Fair weather Friends

 These are usually because of some position you hold. That they may want to benefit from. So if you happen to lose that 'position' as a potential benefactor, the friends go away in the blink of an eye.

Could happen anywhere, in any profession, because brown-nosing is an eternal pastime, and has been.

On the other hand, it's a joy to have friends who don't give a damn about who you are in terms of your position, job held or anything else other than the real you. I am grateful for many such friends, from among colleagues, or classmates, or past students from classes taught years ago.

Sometimes, just random meetings from social media connects have developed into friendships that are hard to define. 

Of course, professional friends who are, well, professional, are fine too.

Reforms and Women

Why aren't there more women reformers? We had Manmohan Singh (as Fin Minister) and Narasimha Rao, way back in 1991, and Sreedharan (Konkan Railway and Delhi Metro), Verghese Kurien (Amul), and a few other good men (Sam Pitroda), thrown in. But where are the women?

I say, find more women reformers. They have the natural flair. They are completely immersed in improving their surroundings. They want to perpetually clean their abodes, and things within the abodes. They will go to great lengths to wash clothes, and iron them and loook good in them. Often, this extends to making others around them look better than they otherwise would (children, husbands?).

The trouble arises only when they want to reform their husbands. This is the only animal who is beyond redemption. If they would just concentrate on the community, environment, neighbourhood, the globe, etc., they would do exceedingly well. The parliament could do with some more grace, in general, and they can bring that to it. The GST would get passed in a jiffy. And jewellery, clothes, eating out etc. would be less expensive.

The downside? The (self-and-spiritual improvement) babas of all types may go out of business. The babes would take over.

I Want to be Accredited

We at IMT are going through the process of accreditation by AACSB, a premier agency which does that for B schools. This one is for the Ghaziabad campus. And what it does is it forces you to look at all your goals, processes, and outcomes, and also what you do about them.

But my quest is for an accreditation for myself. I think that is a quest for self-discovery. Boring, universal questions like Who am I and What am I Doing on the planet are passe. But What am I, or what should I do for the rest of my time here, and how, can be rather interesting questions to answer. So can I get some volunteers to accredit me? Maybe for a small fee, like a night out with a drink and a movie? Or a barter, that I will do unto them what they will do unto me.

I need answers to just a few Qs.

What am I doing well? Not well?

How do I bring in continuous improvement and Total Quality Management to my life? (the Japs did it in Toyota, I know, but I am talking more important stiuff than a mere automobile here).

How do I measure my Happiness Quotient.

This is a small but important list. Yours might be different.

I think we could (at least I could) benefit from an accreditation agency- or a person.