Madhosh Kiye Jaa: 2025

Academic Life and Its Perks

I had a colleague, Madhu Karmakar, who neatly divided his life into two parts- academic and non-academic.. while being a prof. But what I am talking of is a life in academia versus in any other profession, particularly the corporate life.

Pluses of Academic Life

You can read a lot. It's part of your job too.

You are your own boss-in the class if you are teaching. Outside the class too, when you are ideating, writing a case, or a research paper. After writing, if you want to publish, there are some hurdles..

You can travel, if your institution supports this, for conferences, or faculty development programs, etc.. I have been fortunate.

You meet more intelligent people - students in higher ed. particularly, colleagues, and so on, many of whom are smarter than you. So you learn a lot.

In some countries, there's no retirement age.. even otherwise, part-time activity can continue for a long time..

You can have a social life, if you wish..

Negatives

The Publish or Perish menace is all-pervasive.

So is documentation, with all sorts of accreditations up for grabs. AMBA, AACSB, EQUIS, NBA, what have you..

Teaching loads are high in institutions which are not in the top few, autonomous variety. Also in many private colleges and B schools.

Some institutions treat faculty shabbily, with workplaces that are like corporate cubicles, or worse.

Catching Up

There's no end to catching up with old friends, but one must persist and try to catch up. So it was that I caught up with two old friends- an ex-colleague, and a student I never taught, both from IMT Nagpur. This was in Delhi..

Abha Kulkarni, and Harsh Halve, both from IMT Nagpur at one time, student and Prof.- a colleague I worked with.

My Youtube Foray - Chat Masala

Trying out something new, thanks to persuasion from Sheetal Garg, a friend, and Prarthana, my daughter no. 1. A series of 10-15 minute videos on a variety of topics. Some guest episodes and some my own. Three have been published so far, and one guest episode too, with Bhagyalakshmi Venkatesh, covering her views on Happiness. Mine are related to Hindi films, actors and domestic travel. More will follow. Shot and edited by Prarthana, with help from Pooja, daughter no. 2.

The links to existing episodes, in case you want to watch them.. a playlist.

https://youtu.be/1Ey5BlUQI7k

https://youtu.be/x4drlX8nQh8

https://youtu.be/wNwMxUqIW9M - the guest episode

https://youtu.be/qQLyLUyzllw

Games People Play

What are the games I have played? Well, I was in the cricket team at my school, Hyderabad Public School. I also swam in a relay race once in Osmania University College of Engineering.

I have also tried Hockey, Volleyball, Basketball and Tennis, apart from Tennis. We played a lot of Bridge when I was growing up. And a lot of Badminton.

Now, I play Golf when I get a partner to play with. The last time was at Kodaikanal with Vijayakumar and Dhanapal. I also like to train unsuspecting people- students, faculty, friends, relatives- in the basics of Golf. Sohni Roy, a colleague in Prestige University, and some faculty at NMIMS Bangalore (Tanmeet, Alisha, Prerona) were my victims, along with lots of students, and some alumni. Also my international friend, Veronica, who visited Prestige Indore to teach a course, along with Snehal Singh, visiting faculty. And Natasha, a visiting friend.

Sohni Roy above, and Snehal Singh, top.

My brother in the U.S. learnt and then taught Hapkido, a Korean martial art. We all were inspired by Bruce Lee and Kung Fu at one time! I have also watched live some Kalaripayattu performances in Kerala when I worked at IIM Kozhikode. And American Football at Clemson University while studying there.

We invented the game of Frisbee Footer- where you pass a Frisbee and score goals- at IIMB out of necessity, because we had no facilities yet for any other games. And had a Frisbee!

Why Academic Types Are Boring

Why are we academic types so boring? And I am not talking of in-class boring or droning on.. just regular boring.

Many of us don't have hobbies. We rarely socialise. We only travel to go to conferences- if our institution funds them.

We don't have a favourite author. If we do, we rarely talk about that author.

If we write, it's a research paper, most of the time.

We are not big on social media-though that is changing.

We rarely have an interesting perspective to share on anything other than the routine office politics, or the weather, or our commute.

Is there a cure for being boring? No idea, I am too bored to find out.

What Plays Can Teach Us

Why is Shakespeare famous? Due to his plays. And why are plays important, especially today where everything seems screen-based- so much that you sometimes wonder if you are really alive, and pinch yourself to be sure.

I would think that plays are a unique art form. Film of course is easier to do and store, and distribute. And it has an important role to play in entertainment and education. But there is an immediate connect with the characters in a well-enacted play, that is magnetic, and irreplaceable.

