History Books of 3001

 If humans are still around, and schools still teach history, our text books might read

- The American President attacked Vietnam, and lost. Withdrew.

- Bush attacked Saddam Hussain and captured Iraq.

- The Russian President captured Afghanistan, occupied it for a decade, and left. Ditto, America.

- China took over Hong Kong. 

- Putin attacked Ukraine, wanting to replicate the Hundred Year War.

- Military ruled over many Asian countries, Myanmar, Pakistan, and so on. Dictators ruled over a few others, and killed a few thousands in Cambodia, and China, earlier.

- Great progress in chemical weapons research brought about a pandemic, man-made that lasted 2-3 years, making life hell for common people around the world. 

Year-end Rambling

 Not that you cannot do it at other times, but year-end is a good time to ramble about what has been, could have been, and should be (in the year to come). For me, most of this year 2021, actually all of it, has been a homecoming of sorts. I came back to Bangalore after many years, having left it in 2009 November for IMT Nagpur. Came back as the head of the NMIMS campus on Bannerghatta Road, just a few kilometres from my alma mater IIM Bangalore. Of course, the pandemic of Corona was something to contend with.

So began my strangest journey yet- an institute with no students at the campus. Of course, I had a lot of faculty and staff colleagues, and we got to spend quite a lot of time together. As usual, it was nice making new friends and acquaintances, and meeting old ones from Bangalore- old students in particular, while we waited for our own to get back. 2022, most will be back, and I already have met a few in class and outside it, at small events we conducted for Rank holders etc.. Hoping life will be even more interesting once all of them are back.

Used this time to meet some of our alumni one on one, and having long conversations. Alumni have plenty at stake in their alma mater, and will come up with interesting ideas, as I discovered in all my interactions, and not just here. 

Also found where one can teach Golf, right in our own backyard, Hoping this will give NMIMS Bangalore an edge over competition, as we can train any interested student in the basics of Golf right here- I think I am a qualified trainer, having done this in IIM Indore and IMT Nagpur- we actually had built two greens there. 

All in all, an interesting year, with lots more to come in 2022.

Pandemic Becomes an Endemic?

 Not sure what the tech definitions are, but it certainly seems as though the worst of COVID is behind us. Not that we don't (or won't) have a few spikes now and then, as one of the good experts said, but they won't be nationwide, and devastating. Part of the reason is herd immunity, and the vaccination drives that have largely succeeded in reaching most people who were willing to take the vaccines.

So we now have to re-learn the old normal, or whatever you want to call it. Maybe old normal + masks. The mask may be good for preventing other pollution related or infectious diseases, and so may be worth wearing until we are confident of not catching a few of them.

International travel may not be the same again, and I would be wary of it for a while. Domestic travel with precautions seems reasonably safe, as of now, in India.

Livelihoods are back on track, though inflation may be a big blow for some. 

The Show must go on, as the showmen keep telling us. Life goes on, having digested one more disaster.

October-Birthdays and Celebrations

 Well, at least a few birthdays to remember.. my own, of course, and my brother's are both in October. Also my Father-in-law's, though he is no more. And my niece Anjali shares hers with Mahatma Gandhi. That's a lot of birthdays to handle in a month!

My birthday gift, an artist friend drew it.

Below, my Mom with my favourite niece Maya, a few years ago.

Mom's birthday, last year (2020)/My favourite food, below.

More favourite food- poha in North Karnataka style.

Below..birthdays make me thoughtful.

Below..more favourites..food for thought, and drink for thought.

October is also associated with festivities in India. Usually, we have either Dasara or Diwali or both around this time. Therefore, the Amazons and Flipkarts and many other retailers are in an overdrive, and try to sell as much as possible- the equivalent of the Christmas season in the West, for retailers.

Generally, there is an overdose of food and we feel its after-effects. Many traditional snacks were once made at home, including sweets like Karanji (similar to Gujiya in the North), Chakli or Murukku, and laddoos of some kind. Now, maybe retailers offer these too, on demand.

The pandemic in India seems to be on the wane right now, and maybe vaccination and natural immunity caused by the Second Wave played a role. Hopefully, a Third Wave will be mild or non-existent. The schools and colleges may get back to their normal mode of functioning, and maybe corporates too. 

