My Story - ISB and beyond !!!

• Indian School of Business (ISB)
• Delhi College of Engineering (DCE)
 

• Anoop Vijaykumar
• Bharanidharan V
• Ford Prefect
• Raghini Rajaram
• Raja Banerjee
• Ram (Thats me)
• Ramki S

Vocal
• Sanjay Subrahmanyan
• Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer
• TM Krishna
• TN Seshagopalan
• R. Vedavalli
• Bombay Jayashri

Violin
• Lalgudi Jayaraman
• M.S.Gopalakrishnan

Mridangam
• My Guru (old site)
• Palghat Mani Iyer
• Karaikudi Mani
• Umayalapuram Sivaraman
• Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan

Ghatam
• TH Vinayakaram
• S Karthick
• Suresh

Khanjira
• G. Harishankar

• Great Bong
• Indian Economy Blog
• Malcolm Gladwell
• Rajdeep Sardesai
• Rama Bijapurkar
• Rashmi Bansal
• World Bank PSD Blog
 

• Collaborative Blog


Class of 2006
• Alok on "Learnings from ISB"
• Alok Srivastava
• Amit Sharma
• Ankur Warikoo
• Anoop Vijaykumar
• Ashish Pokharna
• Bharanidharan V
• Chandrashekar Vattikutti
• Ford Prefect
• Gautam Chugani
• Girishkrishnan A
• Karthik Ganesan
• Karthik Ramachandran
• Manish Madan
• Nishant Jayaprakash
• Prameet Kamat
• Raghini Rajaram
• Ramki A
• Rohit Kapoor
• Ruchir Shah
• Sandeep Jha
• Shameek Chakravarty
• Shankar Prakash J
• Shilpa Arora
• Shrutkeerti Khurana
• Simran Khara
• Sridhar Katta
• Suneetha Nagaraj
• Vaibhav Fadnavis
• Vijay Mulbagal
• Vikram Salgaonkar
• Vineeth Kumar
• Wife of an ISBian


Class of 2007
• Abhishek Jain
• Alok Jain
• Anuradha Sunku
• Archana Rao
• Arun Dhar
• Chiranth Chanappa
• Deepak Mittal
• Disha Rustogi
• Kapil Mantri
• Karthik Bharathy
• Kiran Cavale
• Kishore Krishna
• Krishnan Ramaswami
• Kumar Rajendran
• Mahesh Shenoy
• Manu Karan
• Nikhil Kamma
• Nikhil Kaushik
• Piyush Kheria
• Pratima Jayaram
• Priyanka Rath
• Rishik Ghosh
• Rujuta
• Sabyasachi Mohanty
• Santosh BS
• Satish Udayagiri
• Sharad Mittal
• Shivangi Tiwari
• Sowmya Velayudham
• Sukalp Sharma
• Sumit Poddar
• Sundeep Tibrewal
• Swapnil Deopurkar
• Swapnil Nadkar
• Venkat Raman
• Vinay Pandey
• Vithal Donakonda
• Yashovardhan Gupta

Girish a.k.a Giks getting his harness strapped from Piru (one of our hosts at Greenfields)

Thats me on the Burma Bridge

Thats a sample of the greenery @ greenfields for you

Ashok, who was one of the guys in my group, doing the group's dance

A group of students has their hands knotted while playing the "Knotty Game"

Thats probably how worse the knots can get

Zenobia, our sweet instructor, doing CP ... i.e., explaining some fundae

My group having some real fun moving around playing "Tied in a rope"

Zenobia in action ... fundae again

Our tents getting drenched in the rain

The landing terminals prepared by the three groups in the egg-drop game

Thats the entire group of students

ISB Celebrates its Fifth Successful Graduating Class

Hyderabad, April 8, 2006: The Indian School of Business held its Graduation Day for the Class of 2006 at its campus in Hyderabad today. Three hundred and forty five students were awarded certificates for the Post Graduate Programme in Management at the school’s Fifth Graduation ceremony. Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman TATA Sons Limited, the Chief Guest for the evening gave away the certificates to the students who got on to the stage in black gowns adorned with the School colours, as family and friends watched them glowing with pride. Mr. Rajat Gupta, Chairman of the Governing Board of ISB and Members of the ISB Executive & Governing Board were some of the distinguished guests present on the occasion.

