Tribes India

Not satisfied with buying a house with a lake and a plane (my last post was about those), I went shopping again. To an interesting place (Tribes India) that sold tribal craft from all over India. Managed to chat up two lovely young ladies working there, and their manager. Got some interesting stuff, too. They have outlets in multiple places across India. Do visit one when you can. Support our tribals.

 Priya and Srinanda work at the store, and were good salespeople-persuasive, but not aggressive. Their boss is in the pic below- a selfie!

 They pose sportingly at my request, in their metalwork products section!

My Acquisitions for 2020

People shop for mundane things like shoes, clothes, perfumes, diamonds..I don't. My sights are set high, and you can see why, in the pics below of my latest acquisitions to ring in the year 2020. Particularly, the plane, the decorative pieces, and of course, the staircase. Just like old Hindi films, where the heroine's dad would descend to give her a lecture.

 My secretary's at work at the desk..

 A lake is thrown in free..with the house. Ignore the crocodile.

Overlooking my garden.

 Life's a beach! or a Beech!

Pati Patni Aur Woh- Film Review

I had watched the classic comedy original that starred Sanjeev Kumar, Vidya Sinha and Ranjeeta. That was classy, and the story that the husband makes up was more believable, while having an eye for his secretary. This one's not bad, though it may not reach the level of the original, if only for Sanjeev Kumar's acting in it. And the songs- Na aaj tha, na kal tha by Kishore Kumar listen to it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hqrImIZQmE, and Thande thande pani se nahaana chahiye.

Nevertheless, what impressed me most about this one was the two new actors- the hero's friend, played by Aparshakti Khurana, and the Woh, played by Ananya Panday. The comic situations are mostly funny, and though the end looks a bit contrived, it is an OK way to bring the philanderer's story to a close.

Not a bad way to spend an evening, or afternoon. Bhumi Pednekar seems in form.

Review of Good News- Hindi Film

They have got it right- that's the good news. The direction is competent.

In India, usually good news means either a marriage, or a pregnancy. In this case, it is the latter..at least, attempts to get there, and the twists that follow. I really liked Diljit Dosanjh in this one, he brings the liveliness required in an otherwise serious film. He is hilarious in some scenes.

The gender roles are brought out quite well, including the insensitivity of the male mostly, and the more emotional side of the female, and the ups and downs keep the story interesting. The dialogue is very good, and helps engage us with the characters, who are set up better than in most films of recent origin. First time I saw Kiara here, and she does her job well. Akshay's role is almost villainish, and he is good at playing it. Kareena too. The supporting actors add to the story, including the doctor and his wife, and their self-promotion video. :)

After Vicky Donor and the film that tackled impotence, another one that tackles a related subject- IVF. My only quibble is, that it puts down adoption. Will someone make a movie about that, please?

Diversity is Amazing

I am amazed at the diversity I have encountered in the human interactions I have had over the fifty nine years I have spent on the planet. Not necessarily boasting, but I have spent significant amounts of time in the four major regions of India, and a few years in the U.S. teaching and studying. While there, had a lot of international students/colleagues too. I visited at least one, Anne, in France at her home in rural France (and HER friend in Paris). Also met an Iranian friend in Malaysia and later, in India. Lots of American friends also invited us (my wife and I) home while we lived there.

It is also obvious while teaching in class, that diversity of age, gender, experience and background (previous education/subjects) usually leads to a richer class experience for all. This is true at least in management, where both technical and non-technical skills are equally important in solving problems.

The U.S. was open to immigrants (still is, compared to a few others, barring Canada and New Zealand/Australia) and has been enriched by those who chose to settle down there and adopt the American lifestyle. A few Indians are also at the top of the academic and corporate ladders there- I know at least a couple of them personally.

One has to wait and watch where the recently-made-fashionable anti-immigrant stance of countries/governments around the world will lead.

Trip to Pulicat Lake

I had visited the Chilika Lake around 1991 with my friend Ghani Zaman. Now, in 2019, I made it to the other big lake with brackish water. Some pics-

Taking off towards the sea.

 My co-fishermen, Jayasimha and Vijayakumar :)

Lady on the bridge..

Dutch cemetery above, and a live man, below.

Ambition and Round Up of 2019

I don’t remember what my ambition was earlier.

Now, my ambition is scaled down, to meeting nice people, looking at Nice DPs (and awarding the good ones), and some good food and drink (like Vietnamese coffee and Irani tea), books, blogging, occasional travel, films, singing and listening to music (retro, Hindi), watching my students do well in life..

Slightly off-track - I was trying to recollect what happened in the last 12 months. 

A wedding in Hyderabad, one in Mumbai, and another in Bangalore, and yet another in Delhi recently- made me a preferred wedding guest (!) of friends and family-one who can’t balle balle though 😊- just a friendly warning! Can be a wedding photographer, though..try me out!

A visit to the Kishore Kumar memorial and house in Khandwa. A conference trip to Bali, and another to Chennai, from where we visited Kancheepuram and its magnificient temples. In July, we hosted an international conference for the second time, and were overwhelmed by the number of attendees.

