Madhosh Kiye Jaa: 2026

Meetings With Old Friends in Kolkata

Met Navneeta, Shakti Ghosal and Indukant Gautam of IIMB 1982-84 fame, in the last year.

Met Banikanta Mishra of XIMB- a colleague from 1991-92, on his visit. Also Amit Gope, a student from the same institute, who is settled in Kolkata.

Renewed contact with Ananya Ghosh, a Ph.D. scholar with St. Xavier's University, whom I had earlier met in XLRI at a doctoral consortium. She is close to finishing her Ph.D.

Akansh Khandelwal, a former Ph.D. student at IIM Indore.

Jasbir Matharu, a former colleague, along with Abhinav Chandel, both from IMT Nagpur.

Sayantani Saha, also a former student at Nagpur who is with ICICI Lombard.

And of course, Dash who is also an IIMB classmate, retired cop now settled here.

My Kolkata Journey in Pics

From April 2025 till March 2026.

My entry- above, and my office with Shrabani

Visit to Kalyani, above, and Alumni meet, IIMB below

Tolly Club, above, and Suhasini Barman, new friend, below

Aakansh visits, and Bani and Anita, below

Football, and Barrackpore trip for Biryani

Banani Sah and Samarendra, and inauguration of Interfaith Dialogue

Students of BBA, and Karanjyot and Shrabani

Outing on Christmas, and Litfest at Alipore Jail

Ecopark restaurant, and Books I bought

Cute welcome at a school event, and meeting Ananya and Sayantani Saha of IMT Nagpur

IK Gautam visits, and Jasbir Matharu visits -with Abhinav Chandel

Debasmita Das and Shrabani

Reflections on the Kolkata Stay

Since it has been around 10 months now, I feel entitled to a few reflections.

One, the cost of living is lower than in many other large cities.

But coupled with this, the salary levels are low in many sectors.

Shared autos have 5-6 people in addition to the driver (I presume legally) in them.

The Totos or electric ricks are unmetered. So they quote whatever they want.

Buses are quite cheap, and if not crowded, doable if you are physically fit.

Metro trains are overcrowded, and have few coaches. They don't stick to the schedule.

Growth opportunities in the city are limited, so ambitious people have to move out.

People are generally self-absorbed, and know very little about the rest of India.

Food quality is good, in general, especially non veg. and noodles. But the biryani has a potato in it 😊

Match the Following

This is a game of matching words on the LEFT with those on the RIGHT.

Exclusive Everything

Paradigm Sale

Revolutionary News story

Once in a Lifetime Product Ad

AI Journal Paper

Antecedents Conference Title

ArdorComm Roundtable on SAS AI and Analytics

I was invited to a Roundtable and discovered that the invitor, ArdorComm Media, is a Pune based firm. SAS Institute was the sponsor of this meet, in Kolkata on Feb 20th. The discussion was about the collaboration options offered by SAS to educational institutes, students, or faculty, for their software.

The major reasons we tied up with or bought SPSS in most institutions was the cost, for academic use.

Anyway, it was good to listen to what was on offer, and offer my two bits on how this can be useful in Higher Ed. The event ended with cocktails and dinner at THE Great Eastern Hotel, now owned by Lalit group. There were some officials from the Kolkata based universities and institutions like Sister Nivedita, St. Xavier's and NSHM too.

Jinping Jokes

Who is Xi?

His favourite game? Ping Pong

His favourite spice? Hing

His favourite song? Ding, ding, ding, ding.. by Daler Mehendi

His favourite film? Ping is King.

His major fear? Fear of Sin-king.

Summer Begins in Kolkata

I had my first beer of this summer yesterday- signifying that Summer is here. Normally, I don't drink beer, but it was hot, so I gave in. For some reason, Kingfisher Premium is not easy to find, so I tried Carlsberg light instead. It was Ok, though not as good as the KF.

Officially, it's my last summer here, as I will move back to Pune soon. Nevertheless, almost every city in India gets hot, maybe not so early as Kolkata does. Delhi, Pune, even Bangalore are hot in April. The coastal cities are hot throughout, so a bit hooter in April-June until rains begin and bring relief.

I am still planning on stuff to do post my move, and ideas are welcome. Will not work full time-that's the only decision I have made so far.

If fate tempts me, I may teach here and there, part time, or not, if it doesn't. Golf and meeting friends will continue..

Sixth Convocation of JIS University

I have attended a lot of Convocations. This was maybe the 20th of my life. But memorable, in many ways. The First in Kolkata. On 21st February, 2026.

