What I Like About Countries

 The food, and foot massage.. in Thailand.

The Ha Long Bay, in Vietnam.. 

The discipline, in Singapore. Also the public transport.

The politeness, and the public baths- Onsens- in Japan.

The language, in Malaysia.

The National Parks, in the USA.

The pretty islands in Greece. And Moussaka, my favourite dish.

Simple, hospitable people in Cambodia.

Greenery in Sri Lanka.

The temples in Bali, Indonesia.

The openness in Holland.

Monuments in Italy. Venice too, though Bezos didn't invite me..

Of course, many things about India.. will list those out separately.

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.

What Travel Has Taught Me

 If you can afford to, travel. If you can't, still try to.. coz it's a great teacher. You learn through observation, immersion, and a lot of interactions. For instance, I was fascinated by the varied experiences in recent years at Vietnam, Ladakh, Japan, Bali, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, during international travels. Also, within India, I went to Nagaland for the first time, and had a fascinating interaction with an MLA and a Minister, and learnt a lot. Also met a businessman who drove us around, and told us about modernisation of business practices.

People in Bali including taxi drivers were very polite, punctual and well-behaved. Their architecture- temples particularly- is fascinating, and different. 

Japan is a very modern country technically, but they follow quite a few traditions too. Innovators in many ways, ahead of the West.

Vietnam- just the Ha Long Bay cruise is enough to give you goosebumps. And they have a Temple of Literature dedicated to Confucius, my hero..

Cambodia has a rich culture, partly Hindu, part Buddhist..

Sri Lanka grows a lot of tea and spices, and follows Ayurveda..

Singapore is known for good governance, and Management of govt. services. Great universities too.

Countries I am Aware of

 I became aware of England due to the language that they left behind. Vilayat meant England. There were a few Anglo-Indian families too, when I was growing up. Not sure if there are too many left. But in college days, USA was definitely the dream destination for many. I applied for an M.S. too, but managed to go there later for a Ph.D.- not in engineering, but Management. During stopovers in Europe, visited Greece, Italy, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Germany (West at the time), and Holland. France more intimately, thanks to Anne, a friend from Brittany we met at Clemson. 

Many years later, I have met people from Sri Lanka (have a good friend Samudrika there), Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, S. Korea, New Zealand, Dubai, Sharjah, Australia, England, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, China ( I have a couple of friends there), and so on. 

I am yet to visit Down Under (Covid stole my thunder), and a few countries like China, and South America and Africa. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. But I had friends from Iran, Nigeria and Portugal in my Ph.D. program, and also from Turkey, and a colleague from Venezuela at Greenwood where I taught.

That is not a bad score! Yes, I know there are around 190 countries, but I am just one person..

Interiors

I do up my (office, home) interiors with photographs, and sometimes, with mementos. As good as any, because they stir up memories..that sometimes stretch back to three decades, like that pic of mine on the cover of Newsweek :)

 Japan and Bali.

 Vietnamese and Sri Lankan.

 Japan, Sri Lanka, Bali.

Goa (above), and Cambodia, Greece, Bali (below)

Interesting Conferences

One was on Retailing (about Online versus Offline Pricing), and a paper I had written had an unexpected reaction on fb- lots of people requested a copy, and I was amazed.

Another very interesting conference was in Beppu, a small Japanese town. Met some amazing professors and students there, and got a taste of Japanese culture- one of the most polite people on earth. Another was in Sri Lanka, and I thought about why we in India don't do more in partnership with their universities-could be very fruitful.

There were others, one in Cambodia by ABEM, that enabled a visit to Angkor Wat, which was on my bucket list. Some of our domestic conferences- one on Social Media at Bangalore, and another on film and literature at BITS Goa recently, also gave me  a chance to explore interesting themes.

My Avatars On Earth- 1

We all grew up hearing stories of how Gods come in different avatars on earth. Vishnu had ten, for example. But we also have avatars- right here, according to my theory. These are phases in our lives, or makeovers that some of us go through while playing different roles, very different ones at times.
Starting with the Samurai avatar.

 Above- book writer and launcher- Pune Crossword, launching my autobiography with Jaya Jha and Sharu Rangnekar. Below, the Duke of Pleudiry, with the Duchess.

 Above- the reader. Kalyug is writtten by my student from IMT.

The tourist- with Anil Lahoti and Suresh Prabhu.

