A New Adventure Begins

 Joined JIS University on April 29th as Pro-Vice Chancellor. It's a private university with campuses in Kolkata and nearby. Spans a range of departments from Pharmacy, Science, Law, Management, Engineering to Agriculture and others.

My office is in Agarpara, on the outskirts of North Kolkata. There are possibilities of increasing reach, awareness, and perhaps upgrading the student and faculty experience, alumni support and so on. Probably similar to some experiences of mine elsewhere in a wide variety of institutions, or business schools. Other priorities will be set after discussions with colleagues at the top level and faculty, students, alumni.

Looking forward to also catching up with friends in the East, and visitors of different kinds- official guest lecturers to personal friends. I have a possible Golf-playing opportunity too, to be explored. Will keep readers posted. It's early days yet..

Microbreweries

 Not sure which year it was, but I was visiting Bangalore from Harihar, and reconnected with Jimmy and a couple of alumni. 

We decided to go out to a pub, and TOIT was the choice. They had set up a microbrewery onsite, probably the first or second in Bangalore. I didn't know what it was at the time. Later, I went to a few more, including the Biere Club on Vittal Mallya Road with Avinash Mulky, and Ann Arbor near Garuda Mall. Last one was Big Brewsky near WIPRO, on Sarjapur Road. No, actually Church Street got a new one where I met Milind Chalisgaonkar. I think it's called Klang. Another one on Residency Road called Communiti. 

In Pune, the Corinthian Club had Doolally, which is now called The First Brew. TOIT has also come here, along with a couple more. Update- another visit to TOIT Pune, after we finished teaching at Lexicon.. 

What I Learnt From IIMs

I mean as a teacher/faculty. And what IIMs can do better..

Classes are overcrowded (MBA) - 70 plus in a section, not conducive to learning. Why can't they have smaller classes, larger faculty size? The norm in the US university I was at, was around 40 in a PG class. UG was larger.

More faculty would also help get more original research and accreditations if that is a goal. More cases too, perhaps with contributions from Professors of Practice. 

Not enough Ph.D. candidates. Each faculty could potentially have 3-4, or one new candidate each year. We would help create manpower. Make efforts to get more quality candidates by spreading the word. 

I had an academic associate (in Indore) who helped with grading. A must for every faculty, to give her/him time for value-added work.

Not enough guest faculty from industry. At IMT and some other institutions, we had a better number of industry folks within the courses, coming to guest lecture.

Projects (live in the course directed by faculty) are going down. Seminar courses are rare, except in Ph.D. classes.

Flipped classrooms are almost nil, in most IIMs I was in.. shouldn't top institutes be doing more of innovation?

 

Presentations -Destination Marketing

Some pics from my assignment given to Lexicon Institute MBA students. They had to come up with a marketing plan for a chosen destination-

Filter Coffee- Marathi Play

 This is written and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. I am convinced that 'kar's  can do creative stuff! A good tale of a conman and his female victims, and how his scheme pans out. There are some twists in the tale, and the characters are quite interesting. The coffee does play a role!!

Good acting, all around. A driver/servant character adds a comic element throughout. This was the first show in Pune we saw. Worth a watch!

The cast and crew including Mahesh Manjrekar take a bow- 

Above- Rangoli at the entrance to welcome audience- Balgandharva Rangamandir

Female Characters in Marathi Theatre

 Saw a program that had excerpts from 4 plays on the theme of Women in Marathi Theatre, called Tee (She in Marathi). Plays written by the likes of Vijay Tendulkar, Sai Paranjpye and Ratnakar Matkari. Pic from one of them, below. Starred Suhita Thatte-

There was also a lively performance of Mulgi Jhaali Ho, a freestyle street play about why the girl child is important, intended to spread awareness in a society that favoured the Male Child, written many years ago, and performed in all corners of Maharashtra, and translated as well. The highlight was the writer, 75 or so, performing on stage!

Here's are 2 pics from their act- 

The author of Mulgi Jhaali Ho is in green, with her troupe.

An Eventful Week

 Went to Hyderabad, and met my sister and BIL Hari, and niece Anjali after a long time. Anjali has completed her 12th and is looking at colleges up North. Also caught up with tow visitors at their place. Did not stir out much, as it was hot in the day. Of course, had biryani and small onion samosas with Irani chai once. 

Also shot 3 episodes of Chat Masala with Hari, Anjali and Vandana on various topics of their interest. This is a new Youtube Channel of mine where we discuss anything under the Sun. 3 episodes have aired so far, but we have shot a few more.

Back in Pune, we again shot another guest episode with Suhita Thatte, actor and my cousin, visiting from Mumbai. She was here to perform in a Play written by Sai Paranjpye. In Marathi, at a program dedicated to Female characters in Theatre.

Also shot two more solo episodes for Chat Masala, about Friends/ Students who became entrepreneurs, and Bosses I have had over the years -in industry and academia.