It just keeps getting better!

It just keeps getting better! “What matters is your attitude!” Yes, we’ve all heard this cliché, but it’s true, guys! And at no other place will this be tested more than at ISB! We are already in the 2nd half of term-3, ISB MBA is steamrolling away! Some crucial subjects are introduced in this term, most notably Corporate Finance. For a non-finance guy like me, this is an introduction to a new and important world! And we were fortunate to have an awesome teacher, Bhagwan Chowdary ,from UCLA for the first half of the course. A sampler of his amazing ability to teach concepts – he compared the virtues of a volatile stock in a portfolio to a good friend who cheers you up when you are down and who will share his woes when you are cheerful!

The ISB experience can easily get overwhelming, but that’s completely counter-productive! The attitude to have is that of some detachment, some learning, some focus and some fun. Great place to test out these sorts of theories! It just keeps getting better. I feel term-3 is better than term-2, which was better than term-1. That’s probably because you figure out how the place works, you figure out how to ‘navigate’ it (and you figure out where you stand!) There’s so much to read, learn and do but you can only do so much reading, learning and doing! Hey, it’s a one-year MBA program as opposed to 2, so, what do you expect!?

The weather’s fantastic, these days. Everyone seems to be enjoying the beautiful campus. The photography club is having a ball with pic-of-the-day, photo competitions, etc! It amazes me how insulated we are here from the outside world. Every time you get out of the campus, it hits you – the almost mutually exclusive outside world and the ISB world!

I sometimes feel bad that I am unable to utilize several of the campus facilities – I love libraries, and we have a great library, but I hardly get time to read anything other than what I must read. During the break, I picked up ‘Fooled by Randomness’ and read most of it. It was very interesting, I wondered how I would have felt about the book had I read it pre-ISB (the book touches upon several topics which MBAs are exposed to). Talking about facilities, I know my wife is not interested in applying, but otherwise, I’d love to spend another year @ ISB as a spouse!

Where was I? Oh yes, it just keeps getting better, guys. I can imagine now how things will get crazier (read ‘better’ ) come electives season, come placements season! And after placements, the final term is going to be one long party. And just when you begin to feel guilty for having too much of a good thing, it’ll be time to get back into the real world!

Abhinava and Term-2 madness

My 10 month old son’s name is Abhinav Krishna and I call him Abhinava. My wife and son live with me on campus. As term-1 ended and term-2 commenced, I got a sense that things are really ‘picking up’. Several activities started happening at the same time and everything seemed important or worth being plugged into. Pretty soon, it dawned onto me – this is madness!!! I mean, it’s humanly impossible to get involved in even 10% of the various activities that seem to be happening all around me and it’s nearly impossible to ignore most of them! The emails keep flowing incessantly; I found myself sieving thru them to find what’s relevant to read and respond. All the clubs have been formed and thankfully their mailing lists are helping filter most emails out. I am getting better and better at managing my inbox which in my opinion is one of the main causes of this madness! Someone mentioned the phrase ‘drinking thru a fire hose’ to describe the ISB feeling. I’ll say that it’s more like ‘drinking thru a fire hose and then some!’ Because of peer pressure and other reasons, even though there is a fire hose that you are drinking through, you voluntarily open other new taps as well! It’s madness as I said!

How is everyone able to cope up with this? I don’t know. I presume a lot of us are drawing strength from our support system which probably was instrumental in our getting into ISB to begin with, be it your mom, dad, or other family members or friends. Plus, most of us are probably built to handle this stress or built to learn to handle it. I must say that if we deserve to pat on our backs for getting into ISB, then we need a double pat on our backs for surviving it with sanity and learning! For my part, I have to say that Abhinava plays a central role in my ISB life. Enjoying the father-son relationship is in itself so de-stressing and energizing (you guys should try it if you haven’t). But also when I see him play, cry and do what he does throughout the day, it is amazing to see the simplicity of his life vis-à-vis mine. I mean, have you guys ever pondered how a 10-month old spends his day? It’s brilliantly simple. In fact, it’s almost divine. Think about it: no pressure, no stress, no anxiety, no worry, no peer pressure, no deadlines, no expectations, no jealousy, no internal or external conflicts, no fear, no regrets, no animosity. Just erase all this things from your ISB life, what is left!?? The one common thing between him and I is that we are both learning new things – he is learning to stand, or to say ‘nanna’, while I am learning about Conjoint analysis or Montecarlo simulations. Ah, so someone said it right – learning never stops!

