pre-reads vs pre-meets & pre-eats.

Almost 30 days back I took printouts of the pre-readings. I think I am still old school when it comes to reading books and making notes. The so called pre readings were more than what I think I studied in my three years of graduation. I wasn’t bogged down by the sheer number of pages and decided to take up the challenge .My first attempt lasted 7 minutes after which I slept flat on my papers. 2nd 3rd and 4th attempt took me to 20 minutes at a stretch and I was already brimming with confidence and feeling enlightened when my head started thinking of what all I need to pack , who all I need to meet and what all I need to eat.

It’s been a month since that day and the pre-meetings have taken over the pre-readings. Indian goodbyes are world famous in India and can extend beyond imagination. I have had 3 or more farewells with the same set of friends and relatives in the past 1 month. I have just finished a cross country trip meeting my extended family making sure everyone gets to meet the dark horse of the family who is gonna win the race one day. In the past one month I also prayed to /visited all the Gods and Goddesses to make sure I have a bright future read dean’s list and a signing bonus. The goodbyes are still on and I am currently making a list of people who are coming to drop me and Priyanka at the airport on the back of my corporate finance book, it stands at 10 on the last count and is increasing by the hour.

All these pre meetings over the past one month came with a lot of love and love in India is equal to butter chicken, butter paneer and butter nan all of which has added massively to my waistline. The amount of Indian food I have eaten in the past 1 month could have fed an entire village but I went on till my stomach gave up. The only time I took a break from food was when I was drinking good old whiskey with my chuddy buddies who patiently heard all my stories about INSEAD, about how great the school is, about how smart my future classmates are, about how cool the national weeks are etc.

It’s been a month of goodbyes and food and right now emotions are running super high in my head along with whiskey and butter in my blood. I hate to admit it but I knew that I might never meet some of the people I said goodbyes to so I made sure I met everyone who mattered to me before I took the giant leap.

Even though I have to slog my ass now to complete my pre readings I am happy that I prioritised pre meetings over pre readings and hugged & kissed everyone I love. Anyways micro economics never stood a chance against good old whiskey and butter chicken.