Why I Like Dilliwasis

These are residents of Delhi, who may or may not have grown up there. Some have. 

They tend to have a gung ho attitude towards everything. It's not easy to live in a place that has only 2 months of good weather on average. And deal with invaders at one time, and uncouth drivers today. Road rage is a real thing there, just like in L.A.

But most people in Delhi NCR that I know are nice.. maybe it's me. But online and offline, I have encountered nice people 95% of the time. That's a good percentage, in my view. So anytime I visit, I am able to catch up with a couple of friends. 

I have now met Shweta Agarwal, Padmapriya (more than once), Sharmistha Singh and Sunil Kataria (once), Divya Singh, Shruti Sharma, Aditya Naag, Nikita Kumar/Ray (more than once), Abha Kulkarni (many times), Ananya Nandi De (thrice), Supriya Jain, Surbhi Mehta Chaddha, Shalini Sinha, Jaya Dulani (once each), Kanika Mhendiratta (twice), Harish Chaudhry, Himanshu Manglik, Pradip Acharya, Harish Arora, and my ex-colleague Harsh Halve

Meetings That Changed My Life

 There were some people with whom a bond was created almost instantly, and stayed a long time. 

Alok Srivastava, friend from engineering college. Was responsible for my admission into Clemson, and advising me on negotiating the Ph.D. It helped.

Muthu, colleague at the marketing research company MBA. Remained friends since 1985.

Samrendra Singh, and his wife Annie. We met in 1989 in Greenwood. We met her again in Delhi in 2024. 

T.K. Chatterjee - colleague at IMT Nagpur. We bonded over karaoke, and a drink or two.

Vijayakumar and Dhanapal. Both colleagues from Kirloskar Institute. 1995 onwards..

Students of IMT- too numerous to count.. Sheetal Garg, Shreyashi, Abhinav, Nikita Kumar/Ray, Gowri, Anshita, Ishita, Ishan, Tosha, Abha Kulkarni, Sirisha Adi, Pragya Singh (met her at Pagdandi Pune), Meghna Sinha, Meghana Khadilkar, Ananya Nandi De, Shraddha Nigdikar, Divya Singh, Shafique Gajdhar, Pallavi Bajpai, Swati Jain (met recently and bonded), Kedar Muley, Harshad Lunavat

 

Kirlsokar students- Jogeswari, Padmapriya, Nidhi Kanungo, Nikhil Damle, Savitha, Anushka Mishra, Smita Mohan, Vidya TC, Swapna Gurijala, Aditi Sood, Sunil Kataria, Sharmistha Singh.

Shweta Kushal, Sanjana Rao, Anusha Soni, Akash Gupta, Prachi Jain, Akansh, Pratishtha Batra, Neeti Ingole, Shweta Jha, Vanshika at IIM Indore

My music group buddies and extended family in some cases- Geeta, Indira, Omprakash, Rajan, Sunil Kapoor, Umesh Jadhav, Poonam Bhatia, Rajni and Rimjhim Verma, 

and many more- Frane Bhattacharya, sister of my colleague at XIMB. Yuvaraj, Pavan, Rajesh, Raghavendra, Mahboob and Karibasappa at Harihar.

Ekalavya and a few students of NMIMS Bangalore. Tanmeet, Prerona Baruah, and Alisha Thomas, faculty golfers-

Gifts and People

 

A sip of Mate, a drink popular in Argentina. Came from my friend Veronica, whom I met in Indore only a few months ago. It's a herb which you drink like you do green tea, in a specially crafted cup and a metal straw.

