Madhosh Kiye Jaa

Vintage Pics of IIMB Profs

Some vintage pics of profs. and some of us at IIM Bangalore, 1982-84.

Shyamal Roy, Prakash Apte and batchmate Sriram aka Thalaivar

Henri Fayol (Srikant Payal) , Jagadish, Tathagata Ghosh

Vish, Usha, Dash, me, Pradeep Chittoor

Bandmaster - a recent one, with a Golden Jubilee t shirt.

Ghostwriting

If I were a ghostwriter, who could I write for?

Based on their spoken language, most politicians could do with my services.

Some academicians as well, because based on evidence from conferences or seminars, they don't seem to know where to stop.

Regulators from the education sector who speak as if they have changed the world. They haven't.

People who have conquered the world- not factually, but on Linkedin. I can always talk about how they did so, in the ghosted book.

Any more ideas, please let me know.

I have contemplated retirement, often. Of course, life does not always turn out the way you think it will. So it was that I came to work in Kolkata. But circumstances have forced me to relook at life's priorities. And it is very likely that I will soon retire from full time work.

It gives you enormous freedom to think, and indulge.. in things that you could only dream about, and occasionally partake of. This may include some travel, some reading, some Golf, meeting people at various places, or in town, doing new things, and listening to music. Of course, family responsibilities, as they are, will be a part of it too.

I am of course, open to occasional forays into teaching if there's any demand from an institution. But mostly, not admin. positions that are devoid of student interactions.

Pune will be the base, or adda- not the Bong version, but the Marathi or Hindi one- as far as I can tell. Mumbaikars, beware. You might see more of me in the months to come!

It has been good while it lasted, through corporate jobs in Advertising and Market Research, and teaching through my Ph.D. to post-Ph.D. days, in the US first, and then in India.

Some great colleagues and students who turned into friends along the way, are my billion-dollar wealth.

Some Easy ways to Evaluate Learning in AI Age

We talk about AI as if it's a villain. But plagiarism has been around long before AI happened. So what does a professor do now, to make out what's original learning from a student in his class?

There are many ways, I would think. Some of these could be

-a Viva or oral test instead of an assignment which if it is take home, will almost certainly involve the use of AI.

-argumentative questions which require some justification of a stand taken on a controversial subject/situation, even in a case study

-ask for original stuff that AI cannot produce.

-ask students to write something in class- not just in an exam, but regularly. If the class is large, it could be a group assignment.

-assign an AI analysis exercise where they get info from AI and then critique it for what it leaves out, or what students can add to it. Can be done in class.

Innovation in pedagogy/evaluation is always possible, to check a student's learning.

Doubling the Joy- Unusual Meetup

Sayantani Saha is an alumna from IMT Nagpur 2010-12 batch of MBA and works in Kolkata at present. Ananya Ghosh is a Ph.D. candidate at St. Xavier's University, whom I met at XLRI first in 2023, and then when I came here to work. I didn't imagine that they would know each other, but coincidentally, they do. And Sayantani spotted a pic of Ananya with me, and recognised me in it! So we finally met over a long lunch and conversation, at Cafe Miami in New Town. The ambience was great, and the food too, but the catching up and banter about their lives and mine, was the best. Some pics-