A day at ISB !!

This post has been long overdue and something or the other kept me away from this. I finally get a chance to write about a typical day at ISB and here goes the same:-

7:15 A:M – The alarm goes off and I immediately put it back to snooze. It’s just 4 hours and this cruel mechanical alarm wouldn’t understand the benefits of a sound sleep. I and my snooze played for 3 more rounds till it told me that this is last time it will snooze. The battle is over. Snooze wins and I wake up. Get ready speedily with a fundamental objective – to get one cup of coffee before the 8:15 class and as usual, I missed.

8:15 A:M – First class – Organization Behavior and Prof. Pinto discusses the HR practices and people focus of GE leaders. Eye opener case in many aspects and learned some very practical insights in managing teams as well as organizations at large.

10:15 A: M – It’s 30 minute break between two classes and the time flies that included a small clarifying conversation with the Prof. and my breakfast.

10:45 A: M – Second class – Government, Society, and Business. Diverse topics such as Women Empowerment, Human Security, and Human Development Index were discussed by the prof. followed by Group Presentations by three groups. I wasn’t particularly attentive during the presentations part and have some fun with Saikat and Pranjal in the class

12:45 P:M – Hungry and Lunch time. Wrap up by 1:30 P:M and had some light hearted discussions with my classmates at lunch

1:30 P:M – I head to LRC to accomplish two things a) I wanted to revisit the GE case and compile the learnings from the case. I was pretty impressed with the class b) I have to glance through my CV for my Resume review session with Moi Foi consultants ISB has hired

2:30 P:M – I conduct 45 minutes discussion with Mr. Mandeep from Moi Foi about my career objectives, past experiences, way to represent my CV, and picked up couple of things to improve in my CV.

3:30 P: M – I reach back to my quad. My quad-mates were leaving for a session on Placement portal but I wasn’t particularly interested in the same. I spend next hour or so surfing on net, answering several pending emails, and calling couple of friends outside ISB. Also, worked on my CV and sent it across to few friends for review.

4:30 P: M - I opened McKinsey quarterly’s report on “Offshore and Captive Units” and gather few old articles. This is to prepare for my discussion with CTO of a large organization at pre-scheduled 6:30 P: M who agreed to speak to me previous day.

5:30 P: M – I am done with my readings and preparation. With one hour for the call, I decide to take a quick 45 min nap. It has been a long day already and I am running on 4 hours of sleep. I deserve more, I thought.

5:40 P:M – I get a call from the CTO to prepone the call as he would be engaged later. Thank God I prepared earlier. One part of me was happy, as now I will get free early and will be able to attend my dance class. Second part, awww… what about that 45 minutes nap.

5:45 P:M – Since call got pre-poned no-one else from my group could join me and I navigated through the call on my own. Extremely insightful & practical perspectives that will help in the project I am pursuing on Back Office and Captive units for my client.

6:15 P:M – The call gets over and I quickly rush to Recreation Center – elated that after missing two classes I will be finally able to catch up my Salsa. Spend next 1 hour – away from all sorts of distractions. No CP. No Management. No Best Practices. No Beta. No CAPM. No Experience Curve. No Bull-shit. Just one hour of pure fun.

7:30 P: M – I reach back to my quad and quickly compile the notes from my discussion with CTO and send it across to my group. Also, I set up agenda for meeting with client the next day.

8:15 P: M – Hungry and time for Dinner but the food hasn’t been delivered. I hang out a bit with people in lawn until food arrives at 8:40 P: M

9:00 P: M – After quickly having my dinner, I rush to Atrium to attend a session by Parthenon Consulting on Case Analysis. The speakers talked about the projects they were involved in, culture of Parthenon, and general aspects of Consulting. Ended the Session with a Hi-Tea with the Alumni from Parthenon!

10:20 P: M – I get in call with a junior from my undergrad college, who has been trying to contact me to seek suggestions and guidance on his ISB and MBA applications in general. Talked to him for 30 min and he seemed satisfied with some of my inputs. Hope it helps him. Always great to get in touch with people from your undergrad 

11:00 P:M – I head to LRC to finish off the Investment Analysis assignment only to realize I am not carrying notes required for the same. Kicked myself and headed back to my quad to wrap it up.

11:25 P:M – After some TP, four of us – Vinay, Sohel, I, and Rachit get together to discuss the assignment (Thank God Prof. allowed discussion for the assignment) and solved the questions. I wasn’t willing but Sohel pushed that we write the assignment in fair as well and finish it once and for all. The deadline is Friday 7:00 P:M but I am done by 2:00 A:M. Some rare moments that I have assignments done with such a huge time lead.

2:00 A:M – Time for a tea break and discuss several aspects of the Case Competitions and other ideas that are important to set agenda for the weekend.

2:45 A:M – All done and I face a dichotomy – whether to go for sleep and glance through the readings for tomorrow’s IT class. I choose the former only to be pulled out of quad by Niyaz for another(his) break. We sit out in the lawn and discuss how the day went. It is there it struck me that this discussion has been long overdue for my blog.

Thanks to Niyaz for showing up that I am writing this post. BTW, tomorrow class starts at 8:45 and it’s already 4:15. The same story awaits – wake up in morning, fight with snooze, loose, miss out coffee before the class, and ………………………