A Separation- Iranian Film

Saw another Iranian film. It was a part of some recent Film festival. My respect for these guys keeps growing every time I see one. This one is about an apparently simple divorce petition from a wife whose husband refuses to emigrate with her because of a father suffering from Alzheimer's that he wants to care for. But the story gets tangled in a web of court cases, when a maid he has hired accuses him of causing an abortion (she is pregnant) when he throws her out of the job for negligence (of his old dad). Her husband, an unemployed and hard-up guy, also gets in and gives it a class-conflict angle.

A lot of twists and turns follow, and the director skilfully presents all sides of the story, without a clear pinning down of the guilt. Everyone is guilty and innocent to some extent- they are all normal human beings caught up in their own dilemmas, beliefs and so on.

One thing that strikes you about the Irani directors is their effective use of close-ups, and minimal dialogue. The actors have to carry the film on their shoulders, and usually, they do.

Certainly one of my good films of 2012!
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These Were Liked a Lot

IMT Nagpur- Tangy Oranges and More

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Launching my autobiography at Crossword, Nagpur. Editor, Hitavada, and Smita Dabholkar, my colleague, are in the pic. Below, my favourite road trip-to Lonar crater lake, formed by a meteorite.
Nagpur oranges are my favourite since childhood. I landed in IMT Nagpur as the director in 2009 and barring brief interludes at Ghaziabad, stayed till 2013. These years were wonderful, both in terms of bonding with students, and with faculty. As an example, we had karaoke parties with faculty colleagues-an innovation that has caught on. We also had retreats at Pench, Bhedaghat etc. for our annual planning meetings. Alumni meets were also regularly held across India..pics from two of them below-
 Bangalore (above) and Hyderabad (below).

 We (Prof Gadgil and I) also created a golf green, which you can see behind the cricketer here (above).
Visitors-Convocation chief guest Mukesh Ambani being shown around. Mr. Kamal Nath is also in the pic.
 My mom and daughter at the campus. (below)
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In Praise of the Malayali

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I am not a fan of boiled rice, but I used to like the seafood whenever I ate it during my stay at Calicut- Paragon was one restaurant we frequented. Fish Moily in particular was one dish that I liked a lot.

People from the state of Kerala have been pioneers in the art of working abroad, and though many have focused on the Gulf/Middle East, there are some in all parts of the world. And invested their earnings back home, making Kerala prosperous. Those that lived outside also were cosmopolitan in outlook.

I have had lots of students of Malayali origin at Kirloskar Institute, and they were generally very good students. A couple are in these pics.


Some names that I remember are Dheeraj, Vidya TC, Sandhya Sajeev, Pooja Daniel, Smita Mohan, Sujit, Mamta,...of course, I have had Malayali students at other institutes too, but not as many in number. And, Uday Damodaran has been a friend since IIMB days, and a colleague at two  B Schools.

I once met P.T. Usha, the athlete, at IIMK (her hometo…
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Vaada - Promise- Use in Hindi Music

One of the oft-used Hindi film song words is Vaada. Examples of good songs using this word abound.

Jo vaada kiya woh nibhaana padega is one of the oldest I remember. From the movie Taj Mahal, it continues with 'roke zamaana chahe roke khudai tumko aana padega'. A lovely melody.

Vaada karle saajna tere bina main na rahoon ..is another.

Vaada tera vaada was the refrain from a famous Rajesh Khanna song in the movie Dushman, about reforming people who have committed a crime without malice.

Kya hua tera vaada, was a national award winning song by Mohammad Rafi in the movie Hum Kisise Kum Nahin.

A very soft, romantic song tuned by Basu- Manohari (RD Burman's assistants earlier) in Sabse Bada Rupiah was Vaada karo jaanam, na chhodoge yeh daaman..check it out here if you haven't heard it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoD-uSN28F4

Next time, we will look at other words, and recount some other gems..yeah, vaada raha!
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My Favourite Students

This is not a recounting of all my favourite students over the years, because there are about a million of those, but a select sample. Many of these I remember because we are in touch on fb or otherwise. From many different institutes, because I have seen a few of those too...XIMB, Vignana Jyothi, PESIT, KIAMS, IIML, IIMK, IIMI, IFIM, IMT Nagpur and Ghaziabad..

