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.

Classes and Classy Students

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

Offices- Current and Past

 My offices in pics, over the years-

Surprises

 Surprises come in various forms. Unexpected faces turning up at places is one of them. I recently met Anurag Jain, a former associate from IIM Indore, in this way. At Lexicon Institute of Management, Pune.

I was there to do a few guest sessions, and suddenly discovered that Anurag Jain works there and is teaching B to B marketing. We had worked together when his boss, Prof. Jayasimha, and I offered a Seminar on Tourism Marketing at IIM Indore. this course became popular and is still running at Indore.

Incidentally, meeting students and working with them was good fun. I met a student, Srishti, from Hyderabad, and another from Indore. 

Some students from Lexicon, Pune.

In-class activity makes people think a bit- that's my learning from this exercise.

Non-teaching Staff

 Made a lot of friends and had great assistants in many places.

At Harihar, we partied a lot with the staff. A pic of an outing for a wedding.. Rajshekhar, Rajesh , Yuvaraj, Nagaraj, Sreenath, Veena are some in the pic..

At IIM Indore, lots of staff were very helpful and reported to me during my 7 years. We also attended a wedding party of Neha. Manas, Hemendra, Pradeep etc. were some others.. 

IMT Nagpur, y secretary Archana, and placement team and the PGP office team (Snehal, Elizabth) I remember even today. Kamal the accounts guy and Vinod Jadhav, were also very competent. Sridhar Rao in IT too.

And academic associates, Tripti Srivastav was very good. At IIM Indore, Saumyaa Sharma and I became good friends and keep meeting on and off even till 2024.

Archana again was a secretary at NMIMS. Cool and efficient. Vishnu and the academic team of Baklavati, Tarannum and others also worked well. 

Divya and Ayushi at Prestige University literally carried the admin load dual-handedly.

Faculty Colleagues

 Recent ones include ones I recruited, at Prestige University. Juhee, Riyaz, Bharat, Jyoti Dua and Asmita Mahapatra.

And some lady golfers from NMIMS Bangalore- Tanmeet, Alisha Thomas, Prerona Baruah, Preeti Ravikiran. Briefly, Diti Goswami too. 

Shahida and Manasa from PESIT Mgt. dept. were very dynamic. Manoharan and S.P. Kumar are still in touch.

Kirloskar Institute Harihar had Dhanapal and Vijayakumar. We still play Golf together. 

B.K. Mohanty and Banikanta Mishra at XIMB. 

IIM K, SSS Kumar and Keyoor Purani. Jeyavelu too.

IIM Indore, Shweta Kushal and Jayasimha. And marketing colleague Abhishek, IT colleague Rajhans. 

Thomas from VJIM. Dayakara Rao too.

Visiting faculty Nitin Sinha, Veronica Thavonat, Snehal Singh and Sayantan at Prestige.

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!

Sanjana's Wedding

 Sanjana Rao was a student I met at Indore when she was doing her 5 year IPM. She took one of my classes too. But she was also a friend who has remained in touch many years later. Sow hen she was getting married, we had to be there. My wife also knew her because of the preps. for a play The Importance of Being Earnest, where Sanjana acted, Shweta Kushal directed and we all played support roles of encouraging the actors, backstage. She acted like a pro. 

WE had a great time with her at the pre-wedding bash at her house, and at the wedding itself. Here's pictorial proof. Met her friend Nikhila from school in Pune also. She features in some pics too.

During the cremony.

The pre-wedding Haldi and Mehendi

The lovely bride..

Nikhila (below and above, her friend), and Shweta Kushal, my friend from IIM Indore

Fun With Alums- At Home

 Got a surprise visit from two IPM alums who were in my Marketing Research class too- Amogh Jawa and Vanshika Chaudhary- she's on to a Ph.D. in Eco. now and he works for Caratlane.

They came with old friend Shweta Kushal, prof. at IIM I. We joined IIM at the same time, and are 'batchmates' therefore!

