A week in IIMB

Hi friends, its me again. This time reporting as a student of IIM Bangalore. Its been a week since our classes started, after a few days of inauguration and orientation. A few facts emerged from this interaction: we have 11 yrs of mean experience, over hundred years of international experience between us, and have representation from more industries than even I thought!

Factor in the salaries we have had to give up to reach here, and its no surprise that the energy levels are super-high. The 90 minutes classes seemed daunting before we started, but the interaction is so vibrant that there's usually surprise that the time is up. We all wrote and anticipated that classroom learning will be an important part pf the education, but we never bargained on so much interaction.

These last few days have been a blur. Picking up a calculator after almost two decades, I wondered how I will cope with the quant jocks that are bound to be there. And they are there, make no mistake, but the teaching is so great that whether its probability, accounts, economics or organization design..... the profs make sure teaching is accessible as well as challenging. When our program chair said the faculty are world class, he wasn't kidding.

Ohh and by the way,. we already had our first sets of quizzes yesterday. When i said the profs were great, I didn't mean they were willing to give us any time to dawdle.... and its going to get tougher. I don't know how I'll find time, but will try to keep you guys posted.

Falling asleep, waiting for the dream

I'm going to IIM.

Never thought I'd ever utter these words. Except to meet someone, of course. Come to think of it, I don't even have a friend who has gone to an IIM. All m friends are busy administering harmful substances and making carving marks on sick people.

I am a surgeon, still. For another 50 days. Then I'll be a student doing 1 yr EPGP course at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. I'm still coming to terms with it, trying not to get carried away by the feeling.

Thankfully there is already a community of admits, and their brilliance keeps me grounded. I was selected in R2, and when I joined the Yahoo group, there was already so much buzz, so many activities, and so much going on that it took me a few days to just get my bearings around the group. The guys and gals have been doing a fantastic job. There are already committees and dedicated committee members doing a lot of legwork (and brain-work) for all our sake. Kudos to them, too many to name here, but they and everyone else know who they are.

Right now the majority of us is going through the process of securing a loan in a risk-averse climate. Through efforts of IIM and the group we have been able to secure a collateral free loan, but it was not easy.

There were a lot of study groups when I joined but I wonder how much people ae studying now. I hope not much, because I'm not. After obsessing over the MBA application process I'm now freaking out with movies. Will watch Slumdog soon, but saw Danny Boyle's Trainspotting recently..... mind blowing. A few scenes are bound to stick with you foreever

I think that's enough rambling for a day, and hope to catch up later.