Anopheles and AI

 I was meeting Anopheles, my winged friend, after a long time. For some reason, her visits to my house had dwindled. Maybe she had found food closer to her own place. 

Anyway, I said hello, and asked her how she'd been. 

'Well, not bad, I'd say. And you?' she replied.

I said our whole world has been upended by this thing called AI. 

'What's that?' she was curious.

"It's like God," I told her. "It's omnipresent, and omnipotent. "

"What on earth does that mean?" she asked, quizzically, arching her eyebrows (in my imagination).

I said, 'Wherever you go, AI follows. You go to a seminar, it's about AI. The news, ditto. You can't turn a page (or scroll one) without AI hitting you in the face, it seems.'

"But what is it, exactly?" she was more mystified than before.

"That I am not so sure about," I was honest. "But I know it's pervasive. Apparently, we humans are about to replace our natural stupidity with this intelligence, which knows everything and can do anything better than we can."

"Well, it doesn't have a lot of competition, I'm afraid. Look at Donald Trump. Even an average mosquito can beat him. You don't need AI to do that." she said drily.

"Forget Trump. What I am most afraid of is that it'll start writing my blog, and telling me what to reply if you ask me a question. What will happen to my grey cells? Will they go into cold storage?"

"You seem pretty proud of your grey cells. Tell me, what's the solution to hunger, in your world, or mine - the mosquito world, I mean.

"A blood bath, for your world," I joked.

"And yours?" she persisted.

"Importing American corn, under threat from Trump, I suppose. " I replied.

Reflecting on that, she bade goodbye, and promised to come and visit more frequently.

Meeting Mumbaikars

 I have a second home in Mumbai now at Bhagyalakshmi's place. And I also have a couple of relatives there. 

In general, Mumbai people are always in a hurry, because they are rushing to catch a train, if they are working. But I have discovered and met a few in Mumbai who are willing to relax too. I met Meghna Sinha, Swati Jain, Nishka Rathi, Vikram Rathi and Shraddha Nigdikar in the last 2-3 years, and Tosha Dubey and Abha Kulkarni a couple of years before that. Sirisha Adi and Khyati Jha too, in Belapur and Kharghar. Sheetal Garg too, a couple of times.

Also, Ravi Mittal and Kedar Muley.

Goes to show that there are Mumbaikars who will take time out, if they wish to. 

Rain Pics From Kolkata

 Some pics of recent rains.

Outside our complex, roads get flooded.

Last one is from my window-

Why I Like Dilliwasis

These are residents of Delhi, who may or may not have grown up there. Some have. 

They tend to have a gung ho attitude towards everything. It's not easy to live in a place that has only 2 months of good weather on average. And deal with invaders at one time, and uncouth drivers today. Road rage is a real thing there, just like in L.A.

But most people in Delhi NCR that I know are nice.. maybe it's me. But online and offline, I have encountered nice people 95% of the time. That's a good percentage, in my view. So anytime I visit, I am able to catch up with a couple of friends. 

I have now met Shweta Agarwal, Padmapriya (more than once), Sharmistha Singh and Sunil Kataria (once), Divya Singh, Shruti Sharma, Aditya Naag, Nikita Kumar/Ray (more than once), Abha Kulkarni (many times), Ananya Nandi De (thrice), Supriya Jain, Surbhi Mehta Chaddha, Shalini Sinha, Jaya Dulani (once each), Kanika Mhendiratta (twice), Harish Chaudhry, Himanshu Manglik, Pradip Acharya, Harish Arora, and my ex-colleague Harsh Halve

Conferences and Seminars

 I have by now attended countless conferences and seminars, and some were memorable. The first one was in the U.S., and the next two as well, while I was a Ph.D. student there. I even won a prize for one of my papers, at a Southeastern DSI conference. One was in Las Vegas, which became memorable due to the place!

At IIMK, IMT in India and also at PES, I organised conferences as well. One of our ideas to host one in Goa was a big hit. It was also a case conference, unlike most others which are research-paper based. The venue was an attraction for many participants, and I still get reminded of the Goa conferences by people I meet.

Among other international conferences I have been to, Tourism related ones in Colombo, Vietnam and Japan were the most interesting. I offered a course on Tourism Marketing during that time as well, at IIM Indore, for both Ph.D. students and MBA students (with a colleague, Jayasimha). The MBA course continues, I am told. 

Last week I attended a seminar at St. Xavier's University, in Kolkata on invitation. It was on Strategy, with the vision for India in 2047 as a theme. There was an interesting address by the Chairman of Coal India, Mr. Prasad, and a panel discussion with executives from industry.

Why I Like Indoris

 The fact that they stay with you. Even those who have been with you a short while, don't give up on you. I have known a few for many years now. For instance, Nidhi Kanungo, though she is now an American, but we first met in Harihar, while she was studying at Kirloskar Institute, and I taught there. 

Nidhi, her Mom with my wife and me, Indore, recently.

