The autobiography has had its origin in the urge to tell the world about yourself. Mine has had a few more readers than my estimate of four (the size of my family)- I distributed it to some too :)
It has had two editions so far, and it stops at IMT Nagpur, which is to say, around 2013. Here are the covers of the two editions, published by pothi.com, an online self-publishing and POD (print -on-demand) company. The first came out in 2009-10.
Even after TV and digital media came around, radio remains a favourite of mine. Starting from around 1970, the radio was always on in our house, and KL Saigal had the last word in Purane filmon ke geet on Radio Ceylon (later, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corp.). The same channel used to broadcast Aap hi ke Geet from 8 am to 9 am, and Binaca Geet Mala, hosted by Ameen Sayani, on Wednesday nights. This was everybody's favourite, and we made it a point to listen in. It was a weekly countdown of top songs. My taste in Hindi film songs was shaped during the 70s, listening to Kishore, Rafi, and others-Hemant Kumar for instance-Bees Saal Baad had two great songs sung by him.
Also a lot of SD Burman, RD Burman and lyricists like Neeraj, Sahir and Majrooh. The songs of Mere Jeevan Sathi and Kati Patang were a rage in the years they released, and are remembered to this day. Also Jewel Thief, Teesri Manzil, Jawani Diwani, Prem Pujari, Gambler and Hare Rama Hare Krishna..we grew up adoring Nasir Husain romcoms and his stage songs in Yaadon ki Baarat and Hum Kisise Kum Nahin. The theatres were grand too, and I remember watching Sholay in 70 mm at Hyderabad. (Also Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare).
Anyway, I switched to Vividh Bharati later, and they have great archives from that Golden Era of music. I continue to listen to the radio to this day.
Sometimes they are..but not always. If a ship does not leave the shore, it cannot discover new worlds (I don't mean this in the coloniser's sense, but a positive one). After a record 7 years (give or take a few weeks), I am going to soon say goodbye to my current workplace and home- IIM Indore. As usual, the feelings are mixed. Exhilaration at what may be awaiting me in a new role (Director) in a familiar city (Bangalore). Will join NMIMS there after Diwali. A bit of sadness at what I will leave behind.
The peaceful campus (MR students may recall my question in the first class- What do you like about IIMI? Most had referred to the campus). The conversations around the tea or lunch table, or in class and outside it, in my office, and the people, most of all. Bright and young faces full of dreams..
Of course, the academics were an adventure - from IMC/Advertising from where I still have some friends (Bhuvneet, Anwesha), to M.R. and Digital Marketing (Tamros, Reetu, Tanya, Neha Adiga, Anam Nuhi, Sapna Patni, Ruminder Kaur, Mihir, Shravan, Kshitija, Arshia Mulla, Anuranjana) and Tourism Marketing (Fatima, Harshita, Sruthi), with a stray Seminar on Innovative Thought Leadership with Shweta in IPM. And many case studies (with Sanket for the Case Centre being one), conferences in Bali, Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and research papers with lots of IPM and Ph.D. students (Shweta Jha was one regular collaborator), and colleagues (Abhishek, Shweta Kushal, Jayasimha, EFPM's Srinivas Raghavan and Lubna Nafees, ex-IMTG and now in the U.S.), organising NASMEI conference twice with Veenus as manager, and a lot of bright students in various programs (listed them elsewhere) in Indore and Mumbai, MDP students (Sucharita, Alpana, Whirlpool guys, HPCL and more), are a few things that were enriching. Conferences in India too, at Great Lakes Chennai, NITTE, Mangalore and more. On one trip to Chennai, I visited Pulicat Lake..beautiful!
Published the 4th edition of Marketing Research with cases authored by Indore students. Also a Digital Marketing cases book with cases sourced from alums of B schools. Admission interviews were opportunities to catch up with alums in different places- met a few I had only connected with on Fb!!
And of course, the support staff from all the offices, and the acad associates who took the load off my shoulders. Will fondly remember all of you. Maybe meet a few.
A Maruti loyalist, I also bought a Wagon R to replace my 2005 Esteem (note, Shruti and Aditya Naag).