I also re-visited Calicut, and IIMK where I had worked from 2003 to 2005. And of course, met numerous students- in Ahmedabad (Manjari, Punyashlok, Ankita and Ishan, Keyur,..), Mumbai (Tosha Dubey, Urvashi, Abha Kulkarni, Siri Adi, Khyati, Anuj, Shraddha, Nishka and Vikram Rathi, Garima and Dwipa Shah, Akshat Surana, Sampark.. ), Delhi (Padmapriya, Shweta Agarwal, Shruti Sharma, Aditya Naag, Nikita Kumar, Sharmistha Singh, Sunil Kataria, and my new personal photographer Kanika Mhendiratta), Pune (Neha Adiga, Divya Singh), Bangalore (Shatakshi and Varun, Anushka Mishra, Savitha, Bharath Shenoy, Anshita (with hubby and their twins), Anusha and Aashish, Sreeram), some for the first time, some for the second or third. This part- meeting students and colleagues, I would like to repeat next year, and the year after...have a few more pending invites.

IMTians, above and below. In Mumbai

IMTian Anshita above, organiser of a party at Bangalore, and below, Gurugrammies and Pranksters.

Anam, IIMI alum, above, and Kanika, IMTian below. Indore and Delhi.

Friends and colleagues- in Bangalore, above, and Tollygunge, Kolkata below.

KIAMS alum Shweta above in Delhi, and Divya Singh (ex-IMT, author of a case in the book) in Pune.

Below, KIAMS alums Sharmistha and Sunil, Delhi.

Met a few of my old colleagues from IIM Lucknow at Ranchi where I had gone on invitation. Trips to Belgaum (near where my Dad grew up) through the monsoon rain and one to Kolkata to meet a friend (Dash) were also highlights. So was one to IIT Guwahati, a lovely campus. Also went to BITS Goa, and stayed at a small beach, Bogmalo. 

Of course, I gave away a lot of DP and Photography Awards-this gets more difficult, but motivating. To close the year, I got a new car after exactly 14 and a half years- replacing my loyal warhorse (Esteem) with the new Wagon R-getting a loyalty bonus too. My book, Marketing Research -4^th edition- got published this year, and contains a lot of cases from my Indore students. Met a few of our alums in Indore too, like Harshad (and his wife), Tamros (his wife too), Ruminder Kaur, Ritu, Pratima and Arshia Mulla. Of course, I connected or chatted with many more online.

Review of The Body (Hindi Film)

The plot is very interesting, and suspenseful, till the end. Not original, though. I understand it's based on a Spanish film. Nevertheless, it's remade competently. There are some twists/red herrings in the story along the way, that will keep you interested and guessing. There is a dead body that seemingly walks away from the morgue, and that starts the game.

The film essentially is carried by Rishi Kapoor, though Emraan Hashmi seems like the protagonist, and the two women in the lead roles are probably playing second fiddle, as they keep coming or going, sometimes in flashbacks.

Not bad to try and guess whodunit, and keep your brain active. And yes, there is a mandatory kiss, given the star-cast.

Training Program for BEML

Just got back from a training program on CRM and Digital Marketing for BEML, done at their premises. The participants reminded me of my days at KIAMS, as their profile was similar- engineers, who were into B to B marketing, sales or after sales service. To prove yet again that it's a small world, one of the participants happened to be a friend of a faculty spouse! A couple of pics from there. As a bonus, I also met Savitha from the first batch of KIAMS.

 From the training- participants, and my colleague Bipul Kumar.

 Savitha, from 1998-2000 bqtch of Kirloskar Institute at Harihar.

Discussing Marketing With Kanika

Sometimes you end up discussing marketing (of the self, and a few products) in the most unexpected places. So it happened when I met a talented, and chirpy ex-student, Kanika, from IMT Nagpur recently. We had actually bantered online about photography, after I saw a couple of extremely good pics on her timeline (for which she won the DP awards too :) ). In jest, I also appointed her my personal photographer from then on..so we had to meet, naturally.

But when we met (Jab we met) we ended up talking about marketing of specialty teas, and how it's different from marketing those garden variety (intended!) teas that you and I consume every day. Well, we talked about a lot of other things too, like life in Kolkata and Delhi and Nagpur (where we actually had lived around 2013, me a little before too), and the merits of the teaching profession. It was wonderful catching up, as it always is with your students.

Some pics-

My Cricketing Days

Some old pics suddenly surfaced, going back to my school cricketing days.The first pic of the Hyderabad Public School (Ramanthapur) Cricket team has me in it.

The second solo pic has a bowler, Pritipal Singh Gandhi, who was also known for Mankading a runner of the team, when he walked out of his crease at the bowler's end too soon. The write-up also has a mention of both of us. I finished school in 1977, so this is really a looong throwback!

Typical Roles -Hindi Films

There were a few set people for certain roles in Hindi films in the 70s.. the decade in which I saw the maximum number.

