A tribute to Manjunath

    Manjunath, who fought and sacrificed his life for a cause, is an inspiration not only for IIM fraternity but also for the entire youth of India. It was the brainchild of Panchu, Manish and Tanuj to build a mosaic of Manjunath on his tenth death anniversary, so that the very ideals of honesty and integrity be conveyed to all. The ideals for which Manjunath stood, fought and died.

    Panchu, a second year student of post graduate program of IIM Lucknow, is a Rubik’s cube veteran. Manish and Tanuj are also Rubik’s cube enthusiasts. Manish loves photography and Tanuj is a member of Dramatics club of IIM Lucknow. To conceptualize a first of its kind oval shaped image (as per the best of our knowledge) made of Rubik’s cube was a natural artistic instinct for these born artists. Khusboo developed the image in Photoshop and they went deep into the image up to the pixel level.

    White, Yellow, Red, Orange, Blue and Green are the six colors found on a cube. A face of the cube comprises of nine squares and there are, of course, six faces. Each of the pixels on Manjunath’s photograph was thus mapped with one of the six colors of Rubik’s cube. The image was then transformed into an excel type sheet, grids with rows and columns. Each of the boxes on the sheet now has a unique color. Several micro images of size 15 by 15 pixels, which is equivalent to 5 by 5 Rubik’s cube grid, were isolated from the main image. Prior to the mega event, several groups of volunteers were given lessons on solving Rubik’s cube by experienced cube solvers. The team managing the record breaking attempt, assigned a set of pre-decided grids to several teams. The teams consisted of an experienced cube solver, a few beginners and intermediate cube enthusiasts. The teams working in shifts, during the night and breaks between the busy schedules of classes, volunteered to form pre-assigned complex patterns with the cube on its top face. We started on the night of 18^th November and worked in shifts till 19^th night to form the patterns with the cubes. A unique number was assigned to each grid. Another team of students volunteered in placing the small grids of 5 by 5 Rubik’s on the stage.

    A candle march was organized by the students and we also took a pledge of integrity as a homage to our beloved alumnus. After 21 hours of work what emerged on late evening of 19^th of November was a truly stunning piece of art, a smiling face of Manjunath formed with 23278 Rubik’s cubes. 23rd February 1978 happens to be Manjunath's birthday. It is a new record. We are sure to find a place in Limca Book of Records. Our tribute to a hero, who died fighting corruption.