Books on a Bucket List

 Not mine, but should be on others' lists, because I have read these books/authors already. That was a Googly.

Zorba the Greek

Maverick by Ricardo Semler

Bertrand Russell

J. Krishnamurty

Alice in Wonderland

Wodehouse- almost any book

Pu La Deshpande - if you read Marathi

Bill Bryson -his travelogues

Woody Allen- he writes well too

Comics- Asterix, Tintin, Mandrake, Phantom

Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner, Rex Stout and Arthur Conan Doyle among the stalwarts of whodunits

If I Become a Consultant

 I would make a good consultant in some areas. Can't compete with the McKinseys and BCGs in their areas of Core Competence, but I have my own.

1. How to tackle different kinds of bosses.

2. How to play Golf, and Why to Play Golf

3. How to Avoid Toxicity and Lead a Happy Life

4. How to Read Books and Forget the News Headlines

5. Why Life is Not a Four-letter Word

6. Careers That Give More Satisfaction Than Others, and Less Heartburn Too

7. Food Experiments You Should Try

8. Travel Tips for Oldies 

9. How to Avoid Stress

10. How to Make Friends- Listening Skills are paramount

11. How to be Funny and also be Liked!

Concepts and Characters I like From Books

 I like the idea of literally rolling in wealth, like Richie Rich did.. he had a room full of dollars. Also, having a butler- his was called Cadbury.

The concept of a magic potion used by Asterix, brewed by Druid Getafix- that's s great idea.

A mouse like Mickey, and a talking duck like Donald.. great imagination, Walt Disney!

Nero Wolfe, a gourmet AND a detective.

Hercule Poirot with his egg-shaped head, and little grey cells. Mon ami, Mon cher, whatever, ..pardon my French.. Oo la la!

Phantom's skull cave, with a waterfall covering its entrance, is a masterstroke, according to me. Mandrake's hypnotism too.

James Bond- I never read the books, but he rose from the books to become the colourful character everyone wanted to Bond with...

Of course, Sherlock Holmes, with his deductions based on observation. Market researchers could learn a few things from him.

All the Enid Blyton characters who were as different as chalk and cheese. Fatty, in particular. And Goon.

Thomson and Thompson.. and Captain Haddock..

Childhood Favourites

 They say old age is like a second childhood. But childhood is quite different, I feel. You are discovering many things for the first time. In old age, you may have made most of your discoveries, but you revert to being a child in some ways, like being dependent on someone. Like a child on its parents.

So coming back to childhood, my favourites were books, mainly, and s couple of good friends who we had in school or back home in the holidays. Learnt to read in the school library, and at home during vacations. Somehow, both places had a stock of books or magazines that I could spend hours on. Also, music took some time, to nurture a taste. Kishore Kumar Khandwawala was an early favourite- I was a teen in the 70s- and listening to the radio was a favourite pastime- it still is.

Comics, of all kinds- Goofy, Little Lotta, Dot, Phantom, Richie Rich, and so on were other favourites, among books. Later, Asterix comics grew on me. Movies- mainly Hindi but some English-were also a favourite pastime when I was in my twenties. I still like the theatre experience, though the frequency has reduced somewhat. 

Another favourite was card games, rummy, various others including Bezique which my grandmom introduced us to, and Bridge, which my parents introduced us - my brother and I- to. Lost touch with this brilliant game now.

Glimpses of Birthday Celebrations 2022

 I had my birthday, and we also celebrated a friend's birthday (Pratima Gaikwad from IIMI) and a niece's too, during the week gone by. Glimpses through pics, of various things we did- ate, mostly.

First, mine- with IIMB classmates.

and NM colleagues.

It was Anjali's birthday on 2nd Oct.

So we bought books, and went to Sodabottle Openerwala

and read funny stuff on their walls.

Had an Irani chai, and again, celebrated with Pratima her birthday which was on 5th

with some Kandahari chicken (and great chai at her place). 

Imagine if we Did Not Have....

 Imagining that we didn't have a mobile phone, computer, TV etc. is not so tough, because my generation actually did not have these for at least some of our years on the planet. Was life better? Not necessarily, all the time.

We did get more exercise by just walking around, playing outside rather than on/with a gadget. But communication with hundreds of people through social media was made possible only because of the internet+computers or later, internet+mobile phone. I have definitely benefited from the ability to do this, and keep meeting people because of it. Most of these are enriching experiences, so I am not exactly complaining. Self-control is definitely needed, no matter which medium you use. Reading books late into the night every night probably had repercussions on the brain, if not the eyes, in the same way that gadget use has. Maybe the details are different.