Nearing 5 Years at Indore

I have been notorious for changing workplaces faster than Hindi film heroines changed their costumes in song situations. But looks like I am trying to change. Must be the poha-jalebis, and the nice people of Indore. I am about to reach my fifth anniversary at Indore, in early December. So what are my thoughts?

The beauty of the campus is incomparable- inspired by buildings at Mandu.

The Sun rises over IIM Indore (above), and below,  Singing in progress- Sadhana Lakshmi tries out her skills- karaoke party with my Google Online Challenge champs-Kalaivani and team

 Above-Nidhi Kanungo with her dad, visits. She was my student in 2000 at Kirloskar Institute. Below, our first Digital Marketing executive program in 2017, at Indore-dinner at Mashaal.

 Gulmohar gar tumhara naam hota..

 Above-Indrajit at the Mumbai campus, and below, the PGPMX 16-18 batch at Mumbai, during the Convocation visit to Indore.

I am thrilled with the peace and quiet, for one thing, on the campus. The variety provided by the PGP/MBA, short term MDPs, and the Executive programs at Indore and Mumbai is a great plus point. We did a couple of interesting programs for Trent, Whirlpool, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation.

A chance to experiment with new courses, particularly in the Doctoral program, is for me a definite attraction. Even in the MBA, I started teaching Digital Marketing for the first time in my career, and have learnt a lot from it. I had only one stint with the IPM in a seminar course, apart from some good CIS projects they did with me. But I did interact with a few good actors and actresses during the plays they acted in.

Bright students are like Oxygen, and there have been quite a few, from the first batch whom I taught Advertising to, to the batches thereon, whom I taught Marketing Research and Digital Marketing-you know who you are 😃 Some champions have also won numerous awards and recognition- not necessarily due to me, I might add! I also have been on Doctoral committees of various students in the full-time and part-time programs.

Faculty colleagues are also great fun to be with, and I have had a chance to meet most at breakfast, lunch or dinner, informally, if not at recruitment seminars. Many past students and colleagues visited me at Indore, and I met a few elsewhere during these years. Some also contributed to books that I managed to edit, publish, and I look forward to meeting many more.

Had two admin. stints as MDP chair and Dean-Faculty, that were also enriching. I ended up visiting (for conferences) a lot of nice destinations, from Beppu in Japan to Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Since I also teach Tourism Marketing, it was all useful in my teaching too.

Enjoyed visits to places nearby such as Maheshwar, Pataalpani, Omkareshwar, and Mandu (several times-my favourite). 

Japan- Memories

 Jay in Hell (seriously, the spring above is called a Hell/Jigoku) with a pretty student guide from the university that hosted us, and both of us on a guided tour of Kitsuki. It was my kimono day! This was in 2015, when we went for a conference at Beppu, a small town known for its hot springs- the onsen for bathing, and the likes of the above for sight-seeing.

 Above- A view of the Beppu harbour, and (below) a multicultural group of participants from Nepal, UK, China and Japan.

We went out sight-seeing, and spotted this guy performing live.

Global Fashion

A quick sum-up of the fashionable things.

In Syria, it is to migrate to Europe by boat, or bicycle.

In the U.S., it is to shoot at campuses. To find a higher purpose in life, shoot inside places of higher education.

In the Mediterranean, it is to resue the boat people mentioned above.

In Australia, it is changing Prime Ministers.

In India, it is to hold election rallies, build speed-breakers on potholed roads.

In Dubai, it is to boast about and construct tall buildings.

In Japan, it is to bow.

In North Korea, it is to make cutouts of their Leader to upstage Jayalalitha's.

In South Korea, it is to barbeque anything in sight.

My Samurai Connection

I got a chance to visit a Samurai village called Kitsuki or "Little Kyoto"on a recent visit to Japan. There were students from the Asia Pacific University who came along as guides, and walked us through the preserved Samurai houses. I rented a kimono (yes, men wear these too), to get into the part, and enjoyed roaming the streets of Kitsuki. Some pics-the first has my swords :)

Japan Visit- Memories

Japan runs on 100 volts. Not 220 like India, nor 110 like the U.S. And has mostly two-pin plug points, vertically rectangular. Just in case you visit Japan, carry an adapter or you will have to remain gadgetless for the duration of your stay- not such a bad thing, actually, you might enjoy the scenery and culture a little more.

