Pandemic Becomes an Endemic?

 Not sure what the tech definitions are, but it certainly seems as though the worst of COVID is behind us. Not that we don't (or won't) have a few spikes now and then, as one of the good experts said, but they won't be nationwide, and devastating. Part of the reason is herd immunity, and the vaccination drives that have largely succeeded in reaching most people who were willing to take the vaccines.

So we now have to re-learn the old normal, or whatever you want to call it. Maybe old normal + masks. The mask may be good for preventing other pollution related or infectious diseases, and so may be worth wearing until we are confident of not catching a few of them.

International travel may not be the same again, and I would be wary of it for a while. Domestic travel with precautions seems reasonably safe, as of now, in India.

Livelihoods are back on track, though inflation may be a big blow for some. 

The Show must go on, as the showmen keep telling us. Life goes on, having digested one more disaster.

Unintended Comedies

 My top choices from films, Youtube- 

Randhir Kapoor as a dancer..his belly pops out from time to time.. in the song Tujhsa haseen dekha na kahin.. in the film Harjaee.

Deb Mukherjee in the film Ek Baar Muskura Do, sings Tu auron ki kyun ho gayi.. a song supposed to be full of pathos... hilarious. Just watch it.

Taher Shah. Angels is the song, and he is funny as hell (that became a pun!) -he was a Youtube sensation, at least for me.

NTR in his later films (Telugu) cavorting with females half his age was fun to watch on screen. I enjoyed the entertainment on offer.

The English dialogues in Telugu films were also a source of mirth- like "Rutherford, look up once" from Alluri Sitaramaraju, a good film otherwise.

You may have your favourites..

The difficulty of Taking a Good Photograph

 I have clicked half a million pics by now, I believe. I have also been subjected to-been the subject of- a quarter million, enough to keep my fb timeline occupied for the rest of my life. The ones I clicked have included portraits, landscapes, adults or kids as subjects, or inanimate objects-natural, or staged like an advertising photo.

Getting the light right is one major concern. Getting the frame right is the second, but can be done by cropping to some extent now. Getting people -adults or children, to behave or pose (most pics are posed, few are candid) is the third.

In spite of various difficulties, I think I have managed to create (in my opinion, of course), a few decent clicks. Let me begin with some portraits- 

The Reluctant Billionaire- A Book Talk by NMIMS Bangalore

 We (NMIMS Bangalore) hosted a Book Talk yesterday, with Mr. Dilip Shanghvi, of Sun Pharma. The book about him, was written by Soma Das, who was also present. Narayani Ramachandran, our MBA Chair, was the moderator, along with a colleague from Mumbai. Some pics- screenshots, rather.

The major players and audience (below)

Our VC Dr. Ramesh Bhat speaks- above- and Soma Das, the author of the book speaks, below

No Problem

 There was this ad many years ago, for a bike, that said it was a No Problem bike. Nicely made. 

So, one can imagine a conversation that goes "No problem" as follows-

Someone- It's so hot!

You- So what? No problem. Makes you appreciate the cool weather when it comes.

Someone- There's so much traffic.

You- Yes, but I think about other things while stuck in it. Not a problem.

S: It keeps raining so much.

You- We need the rain, farmers will have no problem.

S: There is so much corruption all around.

You- It could be worse, in some countries, they kill innocent people. There is so much violence.

S: My boss is always putting me down, 

You- Think about those who don't have a job. What's a bit of a problem with the boss?

Star Students

 Most of my students I consider as star students. For different accomplishments, of course. In disparate careers or even family life. Some who have reached out and remained in touch, online or off-

From KIAMS- Jogeswari, Sunil Kataria, Sharmistha Singh, Anushka Mishra, Nishka and Vikram Rathi, Pooja Daniel, Swapna Reddy, Vidya TC, Savitha, Smita Mohan, Navroze, Achint, Dheeraj Mohan, Siddharth Agarwal, Praveen Kotta, Aninda Bannerjee, Sandhya Sajeev, Sarvani Akella, and lots more

KIAMS students Savitha above, Anushka below

Shailaja Gupta, above and Nagendra Shenoy, below- at Bangalore

Shweta Jha, and Anusha and Shantanu (the golfers)

IIM Indore

Prachi above, and Wahid and Alisha below- all Ph.D. students at Indore

the one above is with my brother and cousin.. 