Debasmita Das and Shrabani Saha Choudhury,

Backstage, from my vantage point

Below- With Bratati Bhattacharya, Director of the Business School.

and the folks from the Exam Branch, including Karanjyot Kaur and Sunita Samanta, who are friends as well.. they did all the back-end work in preparing the certificates, diplomas, medals etc.

Songs Picturised on Sanjeev Kumar

There have been some great songs picturised on him, just like they were On Rajesh Khanna or Dev Anand or Sanjeev Kumar.

Shaadi ke liye razamand kar li, maine ek ladki pasand kar li

O manchali kahaan chali

Tere bina zindagi se koi shikwa nahi

Is mod se jaate hain

Tum aa gaye ho, noor aa gaya hai

Dil dhoondhta hai phir wahi fursat ke raat din

Jadugar tere naina

Meri bheegi bheegi si

Hawa ke saath saath ghata ke sang sang

Khilona jaan kar tum to..

The Curious Case of the Dog Robot

Some controversy erupted after the AI summit, where it is alleged that Galgotia University passed off a robot they had bought from a Chinese company as their own invention- if reports are to be believed. No idea if that is true.

But that shows how you can try and pass off another's work as your own. In academia, it's called plagiarism. In music too, I suppose. We have discovered for instance, that one of Usha Uthup's famous numbers was copied from One Way Ticket to the Moon.. I think it was Hari Om Hari..

So what, you may ask. So nothing. This world consists of people of all kinds, and sometimes, an inspiration will strike you, without your knowing where it came from. Whether that's a crime or not, I have no idea. Let the law take its own course, as they say.. if there is a complaint and a legal case.

Meeting IK Gautam

Met IK Gautam, classmate from IIMB, on a visit to Kolkata from his place, Alwar. He runs a farm there, and mostly lives on the farmhouse too. His friend was with him, and Dash and I made the rest of the quartet. A long conversation on many things under the Sun, our kids included, was a part of this outing. At Tollygunge Club.

IKG on the left, his friend on the right. Dash and I, centre.

Global food Favourites

Pho in Vietnam

Cheeseburger, and Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich in the U.S.

A simple vegetarian meal in Sri Lanka. Also their prawns, in any form.

Greek food- Moussaka is my favourite, both veg. and non veg.

Italian- Lasagna, Spaghetti with Meat Balls

Thai- Tom Yum Soup, Thai Red Curry, Green Curry

Burmese Khao Suey

Korean- Grilled Meat, with sauces. Barbecue Nation style. Kimchi.

French- Can't pronounce the names, but Seafood is good, and Crepes of various types. A soup with seafood called Bouillabaisse (I think!).

Also, in general, Pizza, and Chinese food from India. (never been to China)

British- they have switched to Indian food now, so...

Presidents and Paupers

There is an old joke attributed to a Tamil actor.. that going to an engineering college makes you an engineer, but going to Presidency College does not make you a President.

On the same lines,

-studying Sociology does not make you social

- nor does studying Psychology make you a psycho

- or studying Commerce does not make you commercial

-nor does studying Arts make you an artist.

One can go on.. what about Management? Think of a good one? Or will you be a dog in the manger?

Life Goals and Surnames

Are your life goals determined by your surname?

At least in India, these are my hypotheses-

Agarwals want to own a Sweet shop.

Bansals want to do a flip-flop, or start a Flipkart.

Sonis want to strike Gold, in what they do.

Burmans want to either go into music or Ayurvedic medicine, like Dabur.

Patels want to own motels- in the U.S.

Singhs from Punjab want a Canadian citizenship.

Dash-es want to be dashing cops.

Jhas want to make pickles branded as Jhaji.

Bannerjees want to carry banners and protest.

Boses want to add an 's' and become bosses.

Deys want to be knighted.

South Indians usually have no surnames, so either they are goal-less, or have the same goals. In case of Andhra/Telangana, the goal is to settle in the U.S. and maybe in Kerala, to get a job in the Gulf.

Hype and Reality

I have lived through both- reality of change, and hype, for 65 years plus now. And I believe that I can recognise which is which, most of the time.

The internet and mobile phones synchronising communication and other technologies in a small package, were actually revolutionary, like the Wheel being invented, or 4 of them being put on a moveable frame by Ford (afford-able ones- that's a pun).

But some of the corporate buzzwords that come and go with predictable regularity are just that- buzzwords. Nothing life-changing is going to happen, except to a few billionaires who may go bankrupt. Which is a good thing, if you see what they are doing after making those billions.

To educate you, a smattering of buzzwords that more or less went bust or lost their pizzazz over time- Benchmarking, Globalization, Business Process Re-engineering, Agile, SaaS (not the mother-in-law, she still retains a sting), CRM, Service Quality (ha ha!), Good Governance (this is non-existent, mostly, anywhere you look), and a few more that I can't even remember.. to this you can add DevOps, AI, ML, or any others you can think of.

