Madhosh Kiye Jaa: December 2023

Best Friends

These are awards that have nothing to do with your DPs or Cover Pics. Just to recognise you for being good friends on social media, or in life, or both. Of course, in instalments, because the numbers are just too many to tag in one or two posts.

Roughly, in the order of our meetings, reverse chronological (logical?) order- Nishka Rathi, Bhagyalakshmi and Venkatesh, Shraddha Nigdikar, Harsh Halve, Abha Kulkarni, Ananya Nandi De, Jayasimha, Amitabh Kodwani, Payal Kapoor, Mohita Maggon, Nidhi Kanungo, Sudeshna Srivastava, Bibhuti Dash, Ishita Modi, Savitha NK, Shatakshi Tripathi, Sheetal Garg, Prachi Jain, Akansh Khandelwal, Shafique Gajdhar, Vandana Kumar, Kanika Mhendiratta, Divya Singh, Meghana Khadilkar, Harshad Lunavat, Tanmeet Kaur Sahiwal, Neeti Ingole, Pratishtha Batra, Abhishek Mishra, Rajhans Mishra, Pratima Gaikwad,...

to be continued.

Food- Simple and Tasty

Food that is simple and tastes good. Pics as examples-

Beautiful chilli, I had to buy it,..

Beet root soup.. chef was my wife.

Below, cabbage with Red chilli, by me.

Raw poha with a North Karnataka recipe- ginger, onion, coconut, rock salt, chilli, coriander

(below)

Karaokeing with Shraddha

Shraddha Nigdikar dropped in for a karaoke party at Bhagyalakshmi's place in Mumbai, and we had a great time. She's a good singer, and we celebrated her Ph.D. synopsis approval. She's also an MBA from IMT Nagpur, 9-11 batch. Pics-

Wedding Blacks

Not blues, because it wasn't my wedding! On tour to Mumbai, managed to attend a friend's son's wedding. It was in Juhu area, at the Sea Princess Hotel. And a sangeet/cocktails at The Club in Andheri West.

Tushar Gandhi was the friend, whose son Mihir was marrying his long time friend Devika. These are some pics from the proceedings, and us posing away.

The host, his sis-in-law Timira Shukla, and her daughter. Timira knew me through my book, and surprised me with the fact.

A vintage car, similar to the one my parents had.

Signs to choose from.

Uma and Rajendra Pankar, and Tushar Gandhi (host and father of the groom) on the right.

Heavenly poses.

Dances, and THE couple in the audience, enjoying them.

Tune maari entriyaan. Devika and Mihir are the entrant celebs.. below.

My Heroes

Both genders are included, just like the word Actor is used for either gender now. My heroes are no longer celebrities of the silver screen, or even sportsmen/women (with a couple of exceptions).

They are, instead, people know to me from personal experience of their qualities. They are usually colleagues, ex-colleagues, friends, alumni of institutions I have worked with, or relatives of some kind.

Why? Mainly because real heroes don't do stuff that the celebrity types do. They are ordinary people who may end up being extraordinary- a very good student, or alumnus/alumna for instance. She may be good at a corporate job or at a non-profit, as an employee or as an independent entrepreneur. Or a housewife raising kids. Or a maid struggling to educate her kid, and succeeding.

Kindness, courtesy, a positive view of the self and surroundings, a sense of humour, a willingness to do something different, are all great qualities to have in a hero, for me. And I have not one or two such people I know, but hundreds of them now.

They don't always save the world, but they make the world around them a better place. May we have more such heroes!

Some Firsts in 2023

We don't have to repeat the same things we did. Alongside, look for new experiences. It's possible. Some new things I can remember from 2023.

Made a new friend from Argentina. Veronica is a guest faculty at Prestige University, and brings a unique flavour to the classroom with her KPMG Spain stint. She's a great conversationalist, warm and has a great sense of humour.

Went to Nagaland-Kohima and Dimapur- for the first time. One needs to visit this area and learn about it, I think. Also went to Shillong, though it was touch and go.

Met Ananya Nandi De and family. She is an alum of IMT Nagpur, and a member of a music group I belong to. Met her again in December, last week.

