Ghalib in New Delhi- Play Review

 Reminded me of Adrak ke Panje by Babban Khan. That was in the 70s. I think Sayeed Alam acted as Ghalib. He was brilliant. Ghalib takes birth again in Modern Delhi, is the basic storyline. He asks God to give him rebirth in either Varanasi or Delhi. God says there is already a tough guy with a beard in Varanasi. So he sends him to Delhi.

It is full of jokes about politics, society, education, corruption, language and everything in between. And includes all that is happening, therefore topical and relatable. 

The best jokes were about Galgotias University, which was in the news recently. Also about Kejriwal, whose contribution was to give khaansi (cough) to the whole of Delhi.. and as a result, the IQ of Delhi went up (a joke about the current CM, who doesn't know the difference between AQI and IQ). 

Also, many jokes about Kangana, Language deterioration, Haryanvis, Gurgaon, Yamuna-paar Dilliwasis, Modi's travels, Chara ghotala of Lalu Yadav, removal of Mughals from history books, and so on.

He says, If Kapil Dev can learn English, anyone can.. 

It's in the form of 5-6 skits, including Ghalib's encounters with a paanwali, a drunk, two taxi/auto drivers, a Punjabi landlady (with jokes about Punjabis included), a police constable who thinks he's a terrorist, and a couple of ad agency executives who try designing a campaign to make him famous- through photoshoots with Mallika Sherawat or Kareena Kapoor.  Very engaging, a laugh a minute. Political and social satire at its best!

Meetings With Old Friends in Kolkata

 Met Navneeta, Shakti Ghosal and Indukant Gautam of IIMB 1982-84 fame, in the last year.

Met Banikanta Mishra of XIMB- a colleague from 1991-92, on his visit. Also Amit Gope, a student from the same institute, who is settled in Kolkata.

Renewed contact with Ananya Ghosh, a Ph.D. scholar with St. Xavier's University, whom I had earlier met in XLRI at a doctoral consortium. She is close to finishing her Ph.D.

Akansh Khandelwal, a former Ph.D. student at IIM Indore.

Jasbir Matharu, a former colleague, along with Abhinav Chandel, both from IMT Nagpur.

Sayantani Saha, also a former student at Nagpur who is with ICICI Lombard.

And of course, Dash who is also an IIMB classmate, retired cop now settled here.

My Kolkata Journey in Pics

 From April 2025 till March 2026.

My entry- above, and my office with Shrabani

Visit to Kalyani, above, and Alumni meet, IIMB below

Tolly Club, above, and Suhasini Barman, new friend, below

Aakansh visits, and Bani and Anita, below

Football, and Barrackpore trip for Biryani

Banani Sah and Samarendra, and inauguration of Interfaith Dialogue

Students of BBA, and Karanjyot and Shrabani

Outing on Christmas, and Litfest at Alipore Jail

Ecopark restaurant, and Books I bought

Cute welcome at a school event, and meeting Ananya and Sayantani Saha of IMT Nagpur

IK Gautam visits, and Jasbir Matharu visits -with Abhinav Chandel

Debasmita Das and Shrabani

Reflections on the Kolkata Stay

 Since it has been around 10 months now, I feel entitled to a few reflections.

One, the cost of living is lower than in many other large cities.

But coupled with this, the salary levels are low in many sectors. 

Shared autos have 5-6 people in addition to the driver (I presume legally) in them.

The Totos or electric ricks are unmetered. So they quote whatever they want.

Buses are quite cheap, and if not crowded, doable if you are physically fit.

Metro trains are overcrowded, and have few coaches. They don't stick to the schedule.

Growth opportunities in the city are limited, so ambitious people have to move out.

People are generally self-absorbed, and know very little about the rest of India. 

Food quality is good, in general, especially non veg. and noodles. But the biryani has a potato in it 😊

Match the Following

 This is a game of matching words on the LEFT with those on the RIGHT.

Exclusive                         Everything

Paradigm                          Sale

Revolutionary                   News story

Once in a Lifetime            Product Ad

AI                                      Journal Paper 

Antecedents                       Conference Title

ArdorComm Roundtable on SAS AI and Analytics

 I was invited to a Roundtable and discovered that the invitor, ArdorComm Media, is a Pune based firm. SAS Institute was the sponsor of this meet, in Kolkata on Feb 20th. The discussion was about the collaboration options offered by SAS to educational institutes, students, or faculty, for their software. 

The major reasons we tied up with or bought SPSS in most institutions was the cost, for academic use. 

Anyway, it was good to listen to what was on offer, and offer my two bits on how this can be useful in Higher Ed. The event ended with cocktails and dinner at THE Great Eastern Hotel, now owned by Lalit group. There were some officials from the Kolkata based universities and institutions like Sister Nivedita, St. Xavier's and NSHM too. 

Jinping Jokes

 Who is Xi?

His favourite game? Ping Pong

His favourite spice? Hing

His favourite song? Ding, ding, ding, ding.. by Daler Mehendi

His favourite film? Ping is King.

His major fear? Fear of Sin-king.