Plays- Watching and Acting

 Watching and acting in plays are two entirely different things. I have watched fewer plays than movies, but realise how difficult it is to stage one. That is because of acting in one during my MBA days- my only foray into this arena. Also because I watched my friend Shweta Kushal direct from scratch a new set of actors-students, in 4 different plays at IIM Indore over the last few years.

I have watched a couple of English plays, and a few Marathi plays. Maybe one or two Hindi plays, Have been impressed by most of these. Marathi stage has a long history, and a couple of classics were remade recently into films by enthusiastic directors. Natasamraat and Katyaar Kaaljaat Ghusli were both very good in the new medium. 

Watching Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah in Bangalore last year was a rare pleasure. So was Arundhati Naag performing a Girish Karnad play a few years earlier. Shabana Azmi was in the audience for that one!

Maybe after I retire, will try and watch a few more. Bucket list, here I come!

35 Years and More

 I graduated from IIM B with an MBA in 1984. That's close to 40 years ago. School, 1977. College of engineering, 1982. Therefore, it's not very surprising that everything is moving towards jubilees. But my marriage anniversary is relatively young- only 35 years! Happened yesterday.

It was an arranged marriage, through a Marathi mag. called Rohini, that ran in Pune. We met through her ad, and almost immediately decided that we would marry-in 10 days! The wedding was a month later, on June 26th. Quite a lot of friends attended, despite the short notice, from Mumbai and Pune. The Turf Club was the venue of the wedding reception. I remember wearing a jacket for that! The marriage was a simpler affair, for me, wearing a kurta and pyjama. 

Pics of some stops along the way, in the U.S. and in India..

About Prestige University on CNBC

 A few weeks ago, we shot for a promotional program about the Super specialised MBA programs. At the CNBC studios in Worli, Mumbai. The show, an edited version, was telecast today. Some screen grabs.. 

Our Corporate Relations chief, above and guest, Subhobroto, below. He's the founder of thedigitalfellow, a consultancy.

Two other corporate guests, above and below. From HDFC Life and Mahidra group, respectively.

Dr. Satish Nargundkar, my younger brother and prof. at Georgia State University, also was at the shoot. Below-

Spike in Blog Viewership

 Spike in viewership. Of this blog. Even if 10% of this is genuine, non-bot readership, I am happy. 

This month13696 (there's another week to go in this month-June 2023)

Last month2120
Not sure what explains this sudden spike. It has happened a couple of times before. When I started blogging, it grew steadily and settled at around 100 views a day. More recently, it has ranged from 30-50 a day. Maybe Chat GPT got interested in finding out what I write about? (P.S. As on 26 June 2023, the cumulative views -since 2009- have crossed 800000)

Wonders of My World

 I don't buy the fact that there are just 7 Wonders of the World, and that too, just monuments. My list would include people I am grateful to- just for being in my life. And that's going to run into hundreds, obviously. I have had a long life...

1. Parents, aunts, uncles, cousins. We were a large family, with my mother having several sisters and a brother, and my father with two brothers and some cousins. So we had a ball, meeting in vacations or get-togethers, weddings and so on. At Nagpur a few years ago, we celebrated the 75th birthday of our seniormost maternal cousin. A great event.

2. Teachers- starting from the nuns in class 1, to high school teachers at Hyderabad, or profs. at IIM Bangalore in India, and at Clemson University, USA, they played an important role in shaping me.

3. Colleagues at work in companies, or academic institutes. They have been a source of joy, and learning. Including my non-teaching staff, teaching assistants and almost everyone who worked in various offices- even accounts!

4. Classmates in school, college (we have a group called Hum Nahi Sudhrenge), IIM Bangalore buddies, and a couple of Ph.D. seniors and mates at Clemson-Ron Green being one, Masoud Abessi another

5. Students and ex-students..mostly the second, as I have graduated to admin. roles these last two-three years again. I am amazed at having so many wonderful people just a facebook post or WhatsApp message away. We also meet when we can. You guys are amazing!

6. Food and Drink.. with people you like. You can never have enough.. just like Lays says in its ad.. so much to explore. Just having Moong bhajiya in today's rain, or a Biryani at Hyderabad (with Pratima, my biryani friend), or sipping a cocktail- Ravi and I made a few in Calicut when I lived there. Had a coffee with Prabhakar at UB city recently, and shared many stories.

7. Fun and Games- Karaoke, Golf or Antakshari ..music in any form, actually.

Ok, managed to classify them into 7, after all.. am I forgetting something?

Beauty and the Beholder

 Why is it said that beauty lies in a beholder's eyes?

