Bonds- A Reflection

 I have been able to bond with people quite easily. It could be students, colleagues from faculty or staff, and friends, classmates, and cousins/relatives. A new category has been added a few years ago- a music group on Facebook that I became a member of, and instantly made over a 100 like-minded friends who bonded over music.

I am not age-ist, and I am glad most of friends aren't. Or else, why would a twenty-something or a forty-something want to spend time with a Sixty-something like me? I have rarely been turned down when I proposed a meeting with alumni of different B schools that I taught in, in various cities- in India or abroad.

So I have met Smita Mohan in Dubai, Vidya and Swapna in Singapore, and countless alums of Kirloskar Institute, IMT Nagpur, or IIM Indore, IFIM, Vignana Jyoti Institute, or colleagues from IMT Ghaziabad, IMT Nagpur and elsewhere.. some names are Anshita Chetty, Rupam Verma, Aashish and Anusha Mamidanna, Gowri Kishore, Sreeram, Meghna Sinha, Sanjana Yarram, Swati Jain, Nishka Rathi, Sudeshna Ray Srivastava, Ranjana Rudra, Roopali Saxena, Deepthi Balagiri, Pratima Gaikwad, Savitha, Nikita Kumar/Ray, Shruti Sharma, Aditya Naag, Shafique Gajdhar, Abha Anagha Kulkarni, Tosha Dubey, Siri Adi, Anuj Mathew, Anushka Mishra, Bharath Shenoy, Vishakha Sugandh, Anusha Soni, Garima Shah, Pushpinder Singh, Harshad Lunavat, Phalguni Banerjee, Ananya Nani De, Divya Singh, Swatika Selvam, Jogeswari, Padmapriya Janakiraman, Amit Gope, Mohan Gopalratnam (both from XIM Bhubaneswar back in 1993).

And colleagues from IMT Nagpur like Tk Chatterjee, Smita Dabholkar, Veena Pailwar, Saleena Khan, and others, IIMK staff members from my day who are still there, Keyur Purani and SSS Kumar and Neeraj Dwivedi who were faculty colleagues there, Jayasimha and Shweta Kushal from IIM Indore, and Ph.D. students from IIM Indore like Prachi Jain, Akansh Khandelwal, Pratishtha Batra, Vartika Varyani, Neeti Ingole and Geeti Mishra.

I have also met Vrinda Khanna and Surbhi Mehta Chaddha, Pallavi Bajpai, Abhinav Kamal, Aditi Gupta (who played Golf at IMT Nagpur). Probably a few more that I am missing right now.

Students' Day

 I just learnt that today is World Students' Day. It is important to note that Teachers' Day is in September, and a different day! Anyway, irony apart, it's nice to celebrate students, if you are a teacher. 

My first students were Undergrads in Business at Clemson University. The thing I most remember about them- around 25x3 students each semester was that they were courteous, ignorant about computer usage- I was teaching them that- and usually nice to me though I was a Ph.D. student from India. There was a giggling duo of girls, in one of my classes. And Melinda, one student walking past a vintage car parked on campus, modeled for me when I asked her.. I was clicking the car, and she posed alongside.

My last full time teaching assignment was at IIM Indore. I taught a variety of courses there to PG and Ph.D. students, and also Executive MBA students. There were also a few MDPs for specific companies, such as Trent of the Tata Group (Retail) or Hindustan Petroleum.

In between were students at Lander College, USA, Xavier Institute, Bhubaneswar, Vignana Jyoti Hyderabad, Kirloskar Institute Harihar, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, IFIM, PESIT (occasional teaching), IMT (very little teaching, but met lots of students, and continue to do so). 

At Prestige university I really did not teach much, except a few classes of Marketing Research along with Sunil Gupta.

And at JIS University, even less, just one or two guest sessions in our Management programs.

Mostly these were wonderful experiences, and I keep following Facebook and Linkedin updates on what many of them are up to, globally. Makes me quite happy. Also meet a few occasionally, on my travels.

