Days @ ISB

Read three cases and completed one assignment today. The most interesting case was on Redhat Linux. Reading such cases makes me feel good about returning to the IT sector and not going to the field of Finance.
Yesterday’s party had free booze flowing, so some ended up overdosing. I saw at least one girl puking on the dance floor. I guess it is all in the ‘spirit’ of celebrating the last few weeks here - in fact I also had the most I have ever had. We are going to have many more parties in the next few weeks.
I am slowly losing interest in badminton. There was a time when I used to almost always win my doubles matches, but haven’t played with my skilful partner for a long time, thus losing quite a few matches these days. The hot weather just adds to the woes.
Most people are doing travel bookings for leaving ISB. I would be going to Chennai on the 4th of April, and will stay there for a couple of weeks before heading to hometown Calcutta. It is so exciting to think of being back there, as I haven’t been there ever since coming to ISB.
My birthday is just a couple of days away, on the 2nd of March, which means I will get dunked on the midnight of the 1st. I can only hope that nobody would remember it’s my birthday and I would escape the torture. Wishful thinking!

Admissions decisions for second round are about to go out. A new batch is ready to take over after us. Every batch seems to be better than the previous one!
I did not take any Fin course this term. Instead of Fin, I chose Managing Multinational Firms, just because of less work load. There’s no exam for it either, so the choice was easy! The last term is going to be an easy one for me because of my choice of courses. In fact, I am already spending more time in the recreation center than ever. 2.5 hours of badminton every evening followed by half hour of swimming. Then dinner and movie. The only problem is that one of the courses requires us to read a case and submit an online assignment before midnight the day before each class. So every alternate day I have to spend a couple of hours on that.
This year’s first ISB mirror pool party is tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

Sampled a lot of classes and decided to stick with two of my selections – Managing Innovation and IT Services. Dropped e-markets and will instead bid for International Finance. Couldn’t resist the temptation of studying some more Finance!
There are no classes tomorrow because of the bidding add-drop phase. Some of us will head to the local multiplex to watch Aviator.

Went out yesterday evening for shopping to update my wardrobe! Had this awesome papdi chaat at Central. Will try to return there soon for some more mouth watering dishes.
While playing tennis today, a young chap joined us. He looked like a student, but wasn’t. Turns out he is the latest faculty to join ISB. He was working with World Bank in DC before coming here. He is also a blog reader, so I have to be careful of what I write here!
Afterwards, during dinner, a not-so-young person asked us if he could join us at our table. Turns out he is a faculty too. Had an interesting one-hour conversation with him about various things, from Indian community in Dallas (where he teaches), to Houston Rockets to loan forgiveness program of Stanford to the booming Indian economy and finally whether he is going to cold call in class!
The last term break at ISB is over, and the last term starts now!

Finally turned in the Capital Raising AT&T case, which means I am officially done with the penultimate term here. Next couple of days are totally free. I have got this wonderful new Yonex badminton racquet that makes me want to play all day long. But tomorrow I will try to spend some time on tennis and swimming instead. Also need to set aside some time to interview next batch’s applicants. Have been giving all kinds of excuses to the admissions department all these days!
Read this piece on relationships in b-schools: http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/feb2005/bs20050212_7814_bs001.htm? . It is indeed tough to get something going – people are known to take their laptops to even honeymoon to finish up assignments.

Been chilling out ever since exams got over. Still tied up with take home exams, but was able to get out of the campus tonight for a movie (‘Black’) and dinner at a Punjabi place called Angeethi.
Yesterday saw off a lot of people leaving campus to go to their home towns or to Goa. Probably only 20% of the students are left in the campus now.
The CEO of Lufthansa is visiting the ISB this week. Lufthansa will soon be starting direct flights out of Hyderabad to Frankfurt. Pretty good news for all the IT companies here.

Today’s ITES exam was one hell of an exam. Am not sure if I got any answer correct! Multiple choice questions had as many as eight alternatives, all of which looked plausible, but you could only select one. It was 90 minutes of torture. I am afraid what tomorrow’s supply chain exam has in store for us. Afterwards I have two take-home exams – Management Science and Capital Raising.
I haven’t yet decided what to do during the last term break at ISB. I will be free from Wednesday through Sunday. Am likely to get bored here because almost everyone is leaving the campus. Might just catch Air Deccan to Goa for a day or two of relaxation.