Pic above- a wonderful play I saw at Pune recently, called The Greatest Show on Earth.

Last three or four years, I saw many plays. In Bangalore, I was lucky to have watched Naseeruddin Shah in two (he was mesmerising), and Vinay Pathak in one (funnily, called The Last Lear, after Shakespeare's King Lear). In Pune, I saw a few Marathi plays, with some good actors and directors- both male and female.

Some classic Marathi plays were remade into films as well. I liked Natasamrat with Nana Patekar in it, and Katyar Kaaljaat Ghusli with Shankar Mahadevan and Sachin playing the major roles.

I think the subject comes through more forcefully in a play than in a film. I would strongly recommend that you try them out, if you haven't. You won't regret it.

Leadership Types With a Twist

Actually, it's different types of leaders. They get glorified unnecessarily, sometimes. But instead of a positive typology, let's look at some negatives or negative types among leaders, for a change. The following are the major ones-

1. Spineless

2. Heartless

3. Witless

4. Bureaucratic

5. Consultant-driven

I shall elaborate. The first has no spine. He/ She will not back up subordinates, blame someone for all wrongs, and take credit for things he/she did not do/initiate

The second may be good at getting things done, at a great human cost. He/she does not recognise that humans are working for them (though it could be robots soon). No thoughts for feelings, or other unnecessary things that hamper work. Sometimes, ethics also go out of the window.

The third are entertaining at best, and completely useless for the tasks on hand.

The fourth act as if the organisation is a government office with file pushers- not doers. Nothing ever gets done, and subordinates get exhausted with procedure.

These guys come up with a new flavour-of-the month fad every month, usually suggested by BCG or McKinsey or a home-grown consultant. Everyone tries to do Design Thinking, or IoT, or Benchmarking for 4 weeks approximately, until a new word catches his/her attention.. and then, you know the rest.

RCB Wins IPL- Lessons for Us

Who cares who wins the IPL? It's a commercial enterprise, unlike the matches between cricketing nations- particularly the Test Matches that test (literally) endurance and many other skills.

Well, that's true, but IPL seems to have a cult following - maybe for lack of anything better to do! So let's try and learn something from the phenomenon.

1. A challenger can't be a winner. It takes time to convert! 17-18 years, to be precise. May be shorter than the waiting period for a Green card,- look on the positive side.

2. A liquor brand will eventually displace Cement.

3. Kings can lose their crown. History is replete with examples. Queens too, but IPL has none- gender bias? Could be. Though there are some behind the scenes. I saw Preity Zinta once in a match at Hyderabad.,,

4. Akshay Kumar could make a film about this.. possible title? Virat ki Jai ho!

On the Importance of Golf

In school, we read essays about the Importance of something or the other. Oscar Wilde wrote The Importance of Being Earnest. So I thought I should write about the importance of Golf.

It is important to play a sport, if you want to get health benefits. Golf is also one you could try, especially if you think you have the potential to be a CEO.. no, just kidding. You can always be the CEO of your own brand! It helps if you play Golf, in either case!'

Like MBA jargon, Golf jargon is also impressive. Birdies and Bogies, Hole-in-one, Sand bunkers, Putters and Drivers, and Caddies and Golf Carts make up the world of Golf, among other things. A tee shot is not after consuming tea, but after placing the ball on a tee- a privilege you have for the first shot on each hole. A Hole-in-one, of course, is like a Lifetime Achievement Award in any other field. It may happen, or it may not.

What Golf teaches you, cannot be measured with ordinary metrics. You have to experience the game to learn what it has to teach you.

Latch on to a friend who is a member, is my advice. Getting a membership is a dream in most cases, but the point is, you don't need one to start playing. Pay as you play, as a guest who accompanies a member.

Chickening Out

This is a phrase commonly used in the U.S., or in short question format, people say, Are you chicken?

Many initiatives in organisations are killed because the top management chickens out. It could be resource allocation decisions, hiring decisions or even new projects.

The team is usually demotivated by these chicken and egg problems, and more savvy competitors win the battle.

Even if you are chicken, you must cross the road. Or else, you will remain where you are. And the braver ones will go across, and away.

Decision-making skill, thus, counts for a lot, is the moral of the short story.

A Month in Kolkata

I have now lived here for over a month. I commute around 40 minutes each way to work, and it's not too bad. North Kolkata, where the campus is located, is semi-rural, and not as crowded as the rest of the city.

