Enduring Friendships- Students

 I am amazed at times when I count the number of years I have known some students of mine. I would 

Students from IIM Indore and IFIM B School, above and below. 

Rajeev Roy Chowdhary above (with wife Sangeeta), and Anushka Mishra below, both from different batches of KIAMS.

Savitha is from KIAMS Batch 1.

have been 32 when I joined Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management, Hyderabad. I am in touch, virtually, with at least half a dozen students of a very small batch 1. KIAMS at Harihar followed soon after, and I am in touch with many students -Batch 1 onwards, and some I did not even teach there. Some evidence above of  meetings with some. 

It's great fun, both planned and unplanned meetings. I will add some more about these meetups, particularly for IIM Indore and IMT Nagpur, where I have met dozens of students across India, in just the last 2 years or so.

Pulling Legs

Pulling people's legs is an activity we should indulge in a lot more. It beats pulling the trigger on anyone, for one.

Second, laughter is the best medicine. It does not cure disease, but certainly prevents some and makes others a lot more bearable.

If you actually pull someone's leg in the correct direction and with the right amount of force, it may be a good stretching exercise for those lazy muscles.

Pulling a fast one, if harmless, falls in the same category as pulling someone's leg, and is also advisable in small doses (if the dose is large, the person concerned may not pull his punches, and we are back to square one- not achieving the objective of lightening up!).

Having pulled my weight by doing my share of writing for today, I will not strain you further. Thanks for being here- now go pull someone's leg!

Fools' Day

I like Fools' Day the best of all "Days" celebrated globally.

It is one where we shed our pretences- of being smart, intelligent, holier-than-thou, and all the rest.

It is an opportunity to prove to others what they may not always believe. You know what.

It is a day dedicated to humour, unlike too many days when you have to be serious. Seriously, why is it that we don't take laughter seriously? Heart disease would vanish in a jiffy! Imagine Bush, Osama, and so on on a laughing trip. You can't make war when you laugh.

Fools can sometimes be useful. They are the ones who cling to their ideas, and innovate when no one believes in the. You might say we need fools to keep improving things, inventing things.

Now that I have made my case, I will not prolong my argument foolishly, and stop right here.

Happy Foolishness, whichever day you choose it as your companion.

Great Inventions

These are on my list of my ten great inventions-

1. Chair-improved our lives and elevated us from the floor.
2. Spoon-gave us ways of using jars and stirring things up.
3. Radio-everything else pales before this. An infinite source of information, entertainment and joy. Accessible to the common man. Even Modi uses this to connect with people.
4. Pen and paper- how else would we have distinguished ourselves from animals? Books are an endless source of joy.
5. Aspirin- it cures something (headache) with certainty-with most other medicines, you are not really sure.
6. Homeopathy- again, accssible medicine, and despite what experts tell you, easy to learn and administer yourself. Cures at least a few known uncomfortable conditions.
7. Sarcasm- without it, life would be dry and humourless. By using this, we also make friends-and lose some. Keeps the wheel of life on an even keel.
8. Marriage-after laughter, this gets my vote as the next best thing. The twain cannot meet, usually, unfortunately. 
9. Blogging- you are already being subjected to this, so I shall not speak further on the subject-until my next.
10. Communism- a better fantasy is yet to be invented. 

 Some day, I will also list out the worst inventions.

Jokes

Jokes forwarded by a friend.

Ek aadmi RAM Mandir gaya aur rone laga

he RAM  meri biwi kho gayi.

RAMJI bole: Baju wale HANUMAN Mandir me jake bol meri bhi usi ne dhundi thi.  

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Teacher ne Gadhe ke samne 1 Daaru ki aur  1 Pani ki Balti rakhi, 

Gadha Pani pi gaya.

Teacher: Tumne iss se kya Sikha?

Student: Jo Daaru nahi pita Woh Gadha hota hai.

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Gandhiji ne kaha :-

Izzat karni ho to wife Ki karo...

khayal rakhna ho toh wife ka rakho,

Pyaar karna ho toh wife se karo...

Magar wife kis ki?

Ye bapu ne bataya hi nahin!!!

Naughty Bapu!!!

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Wife drinking BEER asked "Tum kaun ho?" 

Husband- "Pagal ho gayi ho kya? Apne husband ko bhool gayi? " 

Wife: "Nasha har gum bhula deta hai "Bhaisaab"

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Gadha-

Mera malik bahut marta hai!

Kutta-

Toh tu bhag kyoon nahi jata ???

Gadha-

Uski khoobsoorat ladki jab padhai nahi karti, toh woh kehta hai ki "teri shaadi gadhe se kara dunga" ................. bas isi umeed pe tika hoon !!!

Getting Serious

When will we grow up and get serious about all the Syrias (or Koreas) of the world? Not very soon, until countries stop thinking of themselves as policemen of the world, and poking their nose into other people's business (rather than getting their own house in order).

Till then, here is a PJ to keep yourself distracted.

An employer is the one who employs an employee. Right?

Therefore, a Barber is the one who sends a barb to a Barbie.

Laughter is the best medicine, in the face of onion prices, chemical weapons, and shooters in the backyard of the Navy (building). And Miss Americas from India. Columbus must be happy.

 Just a thought. Would we have Muthoot Onion Loans being incorporated in India soon?

Laughter- The Best Medicine?

I am confused. Is laughter the best therapy? Or is it music? I have tried both, and both seem to work (for me). The answer is, as usual, ‘it depends’.

Natural laughter (not the laughter club variety) is probably a good therapy for any situation. But how do you get yourself into a situation where you get to laugh a lot?

You need to make friends who are ‘laughter-prone’ (note the similarity with disaster-prone; but the similarity ends there). That is, who like to laugh. Not the maniacal Gabbar or Kaancha (Agneepath) laughter, but the full-throated one of happiness. Lol!

Reading PG Wodehouse, Bill Bryson etc. is a good option if you are currently not surrounded by friends for some reason. Or watch a film like Padosan, Gol Maal, Chupke Chupke, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Hera Pheri. Saw a movie called 'Horrible Bosses' recently that had (not surprisingly) a lot of ROFL moments.

The Name of the Rose

Umberto Eco's novel by this name is what I am reading- about halfway through it. He has a rather long-winded style of describing places- the action here happens in an abbey in medieval Italy, with a lot of 'orders' of Christianity fighting for upmanship, and intrigue, and murders happening in the abbey. The detective is a guest at the abbey, also a holy master of some 'order'.

A period novel, very nicely built up suspense, though very different from the Sherlock Holmes or Poirot variety. Takes more patience to read, but could be an acquired taste. Since I haven't reached the denoument yet, can't comment on it. But it kept me company through a flight to Indore and back, and helped keep the mind off the insipid food.

One of the interesting exchanges in the abbey described is about whether laughter is good or bad. Arguments of various people, starting from Aristotle, are listed.

Now, that's one thing about which there is no argument about in my mind...laughter is the medicine for all times.