Cooking is Fun

 Note I said cooking, not cleaning up.. that is not as much fun. But cooking gives you scope to experiment, and be creative. Of course, being spoilt by having Mom and Maids do most cooking, I never properly learnt it until I went to live abroad. Learnt by watching other Indian students and hearing from people- those were pre-Youtube days.

Some of my creations

Now I can fend for myself. Had learnt buying vegetables from my trips with Dad to the Andhra markets in childhood. So I can get veggies, can cook a decent rice, dal and chicken/veg meal. Also, eggs of two or three kinds. Dosa if I have the batter. Poha, and a couple of things more.

In short, I can survive. With Youtube, it should be far simpler.

Moving Again

 It happens when least expected, sometimes. I am moving to take up the position of the Vice Chancellor of a new university called Prestige University at Indore in a couple of months. This is a brand new venture and hopes to be a trend-setter among the kind of management programs we have in India. Designed after a lot of research and conversations with thought leaders, it will offer niche MBA programs in Sustainability, Food and Agri- business Mgt.,  Logistics and Supply Chain, and Analytics, among others. 

My two-year stint at NMIMS Bangalore has been wonderful in so many ways. I managed to make new friends among faculty, students, staff and alumni. Saw a few achievers in all spheres, and in spite of COVID in the initial few months, did meet up often with colleagues. Also happy that I introduced Golf in our own backyard. Recruited a lot of new faculty and staff.

Some ongoing tasks remain, like the curriculum revamp, and re-accreditation by AMBA, UK. My successors will see to those, I am sure.

The Bangalore stay, my second work innings after PES and IFIM, has been equally enriching, and I will miss the Bangalore filter kaapi the most. But Poha beckons, kya karein?

Eating Right

 Among the pandemic's good effects (trying to forget the bad ones here, two years on) has been the return to recipes that were not tried often, as we were busy commuting to work and back. The saving on time resulted in some of us returning to some of those recipes. One or two that my household manager came up with in the last couple of days. One was a favourite of my Dad's and comes from the Belgaum region. The other, my wife learnt from her aunt, and is popular in Punjab/Delhi. 

Raw material.. mix in whatever proportion seems right.

and below, the finished product. Made out of raw poha. Kala/Sendhua namak is the secret sauce..

The last one features a karela and onion. Great combo, and there's a mirchi fry on the side to add to the zest.

Poha in Flight

Slightly misleading, because it was not the poha that was flying, I was! But the flight was made interesting with the poha and the scenery-clouds of different shapes, and the blue sky. Anyway, it also proves poha has arrived, because it is being served at 35,000 feet to high-fliers!

In Search of Paradise

 A view of the Kishore Kumar Memorial, from a distance, and a close-up. Really happy we made the trip that we have been meaning to for a long time..his voice often seems divine.

 In case you were planning to visit it, we have our Paradise right here on earth.. proof above. And close to it, not geographically though, is Indore's own version, where Mamaji serves you chai and poha.

 And to top it, is the place which has architecturally been an inspiration to some of IIM Indore's structures- Hindola Mahal at Mandu (below).

Khaas Indori Conversation

An Indori guy just walked past, so I thought I would find out what he was up to.

"Where are you going, my friend," I asked.

"To have a poha, come along," he said. We ended up having a kachori alongside the poha..but that's another matter. I wanted to know where he planned to go next.

"Angrezi (English) Classes hain yaar, he said. Aajkal angrezi seekhna bahut zaroori hai."
I agreed wholeheartedly, in English.

I asked him what his ambition in life was. He was pretty clear - "a government job," he said.

"What kind of a job? What do you want to do there?"I wanted to know more.

He looked surprised. "I'll do what others do in a government job."

I started having nightmares. I saw Soorma Bhopali of Sholay fame saying something like "Do rupaye mein license banwaane aaya hai? Kahaan kahaan se chale aate hain..?" to a visitor in a government office, chewing paan while he said it..luckily, I woke up before the nightmare became more graphic. This conversation actually never happened.