Hyderabadi Finally Gets It

No, he gets what's Corona, not the virus. Finally..

Panicking Non-Hyderabadi: (PN) Samajh mein aaya miya, kaiku ghar meich rehna bolre?

Hyderabadi (H): Hau, ab main baharich nahin nikaltun dekho. Magar ek baat samajh mein nahin aari, ghar mein baithke kya karna bolke..

PN: Kuchh bhi karo- taash khelo, saanp seedhi khelo,

H: Yeh bachhon ke kaamaan hain, main kaisa khel saktoon?

PN: Kitabaan padho.

H: Hai kahaan padhneku? Bookstoraan kabke band ho gaye-yeh Corona se bhot pehle!

PN: Hau, woh bhi sahi hai..to phir emailaan likho na?

H: Kisku likhun? Koi padhta aaj kal emailaan?

PN: Phir picture dekho koi bhi.

H: Hum logon ku bolne ki zaroorat hai? Sab dekh liya so hoon..

PN: Chai banake piyo phir har ghante mein..

H: Subah se aath cup pee liya na ab tak..

PN: Aisa? Phir to khana khaake so jao..khwaabaan aate achhe achhe..

H: Kya baat bole yaaro, pehle nahin bolna tha? Jaarun, kal milinge!

Of Lockdowns and Beyond

Just when airlines thought they had got their act together and would fly higher into profits, the Covid-19 has virtually grounded them all. Domestic flights too, till April 14th. (in India)

So after the lockdowns end, when they do, will normality return to air travel, hospitality, and all the rest? Business travel is likely to pick up first, followed by a cautious uptick in personal travel, and finally, leisure travel or tourism. People are likely to be wary of international travel for a few months at least.

What about retail? A lot of business has actually come to the small kirana stores, as they are within walking distance of most houses, and are an essential service. Maybe bigger stores will take a while in India at least, to get back all their customers. They might have to incentivise customers. We are, in the meantime, re-discovering the virtues of small businesses. Hopefully, mom and pop stores will continue to thrive in India, and not just for groceries- given the employment challenges, they have the potential to keep the families working.

Hygiene-related products may see a sustained interest, because this crisis has taught everyone the importance of washing hands and disinfecting surfaces that you can.

A simpler lifestyle might result for a while, having got used to the necessities and being able to live without a lot of discretionary spends. Marketers of many discretionary goods will have to work harder to attract customers.

Getting the lost mojo back into many economic sectors will take quite a while. Hope it happens within a year or two. If not, education may also suffer-higher education, more so. Hopefully, allocations to the health sector will go up across countries.

Remembering Students- Roll Call

Thanks to Zuckerberg, I have reconnected with so many, it's hard to remember all...will give it a shot.

Most recent ones were Rohit Kumar, Bhuvneet Raheja, Akshat Surana, Nishka and Vikram Rathi, Sapna Patni, Anam Nuhi, Arshia Mulla, Ravi Mittal, Kedar Muley, Surbhi Mehta Chadha, Meghna Sinha, Kanika Mhendiratta, Sheetal Garg, Abha Kulkarni (Spice Girl 1), Ishan and Ankita, Keyur Bhalavat, Shraddha Nigdikar, Savitha, Bharath Shenoy, Harshad Sachani, Tamros Mondal, Pratima Gaekwad, Padmapriya, Sunil Kataria, Shweta Agarwal, Sharmistha Singh, Nikita Kumar (I owe her some chocolates!), Shruti Sharma and Aditya Naag, Latha from PGPMX, Tosha Dubey (Spice Girl 2), Anuj Mathew, Sirisha (does not like spice!), Khyati Jha (author), Abhinav Kamal (film-maker), Punyashlok (budding prof.), Manjari, ...

A bit earlier, Neha Adiga, Anushka Mishra, Divya Singh, Garima (Gary S), Dwipa, Sampark, Sheetal Srivatava, Shweta Sinha (my first taste of Vietnamese food was with her, in Bangalore), Sreeram, Anshita Abhishek Chetty (an able party organiser and from Indore, I must add), Aashish and Anusha Mamidanna, Shafique, Zargar Basharat, Pallavi, Vrinda Khanna, Arvind Joshi, Pragya Singh, Urvashi Anand, Shatakshi Tripathi and Varun, Sowmyashree Gonibeedu, Shveta Sahu, Jogeswari, Mrunal, Anant Ajmera, Vishal Golchha, Vishal Tibrewal, Animesh Jain, Supriya Jain, Shreyashi ( a prof, now), Meghana Joshi, Vikas Jain, Varun Somaiya, Swathika Selvam, Bhawana Sahay,

A bit before that, Swapna and Vidya TC, Dheeraj Mohan, Smita (named after the Patil, I learnt) Mohan, Anu Bhoopathy, Akash Gupta...

