VUCA world | Pray for Manchester

Truly a violent and uncertain world. London early this year and Manchester now. Terrifying! Hoping to join the vigil at the chaplaincy centre tomorrow at 5PM. 
Missing the full class here since many are participating in electives overseas.The in-house electives go on but with only a few 20 of us. 2 down, 2 more to go. Managing Strategic Change and Strategic Brand Management delved into the niche of some of the simple yet core business aspects. I personally had a brilliant experience participating in both these electives. Corporate Strategy begins tomorrow. Last week also saw Martin quit LUMS. The strong digital team that we were! I will miss the candid and friendly conversations with him. However I look forward to meeting him in August in Edinburgh. Good luck, Martin! You are definitely being missed. Friday afternoon was also well spent meeting up with Jane and Dan and brainstorming on the next steps for the project. Looking forward to see it progress.

In the meanwhile the weekend veiled in. Saturday was silent through the day however the evening turned out to be super fun! Stargazing at the duck pond was exciting. Lying on the grass, chatting, eating and playing as atypical college kids felt nostalgic and good. An amazing memory to cherish and take back from Lancaster. The following day, I along with Shiksha and Deepika, decided to join Manshuk and Joe to Samlesbury, near Preston to visit the historic house of Lancashire. Spent 2-3 hours of quality and peaceful time there in the midst of nature and heritage. Thanks to Joe for driving us!

Monday was off to a strategic start again and brought in some exciting and interesting experiences in negotiation and deal making.Thanks to Brian from the EMBA who also joined us for this elective. However, the end ended up being disastrous with the Manchester bombing. Truly devastating and heartbreaking. Hoping to attend the vigil tomorrow in the Chaplaincy center. The journey continues....

Samlesbury Hall	With Prof. Stefanos Mouzas	Seeing off, Martin!
Posing	Stargazing with the stars!	With Dave Galaghar!

Weekend in Walney | Elective season | May is moving

Continuing from my last post, the last 2 days of the previous week went into the final presentations for the consultancy challenge. I must admit and my team will agree that working on this project was a good and one-of-a-kind experience. Lucky to witness and experience something as unique as this one being on the MBA. Friday also saw Kevin coming in for one last time and as usual we had a great time exploring ourselves further. The Friday evening, we all decided to head to the city for a much needed break post the consultancy challenge. The evening was well spent partying at the Gregson cafe. Saturday was a resting day for all of us and time for doing weekly chores. Sunday was much awaited!

Sunday morning, a few of us decided to go to Walney Island. About an hour and an half from Lancaster by train. Our first stop was South Walney Nature Reserve. The pleasant weather, the calmness and serenity of the island, the blue waters and the chirping of birds made the stay there seem like bliss. We all enjoyed every moment we spent there. It was also fun spotting seals pop their heads out every now and then. Pictures, lunch, long walks, jokes all the way added to the fun. Our next stop was Biggar Bank beach. A long pebble beach along the Irish coast was another fun experience. Overall, I must say I had great fun with great company. 

Monday was off to an optional start. Elective time already. 15 members of the cohort are off to various locations across the world on an exchange, while the remaining of us are sitting through audited and assessed electives here. Can someone put a 'stop watch for the time' please! :(

This week was also fun inviting Pavel, Patrick, Fabian, Marcos and Maite over for dinner and giving them a miniature taste of India. #lovelancaster as much before we leave Lancaster! May saga continues...

Much in May, yet too little!

I walked into LT2 this morning just to sit for a while and breathe in some 'native' air. I could only hear the echo of the wind against the window. Calm and quiet as against the hustle and bustle of the class from a few weeks ago. Everyone is working really hard on their projects. Well, 2 more days to go, following which electives begin. Many are of to schools around the world for an exchange, while I along with a lot others stay back in Lancaster for the in-house courses. 

