Ghalib in New Delhi- Play Review

 Reminded me of Adrak ke Panje by Babban Khan. That was in the 70s. I think Sayeed Alam acted as Ghalib. He was brilliant. Ghalib takes birth again in Modern Delhi, is the basic storyline. He asks God to give him rebirth in either Varanasi or Delhi. God says there is already a tough guy with a beard in Varanasi. So he sends him to Delhi.

It is full of jokes about politics, society, education, corruption, language and everything in between. And includes all that is happening, therefore topical and relatable. 

The best jokes were about Galgotias University, which was in the news recently. Also about Kejriwal, whose contribution was to give khaansi (cough) to the whole of Delhi.. and as a result, the IQ of Delhi went up (a joke about the current CM, who doesn't know the difference between AQI and IQ). 

Also, many jokes about Kangana, Language deterioration, Haryanvis, Gurgaon, Yamuna-paar Dilliwasis, Modi's travels, Chara ghotala of Lalu Yadav, removal of Mughals from history books, and so on.

He says, If Kapil Dev can learn English, anyone can.. 

It's in the form of 5-6 skits, including Ghalib's encounters with a paanwali, a drunk, two taxi/auto drivers, a Punjabi landlady (with jokes about Punjabis included), a police constable who thinks he's a terrorist, and a couple of ad agency executives who try designing a campaign to make him famous- through photoshoots with Mallika Sherawat or Kareena Kapoor.  Very engaging, a laugh a minute. Political and social satire at its best!

Activities

 I have attended conferences, and organised a few.

I went to a few conferences abroad with Jayasimha, my colleague at IIM Indore. These were in Japan (Beppu), Cambodia (Phnom Penh), Vietnam (Hanoi), Sri Lanka (Colombo). 

Organised a few at IIMK, from IMT Nagpur at Goa. The latter, 4 editions, with Harsh Halve as a collaborator. Tripti Shrivastav assisted in the first, as an RA.

Music group - attended two physical meets at Hyderabad and Bangalore. Smaller meets at Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore.

Parties with friends all over. Bangalore with Anshita and gang, Savitha, Vandana, Anushka, Divya Sisodiya, Bharath Shenoy, Mumbai with Meghna Sinha, Meghana Joshi, Tosha Dubey and Abha, Sirisha and Khyati, Sheetal, Swati Jain, Kedar Muley and Ravi Mittal, Pune with Meghana Khadilkar, Harshad Lunavat, Pushpinder, Anusha Soni, Delhi with Prachi Jain, Abha, Ananya Nandi Dey, Nikita Kumar/Ray, Shruti and Aditya Naag, Jaya Dulani Sardana, Padmapriya, Shweta Agarwal, Sharmishtha Singh and Sunil Kataria, Hyderabad with Jogeswari, Indore with Neeti, Pratishtha and Akansh...

Groups of classmates in Bangalore, and Hyderabad and now, Goa next week. Bangalore with Veronica, Kolkata with Dash, Shakti and Sudeshna (missed Roopsha).

Bhagyalakshmi and Shraddha Nigdikar at Mumbai, Faculty colleagues at Nagpur and Bangalore and Chennai and Coimbatore too, apart from Golf at Kodaikanal Munnar and Wellington. 

Golf at ASC with Dr. V, and with Venu at Hyderabad. Also with Muthu at KGA, and Sunil at Hubli. Belgaum wth Sadanand, Pattaya with lots of people led by Golftripz, ..

Weddings- Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Mumbai were the latest in a long list. Aditi Prabhakar in Bangalore where I took some good pics. At homes of friends, in Delhi IIT, Chennai, Bangalore, and other places. 

Gatherings at Work

 Socialising is one reason why work becomes more tolerable, to most people. So it is important to have a social event or cultural event, once in a while. We have some good singers in our team at NMIMS, and we had a good time discovering new ones too. Here are some pics from the latest get-together to welcome new members..work begins to look like a party! 

Intro to an Introvert

How do introverts behave when introduced to a new person?

I think they would try their best to avoid being in a situation where they meet new people. But if it is a must, and unavoidable, they will mostly listen, and not talk about themselves (or much else) till they get comfortable with another new person.

But this does not mean that an introvert does not have anything to talk about. He is just not used to talking about it as much as an extrovert might be. I have had conversations with self-confessed introverts that were very, very interesting- sometimes longer than those with extroverts.

So make the introvert feel comfortable, and they will open up. May require more patience than you normally have. If you have an introvert as a friend, you may not even notice that they are one. Maybe, just maybe, social media are one place where an introvert gets an equal opportunity to be social.

Zed Plus- Film Review

I like films that are rooted in our milieu, whether they are potboilers or realistic. This one falls into the latter category, and is a very smartly written film- more than I can say for a lot of films (either category). This one reminded me a lot of Peepli Live, but this one is actually better, I think.

A common man's life turns upside down when he accidentally hosts the Prime Minister at a Holy Place and the PM offers him a return gift. He complains about his neighbour, the PM mistakes it for a terror threat from Pakistan, and offers him Z Plus security.

Lots of funny incidents later, he wants to throw away his security cover. Does not succeed, though he comes close. Through the lens of this story revolving around his security status, the director succeeds in a satirical look at our politics, our society, the wasted years after independence, the plight of the common man, bad state of roads, and many things in between. But the tone of the film is still optimistic, and upholds the dignity of the common man. Dialogue is witty, and makes you laugh.

A must-see, is my view. The director is Chandra Prakash Dwivedi, known for the Chanakya serial many years ago. KK Raina gets a good role, and so does Mona Singh.

Digital Marketing- A Primer

This is a term that is used to the point of abuse. Every third guy you meet is a digital marketer, just as, a few years ago, every second guy you met was a web designer.

anyway, as it happens, our digital marketing consultant was here to discuss our plans for the coming year or so, and I gathered a few useful facts from his presentation which was livelier than many I have sat through over the last few years.

There are essentially three types of media that you have a choice of using for digital marketing/communication-

Own media- properties that are 'yours'- a website (personal or corporate), an official/personal page on Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter, a blog, etc.

Paid media - these are ads on Google Adwords (Search can be free too, subject to your activity level and relevance to keywords that a searcher types in), or any of the social media that permit ads. Email campaigns might also fall into this category, if you are paying either for address capture or the process of mailing and follow-up.

Earned Media- These include things like Word-of-mouth, sharing of your blog, facebook post or tweet, or pin.

Some of these media (paid mostly) offer a targeted campaign by any demographic that they measure and you can think of. Return on Investment is easily measured too. Lead management system can be integrated with some of these, to follow up on people who have clicked and filled up contact details.

Enlightening; there may actually be light at the end of digital marketing tunnel!

What the Prime Minister Cannot Do For You

Thought I would make it clear for those who think God and after him/her, the PM ought to do things for them. These are the things, folks, he cannot do for you.

1. Change your kid's diaper
2. Clean up your house and the adjacent plot where you dump your waste
3. Teach your kids (good) manners
4. Stop you from discriminating against your girl child
5. Stop you from taking/giving dowry
6. Help you be a nice human
7. Develop your potential and help you search for a suitable career
8. Entertain you by giving you one-liners like a stand-up comedian (or Lalu Yadav)
9. Fix your broken marriage
10. Grow things in your garden

A related joke that I am reminded of- A man complained to God that he wasn't looking after him. He was so unlucky compared to his fellow earthlings. Why, for instance, did he not win a lottery?
God replied that HE had made all arrangements for the man to win a lottery, but he had to buy a ticket first!