2023 Year end Musings- 1

 There could be more, so I am calling these Part 1 of the year-end musings, 2023.

An eventful year, personally and professionally. A cold January after long, in Indore (I was spoilt by the Bangalore weather earlier), but warmed up nicely with a trip to Ahmedabad, for an event at NIFT, Gandhinagar, where naturally, I met a few fashionable young women and men, in a class too. Mehak and Dhanali being just two- I think they are also readers of this blog since!

The beautiful students at NIFT (above), and Manjari -my IMT student with another NIFT student, below

And reconnected with Manjari Mundanad, and met her family, cutie pie daughter included. Manjari now teaches at Adani Institute. 

Summer, we spent a bit of it promoting our MBA programs, at CNBC studios and elsewhere. Spent a few days at Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune. 

Met Ananya Nandi De an IMTian with British Telecom now, at her place in NCR. For the first time, though we are connected online. Met and made friends with some IIM Indore doctors-to-be at a couple of outings- a fun bunch to be. Also saw a play , Knives Out, staged by Shweta Kushal, a friend and prof. along with Sohni Roy, a colleague from Prestige. 

Akansh and Prachi visit Prestige University

After the Knives Out play.. with Prachi and Sohni Roy above, and old friend Sanjana (ex-student, IIMI), and Shweta Kushal, prof. who directed the play)

With Sohni, my colleague from P.U., and below, Ananya Nandi De and Rak De in their de-n.

Met Abha in Delhi's Nehru Place.

and Meghana Khadilkar at Pune, for the first time. She's from IMT Nagpur

Some newly minted friends and some old.. all Ph.D. scholars at IIM Indore. A couple have finished their Ph.D. since! 

Summer Versus Winter

People have their preferences for seasons, like they have for Democrats or Republicans. But for me, summer is a clear winner-winter, the loser. I shall give you five good reasons-

1. Summer is pro-poor. You don't need a lot of clothes to protect yourself, and the poor can sleep at night even in the open, if there's no shelter. Trees can help in the daytime.

2. Winter makes you want to curl up in bed. Summer creates animal spirits that spur exploration, entrepreneurship...hiber-nation versus a Hyper nation, you see?

3. Mango is the King of fruits..and it comes out in Summer..the U.S. has no mangoes, in most parts.

4. Have you ever tried swimming in cold sea water? I have, and trust me, it's no fun.. Goa, it's summer-like even in Winter. Any arguments?

 5. And the clincher- you can eat ice cream without fear of catching a cold. Isn't that a great plus?

Marching Along

Left, right, left.. is one way to do it. It is much more humdrum in finance and academia- we reach the financial year-end in finance, and academic year-end in academia.

But it also brings on a season of wonderful memories of the year gone by, of faces you will not see (for some time)- the students graduating, or going on a hiatus for the summer. And of course, the anticipation of a hot summer followed by cool rains in the Indian monsoon. This year, hotting up the summer will also be a General Election to India's Parliament.

I am more of a Governance animal than a political animal, so I am more interested in the WHAT rather than the WHO of governance. I just expect and want the governance to be good, and keep score on that count. A person or a party is the medium who may (or may not) accomplish that, and is therefore secondary to the WHAT. I have, over the years, visited several countries and lived in one (the U.S.), and I feel we have a long way to go in improving governance in almost every sphere. Public transport is one which affects millions in our cities, and must be made world-class. It is nice to see some metros under construction or near completion, and those may solve commuting problems of many.

In my view, all the governments (maybe with one or two exceptions), starting with Narasimha Rao's in 1991, have done a lot to improve things in some sphere or another, and let's hope that continues with the new one to take charge in the coming months. All the best to us, citizens.

Quaint Summer Holidays

In the good old days (post-1960, when I began gracing this planet), there were only trains if you wanted to go long distance. And reservations were difficult to get. But we did travel to many places, as my cousins, aunts and one uncle were spread far and wide, not to mention my mother's aunts and uncles. So it was that we covered Satna, Indore, Jabalpur, Jalgaon, Pune, Nagpur, Delhi (on way to a Kashmir holiday, no less, in 1978). Mostly it was in the summer, as that was the only time we kids had holidays. I don't remember the discomfort one bit, though. We also went to Haridwar and Rishikesh one time, and it was a memorable trip. Usually, our black and white camera rolls captured the pics before 1983, when colour first appeared in them.

 After we moved to Pune, my parents' anniversary. My great-aunt is in this one-we once visited her place near Baramati in a bus+bullock cart!

 One of the typical gatherings of relatives-this was in Patrakaar nagar, Pune.

and this is a recent one at my Nagpur abode, with a cousin and hubby. Nagpur being in the centre of India, you can't avoid it wherever you travel by train.

There were also trunks and hold-alls, because we travelled second class sleeper, and had to carry our own bed rolls in those. Stations on the way held fascination for the unique goodies they sold. I remember buying a basket of Oranges from Nagpur on one trip, and an earthen pot of gulabjamuns from Fatehabad or some such place near Indore or Ujjain. Both yummy.

One summer on my internship, I travelled solo to the end of Assam from Tinsukia, and that was fun too. Doom Dooma and Margherita (I am not kidding) were some place names I remember, where I went in (Bajaj?) Matador shared taxis.

How to Beat the Heat

Not literally beat it, but how to tackle the hot, hot, hot days.  Hot tips-

Drink some buttermilk. Actually, lots of it.

Become a tee-totaller. Make some tea and drink it. Preferably, every hour on the hour. This does two things. It prevents you from going out in the sun, and you also get some fruit for your labour.

Read interesting stuff that takes your mind off the heat. And the heat off your mind. Just finished a Bertha Cool-Donald Lam mystery.

Talk to Alexa, about anything that interests you, and her. It's the digital assistant I am talking about, not a real person. That, you do at your own risk.

Play golf in a cool place. I am going to try it - not just preach. You'll hear more of this, I am sure.

Drink iced tea, kokum sherbet, or solkadhi, or rooh afza, depending on your likes. All good solutions for the summer heat.

Hold your head under a cold shower, or wrap a cold towel around your head, if everything else fails.

Photo Essay- IIM Indore

Bengaluru Summer

I was in Bangalore for the IMT Ghaziabad alumni meet. This is a part of a series of meets across all major cities in India, done once a year as part of our outreach. The IIMs have also recently started this tradition, and it is a great way to keep in touch with alums. We did this at Nagpur with our alumni too.

However, the interesting part of this visit was that Bangalore had a high of 26 degrees or so, while Delhi had a max of 11 and min. around 3 degrees when I left. Not very different, as I can see now.

Anyway, I had three different alumni meets, while there. Met a few of my classmates of IIMB, and talked about our impending Tees Saal Baad in a couple of years. Also, met an alum of PESIT who works for VF Corp, the brand owners of a few well-known garment brands-Lee, Wrangler among them. She has kept in touch through these years, and it was great meeting again.

All in all, a nice summer outing out of freezing Delhi.