Term-4 musings

Going with my safe and predictable topic of reflecting on the different terms at ISB, I’ll do the same about Term-4.
Term-4 is a weird term, for lack of a better word. It’s weird because your attitude has changed compared to past terms – the term is no longer judging you, you are judging the term! It’s the term by which you are ‘over the hump’ (refer to my previous blogs for more on getting over the hump!) By this time, you’ve found your place, your fit. And you start judging things.
To elaborate, here are a few things that make Term-4 ‘weird’:

• Fatigue: Exam fatigue, pre-reads fatigue, CP (Class Participation) fatigue sets in. You get into a ‘I don’t care anymore!’ attitude as you are too fatigued after 3 grinding terms.
• The Subject mix: A strange mix of subjects, with absolutely nothing in common! From Investment Analysis, which is a central finance subject, to “Government, Society and Business”, which is, well, I don’t know what it’s about. The other 2 subjects are also ‘touchy feely’ – Strategic Analysis of IT and Management of Organizations. The problem with all these subjects, except Investment Analysis, is that what you get out of the class is totally up to you! (For investment Analysis, what you get out of it is totally up to the professor! Just kidding!)
• Section Love, Elective Bidding, Resume Review Sessions, etc: There are sundry other aspects unique to Term-4 – the section realizes that it’s our last term together as a section and so we take bonding more seriously and do more things together! We decide on our concentration area(s) and pick our electives for Term-5 and this activity really begs the question – what are we going to do when we graduate!? (Some answer begins to take shape.) Simultaneously, there are several resume review sessions that are taking place, and we begin to synthesize our life story into this one-page document (that shows us in the best light of course!)

Once Term-4 ends, we are going to be thrown out of our comfort zones as we get into different sections, and different study groups, mixing with new people. By the way, there are several of my classmates that I haven’t met yet and I hope to know them starting Term-5! (Remember, we are a batch of around 580 students!)
To sum up, academically Term-4 isn’t as bad as the previous term. Plus, the focus somehow shifts away from just academics to other issues. That’s what makes the term weird, again, for lack of a better word.

Reflections on Term-3

Ah, the comfort of hind-sight! What a vantage point! ‘Passage of time’ has always been intriguing to me… it has the supreme power to convert the future into the past! Let me get to the point – Term-3. I am reminded of a dialogue in DDLJ where Kajol is explaining to her mom what happened to her during the Eurorail trip – “voh ek andhi ki tarah aaya aur mein ek toote pathe ki tarha…” Very well written; Very romantic. Sadly, it is quite an apt description of what happened to me (and I may add several others) vis-à-vis term-3! It was a force that swept us away!

Subjects-wise, one subject dominated them all – Corporate Finance. There’s something about finance; it’s got some magnetism to it. You are drawn towards the subject. You want to know more, you want to understand more, and all that jargon is so ‘cool’. Maybe its appeal has to do with our visceral attraction for money/wealth. It’s another world, another vocabulary. And we were only scratching the surface! The professor said it well when he said that the ‘value’ of a firm is not created in finance, but in operations and marketing, but finance somehow gets more attention and credit than it probably deserves!

Notable amongst other subjects to me personally was Entrepreneurship. This turned out to be much more enjoyable and useful than I anticipated. It was totally case study based, and what’s cool was that for some of the case studies, the protagonist showed up to class! He’d sit at the back of the class while we analyzed him ad nauseum. Think about it for a minute – we generally like it when someone shows interest in us and here we have a case written on this person that several sections of ISB prepare for hours and present their views on him and his actions in class with him watching the whole show! Pretty cool from his perspective, I’d imagine! In the last part of the class, he’d talk about his take on his entrepreneurship journey and then take Q&A. It was great to put a face to the cases; it definitely makes them more real! And the course had good take-aways such as what’s entrepreneurship, what does it take and what are some of the common models and obstacles, etc. Interesting stuff, all in all!

The extra spice of Term-3 has to be the frenzy for ELPs (Experiential Learning Program), PAEVs (Planning An Entrepreneurship Venture), etc. Everyone seemed to be involved in some such activity or another. I got into the act, formed a team and pitched for a well-sought out ELP. Fortunately or unfortunately, we didn’t get the project. This classic peer pressure atmosphere got created and some succumbed and some survived.

And then, there was Bandhan, a memorable event. On August 15th, ISB hosted children from several NGOs for a day and organized several fun activities for them. I was fortunate to be a part of that event. I volunteered for the arts and crafts segment and also participated in a Telugu play about Independence. Some of these kids were so talented. I just wish that they get opportunities to further their talents in the future.

To sum it up, Term-3 is very special because it was in Term-3 that I first got the feeling of “I am doing an MBA!” (OK, ‘PGP Diploma’ to be precise!) So in that sense, I call it the transition term! Enough about the past – I need to get back to the future tomorrow when Term-4 starts!