Touching Lives- Mine

 From the nuns in primary school, and classmates in school, teachers in high school, professors and classmates during college and IIM Bangalore, and at Clemson University where I went or a Ph.D., it's a long list. But it does not stop there.

Many friends made in later years- or re-friended due to common interests- also touched my life. Golfer friends Vikram Venkateswaran, Dhanapal, Vijayakumar, and Venugopal Reddy are some.

But apart from colleagues who became friends- Bhagyalakshmi is one, Shweta Kushal and Jayasimha, B.K. Mohanty, Tanmeet, Preeti are some - there's also another category that I am privileged to have. My ex-students. 

Alumni of various B schools I have been in have touched my life in many ways. Some, I have been in touch with for a decade or more now. They bring a new perspective to everything we discuss when we meet. Gowri, Anshita Chetty, Ishita, Vanshika, Prachi, Pratishtha, Swati Jain, Sheetal Garg, Nidhi Kanungo, Nishka Kumar, Abha Kulkarni, Nikita Ray, Vrinda Khanna, Bharath Shenoy, Sirisha Adi, Pallavi Bajpai and Shafique Gajdhar (both my twins as per FB!), Anusha Soni, Anushka Mishra, Meghna Sinha, Meghana Khadilkar, Pavan Tarawade, Akshat Surana, Pradyumna Mohanty, Aishwarya Omprakash, Aishwarya Iyer, Anchal, Shuchi Bhatnagar, Pooja Shukla (we haven't even met), Laura Shah, Swati Sinha, Sampark Sachdeva, Vaishali Bathla, Divyaa Sharma, Dheeraj Mohan, Vidya TC, Smita Mohan, Sanjana Rao, Harshad Lunavat, Garima Shah, Abhinav Kamal, Tanaya Kar Chaturvedi, Tosha Dubey, Bhuvneet Raheja, Sharanya, are some who fall in this category. 

Annie and Samrendra Singh, the Soni family, Leslie, Ron and Carmon Green, were good friends during our stay in the US. Kiran Ken Jolly and Neena too, apart from relatives- Jayashree and Sheelu among them.

Meeting Archana

 Ok, this was a blast from the past-yet again. And what a pleasant one. We knew each other during school/college days, and it seems, have a lot in common besides. For instance, she also has a Master's and a Ph.D. in management. And has taught HR and Strategy at Christ, Bangalore, after a corporate stint in Ashok Leyland. 

She also lived in Pune, earlier when she worked at Tata Motors. And she plays Bridge, which was a favourite card game of mine, growing up. Her younger sister and mine were hostelmates, and so on... also discovered that her other sister is married to an IIMB alumnus. 

Reminiscing about our golden times and the present (golden years!), We chatted for a couple of hours, and hope to meet more often in future. A pic-

Legends of Teaching

 I am referring to teaching legends here. There have been quite a few in my student career. Also a few I have seen among colleagues at XIM, IMT, KIAMS, and the IIMs. Usually they have a great connect with students, are empathetic but also tough in grading them.

SK Roy was one phenomenal O.B. teacher. Made a great combination with Gopal Valecha, who was very different, but complemented Prof. Roy very well. I learnt about human behaviour from these two in their courses, and later from observation and applying what they had taught.

JD Singh was simply the best intro to marketing (or Makting, as he called it!) that one could wish for. His gestures, pauses, questions (Is that the only cause?, being his favourite).

Thiru was in a class of his own, and another great teacher with no Ph.D. after his name. Just goes to prove that teaching is an art that can be developed by anyone- non-doctors included. His handling of cases, and interspersing Indian lingo- Hindi, Tamil, etc. was creative! 

Back in school, it was English Literature that was my favourite. (Now, it would probably be history or Geography). And Anjaneya Sastry did create great interest in the Romantic Poets (the birth of the romantic in me!) and Shakespeare. Friends, Romans, Countrymen, I rest my case. It takes great teachers to create interest in a subject.

USPs of My Friends

 I had started this series sometime ago.. here are a few more with USPs that I noticed.

First, I will start with Students. 

At NMIMS, Muskaan- Agarwal, I guess. Nice smile. And good with the camera too. Divya Anand, for her fashion sense (an NIFT grad, after all), Ekalavya, the placement chief, for his dedication, like his namesake. Trishla Gupta, for her LinkedIn presence which is unique. The Gandhis, Kinjal and Tanya, for their names. Some BBA kids too, for winning an Entrepreneurship Award - led by Muskaan Behl.

