Some Firsts in 2023

We don't have to repeat the same things we did. Alongside, look for new experiences. It's possible. Some new things I can remember from 2023.

Made a new friend from Argentina. Veronica is a guest faculty at Prestige University, and brings a unique flavour to the classroom with her KPMG Spain stint. She's a great conversationalist, warm and has a great sense of humour. 

Went to Nagaland-Kohima and Dimapur- for the first time. One needs to visit this area and learn about it, I think. Also went to Shillong, though it was touch and go.

Met Ananya Nandi De and family. She is an alum of IMT Nagpur, and a member of a music group I belong to. Met her again in December, last week.

That's Veronica, in the pic above, and Ananya and Abha in the one below!

Met Meghana Khadilkar, finally. At Pune. IMT student, but we hadn't met.

Made new friends among the Ph.D. students at IIM Indore. Neeti Ingole and Pratishtha Batra are two of them, (in the pic with old friends Prachi and Akansh)

Had a great time giving a keynote speech at NIFT Gandhinagar, with fashionable people, beautifully dressed, all around me. Dhanali Sandesara and Mehak even started following my blog!

Played the drummer at IIMB, and TV film director at CNBC-see the pics if you don't believe me. 

At IIMB, above, and CNBC studio, Worli, below.

Visited my niece Miskil and Kabir, at their house for the first time. Their boy Khayal is also in the pic, along with others.

Had a few new Single Malts, a couple imported directly from Scotland. Here's one- 

 Oh, and rode a pony for the first time, in Pahalgam.

Mementoes

 One gets a lot of mementoes as a part of events. Two such which had originality of thought, and nice execution..

From Calicut Management Association.. at their Convention in IIMK.

From NIFT Gandhinagar, made by a professional. It's their campus facade, done with innovative materials..

Review of Jan-April 2023

 This is a four-monthly review of 2023- the first four months. There was action, reunions, plans made and some fructified. 

Prestige University -my new workplace- saw construction gathering pace, towards start of a new batch of MBA and Integrated Programs. Our new registrar joined, and another couple of team members too, in the non-teaching side. We also had an outing to Jalgaon, where we strategised for the Prestige group-includes the older institutions, and industry - soya bean related. The resort at Jain Agro was a great place, with a Gandhi exhibit, and lots of Mango plantations.

Went to IIM Kozhikode  as a Chief Guest of the Calicut Management Association annual convention. It was a great trip, and I got to meet many new people from different fields. And visit the beautiful campus too, where I taught earlier from 2003-2005.

Also was invited for a keynote speech at NIFT Gandhinagar, and met a few of their students doing Masters too. Made friends with a couple (Mehak, Dhanali, Sneha), who are as bright as any I have encountered anywhere else. Met Manjari Mundanad, my old friend and Ph.D. student at Nirma, now a prof. at Adani. Know her from IMT Nagpur days.

More recently, made a trip to Bangalore for Good Friday, and met Shatakshi, Savitha and Muthu. Had some Burmese food thanks to Savitha, for the first time.. it was awesome. Also met Meghana Khadilkar in Pune for the first ever time.. yet to meet her daughters and hubby. Soon, maybe.

Shafique Gajdhar (ex-IMT N) visited and met up. Also met a few Ph.D. students from IIM Indore, now friends of mine, a couple of times. None of the new ones were from Marketing area, funnily! Also saw a play starring a couple of them in February- called Knives Out! 

Caselets on People I Know

 Ok, this is a continuing series, and many more people I know are yet to be covered. But let me try-

NIFT Students- Thanks to Bhaskar Banerjee, a friend at NIFT in Gandhinagar, I met a few of his students. They were refreshingly different from many other groups I have met earlier, apart from being well-turned out-naturally, they are all students of fashion mgt./tech. Got to chat with a few too, over the day, and found one- Mehak, whose name resembles a student of mine from NMIMS Bangalore. Surnames too are similar. Singhi in this case, and Singhal for Bangalore. The first name means fragrance- nice and apt! Another bright student was Dhanali-I suspect she's a reader of this blog too!

Mehak's the one in a blue top, second from left, front row. Dhanali is on my left. Glad to make their acquaintance.

The other Mahek from Bangalore is in the pic below, on my left. Another bright student, who I interacted with a bit more than others in my two years at NMIMS. She was an office bearer in the Acad. committee.

Tanmeet Kaur Sahiwal. A law professor, and captain of the Women's Golf team at NMIMS Bangalore. A very competent teacher, and fun to be with. I found her husband was a student of my friend at IIT Delhi some years ago too. He wants a Bajaj Matador as his vehicle of choice! Hope he gets it!

NIFT at Gandhinagar

I once did a session on Digital Marketing for the NIFT faculty online. Got to know Prof. Bhaskar Banerjee and Jagriti Mishra during that program. Both teach at NIFT Gandhinagar. So when I got an invite to meet them in person at a Conference they were hosting, it was a definite go.

I went there yesterday, and also got to meet the students of a Masters in Fashion Management class, during my visit. We spoke about Personal Branding for employment, among other things. There were a few well-known people among the Keynote Speakers, who spoke about the Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-sufficient India) theme in general, from different perspectives. I spoke mostly about Tourism which can go slow, and a bit about fashion entrepreneurs, among whom I mentioned Rajasthani Rangrez (Aditi Atre is the founder), and Neerya (Swati Sinha is the founder). Both are ex-students from IMT Nagpur.

It was interesting, on the whole, and I also got to meet Manjari, my ex-student who works at Gandhinagar now, with Adani Institute of Digital Management. Some pics- 

Mehak Singhi who was also the Emcee,  second from left in my row, and Sneha, on the extreme right. Dhanali I think, is on my left, with a few others. Mehak turned out to be from Bangalore, which I just left and we had a chat over samosas after the session.

Prof. Jagriti Mishra.

With Manjari Mundanad, left, and Bhaskar Banerjee, right also in the pic

Sneha joins for a selfie.

Vandita, prof. at NIFT, who co-authored Manjari's paper, during the presentation. With Chhavi, a student volunteer.

On the wall was this photo..