Addressing the ceremony, Professor Rammohan Rao, Dean, Indian School of Business said, “Our students have done exceptionally well. The talents of our students have been well appreciated by the corporate world, and we have had yet another outstanding placements season. It has been our endeavour at the ISB to provide an environment to suit the changing trends of the global business scenario so that the graduating students are well-equipped to take-up meaningful and challenging assignments. We wish all of our graduates the best as they venture off on the paths they have choose to travel.

In an inspiring speech replete with encouragement, the Chief Guest, Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman Tata Sons Limited said that the graduation was, “A great moment for the students because it marked the termination of a curriculum which is amongst the best in the country and also because you head into the business world in India at a very exciting time-a time when India is being seen by the world as a country on the move. And you have an opportunity to play a role in the future development of the country.” He went on to say, “If you believe in what you are trying to do and pursue it and stay with it in a determined manner, I am sure you will succeed.” He concluded his address by wishing the graduating students, “I hope that a class like yours will leave your mark not only on your colleagues in the industry but for future generations to look back on you.”

Thanking the faculty at the ISB and the family members of the students for helping them achieve their goal, Mr. Rajat Gupta, Chairman of the Governing Board of ISB asked the graduating class, “Go with a learning mindset. You will learn from everything you do, but only if you look and have the mindset.” He encouraged the students to help others succeed, “If you make other people successful, they in turn will help you succeed.” He requested the students to learn the habit of giving, “You have got a lot from the society and the institution. Give back to both in whatever measure for it will hold you in great stead.”

Jubilant cheers rent the normally calm atmosphere that characterises the Academic Centre as the Class of 2006 came up to the stage to collect their certificates. The crowning moment of a year that has seen the students achieve many firsts, was witnessed and celebrated by their families and friends who had come in from all over the country, ISB Board members and many corporate honchos.

The School launched with pride, yet another batch of very bright and energetic change drivers to unleash their managerial magic in the industry. At the graduation Shankar Prasad and Gaurav Bansal were awarded the ISB Scholars of Excellence Awards in recognition of their all-round exceptional academic performance. The ISB Merit Scholarships were awarded to the top 53 students of the class for their distinctive performance in various spheres during the year of study.

Shankar Prasad, a proud student and one of the top performers of the Class of 2006 said, “I was thrilled to be a part of a student group drawn from all over the world with diverse backgrounds. It’s been a challenging year but every moment has been worth it. We would like to thank the ISB for giving to us an environment of learning and instilling in us a drive to achieve this monumental goal. We owe it to the world-class faculty for being our instructors, mentors, and friends during our memorable stint at the ISB.”

The outgoing class organized successful summits and knowledge sharing sessions in different spheres which saw participation from eminent business and political leaders, leading academicians and young achievers. Some of the notable ones being – organizing the ISB Leadership Summit which provided a platform for evoking thought leadership in a global business environment, Ikshaa -The Marketing Summit giving valuable insights to the marketers of tomorrow and the healthcare summit giving an overview of the healthcare industry which is becoming increasingly diverse. The varied experiences and approaches adopted by the students through the year contributed to enriching the learning experience at the ISB.

As the evening came to a close moods of joy slowly faded to one tinged with a touch of sadness as the realisation dawned that the incredible experience that is the ISB had come to an end for another class. The young men and women who said the final hurrah at the campus this evening were now moving out, ready to script their individual destinies.

About the ISB

The Indian School of Business is a research-oriented independent management institution that grooms future leaders for India and the world. Its association with the Kellogg School of Management, The Wharton School, and London Business School make it one of its kind in Asia. The School offers a one-year Post Graduate Programme; short-duration, high-powered Executive Education programmes for CEOs and senior executives; and a two-year Research Fellowship Programme. The origins and distinctive research of our faculty members ensure that our programme content is contemporary and global in its perspective, and develops our students’ understanding of modern management opportunities and challenges.

For more information, please contact:

Bhuvana Ramalingam
Director - Communications
Indian School of Business
Tel: 09394568016

Chief Guest, Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman Tata Sons Limited with Rajat Gupta, Chairman, ISB at the Graduation Day Ceremony of the Class of 2006 at the ISB.

Professor M Rammohan Rao, Dean , ISB shaking hands with the Chief Guest Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman Tata Sons Limited during the Graduation Ceremony of the Class of 2006 at the ISB.

Chief Guest Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman Tata Sons Limited , speaking at the Graduation Day Ceremony at the ISB.

Graduating Students of the Class of 2006 at the ISB

(L to R) Vikram & I

Thats me

Thats me again ...

