Students' Day

 I just learnt that today is World Students' Day. It is important to note that Teachers' Day is in September, and a different day! Anyway, irony apart, it's nice to celebrate students, if you are a teacher. 

My first students were Undergrads in Business at Clemson University. The thing I most remember about them- around 25x3 students each semester was that they were courteous, ignorant about computer usage- I was teaching them that- and usually nice to me though I was a Ph.D. student from India. There was a giggling duo of girls, in one of my classes. And Melinda, one student walking past a vintage car parked on campus, modeled for me when I asked her.. I was clicking the car, and she posed alongside.

My last full time teaching assignment was at IIM Indore. I taught a variety of courses there to PG and Ph.D. students, and also Executive MBA students. There were also a few MDPs for specific companies, such as Trent of the Tata Group (Retail) or Hindustan Petroleum.

In between were students at Lander College, USA, Xavier Institute, Bhubaneswar, Vignana Jyoti Hyderabad, Kirloskar Institute Harihar, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, IFIM, PESIT (occasional teaching), IMT (very little teaching, but met lots of students, and continue to do so). 

At Prestige university I really did not teach much, except a few classes of Marketing Research along with Sunil Gupta.

And at JIS University, even less, just one or two guest sessions in our Management programs.

Mostly these were wonderful experiences, and I keep following Facebook and Linkedin updates on what many of them are up to, globally. Makes me quite happy. Also meet a few occasionally, on my travels.

Mutual Admiration Societies

 How many have you formed? Alas, non-living objects can't speak, or else we could have had thousands.

But with humans (not bots, yet- don't know enough of them or about them), we can have some. I have experienced this at all stages of life. One of my first officially recognised ones was with Meghna Sinha, who used to write a blog while she was a student. Later, we met a few times, and bonded over books and coffee, and other beverages. 

The others include a few more students of IMT Nagpur, some of Kirloskar Institute, a couple from PES and IFIM B School, and some of IIM Indore. NMIMS too, I guess... faculty included, in most of these. 

Anusha Soni of Bhopal who I met during her IIM Indore IPM stint, was one. We bonded over Guavas, Golf and small talk, and she treated me to a lunch in my hometown Pune (I think it was her first salary!) and came home too. 

Prachi Jain and gang was a delightful bunch of Ph.D. scholars at IIM Indore, and we have had fun outings in Delhi, Indore and one in Kolkata with a gang member (Akansh) recently.

Abha Kulkarni and Sheetal Garg have been members of an MAS for many years now. 

Pallavi Sharma/Bajpai and Shafique, naturally, because GB calls us twins- all three!

Shatakshi (the confused genius), who I did not teach at IIM I, and Anushka Mishra who I did not teach at Kirloskar, also.. due to Fb and later, physical meetings. 

Natasha Kothari, who I met at a wedding, and Rimjhim, who I met through a music group I am a part of with her Mom!

Of course, there are more, but let me list those in MAS part 2.. to be continued.

Part 2

Bhuvneet Raheja of IIM Indore, who is now at Google.. 

Ananya Nandi De, ex-IMT NAGPUR

Nikita Kumar- Likewise

Abhinav Kamal- Ditto

Nidhi Kanungo, who is now in the U.S.

Nishka Rathi, the Ghostwriter

Jogeswari, and Savitha.. from Kirloskar Institute

Preeti Ravikiran, faculty at NMIMS. Tanmeet Kaur, likewise.

Ekalavya, placement chief at NMIMS Blr.

Anshita Abhishek Chetty, Ishita Modi, Gowri, Rupam, Ashish, from Bangalore gang of IMT

Pratima Gaikwad of IIM Indore, now a pakka Hyderabadi.

Globally, Leslie Price, though we haven't met after I left the U.S., Annie Singh, also from the U.S., Samudrika Rasanjalee, Sri Lankan whom I met at a conference.

And a few of my classmates from school, college, IIMB and beyond.. and colleagues, like Bhagyalakshmi, Manasa, Jayasimha, Vijayakumar, ..TK Chatterjee, Smita Dabholkar Singh,..

Some are also online MAS's, like with Pooja Shukla, Anchal Sharma, and so forth..

Conferences and Seminars

 I have by now attended countless conferences and seminars, and some were memorable. The first one was in the U.S., and the next two as well, while I was a Ph.D. student there. I even won a prize for one of my papers, at a Southeastern DSI conference. One was in Las Vegas, which became memorable due to the place!

At IIMK, IMT in India and also at PES, I organised conferences as well. One of our ideas to host one in Goa was a big hit. It was also a case conference, unlike most others which are research-paper based. The venue was an attraction for many participants, and I still get reminded of the Goa conferences by people I meet.

Among other international conferences I have been to, Tourism related ones in Colombo, Vietnam and Japan were the most interesting. I offered a course on Tourism Marketing during that time as well, at IIM Indore, for both Ph.D. students and MBA students (with a colleague, Jayasimha). The MBA course continues, I am told. 