We had great fun, cooking, eating and drinking.. and singing. Vanshika is a great singer, and also plays the guitar! She also trains people in taking better selfies. I need to enroll. But she did teach Amogh a thing or two- he's progressing well!

Meeting with Doctors of Management

 Those are the doctors I like to meet. Have met Payal Kapoor and a couple of others at MDI recently too. But these were a fresh crop from IIM Indore, and we have been meeting regularly over the last year or more. Prachi and Akansh also made it to a karaoke party at home earlier. The biggest meet was at Pind Balluchi, before some of them were formally 'doctored.' Now, having worn that graduation cap, two of them were in a euphoric state, and though we missed a couple of regulars, one was represented by her parents-Pratishtha. Neeti had just spoken on the phone, and was going off to Amritsar- maybe our (IIM's) fifth contribution. So I told her her future boss was a cool guy, and she replied, " But not as cool as you." That was like a breath of fresh air! Anyway, I don't want to sound too narcissistic-we decided it was somebody else's domain. However, I have to prove we had fun, so here's social proof-

These two, and sweets are inseparable. Vartika and Prachi demonstrate how sweet they can be!

Sweetness multiplied! Akansh joins in.

And Pratishtha's parents too.. 

The one-year-old honeymooners, above. 

Old pals, one a doc and one wannabe, below.

Prachi tries her hand at photography, not trusting Bhanwarilal.

And the gang minus one-he was behind the camera.

What I Got From My Employers- 5

 Ok, Getting down to IIM Indore and the 7 years spent there. A beautiful campus, with a hill-top academic block inspired by Hindola Mahal at Mandu. And a nice Cricket ground that I used for Golf training and practice.

Did a few unique training programs, including some for the Tata Retail group, Whirlpool, and Hindustan Petroleum- both onsite and offsite.

Taught Digital Marketing for the first time, learning things as I went along. Wrote a couple of cases and co-edited a book on Digital Marketing cases.

Had a lot of good students- too many to remember- in my Marketing Research courses and Seminar on Tourism Marketing too, plus Digital Marketing. A group of students I mentored got the Asia Pacific title in GOMC, an online international marketing challenge that Google runs, in 2017. A group of six students worked for a client called Bhalaje Photographers.

Made many friends, across teaching areas. Attended conferences in Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and went to learn things in FDPs in NUS' summer school in Singapore-twice! I was the oldest participant by miles!

And met a lot of doctoral students who became good friends- from different academic areas too! Used the cricket ground to play and teach Golf to a few students, faculty and MDP participants.

Some Firsts in 2023

We don't have to repeat the same things we did. Alongside, look for new experiences. It's possible. Some new things I can remember from 2023.

Made a new friend from Argentina. Veronica is a guest faculty at Prestige University, and brings a unique flavour to the classroom with her KPMG Spain stint. She's a great conversationalist, warm and has a great sense of humour. 

Went to Nagaland-Kohima and Dimapur- for the first time. One needs to visit this area and learn about it, I think. Also went to Shillong, though it was touch and go.

Met Ananya Nandi De and family. She is an alum of IMT Nagpur, and a member of a music group I belong to. Met her again in December, last week.

That's Veronica, in the pic above, and Ananya and Abha in the one below!

Met Meghana Khadilkar, finally. At Pune. IMT student, but we hadn't met.

Made new friends among the Ph.D. students at IIM Indore. Neeti Ingole and Pratishtha Batra are two of them, (in the pic with old friends Prachi and Akansh)

Had a great time giving a keynote speech at NIFT Gandhinagar, with fashionable people, beautifully dressed, all around me. Dhanali Sandesara and Mehak even started following my blog!

Played the drummer at IIMB, and TV film director at CNBC-see the pics if you don't believe me. 

At IIMB, above, and CNBC studio, Worli, below.

Visited my niece Miskil and Kabir, at their house for the first time. Their boy Khayal is also in the pic, along with others.

Had a few new Single Malts, a couple imported directly from Scotland. Here's one- 

 Oh, and rode a pony for the first time, in Pahalgam.