Greatest Gifts. Of course, people -friends, family who care- are the greatest gifts one can have. But has something gifted by somebody touched you? A book, a pen, a scarf? Or a Golf ball-ok, I have some memorable ones, like nice pics, cards, books, assorted sweets, golf balls and more than all these, great company at parties at home or outside- from several friends- among them, Anushka Mishra, Anusha Soni, Shantanu Verma, Nishka Rathi, Kedar Muley, Harshad Lunavat, Pallavi Bajpai, Abhinav Kamal, Padmapriya Janakiraman, Sunil Kataria, Abha Anagha Kulkarni, Tosha Dubey, Sheetal Garg, Meghana Khadilkar, Kanika Mhendiratta, Muthu Kumaran, Divya Singh, Ananya Nandi De, Bibhuti Dash, Veronica Thavonat (a beverage from Argentina, no less), Shatakshi Tripathi, Vandana Kumar, Prachi Jain, Siri Adi, Preeti Ravikiran, Shraddha Nigdikar, Smita Mohan, Jogeswari Peddi, Pratima Gaikwad, Prabhakar Valivati, Smita Singh Dabholkar, and so many more... also, because she complained about not being mentioned, Rimjhim Verma! Got a surprise message from Meenu Mynam too, whom I met a few months ago in Bangalore -she was visiting from the Gulf. That reminds me to to add Vidya TC and Swapna Gurijala who I met twice in Singapore in the last few years-both Kirloskar students of yore.

Perfection

 It doesn't exist. If it did, a lot of things, people etc. would be perfect. And we know they aren't. It's an ideal, that one can strive towards, if one wants to.

Flawed characters and people are a lot more interesting than perfect ones, too. Wouldn't life be monotonous and boring if there was perfection everywhere?

Though consultants in the corporate world might pretend that there are organizations that are near-perfect, it's not true at all. Many once-considered-great organisations showed up their flaws over time. And some have disappeared too. New ones-startups- have their own issues, and have a long way to go before they get their business plans right, let alone other things. The stress has started to show in some within a few years.

It's great to grow, to flourish, and in our case, to enjoy life, without it being perfect. It's tiring to strive for it all the time, and time is in short supply. So do, be, enjoy.. the imperfect life!

Overvaluation and Undervaluation

 Some things we undervalue (my list- you can beat me up if you don't agree)

1. A smile.. or humour, in general. 

2. Children, by imposing our ideas on them

3. A cup of coffee or tea from the neighbourhood cafe/darshini/vendor

4. Beautiful people (not skin) from our immediate connects- friends, cousins, colleagues, other non-celebrities

To complete the piece, we overvalue

1. Speeches, most of which are insincere.

2. Adults

3. Fancy stuff, branded goods of whatever category..

4. Cricketers, film stars, celebs of whatever field (except academia? just kidding!)

I will stop here for now, for fear of being badly beaten up!

Why I Like People

 Could be a lot of reasons. But most of all, these-

They are real. Not fake (beyond the minimal amount needed to survive, I mean).

They can either talk or listen. Both are desirable traits, at different times, with the same people sometimes.

They want to keep in touch, and do.

They are not shy about sharing good or bad news-related to the first quality.

They have extra-curricular interests of some kind.

They are opinionated, in a good way. I am not really into politics or celebrities, but anything else interests me, listening to what people may have to say.. about education, health, poverty, learning techniques or experiments, technology in language I can understand, and entrepreneurial ventures that they have tried.

A world-view of some kind, about the world we live in, is always welcome. 

A Sense of Entitlement

 Sometimes, we see a sense of entitlement among people.

I should get this because I am entitled to, is the message. If you are a customer, you are entitled to a defect-free product, delivered on the promised date, etc. So far, so good, because it's in the contract that companies have.

But I am talking of other situations, where there is an effort required from the person concerned. Most often, it's seen by profs. among some students who think they deserve a certain grade or some marks. If only you could be the Judge AND the Executioner!

But also among employees at certain times. An employer is not bound to give you a promotion, a raise or whatever beyond the usual norm. Sometimes, if the company is facing headwinds, not even that. And the employee of course has a recourse- he can leave. Of course, most employers do not treat an employee so badly, but still, that feeling of entitlement is misplaced. Unless you own the company, or your Mom/Dad does.

Just an observation, nothing serious.

People Who Did Unexpected Things

 Some People Who Did Unexpected Things-

Well, students first. Jogeswari took me through her company, Golftripz, to my first international Golf tournament. No, I didn't win, but it was a fantastic experience.

