Folks, the day is today. The day we had all been waiting for. With bated breath, wide eyed, slightly scared, very excited & lot of apprehensions. What if we turn out be idiots? What if we fall asleep in class? What if we are called upon to speak & realize that we left our voices behind at the SV?

After 2 classes & the end of Day 1, my take is - it's not too bad. I didn't sleep (my biggest fear) nor did I make an ass of myself. However, something did get my goat. My name tag was not there in either of the class. Being the odd one out of 75 did not make me happy. No, it did not. It's just a simple printing job, why couldn't the bugger, whoever he or she was, do it correctly....I asked myself. On the brighter side, I can remain incognito. But I am not sure how good that is once CP season starts. However, I see a silver lining in the class arrangements. I am in the last bench. Now, whoever knew me in school knows my affinity for the back benches & all who inhabited those off-limit territories.

Lunch time saw this huge line in front of Goel. People comparing notes, professors & what not. Sections with classes in the noon were all the more curious....dude, how did things go? They went fine, I guess. But it would be only a matter of few days before all the class quizzes, assignments & stuff pour in.

One small anecdote from Prof Bubna's class. We were discussing what Economics got to do with having All Ladies Nights at pubs.
Prof : So why do we have these nights?
Student : Girls are allowed free entry & the men want to meet the girls so they are willing to pay more...
Prof : So why don't they do it more often? Do men want women only 1 day in the week?
All hell broke lose......table thumping & laughs from all corners of the class...
Prof : Hang on guys....that did not come out the way it was supposed to....

School should be good fun....

Its' not been a good day. No my friend, it has been not. Kolkata lost in the IPL & Man U lost in the EPL. Why do all my favourite teams falter on the big days? Ah...I hope I had the answer to that one. A few of us had thought of ganging up & watching the IPL. The only good thing out of it was the Tandoori Chicken & the beer we had. Seeing the meat find its way to oblivion lifted our spirits to a high which no sports can achieve. On top of it, we are still not getting ESPN/Star Sports in our rooms. In a way that's good, because our fragile spirits probably cannot handle seeing both of our teams losing on live TV at the same time.

On a different note, the pre-terms are coming to a close. I had spoken about my disastrous encounters with both maths & stats. So I decided to use my superior intelligence & came up with a solution - I will not attend any more classes. To be frank, I feel better off. I am positively chirpy. It's infinitely better to sit in the sidelines knowing that you don't know rather than the fact getting hammered into your mind, body & soul in the classroom.

We had our first session of consultant gyan yesterday. Couple of alums from BCG decided to address the fertile minds of the current batch. Catch the students raw....they have been here for what? Only 2 weeks. That fortunately or unfortunately was not a deterrent. So we had the session from 10 pm. By the look of it nearly 250 people turned up crammed into a room which could take not more than 80 people. I along with SD & DD turned up around 10 mins late & we could not get anywhere near the door. We immediately beat a retreat.

Somebody had done a great job & summarized the entire discussion & sent it to the whole class. Unsurprisingly, I saw nothing new in the whole discussion. I have been in PwC for the past 5.5 years & I know how consulting functions & what the work entails. Like in all discussions/forums at ISB there were arbit questions. Got these gems from one of my friends who attended the session.

Student : So what is the exit policy of BCG?
Alum : ?????????????
Me (on hearing) : ??????????

Student : So where does BCG rank among the consultancy firms?
Alum : Well, the Tier 1 is Mac, BCG, Bain then 2nd tier is ATK, Booz, Accenture & so on...
Student : So where is McKinsey??
Me (on hearing) : Did you think Mac means McDonalds????

I have taken part in a lot of arbit discussions during my stint at PwC. I have been part of teams where a deal has taken 6 months to close & we have had meetings for an entire day from which nothing has emerged. But they have been cases where there has been a difference in the opinion between the 2 parties on the table. I mean, guys, have your fundas in place. Consulting is glamourous but it is tough to get into, it is tough work & the life you lead is also very very tough. It is not a career meant for most people.

If the first question or even the tenth question you ask from a prospective employer is about their exit strategy then all you can say is Bye Bye. Why would you even want to know that at this stage? Is it because you are not convinced that this is a right fit? In that case, why are you here at all?

As of now, I am still in the sidelines looking on at all that is happening. What's the hurry...I tell myself. We've only just been here. Like I laugh at the enthu people mentioned above, they also must be laughing at me....this idiot sits in the atrium all day, he's falling behind. Hmmm....food for thought. But I have seen pressure like few other professions have, all thanks to PwC. I know how to meet deadlines...& I have worked & made my team work for 30-35 hours at a stretch. The work pressure doesn't scare me, the prospective time schedules don't scare me. What scares me is my utter lack of knowledge in all these subjects. And that my friends, is not a nice thought.

