Can We Do Things Differently?

 Most of the time, the answer is yes. But we don't. 

Teaching- there are many ways to teach so that students enjoy the process, and learn better. But we don't try hard enough..

Improving Admissions in Institutions- many untried ways exist. Paying commissions to agents is not one of them.

Recruiting faculty- Going out to meet Ph.D. scholars instead of just advertising.. how many have tried this? I have, with some success. At a new university..

Motivating Faculty as a leader- having a tea and a chat with them regularly helps. Have a chai room in your institute if you don't. 

Spending Your Time- in a way that you enjoy it, doing things you like, minimising things you don't like to do (visiting govt. offices is one I don't), and so on.. listening to the radio doesn't cost anything, for example.

Hum Donon Milke - Music Show

 It was a feast of duets, with three good singers- Vaiju Chandavale, Shalaka Ghaisas and Manjiri Latkar, accompanied by a decent set of male singers. Organised by Rajabhau Tikhe. A bit short on Kishore Kumar duets, saw a couple of rare ones like those of Shailendra Singh (from Do Jasoos- Purvaiyya leke chali meri naiyya), and Mukesh.

Shalaka with her partner.. she sang well!

 Another Marathi classic - a play called Duritanchey Timir Jawo. Saw it at Bharat Natya Mandir. Written by Bal Kolhatkar, it talks about a spiritual soul who resides in a house where he is ill-treated by a conman who has married his sister. He is called stupid by the whole village, but he transforms suddenly into a wise person, who is willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the village. He also pardons his brother in law for his atrocities.

Musical Theatre- Sangeet Sanshaykallol

 Saw an entirely different kind of play- a musical, called a sangeet-natak. Instead of dialogues, the characters converse through songs. Specially written for the situation, of course. This was a great traditional art form that's almost dead now. I got to see one such play, Sangeet Sanshaykallol, with a plot like a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film. Spouses who suspect each other of ifidelity, without justification. Superb performances from everyone in the cast!

Hope the tradition gets revived.

The cast, and the main characters.

Aisi Deewangi- Music Show.

 Yet another free music show- Pune's hidden treasure! This time I heard a good rendition of Aaj kal tere mere pyar ke charche.. (Mrunalini Chavan and Nitin Pendse) and also Yeh mera dil yaar ka Deewana from the performers.. some pics.

Bendre, the Emcee, was pretty good. 

Do Kishore at Pune

 Two Kishore fans sang their heart out at this show on August 4, his 97th birth anniversary.

Makarand Patankar and Jitendra Bhuruk, along with Bhagyashree who accompanied them on duets. Surprisingly, Wada tera wada was a very popular number, sung by Makarand. I like Piya piya piya with Jitendra and Bhagyashree, especially the yodeling.. 

on the whole, it was great fun! Lasted 4 hours!

Another Musical Show

 Organiser was Sanmira who also sang a couple of good songs- Hari Om Hari by Usha Uthup was one. But the pick of the singers were Atul Pathak, Uday Bakshi, Malavika and Pallavi. Pallavi also had a surname- Harapanapalli-that reminded me of Harpanahalli, a town near Harihar where we lived for many years. Pallavi sang Boom Boom by Nazia Hasan very well. Best of the day, according to me.