New Year Eve 2017-18
Portraits of Batchmates-13
The tank (above) and some specimens below (from our Year book 1982-84)-
Prez
The President who believed in
Benevolent Dictatorship, and owner of the best smile. He broke the
lady-in-white taboo by advertising for Surf. Hindustan Lever was mighty pleased
and invited him to head their Corporate Washing division. He declined and went to
the moon instead- it was WHITER. Money didn't fit anywhere in his schemata- so
hence therefore his failure to have Rs. (60x6) refunded to every one of us
(Transport).
Duru Moron
The best mimic we had among us.
His solos on J.D. Singh et. al. had listeners in stitches. A good party man, he
enlivened all gatherings with his songs-these happened to resemble the
originals in tune, and little else. He is still trying to understand how his
baggage walked away on the way to Ahmedabad. He specialises in disappearing
whenever he is required on official duty.
Bootlegger
A gentle (?), genial, ambling
personality who runs out of sparring partners. Rarely misses the opponent's
feat on a footer field- the ball, of course, miles away. A walking who's where
and how on campus flora and fauna, he also demonstrated considerable knowledge
on booze and expertise in selling it. His only crib came when the Shaw Wallace
people refused to give weightage to the above experience.
Last-minute Resolutions
Having resolved not to make any, I am obliged to break that one. Ok, here goes-
1. Will be nice to people- no, on second thoughts, just less nasty.
2. Will sometimes turn on my WhatsApp. Not sure WHEN, though.
3. Will sing more. Sing is king!
4. Will read a few good books. I have alreay started...discovered Starmark, a nice bookstore in Chennai, and stocked up a few.
5. Will continue giving out my Nice DP awards on fb; I have to, because there are so many guys hoping to win it- and some who have, who may win again. I may end 2018 with a lecture on How you can win!
6. Will make more efforts to meet people I know on fb-am already making some progress. Got an appointment-gotta go!
1. Will be nice to people- no, on second thoughts, just less nasty.
2. Will sometimes turn on my WhatsApp. Not sure WHEN, though.
3. Will sing more. Sing is king!
4. Will read a few good books. I have alreay started...discovered Starmark, a nice bookstore in Chennai, and stocked up a few.
5. Will continue giving out my Nice DP awards on fb; I have to, because there are so many guys hoping to win it- and some who have, who may win again. I may end 2018 with a lecture on How you can win!
6. Will make more efforts to meet people I know on fb-am already making some progress. Got an appointment-gotta go!
Northies in My Life
North of the Vindhyas is North for us Southies. And no, this is not a rant, but just a fond recounting of the Sharmas, Sinhas and Srivastavas-not to forget the Dwivedis, Trivedis and Chaturvedis, and of course the Mishras, Agarwals and Gargs.
Sheetal Garg is a sweet Haryanvi who studied at IMT Nagpur, and joined a leading bank. We also had some Gargs as neighbours when I was growing up (in the South). Alok Srivastava was my friend, philosopher, guide through the Hyderabad days at engineering, and in the land of milk and honey (and Trump-life's sweet AND sour!).
Shatakshi Tripathi is a friend I made on facebook, as we never faced each other at IIM Indore. Neeraj Dwivedi was a colleague at Kozhikode (go ahead, pronounce it!). Saumya Sharma was my super-efficient academic associate, and Anjali Sharma is a student.
The Jhas have also been omni-present, as have the Sinhas (I assume most of them are from Bihar). Meghna Sinha and I have a Mutual Admiration Society going since I met her at Nagpur and then in Delhi. I also had a classmate, Sanjay Sinha, in sixth standard, and we called him Tingu.
Ok, the Mishras. Rajhans and Abhishek are just two, current colleagues. Anushka is a former student and friend, and a winner of my nice DP award a couple of times.
Kiran Shah and Siraj Siddiqui were Gujju classmates at IIMB, and Harish Chaudhary, Kusum Ailawadi and Sudhir Goel were a few other Northies there. Ankita Saboo (now Joshi) and Ishita Modi were students at IMT.
Some rare names also figure, like Bhalavat, or Thapliyal-Sneha is a colleague- and not so rare ones, like Singh. Divya Singh is an example. Roopali Saxena was a student at Vignana Jyoti Hyderabad. Nikita Chaturvedi of the vedic traditions, and Madhulika Gaur of Aligarh are the others I recall, and Parul Kashyap Thakur, who writes a terrific blog. Of course, the Punjabis are there too, whom I alluded too in an earlier blog, like Aman Chawla and Sonia Arora, students from different institutes.
Sheetal Garg is a sweet Haryanvi who studied at IMT Nagpur, and joined a leading bank. We also had some Gargs as neighbours when I was growing up (in the South). Alok Srivastava was my friend, philosopher, guide through the Hyderabad days at engineering, and in the land of milk and honey (and Trump-life's sweet AND sour!).
