Blasts From the Past

I get recognised fairly often- not because I am a celebrity, but because I have taught at different places in India-perks of teaching, if you will. Usually, this happens in malls, or on the street where I am spotted by an ex-student. Today, it happened at IIM Indore itself, where I met Venkat who used to work at KOEL (not the bird, but Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd. at Pune). When I worked at Kirloskar Institute, we had done a BPR consulting project for the group company, and Venkat had coordinated it from KOEL.

He is now a freelancer based out of Bangalore, and consults and teaches. So it was that he came to IIM Indore- to teach Retailing. And that's how we met. Reminded me of that meeting on Bangalore streets with Soumyashree, and in a pub with Mrunal, and in a mall in Bhubaneswar with an IIM Indore student, Rohit Kumar. Bhawana Sahay (IMT alum) in a Hyderabad theatre too, where we saw Newton. I am now getting used to these pleasant surprisesthey are all pleasant, without exception.

Planned meets have their own charm (have had lots of these recently), but these are also great!

When an Indori Meets a Mumbaikar

Well, I am not really an Indori, but feel like one, having lived here for six years now. But Meghna Sinha is definitely a Mumbaikar, though we met in Nagpur first. We have kept in touch over the years, and she and I run a Mutual Admiration Society, among other things. It was a pleasure catching up once again, and monkeying around (the first pic will explain)-

 I am usually not much of a talker, but we carried on for a couple of hours on this occasion, as we talked about this and that..including teaching and training, since she's into training at her company now..

 In style (above), and among the wine shelves (below)

 This was the place, with a weird name.. I tried a drink called Chun Tai, which was not weird at all..

Workshop on Tourism in Mumbai

We launched the Workshop on Tourism Marketing in the Executive MBA program at Mumbai. 'We'  includes Prof. Jayasimha, my colleague at Indore, and I. Some pics from the enthusiastic class.

 The first pic is from the M.P. Tourism presentation by a group.

 Other students posed for the pics that follow, above and below.

Tanhaji- Film Review

Competently made historical with a few liberties taken from the story we heard as kids. Which is OK, cinema is a different medium, and exact replica of history may not make for a good visual depiction.

I was somehow a bit disappointed by the depiction of Shivaji, though I understand the pic is not really about him. His character in the film comes across as indecisive and weak, or rather, too dependent on others to decide on important issues. Maybe it would have helped if one of the characters had listed his immense contributions in a short speech or interaction. Not sure why Tanhaji is spelt with an 'h' too- the correct way to spell it would be without an h, as Tanaji, according to me (and Wiki).

But these small  quibbles apart, it is good to see one of the significant Maratha warriors, a right hand of Shivaji, getting his due. A couple of famous dialogues in Marathi add to the zing, such as 'Gad aala pan Sinh gela' (we got the fort, but lost a Lion in the process)- by Shivaji, referring to the death of Tanaji in the process of capturing Kondhana. The fort (near Pune) is now renamed as Sinhagad or the Lion's fort in Tanaji's honour.

Kicking off Alum Meets 2020

These are not the official ones, but meets with alums of different places I have taught in, personally, either at Indore or elsewhere. Met Sapna Patni (an Indore alumna) recently. Her pic in my office-

Yesterday, Akshat Surana, an IMT Nagpur alum came to the campus to meet Jayasimha and me.

Wonderful to meet, and have a long conversation on a pleasant winter day. Had run into him last year in a proper alumni meet at the Orchid. Recounted his and my old days at Nagpur, and remembered many students who are now in different places. Since he is in Human resources, we talked about the trends in HR jobs, and what automation might do to some of them. Also, about how people have to become more responsible for their own development to keep from being made redundant. A pic of him with Prof. Jayasimha, who taught him at Nagpur. A mug shot, actually, with the mug from those times in the middle :)

 Another small alum meet, with three IMT Nagpur alums (and two of us ex-IMT prof. alumni) happened when Kedar Muley got together with Ravi Mittal and Rishabh Rakhecha from his batch of 10-12 recently. Here's pictorial proof-

Look forward to some more, as it's only January.

Darbar- A Review of the Rajnikant Film

Rajni does it again. This man is amazing on screen, no matter what the story of the film is- It could be sci-fi, as in Robot, or a simple cop and robber story, he dominates everything in sight with sheer presence!

And so it is with his latest, Darbar. The story is almost incidental to showcasing the man. It's not a bad story, but the editing and fast-paced movement keeps you engaged for most part. The daughter and his sidekick are the only others who have a substantial role, not even his love interest. The songs and lyrics are a weak point, but luckily don't take away too much from the main plot. Dialogues are good.

