What I Got From my Employers-2

 The second in the series in Kirloskar Institute, Harihar, known also as KIAMS. 

Great ambience, learning from working executives- we only did training programs initially. The 2 year MBA came later, in 1998.

Wonderful students, from batch 1 onwards. Still in touch with Savitha, Nidhi (found out they were roommates, recently!), Achint, and met a few more too along the way- Sunil Kataria, Shweta Agarwal, Dheeraj, Smita Mohan, Vidya TC, Swapna (both in Singapore last), Sharmishtha, and Sudeshna and Nishka (with Vikram, her hubby too), Jogeswari, Padmapriya, and long ago, Aditi Sood in Kolkata before she went abroad.

An 18-hole Golf course where Gaur, Dhanapal, Vijayakumar and I played, learning from Sadanand, and the Caddies who were experts on that course. Thankful for that experience which is worth millions!

A great library, with practitioner-oriented books. Cases from Harvard, some of which became my favourites for teaching B to B marketing. Videos on Benchmarking Business Process Re-engineering, Sales (Who Killed the Sale? was a good one), Globalization with Kenichi Ohmae were the highlights.

Wrote my first book- Marketing Research-while I was there.

Many friends from the staff- we partied regularly. Pavan, Rajesh, Yuvaraj, Karibasappa, Paramehwarappa, Umesh, ...

Sloganeering

 Elections are back, in a few states. My former state of residence, Karnataka, very soon, and my current state of residence, Madhya Pradesh, a few months later. So I thought I would coin a few slogans for anyone who might use them. I would claim royalty, please remember..

Sev your pals, from Indore and Bhopal. Vote XYZ.

Ee saala IPL cup hamara hai. Vote for ABC

You got free swimming pools earlier. Now we promise you diving boards.. in Bangalore.

The Metro will be built, including the Bannerghatta Road stretch, the new MG road station, the airport connection..we just don't know when..

We will develop M.P. and make it the Export hub, the I.T. hub, the Food Processing Hub, and the eating-out hub.. no spokes will be allowed!

Belgaon will become Belshahar, one of the most developed cities. If you vote ABCD.

Dharwad will compete with Harvard. 

Blast From The Past

 Yet another pleasant one came yesterday in the form of former PES student Pooja Varun, a very accomplished young lady who is entrepreneurial, and sensible. Not only is she aware of many facts of Indian rural life, but tries to do something useful in the direction of improving the visibility of farmers who live there and adding value to what they produce. As I said, not many of us are aware of issues related to those who live in non-urban settings. What is commendable is that she also manages two Food Parks in Karnataka state, in a JV with the state govt. And wants to do much more! I had a long conversation with her about some of these plans. Nice catching up, Pooja.

Pooja Varun and me, at Milkshake pe Charcha ..

 

Adventures of a Couple

 I am one half of that couple, and we have been at it for 33 years now. Well, adventurous life has meant travel, living in two continents, six states in India, and of course, raising two kids in this roundabout tour of Bharat. The best part is, it's not over yet, so we don't know how many more adventures are in store-at least till we are immobilised by old age. Till then, we are like a combo of Sindbad the Sailor and Baron Von Munchausen with a bit of our own masti thrown in. Maybe a bit of Don Quixote too, since my wife has visited his hometown-must have rubbed off.

Along the way, we made lots of friends. These number in the thousands, since both of us have taught a few hundred kids at different times and of different age groups. Some are globally spread out, and we will attend a Zoom wedding of one such in a couple of days-they are marrying in Finland.

A pictorial representation of some good moments from this journey.

Ha Long Bay, above. Grand Tetons near Yellowstone, below, with my Dad.

Arizona, and NY, my cousin's house.

Kondajji, Harihar, above and Nagpur, below.

Maheshwar on the Narmada, above, and Khandagiri, Orissa, below.

NY, and Las Vegas.

Negombo, Sri Lanka above, and Jaisalmer, below.

Padukone (town), above and Coral Island, Pattaya, below.. the kid has grown up.

At the start- 1988. My parents and hers.

The cake we had on the occasion...ok, two cakes we had. 

