Madhosh Kiye Jaa

Meeting Nice People

Many years ago,, Honda ran an ad- You meet the nicest people on a Honda.. I think for its 2 wheelers launch in the U.S., before the 4 wheelers went there.

So where do I meet the nicest people? Workplaces, obviously. Students, staff, colleagues from all places I worked in.. MBA the research firm, New Horizons the ad agency, Lander, Clemson, in the U.S., XIM, VJIM, KIAMS, IIML, IIMK, IIM Indore, PESIT, IFIM, IMT Nagpur, IMT Ghaziabad, NMIMS Bangalore, Prestige University Indore, and JIS University Kolkata (current employer in 2025).

Besides, I met people online, or through other people, in many cases. Students I did not teach, or taught Golf to, became good friends. A bunch of Ph.D. students at IIM Indore from non-Marketing areas is a case in point. We just met, and gelled well enough to have had a couple of parties in Indore and in Delhi, Kolkata. Thanks mainly to Prachi Jain, my Golf student, and Finance prof. now. Pratishtha Batra, Neeti Ingole, Vartika Varyani, Akansh Khandelwal are some other members of this wild bunch, now spread across the world. We shared pizza with a 'secret sauce' and more!

I met Sanjana Rao first through a play that she acted in, directed by Shweta Kushal. Later, she was in my class and we formed a Mutual Admiration Society-went to her wedding too! Manjari Mundanad, whom I met in Ahmedabad, and went to her place too. She's an NRI now. Abha, who I first met at her wedding, and is a fast friend now. Divya Singh, whom I met at Vashi, Pune and then at Sikanadarpur in her office. Nikita Kumar/Ray, at Hyderabad, Pune and Delhi, multiple times. Ananya Nandi De, whose place I have visited twice.

Rimjhim Verma, daughter of a friend from a music group, who now teaches dance. Gowri, whom I have met in Bangalore. Rupam, Anshita, Aashish and Anusha too. Bharath Shenoy, after IFIM days.. Ishita Modi, many times. Pratima Gaikwad, in Hyderabad at home and in Biryani joints. Nidhi Kanungo, NRI, in Lucknow, and Indore, after Harihar. Saumyaa Sharma, my former assistant, in Bangalore and Indore. Swati Jain and Nishka Rathi in Mumbai. Sheetal Garg too. Vidya and Swapna In Singapore, and Smita Mohan in Dubai. Dheeraj in Chennai.

Moral of this story? You can meet nice people almost anywhere.. and that's really nice!

Review of the Last Few Months of 2025

First three or four months of 2025 were spent in retirement- turned out to be a break. Because by end- April, I was back working full time, in a new place. JIS University, Kolkata, a 10- year-old private university. The pluses- an established university, unlike Prestige, my last workplace where I was the Founding VC.

Another plus was that the top management team including the VC and the other Pro VC, was new. So we could view things differently.

Of course, legacy issues were there- a closed loop view of West Bengal for admissions and some of the placements. Affecting diversity and output, to a certain extent. The campuses being spread out also affected coordination at times.

Some achievements during this period- improving processes, accountability and governance structure within the university. Establishing a structure with new Deans for Research, and Student/alumni interaction, for example, will have a long term impact. Regular discussions on how to improve diversity in admissions have been taking place, with some actionable plans from the team.

A couple of good FDPs and conferences have also happened, across departments. Student participation in placements is looking up, and so is the faculty participation. Ph. D. admissions in most departments have a good demand. Admissions in B.Sc. Agriculture have gone up. Entrepreneurship related events and cultural activities have picked up steam. An MoU with a Malaysian Tech university (APU) has been signed.

The Medical college under JIS University has got permission to run Post Graduate courses recently. The brand is bound to make its presence felt in many ways, beyond the state.

Goals For Today?

We keep waxing eloquent about having goals for 5 years (an HR interview favourite that has no clear answers).

But what about goals for today? Let me list out a few-

1. To stay alive

2. To have 2-3 cups of good tea

3. To meet a friend. If not, a nice colleague

4. To put my feet up for a while

5. To sip some Single Malt, slowly, after dark.

Ok, the last is to avoid meetings.

Meeting Suhasini

This is a Barman with a different spelling- a favourite, nevertheless. I met her via Linkedin, and found we had a common connect too. Keep meeting, on and off. She's an entrepreneur and a poet.

At Oxford Book store, park street.

Quantum Conference Hosted by JIS University

We hosted a novel QuantumKol conference at the Park starting December 17th. An Oxford University professor who also runs a company related to Quantum Tech was the Chief Guest.