Shatakshi Tripathi is a friend I made on facebook, as we never faced each other at IIM Indore. Neeraj Dwivedi was a colleague at Kozhikode (go ahead, pronounce it!). Saumya Sharma was my super-efficient academic associate, and Anjali Sharma is a student.
The Jhas have also been omni-present, as have the Sinhas (I assume most of them are from Bihar). Meghna Sinha and I have a Mutual Admiration Society going since I met her at Nagpur and then in Delhi. I also had a classmate, Sanjay Sinha, in sixth standard, and we called him Tingu.
Ok, the Mishras. Rajhans and Abhishek are just two, current colleagues. Anushka is a former student and friend, and a winner of my nice DP award a couple of times.
Kiran Shah and Siraj Siddiqui were Gujju classmates at IIMB, and Harish Chaudhary, Kusum Ailawadi and Sudhir Goel were a few other Northies there. Ankita Saboo (now Joshi) and Ishita Modi were students at IMT.
Some rare names also figure, like Bhalavat, or Thapliyal-Sneha is a colleague- and not so rare ones, like Singh. Divya Singh is an example. Roopali Saxena was a student at Vignana Jyoti Hyderabad. Nikita Chaturvedi of the vedic traditions, and Madhulika Gaur of Aligarh are the others I recall, and Parul Kashyap Thakur, who writes a terrific blog. Of course, the Punjabis are there too, whom I alluded too in an earlier blog, like Aman Chawla and Sonia Arora, students from different institutes.
Hridaynath Mangeshkar in Concert
I was unbelievably lucky to have landed in a concert by Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar at Pune. The eighty-something young man was full of energy, and laced his singing with anecdotes of great poets in Marathi. Arati Prabhu (Khanolkar's pen-name), Suresh Bhat, Shanta Shelke and Grace (pen name used by Manik Godghate, a Nagpur-based poet) were foremost among those he mentioned, who wrote poetry which he then tried (successfuly) to put a tune to.
Kesariya Balam (Padhro mharo des) and Yara Sili Sili were Rajasthani tunes which he picked up from Udaipur while dining on the Maharaja's lawn and listening to folk singers perform. The standout songs for me were the Marathi songs Majhya saranga, raja saranga, Poortata majhya vyathechi, Kevhatari pahate, and Bhaya ithale sampat nahi,.though almost every song that he sang was worth its weight in gold. He did not sing some of his famous fishermen's songs, except one. He explained how he brought in a chorus to bring in the choir effect in one song, and in another, how he requested the HMV boss Dubey to give him a huge orchestra, rare in his recordings-we are talking gramophone records, of course.
He also narrated how Mahendra Kapoor sang a song he had composed after working hard on his Marathi. He also explained carefully the meaning of almost each song, and particularly those composed by Sant Dyaneshwar, a saint poet. That made the song sweeter when it followed.
Now, some management and leadership lessons. He declared at the beginning that farmaishes (song requests) were welcome orally; he fulfilled many, and was inspired by audience participation. He was also careful to motivate the two young ladies and two men who accompanied him in vocals or on the instruments. He gave each a playing time, but also proved his own mastery by doing some difficult songs. He also took off on the present generation for not remembering lyrics, and for going to concerts to see the songs (the performance) rather than to listen to them.
One other thing that struck me was there were no frills like most other programs, like felicitations, or speeches. Just singing, straight for 3 hours.
Truly great experience, and the audience (of which I was just one) loved it.
Kesariya Balam (Padhro mharo des) and Yara Sili Sili were Rajasthani tunes which he picked up from Udaipur while dining on the Maharaja's lawn and listening to folk singers perform. The standout songs for me were the Marathi songs Majhya saranga, raja saranga, Poortata majhya vyathechi, Kevhatari pahate, and Bhaya ithale sampat nahi,.though almost every song that he sang was worth its weight in gold. He did not sing some of his famous fishermen's songs, except one. He explained how he brought in a chorus to bring in the choir effect in one song, and in another, how he requested the HMV boss Dubey to give him a huge orchestra, rare in his recordings-we are talking gramophone records, of course.
He also narrated how Mahendra Kapoor sang a song he had composed after working hard on his Marathi. He also explained carefully the meaning of almost each song, and particularly those composed by Sant Dyaneshwar, a saint poet. That made the song sweeter when it followed.
Now, some management and leadership lessons. He declared at the beginning that farmaishes (song requests) were welcome orally; he fulfilled many, and was inspired by audience participation. He was also careful to motivate the two young ladies and two men who accompanied him in vocals or on the instruments. He gave each a playing time, but also proved his own mastery by doing some difficult songs. He also took off on the present generation for not remembering lyrics, and for going to concerts to see the songs (the performance) rather than to listen to them.