Mutual Admiration Societies

 How many have you formed? Alas, non-living objects can't speak, or else we could have had thousands.

But with humans (not bots, yet- don't know enough of them or about them), we can have some. I have experienced this at all stages of life. One of my first officially recognised ones was with Meghna Sinha, who used to write a blog while she was a student. Later, we met a few times, and bonded over books and coffee, and other beverages. 

The others include a few more students of IMT Nagpur, some of Kirloskar Institute, a couple from PES and IFIM B School, and some of IIM Indore. NMIMS too, I guess... faculty included, in most of these. 

Anusha Soni of Bhopal who I met during her IIM Indore IPM stint, was one. We bonded over Guavas, Golf and small talk, and she treated me to a lunch in my hometown Pune (I think it was her first salary!) and came home too. 

Prachi Jain and gang was a delightful bunch of Ph.D. scholars at IIM Indore, and we have had fun outings in Delhi, Indore and one in Kolkata with a gang member (Akansh) recently.

Abha Kulkarni and Sheetal Garg have been members of an MAS for many years now. 

Pallavi Sharma/Bajpai and Shafique, naturally, because GB calls us twins- all three!

Shatakshi (the confused genius), who I did not teach at IIM I, and Anushka Mishra who I did not teach at Kirloskar, also.. due to Fb and later, physical meetings. 

Natasha Kothari, who I met at a wedding, and Rimjhim, who I met through a music group I am a part of with her Mom!

Of course, there are more, but let me list those in MAS part 2.. to be continued.

Part 2

Bhuvneet Raheja of IIM Indore, who is now at Google.. 

Ananya Nandi De, ex-IMT NAGPUR

Nikita Kumar- Likewise

Abhinav Kamal- Ditto

Nidhi Kanungo, who is now in the U.S.

Nishka Rathi, the Ghostwriter

Jogeswari, and Savitha.. from Kirloskar Institute

Preeti Ravikiran, faculty at NMIMS. Tanmeet Kaur, likewise.

Ekalavya, placement chief at NMIMS Blr.

Anshita Abhishek Chetty, Ishita Modi, Gowri, Rupam, Ashish, from Bangalore gang of IMT

Pratima Gaikwad of IIM Indore, now a pakka Hyderabadi.

Globally, Leslie Price, though we haven't met after I left the U.S., Annie Singh, also from the U.S., Samudrika Rasanjalee, Sri Lankan whom I met at a conference.

And a few of my classmates from school, college, IIMB and beyond.. and colleagues, like Bhagyalakshmi, Manasa, Jayasimha, Vijayakumar, ..TK Chatterjee, Smita Dabholkar Singh,..

Some are also online MAS's, like with Pooja Shukla, Anchal Sharma, and so forth..

Teachers Can Make a Difference

 I have been into teaching for as long as I can recollect, and I have also been a student a long time. Based on these many years, I would say that students are influenced by teachers-some of them, at least. The reasons may vary, but a strong human connect is usually one of these reasons. I often meet past students that I may not even have taught, and they share stories, opinions and views that echo these thoughts. You may be the cat's whiskers in your subject, and that awe initially may overwhelm a student. But what remains after distillation is a welcoming, supportive attitude towards the student, is what I think. In other words, a human connect and interest in their life.. and career.

Many students express what we couldn't in our generation. That is a great feeling- to receive a message on Social Media (got one from far away in Dubai yesterday), or a meeting set up in quick time over facebook (happened two days ago!), or just hearing them talk about bygone days on a forum somewhere.

I am in touch with many from IMT Nagpur, IIM Indore and Kirloskar Institute, for some reason. And some from IFIM and PESIT (now JagSoM and PES Univ). A couple from XIM and Vignana Jyoti too. Without exception, they are warm and chatty whenever we meet. Hopefully, this will go on forever!

I have also had a few students of Golf, including faculty and Doctoral students who were not in my area (Marketing).

Cheers to all students everywhere!

