Week 5 !!!

Week 5, which btw got over last sunday, gets its due share today..... Week 6 beginning were end terms thereby bolstering my resistance to not-log-in here....

Week 5 was adrenaline rush , courtesy the assignments due before end terms and off course the end term preparations which were supposedly in full swing .... However what I intend to pen down today is the unique experience i had in week 5 ... I ran in elections @ ISB .. It was for the post of director - alumni affairs ... Before you have an adrenaline rush let me tell you that I lost .... But it was great fun coupled with great learning ...

Elections were on Thursday and Wednesday was the soap box presentations .... Tuesday evening was deadline for drafting a manifesto .... Till monday evening i was contemplating the option whether to do it or not ... Then came the shocker mail on monday evening 7 PM which said that due to plethora of contestants the deadlines were revised and now manifestos were due tuesday morning ... I almost stepped out ... I was working on assignment with my study group and at 10 we had barely started ...

Then we started the debate of to do or not to do ... I almost convinced 2 of my study group mates for standing in elections too .. they were interested and motivated but ultimately backed out citing genuine reasons ... In the process I was sure that I would run if I am able to draft a decent manifesto ... I started it at 1 am and finished it at 5 am .. thansk to all my study group mates i could have decent reveisions too .... sent the manifesto and next up was the soap box presentations ....

Went for classes at 8 came back at 1 , had lunch and called SRK for my presentation and practice... I could do a decent practive but at the end was not too convinced of my own o/p.. and then for the moment i got panicked when i entered the khemka auditorium .. i thought i m so under prepared.. but then neha and sk wee there to boost me up .. what workes wonders for me was one line whch Shom said " What matters is the experience . This is the place to fail." I was suddenly looking forward to it. At the end i did a okayish kind of job while presenting my candidature but was happy that i atleast attempted.. the candidate who won definitely was better and deserving ... I got the experience and I was happy... I was told that my output was very good given the effort i put in the process .... 4 hrs manifesto and 4 hrs soapbox... In the end a win win for me ....

Apart from elections nothing week 5 offered fadm assignments , eco assignments etc but they were routines...

Week 6 had end terms .. details in next post ...
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This is my first ever election manifesto ( could be last too ) !!! (Thanks Adarsh!!!!)

Manifesto – Director Alumni Affairs – ISB Co 2010Pranay Raicha - 9666407210

The world is ready to give up its secrets if we only know how to knock, how to give it the necessary blow. The strength and force of the blow comes through a Vision. Take up that ONE vision. Make that vision your life - think of It, dream of It, live for It.

-Confucius, The Chinese Philosopher

When I started writing this manifesto there was a strong urge to define a vision which would carry forward the legacy of Alumni affairs. The vision that I have for Alumni Affairs council is:-

“To nurture the alum relationships by harnessing the existing infrastructure and fostering innovative ideas resulting in a resonating community.”

Below is my thought process to achieve what I have envisioned.

1) Instilling a sense of belongingness in our Alumni :- We always have expectations from our Alumni. How about giving something back to them as current students? I believe there is a need to inculcate a feeling in Alumni that they are still ISBians and that ISB is still their abode. This can be achieved bya. Revamping the Alumni site to not only act as a social networking portal but also give them more details and make it easily accessible to all ISBians.b. Inviting alums to all activities and events happening @ ISB; (incl. parties for Hyd alums )c. Releasing an Alum newsletter chronicling the happened , happening and yet to happen events alongside any relevant information.

2) Smooth alumni interaction :- Coordination is the key here. Considering that time is of essence to all ISBians I will ensure sure that all the clubs/activities requiring an Alum interaction are channelized and directed in the most efficient and effective manner possible. This will help encapsulate alum involvement and eliminate redundant efforts.

3) Tap and Build upon existing programs :- Will continue to build upon the programs like Shadow your alum, A day in work life of your alum and will stimulate similar efforts. I plan to assertively involve successful alums in mentoring current students who aspire to be follow their footsteps. I believe, by one-on-one involvement alums can bring much more to the table.

4) Be Accountable :- I aim to (a) execute recurring checks to ensure all the initiated and intended activities are completed within the designated timeframe and (b) address all concerned issues at the earliest.

Having graduated from IIT Roorkee and with a work experience of 6.5 years I have had enough opportunities and exposure to impart in me the skills that justify my candidature. I am confident of making it a better year for you, for school and last but not the least for the alumni.I had nebular mind initially but now I am sure that together we can make a difference. Together we can have the best SOLSTICE ever.What we need is passion and persistence.

Looking for your valuable support,

Pranay Raicha

“A Student this year. An Alumni Forever.”

Week 5 entry delayed !!!

