Trainee Civil Servants at Dr. MCR HRD Institute Turn Entrepreneurs and Entertainers for a Day

Over 300 trainee civil servants, who are undergoing 93rd Foundation Course at Dr. MCR HRD Institute of Telangana, organised “FETE” – a day-long fun-filled food-cum-recreation extravaganza. Although there was a rain forecast in the news, it eventually turned out to be a bright and sunny day which made the event a resounding success.

It was a pleasant surprise to see the trainee civil servants showcasing their culinary skills and dishing out mouth-watering delicacies from across the country. They wore different hats, purchased raw material, cooked different eatables, attracted customers, served them with a smile, and even bargained about the prices of eatables and offered discounts, in a pure Hyderabad style. The challenge before them was to run their respective stalls as successful business propositions and to generate profits to be donated to an NGO.

The food items for sale reflected the true diversity of India. The dishes in the various stalls included “Biryani” and “Paan” from Hyderabad, “Sev Tamatar Ki Sabzi” from Gujarat, “Puranpoli” and “Bombay Chaupati Vada Pav” from Maharashtra, “Churma” from Haryana, “Pudina Lassi” from Panjab, etc.  

One stall even advertised itself as “Sikkim to Chennai via Lucknow”. Shri B P Acharya, IAS, Spl. Chief Secretary to Government & DG, DR MCR HRD Institute gave it a succinct review – “Yummy” on their feedback board.  He visited all the stalls and congratulated the trainee civil servants for organising the event with a professional touch.

Apart from the food items, the stalls had many exciting games and activities to keep the guests engaged and entertained. One stall offered nail art, hair braiding and mehendi. There was even a poker stall for enthusiasts in that arena. The lucky bumper at another stall promised of exciting prizes to the winners.

The stall where one could shoot an air rifle at a target proved to be the most popular one among the guests, although as the day progressed, it began to get tough competition from the stall offering tender coconut water to provide relief from the scorching sun.

All the trainee civil servants, Officers, Faculty, and Staff of the Institute visited the stalls and relished the food items and sportingly tried their hand at all the games on display.

Students from Alpha School, Jubilee Hills were invited to participate in the event.  They had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of not only enjoying a wide variety of food, in the company of the trainee civil servants, but also experiencing the thrill of participating in mind-blowing games. The Social welfare Club of the 93rd Foundation Course met the entire expenditure for the hospitality of the students   

A Learning Experience

“Overall, the FETE was not only a fun-filled event, but also proved to be a platform to learn important concepts of administration and thereby enrich their administrative and entrepreneurial acumen”, opined all the trainee civil servants unanimously.

“In organizing an event of such a magnitude, the trainee civil servants proved that they not only have the ability to crack the world’s most difficult civil services examination, but are also vastly talented at multitasking in various practical skills such as cooking, managing a tight budget, keeping accounts, marketing, etc.”, the trainee civil servants added.

“I have a background in accountancy, but this was the first time that I got hands-on experience in managing a business enterprise on such a tight budget”, said Sanket Agarwal, an Indian Revenue Service officer.

“FETE gave us an opportunity to let our hair down and have some fun with our batch mates. The fact that all sales proceeds go to charity is just a cherry on the cake,” said Jyeshtha Maitrei, an officer of the Indian Police Service.

FETE was inaugurated by Sri P K Sharma, IFoS, Course Director, 93rd Foundation Course by releasing colourful balloons in the air. DR MCR HRD Institute, in addition to classroom lectures, organises a number of extra-curricular and co- curricular activities to enable the trainee civil servants to learn from their ground-level experiences.

-Press note