Another thing ubiquitous in Japan is chopsticks. It is hard to find spoons and forks in some restaurants, so folks like me have to try and use what's there-chopsticks! Not a bad idea to learn how to, if you wish to enjoy your eating outings.

An umbrella we carried also proved providential, as it poured continuously the first day we were there. Of course you can buy one, if you have the yen for it. There are convenience stores which sell almost everything, from toothpaste to whisky. Family Mart seems to be the major one, along with a couple of others.

Well-manicured trees and plants, in addition to people, seems like a speciality, with the gardens looking especially good-as if a hundred gardeners were tending to it. Ek phool do Mali is passe.

Japan Experiences- Service

A recent trip to Japan resulted in several experiences, some unique, and most very good. I will share two service experiences because Indians will find both different, if not strange.

As we waited for the ANA flight (Delhi-Tokyo Narita) to take off around midnight at Terminal 3, we saw a strange sight. All the stewardesses assembled in the seating area near the gate, and got into an animated discussion with each other about various things, related to the guests on board that flight. They were speaking in Japanese, but one could see the sincerity of purpose and dedication that they brought to the job. I have never seen anything like it before, so I was stupefied. We tend to take work -any work- a lot more casually out here.

The second was an experience at a local bank in Beppu, Japan. We went in around 9.30 in the morning into an empty bank, and asked to change a few dollars into Yen, the local currency. The procedure took almost twenty minutes, after what looked like several layers of checks, or signatures, or verification of the currency's genuineness. This was puzzling, as it rarely takes more than a minute in many international destinations- I have tried this at least in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. We never found out the reason, but I assume that they are thorough in their doing things, which is not a bad thing. Couldn't help wondering that in India, given our crowds in banks, we'd never get any work done at this pace.

More experiences later.

The Jap in Me

Yeah, that's right. There's a Jap lurking within me. I like cleanliness. I like peace. I like aesthetic surroundings. The Japanese have all these in plenty. I am waxing eloquent due to a recent trip to Japan. Went for a conference to the small town of Beppu in Oita prefecture, south of all the well-known names in Japan.

The Japanese extravaganza lasted only six days, but left a lasting impact. The conference, of course, provided academic insights and networking opportunity, but something else also seems to have left a deep impact. The propensity for hard work without complaints, the neatness, the beauty that surrounds you everywhere, and the politeness. Just the politeness would fill volumes if I sat and wrote about it. Maybe another day. I will just put out a couple of pictures for now.

Dave Barryisms

Dave Barry is one of the best American sit-down comics (I don't know if he does stand-up comedy) I have read. Here are a couple of his gems from 'Dave Barry Does Japan,' which I am reading slowly, so that I can savour it longer- the way you linger over your favourite ice-cream. Not his exact words, but the jokes are his-

As I got off the plane, I noticed rightaway something unique about Japan. For  lack of a better phrase, I'll call it "lack of height." Every Japanese person was tall as our average school boy, without the guns.

The Bellboy got the luggage into the hotel room, and then did something amazing. He left! In America, he would have stayed with you until you remembered to tip him.


Translation of Japanese people speaking English into American.

Ah- No

I see- No

I will think about your proposal-  It will be sent to the shredder.

Note: The polite Japanese never say no. So the thick-headed Americans need this Guide to Japan to help them understand what's going on, according to Barry.

More Murakami

I just finished one more of his books (South of the Border, West of the Sun) and am halfway through another (Norwegian Wood). Don't know where he gets his ideas for the titles, but these and the cover designs of his books are both startling, and attract even a casual browser in a store. That's how I got introduced to him. Not through a book review or a recommendation from anyone.

I am still struggling to find the right adjective for his prose. Dazzling, lyrical, emotional are all possible adjectives. But it's somehow not adequate. Other-worldly, Surrealistic, sound more appropriate. Because even when he is describing physical love (the first book has some of that), it somehow transcends the known. Even his decsription of a mind and thoughts is something unexpected, and so is his description of Tokyo sewers. Or earthquakes. (After the Quake is also a collection of his short stories)

The stories themselves are varied, from the normal growing up angst of a teenager to mid-year crises, broken hearts, and so on, but marvellously put together. I have yet to come across such a languid yet gripping writer (of course, I am reading the translated English versions). Though I don't read much fiction these days, I can't seem to have enough of this guy.