Imagine sitting in the comfort of your office, in your own space, amongst known people. You have just completed your performance appraisal and got rated an exceedingly good performer. Everything is great in your life – you have good money (although you can always yearn for more), a big house – yet something is amiss. Then, a little voice in the corner of your mind speaks, “I need to be different. This is not where I thought I would be after a decade and a half.”

So, there I was, sitting in front of the panel of academics, for the PGPMAX admissions interview! I was extremely excited and a little nervous at the same time, , about getting through the interview. I had always been a good performer and had never been rejected before. The “probability theory of decision-making under uncertainty” (Wow! I am recalling Professor Sudhakar’s lessons) worked in my favour, and I was finally at the ISB.

Ten years ago, it would have never occurred to me, even in my wildest dreams, that I would be sitting in a classroom (in the kind of setting our children are in), amongst peers and two teachers. I am sure this applies to most of us in the PGPMAX class.  One of the teachers is actually monitoring whether we understand what is being taught, along with our class participation!!

Friends and colleagues were bewildered that I was going back to school.  The kids were curious to know why I wanted to join ISB and study again. Convincing them was a herculean task, which was made easy by the orientation programme organised by ISB for family members. However, the Q&A did not end with that. I was grilled with questions about my classmates, what they did, where they lived, why they were at ISB and of course, how much I scored in my exams!!
I thought this course would be a cake walk but trust me it was a cake walk only until I (or rather we) entered the class. We were taught by professors who are legends in their field: Professor Sudhakar, with over 40 years of experience; and Professor Luis Martin who gave us a different perspective on how various thought processes work and the importance of applying logic to understand the impact of inflation. In short, the classes were very challenging and thought-provoking.

Lastly, I can vouch that the ISB PGPMAX course has produced “65 Challengers” (my baptism for the class!) who have dared to really push themselves as individuals and in the process, supported one another as a team.


Cheers to the ISB PGPMAX!


Aparna Kumar, Class of 2012