ISB O Week

This is an old post I wrote but never got around to publishing... here goes...:)

Enthu rises in wild waves and crashes against the shores of realities. Aah the moment just before one goes for the 90 degree bent on the path of life. The allure of the yonder, the draw of the unknown !! Somehow I feel something huge is about to happen. And finally the boat falls over. A crash.. a bang... it twists and turns and swerves for a while... and then slowly settles back. And then you realize few things have changed... but quite a few have not. The physical, the external changes.

The location changes - now you are in Delhi, now you are in Hyderabad,

the activity changes - now you are a coding now you are studying,

the focus changes - now you are waiting for the pay-day now you are waiting for the grades-day

and more....

but YOU don't change... others don't change... and the connection between you and the others doesn't change.

You still like the kind of people you liked before...

You still talk the way you talked before...

You still look the way you looked before...

But then, what change is more important ? Answer is obvious.

let me start by saying that I love ISB. What I love most is the lack of structure. YOU are ISB - ISB is YOU. There is no other campus I know

What's on ur mind ?

The whole time he thought of nothing but getting to the next post. And finally, soaked in blood and sweat when he did reach there what did he find ? A Map.
A Map to the next post.
Is there ever a final post in life ?
And like any mission game, it just gets harder and harder. The choices become less obvious. The sacrifices more profound.
Is December 2008 easier than September, October and November? It should have been! I got what I wanted, did I not? Or did I?
Well, let's just say I want to make a list of the things that were on my mind before I got accepted

• Will ISB admit me?

And then contrast it with the things that are on my mind after I got admitted

• Should I accept the offer?
• What advance preparations can I do to make sure I do well @ ISB?
• What would I have to do to become President of the GSB?
• Should I become President of the GSB?
• What will my study group be like?
• How tough is the competition going to be?
• Will Ruchi and Sipul be able to adjust to life on campus with me?
• Will the apartments be good?
• Will the apartment have a toaster?
• .... and on... and on.... and on

Fakiri they say is the simplest approach to life. And what does a Fakir do? He lives the simplest of existences, lives a life blended with nature , has a clear conscience and spends most of his time taking the name of Allah or Ram. I have started to believe that is the only approach to life that has shades of conclusivity (doh??!!) about it; other approaches are just vicious never-ending cycles.
But what to do! Now I am an MBA student and a married man with a daughter... just can't risk becoming a Fakir now.

ISB ahoy !!

It has been a key element of my life that I always feel someone is around all the time. Just when I think I'm sinking I have a lifeline thrown at me from nowhere. Will probably ramble more on this in a more personal blog but for this one, suffice it to know that ISB has indeed offered me an offer of admission for its class of 2010. For the uninitiated, the class of X means you will pass out (hopefully) in year X.
So I am going to Hyderabad in April 2009 to get myself an MBA.
But guess what, the weeks approaching the decision and the ones immediately after that was the time when I really, really, thought whether I needed an MBA at this point in my career :0)
Reason being, when the deadline for decision was approaching, the true cost of the ISB MBA dawned upon me in its full glory. 20 lakhs is not a small amount !!
But then, sometimes we don't really understand the choices we make and we do need an Oracle to help us. So I had already made the choice before I began asking myself why I made that choice. And probably (I think) it is these decisions that are often the best, and life changing ones.
All said and done, it is time now to figure out the financial equations and transition mentally from a work life to a campus life.