USPs of My Friends

 I had started this series sometime ago.. here are a few more with USPs that I noticed.

First, I will start with Students. 

At NMIMS, Muskaan- Agarwal, I guess. Nice smile. And good with the camera too. Divya Anand, for her fashion sense (an NIFT grad, after all), Ekalavya, the placement chief, for his dedication, like his namesake. Trishla Gupta, for her LinkedIn presence which is unique. The Gandhis, Kinjal and Tanya, for their names. Some BBA kids too, for winning an Entrepreneurship Award - led by Muskaan Behl.

Alumni, other B schools- Shatakshi.. non-confused, though she calls her Digital marketing firm Confused Genius. Meghna Sinha, paints a wide canvas. Prachi Jain, a one-time golfer who is a friend forever- a good actor too-I saw her live! Anusha Soni, a pal from Bhopal, Shuchi Bhatnagar too, and Pooja Shukla. Animesh Jain too. And Pallavi Sharma. Being Bhopali is a USP, because they are nice people, without exception. Anuja Anand, a poet and writer.

Tanaya Kar Chaturvedi- lively as hell! Harish Chaudhary- directions dene mein ustad- no wonder he directed us in a play at IIMB. Shweta Kushal- a kushal director and drinks partner! Bhagyalakshmi- an expert and a co-author in Branding books. Siddhanta Patnaik (no more), his interest in sports and life.

Abha Kulkarni.. it's not only the hairstyle, but style too. Sheetal Garg- one of the friendliest souls ever on my friend-list. Anshita and Tosha Dubey- great organisers of my get-togethers. That's a skill I like! Shruti and Aditya, gracious hosts. Vrinda Khanna, likewise. Savitha, loyal friend and first re-connect at Bangalore. Ishita Modi, for chai pe charcha- no, I am getting confused. Her wit! Pooja Varun, her farmer connect. Bharath Shenoy, coffee pe charcha, market research. Divya Sharmaa, TV star. Murli Mohan K, dancer of Kathak. Meghna Sinha, one of the first partners in a Mutual Admiration Society.

Vidisha, Rewa...place names. 

For nice pics with me, Siri Adi, Anuj Mathew, Meenu Mynam (her pic below), Aishwarya Iyer, Bharath Shenoy, Sapna Patni, Anam Nuhi, Harshad Sachani, Vaishali Bathla, Shruti, Aditya, Nikita, Vandana Kumar (one from the 90s too, at Tank Bund in Hyderabad), Sreelekha, entire placement team, at NMIMS. The P.R. team from last year also. Lokesh and Muskaan of Knowesis. Gowri and Shafique (IMT), recently. Rajiv Krishnan, from my school days.

Meenu Mynam, me and Harsh Halve at an alum meet of IMT Nagpur.

Below- the P.R. team of NMIMS Bangalore that includes Divya, and her seniors too. 

Nishka Rathi, for her love of books, and a unique profession- ghostwriting! Digital entrepreneurs, Abhinav Kamal (also a film-maker), Divya Singh, and Shatakshi. Anushka Mishra, for being a bookworm and seeking me out to be a friend offline. I am glad for it. Jogeswari, for starring in my Video case on Golftripz. Madhav Misra too.

Profs. - Narayani, Shahida from different institutes, for boundless energy, and never-say-die attitude.

T.K. Chatterjee, for his abilities at selling anything (I am sold), and passion for singing- I initiated him into karaoke! Gadgil, for his accent-American, of course. S.P. Kumar, for his enthu at 75+. Prabhakar (not a prof.), for his piano-playing  and wit. Rajan of India, aka ROI- coining names for profs. Thomas, likewise for various people and organisations around us. B.K. Mohanty, for fuzzy logic research. Smita Dabholkar, for her enthusiasm and energy. 

Garima Shah and Aditi Gupta for being women golfers (Anusha and Prachi too, later) at IMT, before I heard of Aditi Ashok, the Olympian.