With my Exec. Assistant Shrabani, in my office

Below, view from my window

Below- visit to the Agriculture dept. along with the Pro-Chancellor, VC and the other Pro-VC

The JIS University campus has multiple programs, in two or three different locations. The Management programs are in the heart of New Town area, a relatively new residential and commercial area. Salt Lake is not far from there, as also Eco Park, a huge park I am yet to visit. It has a Golf course within, so a good reason to go there!

The Agriculture dept. is near Kalyani, about an hour's drive, because 50 acres of land is needed for crop development and practical training of students.

Engineering, Education, Law, Pharmacy, Earth Sciences and a couple of other departments are located where I sit, and Hotel Management in another nearby location.

The group also has other colleges, and is in the process of setting up a Veterinary Science college, the first by a private entity in the State.

Getting familiar with the workings of various departments and programs, and the students of some of the programs. It is a big group, with over 40,000 students in all, spread across the university and other institutions. Pretty competitive in terms of fees as well.

Hoping to improve admission processes, and interaction with industry. Maybe play some Golf as well, if possible.

Rains begin in Kolkata

Is it the monsoon? Too soon to tell. It's still the last week of May. But since hot weather began in mid-February, it's likely the rains will also come earlier than usual. It rained today, quite a lot, and the clouds seem set for a longer stay.

It's already rained heavily in Bangalore, Delhi and Pune (last 3 days). And Goa. Monsoon is officially in Kerala too, as per Met dept.

So, chances are that we are into an early monsoon. That may be good news for the rain-parched areas, if the rains get there.

Book Review - Pathway to my Being

This book is written in a memoir format, and is indeed a collection of snippets from the life of my friend and classmate Sankaran. It touches on his early life in school, REC Trichy, then his years in industry before he got into IIM Bangalore (where we met), and beyond. Also about his marriage and the life after.

Many interesting tidbits are strewn across chapters, and make for interesting reading. For example, Victoria's Secret had a plant near Chennai and Sankaran was working for them. It's not a secret anymore, though..

His experience in sales and advice on how to sell using different techniques may be useful to those starting out in this line.

His Golfing days and Carrom days are well captured, and inspiring. Most inspiring is the part about his encounter with Parkinson's disease a few years ago, and how he has battled it with help from his wife and daughter.

Very readable.

Book Review of The Bookshop Woman

Can recommending books to read be a full-time occupation? For a fee, maybe? Or even a part time one?

That and other questions are answered in this book. The lady in question works at a bookshop she likes. Then she gets into a portal for dating strangers for 30 minutes at a time, based on profiles on a site called Perfect Strangers.

As she tries it out, her experiences of meeting various strangers, and discovering herself in the process of meeting with them and recommending books to them is the crux of the story. It is interesting, and the different characters who appear in her life and the twist later on, keep you engaged. Hundreds of books are also mentioned in the story, and there is a list at the end which one can refer to, if you want to read any of them.

I found it interesting. Maybe you will too..

Sustainable Humour

It's all about sustainability, if it's not AI talk. So, here are some tips to sustain you through the next chapter of your life-

Bread is not as sustainable as cake. Marie Antoinette was right, you should eat cake if you don't have bread.

Chocolate is for winters, as it does not melt. Try ice apple in summers.

Jokes about bosses make your stay in the organisation less sustainable- they have informers. Wait until you have left the organisation to crack them.

War with Pakistan is sustainable - for us. Not for them. We just have more people.

A Ph.D. makes you immune to delayed gratification in all spheres of life. Try it!

Acting is temporary. Reality is permanent. Be real. (sorry, lifted from something equally inane said by cricket commentators- Form is temporary, class is permanent?- whatever that means)

Education- A View From Both Sides

What a student wants-

Small classes where she/he will be recognised as an individual.

What we provide generally-

Large classes where there is no scope for such things.

Other expectations, and reality

Engagement vs. Prepared lectures

Thinking openly about possibilities versus Structured Curriculum 'to be covered'

Collaborative Group work like in real life versus individual exams

Practical or real-world fundas versus a lot of jargon that makes no immediate sense

Discussion, versus evaluative feedback

and so on.. in higher ed.. and not in school.

To some extent, a few MBA or engineering colleges have projects, or group work or creative assignments, but not nearly enough. When will we see a change across majority of our institutions of higher ed.?

Your Best Hour

I am not even sure there is such a thing, but maybe it's a period longer than an hour. When you were at your best. I have a few nominations for music directors and lyricists, when according to me, they did their best work.