Mainly because beauty has multiple definitions. The skincare companies would like you to believe it's skin deep, but that's just one (visible) aspect. What about the beauty of the mind, which is creative, inventive, imaginative? 

A particular body shape may look attractive at first sight, but that too is subjective, depending on which part of the world you live in. Again, the fashion mags would have you believe that what they propagate as the shape (forget the clothes) is fashionable, as a body type.

Ask a person in love. It could be a gesture, or the way she/he carries herself, or almost anything that creates the beauty in their eyes.

Or ask a child. To him, his mother would be the most beautiful creature. Likewise, a mother would think the same about her kids.

Look for beauty beyond the obvious, and if possible, appreciate it too.

Monsoon Very Soon

 One of the most anticipated events in India is the onset of the monsoon rains from the South-west. This usually happens around June 1st in Kerala, and over the next two to three weeks, spreads across the country. This year, there has been a delay, though there were unseasonal rains in April and May at many places including here at Indore, in central India.

Housing about a sixth of the world's population, we need to grow a lot of food. And the crops are diverse, including the major grains we consume. Though irrigation has improved, the rain influences the output significantly. Therefore, the importance of rains during this season, which support the major growing season. 

Also, a relief from the hot summer! What fun it is to smell the earth in the first few showers! And for kids, to play in the pools that form everywhere naturally, or make paper boats and float them in the water. Wo kagaz ki kashti, wo baarish ka pani, as Jagjit Singh once sang.. a reminder of our own childhood, for many of us.

US Memories

Wannabe Mexicans.. in L.A. with Anil Lahoti and Satish Nargundkar

Indian artefacts and us..

Arizona, one of those landscapes.. near Petrified Forest National Park, and Painted Desert.
 

Random Ramoji Studio Shots

 Some more shots from the Ramoji Studio tour

Father's Day

 It's funny, but my daughters and I had an impromptu chat over WhatsApp just the other day. So that felt like Father's Day, though their Mother was also a part of it. The father in a typical urban family has been variously described as an ATM, a genie who fulfills every wish of his kids, a provider of bread (and cake?) , and so on. Which is all true, to an extent in a typical family where the mother is a housewife. My parents were both working all their life, so we were atypical, in a sense.

Now both my daughters are independent, more in line with today's women, so I am not really into 'getting them married etc.' It will happen when it has to, as per their wishes. But just reflecting on the years of fatherhood while they were still at home and dependent, it feels like a joyful roller-coaster of the type you see at Disneyland. Disney did a pretty good job of simulating life through those. There are many moments-some captured in photographs and some not-worth remembering. The birth, the birthdays, and the first day of school, or college, for example. Their perspectives on life, from time to time. Boyfriends, and breakups included, these days.

It's a nice experience, with them becoming your technology tutors in return for your teaching them A,B,C.. They did not get me on the blog, but they did get me on facebook, and I am happy they did. I got in touch or maintained touch with so many people, through just fb. 

Just some reflections.  

Also Rans

 Not exactly that, but those who were not acknowledged as THE star, or God, or whatever the no. 1 is called by masses. For example, the Big B was widely acknowledged as no. 1. What about many other actors? Here are a few that deserve accolades too-

A for Asrani

D for Dharmendra

H for Hrithik Roshan, 

N for Naseeruddin Shah

P for Parveen Babi

R for Raj Kapoor

S for Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Sharmila Tagore, Sanjeev Kumar

V for Vidya Balan, Vinod Khanan

Z for Zeenat Aman

and in cricket, Madan Lal, Roger Binny, Abid Ali, Kirmani, Rahul Dravid, Laxman, Prasanna, Vishwanath, Ajit Wadekar, Saurav Ganguly, 

Sustainable Blogging

 How do you sustain a blog beyond a couple of years? Many ways, just like films have survived, telling pretty much 5 stories over the decades, be it Holly- or Bolly- or Tollywood. Some suggestions, having done it for over 14 years now..

1. Add pics to the events you describe.. and describe the events as they happen, before you forget.

2. Have an opinion, and express it. About anything and everything. Opinions make things interesting, within limits of course..

3. Review books, films, art, games.. extension of the above.

4. Meet people, create memories, and write about these, pics included

5. Summarise your quarters-learn from finance- balance sheets, for one.

6. Look for triggers on your friends' posts, or other bloggers' blogs..

7. Take a break, and come back with fresh thoughts.

IIMB PGP Inaugural and Distinguished Alumni Awards

 IIM Bangalore, my alma mater, chose three distinguished alumni for the awards. This awards ceremony was also combined with the inauguration of the 50th batch of PGP (MBA). I was among the invitees and it was wonderful listening to the achievements of the awardees in different areas- the corporate world (Abhijit), entrepreneurship (Teamlease) and Social Entrepreneurship (Samina). They were from these batches-

• Abhijit Roy, PGP 1991
• Ashok Reddy, PGP 1995
• Samina Bano PGP 2010

The Chief Guest, Rashmi Mohanty, also was an alum, and is now the CFO at SBI Cards. There were around 600 new entrants into the MBA programs lapping up every word. Some pics..

