Leadership- With a Pinch of Salt

 Keep your tongue firmly in your cheek. This is not serious, unless you take it otherwise.

Leadership is of many types- for instance

1. Leader as Cop. He has to keep tabs on everyone, and try and hang at least one person a day, for crimes of omission, commission, or remission. Committed or not, because the cop is only as successful as his number count!

2. Leader as Saviour. He thinks he is the Noah who has to navigate the ship the subordinates are on to safety. If not, they may drown and he will shoulder the blame, and rot in Hell.

3. Leader as Parent. He thinks he has many idiot children (subordinates), who tend to be infantile. As a parent, it's his responsibility to knock some sense into them, so they can one day grow up! 

There could be more types, but I am tired now, so let me stop and take a (deep) breath!

On the Threshold of 750000 Views

 All Time Views of this blog at 10 am on 30th November, 2021.

749991

Other stats

Today12

Yesterday107

This month2954

Last month2653

I started the blog in 2009 sometime, inspired by Hari, my BIL who was already a blogger then. I first heard the term Weblog in an interview for admission, where a candidate mentioned it as his hobby. We (blogging and I) seemed to be made for each other. It gave me the freedom to write as and when I pleased, and publish to anyone in the world who wanted to read it- the world is literally your oyster, when you blog. I have had surprising statistics on viewers from countries that were least expected when I began blogging. The title of this blog comes from the words of a favourite Hindi song- Yeh shaam mastani, madhosh kiye jaaye.. The journey is on, as long as I enjoy it, and the number of readers is greater than 1.

TV Serials That Withstand the Test of Time

 For me, Lucy, Little Wonder, The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Different Strokes, Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie and lately Nero Wolfe that I saw on Youtube were some of the best in English. Friends and The Big Bang Theory were good too, of the more recent ones. Murder, She Wrote and Remington Steele were also good, among older ones. So was Three's Company.

In Hindi, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Mahabharat, Hum Paanch, Tehkikaat, and Tu Tu Main Main come to mind readily. I missed some because I was in the U.S. when they ran on Indian T.V. Surabhi was a show about Indian culture that was hosted well by Renuka Shahane.

Where I saw What

 Maheswari -the first theatre with an escalator in Hyderabad. I saw Namak Halaal there, and a few others. At Tarakarama next door, saw Don- the Amitabh starrer.

At Vikranti, Jambagh, I saw Patthar Ke Sanam in a rerun that was housefull. Anand I saw at Navrang- also Damaad, starring Amol Palekar, a few years later.

Anari at Manohar theatre, Secunderabad. Maya Memsaab and many English films at Sangeet, Secunderabad. Chitchor at Ramakrishna 35 mm, and Sholay at 70 mm.

Mission Kashmir I saw at Jaipur in the famous theatre- Rajmahal? Paheli with Namita Chandra at Royal, Sultan bazaar, Hyderabad. Qurbaani and Mohra at Venkateswara in Kacheguda. 

Hum Tum, at Kochi while on a visit. Main Hoon Na, at Calicut, while working there. Andha Kanoon at Delhi's Uphaar. 

Jewel Thief at Kothagudem, A.P. Rama Talkies, most likely. DDLJ at Davangere, when I was at Harihar. Many Govinda films too, like Bade Miya Chhote Miya and Haseena Maan jayegi. 

Fun People

 I am fortunate that I have had a lot of fun in the 61 years on this planet. Apart from unintended fun in the classroom, I mean. Lots of genuinely fun-loving people always existed in the family- cousins, for example. We had many summer holidays with them, and winter outings at a coastal secret location more recently, before the pandemic happened.

But classmates in school, college and then MBA, and colleagues and students have all been fun to be with, at all stages of life. Some I have met over the years, and some only a couple of times. Online too, my facebook friends and music group (newly-minted) are wonderful, and keep me away from Bay-of-Bengal type depressions. Banter, online and offline, is the greatest stress-buster! Recounting all their names is not possible, but I will name a few whose darshan elevates the mood- Sheetal Garg, one of the most enthu people I know, Prachi Jain with whom there's a lot of online banter, Meghna Sinha who paints the town Red with Asian Paints, Shatakshi Tripathi who I never met at IIM Indore but met a lot in Bangalore, Bhagyalakshmi, friend and ex-colleague, Narayani, a colleague at present in Bangalore, Rupam Verma, October-born, my wonderful party-organisers Anshita, Tosha and Abha at Bangalore and Mumbai, Nikita and the IMT Gang in Delhi, Sunil Kataria also in Delhi, Jogeswari in Hyderabad, Vidya and Sapna in Singapore (KIAMS vintage), Smita in Dubai, my twins (can't argue with facebook!) Shafique and Pallavi, film director Abhinav Kamal (or kamaal?), Bharath Shenoy (now author too), Savitha, Anushka in Bangalore and regulars in my party circuit, Muthu in Bangalore, and Geeta and gang in my music group. TK Chatterjee, Shreyashi Chakraborty-ex IMT. Also, Garima Dubey from the PGDM Exec. whom I met recently is a high enthu person. Ok, that's enough for now.. I am sure this will continue like the Panchatantra, because there's a lot of punch remaining..

