This time, it was a colleague of my wife's, and her husband. They had taught in a school in Bangalore, many years ago. He worked at Bosch, and is retired. We went to their place for a delhicious lunch! It was actually in Gurgaon, but that's almost Delhi. We escaped from Delhi before the pollution levels hit the record levels that it is famous for.
There were a few good friends we had at Greenwood, South Carolina, USA. Annie and Samrendra Singh were a couple we grew fond of in the two years we spent there. Samren was a colleague at Lander College where I taught, though in a different department. We hung around with them and sons Eric and AJ quite a bit, enjoying a few drinks and the company.
We left in 1991, to return to India. Since then, Samren passed away a year ago or so, and the kids were grown up. It was thus great to see both Annie Singh and AJ at Delhi last week. Just like we had met yesterday! Here are some pics!
The last one is of our Greenwood days, with AJ being on the couch with his dad!
A few years ago, I had an attack of Gout- used to be known as a Rich Man's disease at one time. Rich food with no exercise caused it, I assume. Anyway, I looked it up, and treated it for temporary relief. It lasts 3-4 days an is painful in the toes and makes it tough to walk.
The few things to do, included eating more nuts. I tried this, and worked well.. the humble peanut is good, so is akhrod. So I set about consciously eating peanuts. Easy to do if you also have a drink ..
And also, drink a lot of water and eat citrus fruits. And avoid seafood, in my case.
I found a brand of salted peanuts at Indore, and became a loyal consumer. It was a local brand, just like another local brand I found in Bangalore's J.P. Nagar earlier. Found these better than Haldiram's, and fresher too.
The point is, I am nuts about some nuts..get it?
How do you become a thought leader? It's easy. Follow these 5 important steps.
1. Have thoughts
2. Make sure no one else has the same thoughts.. mind control.
3. If you are a leader already, you have nothing to worry about.
4. If you are not a leader, find followers.
5. Call yourself a thought leader, in all your intros. Express yourself widely, on social media, particularly the 'professional' social media.
You are done.
You don't have to be in a plane to be among the clouds. These pics from a train journey between Indore and Pune (On October 22nd, 2024, early morning) via Khandala prove this-
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.
Goodbye to an industrialist who changed India's image globally. We were known within India for various achievements in different sectors, but abroad, only for I.T. Services. Even there Tata group had TCS for many years. But it was really with the Tetley, Corus and Land Rover-Jaguar acquisitions during Ratan Tata's time that we arrived on the global stage.
He also consolidated the group by reducing the power of Russi Mody and a couple of other strong and independent-minded heads of various Tata companies. Also, appointed Chandrasekaran of TCS as a chairman following a spat with Cyrus Mistry who was earlier chosen Chairman.
He was also known for philanthropy, and some good human qualities. I never got to see him in person, unlike Mr. Premji, Mr. Ambani or Mr. Sunil Mittal (they came for our convocations at IMT Nagpur), but know enough to think he was good for our country, though he came up the hard way from being in charge of a dead company, NELCO, which made radios.
This time, it was a colleague of my wife's, and her husband. They had taught in a school in Bangalore, many years ago. He worked at Bos...