Padmapriya Janakiraman became a full-fledged heroine. Still is, for me.. she continues to act, actually.

Abhinav Kamal started a digital agency, when most people couldn't spell the D - I wrote a case on that company, and made the most of it. He now directs films..

Surbhi Mehta Chadha and her hubby brought me a bottle of wine in our first meeting in Delhi.. she found out from Vrinda Khanna that I liked red!

Siri Adi picked me up and showed me a Golf course near where she lived, and then we had some coffee brewed by her Dad!

Shraddha Nigdikar cooked for me. So did Pallavi Bajpai, so cool.

Kedar Muley persisted until I met him and a band of IMTans at Thane ..

Pratima Gaikwad treated me to a biryani in my backyard- Hyderabad!

Not entirely unexpected, but Venugopal Reddy (engg. classmate) took me out to Golf in Delhi and Hyderabad!

Smita Dabholkar Singh organised two well-attended book launches of my autobiography at Nagpur and Pune, and Jaya Jha gave us a surprise by attending at Pune- her company published it for me.

Neha Adiga and Anusha Soni dropped in at our place in Pune.

Kiran Kenjale did a lot of things, way back in USA, including showing us Disneyland, and NBC studios..

Shatakshi T. sent me a goodies pack, just like that..

Aditi Gupta and Gary S played Golf with us at IMT.

Rajni Verma got me a moustache for my Dev Anand impersonation at a music group meet we had in Bangalore.

End of First Episode... to be continued.

Finding Your USP

 A Unique Selling Proposition. Known as USP, for short. Popular in marketing, and now everywhere. We all know it helps differentiate a product or service from others. On-time performance has been a USP for some airlines, luxury for others. But the more important question is, how do you find your USP if you are a brand/product/service or even a person?

If you do find it, you may be able to use it in a sales pitch, or demonstrate it consistently for people to identify it with you. Packaging is an easy and tangible way to do it. At least externally, if your product has a packing option. For an institution, it's tough to find one, but worth trying. Perceptions get built anyway, but you can help them along with your branding, AND performance over time. Air Deccan had Simplifly as a slogan, which expressed its desire to bring a flight within a common man's reach. Just like Maruti when launched, was a 'people's car'. 

As far as professors go, you could be known for your teaching methods, skills, knowledge, student-friendly (or the opposite) behaviour. I remember a professor from IIMB because of the exams he gave us- open book. He would give us ten statements, and ask us to agree or disagree with each, supported by references. One of the toughest exams in pre-internet times, when we had to read books/journals in the library for getting those references.

Caselets on People I Know- Part 4

 Shafique Gajdhar

One of the smartest guys I know. He is from Dewas and an IMT Nagpur alum, but I really met him at Bangalore, where he continues, after a stint in Mumbai. Analytical, and used to be an fb regular. Now more on LinkedIn. Formed his own group which discusses Product Marketing.

Savitha

One of the most loyal friends I have had for more than two decades. First batch of KIAMS, at Harihar, along with Nidhi Kanungo and Achint. Her being in Bangalore helped, as we got to meet often.

N Pooja Varun

Unique personality, who has a deep connect with things rural. Runs an Agri Park or two in Karnataka, and is very aware of issues which have to do with farmers and agricultural produce. Was a PES student, and we caught up in Bangalore.

Dash

As the name suggests, he was a dashing IPS officer for all of 30 years or more, after the IIMB degree. Just retired, he specialises in telling tales of his adventures in a blog that he just started. We exchange more tales in person whenever we meet, which we have been doing till now..never too old to Rock..

Caselets on People- Part 3

 Bhuvneet Raheja

She was in one of my early classes (part of a famous trio with Anwesha and Stuti) after I joined IIM Indore. But somehow, we connected when she visited the campus again. And then, Jayasimha and I met her on a visit to Delhi, where I saw the first live demo of Teams- she worked for Microsoft! We haven't met since, but she remains a cheerful example of how a person ought to be! Ever smiling, and a great talker and listener. Would definitely like to meet up with her and her new-found hubby.

