Look ma, it's Term 2!

It took me some to realise that there are things that one can do in the day besides finish assignments and study, and worry about grades. Needless to say, its the grades that brought about that realisation. At times, when the going got really tough at about 03oo in the morning, I started listening to Sting on youtube.com. Nothing more therapeutic than that.

Before one could blink, Term 1 got over, end-terms were a disaster as I found out today, hoping against hope for a miracle, and we're now in the full swing of things in Term 2, grappling with Decision Making and Optimisation (DMOP), Marketing Decision Making (MDM) and Competitive Strategy (CSTR or CompStrat). The one bright spot - Neeti (wife) made it to ISB in time for the finals and then stayed for a few days during the term break. Now it's back to the single life all over again.

But things are buzzing on campus. Ideas are floating, clubs being formed, life-long relationships are taking shape, while non merit listers have given up the ghost. Much as I resist, I'm slowly, surely, steadily falling in love with ISB and everything that it stands for.

But more about that later. I spoke to a friend recently... and the conversation went like this -

Friend: Your blog is nice, but there's nothing about ISB

Me: Huh? It's only about ISB! What else is there?

Friend: It's more about you... and your cribs and bitches.

Me: (More huh) But that's largely because ISB makes me do all that.

Friend: Oh please, I don't know squat about what an ISB MBA is like. I mean, yea it's stressful, but what isn't? Don't be such a self-centered ass.

Me: ????????

Friend: Oh just shove it.

Above mentioned friend is female, btw. She does make a good point though - what constitutes an ISB MBA?

So let's see - clearly, its diversity, world-class infrastructure and faculty and a stress load that ensures that you've barely got time to breathe between lectures. Profs are all topnotch, including some of those who taught Part 2 of Term 1. Even if we've not got the grades, we've absorbed enough fundas to understand a lot of business decision making.

But what's so super about ISB is the healthy emphasis on co-curricular activities and on learning beyond the classroom. In less than two months, I've attended leadership sessions, donated blood, partied, bid friends farewell, become an active member of Club Media and can sense a drastic difference between old me and new me. Again, going beyond the classroom, my time management has improved, I'm understanding team dynamics better and have learnt to let my hair down when required. It's a thrill-a-minute ride, and after groaning about the stress for four weeks, I've begun enjoying it. Things are getting exciting now, with Aikya (an ISB activity where students get to itneract with prominent families of Hyderabad as part of their extra-curric learnings). There's loads of more activites to follow. I'll try to make it as exciting as possible!