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.