Madhosh Kiye Jaa: Nagaland

Showing posts with label Nagaland. Show all posts

Campus Vibes- Prestige University, Indore

Each campus has its vibes. So does ours. Here are a few pics that capture these vibes, over the last few months - 23-24.

Festivities, guest faculty from all around the world (below)

RJ of Red FM, above, and a CNBC appearance.

Natasha Kothari, founder of Studio UnGap, above.

Below- Veronica Thavonat, originally from Argentina, ex-KPMG Spain at the campus

Above- our outreach in Nagaland and Assam. Met Mr. Temjen Mina Along, Minister, and Dr. Poorvanku Sarmah of IIT Guwahati

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.

Going Bamboo

That was a book by Anthony Bourdain, host of a food/cookery show, and author. But in our case, it was a visit to bamboo country, in the North East. Last week, we went to a restaurant called Kavu cafe, which means Bamboo Cafe in the local language-Naga. With Ankur Gogoi, Nishant and Arun Bhattacharyya.

With the staff.. above.

Collaborations- North East

We were out discussing possible collaborations in the North East, with potential partners. Most likely, these will include a student exchange, with a college in Nagaland, followed by other common interest programs like Conferences, or programs for industry that are jointly organised, or research/case writing projects to be done by their faculty and ours.

We find there is lots of potential, untapped, in the region. Very good students also exist, like everywhere else, and both sides could benefit from such collaborations.

St. Joseph's University, a private university, and Tetso College, a great degree college specialising in Humanities, were some of the institutions in Dimapur we went to, apart from a couple of schools to make them aware of our 5 year Integrated Management Program.

Year end Musings- 6

A year is an artificial division of time. But it helps consolidate our life into compartments. Of course, it gets confusing with the financial year thrown in for calculations, and others-academic year in my profession.

This year, September -November were eventful. Some pics..

Apple orchard, and other delights, Kashmir

Guwahati and Shillong, or nearby (above and below)

Nagaland, with Education Minister at Kohima, above, and with Tetso College bosses, Dimapur

Chai bagaan, at Jorhat and nearby.

Abhishek above, and Kanika Mhendiratta, below

At IIMB with friends.. Bhuvanesh, and Jayadev

Akshat Surana visits Prestige.

Nagarjuna and Venugopal Reddy, Hyderabad Golf Club

Bhagyalakshmi and Venkat, Mumbai BKC.

Nagaland Part 2

Among other things, we learnt a little bit about the culture, food, and the earlier insurgency- now mostly limited to extortion for no good reason from businesses- in a meeting with the Minister for Education, Temjen Imna Along. He spent time in Mumbai, loves vada pao, and is very passionate about developing his people.

We were presented a shawl, after he explained its significance, that the red one is usually for men who are respected by the tribe, and other colours are for women. We were glad to be the recipients, with all that it implied. The right way to wear it is this..

We also visited a college in Dimapur run by two alums of CIEFL (now English and Foreign Languages University) in Hyderabad. They are a brother and sister duo.

and, we met an MLA from Nagaland, who also suggested we set up something in the state.

Nagaland- a First

I had been to Assam a couple of times before, but not to other parts of the North East. This time, both by train- a vistadome compartment, no less, and road, managed to travel to Dimapur and Kohima, both in Nagaland. Also found a Golf course near Jorhat, called Kaziranga Golf Course/Resort. Worth going to again, some day. It is owned by one Mr. Barooah, reminding me of two colleagues, Ekalavya and Prerona Baruah from NMIMS at Bangalore. Also ate duck for the first time- like a cross between mutton and chicken.

We were trying to promote our MBA programs and also tie up for other activities, such as Entrepreneurship training. Or corporate training programs. Met the ONGC ED, and a dynamic edu-entrepreneur, among others. A minister also, and an MLA from Nagaland. Very positive, all of them, including the director of NIT at Dimapur, Nagaland.