M.P. has been a revelation, with Mandu, Maheshwar, Bhopal/Sanchi, and Patalpani, Jam Gate within easy driving range, in Western parts. I also wrote a case on MP Tourism along with a student, and popularised poha beyond the state borders, with DP and Cover Pic Awards, along with quizzes, for which the reward included a poha. Met/made a lot of friends from the state, or reconnected with alums from hereabouts too.
This should be obvious, but we are usually obsessed with just one or two of these dimensions. It could be our height, weight, skin colour, educational qualification, job title, or something else..clothes we wear, for instance (a popular cartoon has a woman saying "I have nothing to wear" while staring at a wardrobe-full of clothes).
We are made up of/capable of feelings too, and evoke feelings in others-warmth, empathy, love, affection, and others. If you are a reliable friend or supportive parent or helpful grandparent, it counts for a lot, no matter how you score on some of the other dimensions.
We probably need a rethink on the obsessions we have on romantic love as well, as it is only one form of expression, and there are many other fulfilling ones. It's fine for the movies, but life is a lot more..
More pics..my childhood (Kothagudem) onwards-
My sister's wedding (above), and mine (below)
Parents at Clemson with my brother who also studied there.
Below- a Harihar party.
Most celebrities who matter are not on the big screen, or even the small screen. I would suggest a few-
The maid who hardly takes a day off, works 7 days to make your life easy.
Garbage collecting man, and the municipal sweepers who keep roads clean.
Friends you can rely on. Ditto, family.
The vegetable seller, the kirana store family..
The IT guy who keeps the network running.
The repairman, the delivery people who do their drudgery without complaints.
The taxi drivers, the autowalas, (those who don't act funny, I mean).
Common workers at the hospitals, cops, postmen, post office clerks, bank people who also had to work in the pandemic at great risk to themselves.
I am sure you can think of a few more. Can we celebrate them instead of the others?
I know P.G. Wodehouse would disagree, but then, these are my aunts-I am therefore entitled to an opinion. I had several aunts, and also a couple of older cousins who were almost like them. All of them, without exception, were loving and welcoming. We used to treat their homes as if they were our own, and sometimes land up in their homes without so much as a post card- phones were a luxury, and some of us did not have them. I am talking of the seventies, mostly, and eighties.
They were spread across India- Indore also had one. Pune (my present hometown, not then) was the most frequently visited, and I met my future wife there, in an aunt's house. In fact, she helped me shortlist wives (potential) from ads in a magazine! We had great fun with cousins, from Mumbai to Hyderabad. Attended weddings in Jabalpur, Nagpur, Satna, among other places.
Cousins also bonded well, and we went on an annual New Year outing usually from Pune to the Konkan area till a year ago. Now most of the cousins are grandpops and grandmoms ourselves, so it's been a lovely extended family, with roots in different places..even abroad. I have nephews or nieces who are married to Poles, Germans, Australians and so on. And of course, I count among my friends Sri Lankans, Chinese, Americans, Canadians, and lots more.
Personal Brands
Some people that are personal brands for me- reasons for it too, and names of institutes I know them from-
Mir Ali Husain- lyricist of many Nagesh Kukunoor films, and a Prof. in the US. (my junior too, at O.U. and IIMB)
Madhan Rehan- dancer, digital marketer, IIM Indore. Wrote a case for me along with a team headed by Kalaivani, from their Google Online Marketing Challenge-winning entry (Asia Pacific).
Shahida- tireless, enthusiastic, quick learner
of many things- research and case teaching at PESIT. (now with ASCI)
Manoharan- gentle, firm, understated in a loud world.(PESIT)
Kritika Gupta, Manjunath- toppers in M.R. at Indore. Kritika was not a marketing student, but her cases figure in my book.
Singers- Shruti Sharma, Shweta Sinha (IMT), Anuja Anand (IIMI)
Authors- Pavan Tarawade, Sreeram, Khyati Jha, Tanya Shrivastava (IMT)
Homeo doctor and Indore MBA- Arshia Mulla- very unusual..From Bijapur (roots, I found later).
Advertising industry- Anchal Sharma, Adarsh Kamath (IMT), Anu Bhoopathy from KIAMS (in N.Y. now)
Digital Marketers- Divya Singh, Shafique Gajdhar (IMT), Zargar Basharat (KIAMS)
Jogeswari – batch topper, KIAMS. .had a fanbase among her juniors. Golftripz director, Hyderabadi.