End terms are taking a toll..
Will have 5th week entry mid next week..


gud luck to me :-)

Week 4 @ ISB

This week was pretty much one for lazying around .. Though whenever some of the mid-tem marks were uploaded on blackboard I pledged to study more this week..

I continued to stay late till night (exception: - yesterday when i crashed at 10 ; thats y this post early in the morning) rather early morning but could not study (my trademark) ... but thats ok ... i m having fun..

We presented RnH case study on monday stats quiz on tuesday and faced boring lectures monday thru thursday...

Sat this week had a slot booked for 4 hrs .. It was called Leadership Development Program (LDP) .. though it could have been shorter (by atleast 50%) i thoroughly enjoyed it and made sure my group enjoyed too ... My signature style :-)

LDP was abt having 360 degree feedback from my seniors , peers , juniors and best friends and they sure gave me a shock by rating me decently... some weaknesses which they pointed out were surprises too ...
The session started with the prof defining Feedack , strength , weaknesses , 360 degree etc and then the group was set loose to tear apart each others strengths and weaknesses to come up with a) group strength b) group weaknesses and an action plan to overcome these..

Then came realizing core incompetencies and I had no difficulty choosing carelessness at the top for me to address... Infact a few wrote this as my numero uno weakness. Exact words follow " His careless behaviour which he says is COOL , should be avoided". I liked the honesty my raters showed... Thanks a ton to them ( Tarun Sir , Naveen Sir , Jai , Krishna , Deepak , Pavan , Lokendra and Pramod )...

Then came the fun part, the room was chaotic and we were told to write down first suggestion anyone suggests to improves your weaknesses... That sure was fun with people coming with brilliant ideas...

Before we wrapped up LDP the prof explained difference b/w assertive and aggressive.. Assertive is controlled , flexible and rational with Aggressive being the diametrically opposite ...

In a week we have our end terms and I have lot to study so I am off now..

P.S> ISB Rocks... We have a theatrical screening of IPL final with drinks , food etc and it sure promises to be a lot of fun tonight...

ISB week 3

19th day on campus and you have examination.. That can only happen in an MBA college ... That too 4 papers back to back ...

My school theory, that in an year most important exam is atleast 300 days from day 1, was routed and I was cribbing for time ... This time too I was amongst the last ones to start .. I mean among those ones who started :-)

The subjects came stumped some , were beaten by some and dint bother many ....

Stats was easy , eco was amazing ( people apreciated the questions unsure about the solutions) , accounting was fun and marketing was GYAAN...

Exams at ISB were great in the sense they made clear that they do not want to test our anlytical minds to the deep... They just want to see whether our thought processes have evolved in the direction they were pushed towards.. How else can you explain concept of an open book exam or for that matter an exam where u are allowed to carry cheat sheets having all the formulas.. So the trick is not to mug up the formula but to know which formula to apply ...

My preparation was few hours per subject and major part went in devising my innovative cheat sheet and marking pages in book which had important concepts ...

I was exuding confidence when I entered exam hall with a cheat sheet in my pocket encompassing all the formulae ever derived , touched , used in a sample problem and so on...

Then came the end of midterms and suddenly the winds were blowing in reverse... the silent atrium was chaotic as usual .. the ever empty lawns of SV had parties ( multiple ) ... We had a section A get together , SV4 party and off course the batch party at the lounge of '08. I came back from last one only to find an interesting set of people strumming chords and singing all ditties ranging from kishore kumar to , english softies with an amazing mix of soutn indian melodies...

People here are talented and versatile... I am yet to explore if I have anything.. lets c...

Not to forget we are already overloaded with next week assignments with Rohm and Haas coming up wednesday and accounting proj due next weekend...

I have just come back from study group meet for R&H follwed by quick table tennis cameo and then penning this down before I crash to bed...

Life at ISB is never slow...

GoodBye Mohan Sir !!!

ISB drives us crazy .. If i dont pen this down today .. I may never will ...

I am a bad student .. I always have sky high limitation set for my teacher.. I want my teacher to teach me so that I do not have to study more :-)

Mohan Sir stumped me and my expectations in one day ... It has been 5 classes only and for me accounting has changed from greek and latin to assets and liabilities ... He is undoubtedly best teacher I have ever had... Next prof has some very big shoes to fill in ....I am sure he will rock too !!!

Mohan Sir taught in a way that even an idiot can make sense.... Best part he keeps class on toes and grinning for like forever... his mercurial wit and amazing capacity to present and explain concepts is impeccable... Here are some examples...

He deservedly got a standing ovation from our section and I am sure all sections had same feelings ... All sections dunked him too .. Now thats sporty ....

