I'm generally a pretty positive person & more or less like everything happening around me. So it's surprising (even to me) to admit this, but I HATE DMOP. Period.

Exams start in roughly 10 hours time. All I hope for is that I don't screw up (again) & undo the reasonably good work done in the mid terms.

The only silver lining is that in roughly around this time 2 days later I should be on NH-8 towards Gurgaon & home!!! Man....can't wait to go back...

Laters....

Not again. Seriously...not again. I have been here for less than 3 months & this would be the 4th time I would be writing exams. Last time when I was in the business of writing pages & pages of bullshit was during CA...& those were like once in 6 months. At times I curse myself & the imbecile decision which took me out of my cosy cocoon & planted me in this mad mad place.

Enough of cribbing...I do love this place. But that doesn't actually shift the focus away from the exams. There I go again...I think the crib factor is a bit too high today, so please bear with me. I just thought that I have written a lot about the fun we have around here, the parties, the all night-outs, the general chill out sessions. Let me portray things from a different point of view today. Make no mistake about it, ISB is a seriously tough place to be in. You loosen up a bit & you are like miles behind in the race. So here goes my account of a typical day:

10.25 am : Wake up (after ignoring numerous snoozes on my mobile)
10.45 am : Rush for 1st class (usually with breakfast in hand)
11.45 am : Break...mad dash for coffee
12.15 pm : Feeling sleep taking control....man, gotta do some CP
12.45 pm : Class over...rush to Goel...more crap food....why can't they have some decent food for a change
1.15 pm : General chit chat in the Atrium...thinking whether to go for the 2nd class or go to studio & sleep
1.45 pm : The class wins...sigh
2.00 pm : Asleep in class....(nudge from my neighbour - prof is looking at you)...who gives a damn
2.45 pm : Break....mad dash for coffee
3.00 pm : Asleep...again
3.45 pm : Class over...tell study group that I need to catch up on my sleep
4.00 pm : Asleep....at least now I am in my bed
6.00 pm : Stumble into LRC..
6.00 pm - 8.00 pm : Refine Markstrat decision & mail to TA
8.00 pm : Dinner
9.00 pm : Markstrat decision....we got $150 mn this time!!!
9.30 pm : Start reading Eco...Solow Curve & Y, K, L etc etc
12.30 am : Enough of Eco...oh shit, had almost forgotten about the DMOP homework submission -> Start DMOP
2.00 am : LRC closes down...down to CCD
3.00 am : Still DMOP
4.00 am : Still DMOP
5.00 am : Stagger back home....gotta do compstrat pre-read...the case is only 60 pages long
6.00 am : zzzzzzz......(pre-read can go to hell)

Sort of the way the day pans out. It's brutal, it's killing....but there is a sense of joy & accomplishment when we actually drop the assignment into those stupid drop-boxes. Life is tough but we are really living upto it.

A great thing we did in this term was to run away to Hampi for a weekend. You can read about it here. I thought of writing about it but then ID is a poet...he does & will do a better job anyday. Also if there is a remote possibility of anybody wanting to see the pics of the trip they can be seen here. Now that the travel bug has bit us, we plan to do Pondy after the mid terms in Term 3.

By now, all the clubs have get their teams in place things are hotting up. Lot of activities/new initiatives are lined up (yours truly has volunteered for quite a few & is expected to co-lead a couple of them!). We had a session with BCG, Microsoft & Google. But the best thing probably was a chat by Dr Ric Charlesworth on lessons of business from sports. Dr Ric was an olympian & world cup winner with the Aussie hockey team. Plus he coached the Aussie hockey team to 2 successive Olympics Gold Medals & 2 World Cups. Plus he was a member of the Australian Parliament for 10 years. And oh....he is also a doctor. Seriously inspirational stuff. Kudos to VR (ex India hockey captain himself) for arranging that.

I go home next week for the first time in 3 months. I am taking quite a lot of work to Delhi. Have a pretty big agenda...meet folks back in office, get some industry contacts, find out what PwC is thinking about recruitment this year...& so on. Let's see how much I can get done. Apart from that all i want to do is loaf around & get some proper food inside me. Also have to find out if any new food joints have opened up. I seriously miss Sabina Sehgal Saikia's reviews in the Friday TOI. Miss Flavors, Big Chill, Mainland China & other fab places. But what I miss most is some good old fashioned true homemade rice & fish curry.....

So long...