(dated: July 4th, ’09)

Happy Father’s Day

Happy father’s day to all the fathers out there! I don’t subscribe to this mother’s day/father’s day business, but this father’s day happens to be my first as a father, so ok, it’s a bit special!

Lots of happenings on campus in the past 2 weeks – elections for club presidents, section representatives, subsequent selections for club posts, inter-section sports competitions, CAS info session, Dean’s ‘Take Charge’ address, corporate speakers sessions/interactive sessions, blood donation camp, and of course parties! We had a huge ‘Bring down the class average’ party on Friday, or so I am told, as I missed it! I wanted to attend it but probably because of my blood donation earlier in the day, I conked out by 11 PM. Oh well, to make up, I’ll attend the ‘Bring back up the class average’ parties in our LRC this week! Mid-terms are round the corner, so time to behave like good students. What else… I became the Section A representative for Academic Affairs. As an aside, my study group now has an academic rep (yours truly) and the SLC (Student Life Council) director, known as ‘party’ shah, talk about diversity within the study group!! Academic reps work as part of the Academic Affairs Council student body with the Academic Administration of ISB to deal with all academic matters of the students. I have always been a ‘good student’ type, so I feel that I can be a good academic rep.

What else? The term 2 subjects are quite interesting – competitive strategy, marketing decision making, global economics and decision models & optimization. A feast for a hungry student! So much to learn in such short time, I wish we had more time to learn! I am beginning to sense that I am entering this new world, the ‘MBA’ world! New thoughts, new fundas, new vocabulary, new attitude, new bs (??). And all these fundas mesh very well with each other; they are part of the same ‘arsenal’. Statistics keeps popping up in all subjects, so does microeconomics, strategy classes have marketing fundas and vice-versa. It’s pretty cool, actually. OK, enough reverie, gotta get back to my assignments!

(dated: June 21st, ’09)

On the eve of Term-2

I am about 2 hrs away from attending my first class of Term-2 (Marketing Decision Making). Ah, the sense of anticipation! It’s the same feeling I had when I was getting closer and closer to getting on the rollercoaster during my several six flags visits in the US. It’s going to be fun! Scary, but fun! I believe Term-2 is a much faster and scarier rollercoaster than Term-1. It better be! I am getting hooked to these things now! Term-1 was a great start. The ISB life has totally grown on me, now I want more! I enjoyed the term break, but maybe I am surprising myself by saying this, the break was too long! It broke the momentum. (Have I become a masochist!?)
To be fair, I had a good term break. I am a family man (wife and son), plus I am from Hyderabad, so I took the time to spend time with family. It’s a luxury I can’t afford once the term gets going. Ok, coming back to my anticipation about term-2, I wonder how good the faculty is going to be? I know they’ll be good, but how good? Will anyone be as good as Prof. Mohan who taught us accounting in Term1? That would be awesome!! Heck, what more does a student want than good teachers!? I also wonder what new words (read jargon) will get added to my vocabulary. Some of the Term-1 winners were MR=MC, incentivize, Nash equilibrium and brand positioning statement. I’ve done some introspection and want to make some changes to how I spend Term-2 – lesser time in the LRC (Learning Resource Center, i.e. library) and more involvement in other activities, including making friends. I met a lot of great people but I haven’t made any real friends. Guess friendships take time and can’t be rushed. By putting out my plans, now I can revisit this blog in mid-July and check if I did act on the things I planned while standing in line, or did I forget everything once I got on the coaster!

(dated june 8th, ’09)