Sureet Hazra, ISB Class of 09, bids farewell..

“Grow old along with me!

The best is yet to be,

The last of life,
for which the first was made” – Robert Browning.

 

In a way, ISB reminded me of this quote. We joined as the 8^th batch so that we could eventually graduate into MBAs. And graduating we are. And like every passing out, this one too raises a myriad images and memories that have gathered in the mind over the past 51 intense boiler-room weeks, housed with a set of ambitious, foresighted and diligent people who wanted to be complete professionals while keeping all odds at bay.

 

And the day has come when we will be pronounced as such. In another 26 hours, managing gowns, sprightly confident steps, gleaming flashbulbs, motivating wisdom, proud parents (or spouses), hat tosses and rejoicing friends later we will have graduated and successfully added a layer of history to the institution and a confident knock on the door of the alumni. A new relationship will evolve, a new dynamics of being an alumni and looking at the School. A lot of complaints may look illogical, a lot of stress justifiable, and a lot of policies quite obvious. Its natural, it’s called perspective. It also bestows upon us responsibilities as ambassadors of the institution and calls for us to truly convert challenges into opportunities to buttress the expectation. For in real life, it’s mostly about challenges and tough challenges.

 

As I look back, the past year has been a timeline of events and realizations … it started with lofty dreams, converted into pre-term classes and orientation week fun in the scorching sun. Soon after it was the first day of class, and to most of us, we were seeing the insides of a state-of-the-art classroom after half a decade. Fantastic professors (almost gods) followed with tough assignments to be submitted every yesterday. Every day before yesterday would be tests, pop quizzes or the spine chilling cold calls (one of the major revenue drivers of the caffeine industry). Case studies became oxygen, we didn’t just live them, we breathed them, and I wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that I have had nightmares as well (truly). The HBS logo became our bull’s eye and the word “exhibits” invoked fear. This was all before we realized that presentations, write-ups, reports, projects, financials, analyses, take home exams, open book exams, seminars, special classes, speaker sessions, tutorials also formed a part of this great family.

 

Club activities were a vital connection to the corporate world and lent the glamour feeling as well. You could see most people you read about in Businessworld walking across the aisle or picking up a coffee before the seminar. You felt the moment. This is what the dream was all about. You always dreamt to be them and a brief solemnity sets in, broken by the sudden shout of your friend asking you to join for football.

 

But as the sun went down, life took a different hue. Games, quizzes, cultural activities, myriad contests and competitions, theater, arts, pottery, photography, nature walk, social drives like blood donations and helping the underprivileged and section competitions on the field kept the batch busy. Strategies were planned, promotions designed and actively shared amongst the batch. You could see the club presidents and volunteers all around the campus opining and gesticulating wildly to win converts to their cause. Dunking and parties alone added a few more dimensions to the ISB life. The innovative themes and parties and mere excuses for throwing a classmate to the pool united the batch like no other.

 

That was then. Now is the disorientation week and the whole batch is “de-stressing on priority”. I graduate tomorrow and the day after I pass the portals of the school with a heavy heart of nostalgia and all the good times of the year. I have enjoyed every moment in the sylvan campus, the stress being a part of the ritual, and have made simply wonderful friends to look forward to. Every face is about to become a memory and every name a rainy evenings’ tale. Many of these future leaders will be known by their pen names, many by their deeds when they were high on spirits. Many will be known by their funny comments in classes and many by their impromptu interview replies. Many more will be known by the way they slept through lectures and yet excelled when it was called for.

 

But the bugle has blown and the powder is dry as the sheer fantastic Class of 2009 currently irons up for the grand finale. If history is the biography of successful people, this batch will script it like no other. It has been my proud privilege to be a part of this institution and the values and ethos it stands for and to belong to a class consisting of such remarkable batch mates who could make this the best year so far.

 

I lay down my pen, on the eve prior to the big day, with the mere hope that I could showcase some aspect of what ISB stands for through this blog, covering issues that span the mindscape of most incumbent students as well as the current ones. As Nirad C says, “to sit by the rivers of Babylon is not necessarily to weep in Hebraic sorrow”. I have gradually realized the richness of my experience and the benefits of the yearlong backbreaking rigor, which makes me more resilient and confident as I move on to the world outside. But as I move on, I realize a part of my life is forever ISB. It’s just the search for Ithaca that we move on. Here’s wishing all of my fellow friends a fantastic journey, for it’s the journey that matters.

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