Padmapriya – National Award winning actress (Malayalam), worked at GE, worked at Sahapaedia, an NGO. Back in films.
Abhinav Kamal (IMT)- asst. director of Stree
(Hindi film), started Ten Motion Arts, directed a web-series with Renuka Shahane and Parikshit Sahni
Aradhya Vats, Shivangi Goel, Ayushi Agarwal, Satchi Sahay (conference papers-IPM students all)
Bharath Shenoy (M.R. industry, from IFIM B School)
Divya Sisodiya, Tanaya Kar Chaturvedi (PESIT, IFIM, both have great photos across the world)
Neha Adiga, Swathika Selvam- personal
connections, accidentally discovered, both very talented.
Book lovers- Anushka Mishra, Nishka Rathi (ghost-writer too!)
Himanshu Manglik- Corporate look, right from our MBA student days, to this day.
Vrinda Khanna -wine lover
Pallavi Sharma- Biryani lover. (fb says we are twins!)
Gadgil- authentic American accent, golfer
Vijayakumar- Stats expert, humble, open to new ideas, great host and gourmet
Dhanapal- serial entrepreneur, ex-faculty (runs a school today), great golfer and holiday companion.
Ph.D.s- Shreyashi Chakraborty (faculty at XLRI, and in UK now, IMT student I met at IIM Calcutta), Manjari (doing Ph.D. at Nirma Univ. , Punyashlok (IIMA), Shripad Kulkarni (finished from IIMI)
Sidhanta Patnaik- cricketer and author (PESIT)
Bhavana Daga- Lady Daga, child-like (don't grow up!)
Harimohan- Author, ex-Ranji cricketer, Selector,
Bhuvneet Raheja (Microsoft), Sapna Patni (Mondelez), Anam Nuhi (IOCL Sales), Ruminder Kaur, Tamros Mondal, Harshad Sachani -kept in touch after Indore MBA. Nikita Kumar, from IMT too- met in Pune, Hyd. and Delhi
TK Chatterjee/TKC (Karaoke fan, great company, IMT placement chief), Jitendra Sharma (English play),
Navroze Sethna- plantation owner, builder in
Ooty (KIAMS)
Meghna Sinha- blogger, book lover, Asian Paints, .. (IMT)
Parul Kashyap Thakur- blogging celebrity. (IMT)
Muthu- Market researcher (MBA, Nielsen, ORG-MARG), golfer and now a golf referee, two-daughters club
Sunil Kataria- entrepreneur in finance, Hindi film music, did another IIMK program after KIAMS
Surbhi Mehta Chadha, Animesh Jain (IMT)-entrepreneurs
Jimmy Jain (IIMK)- Trainer
Siri Adi- works in M.R., fellow-Telugu. Dad was in
BPCL..(her Mom and I broke our arms around the same time)
Sheetal Garg - (ex-SBI), Hindi film songs, singer/dancer, ran the retail store on IMT campus
Smita Dabholkar- promoted my autobiography..2 launches, which she managed single-handedly
Aditi Gupta, Garima Shah- student golfers (IMT)
Prerona, Alisha, Tanmeet- Women golfers (faculty, from NMIMS Bangalore)
Abha Kulkarni- HR Manager (one of our students
did a summer project with her)-also a unique, curly hair style, traveller
Smita Mohan (KIAMS) in Dubai is also
in HR. Worked for IMT Dubai also. Got an A in my marketing course!
Anshita Maharishi/Chetty, Kedar Muley, Tosha Dubey, Meghana Joshi (IMT) -good
managers of my small alum meets
Harshad Lunavat, Pradyumna Mohanty, Vivek Anant, Bugzy, - Photographers
Meha Kapoor (IMT N)- Radio
Sruthi Chandrasenan (IIM I in my Dig. Mktg. class, studied in Calicut earlier, visited Iceland- a video and pics from there)
Kanika Mhendiratta..tea marketer who drinks coffee!
My academic associates- Tripti Shrivastava (ran a conference in Goa for IMT), Saumyaa Sharma (my AA at IIM Indore)..
