On Being a Hyderabadi

I call myself a Hyderabadi because in my tender (!) formative years, I spent my time in and around Hyderabad. Picked up the lingo, which is pure fun to listen to (I know purists may disagree), and speak. Also picked up an easy-going lifestyle, which after Goa's sussegad is probably the best way to live (again, workaholics or generally disagreeable types may choose to disagree).

Eating Hyderabadi biryani comes next. You can't take the biryani out of a Hyderabadi. It has to be accompanied by Mirchi ka Saalan to make it completely fulfilling (why do I hear folks salivating?). It can be eaten at any time of the day, or night. Irani chai, likewise. And during Ramzaan, haleem is added to the regular menu.

Movies in a Hyderabadi cinema hall used to be a treat. Great theatres, numbering about 100, rivalled only by Bangalore at the time. I still remember seeing Anand (and Damaad) in Navrang, and Sholay in Ramakrishna 70 mm (at this time I was in Hyderabad Public School), Don in Tarakarama, and Chitchor in Ramakrishna 35 mm. There were a few theatres that only screened English films, like Sangeet in Secunderabad and Skyline in Basheerbagh. Probably Tivoli as well. When I was at Osmania engg. college, we used to return by a midnight local train to Jamai Osmania station, and walk back to our hostel after a late-night show. I must have seen enough Hindi films to do a Ph.D. on them.

Abids was the main shopping area at the time, though shopping was not my forte. The Birla Mandir came up on what was called Naubat Pahad earlier. Masab Tank where my Uncle and cousin stayed was a regular haunt. Tarnaka where my aunt lived was another. There was a Fever Hospital somewhere near Nallakunta where I also lived briefly, and an Erramanzil on the way to my school's earlier location. I saw a comic play called Adrak ke Panje in Hyderabadi at the Ravindra Bharati, a landmark, and it was hilarious! The film Karz released when we were about to finish college, and we saw it to celebrate the end of a chapter of our lives.
 

Sridevi Passes Away

An unfortunate accident took her away at 54, it seems. I was not exactly a big fan, but I enjoyed quite a few of her roles. She had star power, and a great screen presence. I particularly liked her in the exuberant roles such as Chaalbaaz and Mr. India, than in the serious ones.

Along with Rekha and Hema Malini, she was one of the South Indian actresses who held their own in the otherwise male-dominated film industry for many years. I think that-being a strong woman- was itself a contribution she made to films in Mumbai.

Her return in the film English Vinglish was noteworthy because she played a character her age, and played it well. This was written and directed by Gauri Shinde, a good woman director of recent times. Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari is another woman director whose work I liked a lot- Bareilly ki Barfi and Nil Battey Sannata were her films.

Anyway, she is now one with the stars above, and I hope she is doing well someplace.

A Green Campus-Indian Oil Institute

Visited the IIPM (not that one!) at Gurgaon, set up by Indian Oil for training their executives. Great campus, green certified and nicely laid out. Here are some pics-






Dil in Hindi Film Songs

The fact is 90 percent of Hindi films are romances, and therefore, about the heart, or dil in Hindi. The songs (again, almost all Hindi films are musicals) too have loads of romance. Here are some common uses of the word 'dil' in songs -

Dil machal raha hai..hard to translate, but roughly, the heart is exuberant..

Dil beqaraar sa hai..again, tough to achieve an accurate translation ..but restless heart could be close.

O mere dil ke chain..addressing the loved one as the balm for the heart.

Dil ek mandir hai..the heart is a temple.

Deewana leke aaya hai dil ka taraana ..the heart as a gift to the beloved.

and of course, Dilwaale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge..it started as a song in Chor Machaye Shor, and went on to be the title of a blockbuster starring one of the best screen pairs -Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. Literal translation..the guy with a heart will take away the bride.

Victoria No. 203- the Original Film

There was a director called Brij who made this film in the seventies, with Navin Nishchal and Saira Banu in the romantic lead, and Ashok Kumar and Pran in the real lead. Their roles (the older actors') were central to the theme, about a missing cache of diamonds worth a few crores. I just saw this film again, on TV.

It is rollicking fun, with a lot of twists and turns, and some good music, particularly the song- "Do bechare bina sahare, dekho poochh poochh kar haare, bin taale ki chaabi lekar phirte maare maare." Saira Banu's dad is implicated in a murder related to the stolen diamonds, and she is forced to disguise herself as a man and drive his Victoria (women were not allowed).

There is a lot of fun with Ashok Kumar (who plays a drunkard) and Pran, small time crooks who find the key to the locker where the secret about the diamonds is stored, but don't know which locker. Finally, their search leads them back to the Victoria (horse-cart) and its lamp. But the original goons who killed the person carrying them get into the act, and mayhem ensues in a climax that's also great fun, Bollywood-style of course.

A crime-comedy caper in the best traditions of Bollywood.