Indore play cast, above

Abha and Sheetal above, IIM Indore class below.

Surbhi and hubby above, and Bhuvneet Raheja, below- Delhi

Meghna Sinha above, and Ravi Mittal, Kedar Muley and co. below..Mumbai.

Rohit in Bhubaneswar..

From IMT Nagpur- Meghna Sinha, Meghana Joshi, Abhinav Kamal, Anshita Chetty, Rupam Verma, Kedar Muley, Ravi Mittal, Surbhi Mehta, Vrinda Khanna, Nikita Kumar, Shruti Sharma, Aditya Naag, Sreeram, Gowri, Siri Adi, Sheetal Garg, Tosha Dubey, Abha Kulkarni, Divya Singh, Shraddha Nigdikar, Ishita Modi, Anurag Sikaria, Meghana Khadilkar, 

From IIM Indore- Neha Adiga, Zenitha Das, Anusha Soni, Sambit Halder, Shantanu Verma, Sanjana Rao, Thoshitha Bobbadi, Shweta Jha, Aarushi Jain, Ankita Sahai, Alisha Dhal, Sakshi Agarwal, Sanket, Pulkit More, Sayali Jagdale, Shreya Surana, Bhuvneet Raheja, Anwesha, Shailaja Gupta Kapoor, Shatakshi Tripathi, Sunil Patil, Kshitija Deshmukh, Megha Bansal, Kokila Chopra, 

Hyderabad Golf Club

 It happened due to a pal from college who is a member. Venugopal Reddy and I go back to Osmania Engineering college, and have been golfing on and off through his postings in Delhi. But this was my first time in Hyderabad, my home-town. It is also a heritage site, and some of the course is inside the walls f the Golconda Fort. Qutub Shahi Tombs are also visible from the course. So it was special. Pics-

Petrified Forest National Park Arizona

 One of the many impressive sights in the U.S. was the

 

Petrified Forest- a place where logs-turned-into-stone are lying around, in various sizes and shapes, broken or unbroken. Very well-maintained, with a visitor centre, like all their parks. 

Nearby was the Painted Desert, layered formations in different colours, that give you an impression it's painted. Seeing it in the snow just added the whites.

Amazing Birthday No. 61

 What do I like the best about a birthday? Attention, affection, love from all who might remember me, of course. I got plenty of that, online and through phone calls. An added bonus was something that Prarthana (my daughter) cooked at home-- a new recipe too- here's a pic. Of course, the celebrations will continue, though the day is over.... for, you keep growing every day!

Two years ago, I was in Bangalore around my birthday, and managed to sneak in a game of Golf at an Army Golf Club-thanks to a friend. Also, there was a wedding to attend, just before, so I met a lot of friends from MBA days. 

Hopefully, the days of meeting friends are coming back after a two-year hiatus due to the Corona virus. We just had a small IMTans get-together a few days ago. Another happy news this year was that my younger daughter went to the U.K. for a Master's in her choice of subject (Cultural Heritage Management), and managed to reach safely through the pandemic. 

I have begun training sessions, one-on-one, to teach people Golf in my campus at NMIMS, on a make-shift course. We do have a nice putting lawn, though. 

Digitizing Slides Part 2

 Some more slides which I recently got converted into digital photographs. Removes the need for a slide projector, though that is an experience in itself. Some of these digitized pics- 

The flyers- we actually took a joy ride in this Cessna (above). 

Below, the guys who flew first at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina- Wright brothers.

Picnic at a Clemson Park.

A real Golf Club where I learnt most of my Golf from Sadanand, and below, my Dad trying out Putt-putt Golf in the U.S.

Niagara, with parents (above) and Sravanabelagola (below) with friends from Harihar

On the Harihar Golf course, and below, Kirloskar Institute, at Harihar where I spent 7 years. (1995-2001)