First Class at ISB

Today was my first day in class at ISB in real sense. Since I was not registered for any of the pre terms or the preparatory courses, I was sort of relaxing and recuperating after the ‘orientation madness’ (the topic of the photography contest here- right). Only that my ligament injury is very painful.

Today’s class was special for me because our Statistics Professor happens to be from Wharton. I had this curiosity that when those schools have such exceptional reputation then is there really some differentiating factor. I must admit that I got to know one of the factors. Today’s class was much different from the types of class where you substitute values in equations and ‘EUREKA’. You discover you’ve got the answer.

And then in the microeconomics class we were reintroduced to microeconomics, very differently with the help of a trading game. So I reconfirm my joining ISB as a wise decision. As most people used to say, here you get to learn from amongst the best in the profession.

And continuing from my last post, the batch of 2008 continues to amaze me. For one full week our mail box was jammed with mails from people offering a helping hand or volunteering in club activities when no student body has yet been formed and even before the classes had begun. (Hmmm….. elections at the end of the first term)

Thanks God that the classes rushed to us. And with that came the wisdom and awakening that being prepared for the classes might not be such a bad idea. So for last three days the mail flow dried up like the municipality water supplies. Obviously those who started the readings must have finished reading those and so the celebration reflected in the party coinciding with the world cup final. And as usual I got to hear the loud music while this injury wouldn’t permit me being on the dance floor.
And as the party creatures blurred away in smoke, today there were different and determined faces carrying books and lap tops to their classes.

Being to class today also took me back in time, when another batch was flocking to LBSNAA Mussourie. That of the people selected in the batch of Civil Services ’99. And while some of my friends in Civil Services will be going to Mussourie this June and then to US for the Phase III training for the IAS Officers, I will have to miss the same.

And if I have sounded straight forward so far, I’m not and nor will the life allow it to be like that. Life continues to be wonderfully mysterious and confusing. It is like a lost mail, where you are never sure whether it ever reached the destination or not. And so when I was planning to take sports seriously in the next year, for CV point’s sake, I got this leg injury which will take less medication and more time to heal.

But the game has just begun, there is one full year to unfold before all of us, and I wait in excitement for the same.

Some photographs of the Orientation Week

At ISB

Life has changed a lot in last few months, but it has been for good all the way. And here I am back blogging after a long break.

To begin with I feel elated being at the Indian School of Business. Our Batch of 2008 at ISB has great diversity. It includes Ex-Army men, Squadron Leader from the Air Force, Doctors, Engineers, Chartered Accountants, Diplomats (IFS), Cops (IPS), Entrepreneurs, Marines, Journalists, Bankers, Consultants, and so many more wonderful people.

I am staying in the student village 3 and Quad I. My other Quad mates are Jayan, Ram and Pradeep and we have already built great rapport.

Then I have been allotted the section E and subgroup 13 (hopefully lucky for us). My group includes Amit, Rohit, Ankush and another Puneet. All of them have traveled a lot across the world and Rohit was working with McKinsey & Co, before coming to this place. They are great friends to have and they have been helping me a lot since I injured my leg playing Frisbee. Along with them for the last two days Dr. Kiran Shete and Jayan have also been taking great care of me.

To continue about the ISB, for the last few days we are having the Orientation week and a number of Alumni are also in the campus, and they are giving us a lot of gyan. We also have been introduced to the various clubs and the seniors are very supportive and protective of the new batch. I hope that our batch also does the ISB proud.

ISB is a great place to be at with such a wonderful batch of over 400 people. The place is built amidst a rocky terrain and large boulders beautify the place as if they were intentionally placed sculptors. The building architecture is modern with best facilities available and the Learning Resource Centre (or the LRC) is the towering centre around which the whole campus is spread.

But the greatest thing possible is the batch of 2008 itself. As the competitions in the Orientation week reach closer to the finals, the team preparations are increasing. The slogan for section E “Rock-E……. Rock-E” has already become popular (at least in our section). And after sweating in the field the people relax by partying hard. It is about 3 a.m. in the night and the party has just begun and I can hear the loud music outside. And there has been a party atleast every alternate day since we reached here.

I think the forth coming days will see some wonderful performances by this batch in the field of business, entrepreneurship, governance and social work. And I would like to be a part of some of those and would like to write about some on this blog as well.