Cases I Had Written For Me

 I got this idea first when I was working at KIAMS (Kirloskar Institute). Student projects were converted into cases with a little editing, and used at the end of the chapters in my first book- Marketing Research. Batches 2 and 3 contributed most of them, I think. Students got credit, and added lots of value.

Last year, IIM Indore students contributed in a similar fashion to the fourth edition of Marketing Research. 

Students of various B schools (IMT Nagpur being one) have also contributed to Digital Marketing Cases From India which I co-edited with Romy Saini. This included one based on an IIM Indore award-winning team's documentation of their experience with a small business in Chennai.

I believe cases rooted in India can add lots of value, and students can not just read, but write some too. The burden of writing if shared by teacher and students, is much more productive. IIMK students also wrote some for my Services Marketing book, and some were also about fictitious service businesses! I have also written a couple based on businesses that students started- Golftripz and Ten Motion Arts for example. Another, Euroflex, was about my classmate's company.

Anniversary Thoughts

No, not the wedding anniversary, but of being here (Planet i, as we like to call it)- 5 years, out of 58 on the planet. Long time, no move. I think it's because of the constant newness of what happens around here, that it seems like a new place each year, while remaining comfortingly familiar. Of course, the students are new each year, and bring in a good part of the freshness..the sheer variety of things I have seen/done too. New faculty (around 60 added since I came), the countries I have visited since I came here (Vietnam was tops, closely followed by Cambodia, Japan and Indonesia), discovering how to play Golf on a cricket field, the Conference we did here with NASMEI, teaching exec. students in Mumbai, stints as MDP chair, and Dean Faculty and tea-time conversations in the corridor, developing new courses on Tourism and Digital Marketing, writing papers with IPM students and FPM students, the Google Online Challenge were some of the highlights of these five years. Oh, yeah, getting wi-fi as a result of my suggesting it 5 years ago too.

 Out in the open..campus views.

 Inside my office with re-united roomie after 1989.
Playing Baaz Bahadur at Mandu, my favourite destination near Indore.

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.

Photo Nostalgia

 KIAMS, Harihar- First Batch of PGDM. In my youth.

 IMT Nagpur, a few years ago.

 IIM Indore jailbird-present.

 Cool New Yorker, with cousin and family. 1987.

 At Clemson with wife, parents, brother and sister-in-law.

 Chala Murari Hero Banne- play (Waiting For Lefty) at IIMB. That's me on the right. 1983.

 Gautam Biswas and Venky, roommates in Delhi, Vasant Vihar 1985.

Mount Rushmore, with my dad. 1990.

Names That Ring a Bell

Not literally, of course. But names that you remember, for some reason. Memorable? May be.

Since Badminton is the flavour of the (Olympic) season, I'll start with Prakash Padkone. I watched him in a great game against Liem Swie King (Indonesian) that he lost. But I remember both names.

Lalchand Rajput is a name that I'll never forget. I had predicted once that with a name like that, he'd never last in the Indian cricket team for long. He didn't. Predictions score- One.

Nadia Comaneci, who got a perfect 10 in some Olympics. She was a great gymnast.

Katarina Witt, a German ice-skater. Watched her long ago in Winter Olympics.

Johny Walker, comedian. For obvious reasons, though I have outgrown that drink.

Michael Jackson. Easy to remember, great to watch. Prabhu Deva comes close, at times.

Dhurandhar Bhatawadekar. Utpal Dutt's name in a film.

Manasa- the name has a nice ring to it. I had a student and a faculty colleague by that name, but it's not too common.

Rajan Bala. A great raconteur and sports/cricket journalist I met once in Bangalore.

Meenu Mynam. A former student, whose name sounds musical.

