After a long journey from Bombay, I finally reached the ISB Mohali campus. I was directed to the student hostels. As soon as I entered I was floored by the facilities . Upon reaching I was welcomed by a porter who came with giant trolley to escort my luggage to my room! Talk about service. The room was no less stunning – equipped with a study table, cupboard and a cosy single bed; the fully air-conditioned room felt warm and welcoming . Being on the 5th floor,  my room is airy and offers a sweeping view of the campus.The room was part of huge quad equipped with a TV, comfy leather sofas, a fridge, a stove and mostly all that you’d needed to live a good life.

My “quaddies” (people who live in the same 4-member quad as me) were all engineers but just one of them had stuck to engineering. Sidharth had gone into B2B Sales for an FMCG chain, Akash was a software developer who had spent the last two years at Teach For India and Suyash was an analytics guy . My registration was the next day so I had some time on my hands.  With my quad-mates I head to Sarovar  (the college mess) for dinner. Food was veg and so so.

I met up with a few people after dinner and bumped into Abhinav Kulshreshtra who had worked in Operations at Amazon, and was also a fellow Arsenal fan. We went for a quick walk around campus . The campus was small and cute, with varying architectural styles – the academic area had an industrial look, the student quarters looked more curvy and soothing . I spotted the gym, the swimming pool, the football ground and quickly started dreaming of the calories I would burn over the coming year. Having been told umpteen times by seniors that “you will sleep only 5 hours” thanks to intensive coursework and activities, I also wondered when I’d find time to use these facilities.

Later back in the quad, Akash and me started chatting up, only to discover both of us were Arsenal fans too! Next day was registration, the process was a smooth and breezy one (though it did take two hours). It was striking to see that the registration process was heavily student-run, alums were involved at every step of the process. I finally felt in, the months before this had involved a lot of confusion and doubt; should I go B-school? Why ISB? Why not? Is it going to be worth it? Will I be able to recover my student loan or live a life of poverty?  But now was the time to leave all of those thoughts behind, I was here, my student life had begun (again) and (as cheesy as it may sound) a year of possibilities stood in front of me. The following evening we had the Deans address. The Dean spoke about ISB’s momentous journey and how ISB produced more top-quality research than all of the other schools in India combined . Some stats about the incoming batch were shared. By any metric, ISB is one of the best B-schools in Asia and trying to become the best in the world.

The next week was O-week, short for Orientation week. They should call it dis-orientation week; it was packed with activities from dusk to dawn. By the end of the week, I had attended 4 parties, made a pitch for a new company, played football, ran a virtual business, completed a treasure hunt, learnt basic bhangra steps, made an Ad jingle, attended a class completely hungover, understood the traits of good leaders, analyzed my own personality and learnt about various clubs on campus . Phew!

Treasure hunts and parties involved staying up till 5 AM on many occasions and scrambling to class the morning after. Looks like it’s something I’ll be getting used to (on second thoughts, hopefully not!). Though I’ve been physically dead a few times, my mind seems to be enjoying every bit - the change of air, the new faces and fun that is to ensue, the beautiful campus, the jitters before presenting and speaking before large groups and much more. The O-week at ISB is designed to get you used to the fast-pace at which things happen at ISB, and boy did it do the trick. Me, a chronic lazy lump, who generally struggles to get out of bed before 10 AM, now springs out of bed by 7 AM.  Now the first thought when I when wake up is what am I running late for? It’s been heartening to see a lot of people try dancing, stand-up, beatboxing for the first time on stage. I hope to try a few things during the year too, stretch myself in weird ways and find new parts of me. A year of transformation? Here’s hoping for one.