Excursion 2020 – Puri

The Bhawanipur College, Department of BBA held the Team Building excursion this year from the 6th of February to 10th of February 2020, to deviate the students from a regular course of knowledge only from the books and giving them real life scenarios.

The troop of forty-six students were accompanied by the Director General, Dr. Suman K Mukerjee, along with his wife, and Mr. Inderbir Singh Bhandari, corporate trainer and management and self-improvement expert along with Prof. Kaushik Banerjee and Prof. Paridhi Agarwal. The excursion was methodized by students, Thushar Venugopal and Khizir Jaffri. The expedition was held in Puri and the journey was done by train. The hotel, Holiday Resort was pre booked foe stay at Puri.

The sojourn started on the night of 6th of Feb and the students reached the hotel by eight in the morning. The trip included dinner as complimentary, so the students had the liberty to have breakfast and lunch of their choice. On the first day, that is on the 7th of Feb, the pupils were taken to the beach for a stroll and dip in the ocean and then brought back to the hotel. Dr. Suman Kumar Mukerjee, along with his wife, and Mr. Inderbir Singh Bhandari were the judges of the multiple events and sports activities planned.  After the beach visit the troop was allocated to the pool side for games. There was a total of five teams consisting of eight to nine members. The team colours were – blue, black, green, red and orange.

The first game that was played was tug of war. There was a tough competition between blue and orange teams, but the game was in the favour of team blue and eventually they won the battle. The second game in line was the relay. In between the chilly winds by the seaside, Team black completed the race the first, leaving the other teams behind.  The groups of students were given some time to rest till the cultural event which started in the evening. Points were given for all the events and for discipline and punctuality. Each squad had something prepared and had to present them in front of the judges. Most of the teams sang songs. Team orange also included a quiz round, team blue presented a dance performance and team black performed a skit on college life. It was a fun evening with everyone gathered under one roof. The cultural was started by lighting of the lamp and meditation and ended with dinner and chit chats. Day one was an accomplishment, and all were excited for day two.

The second day started with students seeking blessings from Lord Jagannath and shopped from the local markets. Same as day one, the sports activities started at 2:00 p.m. The first game was again a relay but had a twist. The competitors had to race with a spoon and a lemon on it kept inside their mouth.  The entire saga was filled with laughter and jolly and to heighten it the next game “amoeba” was played where the tallest member had to stand in the middle and the others gathered around and tallest member, the lighthouse of the group guided the team members to the finishing line. The college students were given topics for presentation on that day itself and were given two hours to prepare a presentation. The topics were on the current economy of the nation like unemployment, budget, banking reforms, farmer’s income and socio economics. Each team presented themselves with grace and facts. The winners of the excursion were also declared where team blue occupied the first place with team black behind them holding the second one and the team coming third was red. The evening ended with discussions on the economic condition and Chinese dinner.

The scholars were tired after two days of hectic schedule and so on the third day were taken to the Chilka Lake for some relaxation in the midst of Mother Nature. Students were divided in a group of six for each boat. It was a four-hour ride with three tourist spots. At the first stop, the residents of the island showed magnificent red crabs which were inside a basket. The fishermen also displayed oysters and coral reefs. They also broke some bringing out real pearls and gem stones like emerald, opal and many more. It was beautiful to look at and the experience of seeing them break it open and take it out was surreal. The gemstones were also for sale and hence some of them could buy it. The second viewpoint was the actual reason of the visit which is viewing dolphins. Chilka Lake also known as the Dolphin Sanctuary is a home for a number of blue and white dolphins flipping from one point to another. The whole experience was wholesome and satisfying and hence all headed for the third destination where the border was shown where the sea met the ocean. On one side it was salt water and the other fresh water which made the students realize the wonders of nature. Finally, it was time to go home. After the mesmerizing Lake Chilka, students returned to the hotel , had a filling dinner and headed to the station to board the train for home . The entire occasion was filled with fun and education. The students learned how to adjust, compromise, share and most importantly how to work together as a team.