Last week I attended a seminar at St. Xavier's University, in Kolkata on invitation. It was on Strategy, with the vision for India in 2047 as a theme. There was an interesting address by the Chairman of Coal India, Mr. Prasad, and a panel discussion with executives from industry.

Classes and Classy Students

 Some classes have class, and some students too. Sample from different places, in class and out of class -

Teachers Can Make a Difference

 I have been into teaching for as long as I can recollect, and I have also been a student a long time. Based on these many years, I would say that students are influenced by teachers-some of them, at least. The reasons may vary, but a strong human connect is usually one of these reasons. I often meet past students that I may not even have taught, and they share stories, opinions and views that echo these thoughts. You may be the cat's whiskers in your subject, and that awe initially may overwhelm a student. But what remains after distillation is a welcoming, supportive attitude towards the student, is what I think. In other words, a human connect and interest in their life.. and career.

Many students express what we couldn't in our generation. That is a great feeling- to receive a message on Social Media (got one from far away in Dubai yesterday), or a meeting set up in quick time over facebook (happened two days ago!), or just hearing them talk about bygone days on a forum somewhere.

I am in touch with many from IMT Nagpur, IIM Indore and Kirloskar Institute, for some reason. And some from IFIM and PESIT (now JagSoM and PES Univ). A couple from XIM and Vignana Jyoti too. Without exception, they are warm and chatty whenever we meet. Hopefully, this will go on forever!

I have also had a few students of Golf, including faculty and Doctoral students who were not in my area (Marketing).

Cheers to all students everywhere!

Things I am Proud of

 Work first.

Started a journal, PES Business Review when I was at PESIT, Banashankari, Bangalore. Manasa, Jayasimha and Shahida all played a role. We launched it with some good papers.

A Case conference at Goa when I was Director at IMT Nagpur. It was exotic, fun, and very successful. Harsh Halve was a prime mover. 

Successful convocations at IMT Nagpur. The Admin. played a major role. Also the faculty in various organising committees.

Publishing my first book, on Marketing Research. KIAMS staff helped, and students by writing cases for it. Now in its fourth edition, released at IIM Indore.

Alumni meets for IMT alumni. Many were memorable. Some friends made there are forever. Sheetal, Nikita, Anchal, Shuchi, are just some of those.

Ph.D. students I worked with as a Guide, or mentor. Manoharan, Suma and Naveen Das actually were my students as a Guide. Others, I was on their committees.

New courses, like a Seminar on Thought Leadership, or Digital Marketing and Seminar on Tourism Marketing. Taught me a lot. 

Karnataka - Part 3- NMIMS and More

 I had another innings in Bangalore from 2020 end till October 2022. This was as Director at NMIMS Bangalore campus. Eventful 2 years, which started with online classes due to COVID still being around. Slowly, we started offline classes, and I was able to meet many students in person. We had a lot of good times, a couple of Convocations, etc. and a few Golf sessions too- in our backyard.

Student Golfers (Mahek Singhal and others) and Emcees (below) for a convocation- Sreelekha and Divya.

More students (above- Rakshita and Avnii among them, and Tanya Sardana with Ekalavya below, at a placement party

Faculty groups at an event above, and at an FDP, below.

Colour Yellow, as per theme for a day, above, and Prerona and Tanmeet at our Golf session, below

A woman umpire from cricket, Gayathri, got introduced to Golf. With Preeti and Narayani.

Foursome of friends from past lives.

Below, Anshita organised an IMT Nagpur alums get together at the Orchid.

IIMB alums parties- above and below. 

Pooja Varun from PES, and Savitha from KIAMS-alums who met me

Alum Album - PART 1

 Some alum meets that I found pics of- many more to be found. Great memories, all.. without exception. 

Becoming an alum is Keyur Bhalavat, IMT Nagpur. 

Aishwarya Iyer and I have a chat- below.

Abdullah and I pose at Hyderabad,

Sowmyashree met us at Monarch Luxur, Bangalore.

Nidhi of KIAMS, at IIMI.

Abhinav, Piyush and others at Bangalore.

Shraddha was training me on Selfie-taking, so I tried one with her.

Below, Divya Singh at Pune.

Shafique was in Bangalore, so Pallavi and I got together with him.

Vrinda and me, her residence, in Delhi.

Rajeev and Sangeeta visit my NMIMS Bangalore office.

The Wah Taj pic, with Abha and Sheetal, Mumbai.

What a smile! Anushka smiles at Church Street, our first meeting of many at Bangalore.

Achint above, Bangalore.

Jaydrath and Sonali at Salvatore's Bangalore.

P R and Narayana Murthy

 P.R. is  Public Relations. And one of the finest practitioners of this individually was, in my view, Mr. Narayana Murthy. I.T. industry as a whole benefited from it, and Infosys also, of which he was a founder with a few partners.

