Deep Freeze

After balmy Bangalore, I returned to find Indore has turned into the Arctic or Antarctic, depending on which way you are facing. I would not be surprised to find an Eskimo peeping out from inside his igloo, or a penguin walking by flapping his flippers.

One is used to his butt freezing in Delhi or Lucknow or northern Rajasthan or Punjab (it happened to me in Amritsar once), but not in Indore. However, there is a bright side to it. You can remain immobile and hibernate unless there is something important to make you move. In my case, it is only this blog post, but that is doable from the warmth of the home.

Why it is freezing and rainy is beyond me. Might have to build a regression model and try explaining it. Maybe the Gods are angry with us. For the way we conduct ourselves. Last time I had a batch reunion, there was a tsunami (in 2004). This time, it's a deep freeze. Now I know how that packet of peas or sausage feels in the freezer.

GK goes to PK's planet

We recently were visited by Mr. PK, an alien from somewhere, according to the movie PK starring Aamir Khan. What is likely to be discovered if we send our guy-let's call him GK- to PK's planet?

Nothing, except the inhabitants, and maybe carrot farms.

No clothes, hence no FTV channel (its USP doesn't exist)

No fights, hence no need for dialogues such as "(Hindi) Main tera khoon pee jaoonga, kaminey"

No religion, and therefore, no salvation

No love, and hence no hate

No lying, and therefore no facebook

No paper- only transmission of knowledge through holding hands

No God-men, and no discourses by God-men. A few more TV channels gone!

No spitting, and hence no need for a Cleanliness Drive, by whatever name

No political parties, and therefore no Arnab Goswami.



Reunion at IIM Bangalore

This was a much-awaited event we waited five years for. The last one was the 25th, and this, the 30th. Gives you a fantastic feeling of nostalgia, with all the 'masks' you wear falling off, and leg-pulling and joke-telling taking centrestage. We also had a couple of genuine articles that were new this time, thanks to the team at the alum office and student volunteers.

One was a good stand-up comedy act from a student who is a budding stand-up, and a big surprise, a sports tournament in various games with us versus current students. I played a bit of Badminton partnering Venky, our batchmate who is actually nicknamed Baddy after his love for the game, and won a game against the youngsters, most born in 1982 or later! I was never in any kind of doubt about the talent we have in our batch, and it manifested itself in myriad ways in these two days.

You name any kind of achievement, interest or talent, and we seem to have someone in our group who is very good at it. Music, sports, NGO type activity, teaching, entrepreneurship, corporate achievement, and so on..but more than all of that, a certain goodness of the heart, or a generous sharing of laughter, and an ability to switch careers and take risks, like retiring from regular work when it felt like a burden.

We interacted with faculty and tried to provide our perspectives on getting IIMB more global, diverse and socially relevant. One suggestion we made was that an IIMB manager must stand up for what is right and not buckle down under wrong kinds of pressure. Another was to improve the EQ through interventions in the two-year program. Challenging, but doable.

Since I also teach, I got a few questions about IIM Indore's Industry FPM (part time doctoral program) and encouraged a few colleagues to join it. They just might. Giving back in some way seemed on the minds of many people.

Naturally, I went back to see my room, and a few other things in campus. Many things have changed for the better, and the water tank from the film '3 Idiots' was now hidden from view by trees that have grown up tall around it. But we did go around and click it.

Outside the campus, we met former students- mine from KIAMS, who now works for Ogilvy New York, and my wife's, one who works in Bangalore, and another studying at Clemson, where I got my PhD in 1989. All in all, a full and fulfilling week!

What I Remember of 2014

I remember..

times spent with family..particularly an adventurous drive to Udaipur from Indore via Banswada.

attending a birthday party of my niece in Hyderabad...re-watching The History of The World by Mel Brooks.

golfing at Nagpur at the Air Force club and the holes no. 0 and 19 before and after...yet another session at Kodaikanal where I got a hole-in-one..wonders never cease!

visits to Bangalore where I met friends from the past (colleagues from IIM, PESIT & IFIM, IIMB classmates, PESIT/IMT Nagpur alums in particular). Exploring crafted beers in the original pub city...the first pub started around the time I was studying at IIMB.

