Reflections from a year and a summer

Its a bit strange, when you get caught up in things, you do them without realising why and if they even make sense. B-school, for some, may be something like that. I've had some time to reflect this summer - during my internship, during my time off in the evenings and during this break from Fuqua.

What I've realised though is this - most people come to B-School thinking these 2 years are going to be the best ones of their lives - because thats what they've been told by their friends who went to b-school, whose friends' friends went to b-school and so on (you get the drift..). And in that quest to make it the BEST 2 years of their life, they go all out, thinking these 2 years don't even matter in a way. That in itself though is a idiocyncricity - if you can define 2 years as the best of your life, and you still have to live the rest of your life, how do you know these 2 years were the best ones? :)

My problem though, at a larger scale with B-school (not Fuqua specifically, B-schools in general) is this - why do people fall in the rat race? 90% of the people you run into are running the rat race - it starts off with who fits in best, the orientation parties, the 'best section', the 'best team', the 'best courses'..and as days and terms go on, it becomes the race for 'the best resume', the best mock interview, the best closed list notifications (how many did you get? as if number is a reflection of one's ability!), the best internship. Even today, mainstream schools don't recognise untraditional fields such as social entrepreneurship or non-profit organization management, as ones that require MBAs. The attitude may be changing but it still has a long way to go.

For the prospectives and first years just starting b-school , let me say this...these 2 years DO matter. Its impossible to be best friends with the people you meet at orientation parties on the 1st day and think you have so much in common with. Truth is, you probably won't run into them again for the rest of the 2 years! Networking is not a skill, talent or ability - its really a mindset. Either you agree with it or you don't. If you don't, don't try to make yourself agree with it.

Think over things that you end up doing and how you're spending your time too. I thought proms, luao parties and themed parties were meant for an age when you're still trying to prove yourself (high school? college?). At graduate level, it just seems stupid. To some, at least.

So - to b-school - and to thinking though your choices. Don't get me wrong - the academics, program and professors are amazing - but don't fall into the trap of thinking this is the best thing you're going to do with your life....you'll hopefully do much better!

The Lost Generation...

I have a lot of free time on my hands (yes, i've resigned from work, and am just serving my notice period).. i get done 31st may! you would think that since these are my last few weeks, i would be swamped with work, leave late and have a stressful life. Not at all actually.

Surprisingly, work has slowed down a lot, i actually have a little too much free time now. Not that i don't enjoy it - my gym-ing activities have started again. Although i have realised something, the free time you value when you're working in a rigourous 9-to-6 or whatever time routine (unofficially) you have at work, that feeling of high on the weekend is just unbelievable. .. I now have a whole two months to enjoy and plan, before the journey starts on 1 Aug.. actually the journey will start much earlier, what with immunizations, visas, accomodation, pre-coursework and planning on living in the US, i'd say the journey is already on full swing :)

Anyway, so what with the free time, my mind finds itself wandering and pondering various random thoughts... what's been bugging me for some time, is what i like to call "The Lost Generation"....here's how i define them:

See when all of us grew up, we had hobbies. Now, the way i see it, a hobby is an activity that you indulge in for leisure. It's an activity you take up in your free time, something to look forward to, a passion even. Some of the common hobbies are taking up sports, reading, collecting stamps or coins, painting, learning a craft, cooking, baking and so on. But for the generation of today, the kids who will grow up (or have already grown up prematurely), it all boils down to one thing - FACEBOOKING. Urgh. Facebooking is a hobby? Is it really? I mean seriously!! But honestly, if children/teenagers today spend all their free time on Facebook, chatting, joining x group, thinking whether to accept xx friendship request, what else would you call it? A hobby. A very sad hobby though.

Sigh. As much as I love technology, the Internet, Youtube, Facebook and the world of cell phones, i can't help but look back on my childhood. To start off with, none of us had cell phones. The world of missed calls, sms-ing, rejecting a person's phone call didn't exist :P It had a charm though - a certain freedom. You could do what you liked, unwatched, unaware. Now, it's just plain creepy - the stranger next to you on an aeroplane or bus could be google-ing you or facebooking your account to see who he(she) is sitting next to... or worse, they could be taking your picture with the oh-so-sleek camera of their cellphone and you wouldn't even know it!

So here it is - an ode to the lost generation; the kids of today who will never know the joy of playing CaromBoard, Risk, Cluedo, cards with their family; of meeting a stranger and knowing nothing about them; of reading books, painting on a summer afternoon; of calling your friends on their home phones; of not knowing who is calling you when you pick up the phone; of technology-innocence and simplicity.

:) Magical, the times we used to live in, eh?