So here we finally are, after a needlessly long, agonizing wait, for the results of the PaGaLGuY MBA Comic Contest.

I made this comic to be a typical conversation between someone who spotted a b-school advertisement and someone elderly. The fact that the characters were not sketched out allowed you to be as creative as you wanted to — he could be a b-school aspirant speaking to an admissions council member, to his dad, anyone.

I expected a lot of you to come up with creative ways to justify 105%, and while many came close, one of my selected winners did it better than anyone else, in my opinion.

The most common entries were centered around (and I kind of predicted them to) the “How to start your own b-school” punchline. Without further ado, our two winners are — Supersourya and Chimpy123. Congratulations!

Here are the entries!

First prize – Supersourya aka Swagato Ghosh

Good stuff, Supersourya! I thought this one was an excellent piece on how much some of the private new b-schools fall over themselves to get our Rs 12 lakhs… I mean, turn you into a world-class citizen and strategic thinker. Congratulations! You’ve got yourself some apparel and comics!

Second prize – Chimpy123 aka Pratisha Baishya

The justification of the 105% was good, but what clinched it for Chimpy123 was the last panel – I’d never expected that for a reply. And that instantly differentiated it from every other entry.

We will get in touch with the both of you soon!

There were many others that were hilarious in bits and pieces (Example – A guy calling up the number, only to have the person saying, “Raj beta, Dad here”. I cracked up at that one, but unfortunately it didn’t have the same effect for the overall comic. No matter, there was a fair amount of competition – One hundred and seventy eight entries (and only ONE by OMPA members!! Bah!). You can see the 20 best entries here.

Thank you all for taking part and I hope we can do another one when (and if :P) we turn 50! Now let the debates and death threats begin. Time for me to go update my life insurance policy!