Here's wishing all you readers the best of the festive season.

Human Resource management During Pandemic

 Some good and some bad, for the H.R. folks, I think. Recruitment had to go online, joining in many cases too, for new recruits. I interviewed online, but joined physically for my new job, for instance. For the MBA students, some job offers were delayed (or joining was), and internships had to be carried out online, with lockdowns persisting in most places around India.

Some events that student clubs regularly conduct moved online. In some cases, this led to a greater reach, because travel time and cost for speakers was cut, but it also meant a loss of 'the experience". The education/training itself underwent a huge change, and started to resemble distance learning in some ways. Of course, the tech-savvy B schools/colleges adapted quite well, but the experience was still a notch lower because of the lack of the social aspects, and peer learning opportunities.

H.R. lays a great amount of stress on people-to-people contact, and that took a hit. But they adapted to the inevitable, and will probably use the learnings well, if and when we get back to normalcy.

Marketing During the Pandemic

 A few marketers had it easy during the pandemic. Essentials, like groceries, particularly sold through small shops in the neighbourhood, Or online. Both these channels remained open, while larger stores were allowed limited leeway during lockdowns.

Clothes marketers who were already online, may have survived. But consumption reduced due to going out (both work and leisure) being cut down. Consumer durables that were small in size, like mobile phones, and laptops too, maybe. Not so much the large ones like cars, and brown/white goods, maybe. Many of them need a look-see or a test drive, and people also would have put off buying.

Services suffered the most, particularly mobility related- travel, hospitality, cabs, restaurants were shut for long periods, or had only limited sales through take-home and delivery in case of restaurants. Real estate sales and rentals also suffered due to Work From Home and people migrating to their home towns to save on rentals.

The stock market though, did very well. A paradox, maybe, but future prospects is what most investors bet on, so could be justified if the economy recovers well.

Anopheles and Me- A Conversation

 My winged friend, a female mosquito called Anopheles, had not visited in a long time. I asked her, "Were you quarantined?"

"What's that?" she asked.

"It's when you get sick, and other people-sorry, mosquitoes- are in danger of catching that sickness from you. They isolate you and don't let you mingle." I said.

"No chance, buddy. We have wings, in case you haven't noticed," she pointed out.

I had to agree that she did, and we didn't. Seemed like no one could lock up a mosquito as easily as we could lock down humans. That gave me some perspective on crime and punishment too.

"We have this pandemic, and we have lockdowns and quarantines, and we work from home." I continued my explanation.

"We could never work from home, unless it was your home," she said cheerfully. I understood, immediately, though not cheerfully.

"Election fever seems to be on," she observed. "It's as bad as malarial fever," I told her my view. "But IPL fever is even worse," I added.

"You mean that travesty of the Gentleman's Game?" she caught on at once.

"What gentlemen?" I asked. "The last recognised gentleman is now rebranded as Indiranagar ka gunda," I said, explaining what admen had done to Mr. Dravid of Indiranagar.

"Well, things change, you know, and not always for good." She was philosophical. 

I said, "Sure they do. A pandemic need not occur in your lifetime, but one did. Before this we only had to tackle mosquito--borne or water-borne diseases, mostly. Now, it's we who are the carriers, and maybe inventors..as if wars and gun laws weren't bad enough.." I trailed off.

"Hey, cheer up, you survived so far, didn't you? I'm sure you will get over this. Humans do, most of the time, I have observed." She was quite perceptive, like a good friend, and understood I needed cheering up. So I thanked her for her kind words, and extracted a promise to meet again, soon, before saying goodbye.

Holistic Approach to Life

 Today is the festival of Holi in India. So, naturally, I had to think about the word holistic. I don't remember when I heard the word first, maybe in the 80s while doing my M.B.A. Some other words from the same period were Value Engineering, M.R.P. (later turned into E.R.P.), Positioning, and lots more.

