Life @ Indian School of Business

ISB ISB ISB ISB ISB (then a deep sigh!)

thats how i responded when a dear friend asked me hows ISB..this blog and a few coming after this are dedicated to all those who are curious abt ISB and want to know every gory detail abt the horrors it contains. Let me begin by throwing in a disclaimer every experience of ISB is unique..so while a particular person may find the going tough it might be cakewalk for some one else. What u see here is a self confessed Regular Jane's view of the world. So take it with dollops of salt. :)

How is life at ISB? hmmm imagine all human emotions the gud, the bad and the ugly and then add a few more and this what life at ISB is . Its all that u expect and a lot u dont ! let me begin by saying that there is tremendous scope of learning and growth and how much of it u r able to accomplish depends totally on u. The trick is to identify what is it that u want from ur stay here and work towards it.

That said let me tell u figuring out what u REALLY want is decidedly one of the most difficult thgs to do. i mean i still feel like i am standing in front of a lavish buffet with all sorts of exotic dishes with a fork in hand !! Ok thats a bad food analogy..skipping dinner tonite was not a gud idea! What i mean is u just have so much stuff going on that choosing what to do becomes the key ..and the choices are quite stark..markstart decision (grades matter dude or dont they !!!)or say attend Kiran Shaw's talk..u got to choose and manage ur time well..this i think is going to be one of my biggest learings at ISB..i mean the most precious commodity at ISB is time and u better spend urs wisely.The faculty ..truly world class (well most are anyway!!) i have been taught by some of the best teachers in the world and that has twin benefits : one is obvious ..u end up understanding the most obscure / the most boring subjects and the other follows from it..if u still dont understand the concepts after attending the sessions taken by these gentlemen GIVE up (on that subject that is :) ) the second point is debatable but i kind of stand by it . what i mean is if after sessions by robert stine and richard waterman u still dont get stats leave it !!! try mktg instead !!! i had my aha moment in the Fin accounts last term.. i finally got it !!! accounting that is and i also realised that its not all that crappy ..an insight that made me warm up to my CA mates.

the first term was bad ..i mean a lot if us took time to settle in to the ISB way of life ..its a different world all together ..a world were a gud night's rest means 5 hrs of sleep ..where parties typically start at 1 am..where u throw ppl in the pool when u r happy..where u develop a love hate love relationship with ur study group ..where ur self esteem sits on a roller coaster ride which has more down slides than up..where the engineers (IITians ) are gods walking on the planet with a halo around their head (the dean's list) ..well i exaggerated a lil on the halo part..its not always visible..u got to stand close and observe maybe then if u r lucky u can see it :) I am kidding life's not all that bad ..:) i wudnt exchange my ISB days for anythg with any1.

okay now a lil abt the ppl here ..needless to say they are a talented bunch but i will not gush abt them right now..let me just say that i already have a couple of ppl who are my 2 am friends..i call them when i am happy and more importantly i call them when i have made a mess of things which is quite often it seems these days.oh well..i will consider myself very lucky if i am able to make and sustain a few gud friendships out here..i like and admire so many ppl here ..some for their intelligence..some for attitude and some for sheer goofiness :) the power of positive attitude, the willingness to laugh at oneself, the ability to cheer some1 else these thgs really matter at here

i am in Sec e ..and i swear its the kewlest section !!! we spam like crazy and i love it :) i mean we have had 200 mails in a 2 hr DMOP class, 2 am poetry competitions, a dunk ____ campaign, and hoax mails on just abt everythg from water on mars to kingfisher calender !! the CP is our section is gud ..we have had some gems tht i willl possibly share with u later and yes i think we are the only section that conducts in session polls..ie the class is on..the professor is explaining conjoint analysis and my neighbour passes me a sheet stating - poll of the day -- who is going to start snoring in class today . option 1 , 2 , 3 or 4. i check around to see all the nominees ..needless to say they are inches away from their afty siesta and after much deliberation i put a tick next to my fren's name and then dutifully pass the sheet along ..let me add we all take our voting rights seriously including the TAs. :) last poll list was passed to the TA too

oh that reminds me i didnt mention the sleeping cell of E ..there are a few famous ppl in our section..famous for their ability to fall asleep during all sessions and still get straight As.. thats the sleeper cell ..no i am not a permanent member of the cell (i aspire to be but thats for another day) rather i am the life time member of the Arbit CP (class participation) club..they have put me in the last row at the rightmost corner - the worst place for CP (the prof never sees u) but i am on to them..down but not out..thats the motto here :)

my study group is a unique first at ISB three girls and a guy! so u can imagine :) and no hes NOT having a gud time trust me :Dthe markstrat world (for the uninitiated - just know its a simulation we play in marketing class that makes us want to hunt down our competition and beat the crap out of them ) is one thg u will encounter in the second term and let me tell u nomatter what u do ..u will either be screwed by the competition or by the customers.

Heard at a markstart meeting:

A: our product didnt sell

S: why

A: it turns out our customers were braindead irrational morons who commited mass suicide!! (translation : no units sold, huge inventory on hand)

S: oh that explains it ...i thot maybe we took a wrong mktg decision somewhere :)

i think i have rambled enuff for the day..if u r still reading this ..i just have one question WHY? :)

btw i heard piece of gud news today after a really long time ..am going to be involved in a very unique project at ISB..really excited abt that but have been asked not to talk abt it so will share it with both of u (the 2 who r still reading this ) later :)

on another note i want to thk a special person in my life who really helped me thru some stuff today..thx dude.. appreciate it big time

chalo more arbit stuff later :)

take care

ciao