Hello, ISB !!

Obviously, my absence after the last post has been rather long, busy as I have been in moving to Hyderabad. Let's get the first impressions out of the way - the new airport is smashing, its location bad and the city center clean and green.

Staying at Lakdi-ka-pul for the first day meant that we were almost in walking distance from Hussain Sagar lake. It's kept neat and clean and the surrounding gardens lend an excellent ambience. I did manage to take in the view from the Birla temple (heavenly), a quick walk in the NTR and Lumbini parks (pleasant) and a jaunt in Snow World (fun), before I landed up in Gachibowli for the registration. Mom, dad and sis did manage to catch some more spots before they left, though.

The registration was a rather stressful affair, but passed off without any glitch. I should have been better prepared for the heat out here. It makes even walking out for lunch a laborious affair. Thankfully the apartments are air conditioned !! Speaking of the accommodation, I've been put up in the new student village - SV4. The quality of the construction and furniture is quite good, although it looks a little morose since the landscaping hasn't been completed yet. However, my room affords me a beautiful view of the setting sun each day !!

The campus as such is very well maintained, with lots of trees around. It's a far cry from the wild but humongous campus I was used to at BHU. At around a 100 acres, it's quite small compared to the 1300 acres that BHU occupied. However, the quality is infinitely better.

The first week was the O-week. We were bombarded left, right and center about ISB's capabilities, the professional clubs, the social clubs, the various departments and the honor code (hmpf). To top it up, we've had a talent night, a sports meet, a treasure hunt, painting, team building, movies, alumni interaction sessions and three parties. Already, the duration of my sleep has dropped by close to 50% !!

"Get Future Ready" is ISB's tagline. However, as I look at the course details, I'm reminded more of "Abandon all hope, ye that enter here" from Dante's Inferno. ISB's academic rigor is very high. However, this time, the batch admitted has a very diverse profile, with representation from almost all industries. The average GMAT has dropped a little to 716 while the work-ex has increased to 5 years. A brief write-up can be found here.

I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few of my friends from BHU out here. Already, the class is beginning to gel rather well, making us feel as if we've been here for 7 months instead of 7 days. On a lighter note, though, I haven't had so many introductions in my entire life, as I have had in this 1 week. Stepping outside the campus for the first time yesterday, we realized how comfortably enconsed we are within our own little world.

Well, time's running short and I gotta rush to the library (surprise ! surprise !). I'll keep this blog abreast of the development as time goes along.

PS: To clear the air:

1. ISB has admitted around 575 students, close to its target of 560, not the rumoured 630.
2. Around 300 students are now out of the placements. The tentative time frame is June 09, but can be extended if required.
   

T minus 10

I'll be leaving for Hyderabad on April 10, just around the corner. It's been a long and arduous journey for my MBA, and I do hope that it will be worthwhile. The last few days have been quite hectic. The preliminary shopping has been done with, all that remain now are miscellaneous items and last-minute food stuff.

I'll be accompanied by Mom, Dad and Neha, presumably to take in the sights and sounds of Hyderabad, but I suspect it's more to ensure that ISB doesn't admit that it made a mistake in letting me in and turn me back at the gate :). Time permitting, they should be able to take in a city tour, Ramoji film city and the Jyotirling.

I'm finished with all the pre-term exams as well. It was fun getting re-acquainted with Mr Calculus. I realized how much I had missed the beauty, symmetry and unpredictability of maths while working in IT. Quant and Stats presented no real problem; it was Accountancy that I was worried about. Thankfully, with a little bit of reading, I was able to pass this test as well. After reading up and chatting many ISBians, I had decided that the pre-term was better spent networking and learning core subjects. The fact that the pre-term was not graded also weighed against it.

Finally, my housing at ISB was finalized yesterday. I'll be king of SV4-I11, dispensing favors from my high throne !! SV4 is the new student village, not even found on the current ISB map. Perhaps we'll all be put up in a 5-star hotel like the 1st batch of ISB was. At the very least, we'll get first use of a brand new hostel.

On an unrelated note, Neha cleared the written portion of the CET with flying colors - 166/200 with a 99.99 %ile, thereby almost guaranteeing her a place at JBIMS. In fact, she's done so well that she'll probably finish off with a single digit rank. Quite an accomplishment considering that CAT was so disappointing. Anyways, to get into JB is ordinary, to get in with 99.99 %ile is extraordinary.

As expected, mom's over the moon that both her kids will be starting MBA simultaneously. I think she's still unconvinced of the horrors that await us at placement time. Until then, she can bask in the glory of having taken the final step in the implementation of a plan that started many a year back.