Some of my batchmates from my section (D)

ISB Yound Leader & ISB Torchbearer Award (YLA & TBA)

Ankur Warikoo (YLA & TBA)

Krishna Gopal Depura (YLA & TBA)

Thats me (YLA & TBA)

Rohit Kapoor (YLA & TBA)

Anand (TBA)

Barney a.k.a Bharani (TBA)

Do not have snaps of the other TBA recepients.

Professors & TA of the year

Prof. Krishna Kumar (Best Professor - Core Terms)

Prof. Nirmal Gupta (Best Professor - Elective Terms, my favorite)

Muzaffar Jamal (Best Academic Associate of the year)

posted by Ram at 8:45 AM 4 comments

Friday, April 07, 2006

Tomorrow is the big day

Its graduation day tomorrow - officially the last day of my year at ISB. We had the dress rehearsal of the graduation ceremony along with the batch photograph session today afternoon. We also had the awards for the Best Professor of the Core Terms, Best Professor of the Elective Terms, Best Academic Associate and the ISB Young Leaders and ISB Torchbearers award presented today evening. Please click here for more details on the award ceremony.

The near and dear ones of many students are there on campus for the graduation ceremony and many areas on campus suddenly look so densely populated. Dad's on campus too and seems quite impressed by the infrastructure here.

Will post snaps from the graduation day and batch photograph sessions later. Since I am disconnected from the ISB network (as a part of the exit process), I can no longer access internet as easily as I used to do earlier. Hence the delay in posting the snaps and in replying to some of the comments.

Will be back with more news from the graduation day tomorrow.

posted by Ram at 7:21 PM 2 comments

Thursday, April 06, 2006

News about Class of 2006 Placements

You can check out the following links for some news about the Class of 2006 placements. A word of caution in case you are planning to apply to b-schools: Though ISB has broken many records w.r.t b-school placements (highest international salary offered etc), please do not judge a b-school just by the highest or the average salary that a batch got. There is lot more to evaluating your fit with a B-School than just this and there are lot more good things about ISB than just this. Here are a few links:

ISB achieves its best ever placement results
Lateral Placements and Career Shifts: Pioneering Concepts by the ISB
Growing Focus on Job Satisfaction
Media Emerges as a Hot Sector

Official Press Release about the Placements

posted by Ram at 7:48 AM 2 comments

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Graduation day draws closer

Just three more days to go to graduation !!

Went to the Golconda fort yesterday in the evening. The sound and light show was impressive (they basically tell you about the histrory of the fort and the narrative is supported by lights thrown at different places in the fort so as to maintain your attention on the story). Went to a movie after that.

I have given my laptop for formatting to the IT department here today as a part of the exit formalities. This essentially means that I will not have the luxury of sitting in my room and accessing internet any more.

I plan to come back to ISB for the orientation week planned for the next batch. Will be a good experience to actually meet people with whom I have been corresponding till now through mail/phone.

One more piece of information before I sign off ..... ISB is officially declaring the placements results of our batch today. Heard that there are press conferences today in Delhi and in Hyderabad.

posted by Ram at 9:20 AM 6 comments

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Enjoying the last few days here

I am just chilling out and enjoying the last few days on campus as a student. It feels really strange to no longer have any assignments to do or bulkpacks to read.

Went to see the movie "Being Cyrus". The movie has a powerful cast (Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia, Saif Ali Khan, Boman Irani etc) who have done their job well, but I felt the storyline lacks the punch. May not be a good choice for a movie in case you are one of those types that wants a good return for the expenditure made on the ticket(s), but ok to watch in case you just want to do timepass.

Came back to campus close to midnight. Aditya, Vikram and I then decided to hit the tennis courts (on campus) and had a lot of fun playing tennis for 3 hours from about 12:45AM to 3:45AM.

Graduation ceremony is on the 8th and the admin guys have almost completed setting up the AC hangars for the same. Pictures are available on Barney's blog. Students have started getting the required clearances on their exit form. Many have gone to Goa for 3-4 days. Alok has gone to Tirupati to get rid of all his sins and should be back tomorrow. The quad will be up to full occupancy then and it will be even more fun with everyone busy taking KP's happiness :-)

posted by Ram at 4:30 AM 2 comments

Monday, April 03, 2006

A trip to Nagarjunasagar

A group of us planned all of a sudden during the party day before yesterday to go to Nagarjunasagar and hit the road yesterday morning. Nagarjunasagar is the world's largest masonry dam and is located about 150 kms away from Hyderabad. The dam was inaugurated on 10th Dec 1955 by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India and construction was completed in 1966.