Non-teaching. At KIAMS- Pavan, a party animal from Coorg. Rajesh Dixit from KIAMS, a nice guy. Vinod Jadhav, helpful always. 

The Smart Ones

 Not really a full list, because there are probably hundreds more. But a listing of some smart people from among my acquaintances- in my humble view.

Lingaraju, Rajan of India, Dash, Harish Chau, Shubha, Anuradha Herlekar/Nadkarni, Prabhakar, ...from IIMB MBA class.

Meenu Mynam, Abhinav Kamal, Nikita Kumar, Shafique Gajdhar, Pallavi Sharma, Ishan Joshi, Ishita Modi, Anshita Chetty, Sheetal Garg, Siri Adi, Abha Kulkarni, Divya Singh, Gowri, Anchal Sharma,  .. from IMT Nagpur 

IIM Indore- Kalaivani, Madhan, Anusha Soni, Shatakshi Tripathi, Prachi Jain, Shailaja Gupta Kapoor, Trinoyoni, Zenitha, Writabrita,

KIAMS- Sunil Kataria, Jogeswari aka Jogi, Padmapriya, Smita, Jimmy, Nikhil Damle, Priyadarshi, Dheeraj Mohan,.

Jaya Jha, from IIM Lucknow 

Gaurav Gollierkeri, from IIM K

Sowmyashree Gonibeedu, Shreya Sengupta, Arvind Joshi- PESIT

Aashneet Gautam, Nagendra Shenoy, Bharath Shenoy from IFIM B school

Friends, Romans, Bangaloreans...

 Met so many new people (old friends included) in the last one year, it was amazing. From Chaithu, an old IFIM student who sought me out and met over lunch, to my regular pal Savitha of KIAMS fame, my classmates from IIMB- Himanshu Agarwal, Gopal Mahapatra, SS Ramesh, Prabhakar, some half a dozen from the IMT Nagpur gang -Anshita, Ishita, Anusha and Gowri with hubbies and Rupam without, Anushka the bookie, Nishka-another booklover and ghostwriter-at Mumbai on the way to an offsite, old friend from Hyderabad, Vandana. Met some colleagues from NMIMS for the first time at Mumbai, and Lonavala- so far, it was all Zoom meets.

Many students of NMIMS Bangalore, I met for the first time, and trained a few in playing Golf. Divya and Sreelekha helped conduct the virtual Convocation, like Manuja had done earlier. We had gone out for dinner with last year's placement team, where I met lots of dynamic members. This year too, our placements have been good, thanks to Ekalavya and his student team, plus Shekar and Lily. 

Ran into Nagendra Shenoy and Dipayan Dasgupta at different places in Bangalore, met Shailaja Gupta Kapoor and a bunch of Indore, Kozhikode and Bangalore alums at an exclusive get-together. Shatakshi and Varun also came back from hiding, and we met up, pronto. 

Also, in a quick trip to Hyderabad after ages, I met, after 40 years, some schoolmates, and discovered one is a Golfer, full-time. Played Golf at Hyderabad Golf Association's Club, which wraps itself around the Golconda Fort. Thanks to Venugopal Reddy, a classmate and friend. 

Also met Jayasimha during his visit here, and caught up with Manasa, an old colleague. Also S.P. Kumar, who worked with me at PESIT, and Nagaraj Shenoy, likewise. And Muthu and Vasanti, pals from a couple of decades- decadent? At Coimbatore, caught up with old colleagues Vijayakumar and Dhanapal, and his newly acquired samdhis and daughter-in-law who is a rifle-shooter and trainer

2021 has been bountiful, in terms of catching up. Oh  yes, I also met Jogi of Golftripz, at Hyderabad. We go back a long way, to 1999-2001, when she topped her class at KIAMS. 

Blasts From the Past

Been meeting friends and students from the past who are now friends. Gives you a great feeling to see what they are up to, in the case of students, and in the case of friends, to see how they have aged (ripened). A bit of both happened, recently.

 PESIT alums Siddhant and Aishwarya (above) I met after quite a few years, and their little cute daughter for the first time.