Cheers

So couple of day back I was sitting on my desk staring like a zombie at my laptop waiting for somebody to pop up on G-Talk. All of a sudden I hear "splatch" just outside my window. Was it a monkey? The alums had spoken about this bunch of monkeys who had come into the campus once. I carefully moved the curtain aside to see the offending object. And what did I find? It was a diaper which had apparently fallen from the skies. A soiled diaper, as a matter of fact.

Now I am no stranger to soiled diapers thanks to Arya. I have had my fair share of taking them off & putting them back on a child who prefers equilibrium i.e. he refuses to have his clothes taken off & once they are off he refuses to put them back on. So me, my baby & his diapers are stories of daily struggle.

What pissed me off was why do you have to throw the diaper out of the window. The studio above me should be a mirror image of mine & in that case I know that they should have enough dustbins available. Why can't they have put the damn thing in one of them, I ask.

Surprisingly the usually super efficient ISB cleaning crew has not spotted the offending piece as yet. Is it due to the fact that it's on the backside of the SV or do they have a personal vendetta against me? I would like to think it's not the latter.

I was bored today. Also I needed some confidence booster after the drubbing in the hands of Maths & Stats. So I decided to sit for the accounting pre-terms. You are a CA....some of my friends mentioned. Doesn't matter....I needed some familiar ground before I tread onto next week. To be honest, I also wanted to see other people struggle to pamper my suffering ego.

So right after lunch I landed up at the Accounts class. The class today was basically about the following things:
a) Golden rules of accounting
b) Debit-credit & writing a journal
c) Posting to ledger accounts & drawing up a Trial Balance

Seeing the class I was overcome with nostalgia. I did these things in the 1st year of my college...back in the prehistoric days of 1997. It was a struggle for me as I had science till high school. Seeing these engineers suffer in the same way throwed me back to those days. Writing pages & pages of journals, doing problems of Trial Balance for weeks on end. Accounting is all about logic, but I must say, the logic is not very apparent initially. Why cannot this be debit? Why cannot a liability be negative? There were, to me, very very basic questions from all corners of the class. At times I wanted to jump up & shout fundas....see guys, I am a super-dude. But I must say, the instructor was very good. She was extremely patient and answered all the queries...however silly they maybe.

Seeing her, my mind went back to my Accounts teacher. I went to him a greenhorn & something he did put the love of the subject in me. It's entirely due to him that today I am a CA.

But I am digressing. Coming back to the class, man was I relieved. If I struggle in stats, these guys do in accounts. My rationalisation logic says that it will all even out. I guess we will find out in a few days time. Monday is almost upon us.

Cheers & ciao

The Pre-terms have started & with it I'm officially back to studies. I have signed up for the Quants & Stats pre-terms. Obviously, I don't need to take the Accounts module.

I always thought that I was pretty decent in both Maths & Stats. I was in for a rude shock. Time has rusted all my basic math skills. I cannot remember anything. Period. I walked into the class on the first day with a swagger but now I'm scared. I feel so hollow about the concepts, that their application seems like a distant mirage. The only solace is I can see the other guys struggling in equal measure.

The alums had mentioned that the pre-terms are useless & to an extent they are correct. The speed at which it is going is ridiculous even if it is meant only as a brush-up exercise. Howver, the good thing is that it gets you in the classroom groove and prepares you for 2 long hours in the class. I mean, we always had 40 minute periods in school & college to the extent I always felt that this is some sort of a global norm. 2 hours???? First time I heard it I thought that it must be some sort of joke. But I will survive.

Another habit which I seem to be carrying forward from my school & college days is sleeping in class. We had 3 Stats classes till date & I have slept for some duration in each of them. The scary part is that we have all our 1st term classes early in the morning. I seriously hope that I don't snooze onto glory in them. That would be some embarassment.

On a different note, groups are beginning to form among the students. I am still floating around. I know most of the Calcutta gang & some other common interests have helped in knowing other guys.

Finally, 7 of us ganged up to watch the Chelsea vs Liverpool match last night. I having an empty studio, was the host for the night. Tosh brought over a few beers. We expect a more substantial participitation for the Man U - Barca match tonight. Already quite a few guys have confirmed. It's much more fun watching the game in a group than sitting up alone at 1 in the night.

Cheers & ciao

Like I mentioned in one of my previous posts the food here will not win any culinary competition anywhere. I miss my fish & a whole lot of other good stuff. Last night as we were having biriyani outside (pretty good, I must say) I was thinking back to the food scene back in Delhi. Now anybody who's been in Delhi knows that Delhi rocks in terms of food.