Karnataka - Part 1

Some of my earliest memories are of this place, IIM Bangalore, where a lot of me was shaped. From 1982-84. At a fledgling campus, and some of my best classmates anywhere. 

Outside my room. G-10. With Dazy, Sardie, Senior (Nandax)

An outing at VGP Golden beach, I think this was.

Deepika and Rose, the dilliwalis. 

View from my room, and a great shot I shot 

 This will continue, coz I spent lots of years in Karnataka.

Kannadigas in my Life

I have had a lot of them, starting from Kempaiah, the security guard at IIMB in my student days. Not sure if the creators of bonda and chai there (Uncle and Aunty) were locals, but I guess they were. Shailaja was a friend from childhood, whom I also met in Bangalore and Mumbai later.

At Kirloskar Institute, Haihar, almost the entire non-teaching staff was local, and most are connected  to me even today- Pavan and his wife Jamuna, Yuvaraj, Rajesh, Raghavendra, Karibasappa, Parameshwarappa, Mahboob, Rajsekhar, Veena are some of them. We had regular parties when these guys were bachelors, and attended some of their weddings. I also met Jayasimha, my current colleague, there first. Sudir, a student from VJIM, also worked there briefly.

At PESIT, of course, it was mainly the faculty colleagues- Manasa, S.P. Kumar, Shahida, and lots of students, some of whom I have bumped into now and then, like Soumyashree Gonibeedu, Mrunal, and Umesh. Many more are connected on social media-Manasa Bharadwaj, Roopashree, Chaitra,... At IFIM Business school again, it was a combo of staff, students and faculty, and I have met a few recently when I went back to visit Bangalore-Bharath Shenoy, for instance, who was a student there.

At IIM Indore, it has been colleagues Ganesh, Jayasimha, and the Chiefs of Admin. present and past, mainly. Students are in smaller numbers, Neha Adiga and Arshia being two that I remember, apart from Manjunath and Saumya.

They all have a few sterling qualities, from what I have seen. They make good friends, and are quiet, non-aggressive people who excel at whatever they put their mind to. I have been fortunate also to have lived among them a long 14 years in all- Harihar for 7 and Bangalore for an equal number if I count my student days and working years.

Entertainment From Elections and Thereafter

Apart from the political outcome of an Indian election (serious side), there is a comic or entertaining side to it. The great drama that precedes it, the announcement of dates, candidates, (not the Communist) manifesto and the promises, but most of all the speeches. We don't yet have debates, unlike the U.S. Presidential candidates. But the barbs flying from all sides make the whole thing akin to any other great Indian event, which I think we specialise in. And we have lots more of parties-political parties-than they do.

But it does not end there. The exit polls, the fracas on TV between party spokespeople, the anchors, the fortune-tellers, the analysts, and so on add to the fun. The voter is sometimes hung by a hung Assembly or Lok Sabha, and the suspense is killing, better than an Agatha Christie mystery. The mystery is finally solved when the new C.M. (or P.M.) is installed, and wins a vote of confidence-or otherwise.

I am reminded of an old joke from a column in Filmfare.

Who is a politician?
One who shakes your hand before the election, and your confidence afterwards.

Resemblance to real events is purely coincidental. Jai Hind!

Coimbatour

 Prof Poongodi at KCT, with guess which book? My Marketing Research book that she uses. Another pic with KCT faculty in front of their institute.

I had an occasion to go to Coimbatore on invitation recently. A bustling city, with a lot of entrepreneurs in and around. Tirupur is not too far away. Textiles are a speciality. Lots of educational institutes too. One such is KCT, where I spent some time with students and faculty. Founded by a Gandhian, the institute has an autonomous MBA program, and a couple of technical programs.

Met my friend Dhanapal, who runs a couple of schools in the town. We worked for a few years at Kirloskar Institute in the past, and have remained in touch. Golf is a common interest, and we have gone to Kodaikanal and Munnar to play too-unfortunately this time there wasn't time.

Coimbatore is also a gateway to Ooty and Coonoor, where I had been recently on a vacation trip, and to play Golf. I first went to Ooty on a KSTDC tour bus in the 70s, and remember eating my first strawberry there.