Some just-misses- Ishita Modi (Modiji se milna mushkil hi nahin,..etc.), Pallavi Sharma (she preferred Goa!), Bhavana Daga, Palak Narang,..

Of course, online chats or Nok-jhonk are on with many more..

Random Reminiscences

Since every day is like a weekend (Thanks, Corona), I decided to ramble and remember things (Random Walk Theory, or early signs of..., you decide).

Many years ago, we were in a small town called Harihar. Now we are at Indore, where it's mostly Har (Shiva) that rules. I know that among Iyers and Iyengars, one follows Vishnu and another Shiva, but which is which, I forget..

I have known a lot of smart Iyers- among students too, Anjali and Aishwarya come to mind. Since Iyengars did not use their tags, not sure which ones were.

My first visit to the North of India included Delhi, Amritsar, Shimla, Agra, Haridwar, and Srinagar, Gulmarg, Wular Lake, Pahalgam- I still remember staying on a Houseboat owned by one Ali Mohammad Dubloo who fed us Gushtaba and lots more.

I had relatives in Mumbai, Nagpur, Indore, Baroda, Delhi, Satna, Jabalpur, Pune, Hyderabad,..but not in Orissa and West Bengal. Made up with a job at Bhubaneswar in 1991, and visits to Kolkata.

Lander College in Greenwood, where I taught once, had a good Dramatics dept., and staged plays regularly. One was Equus, I remember. Impressed by the three I saw at IIM Indore over the last few years, involving a talented bunch of students (Sanjana, Jasmine, Shreya, Shrunga, Avik, Philip, Prachi, Kaavya, ..), and my director-friend Shweta, with her Woman Friday, Varunika.

Managed to visit Kodikkarai, from where Sri Lanka is just a small walk across the sea, thanks to a Golfing trip deep south with Gadgil and Vijayakumar. The Golfing trips southwards have been very productive, and gave me a Hole-in-one twice, at Kodaikanal and Wellington Golf Clubs, which I can boast about for the rest of my life.

Anopheles and I Discuss Corona

Not the beer, but the virus, also called COVID-19. Anopheles, as some of you know, is my female friend from the mosquito world. She and I have chatted before about many things that affect both our worlds.

Anopheles: Hello again!

I: Hi, long time no see..where have you been?

A: Nowhere in particular, just chilling and staying at home..

I: Hey, that's EXACTLY what we are supposed to do now, due to this Corona thing..

A: What Corona thing?

I: Haven't you been watching the news? Oh, sorry, you don't have TV channels..there's this virus. Called the Corona, and passed on by human contact.

A: Oh, so you can't blame it on us mosquitoes like you tend to all the time,..and what caused it to come around with such great force?

I: Trump thinks the Chinese did it while mixing up some exotic sauces.. but they think it was Budweiser trying to copy a Mexican brand of beer!

A: Hilarious! Sorry, I don't mean to be frivolous, but you mean He and Xi are still fighting?

I: (taking a different tack) Well, that's our lot, isn't it? Battle of the Sexes. Who would want to give up on their Superpower status without a fight? (I was now curious)..don't you have fights between Male and Female mosquitoes?

A: Not at all, the males we have are completely useless, and can't do anything well-not even fight. We do all the food-gathering, and educate our kids about what's good and bad!

She said bye at that, and I said, we would meet again, Corona willing.

Explaining Corona to a Hyderabadi

Hyderabadis are quite rugged, and have survived the plague, Irani chai hotel waiters, and the like. It's not easy to get them to panic. Here is a brave attempt.

Panicking Man (P.M.): (trying to get Hyderabadi to panic)- Kya karre miya? Itta bhi light mat lo..Bahar nakko jao bole na aapku?

Hyderabadi (H): Magar kaiku bolre, bolo na?

P.M.: Ek virus rehta babu, Corona naam ka, unhe jump maarke aapku pakad leta, iske waaste bolre miya..

H: Hau? Yeh viruson ku koi kaam nahi hai kya? Kaiku to bhi idhar se udhar koodrein? Ek jagah nahin baith sakte?

P.M.: Aisich dikhra, aapke jaisich.. ek jagah aapku bhi baitho bolke bolre..ghar mein baithke biryani kha sakte na? Bahar mat niklo bole, uttaich.

H: Chillar kar dere na? Ghar mein baithe to ab tak biwi chillari thi, baahar niklo, kuchh kaam karo bolke. Ab bahar gaye to musibat. Magar biryani kaisa banate? Gosht to lana padinga pehle, markit se..

