-launch it, Mr. Satish Kumar said.

Handing over the cup to the winning team, N. Murali, Joint Managing Director, The Hindu , said such quiz contests should be made part of the college curriculum as they were not just clean fun but also of educational value.