The last 2 weeks have been really busy and stressful with the consultancy challenge. In the midst of this came the Community Day. I did take a break and decided to immerse myself in the fun. I spent the whole day meeting new people, welcoming them, clicking pictures, having long conversations and enjoying the food and the warmth of Lancaster. Much needed respite from work. 

A walk along the wooden trail with Radhika and Pankaj, an evening of Indian dinner with Tim, Pom, Ploy and Alex, a birthday night with birthday boy Sharan, and chit chats with friends and flatmates filled the agenda. The exciting bit was also to hear from WEF Kenya about their success after implementing our recommendations from 3 years ago. 

While all this is fun, at the back of the mind the fact that we are off from Lancaster in <40 days is gonging hard. Much in May, yet too little. #lovelancaster

Penning my purpose!

The train is halted at a station. There is a sense of anxiousness for it to move further, there is also a sense of fear that the destination might be here in no time if the train starts to move! First week of the summer term began with the consultancy challenge. We as individual teams are working on our own projects and we hardly get to meet each other in the class. Gives me a sense of feeling that the course is almost over yet there is a little more time before we reach the finish line.

Working with my team on the challenge is fun! Radhika, Clara, Kenji and myself - a nice supportive, energetic and critical team. Although I realized Kenji sees this sometimes as a Chai Challenge rather than a Consultancy Challenge. LOL! :) But it is super fun yet most times we get super serious about our work. Good going there.

Taking a breather in the middle of the week, the whole class decided to meet at 1725 to celebrate Pat and Nat's birthday! It was a big one for Nat and a number of +1's for Pat! :) A brilliant evening spent chatting with everyone and catching up on their travel diaries.

This week we are also working on something very personal. Our purpose of being! This is something I really appreciate about the MBA - self-awareness and exploring oneself are crucial aspects and I truly believe these are essential elements for each of us to make decisions going forward. It is a nice yet a hard exercise. But at the moment loving the immersed conversation with Radhika and Pankaj over a cup of Chai. Sorry Kenji! :)

Interesting week ahead with a lot to do on the consultancy challenge. Days are definitely long yet the time is too short. #lovelancaster

Break from the break

Back in Lancaster just this evening after a 2 week trip to Hyderabad, Cambridge and London. Being at home after 6 months felt very different probably because I have never been away from home for this long. Yet, meeting family, catching up with friends and some little shopping at my favorite stores was fun. Of course had to piggy back my assignments and get them to closure. :-)

Back in the UK, spent 2 days at Cambridge getting back to the British routine and getting used to the English weather. At my little flat now, unpacking my bags, sorting stuff and getting ready for tomorrow. It will be fun to hear Spring stories from my class. Summer term begins in 3...2...1.... #lovelancaster

Lent term ends | Spring break begins

Post the Prague trip, began the Consultancy Challenge - the third of the 4 major challenges. Though it was sort of a pre-cursor to the actual thing that begins on the 24th, the sessions were quite informative and brought in some real perspective on how working with an external entity for the first time being on the programme is going to look like.

The last week of the lent term was also a birthday week. Alisa, Sarah, Julien, Nobu and Kenji all of them celebrated their birthdays! How cool to have 5 birthdays one after the other in a week!

Another interesting thing that happened this week was the meeting with Lancaster MBA alumnus Vinay. I must admit that Vinay is a mindful manager in a true sense. Every minute of the interaction was absolutely insightful and thought provoking. His little activities on NLP (Neuro-lingusitic programming) were great! Thanks to him for taking time out to visit us at Lancaster.

On Thursday, a few of us decided to step out of the campus after an intense term 2. We walked  down to Boot and Shoe, a restaurant located between Bailrigg and the city at Whinfell Drive. Spent a long while chatting and eating, letting go off the intensity that had us hooked for the past 3 months. 

Friday was here! Time to bid bye to my class, school and staff for 2 weeks, while I head home to Hyderabad for the Spring break. Going to be a freezer to furnace transition, but I am looking forward to it. #lovelancaster