Term 8 done - 100% MBA

My system clock said 3:36 AM on 29th March 2008. I realized it was a marquee moment in my life. I just completed my last take home exam for PWPT and got technically done with all academic work. Quickly emailed the assignment to Stefan Thau, my prof, took a print out and went to the academic center to drop it. Didn't stop there, took J one of my good friends at ISB to take a picture of me making the last submission (I'm a senti moron. See pic below). We came back and to celebrate the occasion opened up the bottle of red wine, which my future employer had sent with their welcome kit. After two glasses of wine and the onset of a mild confusion we both set out on a walk of revelation, nostalgia and soul-searching. Finally came back to the room at 6:30 AM and crashed :). lol...

Term 8 was a breeze. I took four subjects once again (How boring). Business to Business Marketing(BBMK), Microfinance (MFIN), Behavioral Finance (BEFN) and Power & Politics (PWPT) were my subjects this term. Gary Lilien, supposedly the next Kotler took the first half of BBMK. Really enjoyed listening to old-school style lectures from this Penn State prof. And well in some ways marketing engineering or scientific marketing is what I'm gonna take as my first job post-MBA. MFIN was interesting and my behavior had changed so much Term 8 to assimilate anything from BEFN !!! PWPT was an interesting subject but I was not in any mood to drag myself to do great work. Nevertheless the insights from PWPT are going to help me for a long long time in life. In total... Term 8, total timepass :).

Have a week more on campus with a one day trip to see the new employer mid-way. Lotsa people are headed to Goa/Dandeli etc. Come friday ISB will be a different place with parents and relatives of all students flocking in. Ah...well, it is a dream come true for many of us and who better to have in your midst.

Khatam Khatam

Life moves on. This is the last week of classes and I have just one quiz and one take home exam remaining. Next week is disorientation week. Our laptops will be removed of all MBA course software and we all will get out of the network. The exit formalities have been outlined and soon we all we be on our way out :(
Well we don't stop at that. Already extensive planning is on for the orientation program for the Class of 2009. I'll get to stay for 8 more days at ISB starting the 11th of next month. It will be interesting to see a new batch come in with all new spirits (pun intended).
Had friends from Chennai come over last weekend and we all enjoyed Holi together. This was my first real full-fledged holi celebrations and the word "ultimate" is a let down. In fact Holi would easily rank as my best day here. And in the middle of all this I did some more restaurant hopping (Mediterranean and Terrace bay - both turning out to be quite good).
Tomorrow is the last day of classes. We all are gonna be in ISB T-shirts. It is so sad that the year is getting over. Today in BEFN class the entire 8 terms ran through my mind. I have to admit that this feels really strange. Anyways as I said in the beginning of this post, life moves on.

Some fun atlast

So finally we get to enjoy Hyderabad. I haven't chilled so much in quite sometime. While I still maintain the same schedules, this time around I laze around in friend's quads, watch flood light cricket, eat out and just chat a lot on gtalk. Today we are having a sleepover at the atrium. It is incredibly strange and funny to have this in the academic centre but it is fun in some ways. So many beds have been put and a movie is being screened. The SLC (Student Life Council) is determined to make every single day remaining at ISB a really enjoyable one.
This week is mid-term week and we have some work but the last 3 weeks have been quite some fun. After having visited quite a few restaurants around hyd it is now time to pass some comments

Chutneys - A vegetarian's delight. Good Dosas (Try the MLA dosa), vadas and buffet.
Malgudi - Really poor service, so poor that it can make you feel that the food is bad even though it is average.
Bhavarchi - Really reputed for its Biriyanis but sadly we were not impressed. The biriyani was bland and they ran out of stuff at 9 PM (All for a highly reputed 24-hour biriyani place)
Sampradaya - Excellent veggie. buffet. You get the best of South India and the ambience is truly amazing.
Southern Spice - Once more bad service. But the food was really good. The fish curry could have been slightly better but overall very enjoyable.
Laguna - Very impressive mediterranean plus Italian fare. Good falafels, tasty pizzas, salads and pastas. Very satisfying overall and not to forget the great ambience
Fusion 9 - Trendy, upmarket and infested with Firangs and page 3 crowd. Bad service but pretty decent food with good cheeses and steak.
Angethi - Nice punjabi food. Dont miss the biriyani and the mutton soup. They are really good.

I know that I still have a few more good ones left. Please do suggest...I hardly have a month left.
The last weekend a small group of friends here went on a one day trip to Nagarjuna sagar dam (150 km from here). It was a pleasant road trip with a nice little island museum and a beautiful waterfall (Ettipottala falls - pic below). I realize that this period of fun is really shortlived. Can't imagine going out and living the tough corporate life again :( :(. Where is the pause button?