SD Burman- Aradhana, where almost every song is so good, you hum it even today. His second best for me is Teen Deviyaan, and next, Chalti ka Naam Gaadi.

RD Burman. Aandhi is his finest hour, for the classy duets. Of course, Amar Prem also, for the solos. And for sheer entertainment, Yaadon ki Baraat and Teesri Manzil.

Neeraj, lyricist. Dil aaj shayar hai from Gambler. It's too good. Second, Phoolon ke rang se from Prem Pujari.

Anand Bakshi. Amar Prem, any day. Chingari koi bhadke, Kuchh to log kahenge and Yeh kya hua.. second would be Kati Patang- Yeh jo mohabbat hai, Yeh shaam mastani (from where this blog gets its name), and Pyar deewana hota hai..

Sahir Ludhianvi. For me, his song from Gumrah- Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaayen hum dono is worth its weight in Gold.

Obituary For a Great Friend

He was a faculty member at Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies in Harihar, when I met him, in the late 90s. He taught Organisational Behaviour or O.B. I just spoke to Jogeswari, who was taught by him, and she spoke warmly about his course.

He was a serial entrepreneur, with numerous ventures- some successful, others learning opportunities. He runs a school in Coimbatore, and they also teach Shooting- his daughter in law Sindhu is a National level shooter and trainer.

His home was like a second home for me and my family. We visited whenever we could. Of course, he was a Golfer too, and we had visited Kodaikanal along with Vijayakumar a few times. Memorable times.

He had a great sense of humour, and we also travelled to Bali together a couple of times. Went Whitewater rafting in Ubud too!

He will be missed. He passed away on May 10th after a brief illness.

Meetings That Changed My Life

There were some people with whom a bond was created almost instantly, and stayed a long time.

Alok Srivastava, friend from engineering college. Was responsible for my admission into Clemson, and advising me on negotiating the Ph.D. It helped.

Muthu, colleague at the marketing research company MBA. Remained friends since 1985.

Samrendra Singh, and his wife Annie. We met in 1989 in Greenwood. We met her again in Delhi in 2024.

T.K. Chatterjee - colleague at IMT Nagpur. We bonded over karaoke, and a drink or two.

Vijayakumar and Dhanapal. Both colleagues from Kirloskar Institute. 1995 onwards..

Students of IMT- too numerous to count.. Sheetal Garg, Shreyashi, Abhinav, Nikita Kumar/Ray, Gowri, Anshita, Ishita, Ishan, Tosha, Abha Kulkarni, Sirisha Adi, Pragya Singh (met her at Pagdandi Pune), Meghna Sinha, Meghana Khadilkar, Ananya Nandi De, Shraddha Nigdikar, Divya Singh, Shafique Gajdhar, Pallavi Bajpai, Swati Jain (met recently and bonded), Kedar Muley, Harshad Lunavat,

Kirlsokar students- Jogeswari, Padmapriya, Nidhi Kanungo, Nikhil Damle, Savitha, Anushka Mishra, Smita Mohan, Vidya TC, Swapna Gurijala, Aditi Sood, Sunil Kataria, Sharmistha Singh.

Shweta Kushal, Sanjana Rao, Anusha Soni, Akash Gupta, Prachi Jain, Akansh, Pratishtha Batra, Neeti Ingole, Shweta Jha, Vanshika at IIM Indore

My music group buddies and extended family in some cases- Geeta, Indira, Omprakash, Rajan, Sunil Kapoor, Umesh Jadhav, Poonam Bhatia, Rajni and Rimjhim Verma,

and many more- Frane Bhattacharya, sister of my colleague at XIMB. Yuvaraj, Pavan, Rajesh, Raghavendra, Mahboob and Karibasappa at Harihar.

Ekalavya and a few students of NMIMS Bangalore. Tanmeet, Prerona Baruah, and Alisha Thomas, faculty golfers,

Talk Trillions

You want to be noticed? Talk in trillion dollars, talk of Quantum, or talk of galaxies beyond .. far beyond.. the Milky Way.

People aren't impressed by the small numbers. Or the known. It's what's beyond the curtain, or smoke, that interests them.

Who knows, you could just find a new career, if you do this consistently.. become a guru and start a new cult? Possible.

Good fun as long as it lasts. But then, a new guy may just come and take over, after talking more unfathomable stuff than you ever imagined. So beware of emerging competitors too!

Complacency

When you are doing badly, you know you have to do better. So you work towards it.

When you are doing reasonably well, it's tougher to be motivated. You might think,

"I'm doing well. Why work harder?"

