Games People Play

 What are the games I have played? Well, I was in the cricket team at my school, Hyderabad Public School. I also swam in a relay race once in Osmania University College of Engineering.

I have also tried Hockey, Volleyball, Basketball and Tennis, apart from Tennis.  We played a lot of Bridge when I was growing up. And a lot of Badminton. 

Now, I play Golf when I get a partner to play with. The last time was at Kodaikanal with Vijayakumar and Dhanapal. I also like to train unsuspecting people- students, faculty, friends, relatives- in the basics of Golf. Sohni Roy, a colleague in Prestige University, and some faculty at NMIMS Bangalore (Tanmeet, Alisha, Prerona) were my victims, along with lots of students, and some alumni. Also my international friend, Veronica, who visited Prestige Indore to teach a course, along with Snehal Singh, visiting faculty. And Natasha, a visiting friend.

Sohni Roy above, and Snehal Singh, top.

My brother in the U.S. learnt and then taught Hapkido, a Korean martial art. We all were inspired by Bruce Lee and Kung Fu at one time! I have also watched live some Kalaripayattu performances in Kerala when I worked at IIM Kozhikode. And American Football at Clemson University while studying there. 

We invented the game of Frisbee Footer- where you pass a Frisbee and score goals- at IIMB out of necessity, because we had no facilities yet for any other games. And had a Frisbee!

 

Faculty Colleagues

 Recent ones include ones I recruited, at Prestige University. Juhee, Riyaz, Bharat, Jyoti Dua and Asmita Mahapatra.

And some lady golfers from NMIMS Bangalore- Tanmeet, Alisha Thomas, Prerona Baruah, Preeti Ravikiran. Briefly, Diti Goswami too. 

Shahida and Manasa from PESIT Mgt. dept. were very dynamic. Manoharan and S.P. Kumar are still in touch.

Kirloskar Institute- Harihar had Dhanapal and Vijayakumar. We still play Golf together. (Note- lost Dhanapal in May 2025)

B.K. Mohanty and Banikanta Mishra at XIMB. 

IIM K, SSS Kumar, Neeraj Dwivedi and Keyoor Purani. Jeyavelu too.

IIM Indore, Shweta Kushal and Jayasimha. And marketing colleague Abhishek, IT colleague Rajhans. 

Thomas from VJIM. Dayakara Rao too.

Visiting faculty Nitin Sinha, Veronica Thavonat, Snehal Singh and Sayantan at Prestige.

Time to Say Goodbye

 As usual, the feelings are mixed. This time, it's not a new job I am leaving for, but a transition of a kind. But stepping down from a full-time role for now. Heading Prestige University as a founding VC has been an adventure, with multiple challenges. The location, Indore, is not top-of-the-mind for outsiders looking for a good education.

Faculty are always a challenge, whether you are at an IIM or any other B school (we started with a management dept.), and the fight for good faculty will continue. Infrastructure, luckily, wasn't a big challenge, as we have an award-winning building (for its architecture, by Sanjay Puri and co.) which is almost done. Only the student and faculty housing remain. 

Marketing, someone has said, has to be the mainstay of any business. So we tried participating in student admission fairs at various locations, doing a lot of digital marketing and branding through participating in invited events, and sometimes as guest faculty at other institutes too. All this, along with student activities through Clubs and committees, will pay off. A great placement team also helped.

Our industry connect through guest and visiting faculty has been exemplary, thanks to many of our contacts giving us generously of their time. Past students, classmates and others have helped us tremendously.

Here's hoping for a great future for the students, faculty and staff of Prestige University.

Prestige University

 Completing 2 years at Prestige University, so a throwback is in order.. 

Top of the world. With Parth and Maria Gokhale.

Jayanta, Ilika, Nandini and Roshni..

Savitha visits for OB..and below, Anet shows her dancing skills.

Lunch outing with Riyaz, Juhee, Divya, Ayushi, Snehal.

Pratima visits from Hyderabad..

Students.. 2nd batch and first.. 

Mr. Vikram Gulia, chief guest, inauguration of Batch 2

Gurgaon mein chat and chaat. Bhavna, Silky, Dheeraj.

Women Golfers. Ayushi and Snehal.

Natasha Kothari guest lecture.. and a group assignment (below)

Promotional tour..

Veronica Thavonat.. my only Argentinian friend, golfing and with Prashanth Bharadwaj

Lunch at Charpai with Vedika Palod, Aditi Jain, and others

Silky above, and Sajal Mukherjee, Deloitte USA, below..

Golfers- students, and faculty- Juhee below.

Visiting students.. and we visit minister Temjen Imna Along in Kohima.

A lake on way to Shillong.

Inaguration batch 1.. with Aravind and Chandrakant

Gwalior.. Case Workshop.

Prachi Jain and Akansh Khandelwal of IIMI visit.

CNBC Studio, Worli

Faculty joining, with Amandeep, HR.

CNBC studio, there and before.

Ayushi's first day.. 

Amrita, Ashima and Tarika.. Spice Girls of Prestige.

Pratishtha Batra, Neeti Ingole and Sohni Roy .. at a staging of Knives Out.

Visiting IIMI with Sohni Roy.

A range in Indore? A female Tiger too?

Independence Day 2024

 We at Prestige University had some fun times while celebrating the 78th birthday of India as we know it.

The students planned and executed the program quite well. A variety of events included shayari, a song appropriate for the occasion- Kar chale, hum fida jaanon tan saathiyon.. , and a dance, a skit and some poetry reading.

Pics from the event and after!

Our lovely hosts for the show.

A debate, on the reality of the Demographic Dividend.

The Mad Hatter Anet, in my office post the event. The hat was the prize they all got for the show. She was the rep.