Yamini, Aishwarya and Anjali Iyer, Shreyashi, Shruti, Harshad Lunavat, Abhinav Kamal, Pradyumna Mohanty, Bhagyashree aka Bugzy, Parul Kashyap, Hitansh, Vivek Anant, Dushyant, Sreeram, Anupriya, Anuja, Shivashankar, Murtaza, Aashish Chaudhary, Sheetal Garg, Anumeha Saxena, Anukeha Jain, Shafique, Nikita Kumar, Meghna Sinha, Adarsh, Jasleen, Pallavi, Vidisha, ....IMTians all, with a creative spark..actually many more, but this sample might be representative.

Deepa, Sudhir, Roopali, Giri, Sanchit, from Vignana Jyoti, Hyderabad.

Smita, Aditi, Nidhi (she's from Indore), Vidya, Swapna, Padmapriya (National Award winning actress…
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You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons

Believe it or not, that is the title of a book, and it's not written by an Indian. The book is actually a set of cartoons drawn by a world traveller, and has a foreword by Dave Barry, the funny man. The title got me curious, and I flipped through a few pages at the bookstore, and flipped for it.

It has a unique set of drawings of whatever Mo Willems of New York University, upon graduating and travelling across the world, felt he ought to draw. So whatever he remembered most from his day got drawn, with a commentary added on, sometimes a sentence or two, sometimes just a phrase or comment.

A different kind of book, for sure, and a very entertaining glimpse of mankind, from Indonesia to New Orleans, USA. By the way, I was in New Orleans once (or twice), and still remember it as a party place par excellence- there were some horse-riding cops around and streets barred to traffic- pedestrians only- and many other interesting things, including their unique Cajun food. India is also incl…
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Harihar- Workplace with a Difference

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My longest stint in one workplace (7 years) has been at Kirloskar Institute or KIAMS, Harihar. A unique place in many ways. For one, it had an 18-hole Golf Course in the campus. Never again have I had THAT kind of feeling! But even more charming were the people-students, staff and atmosphere. It was close to being an ideal and idyllic workplace.
 Some of us at the Harihar campus-above and below.

 A get-together at my place with Batch 1. I have met Achint and Nidhi from the pic above and Savitha from the pic below in the last year!

 Some of our non-teaching staff and Prof. Dhanapal, on a trip to Hubli. Below, Profs. Sandeep Kayastha and Vijayakumar, and families-mine too, at Ooty-Doddabetta.
Great times, marked by a lot of parties at homes-Pavan and Jamuna were great hosts, at Kondajji, a lake-hill-dam site nearby, Rajanahalli, on the river Tungabhadra, and longer trips to Jog Falls, Hampi and Belur-Halebid. And yearly vacations to Goa, Ooty etc.. I wrote a case many years later abou…
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Celebrating 4 Years at IIM Indore

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My second longest work stint- I have worked at Clemson (Teaching Asst.), Lander University, XIM Bhubaneswar, Vignana Jyothi, Kirloskar Institute, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, PESIT, IFIM B School, IMT Nagpur and Ghaziabad before I got here. Kirloskar was the longest I stayed-7 years approx.

I learnt a lot here, and have enjoyed the company of some lovely people. Taught in our Dubai program, PGP MX (Weekend), Exec PGP, FPM, and the flagship PGP. Also did a couple of administrative stints as MDP chair and now as Dean (Faculty). Went to a few conferences and designed a few programs on Retail and Digital Marketing. Watched some talented students perform my favourite plays such as "The Importance of Being Earnest"  and work on the Google Online Marketing Challenge and win it.

Some glimpses from these 4 years.
 Shweta Kushal becomes a Golfer!
 Me and the Narmada river at Maheshwar.
 A great view of IIM Indore.
 Jayasimha and Archana at Jahaz Mahal, Mandu. He and I have now worked …
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