Wonders of My World

 I don't buy the fact that there are just 7 Wonders of the World, and that too, just monuments. My list would include people I am grateful to- just for being in my life. And that's going to run into hundreds, obviously. I have had a long life...

1. Parents, aunts, uncles, cousins. We were a large family, with my mother having several sisters and a brother, and my father with two brothers and some cousins. So we had a ball, meeting in vacations or get-togethers, weddings and so on. At Nagpur a few years ago, we celebrated the 75th birthday of our seniormost maternal cousin. A great event.

2. Teachers- starting from the nuns in class 1, to high school teachers at Hyderabad, or profs. at IIM Bangalore in India, and at Clemson University, USA, they played an important role in shaping me.

3. Colleagues at work in companies, or academic institutes. They have been a source of joy, and learning. Including my non-teaching staff, teaching assistants and almost everyone who worked in various offices- even accounts!

4. Classmates in school, college (we have a group called Hum Nahi Sudhrenge), IIM Bangalore buddies, and a couple of Ph.D. seniors and mates at Clemson-Ron Green being one, Masoud Abessi another

5. Students and ex-students..mostly the second, as I have graduated to admin. roles these last two-three years again. I am amazed at having so many wonderful people just a facebook post or WhatsApp message away. We also meet when we can. You guys are amazing!

6. Food and Drink.. with people you like. You can never have enough.. just like Lays says in its ad.. so much to explore. Just having Moong bhajiya in today's rain, or a Biryani at Hyderabad (with Pratima, my biryani friend), or sipping a cocktail- Ravi and I made a few in Calicut when I lived there. Had a coffee with Prabhakar at UB city recently, and shared many stories.

7. Fun and Games- Karaoke, Golf or Antakshari ..music in any form, actually.

Ok, managed to classify them into 7, after all.. am I forgetting something?

American Graffiti

Ron Green. He was like a pillar of support in understanding the U.S. university system, and much more. He was also a great friend, and his family had an open invitation to a few of us to go visit them anytime. Even after he had moved out of Clemson, we visited him at Johnson City, Tennessee.

Mike Stahl: My guide for the thesis. A couple of seminar courses I took with him were very useful to me in understanding the subject of strategy, and much more. I developed my thesis proposal too, during one of his courses. He was quick in his reactions, and also accepting you if you made sense.

Chuck McNichols: Taught a lot of the multivariate statistics that I still find useful, and which shaped my textbook later on, on Marketing Research.

Steve Cantrell: An easy-going statistics prof. (yes, there are some), with a Southern accent. He was also instrumental in reviving basic statistics which I had forgotten, mostly.

                                       University football stadium, with my wife and parents.

Leslie Price: A prof. At Lander, she was a great friend. Fun-loving, and sociable. We haven't met after 1991, but my wife and I are still friends with her on facebook, and know her kids through the virtual medium.

 One of our abodes at Clemson (above). A trip to New York (below).

 Las Vegas and Mount Rushmore (above).

 Boating at Table Rock Mountain. and below, a truck I drove from Clemson to Greenwood while moving to my new job.