The last 4 days took me through Multitude of emotions…Happiness, excitement, fulfillment, anxiety, sentiments and I also went through some riveting moments, which are deeply bolted into my heart…

I spent last 15 days with just an average of 5 hours of sleep per day. Partying and having fun hard! Outings for movies, dinner, coffee, icecream or ordering food from outside or playing “need for speed”/volleyball or playing cards or simply lying down and thinking about the ‘rocking’ year.

We had the Graduation day rehearsal on April 7th. We had good time trying out the graduation robes and learning how to wear the hats, hoods. I also understood the importance of shifting the tassle from left side of the hat to the right side to signify the completion of graduation! Students were completely having fun…After the demonstration and the rehearsal we headed to the Atrium to capture the group picture. I would say they made us to stand for almost an hour before capturing some 50 odd pictures to ensure atleast one great picture. Well, I wouldn’t bother as long as it turns it to be good…This one would be a treasure.

Finally, after the photo-shoot, we throwed the hat into the air and shot loads of pictures with unbelievable madness…Pure thrill…

In the evening, I attended the “Award ceremony - 2006″.I received my “Torch bearer award”. The defining moment for me was the moments of silence that the announcer brought about before uttering my name. He almost gave up before pronouncing my long name “Bharanidharan Viswanathan”. I thought he will never call me I guess the “h” following the “B” is causing confusions to many . Anyway, after presenting the award, they asked everyone to speak something..So I conveyed just a short and sweet message..”I am extremely honoured to receive this award. I dedicate this to the SPIRIT of ISB..Thank you”! The moments on stage were exciting . The complete event is covered in ISB website…including my pic ..Can’t believe it!

We played volleyball till 3′0 clock in to the morning of April 8th. Volleyball junta rocks!

I completed all my packing except for few final things. The big event began sharp @ 2:45 p.m on April 8th. It was an amazing sight to see everyone neatly dressed up in graduation robes and the parents eagerly waiting on the other side to capture the ‘moments’ of their ‘kids’. The huge hangar was was full! The logistics was as usual perfect! The ISB logistics and administration team simply rocks. You never see any major action going on…but things happen smoothly, seamlessly, silently and perfectly! I bow! You will understand that once you are here…

Mr.Ratan Tata gave away his graduation day message. The entire message is published in the ISB website.

The seating arrangement was split into two parts. Dean’s lister and others. I fell in the “Others” category. The seating arrangment was based on the alphabetical order of last name. That means, I was in the last 5 of the entire batch of 345! I waited for my turn by patiently clapping for all 340 students who went before me…Ankur Warikoo was behind me…So had a good company for me…All three viswanathan’s of ISB were put together (Anand Viswanathan, Ravi Viswanathan, Bharanidharan Viswanathan)…We ended the graduation ceremony with a huge uproar! That was followed by hat-throwing event. Those last moments cannot be described in words….has to be experienced. I thought to myself, I will not get sentimental! Well, inspite of my best efforts, few drops of tears seeped through my eyes…Atleast, now I know there is water inside my eyes

After all the excitement, I headed for a dinner hosted by our Aikya family (Dr. Manohar & Family) in their hotel. It was a great dinner with everyone in my study group, including the near-and-dears, invited. We also had a chance to meet few entrepreneurs and few medal winners from the recently concluded Common wealth games. Pleasant evening. Mr.Manohar proved yet again that very few can compete against him as a great host.

I came back to ISB. Put my parents in their allotted rooms. Rushed back to my room. Finished my final packing…and wrote this blog entry without even having a second look. Crap generation at its best…

I have officially completed my education. Definite Milestone. As I write this blog entry, my eyes are moist…Great ride came to an end…I completely enjoyed my stay here. I learnt a lot. I established many good contacts and developed few strong friendships…

I cannot hide but only say…”I will miss ISB, my quad, friends, environment, year-long-vacation, and my dear amigos (you know it amigos)”…I remember saying to my friends in the final moments…”I am one of the most cold-hearted persons you will every come across…In 2 days time, I would ask you ‘who are you’?”…My attempt at saying that was a failure…I am indeed one of the most warm-hearted persons! Sometimes good…sometimes bad…For now, it’s bad for my mind, as I have to go through sentiments for next few days….

PS: Will try to upload some pictures later…I don’t have energy to find and upload the good pics…