Learning and Living Every Moment

An informal collage of campus stories, where learners have taken extraordinary initiatives and left lasting impressions. From big celebrations to gatherings, student-led initiatives, transformational leadership—their dedication and passion truly stands out

Memories for life

- Ema Kuwabara,
student, Kyoto Seika University, Japan

As part of a project to strengthen the bond between Sri Balaji University, Pune (SBUP) and Kyoto Seika University, I and five other students participated in a month-long Japanese teaching class at SBUP. We immersed ourselves in Indian culture by actively participating in festival celebrations, with the most memorable experience being the UTSAH-Aiyaswami Cultural Event. We had the opportunity to perform an Indian dance to the Makhna song and a traditional Japanese folk dance, Soran Bushi.

None of us had any prior dance experience, but we practiced diligently in our dormitory every day. On stage, I was incredibly nervous, but as soon as I began moving to the rehearsed steps, the thunderous cheers from the audience overwhelmed me with joy. The open and friendly atmosphere of the SBUP was truly heartening.

Throughout our stay, we were never alone. Students of SBUP ensured we had a comfortable experience. Eshaan and Harsh were like our bodyguards, guiding us both on and off campus. They even accompanied us on a 3-day trip to Delhi, helping us navigate busy traffic and explaining the history of the sights. Pradnya taught us the choreography for Makhna, organised our costumes, and helped us with our sarees during the Ganesha festival. Without everyone's help, we would not have had such a unique and authentic experience of life in India.

My time at SBUP was unforgettable, and I will always cherish the memories and the friends I grew close to over the month.

Leading the game with unity

— Piyush Sawant,
MBA, BIMHRD

Serving as the cultural coordinator for the Balaji Institute of Management and Human Resource Development (BIMHRD) during the UTSAH-Aiyaswami Cultural Event was the best practical management experience I have ever had. The preparation taught me how to manage people in a realworld setting to achieve a common goal.

We faced many ups and downs, but every comeback was stronger than the setback. Historically, the Personnel Management (PM) & HRD programme has ranked highly, but had not won the trophy in recent years. As captains, we promised our faculty and seniors that we would uphold their legacy by securing first place and bringing the trophy home. Our team worked hard day and night, with major credit going to our creativity team and the contributions of all the female participants; without them, this win would not have been possible.

A special thanks to our Director and Deputy Director, who had faith in their students. Without a second thought, I can say that BIMHRD (PM&HRD) demonstrated the best unity in the entire competition. Our class proved its strength, teamwork and dedication.

Dazzling with martial arts

- Sayali Rakshe,
international martial artist, BPES, BSSS

This year, SBUP celebrated Independence Day with great energy and pride. For me, the day was particularly special. Along with the flag hoisting, cultural programmes, and patriotic songs, a key highlight was a spectacular martial arts demonstration performed by the energetic students of the Bachelor of Physical Education and Sports from SBUP’s Balaji School of Sports Sciences (BSSS).

The demonstration began with a synchronised warm-up routine that immediately grabbed everyone’s attention. We showcased various martial art techniques, including kicks, punches, blocks and self-defence moves. The precision and discipline in our movements reflected hours of hard practice.

The most exciting part was the weapon demonstration, which featured sticks, sai, nunchaku, tile-breaking, and a daring fire-breaking act using kicks, punches, and even the head, drawing loud cheers from the audience. The team also performed a short skit demonstrating how martial arts can be used for self-defence, spreading awareness about personal safety, especially for women.

The crowd was thrilled and inspired by the performers' energy, courage and coordination. All the students who performed are national and international players in combative sports. We started practicing 10-15 days in advance, rehearsing countless times to perfect our synchronized actions. The overwhelming appreciation and applause from the audience validated our hard work.

Personally, I have been practicing martial arts for 15 years, competing at state, national and international levels since childhood. I now look forward to representing SBUP at the senior nationals.

Think, ink and algorithmic sync

- Rebecca Anthony,
MBA, Balaji Institute of Technology & Management

When the announcement came to create a research paper as part of our curriculum, I approached it with premature certainty: title decided, blueprint vaguely drafted, confidence artificially inflated. I thought I knew what I wanted to work on. I had the mechanics, but what I lacked—and what my research guide instilled in me—was intellectual elasticity. He wasn’t just a guide; he transformed my very understanding of research.

From ideation to excavating data on Kaggle, every step was insightful. I was compelled to transmute my flowery verbosity into a style fitting the rigorous scrutiny of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Not a word was wasted, not a chart was under-justified. Using Logistic Regression, Decision Trees, and Random Forest models, my guide helped me bridge qualitative and quantitative realms. Random Forest emerged victorious, yielding an F1-score of 0.97—a number that declared my research was no longer an indulgence but an academic asset.

The culmination was Explainable AI. SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) values from waterfall, force and decision plots revealed insights like tangled dreams translated into numbers. Under my guide's watchful eye, I didn’t just present data; I interrogated it, demonstrating how psychological aspects can be a handy tool for marketers.

I also extend gratitude to the other professors who illuminated my journey. On 10 February, 2025, my honed and reviewed manuscript was submitted. It was accepted by IEEE on 14 March, 2025—a moment of fruition. My research guide presented it on 23 April, 2025, at the 4th International Conference on Recent Advances in Electrical, Electronics, Ubiquitous Communication, and Computational Intelligence (RAEEUCCI) in Chennai while I took my exams. The paper now resides in the IEEE Xplore digital library.

This paradigm shift would have remained a dream had SBUP not institutionalised research paper writing into our curriculum. As I reflect, a wave of gratitude consumes me—for my research guide, my mentors, my parents, and for being guided to this intellectual station called SBUP.

A core memory

—Shailaja Saha,
MBA, BITM

As a Bengali, celebrating Shardiya Navratri festival away from home feels like getting disconnected from the traditions. When I learned that the University celebrates Navratri as per Bengali traditions, I was thrilled. Yet, what excited me the most was experiencing 'Garba Night' for the very first time. My days from Saptami (7th day of Shardiya Navratri festival) were filled with preparation, performing rituals, and worshipping Maa (Goddess Durga).

However, in the evening, the campus came alive with bright lights, the lively rhythm of Gujarati folk songs and Garba (people clapping and dancing in circular movements). This Navratri will remain a core memory of my MBA journey. Truly, SBUP is a living example of unity in diversity.