Coincidences and Connections

 I was watching a video in which Anupam Kher was interviewing Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri, the title of this show being Kuchh Bhi Ho Sakta Hai (Anything Can Happen). He also questioned them about happenings in their life. They came from different backgrounds, religions and became great friends during their stint at the National School of Drama and later acted in many films, sometimes together and sometimes not. (I am going to watch a play starring Shah this week- theatre remains his passion.)

I started thinking about coincidences and connections (in case you noticed, I sometimes do) as a result. For example, a friend from Hyderabad, Alok, got me an admission into the Clemson Ph.D. program, which took me into academia. My first IIM job interview (Lucknow) had my teacher, Prof. JD Singh, on the interview panel. I met one of my former students, Padmapriya, at night, while standing outside my cousin's place in Mumbai, and have remained in touch since. Another former student, Jogeswari, started a Golf touring company, and I went on their first organised tour to Thailand.

Sheetal Garg and I met by chance at an alumni event at IMT Nagpur, and have been meeting regularly since-we are also members of a music community. The music group itself, I joined (and met some great people in) due to Mohan Gopalratnam, another former student from XIMB. Nikita Kumar happened to be working in Hyderabad and Pune when we met in both places. Animesh Jain in Bhopal also I met coincidentally when I went for a guest lecture. Abhinav Kamal happened to make a film, Pradyumna, Bhagyashree and Harshad Lunavat happened to be good photographers at IMT, and I noticed. Soumyashree, a student who I met accidentally made my blog popular by posting a link on hers. 

I ran into Rohit at a mall in Bhubaneswar, and lots of people at airports-Jimmy Jain of IIMK, and Siddharth from KIAMS, for instance. Anne, from the Agriculture Dept. at Clemson, who I met through a roommate, became good friends and we visited her at her French home and she came to India too. 

I was fortunate to meet Ravi Gadgil, who had played Golf, while I was at IMT, and we set up a two-hole Golf course on the campus. I also run into former colleagues regularly, when invited for faculty selection, or guest lectures. Some former students also come and meet me at times. All these coincidences and connections are highly rewarding, and fun. I played Golf with someone I met years ago, recently- we happen to be in Bangalore now. An entrepreneur saw a post on LinkedIn and connected with me about her startup. I also met Pooja Varun, a former PES student, and Nagendra Shenoy in similar coincidences.

Zindagi, ittefaq hai..as the line from a song says (Life is a set of coincidences)

What I Learnt and From Whom

Ok, let me get this off my chest..I haven't learnt how to dress elegantly, though some women constantly tried teaching me..bad learner. But I did learn the following,..

From Alok, a classmate- what GRE was, how to apply for M.S. to the U.S., and what an MBA was and how to apply for CAT. Later, how to live in the U.S. too.

From Vijayakumar, a friend and colleague- Applied SPSS, the difficult parts. The easy ones I learnt from Profs. at Clemson.

Basics of marketing from my marketing profs. JD Singh and Thirunarayana, and Bhaskaran (advertising, my favourite course) at IIMB. Stats from Dr. Cantrell and Dr. McNichols, at Clemson.

Human behaviour from two profs. and observation. I am eternally grateful to Profs. Valecha and SK Roy of IIMB.

Mischief, from all my friends over the years, and the million students I have had since I changed sides.

Being sensible, from my wife. And parents. and Father-in-law.

How to facebook, from my daughters. And some complex manoeuvres on my phone too.

How to blog, from my BIL Hari.

How to appreciate others? Comes naturally :)

English, from reading authors like Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alistair Maclean,..