Just before exams is when I find the time to watch TV, surf random websites and talk for hours on the phone. The first exam is just a few hours away, but am not scared as it is IT related.
Summer has arrived in Hyderabad. Have to keep the AC on all the time. It will only get worse going forward.
Few days ago we had to fill graduation form, stating how many guests we are expecting etc. Graduation ceremony will be on 2nd April, and we will leave campus by 6th. I can already visualize the tearful farewells! Some of us will return on the 15th to help with orientation of next batch.

A delegation from Pakistan Software Houses Association visited the ISB today. They are the counterpart of Nasscom of India. Some Nasscom officials were accompanying them. I had the opportunity of receiving them, giving them a tour of ISB, and having lunch with them in the executive dining hall. They seemed very impressed with ISB. During my time at ISB, I have had opportunities to meet and have lunch with lots of dignitaries and top management people!
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. I have no plans other than to appear in ITES exam and prepare for SCM exam which is on Tuesday.

There was an interesting case study in Capital Raising class today about Enron. The MBAs in Enron were overpaid, which is probably why they did not blow the whistle despite knowing that something fishy was going on. If only ethics were a core course in b-schools!

Two more days of classes, and term 7 will be over. Exams start on Monday. Just one more term left at ISB. I am gonna miss ISB very much, but then one has to move on in life.

This term I had morning classes that start at 8:30 am. Since we try to maximize our sleeping time, it meant rushing for class at the last minute. But I am not one to go to class without having breakfast first. I try to reach breakfast room by 8:15 am, but sometimes it becomes 8:20 also. By the time I put all the food in my plate from the buffet, it is more like 8:25. Have to finish eating by 8:28 and rush to class just in time. Just as I am exiting, I see some of my classmates hurriedly entering. I wonder how they have breakfast in one minute, because they are in class at 8:31. Then I come back to eat some more during the 10-minute break at 9:30 am, and then again after class at 10:30 am. I don’t know if I have good or bad time management skills, but am getting efficient at it.

Patriots won Super Bowl once again! I could not watch it, and the repeat telecast is clashing with my supply chain class tomorrow morning. I would have bunked the class but there is an online beer game to be played in the class, so it is mandatory to attend. I wonder if there is any website where one can watch it.

Today I switched on my TV after a long time, and while surfing aimlessly, came across VH1. Thank god we have at least one channel that will play English songs all day. MTV and V hardly play any non-Hindi music nowadays. There is only so much Hindi movie soundtrack that one can listen to. B4U Music channel already carries decent Hindi music, what was lacking was a VH1 kind of channel. VH1’s success in India can pave the way for MTV2 down the road.

I am ashamed of myself. I tried my hand at driving a friend’s stick shift car, but failed miserably. I just keep forgetting that the clutch is there for a purpose. This is what exclusively driving an automatic for a few years has done to my mind.

Today morning I got up at 7 am to play tennis with a friend. Evenings are reserved for badminton/squash/swimming, so had to find time in the morning for other sports.

I have now seen almost 90% of the movie DVDs in our library. The rest are stuff I can’t tolerate. Since next week is exam week, this is good time to stop watching movies.

Next term’s bidding is done with, and I did not bag any finance course. All three courses are tech courses. I can bid for a morning class for Fin as that is empty, but will decide about that after sampling the class. Anyway my Fin major is already complete, so no worries.

Went to a discotheque, B&C, yesterday night. It was full of ISBians! I should have danced with a lady there who was dancing alone for a while but I don’t know what came upon me that I stayed away. I thought I would first get a little drunk before hitting the dance floor. By the time I was ready to get into groove, it was midnight and the place shut down. Most people headed to another club called Dublin, but I couldn’t go because my group wanted to get back to campus. And thus ended a disappointing night. I have almost decided not to go to Goa either, so life will not be much different in the coming weeks!

Went to see Chevy Optra today. Was disappointed. Only the exterior looks good, the interior is a let down. There wasn’t even any airbag in the model they had on display. I wanted the automatic version for a test drive, but that model was not available. Anyway, at 12.5 lakh, I can very well go for a Toyota or Honda. And since I am likely to go overseas soon, there is not much point in paying that kind of money for something I am not gonna use much. So I will continue to look around for an appropriate car.

To Goa or not to Goa is the question. Many students are going to Goa in the term break. I am not very interested, but might just go depending on which of my friends are going.

Life is slowly returning to pre-placement days, with end-term exams only about a week away. Just finished an assignment, and now editing the video of yesterday’s pizza & beer party.