Premature thoughts on the batch

So, the first thing we did after we got our admission offer emails, was to setup a Facebook group. We could have had a Google group or yahoo and all that other communication overload, but nothing would have propagated the nonsense factor like FB, which is why FB groups rule. Yes, we are the FB generation of India, deal with it. 

Our FB group was rambling centre. A rambling center that I'm greatful to; it helped me understand my batchmates better. Since FB is barely searchable it is impossible to verify the "facts" that I have mentioned here, and hence I urge all of you reader to believe me without questioning.

Based on my extensive research:

Dancing: One of the earliest discussions on the group. About 400 people out of the 150 at present, like to dance. Another 50 want to learn how to dance. I think we have everything from Bharatnatyam dancers to "exotic" bollywood dancers. We will break down the dance floor, quite literally.

Hate IITians: This is quite a large group. Infact, most women are part of this group. They just hate IITians. I don't specifically blame them, they are IITians. Within 2 days of a particular lady posting an anti-IITian post, there were 200+ comments on it. The funny part wasn't the open hatred for IITians, but the desperate attempt by IITians to garner some love. In the end everyone agreed to disagree, but the reputation of IITians on campus had taken a bad beating by then.

Gambling: Of the 150 people on the group, I'm quite sure 140 are gamblers, including me. The game in vogue was Texas Hold 'em poker. We even had 5 people who had chip-sets which they pledged to the ISB Class Of 2012. The good news ofcourse, only 10 people knew how to play. 2 people offered coaching classes and we had our first bidding war. We also had our first gyan session with people warning against price wars. Ofcourse, the opportunist bastard in me saw another way out. I'll take free classes for who ever wants and then rip them off during the game. Not sure if my bathcmates are dumb enough, but worth a try.

Sports: Here is an interesting one. The number of people who have an opinion about Nadal vs Federer matches = group size (150). The number of people who play tennis = 5. People who've heard of Bolton Wanderers = 15. People who've heard of Real Malorca = 4. We actually have a basketball team, including subs. People in this batch love to run. Mumbai marathon enthusiasts apart, i'm waiting to see how many run because they're late to class. Not sure if we have a wicket-keeper for the cricket team yet, but round 2 will have to really add up on those numbers. As of now, I can remember only 2 people who said "cricket" on their posts.

Anxious people: Lots of people were in denial. They thought they didn't get into ISB. That is the only way I can explain the number of people who were anxious about the new admits website link. Some people were very freaked out that ISB forgot to send the link only to them!!

Couples and Families: Of the Round 1 admits, most people are married! I tried to understand how many, but then quickly achieved the label of "looking for girls" guy. I don't deny it, I do find women more interesting than men. The more interesting part is the number of people who hate families. People didn't want families of the Class of 2012 admits to be part of the face group because of concerns like seriousness of discussions, dilutions of networking and "i think it's a bad idea". All this while people were discussing their favourite drinks on the same group. 

Alcohol: Based on 2 back to back posts in the group, there are more book-readers than alcoholics. euch!!! Even at one of the meets in Bangalore, I was the only one drinking in a beer-cafe till one kind lady decided to give me company. I'm sure this will change once the course starts. Of the people who do claim to drink, their tastes are quite expensive. I can never afford to drink with them or maybe they'll all come down to my level - I think Atniquity Blue is premium whisky.

Networking: Why does everyone in b-schools say networking?! You're going to live with these monkeys for a year, it's not networking, it's called being social!! The most accurate way of summing up networking is here - http://thecoldcall.blogspot.com/2010/02/youve-got-friend-in-me.html. Yes, I'm a cynical b@star&.

Gender Inequality: The women in this batch have *way more* attitude than then the men. I'm going to do my very best not to get on the bad side of some of them women. While this might seem like kissing up to a few readers, I think of it as survival instincts.

FT Rankings: The rankings just came out. ISB - 13. IIM A - 11. SLAP in the face. Ouch. Life will move on. We will continue to find reasons why we are better than them and every non-MBA human will continue to not care.

Enfiedlers: 2. Yes, a dismal 2! One is a woman, which is adding to my earlier point of women with attitude. Both not sure of bringing bikes to ISB. Other bikers, 0 as of now. 

Dumb Questions: I don't intend to be rude (wink wink.. nudge nudge), but some people post the dumbest of questions on the group. If you don't have a relevant question or something valuable to add to the group, no one is going to mind if you shut the hell up. You do not have to go out of your way to ask a dumb question. That is referred to as "desperate class participation". They might allow you to put up pink curtains, but you should really ask ISB, not the new admits!

PS: Yes, it is important to toss my opinion about the batch around; simply because of the entertainment potential. 

PPS: The point of this post - to capture the current state of affairs before the Round 2 admits join in.