Sunil Shetty does not have a lot to do, and does it competently. Watch it if you are a Rajni fan. If not, it's up to you.As a student of film acting, just to learn what an actor can achieve, it's a lesson. He makes it look so easy..it's not, at his age, I am quite sure.

Mardaani 2- a Review

Not many films are made involving serious crime detection. This one is an exception, and also because it has a female protagonist at the helm of affairs. What starts out as a rape case turns out to have many twists, including a 'supari' (hired) assassin, who is inured to crime, and thinks nothing of either killing, or raping, and is extremely creative, and daring.

His identity is revealed at the beginning, so it's the cat and mouse game between him and the female cop that sustains interest. Alfred Hitchcock used this approach successfully in his films- focus on the how he got caught rather than on Who did it.

It works, because the film is gripping. I had only one small problem. The protagonist relied too much on her hunches, and did not give enough thought to where the killer could be found when some signs pointed towards her immediate surroundings. No mention of any fingerprints, surprisingly, when they may have helped solve the crime much earlier.

The acting is good, on both sides. The direction by Gopi Puthran, even better.

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga

No, I am not recounting my experience, though I could. This is a tribute to my favourite music composer R.D. Burman, whose Death anniversary was January 4th. One of his last films was 1942, a Love Story, from which I have chosen this song, Ek ladki ko..

He was a fabulous composer, and I will only recount what I remember off the cuff, from his vast repertoire of songs, with a categorisation of my own-

Innovative- Jaane jaan dhoondhta phir raha., Dum maro dum, mit jaaye gham,...

Philosophical- Musafir hoon yaaron, na ghar hai na thikaana, Aanewala pal, jaanewala hai, Chingari koi bhadke,..

Romantic- Ek ajnabi haseena se, Pyar deewana hota hai mastana hota hai, O mere dil ke chain, Kehna hai, kehna hai, aaj tumse yeh pehli baar, gulabi aankhen jo teri dekhi...

In his own voice- Mehbooba mehbooba,  Dhanno ki aankhon mein, Duniya mein logon ko dhokha kabhi ho jaata hai..

Classical- Mere naina saawan bhaadon, Hamein tumse pyar kitna yeh hum nahin jaante, ...

Mature- Songs from Aandhi, Ghar,..

Exuberant- Chala jaata hoon kisi ki dhun mein..

Comic- Mere saamne wali khidki mein, Ek chatur naar,..

Rocking on stage- Most songs from Teesri Manzil, Yaadon ki Baaraat, and Hum Kisise Kum Nahin.

This blog gets its name from one that he composed- Yeh shaam mastani, Madhosh kiye jaaye..

The Globalising Indian

During my growing up years, mostly Indians were going to the U.S. for higher studies, and then, many settled down there. Hardly any other destinations.

Now I find my friends/students or relatives in multiple places. Canada and Australia seem to be the popular ones, though there are a few in New Zealand, Dubai, Finland or Germany as well. This is a sign of globalisation.

I think it is also a sign that a few more countries have realised two things- that you need immigrants to bring in some new ideas, at least in some sectors. And that Indians have what it takes, in those sectors.

If immigration laws did not exist (I suspect they did not, long ago when India used to be one of the richest economies in the world, even if under monarchies), people (labour in the words of economists) would probably be better able to redistribute themselves according to need and joblessness may reduce - hypothetically at least. The alternative, globalised production according to the cheapest location that can produce anything, seems mired in tariff wars across geographies.

Anyway, interesting to see where all the nationalist, anti-immigration rhetoric in various countries leads us..and what happens to the oil-rich economies when oil runs out.

Conference at Bhubaneswar

To close the year, I attended a conference at Bhubaneswar organised by IIM Sambalpur (our mentee as an institute in its early stages) to present a paper on Tourism Destinations and their Marketing. One or two highlights were that I met a couple of former colleagues, one of whom and I had worked at XIM Bhubaneswar in the early 90s. Also met a first batch student from XIM who I had not taught.

But, surprisingly (or maybe not), ran into an IIM Indore alum, Rohit Kumar, at a cinema hall where both of us had gone to watch different films. It was a multiplex, and we exited at the same time. Anyway, a couple of meetings over coffee and dinner happened. In the process, I rediscovered an old haunt of ours Dawat, which was one of the few restaurants back in 1991. I also remember I saw Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar while I stayed in Bhubaneswar. Lots of memories..remember attending the Konark Dance Festival too..

 V. Gopal, my former colleague at IMT and XIMB...

 Rohit Kumar, IIMI alum, now with Oxford University Press at Bhubaneswar..

 Dawat restaurant, an old haunt from my days there..

 Above-Hotel Empires, a nice place to stay.. and below, with the salesgirls in Tribes India, where I did the unthinkable- shopping!