Memorable Meetings and Outings

 What makes a meeting or outing memorable? Could be many things, but an important thing is the warmth, among those meeting up. Or going out. Some instances I remember warmly, in pics- 

Savitha and I met in her office on MG Road. She worked with Deccan Herald at the time.

Meeting Abha and Harsh Halve, in Delhi

and Amit Gope in my Kolkata office.

Or Venkat Rama Subramaniam in Calcutta Club

Garima and Ayan at Pune, 

and Bhagyalakshmi and Venaktesh at Pune TOIT

MSMT Pune and Mumbai gang in Pune 

and Asoka and Jyoti Dua in Indore at a Prestige Univ. outing

Swati Jain at Mumbai,

or Maya and Shubha at Pune on New YEAR eve, 2025.

Milind Chalisgaonkar in Kling's Bangalore

and Dhanapal in Dec 2024 at Kodai.

Adithya, a schoolmate in PUNE

and Annie, from Greenwood, and AJ, in Delhi.

Ishita Modi in Indore

and Shweta Kushal in Indore

Prachi Jain at Delhi,

or Jaya Dulani in Delhi

Sanjana at her wedding in Hyderabad,

and Pratima Gaikwad, a Hyderabadi in Indore.

Bhavna, Silky and Dheeraj at Gurgaon

and Riyaaz, Arun and Juhee and Divya Sairam at Indore.

And, an outing at Hindola Mahal, Mandu with Radhika, Shweta and Surbhi Dayal. 

Actors and Roles

 Some actors made some roles/characters they played famous. Just like some professors- Kotler, Parasuraman, CK Prahalad- made the universities they worked in famous.

Good to recall a few-

Sean Connery, Roger Moore- James Bond

Peter Sellers- The Pink Panther's Inspector Clouseau.

Charlie Chaplin- Hitler, in The Great Dictator. A tramp, common man in many films. 

Amol Palekar- Man next door, in Rajnigandha, Chitchor and Chhoti si Baat

Amjad Khan- Gabbar Singh in Sholay

Rekha- Loveable rebel in Khoobsurat.

Rajesh Khanna- a positive thinking cancer patient in Anand

Rishi Kapoor- a young romantic, often paired with Neetu Singh

Sanjeev Kumar- Khilona, a 'mad' person

Amitabh Bachchan- Angry Young Man

Mithun Chakraborty- Disco Dancer

Dev Anand- the romantic, in many films

Helen- Club dancer, in multiple films

Julie Delpy- Before Sunrise, first of a trilogy - of two people meeting in a train, spending a night talking..

Names That Ring a Bell

Not literally, of course. But names that you remember, for some reason. Memorable? May be.

Since Badminton is the flavour of the (Olympic) season, I'll start with Prakash Padkone. I watched him in a great game against Liem Swie King (Indonesian) that he lost. But I remember both names.

Lalchand Rajput is a name that I'll never forget. I had predicted once that with a name like that, he'd never last in the Indian cricket team for long. He didn't. Predictions score- One.

Nadia Comaneci, who got a perfect 10 in some Olympics. She was a great gymnast.

Katarina Witt, a German ice-skater. Watched her long ago in Winter Olympics.

Johny Walker, comedian. For obvious reasons, though I have outgrown that drink.

Michael Jackson. Easy to remember, great to watch. Prabhu Deva comes close, at times.

Dhurandhar Bhatawadekar. Utpal Dutt's name in a film.

Manasa- the name has a nice ring to it. I had a student and a faculty colleague by that name, but it's not too common.

Rajan Bala. A great raconteur and sports/cricket journalist I met once in Bangalore.

Meenu Mynam. A former student, whose name sounds musical.

A few more ex-students, whose names I remember for reasons that I may not (always remember)- Ronak, Saksham, Meghna, Shivangi, Jeevesha, Siddhanta, Rituparna, Gowri, Sreeram, Vignesh, Praveen, Rupam, Khushboo, Harleena, Harshad, Abhinav, Jyotirmoy, Kanika, Neha (two), Indranil, Hardik, Alekhya, Vidisha, Aashneet, Jasleen, Barleen, Harshdeep, Deepa, Anusha (there were two, at different B-schools), Shveta, Shweta (three different ones), Nikhil, Shrishail, Nishka, Anupama (two of them), Dheeraj, Vidya, Smita, Swapna, Siddhartha, Aditi (two again), Garima (two at different schools), Jatin, Aman, Aninda, Savitha, Manjari, Shreyashi, Shreya, Roopashree, Padmapriya, Jogeswari, Pallavi, Shafique, Roshni, Murtaza, Laura, PVR (Prabhuvardhan Reddy), Nikita, Shruti, Aditya, Devashish, Bhawana (two, with different spellings), Tamros, Twinkle, Vivek, Ratnashree, Laura (now Shah)...the list is too long to list.

Update- I had a record five Ankitas in a class I just taught. Some about-to-graduate students from Indore- Kalaivani, Madhan, Jasmine, Swathika, Sadhana, Abhilasha, Kritika, Avik, Philip, Ayushi, Satchi, Chandran, Akshaya, ...

Memorable Ads

Relax..have a Charminar.. my all-time favourite ad line.

Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye..Cadbury.

Nirma jingle- washing powder Nirma.

In a world of varying values, some things stand apart...I think it was Asian Paints in the 80s.

Simpli fly....Deccan Air.

Nothing official about it...Pepsi stole the thunder from Coke with this during a Cricket world cup, where Coke was the official partner.

Neighbour's Envy, Owner's Pride- all time classic. Onida TV.

For the film Sholay.. Greatest Star-cast ever Assembled. Greatest Story Ever Told. I can still remember the posters.

Asian Paints..Naya ghar, ....nayi biwi? badhiya hai...

Thanda matlab Coca Cola.

What I hate are the detergent, dish wash, and all cleaning-material ads. Some toilet soap ads are tolerable, but only because of the women in them.

Songs That Stay With You (Me)

For some reason, these songs remain with me for a long time whenever I hear them..

Chhoti si mulaqat pyaar ban gayi....highlight is Uttam Kumar discoing.

Main chali, main chali dekho pyaar ki gali...a breezy one where Saira Banu and friends are on a bicycle picnic..

Aaj kal tere mere pyaar ke charche har zabaan par...music is absolutely foot-tapping.

Pyar karta ja, dil kehta hai, kaanto mein bhi gul khila....I think it is from Bhoot Bangla, where Mehmood played hero.

Tumhari nazar kyun khafaa ho gayi, khata baksh do gar khata ho gayi...from Do Kaliyan, I think.

Le jaayenge, le jaayenge dilwale dulhaniya le jaayenge...from Chor Machaye Shor

Deewana hua baadal..

Dil ka bhanwar kare pukaar, pyar ka raag suno..in the Qutab Minar..

Pal bhar ke liye koi hamein pyaar kar le jhoota hi sahi...Johny Mera Naam

Piya o, piya o piya kuch bol do, are o, dil ka parda khol do...jab pyaar kisi se hota hai

Jab chhaye mera jadu, koi bach na paaye...from Loot Maar

Zindagi, ittefaq hai...from Aadmi aur Insaan

Parde mein rehne do, parda na uthao, from Shikaar


More in the next edition...