A few more ex-students, whose names I remember for reasons that I may not (always remember)- Ronak, Saksham, Meghna, Shivangi, Jeevesha, Siddhanta, Rituparna, Gowri, Sreeram, Vignesh, Praveen, Rupam, Khushboo, Harleena, Harshad, Abhinav, Jyotirmoy, Kanika, Neha (two), Indranil, Hardik, Alekhya, Vidisha, Aashneet, Jasleen, Barleen, Harshdeep, Deepa, Anusha (there were two, at different B-schools), Shveta, Shweta (three different ones), Nikhil, Shrishail, Nishka, Anupama (two of them), Dheeraj, Vidya, Smita, Swapna, Siddhartha, Aditi (two again), Garima (two at different schools), Jatin, Aman, Aninda, Savitha, Manjari, Shreyashi, Shreya, Roopashree, Padmapriya, Jogeswari, Pallavi, Shafique, Roshni, Murtaza, Laura, PVR (Prabhuvardhan Reddy), Nikita, Shruti, Aditya, Devashish, Bhawana (two, with different spellings), Tamros, Twinkle, Vivek, Ratnashree, Laura (now Shah)...the list is too long to list.

Update- I had a record five Ankitas in a class I just taught. Some about-to-graduate students from Indore- Kalaivani, Madhan, Jasmine, Swathika, Sadhana, Abhilasha, Kritika, Avik, Philip, Ayushi, Satchi, Chandran, Akshaya, ...

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.

Excitement at IIM Indore

We have the 2014-2016 batch of the 2 year MBA program starting at the campus. This will be the 17th batch I think.

Excitement is in the air, and the student-run store on campus (called Pi) along with the loan-offering banks and the phone service companies are in an overdrive. We had a short function to inaugurate the batch and introduce the faculty. Energy levels are up, and classes will be full steam ahead.

The rain is still eluding us though, and hopefully will turn up soon. Before the budget. Heard it rained in the Mumbai metro. We are like this only. Incredible India!

Duty in Dubai

Went to a short trip on duty, but once I was free,  I did not miss the duty-free shopping for my essentials (read good single malts-everyone's definition of essentials varies). Anyway, the trip was memorable for my meeting an ex-student and her husband and two kids. Her little girl was naughty as hell, and entertained everyone throughout, remaining awake till very late (for a 2-year old). The stay was at Al Muhaisnah in the Dunes hotel which also has service apartments. Saw a lot of kids playing cricket early in the morning- the day is hot right now. The course we (IIM Indore) run there is a weekend MBA/PGDM. There is also a regular program for traditional students on other days, at the Dubai Men's College campus in Academic City.

Happened to pass by IMT campus there,  on way to an eating joint for lunch. Having been a part of IMT, I had visited a couple of times. And Smita, my student I mentioned above, had also worked there as an HR exec.
Smita's family and I went on a meteor-gazing expedition around 4 am. Were happy to spot five shooting stars in the pre-dawn period. Forgot to make any wishes though!

Learnt a lot about traffic towards Sharjah in the short time I was there. Luckily, my trip back through the airport at Sharjah was quite pleasant. Saw a lot of Air Arabia flights taking off, including one to Nagpur and a lot of Southern Indian cities. 

Narayanamurthy and Nagesh Kukunoor visit IIM Indore

The Narayanamurthy interaction was unplanned. It was prompted by Mr. Murthy being here for laying the foundation stone for his company's Indore office. He told us that he'd done the same at Nagpur yesterday. Looks good for both cities. IT is coming to them. Both cities are nice to live in, and the young IT crowd will make it more vibrant.

He was brilliant in fielding questions from students of the Exec Program and the PGP. He also did not hold back his punches, when he said we have wasted ten years in governing wrongly, but inspired the students  by saying they could still do it- transform the country by being disciplined and putting country before self.

His analysis was backed by solid examples. He lamented that the coaching classes had killed IITs. He also presented his views on attrition at Infosys and laid the blame on the top management for ills at the bottom.

Nagesh Kukunoor was invited by students conducting Mridang, the campus fest. His film Lakshmi was screened before the interaction with him. More on the film later.