Door delivery of many things is a good thing for people who cannot move around, due to old age, sickness etc. But not so sure about healthy adults who can. Building exercise into your routine, even if it involves buying bread or groceries, is actually good compared to everything being delivered to you. I would like though, all government servants to come ad bow, and ask what else I need- a passport, a vehicle registration, driving license etc..when will that dream come true?   

Books and Friends

 I am going to highlight a major similarity between the two. I know books have this great quality that they can transport us into magical places and make us think of things we never would have. But friends who keep in touch with us also have exactly these qualities. 

I can certainly vouch for this, having done trips to exotic places through their social media posts, having bantered with them in person or on Messenger, or having had 'high' quality discussions with them while solving problems from Putin to climate change.. not Maria of The Sound of Music.. that problem, no one can solve!'

My short point is that friends, even if they are in touch on FB, Insta or whatever, regularly, are nourishing influences, and can help you beat the blues everyday! Even better if you are able to meet for wackadoo sessions!

Recommended, highly!

Weekend Pinks

 Whatever is the opposite of Blues, I mean. Pinks, Greens, or Reds. Had a nice weekend punctuated by a play at Rangashankara, food, random coffee, a new Biryani from Dindigul, and some home-made Keema biryani. Also friends, and book shopping. And karaoke sessions. Aadmi ko aur kya chahiye? (What more can one ask for?). Evidence of some of these-

Cases Students Wrote for My Books

 My text books on Marketing Research and Services Marketing (Published by McGraw-Hill India) derive their uniqueness from cases contributed by students, and contextual examples. Some of these contributors and contributions. These are mostly from KIAMS and IIMK. Later edition of M.R. had IIM Indore students' case studies too. Many were fictional, but realistic.

How to Write a Book

 Like everything else, you should want to write one, and badly. Motivation internally arising is what leads you into the exercise, in my view. For instance, a strong urge to simplify the concepts of Marketing Research had me motivated enough to pen my first book- on Marketing Research, now in its fourth edition and used by many B schools or research scholars. I wrote it in the style I taught- lots of examples, including cases written by past students. I might as well say that I am against the current trend to not use packaged software which is simple to use, and teach programming all over again to unsuspecting kids (of all ages).

The rest falls into place, unless it's fiction that you are trying to write. That I don't have any advice on, since I haven't tried writing it. Maybe other writers can offer some. The second genre I have tried is non-fiction, or autobiographical. I first wrote this autobiography around 2009, and it was entirely planned, written and (self) published within 8-9 months. Pothi was the platform I used, and my daughter did the cover design. Writing came easy, because all I had to do was pick on incidents from my own life, or events as they unfolded. 

Both types have found readers, and I got some feedback from readers, most of it positive. I also wrote a couple of other books- on Services Marketing with cases written by IIMK students, and one on Brand Management with Bhagyalakshmi Venkatesh, a friend and ex-colleague. More recently, a collated book of cases on Digital Marketing was published with Romi Sainy and me editing some original Indian cases sourced from both our alumni.

Pic from the launch of my autobiography, above. The publisher, Jaya Jha, and Sharu Rangnekar who launched the book, are with me.

Making New Connections

 Of course, for a teacher, an obvious place to make connections is his/her students. And colleagues. The gang of ex-student friends keeps expanding, in my case, as I have more years under my belt (sometimes, it shows). 

But generally speaking, a sport can get you friends, or hobbies can. If you are online, or a blogger, you get invited into communities. I have made quite a few friends from a music group I joined a few years ago. If you write books, you have many readers, some of whom pop up unexpectedly. Ditto, if you write columns etc. Makes you feel like a celebrity at times! I have actually given autographs on my books- not as many as I would like to, though.😀

Travel is another way you get to meet people. I have met friends who are friends of friends, or spouses of friends. Sometimes had long conversations with them too. I also have parents of students who are friends online, though I haven't met all of them. Similarly, daughters/sons of friends too. All of these connections are enriching. I have met New Zealanders, Bangladeshis and Vietnamese in conference travel, and Cambodians, Japanese, and Koreans too, among others-Thais and Britishers, Indonesians for example.