P.M.: Nahin miya, home dilivary karte katey sab logaan, gosht bechnewale bhi, aur chawal bechnewale bhi..

H: Aisa? Abbich phone lagatun unku.. Begum, tab tak zara chai-ich pilado na,..

..and though he refused to actually panic, the Hyderabadi settled down on his diwan, and waited for his chai..

Why Predictions Are Iffy

Predictions, barring a few, are iffy. Newspapers wrote reams, and business news channels expended hours with "experts" about everything from stock prices, movements of indices, and oil prices per barrel, in the months leading up to the Corona crisis.

And what do you have now?

Sensex at 29,000 instead of 41,000

Oil prices at 30 dollars a barrel instead of 60 and climbing

Consumer sentiment at zilch

Job cuts in most sectors, unprecedented in aviation, tourism and allied sectors like hotels, restaurants (except where they have home-delivery options)

The most-in-demand are doctors who have sane advice, and politicians who have their hearts in the right place- a few may still be around.

Those who keep the wheels running in these tough times, well, hats off to all of them.

The Convocation That Was Not

By this time next week, we would have finished our Convocation, had things gone according to plan. The Corona Virus has changed all that, and staying healthy has taken precedence over gatherings of any type. That does not mean that we cannot wish our graduating students well, the ceremony postponement notwithstanding.

Had a lot of good times, and good memories of all my courses, from different programs. Doctoral students who were a part of my courses, and whose committees I was a part of, included. The last batch of PGP-Mumbai, PGP-MX students from the Weekend program in Mumbai, and regular MBA/IPM students from our own campus, there were many I taught.

Here's wishing all graduating IIM Indore students a great career ahead, and a wonderful life too- in other words, a Work-Life balance that they will cherish. Hope you will keep coming back to your Alma Mater, one way or another.

Sanchi Visit 2020

Madhya Pradesh has so much to offer a tourist. I am a resident tourist, now for six years. While in Nagpur, I had visited Pench, a Tiger Reserve, and Bhedaghat near Jabalpur. But had never been to Sanchi near Vidisha before. Well, I can say I did it, and am happy that I did! Here are some pics of the amazing monuments there, which were built from 3rd century B.C. till the recent centuries, by different people. Some are very well-preserved, and the beauty has to be seen to be believed. See for yourself-

An Amazing Community

A few years ago, a former student (from 1991, XIMB) introduced me to a music group (online) which is into old Hindi film songs (which I simply adore). Since then, I have enjoyed being on the group, and when we decided to have a physical meeting in Hyderabad sometime ago, jumped at the chance. Then, the group only grew bigger -it also has a couple of my young students- and we recently had our second meet in a Bangalore resort. These pics only demonstrate a fraction of what went on..sheer magic, with all activities built around music- quizzes, stories, new friendships, reminiscences- and singing! Every pic has at least one friend I met for the first time (physically) from this amazing group/or their families.

Corona Virus

Suddenly, it seems as though the end of the world is near. There is a virus named Covid-19 that resembles a cold or flu virus, and is doing the rounds and spreading fast. Did Nostradamus predict this? not sure, but some novel seems to have talked about it, with the precise location-Wuhan-pinpointed.

Tourism and airlines will of course take a big hit, just when we were hoping that 2020 vision will the world soaring to new heights. What can we do? Wring our hands? No, wash our hands -apparently, the best protection from catching the virus..apart from building general immunity.

Remember, there was the AIDS, Hepatitis A or B, Swine Flu, Mad Cow Disease, SARS and a few other modern-day viruses that were thought to have the capability to wipe us out, but unlike dinosaurs, we have survived. Till now. Here's hoping we continue to..take care, and wash hands often.

Film Review- Thappad

It's a resounding slap to the patriarchy, and shows that men are not the only ones who propagate it. It's also the women who train their sons to perpetuate it, and their daughters to accept it and move on.

Very hard-hitting, but very understated. It's unusual to see a Hindi film without over-the-top acting, unnecessary frills or masala elements, and yet remain gripping in every scene. The discussion of the issue on hand is a moment of realisation that the heroine has, and her only supporters (apart from the lawyer who is supposed to as part of her job) seem to be her father, and her neighbour (Dia Mirza after long).

In the face of almost everyone trying to ask her to compromise, she does not. And in the process, inspires other women (including her lawyer) to introspect about patriarchy in their own lives, and do something about it. Taapsee Pannu rocks. I liked one particular dialogue of hers, when she says that as a young student, she had dreamt of only two things in life- respect and happiness, and even today, desires the same two things. The supporting cast is excellent, to the last man/woman/girl.

Inspiring, a must-watch, and even if it succeeds in changing a few lives because of watching it, completely worthwhile.