We left ISB at about 9:15AM (had planned to start by 7AM earlier .... blame it on the party) on 3 bikes and a Tata Indica and reached Nagarjunasagar at about 1:15PM. It should usually take about 3 hrs to travel to Nagarjunasagar but we got delayed thanks to a rally or something that was happening near one of the villages en-route. Driving a bike to the place might be a good idea if the weather is pleasant but it might prove to be a bit difficult if the weather is too hot. Luckily for us, though the weather was bright and sunny, it wasn't as hot as usual and the people who rode the bikes enjoyed the experience.

When we reached the last stretch that would lead to the dam (the last stretch essentially being a road that curves around the lake formed by the dam) we were told that cars would have to take a separate route to the place but bikes would be allowed to proceed ahead.

The road from where this snap has been taken is the one used by bikes. The road that you can see curving below this one is the one that is used by cars.

View from the road used by cars and heavy vehicles

When we reached the dam, we traveled over it using bikes and had a very good view of the dam and its surroundings. Its really amazing to imagine how they would have built it back then. Cars are a strict no-no here. People who have come with cars can take auto-rickshaws that will take them over the dam and bring them back. There are also boat rides to the Nagarjunakonda museum that is located on an island nearby and the last trip to the museum is at about 1:30PM. We decided to skip the trip and instead spend more time at the Ettipotala falls (thats how it was spelt at the entrance to the falls).

A distant view of the dam and the reservoir

After seeing the dam, we had lunch at a restaurant called Samagamam in a place called Vijay Vihar nearby. The food was South Indian and it tasted good. The side dishes were manageable.


We then left for the Ettipotala falls which are located about 15 kms from the dam. There is one single road that leads to the falls but you have to be very careful not to miss a small board that indicates that you have to take a left turn to the falls from the main road. Here is a snap of the board and you can see for yourself that it is kind of difficult to see it (and of course read the stuff that is written, in case you don't know Telugu) unless you know about it and are on the lookout for it.

The Ettipotala falls are formed from the rain waters of the Nallamalai hills. More details on the same below:

You can do two things here. To have a good view of the falls, you can buy tickets (Rs. 15 per head for adults and Rs 10 per head for children) and have a good look from top and/or you can proceed downstream and take a bath. We decided to take a dip first and spent about 2 hours lazing around in the stream that emerges from the falls. Though the water isn't very deep, the rocky bed is very slippery due to a thick layer of algae that has formed over the years. The water, due to its flow, also tries to pull you downstream but there are rocks to hold on to. Here are a few snaps:

L to R: Rajani, Raam (not me, the other one ... note the extra 'a' in the name), Rishi, Ram (thats me) and Mani. Murali and Karthik, who are the other members of the gang are missing from this pic.

Karthik a.k.a KR a.k.a KaRa

Chandravanka and Suryavanka that constitute the Ettipotala falls

The falls

View from the spot downstream where we took a dip

There is a light show that happens when it gets dark in which you can see the falls lighted with different colors. We decided not to stay for the show and started our return journey at about 5:45PM. We reached ISB at 9:45PM. Here are some more snaps:

The falls

A group of folk dancers performing near the falls

posted by Ram at 10:06 AM 3 comments

Sunday, April 02, 2006

More parties

S had invited some of us to his home for dinner. I had home-cooked food after a long long time and I must thank S and his wife J for the same. Felt really nice eating such good food without using fork and spoon (with hands of course) after such a long time. Vatha kolambu (a South Indian dish similar to sambar) was prepared real delicious. Unable to move around after stuffing ourselves, we all then sat at one place and sang a lot of songs. After that we moved to K's house where he and his wife P had kept desserts ready. Watched a real old, hilarious tam movie for some time after that. We then went to the party (April fools day party?) that was organized here.

Life has suddenly become real cool ... not that it was real sad types earlier, but then there used to be at least something to do almost everyday. But now, the only main thing that is left is getting all exit related formalities completed. The rest of the day looks so boring.

We have planned for a trip outside Hyderabad and we plan to travel the entire distance on bikes. The time we get up tomorrow, or should I say today, will decide whether we go on the trip or not. I think I better sleep off now if I have the slightest desire to make the trip.

Till the next post then ........ zzzzzz

posted by Ram at 1:36 AM 1 comments