Marhaba Bahrain

Dad's back in Bahrain since Nov 2008 and I finally found the time to visit the place where I spent the best part of 16 years. Woweeeeeeeee !! This place has morphed into something way more hip than when I saw it last in 2002.

One can almost see the petro dollars at work here. New construction has popped up everywhere. I might venture to say that it even eclipses the boom in India. The spending on infrastructure by the government is astounding. New marinas coming up in the city to house the new bussinesses. Free-hold apartments are also being offered. Bahrain is probably the best place to settle to a quiet, luxurious life.

Bahrain is positioning itself well as a financial hub. Throw a stone in the Seef area and you're likely to hit a bank. It's the Middle East's Bangalore of Banking :) Lots of diverse people are joining in and the population has pretty much exploded. Shopping malls have mushroomed all over the place.

It was great fun visiting some of the old landmarks, checking out new ones and mourning the loss of others. The Indian School is still pretty much the same, too bad I couldn't meet all the teachers. The Bahrain F1 circuit is quite beautiful, with lots to do.

Well, rapid development has come at a cost. Traffic snarls are now the norm in the city. The open spaces where you could catch a game of football at any time have almost disappeared. Children now hang out at malls and around PS2s. The scenic roundabouts in the city have been replaced with soulless traffic signals.

Still, Bahrain continues to offer the perfect mix of sun, sand and shopping that make it unique. To anyone who wants to visit, all I can say is Marhaba !!

PS: This post comes to you courtesy of my new laptop - HP DV4-1225ee

Free !! Now, tell me what to do...

I had dreamt about this moment for a long time. After my final day in IBM, I had imagined life to be much more exciting. I had hoped that I would have complete claim over those crucial 8 waking hours each day. Well, yesterday was my last working day before I join ISB and, to tell you the truth, it was a bit of a disappointment.

Trouble was brewing on the project front with the last release having a host of critical issues. As the team sought to fight the fire, there was very little time to say proper good byes. Besides, I had already talked to the people that mattered. Anyways, as per tradition, the team gathered around, wished me luck, appreciated my work and gave me a parting gift.

It seemed a little weird to leave. IBM was my first job and I was sorry to be leaving. But other horizons now beckon.

Sometimes I marvel at the human tendency to always glorify the grass on the other side of the fence. When I was working, I longed to be "free". Now that I was free, I longed to get involved in one final problem on the project. For almost a month, I had been like a dead man walking, cut out from all decisions and consigned to weird looks and glances. I hoped to be a Deus ex Machina, emerging one final time to save the project from embarrassment. Alas, it was not to be.

Ultimately, it seems, we are all lemmings, happy only until someone tells us what to do and absolves us of all responsibility and accountability. As long as someone dictates to us, we have a target to rile against and criticize. Left to our own devices, we seldom put our time and effort to good use.

As a management student, I hope that I am able to change that. I would not want to look back and say "My technical job was better", just because it was simpler. That would be a huge let-down. Perhaps I'll be motivated enough to assume more responsibility in whatever I do and wherever I end up. The one thing that I have learnt is that no work is completely bad or completely good. It's all a question of perspective and expectations.

Well, of all my posts, this one seems to ramble the most, perhaps because I have time to kill and no set plan. That reminds me of a great Chinese proverb to conclude this post - "A good traveler is not intent upon arriving"... 

In vino veritas...

I skipped the usual weekend post this time I had to travel to Nashik. The journey itself was quite tiring, mainly because the roads aren't all that great. However, Nashik is a quaint little place.

The first thing I thought was "This is was Mumbai must've looked like in the 70s". Hardly any traffic on the roads, acres and acres of fields, just beyond the city limit, nice dry weather. Since it's winter, the evenings get cool, a little like Pune. Beautiful time to visit.

Since my stay was quit short, I could only visit a few places. One place I insisted on visiting was the Sula Vineyard. Nashik represents the Indian wine industry and I was keen to get a first-hand view of this fascinating subject. Coincidentally, our tour guide told us that the owner was a Stanford graduate and had brought a scientific attitude to the cultivation.

Most of the product is consumed locally. Some of it is exported as an economy wine to Europe, although they also produce a limited quantity of high-quality aged wine. Still, we have a long way to go before we can put India on the international wine map.

The tour was quite insightful. Sauvignon was the primary grape variety grown there. Almost 27 acres of vineyards dedicated to wine making. Awesome !! I shall be going back in March to witness the harvesting of both, the table and the wine grapes. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to indulge in some wine-tasting the next time around.

We also visited Trimbakeshwar. Like all other holy places, this one reeked of crowds, ceremonies and cowdung. I guess that's the price you pay for admission to heaven !! Still, it was better than some of the other places I've been to.