Anupriya Pandit

We haven't met of late, but this IMT Nagpur girl was very social - we met in Bangalore, and then at Indore campus too. She visited us-Jayasimha and me. Marketing/branding expert. And from Meerut, where the mutiny against the British rulers started!

Vrinda Khanna

Met her family, and her sister at her place in Delhi, only once. But she was warm and hospitable, and we chatted a long time about various things. Her little sister was also cute, studying in an UG course at the time.

Surbhi Mehta Chaddha

A neighbour of Vrinda in Delhi, she runs her own business. Her hubby is a Hotel Management Grad., and got me a bottle of wine on our first meetup at C.P. Had fun, though we have not been able to meet again.

Sunil Kataria

Yes, great fun too, and we met in Kat(w)aria serai close to IIT DElhi at Essex Farms, along with Sharmishtha Singh, also from KIAMS Harihar, over lunch. Engaging conversationalist, he was pursuing a course from IIMK, in addition to running a consultancy at the time. His wife and kids, I am yet to meet.

Kanika Mhendiratta

Again, only one meeting with her in Dec. 2019, but we bonded well. She is another marketing expert, and worked in Kolkata before moving to Delhi where we met. Mamaearth is where she is now. An IMT alum.

Caselets on People - Part 2

 Shraddha Nigdikar

We met after IMT Nagpur where she studied, and she also turned out to be from Bhopal, adding to the list of pals from the city. (only Lucknow comes next, I guess). And we met a few times, and she also cooked a great dinner for me and her parents who were visiting. Also on a music group on fb with me, she is multi-talented.

Abha Anagha Kulkarni

We met at her wedding in Nagpur first, and I learnt both her parents were scientists. Then, we met in Mumbai a few times, with Tosha, Sirisha, Anuj and with Sheetal Garg. Each meeting was in a unique place, and I have great memories of those, thanks to some photoshoots. One with the Taj Mahal hotel as a backdrop (at Koylaa) and another at Grandmama's cafe in Mumbai turned out great! She also has unique curls. Bangalore hudugi, though we never met there.

Pratima Gaikwad

A fun girl from Satara, who's taken to Hyderabad where she works. We took a tour of Hitech city, with some food- lots of food- thrown in for good measure, including biryanis and baklava. Chatty, and a great host. Mast combination! We first met at IIM Indore- I must have taught her something..but I forget what.

Ishita Modi

We have met off and on, and also missed a meeting due to unavoidable circumstances. She has mixed feelings about Indore, her sasuraal. :) But I have no mixed feelings about her. She's witty, resourceful, and has a cute daughter. And her husband makes poha.. what else can one want in life? I will always vote for this Modi..

Pallavi Sharma (Bajpai)

Also my twin according to facebook, she and hubby invited my wife and me home while she was in Bangalore. Great fun to be with, and a biryani lover. We actually met at Paradise in Bangalore once, and once with Shafique (who's also my twin as per fb) in a meeting of 3 twins (you figure that out!). Also from Bhopal, like many pals.

Anushka Mishra

A bookworm who worms her way into the hearts of people. We met after chatting on facebook a few times, and she was in Bangalore, so we regularly went to bookstores to buy books for each other and ourselves.. currently there's a hiatus, but I am sure she'll resume soon. I might just join once in a way from Indore! Funnily, we did not meet at all at KIAMS, since her batch was long after I had left. She's writing a book, and hopes to complete it soon. 

Bharath Shenoy

My coffee partner from IFIM, we met a couple of times at Church Street (again). He has already published a book of fiction, and a second is on its way. Works in market research, so we have lots to talk about.

People as Case Studies

 Why should organisations have all the fun? We could, I propose, write case studies about humans who have made a difference. One might argue that there are biographies -auto or otherwise- that do this. But it's not the same as writing a dispassionate (relatively) account of someone's life, in my view. Also, like a case study, one could stop and ask a question about some dilemma or decision point in the person's life, and try and learn from it, through some debate.

