Madhosh Kiye Jaa: IMT

Showing posts with label IMT. Show all posts

Bonds- A Reflection

I have been able to bond with people quite easily. It could be students, colleagues from faculty or staff, and friends, classmates, and cousins/relatives. A new category has been added a few years ago- a music group on Facebook that I became a member of, and instantly made over a 100 like-minded friends who bonded over music.

I am not age-ist, and I am glad most of friends aren't. Or else, why would a twenty-something or a forty-something want to spend time with a Sixty-something like me? I have rarely been turned down when I proposed a meeting with alumni of different B schools that I taught in, in various cities- in India or abroad.

So I have met Smita Mohan in Dubai, Vidya and Swapna in Singapore, and countless alums of Kirloskar Institute, IMT Nagpur, or IIM Indore, IFIM, Vignana Jyoti Institute, or colleagues from IMT Ghaziabad, IMT Nagpur and elsewhere.. some names are Anshita Chetty, Rupam Verma, Aashish and Anusha Mamidanna, Gowri Kishore, Sreeram, Meghna Sinha, Sanjana Yarram, Swati Jain, Nishka Rathi, Sudeshna Ray Srivastava, Ranjana Rudra, Roopali Saxena, Deepthi Balagiri, Pratima Gaikwad, Savitha, Nikita Kumar/Ray, Shruti Sharma, Aditya Naag, Shafique Gajdhar, Abha Anagha Kulkarni, Tosha Dubey, Siri Adi, Anuj Mathew, Anushka Mishra, Bharath Shenoy, Vishakha Sugandh, Anusha Soni, Garima Shah, Pushpinder Singh, Harshad Lunavat, Phalguni Banerjee, Ananya Nani De, Divya Singh, Swatika Selvam, Jogeswari, Padmapriya Janakiraman, Amit Gope, Mohan Gopalratnam (both from XIM Bhubaneswar back in 1993).

And colleagues from IMT Nagpur like Tk Chatterjee, Smita Dabholkar, Veena Pailwar, Saleena Khan, and others, IIMK staff members from my day who are still there, Keyur Purani and SSS Kumar and Neeraj Dwivedi who were faculty colleagues there, Jayasimha and Shweta Kushal from IIM Indore, and Ph.D. students from IIM Indore like Prachi Jain, Akansh Khandelwal, Pratishtha Batra, Vartika Varyani, Neeti Ingole and Geeti Mishra.

I have also met Vrinda Khanna and Surbhi Mehta Chaddha, Pallavi Bajpai, Abhinav Kamal, Aditi Gupta (who played Golf at IMT Nagpur). Probably a few more that I am missing right now.

Star Students

I have had many, in different spaces. Vikas Sethia (Mio Pods at airports), Nikhil Damle (NLP training) are entrepreneurs in different spaces, both from Kirloskar Institute (KIAMS).

Sudeshna Srivastava from KIAMS is launching Bhumija soon, to sell North East and East-based stuff online, after a long stint at PWC.

Divya Singh from IMT Nagpur is a Digital Marketer and has launched a sportswear brand, and so is Shatakshi Tripathi of IIM Indore.. Abhinav Kamal is a film maker, also ex-IMT.

Aditi Atre runs Rajasthani Rangrez, selling local handicrafts from Rajasthan.

Freelancers like Nishka Rathi, ghostwriter, and Sheetal Garg, trainer.

Divyaa Sharma is a TV anchor, and has acted too. Padmapriya is an accomplished actor. Both from Kirloskar.

Many more, but maybe later..

Corporate players are many. Bhuvneet Raheja in Google, Savitha as H.R. in many corporates, Abha Anagha Kulkarni as H.R. in a Law Firm, Shrishail Deshnur, Joyanta Dutta, Praveen Kotta, ..

Meetings With Old Friends in Kolkata

Met Navneeta, Shakti Ghosal and Indukant Gautam of IIMB 1982-84 fame, in the last year.

Met Banikanta Mishra of XIMB- a colleague from 1991-92, on his visit. Also Amit Gope, a student from the same institute, who is settled in Kolkata.

