Updates and Information on upcoming events from the alumni association.
MORE >>
Karna Hai toh MBA Karo. MS toh DHONI Bhi Hai.
As we reach the midway point of the 51-week roller coaster ride, most of us have only just begun to realise what a game changer this one year is going to be!
After four years of working in a family business, I was beginning to stagnate and wanted to get out for while to get a fresh perspective, and hence, decided on pursuing an MBA. Despite all the once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunities that the school had to offer, my expectations of the much talked about peer-to-peer learning were initially unmet, and for a while, that made me question my decision to come to ISB. While the school did its best to emphasise that grades did not matter, it seemed that most of us were focused on the pursuit of only academic excellence and nothing else.
By the end of second term, we got DMOPed, and I figured that the only meaningful takeaway from here would be the network. I began finding fault with almost every aspect of the system (the relative grading system, the sheer number of assignments, the food at Goel’s, the skewed male:female student ratio, etc.), but I resigned myself to my fate and consoled myself saying that if nothing else, the ISB certificate would at least help me qualify for a better better-half going ahead. I was in my own prisoner’s dilemma.
And then, four months into the course, I realised that most of my perceptions were wrong.
Coming from a family business background, I assumed I would be a cut above the rest. But after just a few conversations with my classmates (who include a merchant navy captain, an army major, a serial entrepreneur, a triple patent holder and a Spaniard, to name a few) and their achievements and “fundas for life,” I realised just how disconnected from reality I was in the protected cocoon of family business. It was a rude wake-up call and yet a humbling experience at the same time.
I came to ISB for four reasons, in this order: i) to get away from work for a much needed break; ii) the ISB brand and certificate; iii) the alumni network, and iv) learning and development (I assumed this would only be a by-product, because “a school can’t teach you entrepreneurship,” I thought).
But just halfway into the MBA, these priorities have turned on their head!
Almost every subject has had a valuable takeaway that I am surprisingly able to relate back to work/business. At the expense of sounding clichéd, “I am beginning to see the world through a new lens” and have identified at least a dozen substantial techniques that can make an immediate and concrete improvement to my business. And all of this in just the first five months!
On student life: While the first-ever on-campus 11 PM cut-off for loud music was a big shocker, the SLC has done a fabulous job of keeping our spirits high (pun intended) with themed parties (Vegas Nite, UV Dance, Slumber Party, etc.), intersection get-togethers, the term-end sunrise parties, and celebrations such as Teacher’s Day, Onam Lunch (where we had King Mahabaleshwar on campus for the first time).
From being taught by professors who rank among the world’s top 10 (read Professor Kale); living, working and passing out with 770 of India’s best minds; face-to-face conversations with living legends such as Vinod Khosla; managing life without mom around to take care of your laundry and food (what a baby, I know!); countless dusk-to-dawn parties; to having those “aha moments” that make you sit up and thank God for the luck and opportunity of being here, and making friends who are prepared to stay up the entire night before the exam just to help you avoid a B-neg, the experience has been exhilarating, enriching and engrossing to say the least.
While Term 4 is yet to end, the pre-placement talks have already begun and I can suddenly see a change in priorities, as academics take a backseat and resumé preparation and review sessions become the main agenda over the next few weeks.
Though we are only halfway through the programme, we are already beginning to realise how much we are going to miss these times and how this is going to most likely be our last chance to rediscover and reinvent ourselves for our lives ahead.
This is a safe place to fail and learn, we are told. This reminds me of a quote that I came across sometime ago – one that perfectly sums up the general state of mind that most of us are now entering into:
“We have advantages. We have a cushion to fall back on. This is abundance. A luxury of place and time. Something rare and wonderful. It's almost historically unprecedented. We must do extraordinary things. We have to. It would be absurd not to.”
― Dave Eggers, “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”
Zindagi "mast" honi chahiye, "safal" to matar bhi hote hai ...
Jhashank Roy Chowdary
Class of 2014