Humans of.... is a series that does some basic things right. I am suggesting taking it a step further. Any takers/

Celebrating People

 ... And moments spent with people who like you, or those you like, is probably the most precious thing in life on Earth- not sure about Mars yet, not having lived there. 

And why not? From the parents who give you unconditional love, to friends who see you through critical junctures of childhood and teenhood, to all the rest who cross your path- colleagues, or bosses, or unknown benefactors at times, they are all we have. Kids, later in life, if we choose to have them/adopt them.

I think celebrating people is even more important than celebrating a festival. Unless you do this with some of those people, of course. I remember a few Christmas celebrations while living in the U.S. - I had raw Oysters in one of the parties! Diwali from childhood was the best, due to the interest in noisy crackers, which our parents indulged. Now, of course, I like the light better than sound! 

In my case, I like celebrating my students-of all hues, since I started teaching, in 1986 as a Teaching assistant in USA-Clemson University, and through a few Indian institutions. Around 10 of them, maybe more. Also colleagues, of all hues- researchers, accountants, secretaries, and my own teaching assistants. Some trivia- I have had two secretaries by the same name-Archana. 

Labelling Things or People

 You want to sort stuff, like inventory or stock of items - in a store, warehouse, or anywhere else. Therefore you label them, or number them in some manner.

What about people? Tall, short, fat, thin, balding, blonde (a favourite in the US-we don't have that many blondes), standoffish, a show-off are some labels that we use to describe people. If it is by way of a description, accurate and not demeaning (except when warranted), it is an easy way to identify certain traits or attitudes in people. Introvert versus extrovert is a case in point. It is a generalisation, but could be used like shorthand to describe some qualities of a person. 

Labelling is not always a bad thing, like jargon. If both sides in a communication understand jargon, it makes for an easy conversation, or reading of an academic paper, for instance. But if used against unsuspecting recipients not on the same wavelength, education, background etc., it can hinder communication.

Also, adjectives need to survive. Their major use is in describing or labelling.

Successful Branding

 Branding involves Product + Image in case of physical products. Or, Service Experience + Image in case of service brands. The intangible part is mostly in the image, creating which usually takes a long time, and involves word-of-mouth plus imagery created through associations, communication etc. The tangible part can often be copied.

Some Indian brands that have done very well over the years include-

Amul

Asian Paints

Fevicol

D Mart

Flipkart

Coffee Day

Good Knight, Ujala, Krack, Moov

International Brands or Global Brands (people) include- 

Parasuraman of Services Marketing fame, CK Prahalad of BoP (Bottom of the Pyramid) fame, Raghuram Rajan of Chicago, Indra Nooyi of Pepsi, etc. 

Professors can brand themselves by publishing, consulting or writing books, apart from teaching well or uniquely. I can remember some from IIMB and Clemson (Cantrell, McNichols, Stahl) who were unique, after many years.

Students can excel in class, or in extra-curriculars. My suggestion is that you also do something unique, or much better than anyone, like blog, take photos, make films, play online games or create some, write cases or research papers.

A word about image of some politicians- 

Putin, Xi, Kim of North Korea, and the first Prime Minister of Singapore- Lee Kuan Yew. What's the word that comes to your mind when you think about each one? That's called Association, and can be a good test in reverse, as in "What's the brand that comes to mind first when given a word, say a 'crunchy treat?' "

And a word about Brand Value. There are many ways to estimate this, and for listed companies, one formula is Market Cap-Book Value. This measures the contribution of perceptions about the intangible value that can be attributed to the "Brand" that the corporation represents.

Marketing research can show you the health of a brand through Tracking studies done regularly. Unaided recall, Aided recall, loyalty, and perceptions against competing brands are some of the brand-related research studies done by many brands.

Bonus- Adding some Social Media Use Pointers (for better branding) from various sources- Guy Kawasaki is one.

1. Do more rather than less. Many reasons- it's an ocean, you are likely to get lost in it. Of course, this assumes you are sharing sense and not nonsense (from your followers' point of view, before you ask).