Relevant Re-labelling

Investor Summit= Irrelevant Summit.

Davos Meet= Devastating Meet

Incubation Centre= Geometric Illusion

Department of Justice= Department of Jokers

Watergate= Petty Crime

ICE= Not Cool

Tariff= Weapon of Mass Destruction

Trump Presidency= Beginning of the End

Valentine's Day (New) Thoughts

Thoughts come and go, so these are new ones, about good old Valentine's Day.. and love.

Love makes the world go around, someone has said. True, along with lesser forms of it, like goodwill. Otherwise, we would all be dead, maybe killing each other in larger numbers than we do now.

So what exactly should we do on Valentine's Day? Try and be loving. Start with yourself. 'Like' all the good things about yourself. Then start appreciating people who deserve to be- your friends, colleagues, family or whoever is worthy of that appreciation. Bosses too, if they are deserving.

Sending Chocolates or Roses may not be the only way to do it. Having a chai or a Misti Doi with them (you can tell I am in Kolkata? How?) might be OK too. I do try and have a lunch or dinner or coffee, with those whom I like and appreciate, whenever I can- not just on February 14th. Any day when we can do that.

Being Human is not a slogan, or should not be. It should be an everyday feature of our lives. Be nice, and most often, it will brighten up your life, along with some others' .

Vintage Pics of IIMB Profs

Some vintage pics of profs. and some of us at IIM Bangalore, 1982-84.

Shyamal Roy, Prakash Apte and batchmate Sriram aka Thalaivar

Henri Fayol (Srikant Payal) , Jagadish, Tathagata Ghosh

Vish, Usha, Dash, me, Pradeep Chittoor

Bandmaster - a recent one, with a Golden Jubilee t shirt.

Ghostwriting

If I were a ghostwriter, who could I write for?

Based on their spoken language, most politicians could do with my services.

Some academicians as well, because based on evidence from conferences or seminars, they don't seem to know where to stop.

Regulators from the education sector who speak as if they have changed the world. They haven't.

People who have conquered the world- not factually, but on Linkedin. I can always talk about how they did so, in the ghosted book.

Any more ideas, please let me know.

Retirement- Possibly for Good

I have contemplated retirement, often. Of course, life does not always turn out the way you think it will. So it was that I came to work in Kolkata. But circumstances have forced me to relook at life's priorities. And it is very likely that I will soon retire from full time work.

It gives you enormous freedom to think, and indulge.. in things that you could only dream about, and occasionally partake of. This may include some travel, some reading, some Golf, meeting people at various places, or in town, doing new things, and listening to music. Of course, family responsibilities, as they are, will be a part of it too.

I am of course, open to occasional forays into teaching if there's any demand from an institution. But mostly, not admin. positions that are devoid of student interactions.

Pune will be the base, or adda- not the Bong version, but the Marathi or Hindi one- as far as I can tell. Mumbaikars, beware. You might see more of me in the months to come!

It has been good while it lasted, through corporate jobs in Advertising and Market Research, and teaching through my Ph.D. to post-Ph.D. days, in the US first, and then in India.

Some great colleagues and students who turned into friends along the way, are my billion-dollar wealth.

Some Easy ways to Evaluate Learning in AI Age

We talk about AI as if it's a villain. But plagiarism has been around long before AI happened. So what does a professor do now, to make out what's original learning from a student in his class?

There are many ways, I would think. Some of these could be

-a Viva or oral test instead of an assignment which if it is take home, will almost certainly involve the use of AI.

-argumentative questions which require some justification of a stand taken on a controversial subject/situation, even in a case study

-ask for original stuff that AI cannot produce.

-ask students to write something in class- not just in an exam, but regularly. If the class is large, it could be a group assignment.

-assign an AI analysis exercise where they get info from AI and then critique it for what it leaves out, or what students can add to it. Can be done in class.

Innovation in pedagogy/evaluation is always possible, to check a student's learning.

Doubling the Joy- Unusual Meetup

Sayantani Saha is an alumna from IMT Nagpur 2010-12 batch of MBA and works in Kolkata at present. Ananya Ghosh is a Ph.D. candidate at St. Xavier's University, whom I met at XLRI first in 2023, and then when I came here to work. I didn't imagine that they would know each other, but coincidentally, they do. And Sayantani spotted a pic of Ananya with me, and recognised me in it! So we finally met over a long lunch and conversation, at Cafe Miami in New Town. The ambience was great, and the food too, but the catching up and banter about their lives and mine, was the best. Some pics-