When I was clapping for him today I did not want him to go .... He was the one who made me feel that ISB is a good choice (though he is visiting faculty) ... He was the only prof in whose class I could understand things with the clas.. I lag behind a bit in other classes but in this I was almost spot on !!!..

First question I asked him today - Would be back for any electives and he said "NO".. I felt bad ...

You can never have enough of Mohan Venkatachalam ...

Thank you Mohan Sir !!!
Good Bye and Good Luck !!!

Week 2 @ ISB

Week 2 just got over. In layman terms I mean that a weekend is over on Monday morning 4 Am in ISB.

The week was OK .. My schedule is almost fixed.. Classes till1PM then lunch @ home ( luxury at ISB) then doze off for an hour or two (three if I am lucky or being stubborn or dead asleep where alarm tone stops existing) ... Wake up have some fun around .. Dine with Neha and then sit to studies... Till 2 at least ..

Well I am up till 4 today and still not feeling sleepy because nest week is mid-terms .. I m journalizing my second week and mid-terms are less than a week away ... This is the story at ISB ... Every three weeks there are exams and this goes on and on till you graduate from ISB (Hopefully !!)..

Did I mention that there are study group assignments which are due every monday morning ensuring we don't breathe in weekends and spend all our (available ?) time with 4 more morons in a study room shouting , screaming and seldom discussing assignments ..

This weekend was bad... Between Friday night 8 PM and Sunday morning 1 AM we spent about 15 hours on marketing assignment ( KODAK) and the result when compared to other groups is mediocre to be generous ( thats the consensus we have but we are still hopeful of decent grades ; given complex graphs and tables we have made )...

Btw, someone changed his status on USB chat network as " And I thoughr Kodak meant good time"... Bang !!! Crisp and Succint !!!

Last part of weekend is sunday .. We did Eco assignmenr because our first assignment was not upto the standard and to catch up on grades ( I have started wondering if this is all I care about ; needs lots of introspection) we gave it an honest shot because best of 2 assignments will be given weightage ... Then came FADM assignment which ate up time post dinner...

Btw,
Here are the profs:-

Fadm prof rocks !!! Funny , intelligent , fast , energetic ( infectious energy level) , crystal clear

MGEC Prof 1 ( there would be one more too ) is almost catching up with Fadm guy .. but concepts are not too cler to me yet .. gotta work on that too ...

The stats prof reminds me of Guruji !!! My chemistry teacher @ IITR ...
The explanation is beyond the scope of this blog :

Marketing is something which worries me .. I need to understand it better and for that pre-reads .. Will plan on doing them too .. sometime .. hopefully ...
If you wanna know when will I study for mid-terms.. I wanna know the answer too .....

Frantic !! This week too !!!

My first assigment @ ISB

This is an interesting one. At least for me it was.
We submitted our first group assignment last week and today the results came out.
( Max marks 49)
Here is the conversation I had after the results were out.

Deep - Oye, number dekhe
Me - Nahi
Deep - 47
Me - Wow , cool .. (thinking the effort paid off , as we spent 5 hr more compared to whole classs)
Deep - Avg is 48.67
Me- S**t !!

Epilogue:
One whole year lies ahead obscuring such shocks and surprises.

Week 1 over

That was frantically fast paced.
I cant believe I am 1/50 MBA already...

When I heard only 4 days classes that too only 4hrs each I was like "Huh , cakewalk for a good boy like me".

But I was surprised to find myself cribbing for time in less than 50 hours into the core term.

There were assignments, pre-reads( never ending ) and case studies all hogging my time of sleep and fun ..

Need to get used to it soon so that I can fully use my stay here @ ISB.

At this very moment,
I have a stats quiz in abt 6 hirs and 45 minutes and I am barely midway.

This is fun !!!
Consider it a pun !!!

The fun has begun !!!

Core term has started on Monday and on the night of tue and wed I have studied ( actually fun interspersed with study attempts) till 3 AM with my study group.

Did not want to not-blog this night. An year of such nights is here but first one deserves a mention.

Ciao !!!

Week 1 and 2 @ ISB

Phew !!!

Long Orientation week ended last sunday.. Was pretty much jam packed with Alum Gyaan , Team building activities , Club presentations and placement stuff thrown around everywhere.

Special mention for treasure hunt in which we discovered the map of ISB and many useful places too.

This week I am chilling around as there are pre-terms going on and I have not taken any. Though there is a slight glitch in the fact that I should have opted for accounting as I don't know anything abt it.

Lots of pre-reads have already been suggested and I havent started yet..

I am utilising the pre-term to do the precious thing @ ISB.... Sleeping to the fullest.

Parties and dunking sessions @ ISB can be done anytime... That spruces up the fun here ...

ISB Rocks !!