Birthday Thoughts on Friendship

 Making friends, keeping friends.

These two things can keep you occupied for good! For life, maybe. Even if you work, you can make friends with some. In rare cases, with the boss too!

It happens to be my 65th birthday, therefore these profound thoughts are occurring instead of the mundane thoughts that usually do. Celebrated with my newly made friends/workmates at JIS University, Shrabani and Karanjyot Kaur who also got a cake made by her sister, who is a Hotel Mgt. graduate from the JIS group itself. Proof of the pudding below-

Quickest Way to Become a Prof.

 This is strictly humour, so put your tongue in your cheek before you go ahead.

There's nothing to it, you just have to look old. If you ARE old, it's not a problem (look at me). If you aren't, you may want to invest in Baldness creams (these may not have been invented, so don't lose your hair over it, just get a wig), Hair-whitening dyes, and so forth. It would be a wise investment. (A corollary-all old people sound like profs. -you'll see why)

Point number 2- You pontificate. And I recommend the Full Ponty (sorry, Monty Python). Don't do it halfway. Unless most of your audience is asleep (but not snoring), you are not counted as a success. It does not matter WHAT you pontificate about, as long as you do. Remember the Nike slogan, and Just Do It! If it's online, the kids have gone to play football after logging in, so it's even easier.

What's the point of all this? That's just the point. You want to become a prof., and now you are there. Ph.D.s and research prowess etc. are over-rated. My way is simpler-far simpler. You will thank me for it, but I may be too busy pontificating, to acknowledge.

Change of Names

Places with changed names is the focus here.

Waltair is the old name for the city of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Calicut is the old name for Kozhikode.

Trivandrum is the old name for Thiruvananthapuram.

Chennai is the new Madras, Puducherry is the new Pondicherry and Mumbai is the new name for Bombay.

Bangalore has turned into Bengaluru (and I believe, Gulbarga into Kalburgi), Calcutta into Kolkata.

Pune is what we call the old Poona now.

Roads have also been renamed to get a nationalistic flavour instead of the British-Raj one, like the name given to Warden Road. Bhulabhai Desai Rd is the new name. The American Cnsulate where I got my student visa used to be located on this road in Mumbai (Bombay). 

New Ministries

The nomenclature of ministries hasn't changed in years. New Gen needs new ministries..here are some possibilities.

The Ministry of Tall Promises- this will be led by the tallest person that will make sure that every citizen grows into the tallest he/she can. Will supply growth proteins free to all short people.

The Ministry for Eliminating Cars- will exchange any car that you bring in with a helicopter, at no charge. This will also be in charge of reducing population, additional charge..

Bollywood and Cricket Ministry..these two are too important to be left to BCCI and Karan Johar (assuming he still runs Bollywood).

Ministry for Explaining Things. With life becoming complex, this is the NEED OF THE HOUR.

Ministry for Dengue/Chikungunya/Swine (Flu, I mean)...and any other virus that dares to enter our air-space.

Brands I Grew Up With

Dalda- There was a shortage of this cooking oil most of the time.

Binny- Many clothes were made from this cloth brand.
Bata- Shoes invariably had to be Bata. Learnt much later that this was a company started by a Czech immigrant into the West.
Cadbury- the end of desire.
Chiclets- the first chewing gum that we had.

Tata- The trucks and buses we saw were either Tata or Ashok Leyland.
Godrej- They made locks and cupboards. Life's valuable possessions (few then) used to be under their lock and key.
Camlin- Oh, the excitement of a new compass box in school!

Taj Mahal- This was a Udipi restaurant in Hyderabad.
Kamat- and this too.
Modern- Mummy, mummy Modern Bread-an iconic ad.

Philips- Listened to marvelous songs on the Philips radio through the ages..Binaca Geet Mala, Bhoole bisre geet, Aap hi ke geet, Jaymala, Chhayageet, S. Kumar's ka Filmi Muqaddama, and many sponsored programs. Murphy with the iconic Baby ad was another big radio brand.
EC TV/Uptron TV- at home and at IIMB respectively. On the latter, watched in 1983 as India lifted the Prudential World Cup from the West Indies' hands.

Abids- High Street in Hyderabad for shoppers.
Chowpatty- The only one, in Mumbai. Bhel was made famous by it.

Ambassador- Travelling in it was rare, and we felt like royalty when we did travel in it.
Air India- The Maharaja was only aspirational. No air travel for the middle class, was the norm.
Jeans-any brand- The ultimate in cool.