Some friends are also global (USA, France, China, Sri Lanka, Austria, Australia...) and we have connected on fb regularly, and I have a window into their world. I know exactly what they think of Biden., Trump, or Trudeau, for example, and what their kids are up to (if they have kids). 

Amazing!

Meeting a Bookworm

 I have a few bookworm friends. It's a great pleasure meeting them, and in Bangalore, I try to meet at Church Street, where you can worship books at at least 5 places of worship- bookstores, I mean. So it was that Anushka and I met at this interesting spot, which incidentally has been turned into a pedestrian zone and you can therefore see a lot of creative uses of the street by vendors, street musicians and so on. Here is photographic evidence of our meet..because when you get tired after book-shopping, you need a cup of tea to refresh yourself. So we tried some at Tea Villa. The crispy corn with water chestnuts was good too, and reminded me of Indore's Sayaji hotel. I must say she is a good photographer!

10 Books on Management

 You may or may not need to do an MBA if you read these books- most of them available in paperback editions.

Corporate Strategy by Igor Ansoff.

Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy

The Mind of the Strategist by Kenichi Ohmae

The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt

The Seven Day Weekend by Ricardo Semler

These are not text-bookish at all, are fun to read and will teach you most of the management that you will need. Strategy, Marketing, Operations and Human Resources Management. Other important books..

Henry Mintzberg's The Nature of Managerial Work

The Essential Drucker by Peter Drucker

Customers for Life by Carl Sewell

Psychology is About People by H.J. Eysenck

The Art of Social Media by Guy Kawasaki

Any book by Seth Godin might be a good addition to these. 

Highlights of 2010-2020

 Highlights of the Last 10 Years

2009-2010- Started blogging. Read the book Zorba The Greek. Revival of Osmania engineering batch meets. Joined IMT Nagpur, made new friends among faculty, staff and students. (Hundreds are still in touch, from there on till today, including those who went on strike 😊 )

2011- Met a few engineering classmates at Delhi’s Air Force Golf Club, IMT alumni meets in multiple cities, for the first time. Mr. Sunil Mittal at first convocation done independently at Nagpur (was with Ghaziabad before this). One helicopter landed at IMT grounds.

2012- Blog crossed 25,000 views, met Mr. Mukesh Ambani (IMT Nagpur convocation), Two choppers landed at IMT. Discovered an elixir-Amrut Single Malt, made in namma Bengaluru! Alumni meets, Goa Case conference continued.

2013- Formed a couple of Mutual Admiration Societies..and they kept growing, lots of them with students of mine. Crossed 50,000 views of my blog, met Mr. Azim Premji (convo again), family vacation to Thailand, including a boat ride in the Chao Phraya. Faculty outing at Marble Rocks, Bhedaghat. But the highlight was meeting my marketing prof. from IIMB, JD Singh, with friends at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Delhi.

2014- Joining IIM Indore and making new friends (actually joined in Dec. 2013), Started teaching a new course-Digital Marketing, Discovered Mandu- my favourite destination for a Day visit, blog crossed 200,000 views. Saw Daawat-e-ishq, set in Lucknow and Hyderabad, among great biryanis. 30-year alumni meet at IIMB.

2015- Trip to Jaisalmer and Chittaurgarh by road, a trip to Beppu with skinny-dipping in hot spring baths or Onsen. Started Golf on Indore IIM’s cricket ground, Kishore Kumar Nite in Mumbai with Sudesh Bhosle doing KK.

2016 -Bid farewell to Saumyaa, my Acad. Assistant, one of the best (we are in touch still), played Golf at Wellington and Ooty (getting my second Hole-in-one too), Went to Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh finally!

2017- Hridaynath Mangeshkar live in concert at Pune.

2018- Visited Kishore Kumar’s Khandwa Memorial, with ex-roomie Anil Lahoti. Also Kancheepuram and its amazing temples with Vijayakumar and my brother who was visiting. Wedding in the Nargundkar family at Hyderabad-bringing many of the rare species together. Met Krishna Nukala, a Malt Maniac from India (the only one from India) thanks to Hari, and tasted 15 different Single Malt whiskeys in a day! Red-letter day!! Went to Hanoi, Vietnam – Ha Long Bay cruise and Temple of Literature dedicated to Confucius in Hanoi were highlights. Discovered there was a street named Hang Bong in Hanoi!

