The Merchant of Venice Comes to Indore

The canals and mansions of Venice came alive, through the unusual love story of Bassanio and Portia, and a couple of other couples, at the IIM Indore auditorium last evening. A brilliantly assembled ensemble cast performed the Bard's immortal play to perfection. Shylock, the Jew, contrasted well with the generous Antonio and his gentleman friend Bassanio.

Some of the cast was changed to female characters in this adaptation, to good effect. The Duchess of Venice (Kiara), for instance, replaced the Duke, and Lancelot, the servant who switches jobs from Shylock to serve Bassanio, was also played by a female, and quite effectively portrayed by Prachi. Students from the IPM, PGP and FPM came together to play all the roles. Shreya Surana played Portia like a veteran.

The major characters- Shylock, Portia, Antonio and Bassanio, and the supporting characters- friends of these two, the Princes of Morocco and Bombay (a change from the original), and the lady in waiting, and others, were just right for their roles. The set design, lighting and sound added to the impact, not to mention the wardrobe/dresses which made the women look beautiful, and the men elegant. It was a hat-trick of sorts for Shweta Kushal, the director, who earlier directed Where There is a Will, and The Importance of Being earnest at IIM Indore. Some glimpses of the play-

 The diabolical Shylock casts a menacing shadow..

 The court of the Duchess of Venice. (above)

 Dramatic moments involving Bassanio (above), and the servant and her mother (below)

 More drama involving Portia and Antonio (above)-

 The cast (above) with the Director (centre) and a couple of backstage supporters.

 The backdrops of Venice were effective in creating atmosphere

Portia (in disguise) with Shylock, and her/his clerk and accomplice while pronouncing the judgement.

Summer Versus Winter

People have their preferences for seasons, like they have for Democrats or Republicans. But for me, summer is a clear winner-winter, the loser. I shall give you five good reasons-

1. Summer is pro-poor. You don't need a lot of clothes to protect yourself, and the poor can sleep at night even in the open, if there's no shelter. Trees can help in the daytime.

2. Winter makes you want to curl up in bed. Summer creates animal spirits that spur exploration, entrepreneurship...hiber-nation versus a Hyper nation, you see?

3. Mango is the King of fruits..and it comes out in Summer..the U.S. has no mangoes, in most parts.

4. Have you ever tried swimming in cold sea water? I have, and trust me, it's no fun.. Goa, it's summer-like even in Winter. Any arguments?

 5. And the clincher- you can eat ice cream without fear of catching a cold. Isn't that a great plus?

What it Takes to be a Baba

There are two categories of Babas (Holy Men)- one, those in jail, and two, who are not in jail.

We will concentrate on those that are out of jail. So, to be one, what do you need?

One, a working knowledge of Sanskrit and the names of the old texts like the Vedas, Upanishads and of course, The Bhagvad Gita. You need not know a lot about these, a stray shloka or excerpt will do, because none of your followers will actually read them.

That reminds me, you need followers to be an effective Baba. That is not so difficult. Our large population comes in handy. Find a few unemployed youth and offer them food and unlimited growth, and a place to stay.

Oh, yes, you need a place to call your own too. An ashram, in other words. You will have to ensnare a rich devotee quickly, one who may have some spare acreage lying unused, and promise him salvation, so that you get the land.

Now all you need is a nice name, and some robes-of any colour that's not taken by competing Babas. A beard may help- like a suit, it makes anyone look impressive. You are all set! You can make a career out of it..but stay out of jail, if possible.

The Art of Getting Offended

Of all the skills needed to survive today (2020), the one of paramount importance is knowing how to get offended. You don't always have to lead a riot, though that can grab headlines in national media for a few hours to a few days. But you must do it right, and therefore, there is a market for Skill-building courses involving this skill. Entrepreneurship, e-commerce and food delivery are passe.

There is no need to impress upon you why this skill is important. If you don't get offended these days, you are a nobody. You may think you are something great like a Social Media Influencer with thousands of followers, but if you don't get offended regularly, you will lose all those followers. The only other way to get loyal followers is to get into scandals regularly. But getting offended is easier. Let me explain.

You can get offended by almost anything. That's a huge advantage. If the name of a new film is not to your liking, you can get offended. If the film shows your profession in a bad light (even if fictionally), you can still get offended. If the director does not apologise for the imaginary slights, you can get offended. Even if he does, you can get offended by his insincerity in apologising. You get the point?

If someone tells a joke involving gender, ethnicity, nationality, eating habits, accent, what-have-you, you can get offended. Humorists and cartoonists (the ones that are out of jail) will have a tough time because of you too- an added plus for getting offended.

If you are offended by this blog post, it would have served a purpose-of educating you as to the importance of the whole thing.

Mumbai Meets

Generally, I do meet some old students whenever I can. I usually have a partner-in-crime who gets in touch with some of their friends, and this time it was Sheetal Garg, one of my pals from IMT Nagpur. Though I never taught her, we get along famously, and thanks to her effort, we (Abha Kulkarni was the third), met and chatted for a couple of hours effortlessly, about various things-life included, but also kids and grown-up kind of stuff. We decided that we'll offer ourselves up to Abhinav Kamal (another IMTian) for acting in his films, since he's the only chance we have..we also did a photo-shoot to impress him.. Abhinav, here it is! Also pinning our hopes on the fact that Sheetal has just won the Miss Congeniality title at a Pageant..you can see why!

Crowning glory- we even managed to put the Taj in the shade! Sunshine around me!!

