All time Views of my blog- 850802, not a bad number at all, considering that the reading habit is dying. Other statistics from 26th September, 2023. (Incidentally, today is Dev Anand's birthday, and I have blogged about him earlier)
She comes from the ad world, having served Dentsu as "one of the boys" in her own words. Fascinating career in advertising, working with some of India's best brands and companies, including MNCs we call our own. She is a storehouse of great stories, some of which she shared with us in conversations before and after the event she was here to inaugurate. The launch of the 5 year Integrated Management Program. At Prestige University, Indore, at our brand new campus. Since I worked in advertising briefly, we got along very well. Some pics with her-
Ok, now that we have launched our MBA@Prestige University and are about to launch the IMP or 5 year integrated program next week, here are some thoughts about brand launches-
1. It's hard work.
2. Needs lot of planning, no matter what type of service/product it is.
3. Various wings/parts of the organisation need to work together.
4. Consumer's reaction is unpredictable, as his range of options is large, and his reasons for choosing a brand are sometimes not very clear.
5. Investment in branding usually does not go to waste. It adds up.
6. Selling skills matter. So does positioning.
7. Your previous networks can help generate goodwill for a new brand.
8. It's hard to put together a team that will work like in a startup towards this launch.
9. It could be expensive, in the first couple of years.
10. In education, both physical infrastructure and people matter a lot.
A long time ago, when I worked with Kirloskar Institute at Harihar, we launched a brand new PGDM program there. The first batch of students were 30 from all over India. Among them, I have been in touch with some regularly, and some I met too. Nidhi Kanungo, after quite some time. She happens to be from Indore, my place of residence right now. So, we met, while she was on a visit from the U.S.
This is an Agatha Christie story starring Hercule Poirot. If you like mystery stories with twists and turns, this one is for you. It stars a new actor in the lead role, and the supporting star cast is pretty decent.
The story of the film is set in Venice, and has a back story of a girl who apparently has died by suicide. Poirot's author friend invites him - he is in Venice leading a retired life- to a party and a seance by an invited lady medium.
A couple of murders happen in the palazzio which needs a lot of repairs, and has an unreliable telephone line, and is supposedly haunted. The owner, the dead girl's mother, apparently wants to talk to the dead girl's spirit at the seance, but the 'medium' is exposed as a hoax by Poirot. But things get complicated, forcing Poirot to get cracking again, to the delight of his friend and the audience. It ends well.
Gripping, well-crafted.
Beauty could be over-rated at the expense of human qualities, but does make some impact at first appearance. On the second and subsequent interactions, other qualities usually come to the fore, and may result in longer relationships, both platonic and romantic.
If you just look around you among friends and acquaintances, you are very likely to find beautiful people- both for their looks and for their heart. I always think we are surrounded by them, if we care to look. I count qualities such as kindness, respect and integrity as beautiful things, along with great looks. So I routinely run into beautiful people.
And while we are at it, this applies to both genders. Greek Gods were men, I guess. Goddesses could be Indian, or foreign!
Got a taste of how it must feel in regular flooded areas. Bihar and Assam in particular, that face the fury of flooded Ganga or Bramhaputra. We just had around 36 hours of rain straight. In Indore. Very unusual, and the aftermath may show for a few more days.
Was reading a book on Basu Chatterjee and his obsession with rain scenes in Mumbai. Particularly, the song 'Rimjhim gire Saawan' from Manzil. Romancing the rain is fine when it falls in manageable quantum, but beyond that, is harmful to human habitation. Uttarakhand and Himachal also had a lot this year, I believe.
Homes get flooded, and streets. Difficult to live normal lives when this goes on. Daily wagers and vendors are badly hit, because no one ventures out.
Hoping we have seen the end of the fury, and normal weather prevails here onward. A thought for all those on whom it has inflicted misery.
Mostly, they don't. Retire, I mean. But strangely, in the last year or two, we had two who did.
Jacinda Ardern, who was New Zealand's zealous Prime Minster, and saw the country though a mass shooting, and then, COVID, with all its anxieties. She withstood all that, but said goodbye a few months later, saying she needed to move on, unable to take it any more.
More recently, Sanna Marin of Finland stepped out of politics completely, and said she wants to do social work.
I have not really heard of an Indian politician voluntarily stepping down, or a minister resigning. Mostly, this happens when they lose an election. Perhaps it happened in the good old says, but mostly, the clamour is for being made a minister, at any cost.
Here's a variety of memorable stuff that we wrote (mostly, Dash and I)- on our wall mag during our MBA at IIM Bangalore- that we were co-editors of. He recently published a book too, based on his cop life of 30 plus years..
I have a couple of songs that stayed with me, from Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam Films. Recounting those-
Huduga, huduga, is a Kannada song from the film Amrutha dhare.. sung by Ramya on screen, music by Manomurthy, I think.
Songs from the Kannada film Mungaaru Male. Almost all the songs are very melodious.