2019-early 2020 before COVID struck: Alumni meetings at Bangalore (Anshita and gang, Savitha, Anushka), Delhi (Sunil and Sharmistha), Ahmedabad (Ishan, Keyur, Manjari, Punyashlok), Mumbai (THE gang- Abha, Tosha, Siri, Anuj and another bigger IMTN party (with Abhinav Kamal, Garima, Dwipa, Divya Pragati the camera-girl) and then Sheetal and Abha again at the Koyla overlooking the Taj), Delhi (Bhuvneet Raheja, Surbhi Mehta Chadha, Kanika Mhendiratta, Pranksters Shruti/Aditya/ Nikita), Pune (Divya Singh, Neha Adiga), Wedding at Prabhakar’s house (his daughter’s). Met a childhood friend Kiran Kenjale who visited from L.A. Some alums visited Indore, like Anam, Harshad Sachani, Arshia, Ritu, Sapna Patni and Ruminder. Visited Pulicat Lake near Chennai with Vijayakumar-boat ride to the sea!

The blog views stand at 700, 000 plus now.

Obituary- Trial Version of Mine

He was..the tense is important. We wouldn't want him mucking around forever, would we?

We wouldn't say his life was totally wasted, maybe just a few bits and pieces,..

He did come with blessings like progressive parents, not a silver spoon though. Had to work to get a few degrees and a couple of scholarships. One that let him see the world beyond the country of his birth. One could say he made good use of it, learning some skills, and making new friends.

Now, that's one thing he gets credit for. Making friends. He made lots of them, from those he played Bridge with in childhood, to those he studied with, and among his colleagues. Amazingly, in this day and age when friendships don't last long, some of his lasted decades. Particularly with his former students and colleagues. Of course, he had to learn how to use technology, to be in touch with them (his daughters helped him out). And spend real time too, when he could meet up. He liked to travel.

One of his passions was music, and the second, writing. In a way, they kept him going in all circumstances- good, bad and ugly (yeah, there always are a few of those, and chai helps get you centred, like in his case, sometimes). Photography too. He was creative, and used those writing skills acquired through college and school to good use. Reading must have helped (he started with comics, children's stories, adult fiction, mystery mostly, and graduated to non-fiction)! And his wife and two daughters, who were a source of his energy, and peace, at the same time.

Teaching in the routine sense was futile, according to him, but experimenting with it was his interest. He managed to write a couple of original text books, and students helped him out with case studies out of their work-bless them, he used to say!

He faced a couple of black flag demonstrations during his lifetime from people who were aggrieved that they never got the Nice DP Award that he had instituted, and that became such a coveted prize.

He had a stint or two in administration too, and tried using these to build bridges with his colleagues. He was blessed with many who were happy to give their best, and make him look good. His Golf wasn't exemplary, but among friends in beautiful surroundings, he got a Hole-in-one, not once, but twice.

What it Takes to be a Baba

There are two categories of Babas (Holy Men)- one, those in jail, and two, who are not in jail.

We will concentrate on those that are out of jail. So, to be one, what do you need?

One, a working knowledge of Sanskrit and the names of the old texts like the Vedas, Upanishads and of course, The Bhagvad Gita. You need not know a lot about these, a stray shloka or excerpt will do, because none of your followers will actually read them.

That reminds me, you need followers to be an effective Baba. That is not so difficult. Our large population comes in handy. Find a few unemployed youth and offer them food and unlimited growth, and a place to stay.

Oh, yes, you need a place to call your own too. An ashram, in other words. You will have to ensnare a rich devotee quickly, one who may have some spare acreage lying unused, and promise him salvation, so that you get the land.

Now all you need is a nice name, and some robes-of any colour that's not taken by competing Babas. A beard may help- like a suit, it makes anyone look impressive. You are all set! You can make a career out of it..but stay out of jail, if possible.

Looking Back at 2019

I know it's not December 31st, but I am looking back at the action-packed eight and a half months that have passed by. I started in January by reading a new author- Kazuo Ishiguro. Never Let Me Go was the book-poignant, about human-like creatures grown for a purpose, and how they turn even more human-like. Unexpectedly, the delayed fourth edition of my Marketing Research text came out, and I was able to release it at our own conference. Lots of students from IIM Indore a couple of years ago contributed the case studies, so it was a proud moment. There was a Delhi conference at IMT too, and I managed to meet Padmapriya and her hubby, after long!

Started a new photography competition on fb in addition to usual awards and quizzes..discovering good photographers is a byproduct.

