2023 Year end Musings- 1

 There could be more, so I am calling these Part 1 of the year-end musings, 2023.

An eventful year, personally and professionally. A cold January after long, in Indore (I was spoilt by the Bangalore weather earlier), but warmed up nicely with a trip to Ahmedabad, for an event at NIFT, Gandhinagar, where naturally, I met a few fashionable young women and men, in a class too. Mehak and Dhanali being just two- I think they are also readers of this blog since!

The beautiful students at NIFT (above), and Manjari -my IMT student with another NIFT student, below

And reconnected with Manjari Mundanad, and met her family, cutie pie daughter included. Manjari now teaches at Adani Institute. 

Summer, we spent a bit of it promoting our MBA programs, at CNBC studios and elsewhere. Spent a few days at Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune. 

Met Ananya Nandi De an IMTian with British Telecom now, at her place in NCR. For the first time, though we are connected online. Met and made friends with some IIM Indore doctors-to-be at a couple of outings- a fun bunch to be. Also saw a play , Knives Out, staged by Shweta Kushal, a friend and prof. along with Sohni Roy, a colleague from Prestige. 

Akansh and Prachi visit Prestige University

After the Knives Out play.. with Prachi and Sohni Roy above, and old friend Sanjana (ex-student, IIMI), and Shweta Kushal, prof. who directed the play)

With Sohni, my colleague from P.U., and below, Ananya Nandi De and Rak De in their de-n.

Met Abha in Delhi's Nehru Place.

and Meghana Khadilkar at Pune, for the first time. She's from IMT Nagpur

Some newly minted friends and some old.. all Ph.D. scholars at IIM Indore. A couple have finished their Ph.D. since! 

Monthly Manthan January 2022

 We are at the close of January 2022. So what happened here? First, the great disappointment. We were hoping that classes would resume in person, but it was short-lived. I did manage to squeeze in my guest lecture in a colleague's class, but in the wake of rising cases, we had to shut down soon. Hope February brings better tidings, and we are able to look back at almost two years of disruptions with some hope ahead. 

The fact is Omicron was less dangerous than its predecessor, though it spread faster. The peak seems over in the cities in the North and West, and the U.K. has pretty much signalled there will be no more restrictions on movements of people. A booster dose is recommended, and I will take it when eligible. Maybe one each year will be needed for a few years.

But I did catch up with family and friends when it was safe to do so. In the process, made friends with a one-year old grand-niece right here in Bangalore. And friends from the past too, at small get-togethers. An online event or two, a Ph.D. student's thesis presentation.