reading some good books, including a collection of humourous essays by Art Buchwald, whose column once appeared in The Hindu, and a nice fiction story Kalyug by Sreeram, an ex-student.

some good films, like Finding Fanny, Zed Plus, City Lights, .and some good episodes of Comedy Nights with Kapil, a show that's sustained its popular appeal.

tasting some excellent wines at a friend's place, same place I learnt how to quaff single malts..well, well, learning happens in the most unexpected places, when you least expect it..Eureka! Newton, are you listening?

meeting IMT Nagpur alums at Mumbai, Hyderabad meets.

a trip to Bali, Indonesia to present a conference paper...it's a lovely place.

'discovery' tours of the Indore surroundings with new-found friends from the faculty.

a case-writing expedition that's still on.

an innovative research project on Online personal branding that's also on.

teaching a course on advertising after a break...it's easier with the Youtube chronicles.

...and there's more to come..a batch meet at IIMB this weekend. Not yet goodbye, 2014.




Brand Slogans and More

This is a thoughtful piece. Now that I have provided the disclaimer, let me proceed. I have been thinking about coining slogans or taglines for brands for a long time now. Since the grey cells were numbed by the cold wave (this is different from the Oceanic ones), it took a while. But now, I have a few. If the weather improves, I may have some more. But for now,

Bailley's- We bail you out of thirsty situations

Teacher's - Teaching the world what it wants to learn

Starbucks- Who spends the bucks? You. Who makes them? Your guess.

DKNY- Don't Know us? Not Your type.

Aston Martin- Bonding with the Best.

Wagh Bakri- Stings like the Tiger's tail (Wagh=Tiger).

Kalnirnay (calendar)- Decide Today. Not kal. (Nirnay means decision, Kal is Tomorrow).

Chetan Bhagat (he is a brand)- After me, the deluge.

Raghuram Rajan (also a brand)- Interest cut? Not interested.

Kindle- That warm, fuzzy feeling- without paper in between the words and you.

PK- Film Review

It's watchable, and fun in parts, but tries your patience at times. But if it comes to a toss-up between the films of the three Khans today (leaving out Saif), I would go with Amir. There was a time when I would have gone with Shah Rukh, but sadly, that time was around DDLJ's first release- maybe even upto Kal Ho Na Ho. Anyway, back to P.K.

Some of the gags are pretty good, and so are the cinematic twists in the tale of an alien trying to understand this gola (sphere) and its denizens. The focus of the story is largely on the purveyors of religion who, in the name of God, manipulate the masses- sometimes giving them Hope, not a bad thing as one of the characters in the film says, defending himself.

Which is fine, and makes a lot of sense, in these times of the discredited Babas/Godmen of whom there is no dearth in our country. My major problem with the film is that it drags very badly in the first half- more precisely, in the second half of the first half. Had that been tightly edited, the impact of the final product would have been far better. It also does not help that the theme is similar to Oh My God, and that the Amir character looks and feels like Ranbir in Barfi, giving you a feeling of Deja Vu. Boman Irani seems underutilized, particularly as we now know what he is capable of (thanks to Rajkumar Hirani). Anushka is fairly good, though I liked her better in her earlier avatar/look. The Godman is competent. The cameo of a guy playing Shankar bhagwan is excellent! The climax is handled well, going live on a talk-show.

Watch it, if only to make a statement against the crap being (otherwise) regularly dished out on our screens.

Airline Brands

Once upon a time, there were these brands of airlines-

Pan Am- an example of a failed American enterprise.
TWA- Another example.
Modiluft- one of the Modis and Lufthansa collaborated on this one.
East West- Came from the Middle East, and went nowhere.
Sahara- later besahara, and sold to Jet, it had a nice tagline, "Emotionally yours" . Its erstwhile promoter is now in jail.
Kingfisher- flashy and stylish while it lasted.
Kingfisher Red- was always in the red.
Jet Konnect- it was 'jettisoned' coz it had lost its connect with passengers.
Paramount- it's of paramount importance to find out what went wrong with it.
Sabena- despite its Arabian-sounding name, it was a Belgian carrier. Hercule Poirot would know.
Indian Airlines- My first flight ever was on this airline, from Dibrugarh to Calcutta (it was still that in 1983). Merged with Air India.



