Walking up the steep hill

The one thing that is a constant here at the ISB is the constant climb up the steep learning curve. Especially if you are up for a challenge. They have leavers on the curve to make it steeper and steeper, just when you get used to the incline it gets cranked up a few degrees.. currently i'm on an incline of about 38 degrees (this calculation was done by using simulation in the solver, using 'how thin can you spread yourself' as the decision variable).

Want to share a recent experience which was both unusual and challenging for me ..
Being a director in one of the student councils here i was responsible for creating a team that would work with me during the year. The selection process required resume screening and interviews, this may sound normal but there was a catch.. i was going to interview my friends and peers, people who i have come to admire over the last few months.. and people who i would be having lunch with for the rest of the year. This was certainly going to be a challenge cause every resume here is a star resume and everyone here is so talented. The interviewing process was probably more daunting for me than the people being interviewed, after all these were my fellow classmates and passing a judgement on them was a tough call.. But learning how to take tough calls was why i was here in the first place. And I took this chance to learn some skills. The interviews went well, kept them somewhere between formal/casual/serious/friendly. Made the decision. To my surprise everyone of my peers that was interviewed took it in the right spirit, and i have to say thank you to all of them for being such good sports. ISB certainly creates so many opportunities for growth (and pain). Its truely upto the individual here just how much muscle you want to build.

So for all those that are planning to come hear in the near future please pack some comfortable shoes and the will to climb, cause here 'attitude will decide your altitude'

Suffering from PMS...

Never thought I would say this but everyone here is suffering from PMS * , doesn't matter if are you from mars or Venus (or from any other planet for that matter) you have positively been diagnosed with a case of PMS*.. the uncanny symptoms include ..

1. Feeling of being deflated amongst the inflationary pressures..
2. Sudden bouts of anxiety sparking from thoughts about India's current account deficit...
3. Dreams of swimming in the money base with the RBI suddenly pulling the plug on you..
4. Loosing the ability to make decisions without first drawing a decision tree ..
5. Working out the critical path from SV1 to Sv2 so that you get there on time ..

If you are suffering from 3 or more of the above symptoms then you have PMS* .. Although no cure has been found as yet but some people (research firms like Bacardi and Smirnoff) are working on it .. tomorrow night there will be a mass camp at the Lounge and medicine will be handed out to everyone .. i have a feeling all will be cured ;)

*PMS (Pre - Midterm Syndrome)

Back on the treadmill

Its been long since i blogged and i'm sorry about that friends.. just that the speed of the treadmill here just went up a few notches over the last couple of weeks and it was hard to type and run at the same time.. I wouldn't say it has got any slower but i'm going to attempt to write regardless.. can't have some stupid speedometer stop me .. So whats the update ?

• End term exams where over and then came our first break.. I was on campus during break time and it was quite a weird feeling, the place looked deserted.. its funny how after such a hectic first semester most of us found it difficult to the sudden halt in activity.
  
• The club elections are over and we have new presidents for all the professional and social clubs on campus.. i can feel the momentum building up now for the year ahead.
• Term 2 is a whole new ball game.. its much harder, has many more assignments and seems far more intense than term one.. but then again looking back down on the climb you have made always makes it seem easier.
• The weather here in hyderabad has cooled down.. its overcast all the time and very windy.. infact here at the atrium at the ISB i have felt like i will be blown away , no kidding ...

A bit rusty from not blogging for a while thus i will keep it short for now.. hope to keep you posted :)

The calm before the storm

As I look out window all i see is grey today.. its been over cast here at the ISB for the last few days.. not much rain or noise but a constant cloud cover indicating that a storm is lurking .. people are in their quads studying away for the coming end of term exams and when you walk out at night , at 2 or 3am you notice the vast majority of the room lights on.. each room holding a potential star in the dark night..

The weather report goes something like this
Sunday: Cloudy and over cast ..
Monday: Stormy with heavy rains continuing all day .. stay indoors.
Tuesday: Morning showers continuing throughout the afternoon .. Sun will come out late afternoon. A lucky few will see a rainbow, luckier few will see the a pot of gold at the end of it and the rest will enjoy their time in the sun..

Its an honor

I needed to write a blog entry today. The journey that started off approximately 8 weeks ago from the other side of the equator took a new turn. I was elected as a Director for Alumni Affairs in today's Student board council elections. Even i'm lost for words (and that is something). All i can say is that its a great honor to be representing the Class of 2009 on the student board. Its also humbling cause my fellow students have put a great deal of faith in me and I hope to do the best I can. The journey at the ISB has just got a whole lot more interesting and a whole lot more intense. A year ago i would not in my wildest dreams have thought i would be sitting in India, in my quad at the ISB, have my own blog and be writing a blog entry about being elected.

I would like to say a big thank you to my study group who are like my family here. They encouraged me to stand for the position and showed a lot of faith. Thanks to everyone else that also supported me .. and before this blog entry gets too mushy let me sign off .... will keep you posted on life at the ISB.

Still alive and kicking

Sorry folks for disappearing for a while ..I'm sure some of you would have thought that the Mid Terms were the last you will hear from me .. sorry no such luck ;) ...

So whats the update ...

• Mid terms finished (and we have got our marks back already) . They were quite rightly followed by a big party on campus were people were looking the happiest in a long while .. No one cared if they did well or not i think the thought of getting to the finish line was good enough..
• It stormed 3 nights ago .. there was so much rain all night and the whole campus got drenched.. the grass seemed like it was happy. The weather also cooled down. Before the rain we were all feeling like we were inside an oven being baked for someone's super. By the way the thousands of frogs that share the campus with us were very happy too .. you could see them jumping with joy.
• We had our formal photo shoot. Realised just how hard it is to wear a business suit when the weather is close to 40C . To top it off my one was a woolen one so smiling infront of the camera took my best acting skills.
  
• Its election time here on campus and its quite an experience. People campaigning , discussions about who to vote for and midnight soap box sessions. The excitement just doesn't stop.
• Then there is the usual .. assignments, assignments, tests and exams .. we are all getting so used to these now that we don't pay as much attention, like brushing your teeth in the morning , here its submitting your assignment at 3 in the night, just part of the daily routine.
• Two of my school friends in Australia got married on the same day (no, not to each other). I missed out on two weddings :(
  

By the way, in economics I learnt that 'we are all presumed to be rational', its good to get some fiction into the course material every now and then :D

See ya for now !

Midterm Madness...

Its midterm time here at the ISB and there is a lot of crazy gas floating around ..

Most of us are slowly going mad and those that are not going mad were mad to begin with .. i think after this all of us will surely be on an equal footing of madness..

I have never seen so many people study so much (but then again i am from australia) .. if you added the number of study hours the batch has put in over the last week it will surely equal the GDP of Naru ..

It was good to see that some people have crossed the bridge of stress and are now in a Zen like state where they have worked out their marginal benefit to every extra hour of study and there marginal cost for every hour of sleep lost .... each to their own i say cause everyone will find their place in the sun :)

I just came back from a 2 hour chit chat session in the atrium with some buddies .. the cost of which will probably be about 200 rankings but its a small price to pay for my sanity :)