Birthday Thoughts on Friendship

 Making friends, keeping friends.

These two things can keep you occupied for good! For life, maybe. Even if you work, you can make friends with some. In rare cases, with the boss too!

It happens to be my 65th birthday, therefore these profound thoughts are occurring instead of the mundane thoughts that usually do. Celebrated with my newly made friends/workmates at JIS University, Shrabani and Karanjyot Kaur who also got a cake made by her sister, who is a Hotel Mgt. graduate from the JIS group itself. Proof of the pudding below-

New Team Members at Prestige University

 Two new faculty members, Juhee Singh Verma and Bharat Singh Patel, joined us at Prestige University.

Pics of them, with me and some older team members - Amandeep, Group H.R. head, and Chandrakant Singh, Corporate Relations head.

Change of Names

Places with changed names is the focus here.

Waltair is the old name for the city of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Calicut is the old name for Kozhikode.

Trivandrum is the old name for Thiruvananthapuram.

Chennai is the new Madras, Puducherry is the new Pondicherry and Mumbai is the new name for Bombay.

Bangalore has turned into Bengaluru (and I believe, Gulbarga into Kalburgi), Calcutta into Kolkata.

Pune is what we call the old Poona now.

Roads have also been renamed to get a nationalistic flavour instead of the British-Raj one, like the name given to Warden Road. Bhulabhai Desai Rd is the new name. The American Cnsulate where I got my student visa used to be located on this road in Mumbai (Bombay). 

Ittefaq- Film Review

It's a nice word, ittefaq (coincidence). It's also used in a favourite song of mine, Zindagi ittefaq hai  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVxCAwqONcI  but this is about the film, a songless suspense film. It is a remake, with some changes, of a film by the same name starring Rajesh Khanna and Nanda. It is abot two murders, that seem linked to one suspect initially, and then a second. The theories and the suspects' stories are built around some coincidences.

An author is found with a dead man in circumstances that suggest he is the killer. His wife has also been found killed at home, on the evening of a book launch of his new book. The dead man's wife also becomes a suspect after she is found to have lied about some of her extra-curricular activities. S who is the real killer is what the inspector has to find out.

No spoilers, but the inspector Akshaye Khanna has acted well. So has Sonakshi, and others are adequate. Siddhath Malhotra I have always found wooden, and so he continues to be. Nothing great, but watchable for the twists in the tale. We have had live cases going this way and that recently, so it is contextually relevant as a plot, maybe.

New Ministries

The nomenclature of ministries hasn't changed in years. New Gen needs new ministries..here are some possibilities.

The Ministry of Tall Promises- this will be led by the tallest person that will make sure that every citizen grows into the tallest he/she can. Will supply growth proteins free to all short people.

The Ministry for Eliminating Cars- will exchange any car that you bring in with a helicopter, at no charge. This will also be in charge of reducing population, additional charge..

Bollywood and Cricket Ministry..these two are too important to be left to BCCI and Karan Johar (assuming he still runs Bollywood).

Ministry for Explaining Things. With life becoming complex, this is the NEED OF THE HOUR.

Ministry for Dengue/Chikungunya/Swine (Flu, I mean)...and any other virus that dares to enter our air-space.

Resolute Resolutions

Why do resolutions have to be year-end ones?

Here are 5 mid-year ones, approx. half-way through this year.

1. I will be relaxed about everything. Does not mean in a hammock-it's all in the mind.

2. I will appreciate people a bit more..I find it challenging, so I guess this needs to be worked on.

3. I will try something new each time I teach..generally do, but need to be steadfast.

4. Try new research methods..qualitative in addition to the usual.

5. Write better blog posts..see, I am already trying the last one out. :)

..and continue the good things like the Best DP awards, in case you are apprehensive..

New Ways to Die

Who says the last inventor was Thomas Edison? We as a species have always been inventors. It's in our blood- or at least in a couple of us, like Zuckerberg. But I am not talking of dating inventions that went out of control here. I am talking of new ways to die.

In the good old days (just a turn of phrase, can't guarantee they were ACTUALLY good), we could only get a good old heart attack (by whatever name called), or drown in  a river.

Gradually, we invented car crashes (after cars were invented, of course), air crashes (likewise), and a sundry collection of such methods. Some went so far as to crash a Space Shuttle too, but that was rare.

Now, since  9/11, we have turned our attention to the dying process, and have turned innovative. Some top favourites are-

A selfie on the edge of a cliff- talk about LIVING on the edge!

The doctor leaving his scissors in your tummy. A scissarian section?

Driving while you text. What, you say it's too graphic? Text can't be, it's two different things..

Suicide (that's an old one) because of a breakup over FB Messenger (that's the twist).

Honour killing (old one) for even more trivial things (new reasons)- just watch any Hindi movie that is trying to unite two souls in love, and you'll have the annoyed parent pick up a gun and threaten to (or actually) kill his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, or all of the afore-mentioned. Sons are excluded, because they are needed to kill the next generation.

Trying to buy a first day ticket for a Rajnikanth film. Kabali, da..

Horror Movies- Then and Now

Then

In India, Ramsay brothers were the kings of this genre. There were hands rising from the grave, or heads rolling, or songs sung by unknown spirits, or doors creaking open in the dead of the night, or skeletons tumbling out of cupboards (not figuratively, but literally), to make it feel like a 'horror' film.

Now

A movie can be a horror film without any of the above ingredients. All it takes is-

1. An ageing hero who shows his biceps, six-packs, or just a shirtless body

2. A heroine with oodles of makeup trying to look sexy

3. A troupe of dancers with no dancing skills

4. A plot that goes berserk without head or tail

5. Songs that sound like they were tuned in hell.

6. Remakes of old movies that were themselves terrible.

7. Sequels of films that were not sequel material.

Oh, how I long for the 'real' horror films of yore. 

First Rain?

It's probably the first rain of the 'official' monsoons of 2014. I was kind of surprised at the regularity of the first rain in Nagpur while I lived there. It arrived unfailingly on the 10th or 11th June. So it was in Indore yesterday. There was a strong cool breeze around 5.30 pm, an indication of things to come.  It took a while for the rain to arrive, but it did at about 7.30.

Mood changes probably closely follow the weather, so I am expecting an uplifting month. As the senior MBA (PGDM) students come back on campus, the activity level and the energy levels are up. Classes will be on in full swing. Faculty will have a somewhat tight schedule, compared to the two months gone by which were somewhat relaxed. We will need to put on our thinking caps and device new means of torture- assignments, exams, quizzes, I mean. All good-natured torture, you understand, designed to enhance learning.

We kicked off the academic year with a workshop on new teaching methods, with a few simulation-based package vendors showcasing their wares. A good, innovative start.

New Year Begins

It looks a lot like the old year. Yes, I am older by a few days,  and may be (this is debatable) wiser. The days are windier and foggier. I have a Videocon DTH connection instead of the cable guy with mostly the same channels. A pretty good mess (for dining) and therefore, no cooking.

I have new colleagues, and a lot more to teach. Less of PR functions that went with my earlier job. Less things to worry about, in other words.

Same old (extended) family and a lot more potential friends. A new scanner that I intend using to scan a few more pics. What carries on from the old year is blogging, reading, music and good times. And promise of new, unexpected happenings. Great, don't you think?