Istamallada, and Karuppi Naghugu (approximately), are two great songs from Swapnakkudu, a Malayalam film that was a rage while I lived in Calicut. Meera Jasmine and another heroine (Bhavana?) starred in these songs. I was addicted. The second is also picturised well in some great locations.
Tamil film Painangal Mudivethulai (roughly) that had the song Ilaya nila (was remade into Neele neele ambar par), I saw in 1983 or so at a theatre near IIMB that was demolished later.
Since I have seen about half a million students by now, there were quite a few interesting names that came my way. Some happened in the U.S., but many in India.
Grafila Jain was a student at IMT Nagpur. So was Meenu Mynam. And Vidushi Gandhi. Among the more common ones (Ankit, Ankita), these stood out. Tosha Dubey too, who I met a few times later on.
Yamini Shah was another unusual name. And Ratnashree. Of course, Laura, the Austrian girl too. Again at IMT.
Writabrita Ray takes the cake, among IIM Indore students, for uniqueness. Then there was Om Sai Keerthi Soppa, another long and unique one. Harapriya was also one of a kind, though it might be more common in Odisha. Sanket was also a new one, rare.
Nishka Kumar (now Rathi) at KIAMS, along with Jogeswari, were some of the unique ones. Both remain friends, many years after they graduated.
Among those I met elsewhere, Dhanali Sandesara from NIFT stands out.
Among foreign names, Godwin Udo from Nigeria, Yapin Qiao from China, Natalija from Lithuania, Masoud Abessi from Iran were some that were different. Alberto from Portugal also. And Samudrika from Sri Lanka.
College and school friends and langotiya yaars happened before 25. The largest group was at IIMB, as we were 120 students, approx. and many became friends. Some have remained, as the group meets have proved. Ditto, engineering college, slightly fewer. School, even less, due to the time span.
After 25, I made friends at work, at Clemson University during Ph.D., and then, colleagues at various places where I taught- KIAMS, XIMB, VJIM, PES, IFIM, IMT, IIML, IIMK, IIMI, NMIMS and now, Prestige University- just met one ex-colleague of IMT yesterday! But the largest group would be alums (ex-students) of various places I have taught in. And of course, a music group I am a part of on facebook, called MSMT-short for Mile Sur Mera Tumhara.
All in all, just wanted to say that friends made when you are a grown-up are no less important than the ones from many years earlier. At least in my case, it's very true, and I am grateful to all the friends through the 'ages' - because of my teaching stints, many of them are a third of my age! Some have grown up to half or two-thirds too.
Life in teaching is strange, in multiple ways. You go through a lot of perspiration, not knowing how the students will receive the preparation. After the class, sometimes there is exhilaration, and sometimes, frustration.
But there are many moments that make you thankful about having chosen to teach, rather than sell soap (note, I have nothing against the soap-makers- they are doing a brilliant job of keeping us clean). Or being a politician. It requires too much energy, for one.
The quiet contemplation is one big plus. (Reading is another). Always being on tenterhooks as you prepare for the next class (not calling it a lecture, deliberately. I think the Last Lecture was delivered a few years ago).
Planning an activity, an exam or an assignment was my big thing. Most classes, in the last few years, my talk time was about 50 percent of the class duration, or less. In Ph.D. seminar courses, it was around 5 percent.
Watching students grow, if you are fortunate to keep in touch, is a joy in itself. I love alumni parties or meetups for this reason. Not just academically, but you can see a person shaping up, from a raw student whom you met a few years before.
Cheers to students, and teachers. Both invaluable.
After quite some time, I had a chance to visit Kolkata. The Institute of Engineering and Management there hosted me for a keynote address in their International Case Conference.
We had visited Kolkata several times, and also went on a river cruise on a police launch thanks to a friend there. Coincidentally, the same friend, now retired from his police job, was launching his book titled Police in Blunderland, too. So I hopped on to the bandwagon, and conversed with him at the launch. At Kaffee Am Salzsee, a nice little cafe in Salt Lake- courtesy an alum of IIMB who owns it. His parents were our kind hosts.
Aayushman is one actor I like to watch. He generally excels in any role. Even here, where he plays a tough one.. acting as a female for most of the film- first a bar dancing girl, and then a coy wife/daughter-in-law. He is supported well by Paresh Rawal-another classy actor- and a couple of others including Rajpal Yadav, Seema Pahwa, Asrani. It's great fun while it lasts. Not too long, fortunately. The editor was not sleeping, like in some Hindi films.
The story involving many cliches, is not cliched because of the treatment, and is directed well. Annu Kapoor is a veteran at playing these roles now, and shines.
See it if you enjoy sitcoms, or if you are a fan of Aayushman. Ananya Pandey doesn't have much to do, and does it well.
Starting with December 2023, on 30th I attended a wedding - and met Natasha Kothari, who runs Studio Ungap. Dhruv, her fiance, was the groo...