Alumni, other B schools- Shatakshi.. non-confused, though she calls her Digital marketing firm Confused Genius. Meghna Sinha, paints a wide canvas. Prachi Jain, a one-time golfer who is a friend forever- a good actor too-I saw her live! Anusha Soni, a pal from Bhopal, Shuchi Bhatnagar too, and Pooja Shukla. Animesh Jain too. And Pallavi Sharma. Being Bhopali is a USP, because they are nice people, without exception. Anuja Anand, a poet and writer.

Tanaya Kar Chaturvedi- lively as hell! Harish Chaudhary- directions dene mein ustad- no wonder he directed us in a play at IIMB. Shweta Kushal- a kushal director and drinks partner! Bhagyalakshmi- an expert and a co-author in Branding books. Siddhanta Patnaik (no more), his interest in sports and life.

Abha Kulkarni.. it's not only the hairstyle, but style too. Sheetal Garg- one of the friendliest souls ever on my friend-list. Anshita and Tosha Dubey- great organisers of my get-togethers. That's a skill I like! Shruti and Aditya, gracious hosts. Vrinda Khanna, likewise. Savitha, loyal friend and first re-connect at Bangalore. Ishita Modi, for chai pe charcha- no, I am getting confused. Her wit! Pooja Varun, her farmer connect. Bharath Shenoy, coffee pe charcha, market research. Divya Sharmaa, TV star. Murli Mohan K, dancer of Kathak. Meghna Sinha, one of the first partners in a Mutual Admiration Society.

Vidisha, Rewa...place names. 

For nice pics with me, Siri Adi, Anuj Mathew, Meenu Mynam (her pic below), Aishwarya Iyer, Bharath Shenoy, Sapna Patni, Anam Nuhi, Harshad Sachani, Vaishali Bathla, Shruti, Aditya, Nikita, Vandana Kumar (one from the 90s too, at Tank Bund in Hyderabad), Sreelekha, entire placement team, at NMIMS. The P.R. team from last year also. Lokesh and Muskaan of Knowesis. Gowri and Shafique (IMT), recently. Rajiv Krishnan, from my school days.

Meenu Mynam, me and Harsh Halve at an alum meet of IMT Nagpur.

Below- the P.R. team of NMIMS Bangalore that includes Divya, and her seniors too. 

Nishka Rathi, for her love of books, and a unique profession- ghostwriting! Digital entrepreneurs, Abhinav Kamal (also a film-maker), Divya Singh, and Shatakshi. Anushka Mishra, for being a bookworm and seeking me out to be a friend offline. I am glad for it. Jogeswari, for starring in my Video case on Golftripz. Madhav Misra too.

Profs. - Narayani, Shahida from different institutes, for boundless energy, and never-say-die attitude.

T.K. Chatterjee, for his abilities at selling anything (I am sold), and passion for singing- I initiated him into karaoke! Gadgil, for his accent-American, of course. S.P. Kumar, for his enthu at 75+. Prabhakar (not a prof.), for his piano-playing  and wit. Rajan of India, aka ROI- coining names for profs. Thomas, likewise for various people and organisations around us. B.K. Mohanty, for fuzzy logic research. Smita Dabholkar, for her enthusiasm and energy. 

Garima Shah and Aditi Gupta for being women golfers (Anusha and Prachi too, later) at IMT, before I heard of Aditi Ashok, the Olympian.

Non-teaching. At KIAMS- Pavan, a party animal from Coorg. Rajesh Dixit from KIAMS, a nice guy. Vinod Jadhav, helpful always. 

How Times Have Changed

For the better, I mean.  In my student days, we generally maintained (a safe) distance between ourselves and our teachers..most of the time. I don't remember teachers who were very friendly, either, with one or two exceptions. After my MBA, though, I found Dr. JD Singh who taught us just one course at IIMB, and he was great fun to be with, whenever we met..he went out of his way to meet us whenever any of us visited Delhi. He was the founding Director and Director General of the Jaipuria Institute, NOIDA. After a long stint at IMI, where also I had met him. When I left Ghaziabad/Delhi, I met him last, just before I went to IIM Indore. He was his jolly self, full of beans and humour!

