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 :)

International Men's Day

Men think they rule the world..maybe they do, in office. But homes are mostly unruled by them, because they are never there, mostly. The race for a promotion, or meeting targets, or just sending money home (for migrant workers) keeps them busy.

It is the women who do the bulk of the work back home even today, which makes it a comfort zone for all who live there - a bit of nagging is a small price to pay for it! This is not to celebrate the unequal partnership, but to express gratefulness for women who do what it takes, in spite of many challenges. Hopefully, one day, men will return the favour in larger numbers.

If men can at least understand the situation, it is half the battle won. Thanks to the women in our lives. It is not one, but several women who are usually behind a successful man.

Marjaavaan- Film Review

It's a miracle that I am alive, after watching this. A horrible mish-mash of various films, jerkily put together. Mind-numbing mix of Deewar without Amitabh (first scene and last scene), Alfred Hitchcock (telling you whodunit in the beginning scene), and a lot more, it tests your patience from beginning till end.

Probably the only original thing is the dwarf (if you ignore the Kamal Haasan role as a dwarf, that is) played by Ritesh Deshmukh. The master-stroke is to select non-actors who can't act to save their life for the lead roles. Nasser is probably the only one who can.

The story is also a hotch-potch (if the above weren't enough) of various Southern-Dons-in-Mumbai from Thalapathi to Once Upon a Time in Mumbai with a bit of Satya thrown in for good measure. Add the crappy way in which the mindless stuff is stitched together, and you have a total disaster.

Ideally, the title should have been Bheja Fry, to indicate what it might do to your brain. The songs are an assault on the senses, in case you want to know more.

My Photogenic Pals

Some of them have won my Nice DP Award several times, and some may not have. But these are some friends who look very good in pics, more often than not. As usual, it's not a complete list, and I may just be losing my memory.. with that caveat, here's the partial list. (and as I have said before, if you are not on this list, maybe you are a good-looker in real life, rather than in a pic- you can quit the Instagrams..wink, wink)

Shefali Dixit, Siri Adi, Divya Sisodiya, Harnam Kaur, Roshni Chhabra, Himani Detwani, Saanjh K, Anusha Soni, Srishti Vinamra, Animesh Jain, Kanika Mhendiratta, Jasleen Kaur Pandher, Ishan Joshi, Sayali Jagdale, Nayan Sharma, Saumya Sharma, Shafique Gajdhar, Sucharita Pradhan, Deepti Joshi Deshpande, Raghavansharma Padmanabha, Henna Vanzara, Yamini Shah, Kanika Bhatia, Sreechand Nambiar, Sindhuja Gantayet, Komal Nagdavne, Neetika Thapar, Sapna Patni, Dheeru Epuri, Surabhi Vishwakarma, Chandana Kuruganty, Vidya TC, Surbhi Tandon Verma, Vandana Kumar, Mukesh Kumar Sinha, Tanaya Kar Chaturvedi, Sampark Sachdeva, Akshat Surana, Shivaratna Kumar Patil, Sudeep Jain, Sweta Mukherjee, Kshitija Deshmukh, Pavan Tarawade, Eisha Sawhney, Anshita Abhishek Chetty, Swathika Selvam, Pritu Raghuram Shetty, Aashneet Gautam, Pooja Daniel, Savitha NK, Manasa Bharadwaj, Merwin James, Supriya Sood Kataria, Anushka Mishra, Poonam Pawar, Aishani Verma, Anjali Iyer, Nidhi Trivedi, Nidhi Sharma Chanana, Abhishek Mukherjee, Chaitra Hegde, Monika Ghosh, Avadhoot Jathar, Nandini Saxena, Sruthi Chandrasenan,......

Mahendra Kapoor- the Unsung Hero of Singing

In the era that was dominated by Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Lata and Asha (still termed the Golden Era of Hindi film music by many), there were a few other singers who were pretty good. One such was Mahendra Kapoor. Though he may not have had the range of Kishore and Rafi, he had a few great songs, which I am a fan of.