Other airlines I have flown (and did not necessarily cause to stop flying, except a couple) are Indigo, Go, Spicejet, Trujet, Thai, Malaysian, Singapore, Swiss, Eastern (US, domestic), US Air, Delta, Air Asia, Tiger, Air France, Lufthansa. I remember Air France had a good selection of wines.

Anopheles Visits Again- End December 2014

It was after a long time that Anopheles, my winged friend (a female of the mosquito-kind) was visiting me. After the customary pleasantries, she asked me how things were going in the human world.

"Is it evolving for the better?" she wanted to know.

" I don't think so. We are just getting more barbaric, suspicious, trivial, selfish....."
"Wait," she interrupted. "You seem to be depressed."
"Yes. We just had the latest round of meaningless killing. This time it was children in a school that got gunned down." I gave her the facts.

"That's sad. Will mankind survive all this?"
"Hope it does, at least for your sake. What will you do for food if it doesn't?" I said.
"Oh, we'll make it, don't worry. We'll adapt, and maybe become humans in a few years...maybe not, after what you have told me."

I agreed. "You are probably better off as mosquitoes. So what's up with you? All well?"

She was upbeat. "Yes,  Ï would say so. We are making progress. Now no mosquito lives in drains; we all have a clean pot or dish of water to live and breed in. We had a reformer who finally 'modified'our bureaucracy and made it answerable to the common mosquito, empowering us. Our little ones get to go to school, and each kid gets a free drop of blood at mid-day, to encourage them not to drop out and go to work. We call it 'good governance'."

I was ashamed, but also happy that someone was making progress. Out here, getting a pot-holed road repaired seemed like a Herculean task, whether you were a CAT or were going from Agra to Bombay. Not to speak of fixing the fiscal deficit, bringing in the billions from tax havens posing as progressive nations, keeping the Supercop from meddling in the "Meddle-east", and keeping the Upper and Lower Houses in working condition. I told her so, and we decided to meet more regularly, and share our news with each other. Beats watching Arnab, any day.

Note: For those who missed out on the origin of these conversations, here they are-

My Encounters with Anopheles

I have tried to explore the meaning of what I do in my own way. Part
of that exploration was through this series in which I converse with
Anopheles, the female mosquito who bites.

A mosquito buzzed into my bedroom. I was sleepless anyway, so I
started a conversation.
“Where are you from?” I asked.
“From the drain on Street No. 6,” the mosquito replied.
“Do you always have to travel this far for dinner?”
“Not really, but I go for quality food. So I don’t really mind.”
“Tell me something. Is it necessary for you to suck the blood of
human beings to survive? Can’t you find some other food?”

The mosquito looked surprised. “The human body has 6 litres of
blood on an average. What’s a drop or two for you?”
I replied, “Our sleep is disturbed, for one. And, of course, your bite
is, quite literally, A PAIN.”
“Do you really need so much sleep? Why don’t you remain awake
and think about things?” the mosquito enquired.
“Like what?” I asked.
“You asked me why I had to draw blood from humans. Have you
ever thought about why you slaughter all those animals you use as
food? And plants, roots and fruits. Aren’t they life forms too? At
least, we don’t totally kill or destroy you. All we do is take a drop
of blood, and go. Is that so objectionable? “ the mosquito looked
at me questioningly.
That forced me to lie awake and think about the exaggerated notions
of the superiority of humankind, before I finally fell asleep- after
firmly tucking in the mosquito net.

Episode 2

My bedroom was abuzz. Once again, the same mosquito was with
me. I learnt from her this time that she was named Anopheles.
After a Greek mosquito goddess. We continued our conversation.
“What do you live for?” I asked.
“For a lot of things. For family, friends and society. And for myself,
to enjoy life as much as I can. To realise my potential for doing
good.” It was amazing to find a mosquito telling me things which I
thought only humans were capable of thinking about.
“You told me last time you lived in a drain,” I said. “Do mosquitoes
always live in drains?”
“Of course not. Some have palatial accommodation. Lakes, ponds,
tanks, …even buckets. Depends on what you can afford. And what
lifestyle you aspire to have. But if you have grown up in a drain, it
is very difficult to migrate to the lakes. You see, they have a different
way of life out there. And they look down upon us.”