Aiyaary- View From the Balcony

Manoj Bajpayee is a fine actor. Rakul Preet Singh (apparently starred in a few Telugu films) looks nice and acts well in her part. Siddharth Malhotra- well, I am not a big fan of his, but he's adequate for the role.

Overall, the movie is a good watch if you like the Spy Vs. Spy genre. Here, it is also linked to the Adarsh Housing scam though the disclaimer proclaims otherwise.The story is decent, and keeps you guessing in quite a few scenes. Naseeruddin Shah has a small but significant role.

Somehow, the leading lady reminded me of Poonam Dhillon in her young days. She looks and acts a bit like her- or maybe I have a need for glasses :)

Ok, without giving the story away, this is all I can say. It has the feel of a Neeraj Pande film (A Wednesday). Nicely shot scenes of foreign locales. The snowy ones in India too.

Change of Names

Places with changed names is the focus here.

Waltair is the old name for the city of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Calicut is the old name for Kozhikode.

Trivandrum is the old name for Thiruvananthapuram.

Chennai is the new Madras, Puducherry is the new Pondicherry and Mumbai is the new name for Bombay.

Bangalore has turned into Bengaluru (and I believe, Gulbarga into Kalburgi), Calcutta into Kolkata.

Pune is what we call the old Poona now.

Roads have also been renamed to get a nationalistic flavour instead of the British-Raj one, like the name given to Warden Road. Bhulabhai Desai Rd is the new name. The American Cnsulate where I got my student visa used to be located on this road in Mumbai (Bombay). 


Reflections





This is a composite pic made from two different ones- the one on the right is from Vignana Jyoti Institute of Management at Hyderabad, where I worked from 1992-1995. The one on the left is from IMT Nagpur, where I was between 2009-2013.

The journey to this point is full of learnings. I have found that I like the cosy small classes better than the industrial, large ones. Not much one can do about it, though.

I have also found that learning mostly happens by doing, much more so than by listening to someone talk, though  a combination might work. This, one can do something about.

Projects which take you into the field are almost guaranteed to teach you something new.

Exams should make a student think-not a professor, about how he will grade them on time.

Bureaucracy is stifling-wherever it exists, and is probably the single biggest reason that creativity gets stifled anywhere- a country, an organisation.

Selection processes are critical in maintaining quality, both of students and teachers.






Pad Man- Film Review

The TED Talk by the original man Arunachalam is awesome. The movie is not bad from a social awareness standpoint, but leaves a lot to be desired from a cinematic point of view.

Akshay's lack of acting skills and the direction makes the first half drag for about twice the amount of time it should have run. The second half is a lot better, and his speech at the U.N. is a highlight. Sonam injects some freshness into the second half, but her entry is a little late in my view. Had it occurred earlier, and the film been about an hour and a half, it could have been a terrific watch. It is shot in Maheshwar near Indore for the most part, and the cinematography is nice.

I think the points made in the film about our society being regressive about female hygiene are made well, but the other points that come across strongly are -

1. Women also treat women badly, not just the men.
2. You are somebody in India only after someone in the West recognises you.

If you are the patient kind, watch the film. If not, stick to the TED talk.



Happiness or Long Life?

What is your goal? Is it to be happy or to live long? Or something else?

One must try and achieve whatever goal one has. If you want to be the owner of your own island, you have to try and generate wealth so you can own one. Like one of those Bond film villains who all seem to live on an island-could be just a correlation, and not causation! Also, Bond could come and destroy it all, so think carefully.

But the point is, if you want quick money, you can try and trade in something that has the potential to get you there (with the downside being that it may wipe out what you have got)- real estate, stocks, commodities, or any other legal methods of gambling (include Las Vegas trips, and lotteries).

If you want long life, you should not go out on the road, because given our traffic, anyone can kill you in a minute -it's dangerous out there. I can vouch for it-I nearly got killed a few months ago. But seriously, you may have to get into watching what you eat, and exercise (why do I see a frown on your face?) and so on.

If you want to be happy, all you need to do is smile a lot, read funny stuff (Wodehouse, Woody Allen, Bill Bryson, Dave Barry etc..) and generate smiles around you. Sounds easy? Then try it-but only if that's your life goal.

An Ode to Yercaud

It is by far my favourite hill station. And I have been to most of them in India. Pic above shows us on a boat in the small lake, a few years ago.

It is quiet. It is small. It is also not very tough to access, particularly from Bangalore or Salem-or from Bangalore via Salem.

The drive does not tire you out, as it is just around an hour from Salem.

There is almost nothing to do, so you end up doing that.

The walks are just great.

Good food is available in some of the restaurants, and more importantly, the hotel guys in most small hotels will cook to order.

Haven't been there now for a few years. Time to go again.


You Have Been Teaching Too Long When...

You know what excuse the student will come up with before he uses it..you get good at predictive analytics, in today's lingo.