I think one of his best was from Gumraah- Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaayen hum..beautiful lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi and great music by Ravi added to the overall effect. Check it out here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzbO1mjFPOM

Another song from Hamraaz had the same effect, and was a big hit- Neele gagan ke tale, dharti ka pyar pale- it has a tranquil quality that is rare in love songs. It was well-picturised too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoityCJ22hs

Lakhon hain yahaan dilwale, aur pyaar nahin milta, from Kismet, filmed on Biswajeet, is another favourite of mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrqMT9rbyUI

Some of his duets with Asha Bhosle were big hits too. One was this Mumtaz-Dharmendra song from Aadmi aur Insaan- Zindagi ittefaq hai, kal bhi ittefaq thi, aaj bhi ittefaq hai.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsl8QOj2tHA

Analog Versus Digital Life

My life was analog at the beginning. For one, I studied electrical engineering, not electronics engineering. I used dial-tuned radio/transistors which contained vacuum tube technology inside. I learnt how to take photographs on a regular camera, black and white at first.

I don't remember when I first used a computer seriously, but may have been around 1986 while in the U.S. I also remember seeing the first Apple computer in a friend's lab there in another department (we used IBM PCs and floppy discs in management-no mouse).

Slowly, the world changed. I turned digital like everyone else. So what's the big change? I think the greys gave way to ones and twos- that's the biggest change. Except my hair colour, that is. They are still grey, and will be, unless L'Oreal gives me a gift pack. But then, in my profession, the hair colour I have counts for something.

C Ramchandra AKA Chitalkar

This was a unique music director because he was also a singer. He was a big hit in the era of black and white Hindi films, and used a lot of rhythm, and a blend of Western and Indian styles. Many of his songs were superhits of his time, and aficianados like them even today. Check out some of these-

1. Mere piya gaye Rangoon, wahan se kiya hai telephoon. This is sung over a telephone, and is conversational in style. Bhagwan Dada is the male actor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbErQRZZNKY

2. Aana meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday. Fun lyrics and acting, and he's a singer too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQT_HmOUdRc

3. Shola jo bhadke dil mera dhadke..beautiful rhythm, and the female actress is the lively Geeta Bali, teaming up with Bhagwan Dada. The costume is inspired Hawaiian. This film Albela had many hit songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPBp45fKado

4. Gore gore o banke chhore kabhi meri gali aaya karo. Western, foot-tapping beats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co42dt6HY8Q

OP Nayyar

This was a music director who always made tunes that were peppy, and had a great sense of rhythm. I am going to list out a few of his compositions, which may prove the point. He was also known for using Asha Bhosle a lot more than other female singers, and some of her great songs of the pre-RD Burman era were the ones she sang for him as music director. Ok, enough of the lecture. Now the demo.

1. Piya piya piya mora jiya pukare ..this is a delightful duet (Kishore Kumar at his yodeling best, and Asha Bhosle). The typical hoofbeat rhythm which you find in many of Nayyar's songs appears in this too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmdtYWFMtFo

2.  Pukarta chala hoon main. This is another of his songs that is still a favourite of many. Mohammad Rafi is the singer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLKBwutnPwA

3. Woh haseen dard dedo jise main gale laga loon. (Asha Bhosle).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3uKcarywDI

4. Yeh hai reshmi zulfon ka andhera na ghabraiye. Asha Bhosle again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbJnQan-qQQ

5. Lakhon hain yahan dilwale aur pyar nahin milta.. (Mahendra Kapoor sings this one) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrqMT9rbyUI

6. Khoobsurat sathi itni baat bataa kitna pyar hai dil mein tere.. (Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX6SlN6--Jc

Artificial Governance- A Satire

Why we need a politician to govern us is beyond me.

Bureaucrats can run the show with the help of AI. All you have to do is load the AI machines with all the important functions of the functionaries.