Prabhakar and I checked out the Single Malt collection, with Mona Lisa smiling down at us-we were like the Columbuses of Single Malt discoveries a few years ago, and have now achieved the status of We Have Seen it All- almost!

Also had a chance to meet IFIM alum Bharath Shenoy again after a while, and found he's a globe-trotting researcher. And attended the Ganesh Chaturthi with Muthu and Vasanti at their place too. He like me, is a member of the Two Daughters' Club. Seems to be enjoying his time off from Marketing Research these days. When will my turn come? (Mera number kab aayega, in Hindi).

A recent trend I have noticed is that I first meet people on facebook, and then in person. So it was with Shatakshi and Varun, a couple from IIM Indore who I had never met except on fb. Meeting them at home though, it seemed like we had known each other for a long time- a homely feeling.

Colleagues From Past Workplaces

I am concentrating on the ones I am still in touch with, mostly.

Leslie Price was a colleague at Lander, South Carolina, and we got along like a house on fire. We are now older, hopefully wiser, and parents of beautiful children, and still communicate on Fb.

Muthukumar, who I worked with at the market research firm called MBA, and shared an abode called Karl Guest House in Andheri with. We still meet and bond over a beer or a whisky. Sometimes Golf.

Avinash Mulky, who was at IIM Lucknow with me, now works at IIMB (sine retired) and I, at IIMI (past tense). We do meet occasionally, and talk of old times and new.

BK Mohanty, a colleague from my XIM Bhubaneswar and IIM Lucknow days, is a dear friend and we get to meet here and there.

Tanmeet, Alisha of NMIMS Bangalore, in touch on social media. We also met in Bangalore. Played some Golf while I was their colleague.

Dhanapal, who runs his own school at Coimbatore, and worked with me at Kirloskar Institute, Harihar. We meet now and then, and plan on more golfing trips like the one we undertook in Pattaya, courtesy our student Jogeswari and her company Golftripz. (Note- lost him in May 2025) 

Vijayakumar, who has been at KIAMS, and IMT Nagpur, and I meet quite often, and have gone to Munnar and Kodaikanal on road trips to play Golf.

 Nagpur ex-colleagues at Tuli. (lost Gadgil, right above,  in December 2025)

 The Nagpur book launch.

Vijayakumar and Jayasimha figure in this one from KIAMS.

Gadgil, who I bonded with at IMT, was in the US like me, and has great stories to tell of those times. Was also responsible for improving our MDP (training business) at IMT, with new clients like Asian Paints.

Harsh Halve, who was at IMT and Jaipuria Indore, (later with JIMS, Rohini at Delhi) also bonded over the karaoke mike, with his family's active participation.

Jayanti Ranjan and Sita Mishra, who I have met at academic events since I left IMT Ghaziabad. Lubna Nafees I met in Delhi. She is now in the US with Appalachian State Univ.

Anant Ram, who we got from KIAMS to IMT Nagpur while I was there.

T.K. Chatterjee, who was a karaoke convert after I introduced him to it.

Bhagyalakshmi, who I had the pleasure of working with at PESIT, and also at IIM Indore.

Manoharan, with whom I worked and who was my first Ph.D. student. We still write papers together, and meet when we present them.

S.P. Kumar, who is a past colleague from PESIT, and member of a nice club called the City Institute, Bangalore, where we have met a few times.

Smita Dabholkar, who was a colleague at IMT Nagpur, and helped me launch my autobiography at Nagpur Crossword and at Pune too.

My Favourite Students

This is not a recounting of all my favourite students over the years, because there are about a million of those, but a select sample. Many of these I remember because we are in touch on fb or otherwise. From many different institutes, because I have seen a few of those too...XIMB, Vignana Jyothi, PESIT, KIAMS, IIML, IIMK, IIMI, IFIM, IMT Nagpur and Ghaziabad..

