Kothagudem

 I cannot forget this place, as I was born there. In modern day Telangana, it was my angana (playground) from 1960-70 and again from 1977-80 when we lived there. One area we lived in was Writer Basti (colony), and we cycled a lot. Even went to the Yellandu Club a few kilometres away on the bicycle, for a swim in summer!'

Bhadrachalam nearby had a famous temple of Rama. During Ramnavami, there used to be a huge crowd in that town, nestling around the Godavari river. In Kothagudem, we had two rivers- Edla vagu and Muredu vagu, flowing through the town.

It was an idyllic coal-mining town, with the club as its major social activity. But we also roamed around on long walks, or bicycle trips. School was St. Mary's and the nuns were kind and smiling. There was a water tank which all students drank from, without bothering about water quality.

IIMB Wall Magazine Mural

 Here's a variety of memorable stuff that we wrote (mostly, Dash and I)- on our wall mag during our MBA at IIM Bangalore- that we were co-editors of. He recently published a book too, based on his cop life of 30 plus years.. 

Comments on first year courses

Invite to write

Farewell to a prof., JD Singh

Year book announcement

Not on the mag, but soon after IIMB

My attempts at humour

Sustainable Blogging

 How do you sustain a blog beyond a couple of years? Many ways, just like films have survived, telling pretty much 5 stories over the decades, be it Holly- or Bolly- or Tollywood. Some suggestions, having done it for over 14 years now..

1. Add pics to the events you describe.. and describe the events as they happen, before you forget.

2. Have an opinion, and express it. About anything and everything. Opinions make things interesting, within limits of course..

3. Review books, films, art, games.. extension of the above.

4. Meet people, create memories, and write about these, pics included

5. Summarise your quarters-learn from finance- balance sheets, for one.

6. Look for triggers on your friends' posts, or other bloggers' blogs..

7. Take a break, and come back with fresh thoughts.

Remembering Jaipur

I have been to Jaipur a few times, as a tourist and for work. I also had my cousin living there a long time ago, and we visited at that time too. Amer, of course, is a special Fort to visit, and Hawa Mahal (literally, the Wind Palace) is another unique creation of the rulers there. It's called the Pink City, and tries to maintain that colour on many of its buildings. The Rajasthani food has a few unique offerings, and one of my non-veg. favourites is the Laal Maas (Red Mutton- a gravy).

I also have many friends who are from Jaipur- among them Achint Arora, Garima Shah, and an Iyer- Anjali. These were students at KIAMS and IMT Nagpur.

 Some pics from the haveli cum hotel we stayed in on one of those visits. The car was parked in the garden. 

Keepsake Photos

 Photographs are a great way to remember people, occasions, planned events, chance meetings, and places too. Many of us have a Taj Mahal pic from our visit to the beautiful monument. I have one from the Eiffel Tower, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa too.

My grandmother's pic at the steering wheel of a car (she didn't drive) is one of her best in my collection. Another is from when many of my aunts had visited us with their kids - my Mom had six sisters and a brother. 

Another category is with students, alumni or colleagues from various workplaces. Some I meet repeatedly and some I met maybe only once. But a photo reminds me of the fun time we had. There is one with Vivek Gupta - a colleague at IIM Lucknow, which was during a hailstorm we had on campus. I went home, got my camera and we took some memorable pics. One with Avinash Mulky too, during this short time.

Many of the vintage pics from IIM Bangalore-an architectural wonder that I was lucky to be in- are now priceless. A couple with the Clemson Tiger- he was a mascot of Clemson University, or one during a break in the Football game -very colourful, are similarly priceless. 

Pics with family - particularly when our daughters were small-are gems in our collection. Digitisation has made it easy to preserve these, but I have a huge collection from pre-digital days, including a flight in a Cessna over Clemson! 

Unique Things One Remembers

 The bulky valve tube radio, before compact transistors came in.

The coal stove we used for a long time, because we had a free supply of coal from the company my parents worked in-it mined coal.

Chiclets, the first chewing gum brand that I was exposed to in childhood.

Amul butter-even today, butter is synonymous with this brand.

Books one bought at Gangaram's Book Bureau on MG Road- Ogilvy on Advertising, Microeconomics by Samuelson, and many PG Wodehouse-authored books.

Cutlets and omelettes at Indian Coffee House on MG Road

Bun omelettes at Hilton on the OU campus- and Irani chai.

Mahabharat videos we borrowed at an Atlanta store- Cherian's.

Creating Memories

 Living in the present is fine, but I think life is about creating memories-preferably good ones. So it's not surprising whether imprinted on a photograph or just on the mind, I am full of memories- mostly good ones. It's a different matter that I forget my passwords, but important people and time spent with them, I do remember. 

That process has started- compiling some memories of my two years at NMIMS Bangalore, with a lot of wonderful people. 

Above, Rakshita- we first met online during her induction. Later, in person.

Sreejani in a virtual performance at an event, during the pandemic

Manuja, my first Emcee at the virtual convocation we pioneered at NMIMS.

Felicitations.. staff and students, with Mr. Shenoy of MTR Foods.

PR Committee again, just after I had joined.

Below, a faculty dev. program I did.

The diverse programs..and my office.

Gayathri, a friend of Preei Ravikiran, andd a student (below) learn Golf.

Sandeep Rao (ex-PES, student) is now a prof in Dublin. Neelima Watve brought him to visit.

Prerona is a part-time Golfer too!

Diti Goswami sings a Bong song.

Shatakshi the guest faculty

Khushboo, Shaukat, Tanaya, Kavya, Sangram Wadkar from placements

Lily, Devi, Alisha, Santosha..

Prerona sings an Assamese song at a gathering we had.

Common Purpose, with Dundee and Brunel University students.

Shloka, Akshita Ghildiyal (her brother was also a student earlier), Jay from the P.R. Committee.

Nostalgia Trip to IIMB

 The occasion was a visit by Harish Arora and Ila. He was a classmate at IIMB, circa 1982, and she is his wife. We met at the office of Gopal Mahapatra who was also a classmate and is now a prof. at IIMB. Some pics- among the highlights, we visited a new hostel- R Block, and the new chai/coffee shop that has replaced Uncle's, the old one. Also saw a pic from our Convocation on the wall. 

JD Singh who taught us Marketing 1, at some other location. Other pics are from IIMB.

This first one below is from 1982 or 83. Others from 2022.

Gopal Mahapatra, Harish and Ila 

Mural Memories From IIM Bangalore

 I wrote for the Mural, our real wall magazine, at IIMB during my MBA. Some of that material still remains with me, as I was one of the two editors, along with Dash. A trip down the memory lane.. I was called names, or rather, I called myself names-as you can see in some of these.

Above- an ad named after my neighbour, Sujit.

Above- a joke about Jockey, a classmate..poetic justice?

Just a name I called myself- advising people.

Shanks was a batchmate..this was directed at him..

Above and below..I created this character and Rajan baptised him..we were both Wodehouse fans.

I fashioned the Lord after what I knew from reading Wodehouse, entirely.

Poetry (above) and cartoons by Vijjy aka Vijayaraghavan enlivened our days.

and PJs, of course. We also did a commemorative volume of some of these writings.