Father's Day Thoughts

 My father was a cool guy, and we saw lots of Hindi movies together. We drove to the theatre in a Ford Prefect 1955 that my parents had acquired, to the movie hall, since I was 8 or so.. almost any film would do. Jewel Thief is one I remember seeing early when I was a kid. 

He was also into photography, and had a folding camera- German make, I think. We have plenty of black and white pics from that period. Some studio pics also, to boot.

Travel was another of his passions, and I have continued, at least till recently when the Coronavirus slowed things down.

He started humbly and grew to be an admin. head of Stores at a coal mining company, so had no airs at all. He also knew how to cook, and made a special recipe of Kashmiri Mutton Curry almost every Sunday. We kids loved it. 

We do pick up at least some traits from parents or elders. I did not pick up gardening, which he was passionate about. I remember him planting a variety of plants each year, and used to know some names too. 

He loved kids, and we were lucky he was around when our first daughter came home.. 

Kannadigas in my Life

I have had a lot of them, starting from Kempaiah, the security guard at IIMB in my student days. Not sure if the creators of bonda and chai there (Uncle and Aunty) were locals, but I guess they were. Shailaja was a friend from childhood, whom I also met in Bangalore and Mumbai later.

At Kirloskar Institute, Haihar, almost the entire non-teaching staff was local, and most are connected  to me even today- Pavan and his wife Jamuna, Yuvaraj, Rajesh, Raghavendra, Karibasappa, Parameshwarappa, Mahboob, Rajsekhar, Veena are some of them. We had regular parties when these guys were bachelors, and attended some of their weddings. I also met Jayasimha, my current colleague, there first. Sudir, a student from VJIM, also worked there briefly.

At PESIT, of course, it was mainly the faculty colleagues- Manasa, S.P. Kumar, Shahida, and lots of students, some of whom I have bumped into now and then, like Soumyashree Gonibeedu, Mrunal, and Umesh. Many more are connected on social media-Manasa Bharadwaj, Roopashree, Chaitra,... At IFIM Business school again, it was a combo of staff, students and faculty, and I have met a few recently when I went back to visit Bangalore-Bharath Shenoy, for instance, who was a student there.

At IIM Indore, it has been colleagues Ganesh, Jayasimha, and the Chiefs of Admin. present and past, mainly. Students are in smaller numbers, Neha Adiga and Arshia being two that I remember, apart from Manjunath and Saumya.

They all have a few sterling qualities, from what I have seen. They make good friends, and are quiet, non-aggressive people who excel at whatever they put their mind to. I have been fortunate also to have lived among them a long 14 years in all- Harihar for 7 and Bangalore for an equal number if I count my student days and working years.