Many years later, we were in touch on Facebook, and she reached out during a visit, and her Dad and I and she went around the IIM campus and clicked a few memorable pics. Again, a couple of years ago, she called up and we met at the hotel she was staying in, and met-her Mom was with her this time.

She also dropped in at Prestige University on the way to Ujjain next morning. 

Saumyaa Sharma is another Indori I have worked with at IIM, and we have remained in touch ever since. She was my teaching associate, and went on to work in Marketing Research- first with a friend in Bangalore, and later in Mumbai and Delhi. 

Saumyaa and I at Indore. Above.

Of course, Anshita Maharishi (now Abhishek Chetty) is another lovely Indori I have known for many years. From her student days at IMT Nagpur. She now works in Bangalore, but we have met a couple of times at parties that she organised. She has twins whom I have met too. 

At Indiranagar, Anshita organised this. She is at far right!

Anshita in the centre, with her daughter, flanked by Rupam and Anusha, with Ishita and Gowri at the back. Bangalore Orchid, near KGA Golf course.

1500000 and Going

 That's the number of views of this blog, from the start till now. Worth celebrating the milestone with my first-ever post. It was about the stock market, written in 2008. 

Stock markets give us an illusion of wealth. The world (at least most of it) is composed of stock markets. And therefore, the world is an illusion. What does the paper money really represent? Why don't all investors cash out while the going is good? And settle down in the Bahamas? Don't know if there is a stock market there. A wise friend of mine who is into real estate broking once told me- the only guys who consistently make money (win-win, if you please) are the agents/brokers/traders etc. in any trading activity. The ongoing hulchul reminds me of that wise guy.

Memorable Meetings and Outings

 What makes a meeting or outing memorable? Could be many things, but an important thing is the warmth, among those meeting up. Or going out. Some instances I remember warmly, in pics- 

Savitha and I met in her office on MG Road. She worked with Deccan Herald at the time.

Meeting Abha and Harsh Halve, in Delhi

and Amit Gope in my Kolkata office.

Or Venkat Rama Subramaniam in Calcutta Club

Garima and Ayan at Pune, 

and Bhagyalakshmi and Venaktesh at Pune TOIT

MSMT Pune and Mumbai gang in Pune 

and Asoka and Jyoti Dua in Indore at a Prestige Univ. outing

Swati Jain at Mumbai,

or Maya and Shubha at Pune on New YEAR eve, 2025.

Milind Chalisgaonkar in Kling's Bangalore

and Dhanapal in Dec 2024 at Kodai.

Adithya, a schoolmate in PUNE

and Annie, from Greenwood, and AJ, in Delhi.

Ishita Modi in Indore

and Shweta Kushal in Indore

Prachi Jain at Delhi,

or Jaya Dulani in Delhi

Sanjana at her wedding in Hyderabad,

and Pratima Gaikwad, a Hyderabadi in Indore.

Bhavna, Silky and Dheeraj at Gurgaon

and Riyaaz, Arun and Juhee and Divya Sairam at Indore.

And, an outing at Hindola Mahal, Mandu with Radhika, Shweta and Surbhi Dayal. 

Addictions

 Mobile phones are the biggest among present addictions. Started with Orkut, maybe, went on to Facebook, and Instagram, and may go anywhere from here. The celebrities had Twitter, now X. And everyone has WhatsApp. 

There used to be the good old addictions, like tea, coffee, alcohol, and drugs. They now look like pale shadows of themselves. 

Reading or TV/film-watching may have been addictions too, now mostly replaced by Netflix-type OTT channels on whichever device is available. 

I have actually seen Chief Guests or bigwigs looking at their phones while sitting on stage in important events like Convocations, so one cannot blame it on the youngsters alone.

Movies in theatres are less appealing due to constant buzzing of phones, and people talking on them! Flights, likewise, unless the stewards are strict about it. Even if a plane is crashing, people may want to take a selfie for posterity.

Serious!

Memories That Stay

 Saw this pic again, from December 2013 when I was leaving Delhi for Indore. What's remarkable about this farewell, was that our Prof. Dr. J.D. Singh joined us at this club. Along with classmates, Himanshu Manglik, Pradip Acharya, Harish Chaudhary and Sunil Gupta. Anil Shrivastava too. Some memories stay with you! Dr. Singh taught us marketing at IIMB, but remained a friend forever.. he is in Canada now, but in touch through Linkedin!

Meeting Suhasini Barman

 Met this bubbly entrepreneur who happens to be connected through a classmate too, and a very warm, talkative personality. Though it was our first meeting (courtesy Linkedin), we got along really well. She parks herself on Park Street (that's where her office is), but moves around doing multiple things. Like meeting clients, offering guest lectures at some local colleges in Kolkata, and meeting strange people like me. Meet Suhasini Barman, who runs a company named after herself. She is also joining the Goldman Sachs-sponsored program for Women Entrepreneurs at IIMB soon. So we will be co-alums too!

Classes and Classy Students

 Some classes have class, and some students too. Sample from different places, in class and out of class -