This sounded suspiciously like the GREAT CLASS DIVIDE, and I
ventured to ask, “But aren’t all mosquitoes born equal?”
She gave me one of those looks. “Are all humans born equal?”
Without waiting for my answer, she went on, “Then why do you
think we are?”
After a pause, she added, “There was this reformer, a couple of
decades ago, called FULL MARX. He tried to change things so
that all mosquitoes would be on par socially and economically. He
painted his revolutionary ideas on walls in his own blood. He called
the series “MOS KAPITAL”.
“What happened then?” I asked, with great interest.
“Nothing. He went the way of all revolutionaries. His ideas were too
idealistic. The mosquitoes who became powerful wanted to keep the
power at all costs, and succeeded. The dreams of a classless society
evaporated quickly. Life became worse than before. So his ideas were
abandoned, and we are back to the earlier system.” On that sombre
note, Anopheles waved me goodbye and sailed away silently.

Episode 3

Anopheles was back with a buzz (and not a bang). Our conversation
this time veered around to education. I happened to mention to
her that I was a marketing professor, and was surprised to learn
from Anopheles that mosquitoes also have schools.
“How much have you studied?” I enquired of her.
“Not a whole lot, I’m afraid,” she replied. “You see, I have a large
family to support. And I am the sole BLOOD WINNER. That
leaves hardly any time to study. But I do attend some short courses
from time to time, to keep myself up to date,” she added.
“May I ask what these courses teach?” I was curious.
“Oh, this and that. Some are practical, like the one I attended last
week, called ‘Stinging Least to Draw the Most Blood,’ which
essentially taught me how to increase the efficiency of a sting. Then
there was another called ‘How to Minimise the Danger of Human
Attacks’. Some of them are for fun, like ‘Floating in the Air’ and
‘Swinging From a Single Hair’, or ‘Training Your Young Ones to
Play Hide n’ Seek in Keyholes’.”

“What are the objectives of your formal education system?” I
asked her.
“That every little one should grow up to be a good, honest, useful
mosquito,” she replied without hesitation.
“To what extent is the objective achieved?” I wanted to know.
“A lot depends on the students themselves. Some are motivated and
do well for themselves. Others sleepwalk through their classes and
remain unaffected. Yet others put their ‘learning’ to mischievous
uses, and become blots on the mosquito-landscape.”
“Sounds very familiar,” I muttered. “Anyway, let’s change the topic.
What do you do for recreation?”
“We create buzzwords. That is our major leisure activity,” she
informed me.

“What do you mean?” I couldn’t fathom this one.
“Just what I said. We have individual events, in which each of us
buzzes a new buzz. If the panel of judges feels it is original, we enter
the final round. The best new buzzword (an accepted new Buzz is
called a buzzword) gets a prize. We also have team events, where a
team can work together to create new buzzwords. It’s a lot of fun.”
Anopheles proceeded to demonstrate a new buzzword she had just
made up, by flapping her wings musically. “Do you have buzzwords
too?” She asked me.
“Yes,” I replied. “But in our case, the objective is different. We
create buzzwords so that we can confuse novices (sometimes nonnovices
too), and then charge them money to clear their confusion.
For example, take the buzzword “Corporate Restructuring”. Till
date, nobody has been able to figure out what it means. The process
of explaining what it means has spawned an entire industry - called
Management Consultancy.” On that note, I bade her goodbye, and
settled down to some well-earned respite from a ‘buzzy’ day.

Episode 4

My winged friend sailed into my room once more. “What’s on
your mind?” I asked her.
“Oh, nothing.” But quickly, she was out of her self-imposed silence.
“Tell me, if humans are so smart, why aren’t they happy?”