Admitted there are lot of traditional goodies which I have not tried out - kulfi, chaats etc. I have not been to Chandni Chowk, Parathewala Gali or other such places. But I have been to some good places some of which both me & Mousumi ended up being quite 'fida' about.

Italian at Flavors - There is something very quaint about place. It's our favourite joint in the city. Sitting outside beside the lawn, the general confusion in the service & the fab food. We've been here umpteen times during the close to 4 yrs we've stayed together in Delhi.

Chinese at Oriental Bloom/Mainland China/China Club - All these are great places. Mainland China is the most affordable while Oriental Bloom has the most amazing dimsums I've ever had.

Spanish at Sevilla's - Ooh la la....what a setting & what great food. But very very steep on the pocket. I would definitely recommend this for celebrating a special night.

Bengali at Oh Calcutta - Food which went out of vogue with grandmothers. Traditional delicacies which these days you only may get to taste at weddings. Intricate cuisine which me & Mousumi will probably never be able to cook. Go here to find out why Bengali cuisine is probably the best cuisine in the country.

Food wise Hyderabad is also quite hep. The only problem is that the city is a distance away & it's not feasible to go there all the time. But we shall endure....& wait for our first royal meal at the City of Nizams. Till then I can keep thinking about Delhi & the days gone by.

O-week is finally over. And what a week it was. Days starting from 9 in the morning & ending at 5 in the next morning. Jam packed itinery, endless sessions of gyan, activities, sports etc etc. Today there is nothing on the agenda. Last night only at the party we were discussing this & were saying that today will feel helluva strange. All of a sudden the entire day is ours. We don't have to rush to Khemka at 9, there is nobody to tell us what to do. It's a slightly strange feeling after the high we were in the last week.

I have a few takes from my first week here.

My mind is numb from all the activities. My mind is numb from all the thousands of things that I can do here. My mind is numb from meeting the same 450 people over & over again & re-introducing myself not knowing that we have already met.

I miss Bubu & Arya. The day goes super fast & I just don't have anytime but at night when I go back to my empty studio I feel very alone. I wish they were here with me but seeing my schedule here it's probably better this way.

There will always be some people who want to impose themselves from the very first day. Super active dudes....sending mass mails...let's do this, let's do that....always extra enthu in class. These people generally have an opinion about everything, whether it is relevant or not is a totally different issue. I understand the human urge to show-off but it's only been 1 week. There will surely be lot of time for all this exta hyper activities.

The food served here deserves a special point of mention. The dining hall serves a new menu every day. They have some kind of a 14 day no repeat system. What that means is that we get new stuff to eat everyday. What it does not tell is that all of it is bad. Seriously, all of it.

Nothing is ISB is "free". There is a hidden or not so hidden cost to everything. I think we'll find out in more detail as the year progresses.

Probably the most important thing I have to do here is prioritize. You possibly cannot do everything. There would be lot of things which you would probably not experience at all. the key is to make sure you do the things that interest you & move on. Don't look back on the things which you could not do. It is not humanely possible. Just move on.

I was very impressed with the alums. They spent a lot of time organizing the O-week & they ran it beautifully. Full marks to their enthu & their org skills. One good pointer to that is if one year later we are capable of doing this for the Class of 2010 then we are at the right place!!!!

It has been an exhilirating week. If this is a pointer to the rest of the year then I am quite impressed. I think the year should be good fun.

It's been a long time since I have been part of a Section anywhere. I have studied in sections B, D, D2 (!!!) & C for various durations during my school. I'm not really counting college here since I hardly ever attended it. I obviously knew that in ISB one is divided into sections for the core terms. But there was always a doubt in my mind about how this is going to work out. I mean, you take 75 strangers, all from different cities, qualifications & work experience & put them in a room & say that you guys are going to study together for the next 6 months. It's kind of weird.

The registration day is when one comes to know about his section. I got Section E. I was slightly sad....only due to the fact that I would have preferred C or D as these were the sections in school where I had the most fun. But, section selection is absolutely the pregorative of ISB & if I had gone to them with a request on the above mentioned grounds they probably would have asked me to go back to South Point again. We are, however, all given Section T-Shirts. The Sec E T-shirtis cool. It's in black with the E written in a zany style in purple. As the alums told us, we are generally required to wear it for any inter-section activity like sports & stuff.

Also, apparently all the Sections have their own chants. Some of them are pure shit....like D's Go-D-Go & Sec F's 4-3-2-1 Sec F is no. 1. On the other hand ours i.e. Rock-E-eeeee & Sec C (Sec-C rhyming with sexy) is pretty cool. The alums took us through the paces & soon you could feel the Audi just pulsing with 450 people screaming their own section chants. Right at that moment, I realised....ISB has got this bang-on. Apart from the logistical simplicity of dividing people up, it gives an amazing oppurtunity to get to know people better & to foster a feeling of competition & rivalry.