Yamini, Aishwarya and Anjali Iyer, Shreyashi, Shruti, Harshad Lunavat, Abhinav Kamal, Pradyumna Mohanty, Bhagyashree aka Bugzy, Parul Kashyap, Hitansh, Vivek Anant, Dushyant, Sreeram, Anupriya, Anuja, Shivashankar, Murtaza, Aashish Chaudhary, Sheetal Garg, Anumeha Saxena, Anukeha Jain, Shafique, Nikita Kumar, Meghna Sinha, Adarsh, Jasleen, Pallavi, Vidisha, Kanika Mhendiratta....IMTians all, with a creative spark..actually many more, but this sample might be representative. Adding Ananya Nandi De, Abha Kulkarni, Ishita, Anshita, Rupam to that list as I met them a few times too. Abha, who was at IMT later on..

Deepa, Ranjana, Deepthi, Sudhir, Roopali, Giri, Sanchit, from Vignana Jyoti, Hyderabad.

Smita, Aditi, Nidhi (she's from Indore), Vidya, Swapna, Padmapriya (National Award winning actress afterwards), Dheeraj, Jogeswari aka Jogi (director at Golftripz), Nikhil Damle, Praveen, Jimmy, Siddharth, Aman, all from Kirloskar Institute at Harihar, an idyllic place if there was one. Anushka Mishra, who came to KIAMS later, after I had left.

Anusha, Siddhant Patnaik, Aishwarya, Sowmyashree Gonibeedu, Viju Varghese, Chaitra, Sonam, Sushmita, Sanjeev Undri, ..from PESIT.

Shreesha, Bharath, Aashneet, Veena, Nagendra, Monika Ghosh, ..from IFIM.

Anusha, Sapna, Tamros, Monika, Barleen, Bhuvneet from IIMI. And all the bunch who acted in The Importance of Being Earnest (many from IPM, such as Sanjana, Jasmine, Shrunga, Avik, Philip, Ayushi, and Urvaksh from PGP)

And some who weren't my students- a big group  of Ph.D. students at IIM Indore who I became friends with, some on the Golf course- Prachi Jain, Akansh Khandelwal, Neeti Ingole, Pratishtha Batra, Vartika Varyani, Geeti Mishra.

Non-teaching Staff- A Tribute

Academic life has its pluses. Lots of reading time, opportunity to feel young in the company of youngsters who are full of life, etc... But it also has another angle. A lot of staff (non-teaching) who you get to work with. This is a tribute to some of them, from IIM Indore, IMT and Kirloskar Institute, Harihar that I feel fortunate to have worked with. The immediate trigger is the wedding yesterday of Neha, who works at the MDP office at IIM Indore.

Some really good officers have helped run the MDP/Training office here, like Pradeep, Manas and Bhupendra earlier. They worked untiringly to keep the training programs going efficiently, leading to a lot of repeat customers, and significant new business. I also had the good fortune of having a wonderful academic assistant (Saumya Sharma) and two secretaries (Limaye before, Naresh at present) who are a great help.

IMT Nagpur was a place where I headed the institute, and therefore, the role of the staff was extremely important for me. From Archana, my secretary, to Group Capt. Nath, a smiling ex-serviceman who headed admin, to Kamal Nayak and Vinod in accounts, to the ladies in the PGP office, to the guys who served tea and the drivers, Anand the mess manager, and Pankaj in transport, all of them performed their duties in a pleasant and efficient fashion. IMT N remains on my list of Best Places to Work, in no small measure due to all the staff. Similarly, Gaurav at IMT Ghaziabad and Aparna Dey. Raju Pujari at IFIM also I can never forget for his resourcefulness. And Somanna in accounts/admin. The Research Associates at IMTN were all hardworking, and I remember Tripti Shrivastava (who handled a conference all by herself) and Abhinav in particular.

KIAMS was an idyllic world, inhabited by some of the friendliest staff I have ever seen. Rajesh and Raghavendra stand out, along with Gururaj, Veena, Mehboob, Dr. Gopi, Srinath, Nagaraj, Umesh, Yuvaraj, Pavan, many of whom remain good friends to this day, and I look forward to meeting them, several years after I left Harihar.