This was an unexpected googly- a doosra. I tried to counter with
a lecture on the longings of all human beings to be one with the
supreme being, and their quest for real happiness, but I didn’t
sound convincing to myself. As I had thought, my arguments were
instantly rebuffed.
“What are the major differences between your life and mine?”
Anopheles asked pointedly. I had to think hard. “You fly, and I
don’t,” I tried.
“Come on, now. Next you will say that you are big and I am small,
and that you can read a book and I can’t. Is that all?”
That got me thinking about why we as a human race existed, and
all I could think of was the violence, the greed, the crime, the grime
and the filth most human beings encounter in their lives. Most
of our instincts and higher abilities did not seem to be put to the
common good at all.
“I agree we seem to be spending too much time on wars over oil
and ideology, …” I stuttered.
“So do animals, over territory or other egoistic pursuits,” she said.
“But we do have a lot of saints who show us the path, and lead
righteous lives,” I added.
“How many did you have in the last hundred years?” she asked
innocently.

I counted up to four, and gave up. She sensed my discomfort, and
changed the subject.
“OK, let’s talk about the subject of parents setting an example
to their children. What do you tell your child to look forward
to in life?”
“A job with Infosys,” I joked. I could see a frown of nonunderstanding
on Anopheles’ face (or so I thought).
“That is one of our fastest growing companies,” I added.
“Will that make your child happy?” This was getting tougher than
I had imagined.

“I think so,” but I was only half serious about this whole thing.
“The only two things ‘happening’ in a child’s life are admission to
an engineering college and a job in Infosys after that, it seems,” I
continued. “And I don’t know if that’s such a good thing.”
“What do children who join this great company do?” her curiosity
was aroused.
“Write some kind of programs- instructions for making computers
work”, I said.
“So the homo sapiens want to spend a lifetime writing programs
to make the dumb machines work?” I had to agree it sounded
ludicrous when it was put like that.
“Well, we also have the BPO sector,” I said.
“And what do young people do there?” she wanted to know.
“Hmm..they answer phone calls, make sales calls, fill out forms
dictated by someone across the world, decide whether some applicant
should be sold insurance or not, and a million other things.”
“And we thought our life was mundane,” Anopheles could not
resist this one.

It was time for me to get into the questioning mode. “Tell me, do
you have religions?” I asked her.
“Yes, we do.”
“How many Gods do you have?”
“Oh, lots. We keep imagining as many as we want.” Sounded
familiar.
“How do you handle religious extremism?” I was curious to know.
“What is religious extremism?” she asked. I could not believe this.
“Don’t you have people…uh, mosquitoes who want to destroy
mosquitoes following another religion, or at least banish them, or
something,” I asked.
“Not really, we are very liberal. Our policy is to live and let live.”
“And ours, live and let die,” I muttered, inspired by James Bond.
I was getting late for office, and excused myself. “We’ll meet another
time,” I told Anopheles, “and continue our tete a tete.”

Episode 5

I was deep in slumber the other night, when she buzzed me. I
thought it was the cellphone, but it was my old friend.
“You don’t talk to me anymore,” she complained.
“It’s not you,” I said. “We don’t talk to anyone, period.”
“Why?” She seemed puzzled.
“Because of Facebook,” I told her.
“What’s that?” She arched her eyebrows.
I said, ‘Every few years, there is a new billionaire who creates
something. Actually ‘creates’ is not the right word, because you can’t
see his creations, except for a few fleeting seconds. Not made of flesh
and blood, like you and me. The latest is this fellow, Zuckerberg by
name, who made his billions and half the world has gone crazy. The
other half is not on Facebook yet only because there is no electricity
in their town.’

‘But what do you do on this Facebook?’ was her innocent
question.
‘Well, it’s hard to explain. We post things- I mean, we write stuff
about which toothpaste we brushed with, whom we are hanging
out with, where we went, whether it rained today, how awful work
is, and so on. And our friends ‘like’ what we write.’
‘How can you call them friends if they ‘like’ your having an awful
day at work?’ She remained interrogative.
I tried to defend Zuckerberg (millionaires tend to bring out this
quality in non-millionaires). I said, “Well, the ‘Like’ is only an
acknowledgement that they read what I wrote. Not that all the
stuff is ‘likeable’.”

Not convinced, she asked, “What else?”
I said, “We also go to exotic places and take pics so that we can
share them with our friends.”
“You mean the same friends we spoke about?”
“Yeah, the same. They can also ‘like’ photos or make some snide
remarks about how you are looking in your new, expensive
hair style.”
“And you insist on calling them friends. With friends like these,
you don’t need enemies.” She smirked.