I find my own students a lot more open than I was, to meet and spend time with. I have enjoyed meeting them whenever possible, at a restaurant or at their home or mine. Some, like Tosha Dubey, planned multiple meetings for me and reintroduced me to her IMT mates. Anshita also managed to draw a big crowd of friends when we met last -in Bangalore! Good managers, I'd say! Of course, in ones and twos I have met at least 30-40 students in just the last few years. Some groups in alumni meets too. The pandemic has made it more difficult, but still I met a couple of them one on one, though less often.

I enjoy online banter with quite a few. Great fun to share stories of yesteryears, and of the present, and their future plans..I feel twenty years younger when I am with them. Just had a long phone call with Nishka, a student of Batch 4, from KIAMS, Harihar! She's a (ghost) writer of repute.

Fond Recollections of Days Gone By

I thought I was old, because I keep remembering the good old days. But I am convinced now that I am young, because I have now listened to many individuals who are young... and still remember their good old days. Not once or twice, but multiple times, at various places across India (sometimes with visitors living elsewhere too). The nostalgia is about friends, roomies, hostel food (even bad food), non-hostel food, events inside class and outside of it (from old students, as you may have guessed). And guess what, it is a magical feeling. Happy to be a part of such conversations, now across many of my former students from IIMI, IMT, PES, IFIM, and KIAMS. Golden oldies and Golden youngies are both nostalgic, and happy about it!

The strongest memories are of playing hookey, and being scolded for it, surprisingly! No, I am not leading up to anything, simply reporting on observations.. :)

IIM Lucknow Days Remembered

 Two of my colleagues from Lucknow days- Prof. KN Singh and Sengar. It was great remembering my days at Lucknow (2001-2003), and finding that many ex-colleagues are now heading IIMs. Also met Srinivasan, who is now a prof. at IIM Bangalore, and Sushil Kumar, who is still at Lucknow and hails from the hottest place on earth (!)- Chandrapur, according to the stats published a couple of days ago.

 Met them at Ranchi, where another colleague, Dr. Shailendra Singh is director of the IIM.
The pics are from Kanke Dam/Lake in Ranchi. Incidentally, my first trip to the city.
I also ran into Prof. Venugopal of XLRI, who had come to our NASMEI conference at IIM Indore in 2017, and is expected again in July this year.

I have written about my Lucknow days in my autobiography, so I won't go into them here.

Munnabhai, MBA

Story: Munnabhai, after his usual stunts, gets admission into IIMB, circa 1982. During his stay, his friend and confidante Gurumurthy is always by his side. Munna and Guru are sitting at Uncle’s, the campus adda, sipping chai and feasting on bondas. Read on (in Hindi)....

Munnabhai: Apun ka to jaan nikal gaya baap.

Gurmurthy:  Kyon, kya hua, Munnabhai?

Munna: Are who saala JD kya tagda sawaal poocha apne quiz me. Kuch samajh mein nahin aa raha tha kya likhneka. Differentiate between handling the product and fondling the product? Hudh ho gayi yaar!

Guru: Phir... tumne kya likha?

Munna: Are main kya khaak likhta? Woh sala Jockey apne paas baitha thaa na, uska answer ‘toap’ diya saala.

Guru: Lekin usko to zero mila tha pichle quiz me…VK se ‘topne’ ka thaa na? Kamse kam pass to ho jaate?

Munna: Are chhod yaar, apne ko Harvard thode hi jaana hai, bus ek chhote se multinational company mein Supply Chain Management ka dhanda kar lenge yaar.

Guru: Kya matlab?

Munna: Wohi purana dhanda- ghaas bechne ka – uskoich yeh log naya naam diya…Supply Chain Management. Guru…aur ek baat bol na?

Guru: Kya Munnabhai?

Munna: Yeh Jaggu hai na, apun ko Underworld se aaya lagta hai.

Guru: Kyon Bhai?

Munna: Are uske Effective Communication course mein saala raat ke baarah baje aur subah saat baje ka Deadline hota hai assignment submit karne ke vaaste. Tu kabhi Underworld ko chhod ke suna kya aisa baat kabhi?

Guru: Haan, sahi baat hai bhai…

Munna: Guru , ek baat bataa …tu Diwali Night mein paida hua thaa kya re?

Guru: Kyon?

Munna: Are kya naaam hai woh…SK ROY apne class mein kuch anaab shanaab bol raha tha Diwali night ke baare mein…bilkul filum ka story lag raha thaa. Aur woh Valecha aisa kaala chashma lagaata hai…Daku lagta hai saala.. maar daalega apun ko.

Guru: Are nahin, Munnabhai, who to bahut sweet kism ka professor hai. Sabko A Grade deta hai…..