You are no longer wondering what will keep the students engaged in class-you KNOW. At least, you know the reverse-what will NOT keep them engaged in class..

You stop telling them tales of how great your school, college days were..because (see above).

You start mentally grading a question that someone has asked, as soon as he has asked it.

You have five (or more) final exams potentially ready, and you just have to decide which one to use.

You know what used to be an easy question once may be a tough question today. :)




Nice Hollywood Films

Mackenna's Gold
Guns of Navarone
To Kill a Mockingbird
Lawrence of Arabia
Where Eagles Dare
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Pink Panther series with Peter Sellers
Diamonds are Forever
The Man with the Golden Gun
Herbie Goes Bananas
Romancing the Stone
Death on the Nile
Murder on the Orient Express
A Fish Called Wanda
The Man with Two Brains
Dead Poets' Society
Silent Movie
Blazing Saddles
History of the World Part 1 (Part 2 was never made, though there was a trailer with Hitler on skates)
The Loves and Times of Scaramouche
The Reincarnation of Peter Proud
Star Wars
The Omen
The Mask
Gone With the Wind
Modern Times
The Great Dictator
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu
Julius Caesar
Who's Afriad of Virginia Woolf?
Titanic
The Naked Gun
The Birds
Dial M for Murder
Casablanca
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Oh, God (starring George Burns)
Airplane
Annie Hall

Blog Readership Crosses 485000

Some amazing stats for the readership of this blog. (on Feb 9, 2018)
 
Pageviews today                 415

Pageviews yesterday
           878
Pageviews last month
      8,772
Pageviews (all time history)
               485,084
 
 
 
 
What's the correlation? It generally has to do with the readership from students past. If something catches their attention, the  readership soars. Of course, there are other readers I have, like current students, former colleagues, friends and relatives. But I suspect the past students outnumber them by a large margin. Anyway, whoever you are, thanks for the motivation. I promise you more of what you have been reading :)

If Today Was My Last Day

If today was my last day as a human avatar, I would (depending on when in the day I knew)-

Drink at least three cups of tea and a glass of Single Malt - tough to choose from, but my current stock would help me narrow it down.

Call and say goodbye to about a dozen people.

Watch a favourite film scene from a film or two- Anand and Padosan, or Chupke Chupke probably.

Read my favourite jokes over again.

Look at the photo albums of the years on the planet.

Write a will (unless the World was also ending-then there would be no need).

Play a round of Golf-I should have settled near a Golf Course by then :)😇

Listen to as many favourite songs as I could in the rest of the time..maybe sing a couple.


What Friends Mean

They remind you that you are not alone. Of course, in a way different from your family members. The ones who give you advice -right and wrong, are usually friends. They stand by you when the going gets tough.
 College gang above, and MBA classmates, below.
 Dilliwalas when I was one, briefly..
 Can Chennai be far behind?..
 Man's best friend, on IIM B terrace many moons ago.
 KIAMS students with me..
 IMT students..
 more of them..
 Harfan maula Chasha and gang at IIMB.
 Samren and Annie, life support in the U.S.
 Fog and Golf go well..Dhanapal, at Kodai Golf Club.
 Indore MDP on Digital Marketing..
 and the winners of the Google Online Marketing challenge on karaoke..

Friendships of childhood are often strong, and can persist over decades. The ones formed later in life can be strong too, but have less time to be tested. I can remember many friends made pre-facebook days, who are still friends. We are in touch virtually a lot more than earlier, but that helps too, just to check on what's new and be reassured that they are doing fine. I consider myself fortunate to have a large friends' circle, including former colleagues, former students and just friends from college and beyond. I have made friends from blogging, too- fellow bloggers. Others share interests such as travel, photography, food, or gossip. Just made a bunch of new friends over the last two years through a music group I joined, thanks to a former student from 1991.

Meeting old friends or new is a joy for a fairly long period, and highly recommended. Unexpected meetings, even more so.

Make friends, meet friends. It's Friends' Day. But then, every day is.

Courses I Have Taught

Since I started teaching in 1986 as a grad teaching assistant at Clemson, I have taught the following courses in management schools-

Intro. to Computer Applications
Operations Research
MIS
Principles of Management
The above were taught to undergraduates in the U.S.

On return to India in 1991, these have been my staple in MBA level teaching.

Marketing Research
Advertising, and its new avatar, Integrated Management Communications
Marketing Management
Business to Business Marketing
Business Communication-only once at Kirloskar Institute
Services Marketing-I even wrote a book on this subject while at IIM Kozhikode.

Seminar on Thought Leadership- this is a thought-provoking one, hopefully without provoking students who take it.

Digital Marketing, after I discovered I could not stay away any longer.

The following have also been taught to the Ph.D. students-

Seminar on Retailing-plan to modify this to include Tourism.
Marketing Models
Digital Marketing Seminar- under development.




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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