University of London International Programmes - Official Student blog

I posted my first blog on the 9^th of December.  Almost two months have passed by and have done so in a flash. Not only two months, we have bid adieu to 2013 and welcomed a brand new year. Not that it has been much of a change for me. With a packed up and tight schedule almost throughout, the transition from 2013 to 2014 has quite been linear and unnoticeable. Well, it would be better off to say such schedule a concoction of extracts of calendars  of that of  a student, a musician, a disciple of his mentor and a budding connoisseur all at the same time.

Touch wood, this stretch of time has borne fruits for me with passing the Common Proficiency Test (level first) of the Chartered accountancy examinations, receiving rave reviews from critics of Punjab at an International  music festival, winning accolades in my hometown for my performance at a National Singing Competition. Not only tangible results, it has been my fortune to meet with some of the great maestros of Indian music and also assist my Guruji (my mentor Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty) in his local tours at  Calcutta. To say the least, attending the world-famous ITC SRA Sangeet Sammelan and the world event Doverlane Music Conference has been an out-of-the world experience. This is all about these tremendously hectic months in a nutshell. Oh not to forget, the nerve-racking experience  of getting stuck up at 30,000 ft above the sea level for hours, bearing the brunt of flight delays due to fog, the fear of missing connecting flights and boarding at the 11^th hour, it has been all that an adventurous  soul would crave for.

Speaking about flight delays and retiring at airport terminals for hours, this bundle of experiences has  been quite an eye-opener for me regarding  air travel (truly because I didn’t have the experience of air travel of such tiring magnitude), people and logistics. With the onset of 2014 and all of January rubbed off the calendar, I realise the extent of damage to my studies for my degree course in Accounting and Finance. I recall Shakespeare with disdain and  repentance recollecting about the upcoming May exams, ” The memory, the warder of the brain, Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason, A limbeck only’’. Grappling with the sophistication of the crossroads of the demand curves, the supply curves and the cost curves of EC 1002, the depth  and complexity of IR 1011 (International Relations), I only hallucinate to see me as Sisyphus, only without the  sins he committed. Almost in a daze, an e-mail drops by in my ‘Inbox’ from Earthprint Publishers Ltd, stating that my ordered book has been dispatched. I suddenly recall in a fraction of a second that I had ordered for our IR textbook The globalisation of world politics. Swiftly navigating to the posted link, I discover ‘January 13, 2014    16:47  Gatwick – UK    Shipment picked up’.  With a flush of positivity in my mind, my mind enters the den of imagination. Instinctively, I google ‘Gatwick‘. It takes me a minute to grasp the distance of the dispatching centre from my home. Taking the positive energy in me, I restart my journey with the evolution of Finance as a part of my syllabus studies.

Within an interim of two hours, it is again an e-mail notifying me of the latest status of my shipment as usual. How silly it may seem, I almost feel being a part of my book, thanks to the band of my imagination. In my fantasy, I see flying again trans-crossing cities, country fields,nations and continents.The automated notification software of DHL Logistics constantly reminds me of the epic journey. Virtually, I land in East Midlands and then in Leipzig. Somehow, I have a feeling of being unified and international.  Travelling European nations and completing air travel formalities, my book lands in New Delhi- the capital of India. The logic of studying International Relations, Economics, Finance and Accounting gathers immerse strength for the world is connected by these foundations,  IR being the main essence of connectivity, Economics being the pillar, Finance being the catalyst and Accounting being the pivot  of accountability and surety.

These set of events have tilted my thoughts in favour of the English School of IR in a greater magnitude (originated at the LSE, for which I obviously take pride), specially of the revered Hedley Bull.  Neither having the hostility of ‘Realism’ nor the taken for granted liberal approach of ‘Liberalism’, this school is the nearly ideal blend of the two streams of thought. With the ball set rolling for my studies and ‘riyaz’ (untiring practice of music), I keep my fingers crossed. It is the 17^th of January and 1 pm by the clock when the postman buzzes the calling bell amid the chilling winds, dropping mercury levels to 10°C (quite a rarity in India). It is the arrival of my book finally.  Finally being done with the signature in the receipt slip, I sit with my book to discover the real charm of the subject. The first chapter being an article on Globalisation grabs my eyeballs and glues them to each and every leaf.   Gathering the much needed momentum, I again start feeling secure. It is really such a treat to immerse myself into the complexities, into the inter-nations relations and the benefits we enjoy due to the globalisation as a phenomenon. Breaking national barriers, interdependence, inter-relatedness is what the practical goal of IR is, according to my belief. It is actually an ‘international society’ we all live in, with everybody cocooned in the layers of the same atmosphere.

Cheers,

Budhaditya Bhattacharyya

Budhaditya is studying the BSc Accounting and Finance by distance learning in Burdwan, India. He is in his first year.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 6th, 2014 at 2:09 pm and is filed under Accounting and Finance, Courses directed by LSE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.