Sec E formally met for some classroom sessions on Thursday. As the entire section introduced themselves, one thing was very apparent. There is a fantastic diversity among the people here. We had people with just about 2 yrs of work-ex to people with over 10 yrs, people from IT, Media, Consulting, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Event Management, Doctors etc etc. It would be fun learning with them & also learning from them.

We also had the Sports in the last week. Football we lost out on goal difference & could not qualify for the semis & in cricket we lost in the final. Both, incidentally, were won by Sec C. We won the quiz though. And tonight is the talent nite. I, obviously, will be just a part of the audience. Once that's over the inter-section points for the orientation week would be announced. As of now, C probably has the edge. But we won't be much far behind either. Tonight would be the key night. Let's see how things work out.

It's been about a week since I landed here. I am blown away by this place. No, seriously. The place is to be seen to be believed. I mean, this place is freaking amazing. In India can you have a place like this? If you had asked me before coming here the only thing I would have said is a BIG NO.

But dude.....I am really really lost for words. I really do not have the skills to put this down on a piece of paper. I hope to upload some pics with one my later blogs. That will probably give everybody a better idea of what this place is like.

An easy way to have an initial idea is to go through http://isb.edu/Campustour/. I hope to give the place a different perspective through my pictures.

Last saturday onwards we're having the orientation week. It's killing. The Class of 2008 basically organizes the orientation which is part of hand-holding & part-informative. It's starting from about 9 in the morning & goes on till about 9-10 on an average. And then there are the PARTIES. Man....does this place know how to partyyyyyyyyyy............It's been like 7 days since we came here....& there's already been 3 of them....
1) A normal regular dance party which went on till 3.30 in the morning
2) A get to know get-together....more normal times...upto 2 at night
3) Bollywood theme party.....ended at freaking 5 am in the morning
And I don't know how we're manging this but we were in class at 9.45 sharp!!!!! Oh man....life is so difficult....

Coming on the party drift we have realised what is THE religion at ISB....beer. Erm, did I say it's in the Top 20 B-schools in the world. Whatever it is....beer is always available. Party...beer, but obviously. Tennis...beer, football...beer, night cricket...beer, still okie dokie. But group activity & beer.....BRING IT ON, DUDE....

I think that's enough for one post. We have the sports finals today....will write about that in my next post along with the Section thing....

My journey at PwC began sometime in Dec 2002. From then I spent close to 5.5 yrs with the firm gradually moving up from a trainee to an AM level. It was fun, it was hectic, it was killing & most importantly it was great learning.

The learning was not only with respect to the work I did. It was also largely to do with the kind of people I interacted with. My seniors, peers & juniours. So the thought which has been going around is that I pen down something about these wonderful guys before I move onto the next level & the next destination on my journey - ISB.

AG - Manager with whom I spent a considerable time working. Great guy, amazing sense of humour and gave an immense amount of independence with regards to running the team & the assignment. The best part however was that he transcended the boundary of a senior-juniour relationship & became a very good friend. Wrote my recommendation & gave me lot of leeway in terms of practically not working once my results were close. An amazing guy...

DT - The person I probably admired the most in office or for that matter elsewhere also. Always positive no matter what the obstacles. Tackled massive personal problems in life headlong & alone.....winning most of them. Was my single biggest inspiration in office for the whole GMAT & ISB thing. Here's to you dude.....keep smiling

VC - Unpredicatble, impulsive & argumentative, he was one of the first friends I made in PwC. Always full of grand plans....ye karoonga woh karoonga.....& then after some time....plan dropped, yaar, kuch din bad phir sochenge....What is not unpredictable is that he's been a good friend since the 1st day we met. Hoping to see you in ISB next year yaar...

SK & JKG - Dada's & good buddies. Had lot of fun chatting, drinking & generally passing time with them.

AG - At one time my best friend in office. Rapidly went to the person I hated the most....rather have the reasons not disclosed here...though DT & VC know about it (they suffered equally from the situation). Spoke to him after almost 1 yr when I cracked ISB. Maybe we'll patch up relatively someday....time heals lot of things....

NS - Another great person I've worked under. Always supportive, always encouraging. Tell him a problem & he'll take it to whatever forums required to resolve it. Admire you buddy....

The order in which these names appear are not really significant i.e. I am NOT trying to rank them in the order of their importance. It's only that there are hundreds of images which are going around my mind & they are in no particular order.

Also I have not spelt out the names. The initials should suffice....in any case you guys know who you are....

In all fairness, these are not the only guys. There have been many many others who have contributed to what I am today. Thanks to all of you....I will forever be in your debt.