First week @ ISB - Orientation

I reached Hyderabad early on April 15 and reached ISB around 09:30. We were directed to the student villages and were allotted rooms / apartments. The entire process was handled well, and minor hiccups were addressed quickly. Time slots were assigned to register and to complete joining formalities. The process went along smoothly but took around 2 hours to complete. I got a liberal dose of Hyderabad heat. The extraordinary amount of time spent indoors at office, and the last month at Japan ensured that the heat took its toll. I was dehydrated by the end of the day.

Major highlights of the week have been

- Address by Dean, Deputy Dean, CAS Director and various other people
- Clubs and Career Gyaan Sessions by Alums
- Activities and Games
- Section Gyaan
- Inter Section Competition

I will only focus on my takeaways from the event and will not focus on the event itself.

Address by the Dean, Deputy Dean, etc.
These focused on what the school has done in the past, what it is doing, and what is planned for the future. A great deal of emphasis was on Honor code, and the repercussions on violation of the same.

Takeaways
- Honor code is to be adhered to no matter what.
- Take charge - and make the best of your time
- Reflect - on what you are learning, and more importantly try to apply the learning to past situation and figure out what would you have done differently and why?

Clubs and Career Gyaan Sessions by Alums
Gyaan was coming out of all nooks and corners. It ranged from how to get that dream job to how to find time to enjoy. As you may have guessed the focus was on career and placements. Apart from this each club presented regarding what the club did, what could not be done, what could be done better etc. The highlight was that one year is a short time and proactive and focused action is required to make the best of the situation under time constraints.

Takeaway
- ISB will provide opportunities; it is up to you to make the best out of them
- Do not be carried away with placements, but don't forget them either

Activities and Games
These were the best part. Major activities were "Treasure Hunt", "Outbound", and "Sampling of Net Impact activities". The treasure hunt enabled us to gain familiarity with the nooks and corner of the campus.

Outbound was a sequence of activities for self-introspection, team-building, etc. The outbound was rounded off by a game in which groups competed to build an egg catcher. Essentially we built a device that would catch a device dropped from a height, the object being to catch the egg without breaking it. Our group did a great job to make the device, but unfortunately the egg thrower in our team missed the landing area of the device in each of the two tries we had. All in all good fun.

Net Impact Activities focused on how each one of us could make an impact to resolve or reduce the impact of social issues around us.

Section Gyaan
These were fun. Section A of previous year had many stalwarts. These included the GSB President, and a number of others who had made their mark for various other activities. The alums of section A exhorted us to emulate their achievements.

Inter Section Competition
The inter section competition was an inherent part of each of all activities mentioned above. Apart from this, we had Frisbee, cricket, and quiz competition. Our group won the Frisbee competition. However despite of wonderful performance in the talent show, we ended up second overall in the competition. All in all it was good fun. I was totally hoarse with all the slogan chanting.

I will definitely be succinct in the next posts.