And that's true of organisations as well. If you don't have obvious shortcomings, it's easy to fall into the complacency trap. And stop trying to be better.

An example- IIMs think they are getting the best students. They could be, but even a low-ranked American university has more diversity in their student body. International diversity. I know, because i worked in one. Faculty diversity too.

Just so you don't get complacent as an organisation, I suggest you revise goals every three years or so. And this applies to educational institutes as well as corporates. And see what happens.

First Impressions of Kolkata

It is historic. Much more than any city I have visited. Looks as though every building has a story to tell, in many parts of town. And trams.. the only place that has a few trams running, still. The river ferry is also unique to a few places in India, and Kolkata is one of them. The song Chingari Koi Bhadke with a backdrop of Howrah Bridge made that immortal in the movies.

There are a lot of franchised restaurants all over the city now, including some known to me, and some unknown. Mio Amore is a cake shop with multiple outlets. . Arsalan is a famous one for Biryani, and generally, non-veg. food. There are a few others too, such as Ganguram's, Haldiram's and so on. Small shops selling sweets are all over the place, and many other eateries that sell stuff by the roadside.. quite popular, by the look of it. There's a Professor pally and a Culture Mod (crossing) on the way to my office at Agarpara campus.

Spencer's is a store among bigger retail stores. Many branches, including one where I live now. A comprehensive store selling almost everything including daily needs. My go to place, looks like. I like to browse and buy, a 'dying' breed these days.

As for clothes, it seems that lesser is better. Because it's quite hot, and a fan or an AC is a must most of the time. But you could get used to it. I prefer this to the extreme cold in North India.

I am also looking forward to the Durga Puja season, which is supposed to be a highlight - this time in September last week.

Look forward to catching up with old friends too. One I have already caught up with. A few more, I have promised to..

Importance of Pigs

When we were kids, we had a Piggy Bank. Cute one, with small change, mostly.

Riding Piggy-back. This can happen at any age. Famous people or successful people have many wanting to ride on their fame or success. This is different from riding on horse-back. There, you have to make an effort yourself.

Pig-tails are as well known as pony tails.. almost.

Bringing home the bacon. Bacon comes from pigs.

BLT sandwich was my favourite. Stands for bacon, lettuce and tomato.

PG Wodehouse elevated this to an art form- pig-rearing. His Empress of Blandings was a rare porcine character in adult literature. Her antics fueled many a book.

A New Adventure Begins

Joined JIS University on April 29th as Pro-Vice Chancellor. It's a private university with campuses in Kolkata and nearby. Spans a range of departments from Pharmacy, Science, Law, Management, Engineering to Agriculture and others.

My office is in Agarpara, on the outskirts of North Kolkata. There are possibilities of increasing reach, awareness, and perhaps upgrading the student and faculty experience, alumni support and so on. Probably similar to some experiences of mine elsewhere in a wide variety of institutions, or business schools. Other priorities will be set after discussions with colleagues at the top level and faculty, students, alumni.

Looking forward to also catching up with friends in the East, and visitors of different kinds- official guest lecturers to personal friends. I have a possible Golf-playing opportunity too, to be explored. Will keep readers posted. It's early days yet..

Microbreweries

Not sure which year it was, but I was visiting Bangalore from Harihar, and reconnected with Jimmy and a couple of alumni.

We decided to go out to a pub, and TOIT was the choice. They had set up a microbrewery onsite, probably the first or second in Bangalore. I didn't know what it was at the time. Later, I went to a few more, including the Biere Club on Vittal Mallya Road with Avinash Mulky, and Ann Arbor near Garuda Mall. Last one was Big Brewsky near WIPRO, on Sarjapur Road. No, actually Church Street got a new one where I met Milind Chalisgaonkar. I think it's called Klang. Another one on Residency Road called Communiti.

In Pune, the Corinthian Club had Doolally, which is now called The First Brew. TOIT has also come here, along with a couple more. Update- another visit to TOIT Pune, after we finished teaching at Lexicon..

What I Learnt From IIMs

I mean as a teacher/faculty. And what IIMs can do better..

Classes are overcrowded (MBA) - 70 plus in a section, not conducive to learning. Why can't they have smaller classes, larger faculty size? The norm in the US university I was at, was around 40 in a PG class. UG was larger.

More faculty would also help get more original research and accreditations if that is a goal. More cases too, perhaps with contributions from Professors of Practice.