I was now curious about where she had gone all these years. So I
asked her.
“Oh, life is tough these days.” She became pensive. Continuing, she
said, “You know, with trees being chopped and water bodies drying
up, it is tough to find places to breed. And pesticides are getting
more powerful. Be careful, one day they might affect you. I don’t
know why, but human blood does not taste the same any more.”
“May be it’s polluted by all the chemicals, and those pesticides,”
I suggested.
“Also, she complained, “Our kids want blood to reach them easy,
without having to work for it. Can’t understand the generation.”
That touched a raw nerve. I said, “Let’s discuss this another time.
Boss has called an early morning meeting tomorrow.”

And wishing her goodnight, I went back to sleep.

THE END

What Got You Here...

I think there is a book titled 'What Got You Here Won't Get You There.' I thought that would be obvious. An Apple phone with GPS is now needed to go anywhere. But that makes me think- this is dangerous territory, as you know. I am now imagining all kinds of spoofy titles for books that could be written; if push comes to shove, I may write some of them myself, while the grey cells are still functioning. Be prepared for the following titles then.

Why Men Clean Their Cars and Women Their Homes, by Dr. Jobless Jones, Ph.D.

How to Unfriend People who Send you Candy Crush Requests, by Hail Carnegie

How Jobs Cleaned up Windows, by his ex-Cleanup Consultant

How Pepsi Uncovered Coke's Secret Formula, by a former chief of the KGB

Enemies, by the scriptwriter of Friends

The Cosby No-show, by the Five Find-outers

How to Kidnap Schoolchildren, by The Organization

The Highs and Lows of Oil Prices by OPEC

That Sinking Feeling, co-authored by CEOs of Spicejet and Malaysian airlines

Favourite Phrases of Teachers

We forget the courses, but still remember catch-phrases used by the teachers who taught us, as far back as high school. Why, I don't really know, you know- incidentally, 'you know' is also one.

We had a Hindi teacher in school who always began a discussion of some verses from poems with "Bahut sundar kaha hai kavi ne" (the poet has beautifully described....)

Another English teacher was famous for his unique way of presenting Keats' Ode to a Nightingale with the "littul birdae" and the important passages from Julius Caesar, not to mention the poem Ulysses which exhorted us to 'drink life to the lees'.

The Chemistry teacher in school was very strict and what we mostly remembered was his threats-       "I'll cut your tail, I say" being a constant one.

The Maths teacher was generally recognised by her pronunciation of 'which' as 'huch' ( luckily not hooch), and that was a great distraction when the theorems went over our heads. Incidentally, a mathematical romance of many dimensions called "Flatland" is highly recommended for readers who are into that sort of thing. Amazon has it, I think.

A Marketing prof. in IIMB was famous for a dramatic pause following a serious discussion of something, and then the inevitable question, " Is that the only kaas (cause)?"

Another OM (we called this POM for a very good reason that I shall explain another time) prof. had this habit of mumbling, and rocking the chair he held on to, standing behind it and holding on most of the time.

Memorable stuff all.



Bhopal- Film Review

This is the new film about Bhopal and Union Carbide. It is worth a watch, if only to commiserate with the victims of what must rank as one of the biggest man-made calamities we have ever seen. Not that it is the only one- we have ourselves to blame for nuclear disasters, racial and gender-based crimes, riots based on caste and religion, and lots more.

But then, a lot of issues are raised in this film, that make you think. One is urbanisation after the fact- of industrialisation. The city 'caught up' with us, says the CEO of Union Carbide, to a journalist. May be true too. But why the factory did not move once that happened is still a question. The work provided by the plant seems like it was badly needed by people around it, so they did not want the plant shut down.

Where we should draw the line between industrialisation/jobs and life-threatening consequences, ironically, from the same 'life-giver', is something we can't answer easily.

Other issues that come up are our casual attitude to safety, and flouting of best practices by MNCs when they operate in a third-world country.

The recent speeches by Malala and Satyarthi at their Nobel ceremony come to mind. She asked, "Why is it so easy to build a tank, but tough to build a school?" Satyarthi stood up for children's rights and made light of his hard work of several years, while exhorting the world at large to wake up. Will we? How do we?

