However, within one term at ISB I know at least one area where ISB is the clear leader – the faculty! ISB has already exposed me to some of the best professors that I have seen in my whole life.

Bruce Allen is the one that I personally respect and admire. He is the Professor of Business and Public Policy, Regional Science and Transportation at Wharton and also the Director of the Wharton Transportation Program. He is one of the visiting professors that we have here at ISB.

Prof. Allen taught us Microeconomics. The first interaction that we as a class had with him was one email that he sent to all of us. Usually all class related communication is already in the course details and additional information is sent by the Teaching Assistants. What was touching was that Prof. Allen sent us all mail himself, and it was a practise he continued until he finished the course.

The following lines in his first email gave me jitters and increased my curiosity with regard to this professor. “….Otherwise, there’s nothing else to do except come with a healthy appetite for learning (this has a double meaning as you’ll soon see!) and discussion.”

The first time that I saw him, he came across as a giant. He must be taller than 6 feet and has a very commanding presence in class. Thanks to his build, he seemed like a biker, a Harley-Davidson enthusiast, perhaps.

The best thing about him is his energy. He must be close to 60 yrs of age (having completed his PhD in 1969 when nobody from the class of 2010 was even born) and yet he exuded an aura of energy and enthusiasm. His syllabus was vast. But, it was comprised of some of the most interesting concepts I’ve learnt in ISB till date.

He brought in a certain liveliness to the class. Game theory were so much fun because of the unique style he explained it in. And I have never understood an alien concept like I understood insurance and warranty. Full credit to Professor Allen.

Then there were Mark Finn and John Zhang from Kellogg and Wharton respectively. Both were amazing in their own ways.

Mark Finn made Financial Accounting extremely easy to understand and implement because of his systematic approach to teaching. He exhibited a deep understanding of accounting practises worldwide and provided us with some very interesting examples from around the globe to reinforce concepts that he’d taught us. The concept of homegrown assets, for instance was showcased by using Paul Scholes of Manchester United as an example, and his sincerety, dedication and extensive prepration towards each class was evident in the four hours we spent with him each week.

John Zhang, PhD twice over, had this amazing sense of humor which heused to quote some off-the-wall, remarkable comments which eventually helped imprint the concepts on the subject firmly in my mind. His last class on Marketing Communication stretched to two and a half hours, and even if it would’ve lasted for another thirty minutes, I’d have still stayed on. That particular class shall be etched on in my mind for a long time to come.

Would I be able to learn from such people anywhere else? I am not quite sure, but what I do know is that learning from the best professors from different schools around the world adds so much to our learning experience, and this is why ISB is the place to be!

Premjeet – Section E – 61010403

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