Not enough Ph.D. candidates. Each faculty could potentially have 3-4, or one new candidate each year. We would help create manpower. Make efforts to get more quality candidates by spreading the word.

I had an academic associate (in Indore) who helped with grading. A must for every faculty, to give her/him time for value-added work.

Not enough guest faculty from industry. At IMT and some other institutions, we had a better number of industry folks within the courses, coming to guest lecture.

Projects (live in the course directed by faculty) are going down. Seminar courses are rare, except in Ph.D. classes.

Flipped classrooms are almost nil, in most IIMs I was in.. shouldn't top institutes be doing more of innovation?

Presentations -Destination Marketing

Some pics from my assignment given to Lexicon Institute MBA students. They had to come up with a marketing plan for a chosen destination-

Filter Coffee- Marathi Play

This is written and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. I am convinced that 'kar's can do creative stuff! A good tale of a conman and his female victims, and how his scheme pans out. There are some twists in the tale, and the characters are quite interesting. The coffee does play a role!!

Good acting, all around. A driver/servant character adds a comic element throughout. This was the first show in Pune we saw. Worth a watch!

The cast and crew including Mahesh Manjrekar take a bow-

Above- Rangoli at the entrance to welcome audience- Balgandharva Rangamandir

Female Characters in Marathi Theatre

Saw a program that had excerpts from 4 plays on the theme of Women in Marathi Theatre, called Tee (She in Marathi). Plays written by the likes of Vijay Tendulkar, Sai Paranjpye and Ratnakar Matkari. Pic from one of them, below. Starred Suhita Thatte-

There was also a lively performance of Mulgi Jhaali Ho, a freestyle street play about why the girl child is important, intended to spread awareness in a society that favoured the Male Child, written many years ago, and performed in all corners of Maharashtra, and translated as well. The highlight was the writer, 75 or so, performing on stage!

Here's are 2 pics from their act-

The author of Mulgi Jhaali Ho is in green, with her troupe.

An Eventful Week

Went to Hyderabad, and met my sister and BIL Hari, and niece Anjali after a long time. Anjali has completed her 12th and is looking at colleges up North. Also caught up with tow visitors at their place. Did not stir out much, as it was hot in the day. Of course, had biryani and small onion samosas with Irani chai once.

Also shot 3 episodes of Chat Masala with Hari, Anjali and Vandana on various topics of their interest. This is a new Youtube Channel of mine where we discuss anything under the Sun. 3 episodes have aired so far, but we have shot a few more.

Back in Pune, we again shot another guest episode with Suhita Thatte, actor and my cousin, visiting from Mumbai. She was here to perform in a Play written by Sai Paranjpye. In Marathi, at a program dedicated to Female characters in Theatre.

Also shot two more solo episodes for Chat Masala, about Friends/ Students who became entrepreneurs, and Bosses I have had over the years -in industry and academia.

Book Review- Journeys Beyond and Within

One of the learnings (hers) that comes through is getting over the idea of the White Man/Westerner being superior to others. In India with our fairness fetish, this is more pronounced. But that is just skin deep, is what you learn when you go inter-cultural over long periods. Like she did in Chile in a volunteering stint, teaching English to local kids (My wife taught local immigrants English in a small US town a long time ago- they were adults though).

Simple joys like drinking in public - near the Eiffel Tower, or the Seine- are captured well, along with the more elaborate journeys into the unknown, inaccessible or less travelled parts of the world. The Indian parent syndrome also gets panned, particularly the gender discrimination- the same things done by a Son are praised, and by the Daughter, criticized.

I found the insights into growing up in our (patriarchal) culture very accurate. Of course, every culture has its issues- the U.S. had loneliness, teen pregnancies and drugs as some of theirs. Maybe Trump too, now!

The style of writing is honest and not showy, and it helps to keep you going, wanting to know more. Well done, Priyanka Gupta.

Why should you read the book? Hope you got the answer to that above. I can't tell all- you have to read it to experience it fully. You can get it from Amazon. https://www.amazon.in/Journeys-Beyond-Within-Life-Changing-Adventures/dp/B0DTT1Y2HB

Actresses Live on Stage

Spruha Joshi, Shweta Pendse, Amruta Subhash, Purnima Talwalkar, Supriya Pathare, and Rohini Hattangadi and Suhita Thatte.. what's common to these names?

They are all actresses on the Marathi stage, some of whom are actresses in other media too.

Marathi theatre has a lot of talent, and some of them have been extremely successful.

I was lucky to have watched some of them in action over the last few years, during my Pune stay or visits.