Renewed contact with Ananya Ghosh, a Ph.D. scholar with St. Xavier's University, whom I had earlier met in XLRI at a doctoral consortium. She is close to finishing her Ph.D.

Akansh Khandelwal, a former Ph.D. student at IIM Indore.

Jasbir Matharu, a former colleague, along with Abhinav Chandel, both from IMT Nagpur.

Sayantani Saha, also a former student at Nagpur who is with ICICI Lombard.

And of course, Dash who is also an IIMB classmate, retired cop now settled here.

Mutual Admiration Societies

How many have you formed? Alas, non-living objects can't speak, or else we could have had thousands.

But with humans (not bots, yet- don't know enough of them or about them), we can have some. I have experienced this at all stages of life. One of my first officially recognised ones was with Meghna Sinha, who used to write a blog while she was a student. Later, we met a few times, and bonded over books and coffee, and other beverages.

The others include a few more students of IMT Nagpur, some of Kirloskar Institute, a couple from PES and IFIM B School, and some of IIM Indore. NMIMS too, I guess... faculty included, in most of these.

Anusha Soni of Bhopal who I met during her IIM Indore IPM stint, was one. We bonded over Guavas, Golf and small talk, and she treated me to a lunch in my hometown Pune (I think it was her first salary!) and came home too.

Prachi Jain and gang was a delightful bunch of Ph.D. scholars at IIM Indore, and we have had fun outings in Delhi, Indore and one in Kolkata with a gang member (Akansh) recently.

Abha Kulkarni and Sheetal Garg have been members of an MAS for many years now.

Pallavi Sharma/Bajpai and Shafique, naturally, because GB calls us twins- all three!

Shatakshi (the confused genius), who I did not teach at IIM I, and Anushka Mishra who I did not teach at Kirloskar, also.. due to Fb and later, physical meetings.

Natasha Kothari, who I met at a wedding, and Rimjhim, who I met through a music group I am a part of with her Mom!

Of course, there are more, but let me list those in MAS part 2.. to be continued.

Part 2

Bhuvneet Raheja of IIM Indore, who is now at Google..

Ananya Nandi De, ex-IMT NAGPUR

Nikita Kumar- Likewise

Abhinav Kamal- Ditto

Nidhi Kanungo, who is now in the U.S.

Nishka Rathi, the Ghostwriter

Jogeswari, and Savitha.. from Kirloskar Institute

Preeti Ravikiran, faculty at NMIMS. Tanmeet Kaur, likewise.

Ekalavya, placement chief at NMIMS Blr.

Anshita Abhishek Chetty, Ishita Modi, Gowri, Rupam, Ashish, from Bangalore gang of IMT

Pratima Gaikwad of IIM Indore, now a pakka Hyderabadi.

Globally, Leslie Price, though we haven't met after I left the U.S., Annie Singh, also from the U.S., Samudrika Rasanjalee, Sri Lankan whom I met at a conference.

And a few of my classmates from school, college, IIMB and beyond.. and colleagues, like Bhagyalakshmi, Manasa, Jayasimha, Vijayakumar, ..TK Chatterjee, Smita Dabholkar Singh,..

Some are also online MAS's, like with Pooja Shukla, Anchal Sharma, and so forth..

Conferences and Seminars

I have by now attended countless conferences and seminars, and some were memorable. The first one was in the U.S., and the next two as well, while I was a Ph.D. student there. I even won a prize for one of my papers, at a Southeastern DSI conference. One was in Las Vegas, which became memorable due to the place!

At IIMK, IMT in India and also at PES, I organised conferences as well. One of our ideas to host one in Goa was a big hit. It was also a case conference, unlike most others which are research-paper based. The venue was an attraction for many participants, and I still get reminded of the Goa conferences by people I meet.

Among other international conferences I have been to, Tourism related ones in Colombo, Vietnam and Japan were the most interesting. I offered a course on Tourism Marketing during that time as well, at IIM Indore, for both Ph.D. students and MBA students (with a colleague, Jayasimha). The MBA course continues, I am told.

Last week I attended a seminar at St. Xavier's University, in Kolkata on invitation. It was on Strategy, with the vision for India in 2047 as a theme. There was an interesting address by the Chairman of Coal India, Mr. Prasad, and a panel discussion with executives from industry.