These are unsung heroes who keep the institutes going, sometimes after faculty have left.

Leadership Memories

I spent a few years leading some Indian business schools in the period between 2005 and 2013. The things I remember that I think made a difference, during those years, to various institutes I was in.

1. PESIT, Bangalore. My first and only stint in an institute that was not autonomous.

Creating a self-belief that faculty there could do anything that autonomous B schools could. Running a scholarly journal, interacting with industry, teaching through cases, publishing, teaching internationally. Most of these worked beyond belief, with some of the performance indicators exceeding the then norms at better ranked B schools.

2. IFIM Business School: Streamlining the admission process for MBA. We had spectacular success in reaching out, to roughly 30 cities in a year for admission. Bringing in research emphasis. Repositioning the International Business program as a desirable one.

3. IMT Nagpur. Encouraging both faculty and students to excel, all-round, in academics and extra-curriculars. Adding placement reps in metro cities to market effectively. Alumni relations were recognised for their importance, and channeled into chapter meets. And, of course, building a Golf course, even if it was only two holes. And using it. Running conferences successfully, also. Industry interaction with compulsory industry guest lectures. Wrote my first video case on Golftripz in the process, with the help of an alumna from KIAMS. Institutionalising an annual faculty outing for introspection and just building up a rapport among the team.

4. IMT Ghaziabad. It was a rather short stint, but getting faculty interested in research, case-writing and their own career development was a priority. Working towards accreditation was illuminating, too. Again, alumni relations were consciously improved.

In the current role, I am in charge of our training programs or MDPs and it is amazing to unlock the potential that my staff has, to increase the business significantly. Of course, backed by colleagues who do the hard work of delivering.

Joy of Workplaces- My ranking

Inspired by all the rankings going around, I decided to reflect (I do that sometimes, even though it may not seem so) on the places I have worked in and the joys they gave me. This is not a ranking, actually, just a recounting. The title about ranking was only to get attention. :)

Vignana Jyoti- Joys of being part of a startup, nice small group of students, cosmopolitan atmosphere, and biryani for lunch almost every day at Hyderabad. My pic at VJIM, with my spacesuit top.

Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies- this was an idyllic workplace. The students were lovely, the staff the friendliest (we partied regularly), the colony was excellent, and we had a Golf course (18-hole) in it, 500 metres from our home. Still remember most students I taught here in the first four batches. The MDPs (training programs) we did here were also high quality.

IIM Lucknow- though the weather was terrible, it taught me how to teach well, and re-introduced me to research. Colleagues were very helpful, but student numbers were too large for anyone to get close.

IIM Kozhikode- Great views from my office, the prettiest campus, and some good students. Numbers were still 120 then! Also went out to some nice places from there, a sea-side villa called Casa Marina being a venue for parties. Also visited Madikeri (Coorg) for the first time. Wrote my Services Marketing book while there. Did some Faculty Development Programs too.

PESIT, Bangalore: A band of gung-ho colleagues and some bright students stuck in a university system, but willing to break out, are what made my first stint as a director memorable. We took off, doing everything an autonomous school did, and then some. Started a nice journal, PES Business Review (still doing well), conducted an international conference at Goa, and trained faculty in publishing and case-writing.

IFIM- This autonomous B school stint was brief, but interesting. We re-oriented admissions by going to small towns across India, started a PhD program where two of my students have finished their PhDs, and had an offsite brainstorming with faculty at Yercaud, a hill-station.

IMT Nagpur- Some of the best memories are from here, which we brought into its own. Conducted our own Convocations in Nagpur, re-enthused alumni through a concerted effort, and conducted a unique Case conference in Goa for 4 years. Research was rewarded, MDPs leapfrogged, and one of the best faculty teams of that size was also built up. Students were also very enthusiastic, and I taught a Seminar on Thought Leadership for the first time. Built a little golf course on campus, and taught students the basics. Offsite meetings at Pench, Pachmarhi and Bhedaghat were wonderful experiences. I also 'marketed' (without a commission) the karaoke concept to some colleagues!

