mere funde

Category: Life @ISB

  • These are mad times we live in! Mad!

    The scariest semester at ISB is upon us. Term 3 is expected to be one hell of a ride, with more than one submission due everyday, or so I hear. Hopefully I will live to tell the tales!!

    The term 2 break was used creatively. Completed the Comp Strat project report, and learned a lot about the pharmaceutical industry in the process. Watched some crappy movies like “Hitman” and “Chaos”‘.

    Also watched “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince“. The movie was a letdown, and I would rate it 3 on 5. Somehow I feel that short movies do not do justice to such books. However, the movie has some sparks of brilliance. Helena Bonham Carter is the highlight of the movie, as she plays Bellatrix Lestrange to perfection. Michael Gambon’s part is also good. Emma Watson is brilliant, and is still being swooned over.

    PS: The title of the post is from the Harry Potter movie – just in case you wondered.

  • Quarter life crisis

    Term 2 at ISB got over yesterday. While walking back to my room, a friend remarked that everything was flying past so fast that she was afraid. Out of sheer (false in hindsight) sense of bravado, I remarked that she shouldn’t be afraid, and that it was expected.

    I don’t know how convinced she was, but as I got thinking later in the evening, I wasn’t convinced myself. I did not know what was it that troubled me, but there was some fear of months flying by in such hurry that you feel everything else is a haze. It seemed that people are so focussed on the end, that they miss the beauty that lies on the sides of the race track. It reminded me of a couple of line from this forward I once got.

    Life is not a race.
    Do take it slower
    Hear the music
    Before the song is over

    I did not know what it was that troubled me. It was certainly not about getting a job. After a lot of thought I realized that I was afraid of missing a chance of knowing some amazing people I have met here. It is not about, a term I have come to hate, “networking”. I know I am thoroughly incapable of doing that. It is about making friends. Ones who will last a life time. One of biggest reasons of leaving a job and coming to BSchool was to meet some fantastic people. However, me being the kind of person I am, take a lot of time to open up to new folks, and I was afraid that I would miss a wonderful opportunity.

    However, many of these ghosts were buried yesterday evening. We, the study group minus Megha, went out for a thoroughly enjoyed dinner at Ohri’s. This was followed by a gen laccha session at Kirti’s place with music and some fine Absolut and Megha did join us this time. A lot of gen discussions and bitching took place. We do a lot of gen laccha in team meetings, but yesterday was different. Yesterday, we did it without any other reason. Simply for hanging out together. One of the more memorable evenings here at ISB.

    As Kirti said, hope we will have many more of these in the future!!

  • Library @ ISB

    Louvre @ ISB
    Library @ ISB

    Full sized version here.

  • I am alive!

    It has been a really long time since I posted anything. Three weeks to be exact!!

    When I was about to join ISB I always thought I would post regularly and see what I have been up to during my time there later. However, compressing two years into a year long program means that the amount of work is substantial and leaves you with almost no time to do stuff you like.

    The Bangalore Bengaluru trip at the end of term 1 was amazing. Three days of complete peace with nothing much to do. Movies were watched (loved Star Trek and LOTR – ROTK Director’s Cut). Good food was had. Lot of card games were played. This was probably amongst the last few trips to Bengaluru with Rahul around. He is all set for his Oxford stint, and I hope to see him in Bengaluru on his last day there during end August. I guess the next trip after that will be for Sudeep’s wedding in October.

    In addition to Ankit and Rahul, I also met Samua and DDM after ages. Talked for quite a while with both of them. With Sam, it was more about his work and my experience so far at ISB. On the other hand, spent almost an entire day chatting with DDM and remembering old times at EVS, which, btw, is seeing a lot of changes. Also, struck up a nice little friendship with her kid.

    Back in Hyd, the term 2 has been especially demanding with pretty heavy stuff like Decision Modelling & Optimization. Also, most courses have either cases or group assignments to be completed, which means that most of your time is spent in group meetings. Thankfully I have cool people in my study group who make these meetings fun.

    Other than that, I have hurt my right ankle and damaged a ligament it seems. The ankle is in a temporary cast 🙁 On the brighter side of things, I get to ride around the campus on these motorized wheel chairs (nick named “Ferraris”). Also, you get a lot of sympathy “Awwws” and “Ooohs”, though they dry up very fast I must say.

    Hopefully the next post will take lesser time. Till then, Sayonara!!

  • One eighth there…

    The Godfather – Guys are cheering upstairs. I hear cars coming to the house. Consigliore of mine, I think it’s time you told your Don what everyone seems to know.

    Me – Term 1 is over!! People are going home. And those who need a drink are partying at the Co2008 Lounge tonight!!

    So there. I am an eighth of an MBA. And the past couple of months seem to have passed in jiffy. The assignments, the cases, group meetings, classes, CP, arbit CP, gyaan, dunkings, parties, and all the fun. Also, the profs. have been real awesome, and have made the courses so much more interesting than they really are. I hope that the trend continues.

    In all, it has been like the downhill ride in Calvin and Hobbes – mostly a blur! But a fun one at that 🙂

    I will be watching movies tonight and relaxing. I am heading to Bangalore Bengaluru tomorrow night and meeting up with Rahul, Ankit, and Sam (Sasaram) and hopefully having loads of fun. It has been almost four long years since I was last in Bengaluru and hope it is the same fun place 🙂

    And then it is back to the grind from Monday, and I have morning (0815 hrs) classes to deal with 🙁