Ananya Nandi De

I experienced the warm hospitality of an ex-student yet again. Ananya Nandi De and her family -husband Raka and son Hrishit. We had a great time, great food, and conversations.. the 9 year-old Hrishit was full of enthu for books and wants to start a library.. great news! I also recorded an interview with Ananya for my Youtube channel, Chat Masala.. this is the link to it- 

https://youtu.be/AQwHBrxButc

She's worked in procurement for leading companies like Torrent, British Telecom and more.. so it was interesting to talk about her rather unusual choice of career. She's an engineer and an IMT Nagpur MBA.. 

 

All About Prestige University- Red FM 93.5

https://youtu.be/b7VuBNspj5k is the link to my interview with RJ Shreya of RED FM recently recorded. We chatted about the launch of Prestige University in Indore, with a range of Super specialised MBAs, and an Integrated BBA plus MBA

Red FM Interview at Indore

 To close the year 2022, I had an interesting experience yesterday-the 29th. I was interviewed, about Prestige University's offerings, as their Vice Chancellor, by the radio station Red FM. At their studio. This will be aired on Sunday Jan. 1st.

The radio station staff was very warm, and it was fun interacting with all of them. The host Shreya, and me...

Being Interviewed by AG

I can imagine a certain someone who is about to be interviewed by Arnab Goswami (AG, with almost the same firepower as the CAG). If I were to be that one, I'd be quivering in my boots (just a turn of phrase, it could be chappals too). If I may let my imagination loose, it might go something like this-

AG: So, Mr. Nargundkar, you teach marketing, eh?
Me: Uh, (stammer, stammer),..

AG: The nation wants to know, how does marketing as a function contribute to society? If you look at the huge wastage of resources spent in making useless products that nobody wants to buy, and then spending huge amounts of rupees in advertising those, and the rage among the unwashed masses that it unleashes, spilling over into countless,...
Me: (stammer), ...Uh, ..I agree. It's a total waste.

AG: Oh, you do, do you? And what do you propose to do about it? The nation...
Me: ..would want to know, obviously.

AG: And what do you propose to do exactly, Mr. Nargundkar?
Me: (visibly shaken): Mr. Goswami, I will immediately buy a muffler.

AG (surprised): How does that help anything? The nation wants to..
Me: ..know, I know. Brand identity..I will become AAP, just as a cap made me Anna, so a muffler would make me Kejri, and I can drive all the marketing guys up the wall, by staging protest dharnas outside their offices. And through your channel, the nation will know that I mean business, not 'marketing.' What more does the nation want to know?

An Intelligent Conversation

On TV, this might sound like an oxymoron, if not an impossibility. But I actually saw an intelligent conversation. It may be as rare as a dhoomketu (comet), but I think it is worth mentioning that it can happen.

This was an interview with Harsh Mander, ex-bureaucrat who has written a book called Ash in the Belly, and talks intelligently. That's saying a lot. He expressed his views to Paranjoy Guha-Thakurta, the interviewer, about hunger in India, and the double-faced behaviour of the middle class towards the poor. Also the government's changing role from being a champion of the poor to something altogether different (according to him).

It was interesting, and he talked of the Berlin wall collapse in 1989, Babri Masjid demolition and 9/11 as defining moments which changed our perceptions about the poor and the need to give them dignity. The poor work quite hard, but we treat them as cheating, stealing, unwashed masses, and don't think about them in the developmental or aggrandisement (market-led) processes that breed inequalities.

Very interesting, and might lead to some soul-searching.

Ruskin Bond- A Nice Man to Know

I happened to watch an interview with the man on national TV the other day. I was really impressed. I am not easily impressed by people (usually celebrities) most of whom I find faking things, looking to promote themselves or their immediate work (normally films).

Self-effacing must be his second name. I confess I have not read any of his work, and may do so now, because of my interest in him as a person. Loveable is a term that comes to mind. He has a gentle humour which comes through in this interview. A couple of observations he made were really heart-warming. A couple of his young readers told him that he should put more action in his stories.-that they are slow-moving.

He is also the writer of ghost stories, apparently. He wrote the story that was converted into Saat Khoon Maaf, about a wife serially murdering seven husbands- so he is not as innocent as he looks. He confessed he had a few more ways of killing them he had thought about but did not use in the story!

On living in India, he said it is far more interesting than Europe, which is a bit monotonous. An astute observation, one that I agree with, even regarding the U.S.

Sharing Some Soundbytes

I was subjected to a radio interview by My FM, a radio station in Nagpur as part of their Icons program. Why they chose me is a mystery that I cannot solve, but here is a link in case you want to listen to it. It's not too long. This segment is about management skills at the workplace.

http://soundcloud.com/rajendranargundkar/07-track-7