One other thing that struck me was there were no frills like most other programs, like felicitations, or speeches. Just singing, straight for 3 hours.
Truly great experience, and the audience (of which I was just one) loved it.
Punjabis in My Life
One of the earliest was Pritpal Singh Gandhi, my team-mate in the Hyderabad Public School cricket team. He was known for getting the runner run-out when he went out of the crease before the bowler left the ball- Pritpal got many wickets that way.
We had close friends, Shalina, Sharat and Shobhna, in Ramagundam while growing up. And later, of course, many students from Punjab. The Kaurs themselves would fill a paragraph. At Indore alone, there have been quite a few- Bhuvneet, Harshdeep, Barleen, Jasmine (though she is farzi, living in Mumbai).. and elsewhere, Achint at Kirloskar, Jasleen from IMT Nagpur, where we had Jasbir Singh, Kulbir Singh on our faculty too. Harvinder Singh, similarly, was there along with a few others at IMT Ghaziabad., not to forget the Aroras, Ahujas and Puris and Bhallas- and yes, Rashmi Agarwal, who told me she's from Punjab. Baljeet Singh, student at IIM Indore.
I also teamed up with Gurvinder Singh Shergill who works in New Zealand for writing a journal paper a few years ago. JD Singh was a loveable marketing prof. I had at Bangalore during my MBA.
Then there are semi-Punjabi ones such as Shweta Kushal, current colleague. No wonder I keep getting better at puns..got it?
We had close friends, Shalina, Sharat and Shobhna, in Ramagundam while growing up. And later, of course, many students from Punjab. The Kaurs themselves would fill a paragraph. At Indore alone, there have been quite a few- Bhuvneet, Harshdeep, Barleen, Jasmine (though she is farzi, living in Mumbai).. and elsewhere, Achint at Kirloskar, Jasleen from IMT Nagpur, where we had Jasbir Singh, Kulbir Singh on our faculty too. Harvinder Singh, similarly, was there along with a few others at IMT Ghaziabad., not to forget the Aroras, Ahujas and Puris and Bhallas- and yes, Rashmi Agarwal, who told me she's from Punjab. Baljeet Singh, student at IIM Indore.
I also teamed up with Gurvinder Singh Shergill who works in New Zealand for writing a journal paper a few years ago. JD Singh was a loveable marketing prof. I had at Bangalore during my MBA.
Then there are semi-Punjabi ones such as Shweta Kushal, current colleague. No wonder I keep getting better at puns..got it?
Portraits of Batchmates- 12
Above-Me and Gautam Biwas warming up on our Delhi terrace, post MBA..1984. Below are other unique characters from the MBA..
Dazy
6 feet 2 on his soles, he's a man
everyone had to look up to- except Atul, that is. His favourite playground is
the fifth dimension and his philosophy-“Life is an apparent
contradiction". Once he was so dazed he contradicted the above statement
too.
Snail
He is practical, pragmatic, pithy,
phlegmatic and so on. He has an equable temperament (reason why he couldn't
answer questions no. 17 & 18 in Catch 22, our questionnaire for this year
book). He keeps things to himself (So that's why no answer to question 14). He
is active, sociable, emotionally stable (Ha!Ha!), introspective, extroverted
and so on. His ambition is to be involved in a physical brawl. Hey, somebody do
something about the man!
Colonel/Chats
The day we learnt that English and
Hindi can be spoken with a French accent was also the day we first heard
Chanchats. We still haven't found variables which can explain satisfactorily
his consistently motivated performance at the Courses he took. Regression's not
infallible, after all.
Mallus in My Life
There have always been some Mallus in my life. To begin with, there were the nuns in my convent, early in life. I remember one in particular, who taught Hindi, and pronounced all the bindis..hoom instead of hoon is what I mean.
Classmates, if any, were NRIs or at least non-natives of Kerala, until IIMB. Senior was called that to distinguish him from Junior- Nanda Kumars both. He was the genuine article from Kochi, along with one Uday Damodaran. Later in life, I had Rameshan as a colleague and Revi as a good friend, both from near Kozhikode. Revi was a cocktail expert, and we may have created and had hundreds in those two years. We also went fishing and on family picnics.
But in between, I also had a few students in Kirloskar Institute, some of whom were Gelf-returned. I am in touch with Vidya TC, Smita Mohan, Dheeraj even today. (here he is, with Jayasimha)
Later students include Sreeram and Gowri from IMT Nagpur, along with Unnikrishnan. Padmapriya became an honorary Mallu by acting in Malyalam films-she was also a student at Kirloskar.