Offices- Current and Past

My offices in pics, over the years-

Teachers Can Make a Difference

I have been into teaching for as long as I can recollect, and I have also been a student a long time. Based on these many years, I would say that students are influenced by teachers-some of them, at least. The reasons may vary, but a strong human connect is usually one of these reasons. I often meet past students that I may not even have taught, and they share stories, opinions and views that echo these thoughts. You may be the cat's whiskers in your subject, and that awe initially may overwhelm a student. But what remains after distillation is a welcoming, supportive attitude towards the student, is what I think. In other words, a human connect and interest in their life.. and career.

Many students express what we couldn't in our generation. That is a great feeling- to receive a message on Social Media (got one from far away in Dubai yesterday), or a meeting set up in quick time over facebook (happened two days ago!), or just hearing them talk about bygone days on a forum somewhere.

I am in touch with many from IMT Nagpur, IIM Indore and Kirloskar Institute, for some reason. And some from IFIM and PESIT (now JagSoM and PES Univ). A couple from XIM and Vignana Jyoti too. Without exception, they are warm and chatty whenever we meet. Hopefully, this will go on forever!

I have also had a few students of Golf, including faculty and Doctoral students who were not in my area (Marketing).

Cheers to all students everywhere!

Where We Met - Part 2

Now on to some colleagues.

KIAMS colleagues I still meet, Vijayakumar and Dhanapal in particular. Usually it's on a Golf course, because we began playing the game at Harihar on the 18-hole Kirloskar Golf course. We have played at Kodaikanal, and Munnar. Gadgil too, from IMT Nagpur.

Sohni Roy from Prestige (above) and I try out at a driving range in Indore- Bichholi Haapsi.

Have met Dayakara Rao and Thomas from VJIM, though it was some time ago.

Manoharan, Manasa and a S.P. Kumar from PESIT I have met later. Stayed with Manoharan in the same complex at Bangalore recently also.

IIM Indore colleagues, I still meet sometimes when I go to the campus. Shweta Kushal, Jayasimha, Sumit Ghosh, and a few others- Ashish Sadh, Rajhans Mishra, Abhishek Mishra..

IIM Lucknow colleagues also I have met a few times, though not at Lucknow. Shailendra Singh at Ranchi and Bharat Bhasker at Raipur, when they were directors there.

Muthu, colleague from industry (M.R.) , I am in touch with and have played Golf with.

Tanmeet Kaur, Prerona Baruah and Alisha Thomas from NMIMS, at Bangalore.

Smita Dabholkar (at Bangalore and Pune too) and TKC from IMT at Nagpur. Saleena Khan too.

Maheswaran and Jitendra Sharma from IMT at Mumbai, at an alumni meet. Abhishek Singh, at Indore and Nagpur.

Jayasimha and I worked together at 4 institutes, and are still in touch, at Indore, our current place of residence. Bhagyalakshmi and I worked in two, and meet regularly in Mumbai or elsewhere.

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.

Interesting Names

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.

The Ones That Got Away

Maybe they are better off for it. I mean, the students who were there in institutes I was in, but who I never taught. Either because I was there at a different time or because I was in an admin. role. Not knowing how lucky they had been, they sought me out on FB and befriended me. And even met me (and often, treated me or called me home!)

Out of many such, the ones I have met in the last few years include Pallavi Bajpai and Shafique Gajdhar (BOTH are my twins, fb says), Sheetal Garg, Ishita Modi, Anurag Sikaria, Swati Jain, Anshita Abhishek Chetty, Abha Anagha Kulkarni, Anushka Mishra, Sirisha Adi, Ananya Nandi De, Anupriya P., Vrinda Khanna, Meghana Khadilkar, Harshad Lunavat, Shatakshi Tripathi, Varun, ....

Some I met at alumni meets, which we did regularly when I was at IMT Nagpur, Ghaziabad, or at NMIMS Bangalore. Some NMIMS students I met only in my office or at Placement parties (Tanya Sardana, is one I remember and Manuja Seth, Divya Anand and Sreelekha Bannerjee too) and the Golf course. Avanii, Rakshita, Muskan, Mahek are some of them.

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..