Rohtak and More

On the way to IIM Rohtak, stopped in Delhi for two interesting meetings this weekend. One was to meet a couple of friends and batchmates who go back 30 years. This was catching up on old times (again, coz we have been meeting regularly, but it's fun anyway).

Another catch-up happened with a former student-turned friend, Padmapriya (I have a lot of these, having spent many years teaching and non-teaching or administering), who is now married and settled in Delhi. Both wife and husband will most likely work with an NGO that is into poverty alleviation. Both did a course in the US on Public admin (master's). Why we don't have such courses is a question worth thinking about. We do need good public admin skills in governing a vast country like India, and we need a lot of research backing our policies.

At IIM Rohtak, an old friend and colleague is currently the Director. I am here to teach a doctoral course on Marketing Models. Interesting, new to me and with a lot of potential for learning. Might also offer it at Indore sometime.

My first visit to the MD University campus, the temporary home of IIM R, and I am impressed by the planned layout and its cleanly maintained surroundings. It is cold as hell, though, but I am prepared with enough things made of wool, so it's fine. The rooms have a heater too. Met a few faculty visiting from IIT Delhi, GIM, and IIFT, here to teach various courses.

December is Here

..and so is the cold. Some interesting 'haps' (as opposed to apps- I still can't figure those out) in the last few days.

Attended an audition for the play "The Importance of Being Earnest" as an observer in the selection process, on campus. A colleague is going to stage the play. Reminded me of the Telugu film "Ashta Chamma" which was loosely based on the play, produced by a friend a few years ago.

The raw energy that a play (even in audition time) brings, and the sheer fun of the words Oscar Wilde had in this one, are infectious. Enjoyed the process thoroughly. Almost everyone who auditioned were talented, and might have fit into the play, if only the cast of characters were larger! Naseeruddin Shah says in his recent autobiography that he and his friends used to perform plays sometimes to an audience of ten or twenty. I can see why!

I do think we ought to make dramatics compulsory, if anything needs to be compulsory. In fact, faculty may also benefit from doing something like this. We may learn to shed some inhibitions, and stop being single-track in pursuit of knowledge in a routine way. And of course, learn to have fun.

On a somber note, Deven Varma passed away. The current generation may not have seen much of him, but he was a nice actor, who I remember singing "Mummy, o mummy, tu kab saas banegi?" among other things. He was laughter-inducing, even with facial expressions, even when he did not say a word. Good acting talent, never loud or vulgar. His best role may have been in Angoor, a double role with the 'double' Sanjeev Kumar.

Words That Resonate With You

There is a woman in the Oscar Wilde play "The Importance of Being Earnest" who is in love with the word 'Earnest' and therefore wants to marry only a person with that name, because the word evokes "vibrations" that Jack, for instance, does not have. This got me thinking about words that resonate with me. This is not a definitive list. Also, my theory is that it depends on who is saying the word, for it to resonate- or not.

Nineteen to the dozen- this is phrase that someone I knew used often, and it had a nice ring to it.

Paushtik bonda- this was food at Uncle's, a low-fi establishment on the IIMB campus long time ago, and kept body and soul together when we were 'fed up' of the food in the mess (why do they call it the mess? So appropriate). The words resonated, and conjured up images of desirable food.

Chai- this resonates as no other substitute for it would. Not tea, which sounds like a coloniser's word. Say Adrak-wali chai, and the resonance goes up manifold. Particularly at this time of the year.

Like/matlab- these are general words used as substitutes for other words that may not be on your tongue at that given moment. Excellent to keep a sentence going, or even start a sentence with, matlab...facebook has given a totally new dimension to the word 'like', of course..

Cat- Like the proverbial one, this word refuses to go away. My first fling with this was in an exam by that name (acronym) I wrote in 1983, and ever since, I am involved in conducting it, or involved with (teaching) students who have been through it. Therefore the resonance with this word. In Indore, we even have a CAT road leading to our campus.

Baba- Used by my daughters, this does have a lovely ring to it. Except when I annoy them; then it takes on an ominous ring..









Comedians as Heads of State

 Seriously (!), it's not such a bad idea. We already have the Ukrainian Prez., the Punjab C.M. and in the past, Trump and Bush (OK, not ...

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