Sanjana Rao, Jasmine Kaur, Shreya Surana, Prachi Jain, Avik Gugalia, Shrunga Hede- play-actors from IIM Indore and Vaishali Bathla, from IMT (film), Divya Sharma from KIAMS (films, TV)
Savitha- Batch 1 of KIAMS (always special, first batches), one of the nicest people I know.
Arvind Joshi- dance teacher (PESIT)
Murali Mohan (Faculty+Kathak dancer)
Shatakshi Tripathi (NGO, Digital Marketing entrepreneur, Confused Genius is her brand)
Many due to an amazing facebook DP or two- Bhawana
Sahay/Raj (Hyderabadi), Harnam Kaur, Shefali Dixit, Sayali Jagdale, Ananya Satle, Komal Nagdavne, Aishani Verma, Twinkle Jain, Tanaya Kar Chaturvedi, Anusha Soni (we met in class after she'd won my DP Award!)
We all wear masks even when offline. Students, one of devotion to the class, until it falls off when sleeping. Professors, one of 'studied indifference', which also falls off when a student sleeps in the front row. In the online world, it's a mask with the faces barely visible. A different mask, maybe.
What is the fun in an education with only content being transferred, but the experience missing? In a residential course particularly, the fun is in meeting people, friends and others, during your stay. Sharing stories, assignments, discussing things that happened during the day.
A marketing guru once said 'sell the sizzle, not the steak.' Meaning that the tadka is as important as the dal. Online education is like dal without tadka, or sabzi without salt. Insipid, though content learnt may be the same.
Anopheles came back into reckoning, when she confronted me the other day. It was a quiet evening, but only because my TV was off. Still, she had somehow caught a whiff of the news playing on it the last few weeks.
As soon as she flew in, she asked pertinently- "Who is Rhea? "
I said, as truthfully, based on news that was floating around, "She's something like a Black Widow who can do black magic." That threw her off, just a bit. "What do you mean," she said?
I said, "Well, she can cast a spell from some distance, and make people do something they don't want to."
Anopheles said, "Like what?"
"Anything, you name it."
"Can she make you dance?" Anopheles knew my shortcomings too well.
"No, except that, she can do almost anything. She can make you disappear in a jiffy, if she wanted."
"Well, those must be prized skills. Why don't you guys use them to get rid of this cheeky virus that's stopped your world?"
"I think we like the Work From Home idea too much -we'd have to go to office, and drink the horrible canteen chai." I tried frivolity. (my speciality)
"Ha, ha. Don't forget, we can bite you more often at home." She was equal to the task. "But tell me, who is this Rajput guy she hung around with?"
"I really don't know too much. He was an actor, and he was from Bihar- an engineer too, I believe."
"That's depressing." That word triggered something.
"He was also in a depression," I said. Don't you have such diseases in the mosquito world?
"Certainly not. We are quite busy doing something all the time. And we don't live in the make-believe world like some of you seem to.." with that stinging reply, she flew off to be with her REAL WORLD, leaving me to believe whatever it was that I wanted to..
This is strictly in the realm of fiction, let me state up front. Since I don't have a name for this technique, I am calling it backwards astrology- rather, Astrology Backwards.
It involves looking back at your life, and telling you what you did, and when. For instance, it will tell me I won a race in the 100 metres in school, in the year 1967. And got a chocolate as a prize. Of course, it will also tell me when I acted like a prize idiot in life, and did not get a reward. So there is a downside.
You might argue that if people kept a diary, they wouldn't need this. Or, with Facebook reminding you what you posted N years ago, you think this technique is worthless. But what about the Kodak moments that got away? For instance, your first awkward speech that you did not record in your memory, your first awkward attempt at dating,...you get what I am getting at, I suppose. Backwards astrology will give you all of that, and more.
Not just people, it will give you the foolish things countries did and when. There seems to be a memory loss in that direction, barring Shashi Tharoor's calculations in the case of British looting India. So it will serve us well to remember these things..particularly when it deals with OTHER countries being foolish.
So you see, your arguments don't hold water. What, you want to call it History? No, I would argue my name for it is much more compatible with what you get.
They say a cup is half full, or half empty depending on how you look at it. I always thought mine was full of joy. Here's a celebration of cups large and small, always full of life!
Starting with December 2023, on 30th I attended a wedding - and met Natasha Kothari, who runs Studio Ungap. Dhruv, her fiance, was the groo...