The new entrants, Batch 50 of PGP.

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The Chief Guest, above.

Gopal Mahaptra, my batchmate and now a Professor of Practice, IIMB. This was our classroom in 1982-84.

My t shirt marks  the 50th year -Golden Jubilee year of IIMB. It started in 1973.

I also tried out a set of drums before the event!

New Team Members at Prestige University

 Two new faculty members, Juhee Singh Verma and Bharat Singh Patel, joined us at Prestige University.

Pics of them, with me and some older team members - Amandeep, Group H.R. head, and Chandrakant Singh, Corporate Relations head.

People I am Impressed With

 Lots of people impressed me, over the years, for many different qualities. 

Among colleagues, Thomas and Dayakar Rao, from VJIM. Dayakar later became VC of ITM Univ. at Raipur. And Banikanta Mishra from XIM, B.K. Mohanty from IIML and XIM, Bharat Bhasker of IIML (now director of IIMA), Harsh Halve of IMT Nagpur, along with Jitendra Sharma, Maheswaran, Smita Dabholkar, Ekkirala, TK C, also from there, Manoharan, Manasa, Shahida from PES, Dhanapal and Vijayakumar of KIAMS, Yashad Gaur from Mysore Kirlsokar, and Indrajit, Jayasimha, Harshal, Shweta Kushal of IIM Indore, Preeti Ravikiran, Narayani, Deepak from NMIMS. The reasons are varied, and will fill a chapter or two.

Students are actually many more in number. I will start with a few- A for Abha, Anchal, Anusha Soni, Anushka Mishra, Aashneet Gautam, Aishwarya (Iyer and Omprakash), Anupama, B for Bhuvneet, Bugzy, Bhawana, Bhavana, Bharath Shenoy, C for Chittaranjan, Chaitra Hegde, D for Deepa Beena, Divya Anand, Divya Sharma, G for Gowri, J for Jogeswari aka Jogi, Jasmine, K for Kokila Chopra, Kanika (2-Mhendiratta and Bhatia), L for Laura Shah,  M for Meenu (Mynam), P for Praveen Kotta, Pavan (Tarawade), Praddy, Padmapriya, H for Harshad (Lunavat), N for Nikita, Nandini, Namrutha, Nikhil, Nishka, R for Ruminder Kaur, S for Sheetal, Sirisha, Sanjana Rao, Shreyashi, Sandeep (prof. in U.K. now), Shruti, Shatakshi, Shailaja Gupta, Sanjeev Undri, T for Tosha, Thoshitha, Tanaya Kar, Tanya Jakhar, U for Urmi Patel, Y for Yogita, Yamini Sha, Z for Zenitha and a bunch of Ph.D. students I met recently, including Neeti, Pratishtha, Geeti, Vanshika, ..

Golfers have a special place- Aditi, Garima, Prachi Jain, Aakansh, Sohni Roy (yeah, even a Range qualifies), Muskan Agarwal, Mahek Singhal, and some women faculty - Tanmeet, Alisha and Prerona from NMIMS and Radha Ladkani, IIMI. My regulars Gadgil, Vijayakumar with whom I have been to Kodaikanal for Golf and Dhanapal (we went to Pattaya too with Jogi who runs Golftripz).

Many others, musically minded, but that's for another day.. 

Repositioning

 For a brand of any kind, repositioning involves changing its perception by the targeted market segment. 

For Hindi films, these are some examples-

the character of a bandit/daaku/dacoit used to be a dhoti clad, moustachioed character carrying a longish rifle for many years -until Gabbar Singh came along in Sholay. Tht changed the perception of the villager-dacoit. This one was more sophisticated.

The hero never got into comedy..there was always a separate character doing comedy, until Amitabh and his drunken solos came along. The hero became an all-rounder, and did everything himself- dancing, comedy, action.

Same with the heroine, to some extent. She also tried out her vampish side, becoming a grey character, a seductress, etc. And did 'Item' numbers in others' films too.

Indian films themselves used to be technically backward in special effects etc. Bahubali and the recent crop like Robot, RRR etc. have changed that perception too. Though song and dance rules, as before. Natu, natu..

Random Stuff-Here and There

 Just a collection of random clicks from here and there- last few months..