Overall a very satisfying trip. On an unrelated note, I officially submitted my resignation today. It feels a little weird to know that I won't have a job for the next 14 months. IBM has been a roller-coaster of a job and I'm glad I'll be leaving on a high.

I desperately wanted the sabbatical to fall into place as a backup for the placement season. However, the policy diktats don't measure up to my expectations. Perhaps, I'll be able to rejoin at a later date, I'm keeping the option open.

For the next few weeks, I'll be busy saying goodbyes at work...

Sea of Poppies

The last few posts were all related to my MBA sojourn, primarily because that's been been occupying large chunks of my time over the last six months. In between, I did manage to squeeze in time to read Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies. I very rarely like epic Indian fiction which tends to go on and on without really going anywhere. A Suitable Boy is a case in point. However, Ghosh's novel is different.

It's fast-paced yet descriptive, bringing to the forefront India's contribution to the Opium trade and its impact on the local communities. At the same time, it manages to evoke a vivid and raw image of the life of a sailor. The book seems to be well-researched as the author has managed to include lingo that is suitable to the period and the occasion. Moreover, in order to capture the mood of the times, the author uses Hindi words in English (a precursor to Hinglish ?), thereby lending a more phonetic feel to the language of the book.

In the course of the story, it addresses various ills of the times - Sati, Opium, Untouchability, Racism, Imperialism, Missionary zeal etc. However, it does so without judging the characters, and therein lies its charm. There is also a sense of humor pervading through the book, a sense of hope, a sense that better things lie in store for the characters.

Being the fist instalment of a trilogy, I can only wait in anticipation of the next two books. As I simultaneously read The White Tiger, I couldn't help but wonder why the Booker wasn't awarded to Ghosh. Perhaps time will correct this error with Book II of the trilogy.

Videshi v/s Swadeshi MBA

With all the time on my hands these days, I can now afford to post twice in one day :)

There has been some heated debate on the ISB group about whether to go for an MBA from the US in these troubled times. I too have sailed in the same boat until last week and can very well identify with the conflict. Having been admitted to UCLA Anderson and CMU Tepper, in addition to ISB, I was momentarily unsure about which option to pursue.

To tell you the truth, this is an inherently personal choice. I had given the GMAT only so that I could apply to ISB. Later, I had to consider the question of what to do if I didn't get in and that's when I started researching US universities. Gradually, I came to respect and admire some of the schools.

Even before I started applying to US universities, I was cognizant of the cost factor involved. Shelling out 60-70 lacs for a two-year course would be a challenge. Therefore, I had divided my applications into 3 categories:

1. "Dream" schools such as Wharton, Sloan, Stanford, where I would have gone irrespective of the cost
2. "Schol" schools where I would have gone if the admission was accompanied by a good scholarship
3. "Safeties" where I would have gone if not admitted anywhere else

As it turned out, I made it to schools falling in Cat 2, but the scholarship did not exceed USD 20,000. For a while, I was elated with the admits. However, when I went back to the basics, I realized that:

• I wanted to stay in India
• I wanted a quick turnaround post-MBA
• I wanted a cost-effective course without compromising quality

ISB seems to fit this bill perfectly. Given the present economic scenario, I'm concerned about the following:

1. Placements: I have heard of students from UCLA, Darden, Tuck etc being unable to find jobs. International students find it difficult anyway since most companies are unwilling to get into the visa tangle and don't always earn close to 6 figures.
2. Internships: For career changers like me, internships play an important role. As companies become cautious, it will become difficult to locate relevant internships, thereby directly affecting my chances of securing the job I want
3. Funding: I don't have any rich relatives in the US. Without any non-co-signor loans being made available by universities (after Citi withdrew the CitiAssist program) and the lack of sizeable scholarships, I would find it virtually impossible to cobble together the required amount. Of course, I could apply to schools like Marshall and Kelley, but the quality of the program would suffer, an option I am not prepared to accept.
4. Visas: The lottery system gives no guarantees of getting a visa after your MBA. Worst case scenario - Come back to India with a HUGE loan on your shoulders.
5. Indian Alumni & Brand Awareness: The strength of the brand and alumni associations in India is likely to be small when compared to ISB and IIMs. The benefit I would accrue is likely to be minimal.
6. Time & RoI: I would be spending the better part of the next 10 years under a mountain of liabilities. Plus, a two year course would be more time consuming.
   

when it comes to plonking for a US MBA. Therefore, keeping all things in mind, I'm 99% certain about going to ISB this year, ahead of other US-based universities. I have spoken to current students, past students, prospective students, professors, directors, industry peers and almost everyone seems to be in agreement with my logic.

As someone on the PG forums put it - ISB, the place to be :)