Munna: Guru, ek baat bata..yahan ka Student log yahan ka Teacher log se bhi zyaada kyon baat karta hai re?

Guru: Isko case method bolte hain Bhai…yeh musibat Harvard se Ahmedabad aur wahan se yahan tak aa pahunchi hai.

Munna: Achha, aisa bolta kya? Lekin woh Adavi phir bhi bahut bolta hai…sawaal bahut poochta hai saala. Magar ek cheez idhar bahut achha laga apun ko…

Guru: Woh kya, Munna?

Munna: Yahan ka chhokri log….bahut ghul mil ke rehta hai chhokron ke saath. Bindhaast hai saala..raat bhar apna kamra chhod ke G Block mein ghoomta rahta hai..

Guru: Assignments karte honge na bhai…

Munna: Haan yaar, apun ka bhi chakkar chal raha hai ek chhokri ke saath..woh apna sab notes apun ko deke gayi kya...

Guru: Kaun hai woh, munna?

Munna: Kisiko bolega to nahin..uski aankhon mein nasha hai...

Guru: Nahin bolega……..kaun hai woh?

Munna: Yaar, naam to pataa nahin...magar kya mast cheekhti hai yaar..ekdum fit rahegi Underworld ko control mein rakhne ke vaaste...

THE END

Some Colleagues from IIMB, IIML

We had a whole year-book dedicated to the IIMB batch, and I co-edited. But this is just a recounting of some that have been in touch regularly, and not an exhaustive one either-coz that would be exhausting!

Prabhakar- our interest in humour (Oscar Wilde, Wodehouse) brought us together after our PGDM/MBA, and our interest in spirited discussions to solve world problems over spirits like Single Malts have kept us fine-tuned. We HAD solved about 90% of the world problems, last time I checked. Remaining are piffling ones we'll leave to Modi and Trump.

Venky/Baddy. We reunited on a Badminton court and won a doubles match against opponents half our age on an IIMB court recently. He is the strong, silent type and I am neither, but it's great fun when we meet.

Parthos/Gopal Mahapatra. I went to work at XIMB because he was there, but he gave me the slip. No matter, I chased him down, and we are still good friends. He is the etrnal do-gooder, and just too good at it.

BK Mohanty. Not from the IIMB bunch.I have yet to see a prof like him. He teaches fuzzy logic, so that might explain it. A great friend, through thick and thin. Specialises in applying for jobs he doesn't want!

Harish Chaudhary. He is also an unlikely prof if there was one, but IITD students think he's great, and who am I to complain? His Muzaffarnagar jokes are the best.

Dash. The aforementioned co-editor of our year-book at IIMB. Was influenced by James Bond and turned a cop later. Continues to oversee the annihilation of various crimes and prevents many more. Has yet to achieve his other ambition-that of singing.

Snail. Known for his virtual dalliances (I mean with computers), he initiated us into our first e-group-it's still there, and alive in spite of WhatsApp.

Shanks. We played Golf in Chennai at times, with Bishop, another batchmate, and Paddy, a third. Used to be the talkative guy in G block back at IIMB, and on the net, but has since turned contemplative.

Sardie. We regularly met at his house in Goa for an exquisite dinner thanks to his wife, and one of my big moments was when his daughter, all of 19 at the time, announced she was a fan of my autobiography. I was thrilled no end!

To be continued. Another installment about the IMT colleagues and others will follow... 

Takia Kalaam

I think it is known as a takia kalaam in Urdu..something that is repeated in dialogue or verse. Many of us have a tendency to use a word or phrase very often when we speak. Teachers are particularly susceptible, but not the only culprits. Some of these phrases are-

You know, whatever, Getting it? (this was used by our bio teacher in school), You know what I mean, Am I right? (used by a friend) and similar ones.

One that students in the north (or from the north) use a lot is Matlab (not the software). This is used anywhere, at the beginning, end or at a pause in a sentence.

Students are usually quick at picking up these along with traits or mannerisms peculiar to people, and farewell parties at many B schools are filled with fun imitations of profs. We had one who said Makting instead of Marketing, and we still use this among friends. Some of us had actually adapted a song with various profs and courses figuring in it.

We also have regional accents that are tickle-inducing. One I remember is someone asking Bos gaya kya, meaning bus gaya kya (Oriya version), and getting an answer that Boss had gone (Mallu version from the guy answering). Well, well..