These are not the cop kind of encounters, but friendly ones. Sometimes they take you by surprise, as it happened to me in Jayanagar last month- I ran into an ex-student from 2010! But this one was a planned meet at a restaurant near Lalbagh, to meet friends, one of whom was visiting from Hyderabad. And so we met. Pics-
There were lots of them in Bollywood. I will begin with Dharmendra. He was also well-built, and carried himself well. But he was very handsome, most will agree.
Dev Anand was a typical romantic hero, his speciality being charming the pants off (not literally-just a term) anyone. Was very good till the seventies at whatever he did.
Shashi Kapoor was handsome in a suave and polished way, and acted in some Hollywood movies as well, apart from the stage.
Rishi Kapoor was probably the second guy I would choose from the clan. He made so many rom-coms in his twenties or thirties, many successful.
Sanjay Khan was very handsome, though he had very few memorable films. He later turned producer and also made The Sword of Tipu Sultan for TV.
Among non-heroes, I thought Pran and Ajit were quite good-looking, and if they were not playing villains, could pass off for heroes.
I am new to virtual games, though I know they exist. I never got interested, even though I discovered Golf and Bridge and lots of other games at various points. I always liked the real thing. But one thing led to another, and I ended up playing an online game with friends from MBA. Some of them are abroad-mainly in the U.S., and others are right here, in Bangalore.
Apart from the game itself, a mix of Clue and What's The Good Word that I played earlier in the form of Board games, or a team game in person, there was a lot of banter and catching up, and pulling of legs. A friend who's in Dallas showed me his backyard and it had lots of snow left from a recent storm that blanketed Texas, very unusually.
All in all, an interesting game experience that went on for about 3 hours. Not a bad way to spend a wet Saturday evening- it had poured earlier yesterday in Bangalore.
Our students pull off interesting things even in these times of the Corona Pandemic. One such event was an online HR Symposium, organised by Hriday, the HR Club of NMIMS Bangalore. We did manage to rope in interesting panelists for answering questions. Coming from three very different industries.
It's not easy to manage when everyone is in a different place physically, including the speakers. Went off quite well, and the answers pertaining to various aspects of Human Resource management were insightful. The enthusiasm of the students was infectious, and some speakers stayed beyond their committed time, sportingly.
Rhea was very good as the Moderator, and handled the tough job of asking questions, and rotating them among the panelists with aplomb. Great job! Of course, there was a team at the back end as well. Some pics from the online event-
I am half-serious, as always. Some careers that I have heard of- or maybe not.
Ghost-writing. You don't have to be a ghost to do this, though you can continue to inspire the living when you reach ghosthood.
Coaching. Not teaching people to bat, bowl, or field, but how to conduct their life- as a conductor!
TV Debater. There are only 10 people appearing in TV debates on all Indian TV channels put together. This looks like an easy career, if you have strong vocal chords...strikes a chord?
Tele-caller. If you can start selling anything, from undergarments to credit cards to a stranger in under 10 seconds, this one is for you. Numbers to call are provided.
Management Guru. This is a tough one, because half of the U.S. is your competitor. Every Tom, Dick, and Mary has written a book too, so you are way behind. But still, you could give it a shot.
Ok, you only get this much for free. For more careers, contact my bank..
There was this confusion with a Big Basket delivery at my housing colony gate. Someone from the same apartment number of another block had ordered something, and I was called by the Gate - simple mixup. When I got there, I collected the stuff, thinking that someone had ordered it and forgotten to tell me- my daughters do that, at times. It looked like a strange collection of things, rare for my taste.
Luckily, the right person, a young lady, turned up at the same time, and the confusion got cleared. We had similar sounding apartment block names (first letters of these), and the same number for the apartments. I was happy to offload stuff that I didn't recognise, and got to know from her that one was Asparagus. I heaved a sigh of relief, and thanked her for turning up on time to claim what was rightfully hers.
The only reason you can't do this every day is because it may need some preparation, or work. But periodically in life, it might be doable-if you think it's desirable. For example, careers can change- from small to large changes of direction. You can learn a new skill, a new musical instrument, or a sport, like I learnt Golf, to add to Badminton or Cricket that I played earlier.
Why do it? It makes life interesting, for one. If you learn a new software as an academic, it may help you to get published, and that counts. If you learn how to write Cases, again, it can help you teach better in a class. You can use these cases too. Sometimes, you can also publish these.
Reinventing yourself may mean a change in direction, or a change of pace. Or just redefining your priorities, and doing more of something, and less of other things. Working of your health or fitness, maybe, as some of my friends seem to be doing. You don't have to go to the Himalayas to become a hermit, you can do lots of interesting things in the plains.
Try it, if you think it's worthwhile. Life becomes more interesting, so you have nothing to lose.
My wife and I visited a friend at IIM Kashipur. Neeraj Dwivedi was my colleague at IIM Kozhikode, in the 2003-05 period, and we were togeth...