Mother, usually the hero's mother- Nirupa Roy

Mother-in-law- Lalita Pawar

Villain- Ajit (Raabert, Maikal, Mona, etc. were equally entertaining sidekicks)

Inspector of Police- Jagdish Raj

Commissioner of Police - Iftikhar (always)

Hero's sister- Nazima, Farida Jalal

Hero's sidekick (comic role)- Mehmood

Old man- Sanjeev Kumar

Sad old man- A.K. Hangal

Problems Around the World

Of course, climate change and global warming are the big ones, despite denial by some of the bigwigs in world governments. (Venice going under water has not convinced them yet). But there are other serious questions that need to be asked.

For example, in the U.S. (since we think they are the greatest invention known to mankind), there are shootings galore. Don't know the stats, but seems like an average of one per week. Random killings, mostly because someone has easy access to a gun. The victims, usually school or college kids who did no wrong. Taliban, anyone?

Migration at any cost..Vietnamese in a container, boat people, or others fleeing what they see as a despondent state back home, for some reason. What makes people migrate with such fervour, without a care for the risks involved? War is an obvious answer. Abject poverty or hopelessness is the other (Venezuela is a recent case).

We are no better, as the unending stories of rape have shown us for many years. What is it that makes people sick enough to do this? Deterrence is of course a part of the solution, but what are the root causes and how do we remove those, if possible?

Hopefully, we will not get de-sensitised because of an overdose of these shootings, wars and rapes. Hopefully, we will find ways of preventing them.

Book Review- Naked at Lunch

A book that is very interesting, because it is an attempt to look behind our textile world and the clothes-optional world which some people have tried to create. Don't get wrong ideas. The purpose of most of the "nudists" is not to have orgies, but just to relax and take a good look at themselves- without the burden of the packaging.



Social nudism has been attempted in various places- beaches, nudist clubs and the like, with mixed results. Outrage by the society, indifference, or sometimes, the liberal view, that the right to go naked is something to be protected even if you don't like it. The practice of a sect of Jains (Digambar) is also mentioned, where minimal or no clothing is part of religious practice.

A journalist by profession, the author participates in a few outings at clothes-optional places around the world (including a longish trek!), and pens down his thoughts. Yes, many of these had mixed company, usually with couples only allowed into the enclaves. The motive of the promoters seems to be to get out of restrictions that clothes seem to impose on us humans, and pressures to package ourselves to "look good."

My only encounter of this kind has been at a Japanese Onsen or hot water public bath, and you really don't think too much about it after the initial shyness has worn off. The author seems to say the same.

How to Review an Academic Paper

These are simple guidelines for wannabe reviewers. You will never go wrong with these, and will rise to become an editor of a reputed journal in quick time..guaranteed.

1. Make a blank list of ten bullet points, where you will list the flaws (in the paper) you are yet to find.
2. Ensure that you don't use any adjectives that are positive.
3. Show how well-read you are. Quote three papers that the author has not cited (ignore those he has cited).
4. Ignore what the author has done, and focus on what he could have- examples are, How does this help to solve issues such as global warming? or, How does this help the reader know the exact reasons for Trump's impeachment? Where is the theory underlying this fishing expedition? (it does not matter that Management has not had any new decent theory for the past 50 years and most people think that it is an Applied Field).
5. Underline the fact that this piece of .... will be magically transformed from unprintable crap to a wonderful, life-changing piece that can solve issues mentioned in 4 above ONLY by amending it in line with your review. It's either your way or the highway!

End Game in Politics- A Satire

Actually, there is no such thing, as countless elections and their aftermath (Math is a pun, not intended) have shown us countless times. What appears to be a done thing, can turn out quite the opposite.

Well, this calls for a play, or at least, a play-let. So here goes-

A Multidimensional Romance

Dimension 1 (D1 for convenience) to D2: I am yours forever, but..

D2 (to D1): But what?

D1: I need you to part with your heart!

D3 to D4, in the meantime: I love you, and want you to show me your love, by giving me your heart.

D4 to D3: Love you I do, but cannot part with my heart.

D3: In that case, my heart is D1's...or D2's, if I get to have a heart-to-heart-chat with any one of them.

Soon after: D3 to D1: You want me? Promise that you will never look at D2 again.
D1: But,...Ok, I give you my word.

D2 to D4: My heart is yours, I am on the rebound, from this cheater D1.

D1 and D3 live happily thereafter, and D2 and D4, unhappily ever after.

No politician was harmed during the writing of this...voters, we are not too sure...

Meetings and Nostalgia

Nowadays, every meeting that I have is tinged with nostalgia- tells you a story! Anyways, my friend from childhood in Andhra Pradesh (his parents and mine were both in Singareni Collieries), through a few years in the US, and me, met with family after a while. It was great to catch up, with Ken Jolly, aka Kiran Kenjale, and his wife. Thanks to him, I visited lesser-known parts of L.A., including Knott's Berry Farm, NBC Studios, and also took my first Eurail trip by breaking journey in Frankfurt on the way to India from the U.S. Some pics-

In case you were wondering, this was the wine :)