Pushing one's limits - an amazing way of life!

Its 5.30 AM. almost 3/4 of our batch is still up writing research proposals!
This simply HAS to be the last day to this term!!
What a term this has been! from never ending media classes and brand science lectures to curriculum change rules, to lost laptops and "the great house arrest of 2007" to late night WYWI sessions to the furore over the placecomm, this term has been my best at MICA.

A batch meeting that was called by the placecomm at 4 AM has just ended.But the day is far from over. The very last bit of submissions for this term (and the biggest one) is yet to be turned in. The reading room of the library never looked more crowded. And in this state of broken body and tired mind and incoherent thoughts, I once again reiterate that this simply HAS to be the last day of the term. We are leaving for our rural research this afternoon. I am saying "this afternoon" but it still feels like "tomorrow" afternoon, cos on this planet called MICA, a new day never starts until after you have slept at least a couple of hours in the early morning.

I cannot remember how many days it has been since we have been toiling away on classes, long days of playing the online marketing simulation game markstrat to creating a simulated retail store on campus, to writing 2 exams to writing the research proposal.
I think it has been 5. I might be wrong.

At MICA, time is simply suspended. Weekends have no meaning, weekdays are not special either. What holds, simply, is your ability to push your physical, mental and emotional limits as you exist far away from civilisation.

This is my home, this is my family for now...and this is my way of life. I am coming to love it as each day passes and although sometimes, I scream my lungs out and say I want to run away to the "cool" refuge of bangalore and home, I know really that I wouldn't miss even one day of the action on campus.

I shall end here as there yet remains a couple of hours of sleep, a lot of thoughtful packing, polishing and submission of the research proposal, and last minute things to get before the journey to be crammed into about 8 hours.

However, if I were to make one closing statement, it would be this:

This is the only way to live!!

Sunday? wo kya hota hai?

Sunday morning 11.30 am. Got up at 10.30 am and rushed to class. Presentations going on in class…now the whole case is making some sense to me!

Just realised that it’s a Sunday. Its been a long time since the word Sunday meant anything to any of us on campus. We have whole day classes again today. In fact its been long since the word "holiday" has meant anything except for pining and dreaming for it.

And hence, the burning question in my mind is:

Sunday, wo kya hota hai?

Snapshots from Hell

September 2nd, 6.38 am IST ( dont know wht the blog is saying 1st september - its probably US time)

When I was thinking of doing my MBA, someone recommended the book snapshots from hell to me. It is a must read for every MBA aspirant. Basically it talks about how hectic MBA life is.
And although MICA is not your conventional B-School, life gets veryyy busy here too. The first term of the second year has been filled with Media courses.

Would like to share with you a day in the life of a MICAn.

What did I do today? and by today I mean 1st and 2nd september cos I havent gone to bed yet.

Got up at 10, having gone to bed at 3 after having sent in a case study for a contest and then having taken a bath at 2.30am, realised that I had forgotten that I had a product management class at 9 am. Anyways..so the next class started at 10.30..so dashed straight to class. Class goes on till 6.15 pm. with 15-20 min breaks in between and a 40 min lunch break. The subject is Strategic Media Planning, basically, media planning is about planning where you will advertise and how much. But it isnt as simple as it sounds. So The prof, an ex-MICAn, in his great enthusiasm overloads us with more info than we can digest in 2 days. He taught us, apparently, how to make a business plan.

Then he handed over a case study for us to do overnight..which he claimed, would take 3 hours to do. I had estimated 5-6. So, I relaxed a bit and then went on to paint a long overdue picture on my friend's room door. Finished at 9 p.m. Had dinner. Went for a stroll for 10 mins. The group was supposed to meet at 10 cos 2 ppl from our group are in the placement committee and they had a meeting. But we started at 11 as they finished their meeting then.

Started off with no clue what to do..the assignment brief was vague to say the least and the data insufficient. Just finished the PPT at 6 am. 6 of us were left finally. And here, I must salute our hard working placecomm team mates who stayed till the very end!! Here's to the MICAn spirit!!

And now...off to bed. Have a class in 4 hours.