Returning to holistic, that's a view of anything, a more rounded, broad view. So if one were to look at the Corona pandemic, a holistic view would include all stakeholders, including government (worldwide) which learnt (hopefully) that welfare of its people, including healthcare and hygiene, comes before economics, no matter what the Pink papers have to say. Hospitals and healthcare industry, which learnt that R and D has a major role to play, and many frontiers remain unconquered.

The common man in many countries learnt how responsive his government (elected, in democracies) was to his pain. We all learnt to live digitally, order food online, educate our kids online, and work from home. Pollution on roads and in factories declined, weather improved as a result, and some positive effects on health were felt in urban areas.

We also lived with no major congregations for any reason, proving it can be done. Also without international travel- discretionary- and it did not affect us as much as we imagined. Of course, the tourism industry took a hit, and the hospitality sector. And airlines-but most of the airlines always have a yoyoing life, economically, even without a pandemic. 

The biggest negative was not being able to meet classmates, colleagues (those we like and dislike!), teachers, and relatives and friends, whenever we wanted to. A big loss! Hopefully we will get back!

A Birthday Celebration or Two

 The wife's birthday celebration at our new abode, Bangalore, and a quieter celebration of mine at Indore during the middle of the pandemic earlier. A Pictorial...

This was an extended celebration with some Tequila..

Think of Yourself as...

 The COVID pandemic has taught us many things over 2020. Among other things, that a lot of work can happen online, if we have a decent internet connection and a device like a computer or a smartphone. But if you are still in a funk about all the restrictions it puts on your freedom to move around, travel, and so on, there is a solution.

Just think of yourself as an air-conditioner. Why? Because it has an air filter. Just as it filters the air supplied to its users in a car or home or office, you are sticking an air filter (mask) on your face and thus supplying filtered air to yourself and others you come in contact with. Isn't that a great thing to do? Many other germs that are potentially harmful also will get controlled, and that is good for everyone on the planet, especially those around you. Of course, air-conditioners don't wash their hands, but then, you can always teach them a thing or two, can't you, with your superior intelligence?

So What is New?

 Mostly, it's a matter of perspective. Not much would change in a day. But just as books have chapters, we like to look at time in compartments. Calendars are on way to do it, and clocks are another. The stars were quite enough for our ancestors. They kept time by them.

Also, it gives us a chance to think about where we may be headed, in the next block of time-365 days approximately, in this case. Whole industries have been shaken up by the COVID pandemic, and countries too, in many cases. Some are on their way to recovery. It's not that we are new to man-made disasters..we have had plagues, cholera and lots of other killers-malaria, for example. Even though some of these are spread by rats or mosquitoes, we create conditions that help the spread.

If you want a one line summary of the learning from this pandemic, it could be -" Clean up your act, humans." In more ways than one, we have dirtied the planet, and ourselves. Soap is not going to cure all those ills, nor sanitisers. Unless we live sensibly (some sense has hopefully been forced on us), it will be another disaster, and then another. 

Here is hoping that we learn, and progress, as humans are meant to be (I think).

Change the Only Constant

Maths was not my favourite subject, though I did well enough in it, academically. All those sub-Maths subjects also did not make any holistic sense to me, though they must have had an over-arching meaning..it was never explained to us.

Anyway, the equations always had a constant. No change, even if you changed the equations.. the constant remained in most. So the statement that change is the only constant is wrong, in my view. It should be- Change (your equation) howmuchever you will, the constant will remain.

Anyway, the biggest change in the last five months has been the Corona pandemic, and the richest people in the world have remained the same, more or less. The airline barons always lived on the edge financially, and they just went a little more red - in the face and on their balance sheets, if there is any such thing-more imbalanced or unbalanced than ever, I assume. 

The makers of food and liquor continue their brisk business, particularly if they also do takeaway. The media and politicians the world over continue to blabber, show how elections (or similar agendas) matter more than lives or anything else and generally make fools of themselves..so no change there.

Corporates are at a loss for words..or maybe are just at a loss, period. Barring those that make biscuits..my consumption alone would have made Britannia millions! Work From Home is the norm, so the laptop makers are smiling..except that they can't get parts from China. There, the Supreme Leader never smiles, because it's a sign of weakness..no change there!

WHO suddenly became very prominent, and we found who its Chief was..small mercies.