IFIM B School- Conference

This was a place I had earlier worked in. I visited for a conference recently, and enjoyed the feeling of deja vu. Some of the old colleagues and staff were around, and a couple of surprises too. I was moderator of a panel on Management 2022 among other things.

The institute is a neighbour of Infosys, in electronic city. The company which has seen a lot of turmoil in recent times, after being the bellwether of Indian corporates for many years. In my brief stint there, I enjoyed the corporate ambience, and also did an MDP for the Oterra Hotel at Yercaud. The hotel has changed hands since then.

Also visited an old haunt, The Bierre Club, and met a couple of old students from IMT Nagpur and KIAMS. Just after a training program at HPCL's Pune facility (pics below-with Ranjeet and Ghosh, colleagues from IIM Indore, at Pune)

Researching Microbreweries

Went to a research conference on Social Media Marketing in Bangalore. During the after hours, tried researching the phenomenon of the microbrewery. Bangalore was the pioneer when it came to pubs in India. The first one started around 1983 and was called Ramada's. The later ones tried distinguishing themselves with different decor and ambience, and some even shut down due to 'recession.' Bier Keller at Hyderabad, and 10 Downing Street (ditto) are some I remember going to. Then I grew old, and the noise got to me, so I did not go to any for a long time.

But now, there is a reason to do so, if you qualify- as in, if you above the drinking age. The reason is 'product variety' or novelty. And a tastier, fresh beer. The two microbreweries that I tried out thanks to a friend (purely for research, of course!) both had interesting stuff. I had read somewhere that Trappist monks invented beer (naturally, in order to serve God through serving his creation), and one of the pubs probably in a tribute, had a variant known as Fat Abbott. Quite nice.

Another one had a wheat beer/ale that was very flavourful and smooth. There were stouts (brown/black) in both the places, but since I only had a small taster glass I can't tell you too much about those. By the way, a taster glass for sampling is a great idea.

Unsurprisingly, both are in the Brigade road area on either side of it. That's where it all began in the eighties.