As usual, I met a lot of past students, some who visited Indore (like Anam and Harshad), and many more outside Indore on my travels to Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and Ahmedabad (that was for a book release by a friend at MICA). Pune too, where I met Neha Adiga. Also gatecrashed (no, I was invited) into an alum meet of IMT Nagpur in Mumbai.

Met Sharmistha Singh, Shweta Agarwal and Sunil Kataria of KIAMS after about 16 years- and Anushka Mishra for the first time (we'd met on fb first). Also met Bharat of IFIM and Shatakshi of IIMI in Bangalore. In May, I went to Reva University for a talk on Smart Cities and ran into Shinu Abhi, a former colleague. Met SP Kumar and Manoharan, also past colleagues at PES. In Mumbai, visited Bhagyalakshmi and family. Met Shraddha Nigdikar too.

My friends from MBA too. I met Dash in Kolkata, and a big gang at Venky's boy's wedding. Stayed at the Presidency Golf Club too, a first. Also went for a conference at Goa, but missed out on meeting Prashant who lives there as he was busy. Harish and Snail at Delhi and Hyderabad I did meet.

IIT Guwahati was a revelation. It looks like a European town, with lakes on campus. Had gone to Belgaum's Gogte Institute on invitation, and had a fabulous drive through the Chorla Ghat, with the rains and clouds for company. Saw a few good films too, and read a few more books-among them old favourites by A.A. Fair and Rex Stout.

Also visited Bali for a conference, and went rafting on a river. Not bad for eight months!

Productivity and Managing Your Time

Some things can't be rushed. A baby has to be nurtured/incubated for around nine months in the womb. But most other things can take different amounts of time. One way to do it is to practice until you are good at something, so it takes less time. The other major thing one can try is to avoid (big) time-wasters- I mean, pick a few, if you cannot avaoid all of them, but pick those which take relatively less time.

This post is actually triggered by a question from Writabrita Ray, my recent student. She asked me how I manage to pack in so many things in my day. One way might be to sleep four hours a day (like Mr. Modi?), but I can't do that. I need my quota. But the waking hours can be distributed according to what you like to do plus what you have to.

Travel is sometimes optional, but I like to travel because it is always a new experience. I do look for opportunities to meet people during travel (again, that is optional). I have met several ex-students, colleagues and friends/relatives in my travels- in the U.S, too, and in Indian cities, and in Singapore (there's nothing like a real meeting!). It also gives me a chance to take pictures, and pick up books- I am a book store addict! For some of my own books (like Marketing Research), I have made students work-I use their cases, with credit to them. That saves me time, and gets the work done. So share the work load- in legit ways- and be more productive.

Writing, I have been doing since I was an editor of a wall magazine during my MBA, and I started off with reports on campus events ( I still have the originals, ink on paper) and reviewing films. We also wrote small pieces about our classmates for the Year Book. Blogging came naturally, and book-writing, not so naturally, as it is hard work. Hearing someone say they read it, is priceless though.

Ok, so the point is, I guess, you do more of what you like, some of what you have to, and avoid time-wasters. I control my TV time (almost nil these days), phone time (likewise), and find that I have plenty of time left to do what I really like doing! Karaoke partying is one of those. I also find social media, with its 2-way communication, more energising than TV-watching. It's also a great source of ideas, like the one for this post-and fun!

Covers and Cover-ups

Covers are used to hide what's beneath. So, it's a kind of cover-up, I guess.

What can be covered?

Crimes, as we learn from the great mystery writers, and not so great mystery serials (C.I.D.).

Books, and note-books, as we learnt in school.

Bodies, to prevent others from seeing how ugly we really look (ha, ha)

Homes, so that we have a roof over our head- literally!

Stadiums, so the screams of the Football/Cricket fans don't cause noise pollution.

Water-filled buckets, so the mosquitoes don't breed like pigeons (they seem to be everywhere, like the sheep in New Zealand).

Cups of tea and coffee, so they don't get cold while waiting for the drinker to arrive.

I Wonder...

Sometimes, I wonder if..


1. I had not cleared that interview for IIM Bangalore admission into the MBA program,..

2. I had not got a scholarship to go do a Ph.D. at Clemson, USA...

3. I had not returned to India after a couple of years' teaching,..

4. I had not worked in Marketing Research and Advertising,...

5. I had not written that book..or those books..

6. If I had not started blogging,..

7. If I had not got a single friend request on fb,..

My life would have been poorer, for sure. I am happy it turned out the way it did.