Probably my 10th in the last 8 weeks-on July 15th, 2026. But another good one. Dr. Ajit Sant, Onkar Deshpande and Vilas Shinde did well on the male side, with Charuta Apte and Vidula Rao bringing up the female end. Particularly good were the Kishore Kumar numbers sung by each of them.. Chhoti si ye duniya, and Khwab ho tum ya, plus Haal kaisa hai janab ka, in paricular.
I am talking academic events. Most of these claim they have time for a Q and A, with Q being audience questions. The problem is that speakers don't finish in the time allotted, so the questions remain un-questioned, so to speak.
To be fair, not all questions that do get asked are great. Most are boringly predictable, and answered with lack of imagination. Anyway, it satisfies the questioner's thirst for knowledge, and the answerer's chance to be all-knowing.. or appear to be.
If there's a panel discussion, you can be sure that most will end up being a series of talks. The setup for the Powerpoints eats up a lot of time, and yes, the Questions are given 5-7 minutes, depending on how far lunch is.
The Question is, what is the best way to get good questions. Maybe the speaker can build his own questions and answer them too.
The pic shows us with the Founders/ Board Members. Mr. Rahul and Sanjay are in the top row, along with colleagues Niranjan Swain and Vijayakumar, and Sudhir and Pannerselvam, and KS Bhat.
I am with Mr. Vikram Kirloskar, Atul and Vijay Kirloskar (then Chairman of Kirloskar Group), and Capt. Murukesan, admin. head.
I had my best time working there, with great students (we selected them through CAT and interviews across India), good colleagues-staff and faculty. And of course, an 18-hole Golf course built next door by Mysore Kirloskar Ltd., which we could play on.
We designed the MBA/PGDM program from scratch, and also created ads on Video/Print for admissions. Before the PGDM, we were into training, and did 40 MDPs in a year on an average. Faculty were invited from IIMA and IIMB as well. We had a great library aimed at practitioners, and Harvard cases.
There was also a Cricket ground, Lawn Tennis and Squash court. Small batch sizes meant it was like extended family, and we knew the students closely. Like Achint, who used to miss breakfast regularly, from Batch 1. One student was nicknamed Kotler! One became an actress in Malayalam films post a corporate stint-Padmapriya. Jogeswari started a Golf tours company with a couple of others- Golftripz. I went on their first tour to Thailand for some wonderful Golf.
Savitha, Nikhil Damle, Shrishail, Smita Mohan, Nishka Kumar/Rathi, Nidhi Kanungo, Vidya TC, Swapna Gurijala, Sudeshna Ray/Srivastava, and a lot of other students are doing extremely well in their chosen fields. Vikas Sethia has launched Mio Pods at airports. Many are in touch, twenty years after they finished MBA. Including staff, like Rajesh Dixit, Veena, Mahboob, Raghavendra, Karibasappa, Rajshekhar, Yuvaraj and Pavan. Sreekumar I met at a Golf course in Bangalore!
Met a few members of a music group, Mile Sur Mera Tumhara in Hyderabad, and spent time getting to know each other better. Namratha Muralidhar, Lakshmi Rajagopal and Sita Verghese (introduced by Kinnera Murthy to the group), me and my wife-an honorary member-made the party. We met in Begumpet.
The IPL style league in Telangana is on, and our team- mentored by my Brother-in-law, Hari, has reached the Finals after a few league matches and a Playoff. Many teams are named after districts. Khammam Aces, the one he is mentoring, happens to be the district of my birthplace, Kothagudem.
Anyway, Jio carried the matches live, and we also had a chance to discuss the games as we were on a short visit to Hyderabad where the games are being played. Some youngsters were really impressive, like Mickil Jaiswal in batting and Sahendra Mallu and Ved Reddy in the bowling. Saw Ved bowl a lovely googly to bowl one opposition player against Hyderabad.
Some pics-
Films that we have produced in India since the 1930s are a part of our heritage. And songs (both music and lyrics) are a great part of it.
I just realised this when watching a few musical programs over the last month or two in Pune, post my retirement. I have watched a lot of artists perform, of varying quality on stage. But they are all preserving that great legacy, I feel.
Some great music was due to the Burman duo, SD and RD Burman, my favourites among music directors. There were many more, like Ravi, Roshan and son Rajesh Roshan, Kalyanji Anandji, Chitragupt, and later, Jatin-Lalit and AR Rahman.
Also the lyricists Anand Bakshi, Neeraj, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Hasrat Jaipuri, Shailendra and so on.
Kishore Kumar among male singers and Asha Bhosle among the ladies were my favourites, though a lot more contributed over the years.
A legacy that will live on, for many years.
Saw a great show that was dedicated to Waheeda Rehman, last evening (July 4, 2026) at Modern College Audi, with Mona Dethe, and her Mom Parveen. Great singers (Deepika, Swarada Godbole and Sandeep Ubale), in voices that resembled the originals. Guru Dutt and Dev Anand films featured prominently, and also Khamoshi with Dharmendra and Rajesh Khanna.
Highlights were Rangeela Re, Hai apna dil to awara and Kaanton pe kheench ke ye anchal, for me. Her husband's film Shagun also featured. Rekhi was called Kamaljeet in that film.
Emcee was Shalaka Gole.
Probably my 10th in the last 8 weeks-on July 15th, 2026. But another good one. Dr. Ajit Sant, Onkar Deshpande and Vilas Shinde did well on ...