Death

I just read an online article about a guy wanting to die at 75.

He has a lot of nice ideas about why he wants to die at 75. One of them being that he does not want to burden others-kids or siblings-with taking care of him or his illnesses.

A very good reason is that he wants to be remembered as an active, independent, healthy person rather than an invalid or chronically ill patient.

He is not going to kill himself at 75, but he has opted out of medical tests (which I think is a great idea at any age unless it's a must), and any expensive treatment that will prolong his life but may not give him back his active life.

Even if you don't want to die at 75, his fundas about planning your final years are worth a read. Here is the link-
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/10/why-i-hope-to-die-at-75/379329/

Love Aaj Kal -2 Long

The movie has lessons- for the film maker and the lead characters.

1. If you make a long movie (defined as anything over 2 hours today), please watch Sholay before you make it. Learn the tricks. Even Amar Akbar Anthony will do, but Sholay is better.

2. If all that the hero and heroine are going to do is vacillate, show them playing "Will she, will she not?" or its equivalent, "Will he, will he not?" More entertaining, any day.

3. Make sure the lead characters enrol for an MBA and learn decision-making skills. If not an MBA, at least a short term training program- an MDP.

4. There is a reason why Randeep Hooda does not get meaty roles. Respect that.

5. Don't copy tunes from Nagin starring Vyjayanthimala. (This is for Preetam)

Verdict? Go watch Life in a Metro. It also had music by Preetam. Much better music, and a better story too.

Customer Service in Hospitality

I admit it's tough getting everything right in customer service. But the idea is to try. These are some instances at a hotel chain (reputed) that offer scope for improvement.

The hotel has a room key card that is used in the lift to access the floor that you stay on. The problem is, the card is not read easily, and several attempts have to be made to get the lift to start. Easily solveable, in my view..get a better reader. Since you have to do this several times a day, it's frustrating.

Another level of service is expected from this kind of a brand. We were corporate clients on a business, and our business was at another floor (not where we stayed). But the card did not give automatic access to that floor, even though the hotel knew what we were there for, and where we would have to go. And when this was pointed out, the staff was not apologetic about it :) So much for reputation!

Service at the dining room was patchy, and erratic. Lots of times waiters were around, but it was difficult to get their attention. Tables were not cleared promptly, in a crowded situation.

There were instances of good service as well, particularly at the frisking at the entrance, but many more things could be better.

Meetups in Delhi Part 1

Well, it is rare to catch up with someone whom both Prof. Jayasimha and I have taught, and around Valentine's Day, it was all the more special. One of our talented and lovely ex-students, Bhuvneet Raheja and we met over a chilled-out evening menu. Luckily for us (me at least), the conversation and the temperature were both warm, and it was fun exchanging stories about our lives and times. Remembered Stuti and Anwesha, who along with her formed an unforgettable girl gang in my class at Indore. The themed cafe is called The Big Chill, and has movie posters from many old Hollywood films. Some glimpses, with the three of us playing major roles..

 Showing off the lovely Mehndi..above

 How the mehndi got there..

Meetups in Delhi Part 2

Dilwalon ki Dilli was a pit-stop for work. But all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. So we tried catching up on some (not-so) old students, and succeeded. Surbhi Mehta Chadha was a student at IMT Nagpur during 2012-14, and a winner of a few Nice DP Awards to boot, and sportingly came up to meet us this morning with hubby in tow. It was a pleasure chatting, accompanied by something to munch on, as food encourages thinking. Remembered Shruti, Aditya, Anuj and Vrinda Khanna, among others. Some pics-

Malang- Film Review

Anil Kapoor is still a very good actor. Mohit Suri has used him well. He is very credible as the slightly demented cop who is trigger-happy.

The film starts slowly, and the first half could have been a little crisper, but the second makes up for it, with a quicker pace, and dramatic action. The two protagonists do a decent job, and the support actors are also pretty decent.

The initial part about the drug scene in Goa is actually old hat (Dev Anand made a film about drugs in 1970 or thereabouts), but it sets up the story well, as you realise later on. The narration does keep the suspense alive, and the second half ends up redeeming the film.

Along the way, it also opens up about male impotence, a taboo subject rarely talked about in India.

Jawani Janeman- Film Review

This is an average film that mostly relies on cliches in a new setting (London), with one major twist in the tale that comes pretty early. There are a few scenes which seem quite unnecessary or repetitive, but Alaya Furniturewala, the charming debutant actress who springs the surprise, carries the film on her shoulders. Without her, it might have been a tough watch.

There is some situational comedy, but most of it looks contrived. It is not helped by Saif 's act, which also looks forced most of the time. The doctor played by Kiku Sharda was funny.

On the whole, it's watchable, but no great shakes. Tabu comes pretty late in the film, so if you are expecting to see her for any length of time, you will be disappointed. A pity!

I liked Saif's film Chef better than this one.

Prof AK Rao No More

Just heard from friends that Prof. AK Rao who taught us Operations Research is no more. He was famous for a coastal Andhra accent while teaching it, and we still remember some of the Cake mix problems, though the subject itself was nobody's favourite,. but he was, and that's wonderful, I think. He was always smiling, and friendly, in and out of class, even if you had got a D in his course (I didn't say I did). I once taught O.R. in the US, and mainly due to his course that I had taken before. I had met him during and after his stint as the director of SDM, Mysore. His article for our student mag IMBIBE is also fresh in my mind, because he was sporting enough to write for us editors. Here it is, as a small tribute.