Online auctions can be performed after every election to find out who wants to change parties at what price-that takes care of government formation.

Digital signatures can also be used to clear any files, and regular attendance can be changed to optional in any office. Imagine the reduction in vehicular pollution levels, and the savings in petrol.

Social media can be used to conduct a referendum on all important ideas- if only Britain had asked me for consultancy, they'd have been saved an election, and lots of confusion- and Pounds (or Euros).

If AI has gone for maintenance, it can be called a Chai break/Lunch break- an indefinite one.You get the drift, I am sure.. you are intelligent, naturally.

Cities Of The World

Great cities around the world..

Before and After- Digital Marketing

We decided to do a Before and After group Selfie in my digital marketing class at Mumbai, to see if the Selfie-taking skills of the Selfie-taker improved after taking this course. The results. (you can judge for yourself).

Shravan was sporting enough to take the selfies, and we all posed to the best of our abilities- some better than others! The first and third are After shots, and the middle one is the Before shot.

Teaching Digital Marketing

I always have a lot of fun teaching, mainly because I try and get students to do small activities in class, and enjoy what they come up with in response. This time, thanks to Anjali who assisted me in teaching, we had a new exercise. They had to come up with an endorsement on video for a matrimonial site (of their choice). It had to be only 30 seconds long.

Another activity was to do a podcast, for a brand in a given category. Some came up with very creative ideas for one, using only audio. Of course, I continued with a blogging exercise that student groups have to do through the length of the course, on things to do with Digital Marketing. There were a few interesting ones there too. Viewership stats also had to be shown, and ways in which the blogs were promoted.

There were a few other activities too,  which I will describe some other time.

The Mumbai MBA class also had subscribed to this course, and due to the smaller class size, it was a pleasure to teach it there. I really think our class sizes are too big for anyone's good.

Reuniting with KIAMS Alumni

I have actually met a few in the last months, some for the first time, and others after a long/very long time. I also met a few abroad, like Smita Mohan in Dubai, and Swapna and Vidya in Singapore some years ago. It was always a warm and fuzzy feeling. So it was when I again met a few alums in Mumbai recently. This time it was Nishka and Vikram Rathi, and Ashustosh. After 14-15 years!

We discussed everything under the Sun, from Ghostwriting, to organisational culture, to NBFCs, to Tata International (they had a Dewas factory), Davangere eateries, and good speakers, road trips, and dogs on campuses. And teenage tantrums, though Nishka and Vikram don't look old enough to have a teenaged kid!

 Savitha from Batch 1above, and Sharmistha and Sunil Kataria from B4 below.

Anushka Mishra (above) from a recent batch and Dheeraj Mohan from a batch I taught (B3/B4?)

Roses Galore in Indore

Well, what can I say? A workplace has never looked so welcoming! A pictorial study of the Roses around us at Indore campus.

These are from a path which I walk up everyday.

Saand Ki Aankh or Bull's Eye - A Review

This is another endearing film on a genre which seems within the grasp of Indian film-makers. Mostly, they are doing a good job of small-town heroes involved in sport- and most of these are women sportspeople. Mary Kom comes to mind, and Dangal. There was also a Dhoni biopic that I did not see.

This one (about shooters) is well-made, and well-acted in. One thing that struck me is that in almost all movies now, the villain is one of our own, not the "other"- larger than life guy with a den and a moll on his arm. It is men and women who represent patriarchy, oppression or false expectations. Prakash Jha as Tau is the perfect villain- patriarchy in its purest form- in this film. He seeks to maintain the old order-and fails.

Bhumi Pednekar and Taapsee Pannu have both acted in several good films, and here they both do a Sanjeev Kumar with panache- act old! Their individual acts and chemistry with each other make the film a delight. The supporting cast is adequate for their job.

Insights about rural India (and urban India by contrast, and Maharajas) abound, if you are looking for them. Seems like a directorial debut, and a good one.