That's Veronica, in the pic above, and Ananya and Abha in the one below!

Met Meghana Khadilkar, finally. At Pune. IMT student, but we hadn't met.

Made new friends among the Ph.D. students at IIM Indore. Neeti Ingole and Pratishtha Batra are two of them, (in the pic with old friends Prachi and Akansh)

Had a great time giving a keynote speech at NIFT Gandhinagar, with fashionable people, beautifully dressed, all around me. Dhanali Sandesara and Mehak even started following my blog!

Played the drummer at IIMB, and TV film director at CNBC-see the pics if you don't believe me.

At IIMB, above, and CNBC studio, Worli, below.

Visited my niece Miskil and Kabir, at their house for the first time. Their boy Khayal is also in the pic, along with others.

Had a few new Single Malts, a couple imported directly from Scotland. Here's one-

Oh, and rode a pony for the first time, in Pahalgam.

What do I do Next Year?

A good question to ask of oneself. Of course, a part of the list remains unchanged.

Eat, drink and be merry.. that starts this year, right now. Before Christmas, even.

Be aware of one's self-development, such as it is.

Do some good, to my organisation, my students, my colleagues, friends, family.

Think about improving my surroundings in some way..linked to the above.

Have fun, enjoy with people I already know, and those who are new acquaintances.

Take photos, including selfies.. make my selfie-teacher proud.

Continue to write the blog, make puns, coin quizzes, give prizes.. no escape for you guys, in short!

Going Bamboo

That was a book by Anthony Bourdain, host of a food/cookery show, and author. But in our case, it was a visit to bamboo country, in the North East. Last week, we went to a restaurant called Kavu cafe, which means Bamboo Cafe in the local language-Naga. With Ankur Gogoi, Nishant and Arun Bhattacharyya.

With the staff.. above.

Outing with IMT Alums

Met two IMT alums for a fun evening. Abha and I have met a few times in Mumbai too. Ananya, I met a year ago at her place. This time, both made it to CP.

Above, we smile for the camera.. Ananya Nandi De and Abha Kulkarni.

Below, some fun with Ananya.

Below, where we met. Tonino Cafe.

Collaborations- North East

We were out discussing possible collaborations in the North East, with potential partners. Most likely, these will include a student exchange, with a college in Nagaland, followed by other common interest programs like Conferences, or programs for industry that are jointly organised, or research/case writing projects to be done by their faculty and ours.

We find there is lots of potential, untapped, in the region. Very good students also exist, like everywhere else, and both sides could benefit from such collaborations.

St. Joseph's University, a private university, and Tetso College, a great degree college specialising in Humanities, were some of the institutions in Dimapur we went to, apart from a couple of schools to make them aware of our 5 year Integrated Management Program.

What Travel Has Taught Me

If you can afford to, travel. If you can't, still try to.. coz it's a great teacher. You learn through observation, immersion, and a lot of interactions. For instance, I was fascinated by the varied experiences in recent years at Vietnam, Ladakh, Japan, Bali, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, during international travels. Also, within India, I went to Nagaland for the first time, and had a fascinating interaction with an MLA and a Minister, and learnt a lot. Also met a businessman who drove us around, and told us about modernisation of business practices.

People in Bali including taxi drivers were very polite, punctual and well-behaved. Their architecture- temples particularly- is fascinating, and different.

Japan is a very modern country technically, but they follow quite a few traditions too. Innovators in many ways, ahead of the West.

Vietnam- just the Ha Long Bay cruise is enough to give you goosebumps. And they have a Temple of Literature dedicated to Confucius, my hero..

Cambodia has a rich culture, partly Hindu, part Buddhist..

Sri Lanka grows a lot of tea and spices, and follows Ayurveda..

Singapore is known for good governance, and Management of govt. services. Great universities too.

Year end Musings- 6

A year is an artificial division of time. But it helps consolidate our life into compartments. Of course, it gets confusing with the financial year thrown in for calculations, and others-academic year in my profession.

This year, September -November were eventful. Some pics..