Anniversary

It was April last year that I published my autobiography through pothi.com, an online self-publishing outfit. As an anniversary reminder to myself, here are snippets from one of the chapters- 

                                                                              Chapter 17: My Students over the Years If thou art a teacher, thou shalt have students- Book of Socrates, XVIIII, page 2345. I run into them everywhere, from South Indian joints in Kolkata to alumni meets in Hyderabad, to the malls in Bangalore. Sometimes it appears as if I know half the management grads in India, and sometimes it’s a good feeling, except it makes me feel very old. Here is a brief intro to some of them. 

 Padmapriya: Now a heroine of repute in Mallu movies, was a great classical dancer, and teamed very well with Jimmy, her batchmate at Kirloskar Institute, for some great dance performances. 

 Joy: Was one of the really mature students, with a zest for life who did well for himself after the PGDM at Kirloskar Institute. Was from the City of Joy, too. Worked for UB, Himalaya and then, Coke. Married a batchmate, Alaknanda Dasgupta. 

 Jogeswari: A topper of her batch at Kirloskar Institute, originally from Guntur, which is hot, hot, hot. Had a fan club at the institute. Joined Google after a sabbatical from work. Given to long silences, broken after persistent emails. Attempted to get into the IAS, for reasons unknown, but fortunately remained a normal human being (non-IAS). 

 Manisha: A family friend who became a student (at Kirloskar), and found her match, Pushpendu, while at it. A trip to Japan with him, and she learnt to like India. 

 Shveta: Another bright Bangalorean from Mount Carmel, did (doing?) very well at her marketing job at the India Today group. A good example of a BA and MBA doing very well in a career. Are the engineers wasting their time? 

 Aditi Sood: She and I had a common interest in Deepak Chopra when she was at Kirloskar Institute. Met again at Kolkata until she got married and left for the land of milk and honey, and George Bush- the U.S., I mean. 

 Nidhi: My protégé at Kirloskar, she was a bubbly girl, all smiles, and we also met again at Lucknow (where her husband Milind hailed from) and Mumbai. 

 Aman Chawla: The high enthu man from Vizag, owner of a resort or some such thing at his hometown, happy-go-lucky student. 

 Gaurav Gollerkeri: At IIMK, a graduate of PESIT, which I later joined, and went on to do a Ph.D. in London. His idol was (no, not me) Raghuram Rajan of the IMF/ World Bank. 

 Sanjeev Undri: A guy from Belgaum (where is that? On the border of Maharashtra and Karnataka) who went beyond his potential in everything he did. The smile never left his face in any situation. Student at PESIM, Bangalore. One of the rare motivated guys in the university MBA system. 

 Anusha Ramakrishnan: a student assistant at PESIT, who kept in touch. Got into writing, and headed off to Finland post marriage. Her consolation may be that there is light at the end of six months. 

 Veena Singh: Helped me write a chapter on Indian brands for my book on Brand Management. One of the bright students of the International Business batch at IFIM which visited Grenoble en-masse. Now works for Unilever Research at Bangalore.