Of course, since I worked in IIM Kozhikode, there were quite a few who worked there too- Unni the prof., and John (a couple of them), Shaji, Kunhikrishnan and Kurup (he usually had a flower in his ear, Indonesian-style) in admin., and many more. Of course, Uday was also there, as a colleague.
Thomas was a close friend at Vignana Jyoti, Hyderabad. Hilarious, and great at coining nicknames for people, he and I must have had a zillion biryanis at Garden restaurant, at Clock Tower. He had also worked at U.B.'s brewery before, and was always telling me how little the cost of beer is for the manufacturer.
Classmates, if any, were NRIs or at least non-natives of Kerala, until IIMB. Senior was called that to distinguish him from Junior- Nanda Kumars both. He was the genuine article from Kochi, along with one Uday Damodaran. Later in life, I had Rameshan as a colleague and Revi as a good friend, both from near Kozhikode. Revi was a cocktail expert, and we may have created and had hundreds in those two years. We also went fishing and on family picnics.
But in between, I also had a few students in Kirloskar Institute, some of whom were Gelf-returned. I am in touch with Vidya TC, Smita Mohan, Dheeraj even today. (here he is, with Jayasimha)
Of course, since I worked in IIM Kozhikode, there were quite a few who worked there too- Unni the prof., and John (a couple of them), Shaji, Kunhikrishnan and Kurup (he usually had a flower in his ear, Indonesian-style) in admin., and many more. Of course, Uday was also there, as a colleague.
Thomas was a close friend at Vignana Jyoti, Hyderabad. Hilarious, and great at coining nicknames for people, he and I must have had a zillion biryanis at Garden restaurant, at Clock Tower. He had also worked at U.B.'s brewery before, and was always telling me how little the cost of beer is for the manufacturer.
Hairfall
No, this is not the title of a new Bond movie..it's just a tale of the dreadlocks going dead.
Why do we have hair falling off the head? Scientific research has shown the following reasons-
1. We have hair.
2. They have roots.
3. Roots grow weak.
and Hair falls off.
4. We have colleagues, subordinates, friends, family.
5. They act crazy.
6. We pull our hair.
They fall off.
The cure differs, depending on the cause. Figure it out yourself, I am not going to spell it out.
Why do we have hair falling off the head? Scientific research has shown the following reasons-
1. We have hair.
2. They have roots.
3. Roots grow weak.
and Hair falls off.
4. We have colleagues, subordinates, friends, family.
5. They act crazy.
6. We pull our hair.
They fall off.
The cure differs, depending on the cause. Figure it out yourself, I am not going to spell it out.
Things I Did Not Do in 2017
This is a recounting (wrong word, actually) of things I did not do.
I did not go to the Dominican Republic to present a paper, because of visa and travel hassles. I did go to Colombo, though, proving that visa processes really affect travellers.
I did not look all around while crossing the road and ended up with a broken wrist. A lesson there, somewhere.
I did not exercise my wrist enough, playing Golf..mostly resting on my laurels last December when I got a Hole-in-one. This pic is from that trip to Coonoor/Wellington. Hope to make up in 2018.
I did not react to the aggravating stuff on facebook. I use fb to make connections with friends, and have some fun..and I succeed.
I did not go to the Dominican Republic to present a paper, because of visa and travel hassles. I did go to Colombo, though, proving that visa processes really affect travellers.
I did not look all around while crossing the road and ended up with a broken wrist. A lesson there, somewhere.
I did not exercise my wrist enough, playing Golf..mostly resting on my laurels last December when I got a Hole-in-one. This pic is from that trip to Coonoor/Wellington. Hope to make up in 2018.
I did not react to the aggravating stuff on facebook. I use fb to make connections with friends, and have some fun..and I succeed.
Portraits of Batchmates-11
The mess (above)- no less (below)
From the year book for our batch at IIMB, here are a few gems-
Toffler
The young orator and astropalmist
of the batch. Prof. Jagadish's favourite Effcom critic- the only one. Made a
shocking entry with Toffler in OB I. Regular habits included attending all
Energy classes and exercising in the evenings- jogging backward, forward and
rowing on terra firma. Had a sudden increase in improbable visitors after his
presentation on palm-reading.
Rare achievement : Two
concentration streams besides sector specialization
Senior
The classic antithesis of 'neither
here nor there', he was here (IIMB) and there (Cochin) for six months each, a
la Vikramaditya. He was too logical or too emotional depending on whether he
was talking to guys or gals. His favourite pastime (before he renounced it):
Smoking. Favourite occupation: Gassing. Favourite relative: Uncle (visits him
numerous times in a day). Favourite hobby: Going to Cochin (Favourite Travel
Agent : Yesbee Travels). Favourite worry : IIMB is not at Cochin
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