I think Whirlwind is one word that I'm going to use very often - at least for the next one year. The last month and half have been absolutely crazy - and yet there's always been time for the myriad activities that vie for our attention. Actually I think I'll make more sense if I do this chronologically. Started from Delhi on April 11th in the train. Was joined by quite a few "future" classmates. We had planned to take the train - even though it was almost 36 hours. But it was worth every minute - it probably led to formations of life-long friendships - not to mention the fact that we "Reely Reely" enjoyed every second. I had brought along a bottle of Absolut Pear - which we judiciously finished over the course of the day. We chatted, played cards, watched a movie, chatted some more and partied all the time. Don't think that words can really describe the amount of fun we had - so here are some pictures:
Reached ISB in the morning and went straight to our rooms - was pleasantly surprised at the amazing campus (even though I had seen so many photographs on the net - none of them came even close to the real thing). The rooms were perfect - neat and clean and spacious and I must mention the great quality of the hot water showers. We got ready and went straight for the registration - which was a loooooong affair - mainly because of the HUGE rush at the SBI counter. But we got through and by evening we were true-blue students of ISB. So it was time for some champagne - to mark the start of what we hoped (and which I can vouch for now) would be an amazing one year. So a few of us got together and opened the "bubbly" - of course there was lots more after that - but the details are lost in the endless glasses of "daru" :-) There was a nice dinner (though no Hyderabadi Biryani) where we got to interact with our batchmates and alums. I'm sure I still don't remember half the names I heard that night. The next day "Sunday" (At one time Sundays were a holiday - I wonder where that time went . . . . . ) started off our whirlwind tour of ISB - orientation to the various clubs, the acads, and what not. Not a very interesting day from my viewpoint - but I'm sure many people enjoyed it. And at night we had a great party - organised by the alums
Monday kicked off the orientation activities with a treasure hunt. The alums had gone to a lot of pains to ensure that we understood the entire layout of the campus. Of course an easier way would have been to give us all maps - but this was more fun - even though it was tiring and hot and sunny and sweaty. Though we did get a beer in the middle upon reaching the Event's Lounge (where most of the parties happen now). And I was "dunked" into the pool on finishing the treasure hunt. Man that was refreshing (Did I mention that the pool is really great - even for non-swimmers like me - its 5' all over)
Orientation week went faster than we had expected. There was a plethora of activities ranging from bind and unwind to talent night to inter-section sports. A few photos to show the various things we went through: Section A Cheering squad:
Our very own macot - Arbit:
Making an 'A'
Relaxing while other's worked ;-)
Talent Night - Goodness Gracious Me:
However the pre-term courses were a pure waste of time and money. Didn't get any great insights - but wasted an entire week which could have been used to enjoy the campus more.
The bondings made in the train led to the creation of amazing friendships and we started the term with a small party at the "D-Lounge" we drank, we danced and we had our very own live music - courtesy "talli" aka Pratik - who sang for the sole benefit of the "blushing" Guntas. A perfect start to the year none of us would want to forget. The singing and the drinking started around 3:00 (we were partying outside before) and went on till the early morning . .
Talli singing for Guntas:
The much needed "Maggi" Break:
And all that remained afterwards were the empty bottles - our first (and hopefully last) experience with Cobra and King Cobra beers - were we sloshed by the time we went home (5:30 AM):
This was the start of many amazing parties at the D-Lounge. We've had parties, and parties . . . Many of you would be wondering - what is this guy saying - ISB is supposed to be synonymous with pressure, studies, nervous breakdowns . . . . . you may be correct in many ways - as we found out on the first day of class. If any of us were expecting that the first class would be like an introductory session - were we shocked - it was RUN from the first instant. The time allotted for each subject is just enough to finish the curriculum. On top of that we had the infamous "class participation" - where everyone has to participate in class and you are marked for the same. The frenzy this caused in the first term was absolutely crazy - people had their hands up all the time, desperate for something (anything) to say. So we had our very own "CP King" and "CP Queen" contests - the winners got dunked (alongwith half the section who went in just for the fun of it)
The Queen:
The King:
And the praja:
It was soo much fun that none of us wanted to get out of the pool. And of course the CP went down to "near acceptable" levels :-) Then came the first marketing assignment - The Gillette case - the case which made half the batch boycott Gillette (not because there was anything wrong with Gillette - we were just sick and tired of hearing the word) and stop shaving. To mark an end to the assignment - what do we do . . . we have another party:
ISB works on what we felt was a very peculiar system - each professor comes for two and half weeks - takes 5 classes for each section and goes back - so by the time you get used to a professor - its time for him to leave.
By now I'm sure you can guess what happened when the first set of professors were due to leave - Yup - you guessed it - we had a party - a huge blast with champagne flying around and the professors partying with us.
Next came the mid-terms -- I think ISB is the only place where you have exams every 3 weeks - and since these were the first set of our exams - the entire campus went silent - people cooped up in their rooms or LRC and started slogging like crazy - the tension went up so high that you could taste it in the air. But as with everything else - they finished almost before they had started and the campus was back to its crazy pace. Then we had the CAS photo sessions - and you saw a remarkable change in the batch - we had people shifting from T-shirts, and shorts into Suits with Ties !!
We've done a lot of crazy things - one of them being - making pakoras at 3:00 in the morning:
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Alongside all this - the studies went on and before we knew it the end-terms were at hand. This time the silence was not as profound and we could actually see some people chilling out even the night before the exams. And whew - I'm tired now - this has been a long winded blog - but any shorter and I would not have done justice to the parties :-)
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