Wedding Photography

 I have been one-wedding photographer- a few times. At a friend's request, or sometimes voluntarily to satisfy my own creative instinct. Most of these have been happy outings, mainly due to the festive ambiance on these occasions. But the photography itself is not so easy, particularly indoors. The reasons are many- too many people running around, getting a good angle is difficult at times because of where you can go or not, and expressions are changing quickly -the bride and groom's- depending on what part of the ceremony is on. My own wedding photographs tell me this story too.

But here are a few good ones, I think, from my shooting experience. 

Friends, and relatives. The Pujari too.

Fun moments...

Groom is also a musician, part-time, with an HMV style dog.

Bride's friends at the reception.

Grandpa, Dad and Mom with the bride, above.

Predictive Analytics - My Take

 I have a model which predicts with at least 50 % accuracy, almost all behaviour. Patented? Not yet, but I may file soon. Try it on for size.

What's X doing at this point in time? He's commuting, plus staring at his mobile phone.

What's Y up to? He/she is eating, plus staring at his mobile phone.

What's Z doing? Driving, plus staring at his mobile. My Ola driver was actually doing this, for directions today. But non-Ola drivers also routinely do this.. therefore the prediction.

What's A doing on his date with his girlfriend? Also staring at his mobile.. while glancing at her occasionally, or pretending to be impressing her.

What's B doing? At a family dinner, staring at his mobile..

What am I doing? Yeah, you guessed it.. wrong! 

My model is 50% accurate at all times, coz people are doing whatever they are doing, plus staring at their mobiles.

Felicitating Students and Staff 2021

 The students who topped various programs and staff and faculty who were "best" at their jobs, were felicitated by our institute - NMIMS, Bangalore last week. This was a kind of a substitute for a Convocation, which happened online earlier. Some pics with and of the awardees.

Exploring Food Joints

 I found one called Claytopia (somebody had recommended it earlier) close to my Koramangala office yesterday. I had Bhutanese Rice with Chicken keema, that turned out very good. Right amount of spice, and a good combo, well-presented too, as you can see below- an incentive for people to visit me! 

Also, a few wisecracks come free!

Three Weather Changes

 In a day, I mean. That's Bangalore for you.

Most of the last six months, it's been raining here, mostly in the evenings, but occasionally in the day. Also, overcast for many days in a row, even though the Southwest monsoon went away long ago. There has been a series of storms that battered Chennai and had after-effects or side-effects here.

Strange weather pattern this year, with lots of rain. The constant road-digging (building?) is not helping much, but then, that's been the lot of the Bangalorean for years.

So, all is well.

Why Not?

 An attitude of why not? can lead you to undiscovered locations, and journeys, or experiences. Maybe also lead to some self-discovery along the way. Usually, if you lead a life that is too structured, there is little scope to experiment and discover something new. It could be something as simple as a new dish in  a restaurant, or a restaurant itself. Or, a new place to holiday in.

We tend to be scared to get out of our comfort zone in many spheres of living, and lose out on newer experiences that we might like. I am only suggesting that we try and get out of it, at least once in a while. Life may have a lot more to offer than you think.

Pub and Restaurant Hopping

A recent discovery, Residency Road (above) and an old haunt rediscovered at Forum mall (below, with an NMIMS alum)

13th floor, with Savitha, an old friend, above, and Uru, near IIMB, with Avinash and Medha.

Innovative gathering of alumni of various IIMs, with Shailaja at HSR layout.

Milind, and Anjali squared at Lalbagh outer circle. (below)

Old colleagues above, nearby -Toast on the Terrace.

Below, a new friend and bookworm, Anushka. Chai Villa.

Old colleagues when I was at Indore. Saumya and Shweta Kushal.
 

Encounter With a Leech

 I have had encounters with many species, but had not met a leech before. Mosquitoes are long-standing friends- at least one of them, Anopheles by name. A leech, if you have not seen one, looks like an earthworm on a diet-a successful one. So small that you can miss it if you are not looking for one. In rainy times, they are everywhere, in grass particularly. 

Once it latches on to you, usually on your foot somewhere, only salt is effective in getting rid of it. Otherwise, before you know it, it sucks out a few drops of blood, and grows five times its size. If you pull it out at that point, the blood still flows out for a little while. Shoes with thick socks may make it difficult, but if you are in chappals, it's a good idea to rub salt on your lower foot before you step out in a leech-infested area. 

I had heard about them in Waynad area, but actually found them in Kotagiri, near a waterfall in a jungle. Interesting, but I don't really want to ever meet one again, if I can help it.

Kalasipalayam to Mettupalayam

 Starting from Bangalore, I ended up near Ooty, passing through Mettupalayam on the way. Actually, we did not get to Ooty, settling down at Coonoor after visiting friends in Kotagiri. The Nilgiri hills are a fascinating blend of scenery, wildlife, tea gardens and a lot more.

So the long-awaited holiday (due to COVID primarily), was completely enjoyable, and did result in some new friends being made, young and not so young. And of course, photographs in the ghats, in the rains, waterfalls, and tea gardens. Some of them are here-

A dam near Pollachi, close to the Tamilnadu-Kerala border.

Below, a farm house where we spent a night.

Delicious food at unassuming joints known as "Messes"(like the one above), and scenery to die for..

Rains added to the charm, and tea gardens were a visual delight.

Almost got to drive this mini tractor! And visiting Bisons were a sight to behold.

Peacocks too (above). Food, near Pollachi with interesting signboards. (below)

A typical hill station view (above) and the road leading up to it.