Horror Movies- Then and Now

Then

In India, Ramsay brothers were the kings of this genre. There were hands rising from the grave, or heads rolling, or songs sung by unknown spirits, or doors creaking open in the dead of the night, or skeletons tumbling out of cupboards (not figuratively, but literally), to make it feel like a 'horror' film.

Now

A movie can be a horror film without any of the above ingredients. All it takes is-

1. An ageing hero who shows his biceps, six-packs, or just a shirtless body

2. A heroine with oodles of makeup trying to look sexy

3. A troupe of dancers with no dancing skills

4. A plot that goes berserk without head or tail

5. Songs that sound like they were tuned in hell.

6. Remakes of old movies that were themselves terrible.

7. Sequels of films that were not sequel material.

Oh, how I long for the 'real' horror films of yore. 

New Year Begins

It looks a lot like the old year. Yes, I am older by a few days,  and may be (this is debatable) wiser. The days are windier and foggier. I have a Videocon DTH connection instead of the cable guy with mostly the same channels. A pretty good mess (for dining) and therefore, no cooking.

I have new colleagues, and a lot more to teach. Less of PR functions that went with my earlier job. Less things to worry about, in other words.

Same old (extended) family and a lot more potential friends. A new scanner that I intend using to scan a few more pics. What carries on from the old year is blogging, reading, music and good times. And promise of new, unexpected happenings. Great, don't you think?

Meeting a Long-lost Friend

Met a schoolmate after 1977. It is one of the wonders of email that I traced him (or he did me) recently, and discovering that both were in Delhi, proposed that we meet. So we did.

Narendranath works in the Telecom department, in the central services. Was also a faculty member for a while within their training establishment, and might still do a Ph.D. We were together at Hyderabad Public School, Ramanthapur from 7th until 11th- those days school finished in the 11th (CBSE did). Reminiscing about many of our classmates after such a long time (since we only met a few over the years, was tough, but we did recollect some vividly.

A classmate of ours is a chef abroad, some are entrepreneurs, and some in the public or private sector in service. I am of course, in academia. Nice to know most are successful in their own chosen lines of work/entrepreneurship, or retirement!

I recommend this highly to anyone at anytime. Booster dose of enthu and medicine for the blues, if any.

Metamorphosing Professions

A tailor had lots of work in the good old days. He was much in demand, because machines had not 'learnt' how to make clothes by themselves. So he used to make you wait, first for measurement-taking, and then for fitting, and then for delivery of the promised liverie (if that's the right word).

The ironing and buttoning of clothes would invariably be in progress on the promised day, and you would have to cool your heels waiting for the stuff to make an appearance.

I am not sure what these guys are doing nowadays. Probably working like machines in one of those factories which mass-produce the stuff. Only emperors must be able to afford them to get their 'new clothes' stitched, I suppose.

Similar is the story of other professions. The only guys who have prospered are the guys who deal with the yellow metal, I presume. With skyrocketing demand (at least in India), their stock must be rising (pun was unintended).

Stock analysts, on the other hand, despite attempts to wreck the world economy fairly successfully, are in constant demand and expound on the virtues of this stock or that based on 'expert analysis'- taking us towards the next (inevitable) crash. Because what's made of paper, can have only so much value for so long. The mighty Pounds, Dollars and Yens will one day find themselves in the dumps. Like their older counterparts.

A Rocking Party

As part of my regular forays into the India Habitat Centre, I forayed there once more last evening. As part of my portfolio of work, I am in charge of alumni relations (sounds a lot better than 'affairs'). And what an event it was. Hats off to our student team who organised it.

The hall started buzzing so most of the speeches got drowned-but who cares for speeches in such an event anyway? A lot of our faculty gamely turned up, including two goras- from Britain and Grenoble, France- and one of our alums who is now a faculty member at University Of San Diego, USA. (In a Hindi-film like coincidence, this alum was also an alum of Georgia State for his PhD and took a course from my brother who teaches there!)

There were young and middle-aged guys and gals (though the gals did not LOOK middle-aged, I should emphasise, in case they take offense), and a great mix. I am not referring to the beverages here. It was unadulterated enjoyment, of the kind that happens when friends meet their friends, in large numbers, and make new acquaintances, like we did. Over 300 alums turned up, and stayed till late.

We also did these at IMT Nagpur, and I got to meet and interact with quite a few interesting people as a result. Of course, it also becomes the genesis of fresh ideas, but even if it does not, in the here and now, it is a wonderful experience. Cheers to all alums of all institutes. Do go back sometimes. You will not regret it.