38 Krushna Villa, Sankarshan via Spruha, Asen mi, nasen mi, and Purush are some recently staged ones. Mother's Day, is another that I saw a few years ago, motivated by my cousin Suhita Thatte being a part of the cast.

Long live theatre, in all languages.

Sankarshan via Spruha - A Conversation

It's a show with a difference. Two people- Sankarshan Karhade and Spruha Joshi- converse with the audience, with minimal musical accompaniment. Had just watched a play starring Spruha earlier, called Purush.

Spruha Joshi

They recite poetry, sing songs and talk about various stages in life, childhood, youth, old age. Poems and songs are on a variety of subjects, from How to Eat Well, or the way a guy writes exams when a girl's hair on his desk distracts him, and a lot of things in between.

A participative session with two 60 plus old men was also a part of this show.

Generally, good fun, and well-performed. It was nearly a full house too, in its 130th performance!

Chat Masala - My Youtube Channel

So far, we have published 3 episodes. If you want to watch them, the links are

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNwMxUqIW9M for the Happiness episode

https://youtu.be/x4drlX8nQh8 the second is about my favourite heroes from films

https://youtu.be/1Ey5BlUQI7k the first, is about why I like Hindi films.

Actors and Roles

Some actors made some roles/characters they played famous. Just like some professors- Kotler, Parasuraman, CK Prahalad- made the universities they worked in famous.

Good to recall a few-

Sean Connery, Roger Moore- James Bond

Peter Sellers- The Pink Panther's Inspector Clouseau.

Charlie Chaplin- Hitler, in The Great Dictator. A tramp, common man in many films.

Amol Palekar- Man next door, in Rajnigandha, Chitchor and Chhoti si Baat

Amjad Khan- Gabbar Singh in Sholay

Rekha- Loveable rebel in Khoobsurat.

Rajesh Khanna- a positive thinking cancer patient in Anand

Rishi Kapoor- a young romantic, often paired with Neetu Singh

Sanjeev Kumar- Khilona, a 'mad' person

Amitabh Bachchan- Angry Young Man

Mithun Chakraborty- Disco Dancer

Dev Anand- the romantic, in many films

Helen- Club dancer, in multiple films

Julie Delpy- Before Sunrise, first of a trilogy - of two people meeting in a train, spending a night talking..

Netflix, Good and Bad

Good

Monk- mainly, for its main actor.

Graveyard, in Turkish. A decent crime detection drama. Acting and emotions are well done.

Anna, the Detective. Russian series, with a beautiful main character. 19th Century, with period atmosphere, costumes. Still watching it..

Bad/ So so

Many American series seem forced, and stereotyped. Forget their names.

Saw the trending one, Adolescence. Only liked episode 3 with the psychoanalyst. Rest was either predictable or a drag.. particularly the last one. Fast forwarded some parts.

Rants on Social Media

There are 4 major types of rants.. keeping it simple.

Personal rants- about being wronged, sidelined, not promoted, or similar

Rants Against a System- What is wrong with it, and why people (except the ranter) are ignoring it.

Rants against Specific People- Bosses are usually the target, but it could be a celebrity cricketer, selectors etc., or friends who ditched you.

Rants for no particular reason.. to let off some steam, perhaps..

All these are interesting, some more than others.

Benefits of Blogging

You never know what it might lead to. Many years ago, I reviewed a book I had read, and also sent the link to the author, from her mail ID on the book cover. That led to a friendship with her and her husband, who also wrote a book on a different subject. I met them a couple of times, and she guest lectured at IMT Nagpur and Ghaziabad where I was. That was Devapriya Roy, author of many books, starting with The Vague Woman's Handbook, that I had reviewed.

Yesterday, I got a pleasant surprise from another author, Priyanka Gupta, who wrote.. I am "a Computer Science graduate from IIT Delhi turned itinerant writer, and my 1st book, a travel memoir, Journeys Beyond and Within... has just been released."

She also offered to send me a copy, so I can review it on my blog, which she is a reader of.. a pleasant double surprise. So, as I said, you never know..

Student Literature From Student Days at IIMB

Of Sirs, With Love

This piece was written to commemorate a guest lecture in a visiting faculty’s class. The visiting faculty was Prof. Kalyan Das. The style is based on a popular column in a mag called Blitz, then edited by Russi Karanjia.

The SLAVE who’s a clinical psychologist gave a gueshtu lecture yesterday on ‘Managing Change’, instead of the SLAVE who is WELFARE. . Samajh gaye na?

