Getting Better Pics of Yourself

 Avoid selfies, if you want really good pics. Usually they are the worst, other things being equal. Obviously, then, you have to get someone to click you and whoever is with you.

Assuming you do, get a good background, without standing at the edge of a cliff. But check around if you can find a better spot, and go for it. 

An angle and distance are the most important, and light is the most important.. that's what photography is about..

Smile, if that looks good on you. Sometimes, a non-smiley is more appropriate for the situation, or setting.

If the pic is really important, posed is better than candid. Candid ones can go either way. Silly poses too are fine, and sometimes better than serious ones. Wear a hat, if there's one. A Vietnamese conical one is best (from experience).. an Assamese one comes next. Or a detective type one, if you want to look like Sherlock Holmes.

If the background is unique, try and get it into the pic. Enhances you in the process. If it's not, close up on you is most effective.

Think about how you will use the pic- in what size, or where on social media.. of course, you can crop. Or correct some defects, but not all.

How Times Have Changed

For the better, I mean.  In my student days, we generally maintained (a safe) distance between ourselves and our teachers..most of the time. I don't remember teachers who were very friendly, either, with one or two exceptions. After my MBA, though, I found Dr. JD Singh who taught us just one course at IIMB, and he was great fun to be with, whenever we met..he went out of his way to meet us whenever any of us visited Delhi. He was the founding Director and Director General of the Jaipuria Institute, NOIDA. After a long stint at IMI, where also I had met him. When I left Ghaziabad/Delhi, I met him last, just before I went to IIM Indore. He was his jolly self, full of beans and humour!

I find my own students a lot more open than I was, to meet and spend time with. I have enjoyed meeting them whenever possible, at a restaurant or at their home or mine. Some, like Tosha Dubey, planned multiple meetings for me and reintroduced me to her IMT mates. Anshita also managed to draw a big crowd of friends when we met last -in Bangalore! Good managers, I'd say! Of course, in ones and twos I have met at least 30-40 students in just the last few years. Some groups in alumni meets too. The pandemic has made it more difficult, but still I met a couple of them one on one, though less often.

I enjoy online banter with quite a few. Great fun to share stories of yesteryears, and of the present, and their future plans..I feel twenty years younger when I am with them. Just had a long phone call with Nishka, a student of Batch 4, from KIAMS, Harihar! She's a (ghost) writer of repute.

Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

..But not in the way you think. I am referring here to the 500 metres from the 'high'way kind of fondness. Yet, I think we can come up with several ideas to extend this one, and improve humanity-of course, within distance limits.

We can ask people-

not to spit 29 metres from a wall, thus saving paint worth crores (paint companies may not like this, but..)

not to hug your boyfriend/girlfriend within 455 metres from either your house or theirs.

not to wear bikinis within 20 metres of a beach or a pool. You can sunbathe, but not swim in them.

not to smoke within 5 metres of anyone, to prevent them from going up in smoke. Also on Sundays. Smoky Sundays are intolerable.

Not to turn Republic TV channel on within 300 yards of any resident of our republic- health hazard!

Not to read a Dave Barry or PG Wodehouse within 5 metres of people without a sense of humour.

....you get the idea. Now go 10 metres away and frame your own rules!