2. Be bold, and take positions. This establishes your credibility (assuming you want it).

3. Choose a good picture of yours for the Media, and stick to it for a while. If you don't have a good picture, God help you. Also, be visual, in general.

4. Don't use bad words. Bad words are bad on any medium. Learn to do without them, unless you are a teen trying to be cool. (Everything is pardoned THEN)

5. It's impossible to generate loads of new content regularly. Use curated stuff mixed with original content. Cite the source, where applicable.

6. Provide information, analysis, help or entertainment. They work better than other content, particularly if you are trying to build a large or regular following. How to Videos on Youtube are one example.

Two Types of People

 Trying to classify people is not easy. But this is a practical classification, with no claims to scientific proof. Put simply, those who give you positive vibes, and those who don't. Like the P and N junctions in electronics, if you will. 

Among the positive, there may be further categories- like the Excited Electrons, super-enthusiastic types. They are bubbling with ideas, or enthusiasm, or both. They have banished the word Excuse from their dictionary. They will not say no to anything that comes their way, from God, or from his representative-the boss, I mean. 

Frequently, you find students who are in this category..not a lot of them, but some. A large number are found among the Doctoral students- there must be a correlation, I'm sure. (Ha, ha). But generally, these enthusiastic people carry the organisation forward. The naysayers may have their uses in keeping you from trying stunts that can take you off a cliff and prevent disasters, but they generally sap everyone's enthusiasm. 

I was reading a book recently about a theory of the universe, which said that desire drives everything, and that each element (even the smallest one) in it is autonomous, and makes choices or decisions, rather than one single, all-knowing entity. If you think about it, we do have choices, and we do pick pathways on how to go about each day. And the days turn into months and years, finally taking us where (hopefully) where we wanted to go. So it's up to us to avoid people of a certain type, and spend more time with the positives (excluding the Corona positives, for the time being).

Being Nice to People

I am not sure why people find it so tough to be nice. I mean, it's not rocket science, is it?

I am not talking of situations where as a part of your role, you may have to tick off someone- an errant student, or an errant employee for justifiable reasons..even there, a gentle ticking off is recommended, if you ask me.

I am talking of more general interactions, where you have a choice- to be not nice or be nice.

I find it's nicer to be nice than not nice, because it gives you a good feeling, which lasts for a while. And we are all in it together anyway, and not for much more than 70 years at best..so why not make the most of it?

And most people are actually quite nice, as long as you are not spending 25 years with them..and some, even if you are..

QED. I have probably proposed a new way to live- for some.

Name-changes

If I could change a few names around, what would they be? (I must admit I was inspired by the memes floating around starting with Aaj se tumhara naam hai...whatever).

Lalchand Rajput to Red Moon Rags.

Suneil Shetty to Sunny the Slayer.

Shilpa Shetty to Sculpted Slayer.

SRK to KKKiran Kumar.

Saif Ali Khan to Unsafe Ali Khan (at the box office).

Arnab Goswami to Pompous of Assissi.

Dev Anand to Loose-neck Dave.

Nirav Modi to Steal Diamond.

Donald Trump to Tughlak-e-jahan.

Kim you-know-who to Haircut I-con.

Hrithik Roshan to Jangling Bangles.

Labeling People

Labeling products is helpful, as it tells you what the product is expected to do, or in the case of food products, what it contains.

But reducing a person to a label is not such a great practice. For one, we were not always like the label. We might not be in future, too. For instance, when we were kids, we were not Democrats, Republicans, or Feminists or Liberals, or Bhakts. At best, these are passing phases, based on current impulses and influences. Religion or caste could be a little longer-lasting influence in our case in India, but many people outgrow these too.

Closing the possibilities of what we can be/do, as a result of labelling is also very likely. For instance, calling someone  a nerd or its opposite (duffer? Party animal? Good-for-nothing?) too early in life is a bad idea. People are multi-dimensional, and sometimes don't discover themselves until late in life, maybe due to lack of exposure or opportunity.

Introvert and Extrovert are similarly, not extremes, and we are usually a  combination of both to different degrees. Having an open mind with regard to people may be a good idea, in general.