To different people, the end of terms signifies different things. For many, the immediate priority is to prepare well for the exams. Term 2 continues to be a roller-coaster ride in terms of academics; on one hand the Marketing simulation game had kept us engrossed for hours on multiple occasions, and all the strategy discussions and decision making we went through is going to be as much a part of the preparation for the exams as the concepts taught in the class.

On the other hand, Competitive Strategy classes, which have been a treasure-trove of learning about clever strategies that firms ought to employ, are leading up to a full-blown 4 hours examination consisting of a complete case study. (And guess what, we won’t be allowed to write anything for the first two hours… now isn’t that interesting!)

Meanwhile, many people are busy working on a number of other activities, including pitching for their Experiential Learning Program projects to prospective clients (there are almost 20 projects available in the 1st Round), helping out with the PACIS conference, planning the professional and personal club activities for the rest of the year, working out their own entrepreneurial plans or just planning a trip to one of the several interesting places such as Goa. And a few, such as me, are planning to visit family for the first time since joining the college. Yay!

All the while, interesting activities continue to happen on the campus. Today my section wore blue and pink to observe the last day of the term, and took snaps with our teachers. It was heartening to see Prof. Lahiri, who teaches us Marcoeconomics, sharing a joke or two in his trademarked style.

Student Village 4 is on its way to completion – the huge chessboard in the middle of the Village is ready and a mini-basketball court is going to come up soon. I am eager to get to see a few games from my window; reminds me of how ancient kings played chess in stadia, sitting high up on their thrones.

Let me take the liberty of reminding you to keep checking the blog (also possible through RSS or Twitter) and keep looking out for constant updates from the class of 2010.

Waking up half an hour before class starts but putting the alarm clock on snooze mode for another 15 minutes. I have literally begun pushing my after-sleep-morning-time management skills to the maximum.

I like to play a little game with myself. When I’m in class, I challenge myself to make sure that no one can figure out that I woke up a just few minutes ago. For that, a full precious minute is spent in front of the mirror.

Once in the class, there are several tricks one typically employs to not let the lack of sleep affect one’s state of alertness. Chewing gum and eating biscuits and fruits during breaks and the classic technique of pinching oneself help a lot.

But truth be told, some of the lectures are simply so fascinating that one remains awake and alert, and not merely interested (and no, class participation marks are not the reason!). Take for instance the Marketing Decision Making classes taught by Prof. Jagmohan S Raju from Wharton. His unique style of encouraging us to boldly go where we have not gone before by applying the theory learnt in the classrooms to real world problems always succeeds in giving me goose bumps because it dawns upon me that the concepts and techniques which we take for granted as purely academic are so implementable, practical and profitable in real world settings.

Another class, which I enjoy a lot is the Competitive Strategy class taken by Prof. Akbar Zaheer. Proferssor Zaheer is a master of story-telling and uses his skills to the maximum to inculcate concepts, facts and strategy related learning in us students.

He is a much travelled, much experienced professor and knows more industries inside-out than one can imagine. Due to his classes, the coffee machine outside the class probably gets used less than before!
Along the way, as term 2 starts receding away, one thing that doesn’t go away is the excitement, pace and liveliness of it all. Sleep or no sleep, every minute contributes and adds to my experience here. The speed of life continues to amaze me, it’s sometimes disorienting but mostly amazing.

It’s time to complete a few assignments and then enjoy the latest form of partying at ISB – the SV (Student Village) Crawl (a moving party if you will, sort of like the bar crawls that people engage in).

Until next time.

Lots of happenings on campus in the past 2 weeks – elections for club presidents, section representatives, subsequent selections for club posts, inter-section sports competitions, CAS information session, Dean’s ‘Take Charge’ address, corporate speakers sessions/interactive sessions, blood donation camp, and of course parties!

We had a huge ‘Bring down the class average’ party on Friday, or so I am told, but I missed it after having gone to sleep by 11 PM since I had donated blood that evening and was too tired to stay up. To compensate for my absence, I will attend the ‘Bring up the class average’ parties in our LRC this week! Mid-terms are round the corner, so its time to hit the books again with a vengeance.

In other relevant news, I am the Section A representative for Academic Affairs. My study group, as a result has an Academic representative as well as the Student Life Council Director, Abhishek ‘Party’ Shah. How much more diverse can a study group get?

Academic Representatives need to interface closely with the Academic Affairs Council to deal with anything related to our studies, and address all grievances effectively. I’ve always been a good student, and I think I will be able to do justice to this role that I’ve been elected to.

Subjects in term 2 are interesting – Competitive Strategy, Marketing Decision Making, Global Economics and Decision Models and Optimization. Most of these subjects are inter-related and this makes learning them that much more interesting. Its time for me to head back to my huge pile of assignments, and so I bid you goodbye until next time!