He would tirelessly go and speak at various forums, on various subjects, and I have heard him twice myself. At PES Bangalore, and later at IIM Indore. He spoke about the industry, of course, but also about the quality of education in India, etc. Having an opinion and expressing it are two different things. He was a rare combination of these two. He did this for more than two decades, probably three.

Combined with his company's story of how it brought I.T. to Bangalore, in the days when it was not easy to do I.T. from India. His story about importing a computer (for his company) through the red tape that was Indian bureaucracy also became a talking point for a long time.

The company also did a few things right, including increasing transparency in accounting- their Annual Report was a THING- and listing on an American stock exchange. But his use of personal P.R. techniques added a lot of value, in my opinion.

USPs of My Friends

 I had started this series sometime ago.. here are a few more with USPs that I noticed.

First, I will start with Students. 

At NMIMS, Muskaan- Agarwal, I guess. Nice smile. And good with the camera too. Divya Anand, for her fashion sense (an NIFT grad, after all), Ekalavya, the placement chief, for his dedication, like his namesake. Trishla Gupta, for her LinkedIn presence which is unique. The Gandhis, Kinjal and Tanya, for their names. Some BBA kids too, for winning an Entrepreneurship Award - led by Muskaan Behl.

Alumni, other B schools- Shatakshi.. non-confused, though she calls her Digital marketing firm Confused Genius. Meghna Sinha, paints a wide canvas. Prachi Jain, a one-time golfer who is a friend forever- a good actor too-I saw her live! Anusha Soni, a pal from Bhopal, Shuchi Bhatnagar too, and Pooja Shukla. Animesh Jain too. And Pallavi Sharma. Being Bhopali is a USP, because they are nice people, without exception. Anuja Anand, a poet and writer.

Tanaya Kar Chaturvedi- lively as hell! Harish Chaudhary- directions dene mein ustad- no wonder he directed us in a play at IIMB. Shweta Kushal- a kushal director and drinks partner! Bhagyalakshmi- an expert and a co-author in Branding books. Siddhanta Patnaik (no more), his interest in sports and life.

Abha Kulkarni.. it's not only the hairstyle, but style too. Sheetal Garg- one of the friendliest souls ever on my friend-list. Anshita and Tosha Dubey- great organisers of my get-togethers. That's a skill I like! Shruti and Aditya, gracious hosts. Vrinda Khanna, likewise. Savitha, loyal friend and first re-connect at Bangalore. Ishita Modi, for chai pe charcha- no, I am getting confused. Her wit! Pooja Varun, her farmer connect. Bharath Shenoy, coffee pe charcha, market research. Divya Sharmaa, TV star. Murli Mohan K, dancer of Kathak. Meghna Sinha, one of the first partners in a Mutual Admiration Society.

Vidisha, Rewa...place names. 

For nice pics with me, Siri Adi, Anuj Mathew, Meenu Mynam (her pic below), Aishwarya Iyer, Bharath Shenoy, Sapna Patni, Anam Nuhi, Harshad Sachani, Vaishali Bathla, Shruti, Aditya, Nikita, Vandana Kumar (one from the 90s too, at Tank Bund in Hyderabad), Sreelekha, entire placement team, at NMIMS. The P.R. team from last year also. Lokesh and Muskaan of Knowesis. Gowri and Shafique (IMT), recently. Rajiv Krishnan, from my school days.

Meenu Mynam, me and Harsh Halve at an alum meet of IMT Nagpur.

Below- the P.R. team of NMIMS Bangalore that includes Divya, and her seniors too. 

Nishka Rathi, for her love of books, and a unique profession- ghostwriting! Digital entrepreneurs, Abhinav Kamal (also a film-maker), Divya Singh, and Shatakshi. Anushka Mishra, for being a bookworm and seeking me out to be a friend offline. I am glad for it. Jogeswari, for starring in my Video case on Golftripz. Madhav Misra too.

Profs. - Narayani, Shahida from different institutes, for boundless energy, and never-say-die attitude.

T.K. Chatterjee, for his abilities at selling anything (I am sold), and passion for singing- I initiated him into karaoke! Gadgil, for his accent-American, of course. S.P. Kumar, for his enthu at 75+. Prabhakar (not a prof.), for his piano-playing  and wit. Rajan of India, aka ROI- coining names for profs. Thomas, likewise for various people and organisations around us. B.K. Mohanty, for fuzzy logic research. Smita Dabholkar, for her enthusiasm and energy. 

Garima Shah and Aditi Gupta for being women golfers (Anusha and Prachi too, later) at IMT, before I heard of Aditi Ashok, the Olympian.

Non-teaching. At KIAMS- Pavan, a party animal from Coorg. Rajesh Dixit from KIAMS, a nice guy. Vinod Jadhav, helpful always. 

Placement Brochures and PES

 Placement brochures, like Yearbooks, are a storehouse of information, and memories. I recently chanced on this one from PES, Bangalore (now a University under Karnataka State) where I was between 2005 and 2008. Lots of these students are still in touch, on social media. Here are some excerpts from the Placement Brochure of one batch..