Goa

Me and Sujit (IIMB classmate) at Colva, 1983. I had gone with Subodh, a childhood buddy, who clicked this.

 I have been to Goa a dozen times, at least. Maybe more. At IMT Nagpur, we hosted a Case Conference and the location was Goa. I also drove from Harihar to Colva beach three years in a row, for a Diwali vacation. The drive along the Hubli-Karwar route was fantastic.

I have also been there on invitation by Goa University or GIM a couple of times. The latest was a conference at BITS Goa. January or February 2019, I believe it was.

Also drove with family through Gokarna, to Palolem one December. 

All these were memorable trips. Once, we drove all the way up from Mangalore, stopping at Turtle Bay beach, and on to Colva though a picturesque part of Karnataka- Honnavar, Padukone, Kundapur are some spots we drove through.

But my first visit was with Subodh Bhide in 1983. Remember a bar called Ding Dong in Panaji from there, and meeting Sujit in Colva for a beer (pic above).

More recently, Bogmalo beach.

Orissa

 My memories of Orissa start from 1988, when I first visited Bhubaneswar and Konarak as a part of a honeymoon trip. Then came my first stint as a prof. in XIM in 1991, just after returning from the U.S. I did not stay long, but made friends for life. Some I still meet or interact with -both students and faculty colleagues. 

The most recent visit was in late 2019/early 2020 when I went for a conference, conducted at Mayfair Hotel, a sprawling, and luxurious property with staircases like we used to see in old Hindi films. Also met Gopal, who was my colleague at XIM (and IMT), now at IIM Trichy. In between, in 2011, I was there the day India won the cricket world cup. 

These are from 1988..

Recent visit..salesgirls at Tribes India, and Gopal, ex-colleague at XIMB

The staircase.. and Rohit, IIM Indore student I ran into

This is from Mayfair hotel...

of the staircase fame.

Karnataka - Part 1

Some of my earliest memories are of this place, IIM Bangalore, where a lot of me was shaped. From 1982-84. At a fledgling campus, and some of my best classmates anywhere. 

Outside my room. G-10. With Dazy, Sardie, Senior (Nandax)

An outing at VGP Golden beach, I think this was.

Deepika and Rose, the dilliwalis. 

View from my room, and a great shot I shot 

 This will continue, coz I spent lots of years in Karnataka.

Tamilnadu

 I am starting on a tour of Indian states. At various times, I have been to Tamilnadu, starting with Chennai when I was a teen or younger. In 1978, we went on a South India tour by train-a whole bogie to us students- and had Chennai, Erode, Rameswaram, Kanyakumari on our itinerary. The Rameswaram temple, and the bridge leading to the town are two things I remember. Also, the first sight of the Indian Ocean.

Last I went to Chennai, we visited the Kanchipuram temples, and Pulicat lake about an hour's drive from Chennai. Enjoyed both, for different reasons. A boatman took us on a short ride to where the lake meets the sea. We (Vijayakumar, Jayasimha and I) had fun roaming around and collecting sea shells. I still have a few.

In between, we drove around a few times, via Trichy, to Kodaikanal, and from Coimbatore to Ooty, Kotagiri or Coonoor. Sometimes, it was was to play Golf, and at others, just to visit friends or for sightseeing

. I once went to Tirunelveli (a university had invited me) and had the famous halwa there, and also visited Coutrallam waterfall. 

From Chennai, we visited Mahabalipuram a few times too, and Pondicherry once (from Bangalore, and then by flight, from Hyderabad another time). Nice experiences. I like the thali they serve everywhere in the state, and the filter coffee too. 

One strange thing I remember from Chennai in 1978..there were not many women venturing out on the road during the day!

Timing and Technology

 Why is it that Zoom became the big new thing (Cisco and videoconferencing had been around for ages)? Or Netflix? Or before them, Facebook, Or Google Search, Yahoomail? In India, Rediff.com and mail?

There is this matter of correct timing. Technology is usually available somewhere, but the timing has to be right. One day, there will be electric cars everywhere, though today they are not.

You may call it luck, but evolution, word of mouth and circumstances like COVID may push everything by a few years. Like Work From Home. I heard about this concept from IT companies around 25 years ago, but it happened only last year on a large scale, and may stay on in some industries at least.

Will humans be replaced by robots? Could be if the time is right! I might buy a few in the meantime, to massage my aching feet or do my laundry. 

How Vocabulary Develops

 Right now, we all know what Remdesivir (or Dexamethasone) is, or what devices are used to measure Oxygen levels, or supply Oxygen to patients. Or have learnt that antibodies are good for us-they are not against our body. In other words, a lot of words about health or medicine.

In 2004, we were at IIM Bangalore for our batch (84) get-together, when I first heard the word Tsunami. It had started in Indonesia, and spread till India, causing huge damage. 

What I am trying to get at, is we get familiar with words that we need, more than others. If you are a writer, you may need a lot of words of all kinds. But for an average Joe (or Jane), we probably need a couple of hundred words for everyday use, and 2000 for non-everyday use. If you don't use it, you may lose it..the word!

But I do look up word meanings from Google (it has replaced maps, dictionaries, thesauruses among other things), and not just English words/phrases. It helps to make sure what I am saying is intelligible to most. I write a blog, you see, I have to be careful..

Some Good News on COVID

 After a year of gloom and doom, no travel, online classes and shortages of medical support, heard something good, coming out of India.

Zydus Cadila, an Indian pharma company claims it will have another indigenous vaccine soon, if it clears emergency use approval after current trials. Another is a treatment for the Corona virus developed by DRDO that has been approved, to the best of my knowledge.

The cure, if it can be scaled and distributed, will have far-reaching effects. So will the vaccine, as it is fully indigenous if I understood correctly.

Both may bring much-needed relief to the many suffering, not just the patients but also their friends and family.

Meanwhile, conspiracy theories have not subsided on whether it is an engineered virus. Tough to prove either way, but we must improve both our diagnostic skills to prove it, and our intelligence to stop attempts to manufacture some, if someone is doing so.