The first week returning to college

As most of you might already know, all of us doing this course are all working executives. We all pretty much feel the same way when we get back to college.

Here's a snippet of what you might go through too!

I got a mail with the subject "GMITE - IV Offer Letter". For a few seconds, I didn't even realize what it was. And then slowly, before I could consciously feel it, I was excited. I thought I'll send my confirmation letter immediately, but some unwanted, and meaningless thoughts crossed my mind and I was wondering if I should really take it. Is it really worth doing it? What will I get in return? Is this the time to do it? Do I not want to do a full fledged MBA? Why this? It is not recognized much. Blah blah, etc etc.

Trust me, I would've regretted it if I didn't send my acceptance letter.

My classes started on 18th Jan 2010. I woke up early that day, took the bus, and reached college on time. I knew where I had to go (but was not aware of the shortcuts) so walked up to the Management Development Center (known more as MDC) and as I walked into the center. After inquiring at the reception, I sat down for a little while and waited to be called. Sharp at 7:50 am, they asked us to collect our materials, which had a file, a carry bag, 2 text books and pens. Everything with IIMB written on it. Feeling proud for some reason, I walked into the class, and settled down. I was just looking around to see my fellow class mates. There was a whole variety of students. I later figured that some had as many as 20 years of experience! We quickly settled down, and sharp at 8:00 am, Prof. Krishna addressed the students, inviting us, and asking us to just enjoy the course :). Prof. Ragunath also spoke a few words later and then we had our group photo at sharp 8:45 am.
Classes started at 9:00 am. The first 2 sessions was by Dr Sridhar, an ENT surgeon, also a researcher/promoter of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Program). He was trying to teach us how to get back to being students. Some were as old as 47. He gave us a lot of tips on how to wake yourself up if you find yourself falling asleep, how to get over fear of any subject, how to exercise the brain, how to be active though the class, etc. It was a good beginning (although, he did get carried away and started talking about functioning of the brain :) )

We had 4 breaks,
1. Coffee/tea break with snacks/biscuits
2. Juice break
3. Lunch break
4. Coffee/tea break with samosa/pakoda/bajji kind of snacks.

Post lunch we had Macro Economics, our first subject.
Prof Shyamal Roy = Knowledge pool (biiiiiiiiiiiiggg pool).
He was just too good. No nonsense talks, no break the ice, no pep talk. Direct plunge into the subject. He broke down the macro economic concepts in such simple terms and giving live examples esp about India was really really good. He made me feel, "How could I be without knowing all these things all these days!!" Total awesome professor. Very humble, very nice.

At the end of the 1st day, I felt very happy with myself.

The next 4 days, we had Financial Accounting and Macro economics. Financial Accounting was taught by Hema Krishnamurthy ma'am. A visiting faculty who is actually a CA. Again, super cool, with a lot of patience and knowledge on the subject. She introduced me to Balance Sheets and Profit and Loss accounts, cash flow statements. The terms I had only heard of some years ago and something I thought was the most boring thing in the world. She educated us about their importance and boy, are they important!

That whole week, it was as though I had jumped to some fantasy land. Exploring the campus, admiring the teachers, learning real life practical stuff, going back to the library, ....

It was like going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The week ended with the Directors of the program giving us a welcome Dinner, which gave us an opportunity to socialize with our classmates and blend in the diversity.

A truly enjoyable week :)