Reflections From Academia

 Just as corporates have their learnings from the company they keep (or the company that keeps them), academics have our own.

When can one call an academic successful? When he publishes a huge amount of papers? When he earns a lot? 

Practically, I would say, in order of ranks 1 to many, these could measure his success-

1. Touching lives of students in some way- inspiring them or showing them the path to self-discovery.

2. Treating the students with respect- lots of teachers fail on this count.

3. Blending practice with theory or concepts in the same course, in a trimester or a semester.

4. Doing contemporary projects with or without industry cooperation. Case writing could be one kind.

5. Bringing his/her experiences into the class. Therefore, getting those experiences too..

6. Using innovative learning methods, experimenting with many.

The Golf Lounge - A Driving Range

 I just discovered a driving range for Golf at Indore- visited with my colleague and budding Golfer Sohni Roy. They have a nice setup to practice drives, and clubs are a part of the deal. It's also conducive for group activity, like bowling. Five people can use a bay for an hour for a fixed price that varies on weekdays and weekends. 210 balls are available to hit during this time. There's also a restaurant attached.

Some pics.. 

Airport Blogging

Blogging from the airport maybe for the second time. It is a nice experience if you have a comfortable seat and a table- obviously, not in the waiting area. But a lounge, yes. Lounging around with a laptop and time on your hands? Ideal.

No bandhs, no rain, and nothing to delay the arrival into the airport. Mumbai has never been pleasanter. Sunday evening too, so the lounge is also pleasantly uncrowded. Rare are such happenings, like a Blood Moon or a sighting of Halley's Comet (next expected in 2061, so I shall have a view from the other side).

Digital Marketing-the course- is on at Mumbai, and (hopefully) a training program on it will run in September at IIM Indore. Blogging is part of the curriculum in the course, so at least here, I practice what I preach-every available chance.

Visiting Faculty

Visiting faculty are of many kinds. This is my observation based on "years of experience" with them.

1. The humble, do my job and get on kind.

2. The arrogant, I know it all kind-usually from industry

3. The crowd-pleasing types, equivalent to the populist politicians (both from industry and academia)

4. Extremely boring but technically proficient in a narrow field

5. Full of war stories-boasting about what they did (many of these are a result of wild imagination rather than fact)

6. Good blenders of theory and practice (many with modest experience of both industry and academia)

7. Good researchers with lots of publications to their credit, with little idea of how practicable any of their research is (academicians, of course)

8. Good communicators, and little else- they can speak on any subject under the sun.

That's all for now. Will be back when I can remember other types.