Karnataka always had a tour to Mysore and Ooty, from as far back as I remember, and they were good ones too. Unfortunately, that led to a neglect of many other destinations in the state-some of which I got to see during my stay at Harihar. Jog Falls is one such, Hampi being the other. And Belur-Halebid, which have some of the most exquisite carvings I have seen. 

Aviation and Tourism

There is a draft aviation policy at last. It is around 10 years too late, but never mind.

Is it so tough to see that easy aviation makes for a lot of benefits in spinoff mode? Ancillary industries grow. But the biggest boost is to another big industry-tourism. Compared with some other countries in Asia, India's tourism industry is minuscule. Compared to its potential, given the amazing things we have in India, it is even worse. Even domestic tourists are scared to go where no tourist has gone before. Mostly due to lack of access by road or rail. I have discovered many destinations only because I happened to live nearby. Hampi is one, Jog Falls another. Both are magnificient, and should be on everyone's bucket list. What if it was a short flight away from Bangalore, reasonably priced? I will bet that thousands more would visit both.

I can cite many more examples. Lonar crater (formed after a meteorite hit) in Buldana district of Maharashtra. Almost the entire North-east, Bhedaghat with its unique Marble Rocks, Dandeli forests, Tiger reserves like Bandhavgarh, Kanha. In fact, there are known examples of chartered flights coming in to Goa from European countries. They could go to a few other places if we had more working airports.

Taxes can be reduced on smaller airports, and other incentives given to make that happen. This can directly touch lives of service providers like hotels, taxi operators and restaurants in smaller towns, and increase pride in the country by showing off the best of it to both domestic and international travellers. Roads take time to build. Airlines can start much faster!

Hope this policy translates into quick action.

Original Jokes

How did corruption start in Karnataka?

It went, "Yeddy, steady, GO!"

How do you spell corruption there?

Karuption.

What does a Kannadiga mind?

Being illegally mined.

How do you describe the result of the recent election?

Yeddy, JD, Go.

How does a Mumbaikar greet Yeddy?

Yeda hai kya tu?

If a Star Wars sequel were made in Karnataka, it would be called....Return of the Yeddy.

Anopheles Goes to Karnataka

My female friend of the mosquito species, Anopheles, recently had another small chat with me. About elections this time, among other things.

She unexpectedly came in tonight, as I was preparing to retire. Her first question, after the usual niceties, was,

"Why do you think the Congress won in Karnataka?"

I was surprised that she was so 'in' with the news of our elections. I said, "I think people expected development from the earlier government, which they did not get. They were mined only for their votes. So they changed their mind, and voted for change."

"Hope they don't start cleaning up garbage and drains," she sounded worried. "Where will we go?"

I was stunned with the realisation that one man's food is another man's poison. I said, "If they do, you are welcome to come and stay here, " pointing to a closet.

"Thanks, that's very nice of you," she said.

Then she asked me, "What worries you about the future?"

I had to think, lest I appeared to lack the essential qualities of the homo sapiens. "Terrorism?"

"Who do you think are terrorists?" was her counter-question.

"People who kill others for no good reason, of course," I thought that was easy.

"What about those who are cruel to nature? Or those who instill wrong values in their kids? Or even those who indulge in corruption, as your newspapers seem to keep proclaiming? Isn't that a form of terrorism?"

I said, "How so?"

She said, "Terrorists take the easy way out, by doing whatever they do. These guys also harm society, but insidiously, by preventing welfare of a large number of deserving people. And parents who develop wrong values among children..what could be more damaging to a society?"

I had to admit she was convincing, like a good marketing prof I knew.

I asked her, "Does your society have corruption and bad parenting too?"

She was quite vehement. "Yes, and that's why we have the fat mosquitoes who drink far more than they need, and make the life of us commoners that much more difficult. There are also those who have created blood banks so that their children will not starve for generations."

"But won't the blood get spoilt in tropical weather?" was my innocent query.

"Who said the blood banks are here? They are in Switzerland," she shot back. That was enough to send a chill up my spine, and I kept dreaming about this even as I slept.