A large part of his opening was punctuated by shrieks and creaks of a tortured door- opened by the late Lateefs (and Lateefas) at regular intervals. The speaker paused at the twentieth interruption while saying “For instance, how do you sell home computers?” (CRE…AK)

Looking at the door with trepidation, he continued, “We’ll see how….when the door is closed.”

He exhibited brilliant wit while narrating this one about how children relate to SCHEMAS- the images of things they see.

A child which sees a dog for the first time might say to its father, “Daddy, dog!” and point to it.

The pleased father, feeling proud of his child, may respond, “Shabhash beti. You are all set for the IIM already.”

Such was the KINSHIP effect that Jockey (a classmate) asked 3-minute-each questions full of words and containing some sentences. What JUNTA now wonders is- Who is next in the line of the illustrious SLAVE dynasty? K.C. SLAVE (the sweet shop) or our own SLAVE-H (Dash, another classmate) who is a LINE ?

-In collaboration with Rajan of India aka ROI.

Time for a New Adventure

I last lived in the East in 1991-92, with mixed results. Had some dreams, and some went unanswered. But that was my initiation into Indian academia, which was quite different from the American academia then.

Since then, many experiences across India have shaped my worldview. Lucknow, Kozhikode (Calicut), Indore, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Harihar, Bangalore were some places I lived in, and Delhi, briefly. Met so many nice people along the way-staff, students and colleagues. Yes, bosses too, including directors and promoters. Some had lots of traffic, and some had little!

Now it's time for a new adventure. With new challenges, perhaps. I am going in as one of two Pro Vice Chancellors to JIS University Kolkata, soon. Part of a larger group of organisations and institutes. Looking forward to it!

Play Review- 38 Krushna Villa

This is a very good Marathi play with two good actors, one of whom is also the writer. Shweta Pendse. Girish Oak is the other.

It starts with a premise that he is the accused in a fairly serious intellectual theft, and tries to wriggle out of the accusation by all possible means.. including laughing off the allegation.

The play suddenly takes an unexpected twist around the halfway point, and ends up being a completely different, engaging story. Can't let out spoilers, but it's well worth a watch, particularly if you are in the creative business like poetry, books, paintings, music. You might appreciate it just a bit more.

Well-directed, just about 2 hours in two acts.

De-branding

Just try this exercise. On your resume.

Remove all references to brand names- institutions, colleges, companies, products and so on. See how it looks without the famous horses we usually piggy-back on. I will have to remove references to 4 IIMs, a foreign university or two, and all country names where I went for conferences- yes, remove those too.

What remains could be the essence of what you did, or what you are. A human who interacted with and learnt from other humans- teachers, parents, colleagues- and maybe taught a few things to other humans, if you were a teacher, like me. One whose experiences were shaped by conversations that exchanged thoughts with a variety of people - including children, adolescents and old people over shared meals, or coffee, or music, or nothing.

We are what we forget to be most of the time- ourselves. Not the guy who went to IIT or MIT. Or the girl who starred in a film called so and so. Just normal- affectionate, cranky, friendly, sarcastic.. whatever.

I call it de-branding. Not exactly a marketing principle. Maybe one of self-discovery.

Surprises

Surprises come in various forms. Unexpected faces turning up at places is one of them. I recently met Anurag Jain, a former associate from IIM Indore, in this way. At Lexicon Institute of Management, Pune.

I was there to do a few guest sessions, and suddenly discovered that Anurag Jain works there and is teaching B to B marketing. We had worked together when his boss, Prof. Jayasimha, and I offered a Seminar on Tourism Marketing at IIM Indore. this course became popular and is still running at Indore.

Incidentally, meeting students and working with them was good fun. I met a student, Srishti, from Hyderabad, and another from Indore.

Some students from Lexicon, Pune.

In-class activity makes people think a bit- that's my learning from this exercise.

Morons I Have Met- 2

There seems to be a high correlation between Morons and Bosses. There was this guy who left a note at my colleague's desk that he should not be leaving office to play Golf at 4.30. We played on most days after work!

The effect was the opposite of what he intended! We made sure that we played every day!

Another one, pretty early in my career, gave discourses at faculty meeting. Once, when I asked for leave, he quoted service rules and denied the leave! I asked for a copy of those rules, and after making a pretense of searching in his desk drawer, he couldn't find them- never did!

Holi - Colourful Thoughts

We do see life through a coloured lens. All the colours are present in our life, and make their presence felt through everything we experience- not just on the day of Holi. Here's to a life full of colours you like. Some representative pics-