IMT Ghaziabad- I stayed a short while, but collaborated with faculty colleagues on research and case-writing, and recruited a record number of faculty. Revived the alumni connect with older batches too- this place counts several well-known names like Prasoon Joshi among its alums.

IIM Indore- now a three-year old here, am liking the campus, and have taught IMC (Advertising) and Digital Marketing, in addition to my staple, marketing research. We also have a couple of different programs - an industry FPM, a regular doctoral program, and an off-campus one in Mumbai.Wrote a few original cases and research papers, some with students. Enjoyed some creative activities like the plays staged by students, directed by a colleague. We could do with more social activity, but I am happy interacting with online friends and family. Travelled far and wide for conferences, including Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Cambodia and maybe this year, to the Dominican Republic.

Anniversary

It was April last year that I published my autobiography through pothi.com, an online self-publishing outfit. As an anniversary reminder to myself, here are snippets from one of the chapters- 

                                                                              Chapter 17: My Students over the Years If thou art a teacher, thou shalt have students- Book of Socrates, XVIIII, page 2345. I run into them everywhere, from South Indian joints in Kolkata to alumni meets in Hyderabad, to the malls in Bangalore. Sometimes it appears as if I know half the management grads in India, and sometimes it’s a good feeling, except it makes me feel very old. Here is a brief intro to some of them. 

 Padmapriya: Now a heroine of repute in Mallu movies, was a great classical dancer, and teamed very well with Jimmy, her batchmate at Kirloskar Institute, for some great dance performances. 

 Joy: Was one of the really mature students, with a zest for life who did well for himself after the PGDM at Kirloskar Institute. Was from the City of Joy, too. Worked for UB, Himalaya and then, Coke. Married a batchmate, Alaknanda Dasgupta. 

 Jogeswari: A topper of her batch at Kirloskar Institute, originally from Guntur, which is hot, hot, hot. Had a fan club at the institute. Joined Google after a sabbatical from work. Given to long silences, broken after persistent emails. Attempted to get into the IAS, for reasons unknown, but fortunately remained a normal human being (non-IAS). 

 Manisha: A family friend who became a student (at Kirloskar), and found her match, Pushpendu, while at it. A trip to Japan with him, and she learnt to like India. 

 Shveta: Another bright Bangalorean from Mount Carmel, did (doing?) very well at her marketing job at the India Today group. A good example of a BA and MBA doing very well in a career. Are the engineers wasting their time? 

 Aditi Sood: She and I had a common interest in Deepak Chopra when she was at Kirloskar Institute. Met again at Kolkata until she got married and left for the land of milk and honey, and George Bush- the U.S., I mean. 

 Nidhi: My protégé at Kirloskar, she was a bubbly girl, all smiles, and we also met again at Lucknow (where her husband Milind hailed from) and Mumbai. 

 Aman Chawla: The high enthu man from Vizag, owner of a resort or some such thing at his hometown, happy-go-lucky student. 

 Gaurav Gollerkeri: At IIMK, a graduate of PESIT, which I later joined, and went on to do a Ph.D. in London. His idol was (no, not me) Raghuram Rajan of the IMF/ World Bank. 

 Sanjeev Undri: A guy from Belgaum (where is that? On the border of Maharashtra and Karnataka) who went beyond his potential in everything he did. The smile never left his face in any situation. Student at PESIM, Bangalore. One of the rare motivated guys in the university MBA system. 

 Anusha Ramakrishnan: a student assistant at PESIT, who kept in touch. Got into writing, and headed off to Finland post marriage. Her consolation may be that there is light at the end of six months. 

 Veena Singh: Helped me write a chapter on Indian brands for my book on Brand Management. One of the bright students of the International Business batch at IFIM which visited Grenoble en-masse. Now works for Unilever Research at Bangalore.