Day 1 - Officially an ISBian

To say that this has been long due would be an understatement. I have been thinking about writing this entry for almost six months now. But whenever I sat down to write, the lazy me quickly navigated to Facebook or YouTube. To be completely honest, I couldn’t have written this in my initial few days because of two reasons. One, I was still getting used to the place and was still exploring, and two, and more important one, I did not get much of free time.

At this point, let me explicitly tell you, in case you haven’t figured out already, what I am talking about. I write this to share about a very important day of my life – April 19, 2014, the day I officially became an ISBian (Students and Alumni of Indian School of Business).

The credit for introducing me to ISB goes to my dad. He had told me about the school much before I was even eligible to apply. Having waited several years and spent considerable amount of time on the admission essays and interview preparations, I was really anxious about the results. Here, I must mention that I had already resigned from my job and was serving my notice period. An unfavourable result would have meant that I would be jobless as well as admission-less. 

On the afternoon of November 14, 2013, the notification light on my phone blinked and at the same moment my heart skipped a beat. All I could see in the notification was that I had received an e-mail from Indian School of Business. I closed my eyes, said my prayers, and mustered up all the courage to open the mail – “ISB Admission Offer” – read the subject. The subject itself was enough and in my excitement, I didn’t even open the mail. Celebrations were in order. 

I had almost two entire months off before the school started and I made full use of the time. My activities led to me gaining quite a lot of weight and my sleep bank over flowing with excess sleep hours. My dad used to joke – “Sleep all you want now. You will surely miss it once the school starts”. Well, in hindsight, it wasn’t really a joke! 

Cut to April 18, 2014, T – 1 day to officially becoming an ISBian. I had reached Hyderabad a day in advance and had checked-in into a nearby hotel. Needless to say, I couldn’t get any sleep on the night of April 18, as I was really excited for the next day. 

I had already finished the online formalities on the new admits portal before reaching Hyderabad. On the night of April 18, we got our room allotment mail from ISB and the local WhatsApp/Telegram/Facebook groups went crazy with people trying to figure out who their quad mates were. I was allocated a room in Student Village 4 (hostels in ISB are called Student Villages). 

The next day I had an early breakfast and headed straight to the ISB campus. I remember reaching at around 10:00 am although my registration slot was for 1:00 pm. I was guided directly to my SV and I checked-in into my room. Check-in process itself was pretty smooth and the housekeeping staff helped me with my luggage. Since I had a couple of hours to spare, I decided to unpack my bags. This was definitely the best decision I took that day because once the Orientation week (O-week) activities start, there is no free time at all and you would only be able to unpack after a week. 

I was amazed by how nicely the entire registration process was organized. Everything was arranged in such a manner that although there were 500+ people to be registered, there was hardly any delay or bottle-neck (Wow, I actually managed throwing in an operations jargon). All credit must be given to the folks from Class of 2014 who had put in a lot of effort to ensure that we didn’t face any difficulty. At any other place you would expect the process to take around a couple of hours, considering the number of formalities that we had to take care of. However, it took us just about an hour and never did we feel lost. Within a few hours of being at ISB, I was already impressed. 

During the registration, we were also given the schedule for the O-week and our section t-shirts. I must say that at first the schedule did look a bit daunting. However, what stood out in the entire process for me was the last step. I still remember the incident clearly. There was alum who said two things. The first was more of a question – 

Alum (A): Do you like parties? 

Me: Yes, of course

A: Great! See you at the Back-to-School party tonight! 

I was delighted by this conversation. I thought to myself, “Wow, a party on the first day itself!” 

Before I could leave, he handed me a sheet of paper which had stuff written all over it and said, “Oh, by the way. This is the case that is due for tomorrow. Ensure that you read this and come to class!”

All I could think of was – “Welcome to MBA!”

We had a small event in the evening where we were formally welcomed into ISB by the alumni and the dean. It was the first time when all 550 of us were standing in the atrium, together. 

The most wonderful feeling? Hearing the alum say – “Welcome to Indian School of Business! You are now a part of the ISB family and are standing in the atrium of one of the best business schools in the country.” The chant – ISB Rocks – filled the air and I am sure all of us had Goosebumps. 

My dream was finally coming true. This was just the first day of what has become a very eventful and transformational journey and I loved every bit of it. 

PS I have deliberately left out few events/activities of Day 1 as I don’t want to spoil the experience for the incoming class by revealing too much!
More on O-week and rest of the journey to follow soon, or may be not.