What I Learnt and From Whom

Ok, let me get this off my chest..I haven't learnt how to dress elegantly, though some women constantly tried teaching me..bad learner. But I did learn the following,..

From Alok, a classmate- what GRE was, how to apply for M.S. to the U.S., and what an MBA was and how to apply for CAT. Later, how to live in the U.S. too.

From Vijayakumar, a friend and colleague- Applied SPSS, the difficult parts. The easy ones I learnt from Profs. at Clemson.

Basics of marketing from my marketing profs. JD Singh and Thirunarayana, and Bhaskaran (advertising, my favourite course) at IIMB. Stats from Dr. Cantrell and Dr. McNichols, at Clemson.

Human behaviour from two profs. and observation. I am eternally grateful to Profs. Valecha and SK Roy of IIMB.

Mischief, from all my friends over the years, and the million students I have had since I changed sides.

Being sensible, from my wife. And parents. and Father-in-law.

How to facebook, from my daughters. And some complex manoeuvres on my phone too.

How to blog, from my BIL Hari.

How to appreciate others? Comes naturally :)

English, from reading authors like Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alistair Maclean,..

Dum Laga ke Haisha- Film Review

This is a good feel-good film about an Indian marriage, particularly one involving a girl who is overweight by most standards, but educated and eligible otherwise. Bhumi Pednekar thrives in her role, and Ayushman Khurana in his- he is the reuctant shopkeeper's son who marries her due to family pressure.

A lot of ups and downs happen in their marital life, which are handled with sensitivity. The fact that in India, you marry a family (at least the girl does) is brought home starkly, because hardly anything remains private in the couple's married life.

A couple of critical incidents force the husband to start studying again for his 10th standard exams (unsuccessfully as it turns out), but then, a competition where the husbands carry their wives in a hurdle race (and hence the title of the film) unites the husband and wife (estranged earlier), and there is a happy ending.

The underlying motive/message is good, and the actors pull it off. Worth a watch. There is a mix of comedy and pathos or emotion in appropriate doses to keep the narrative going. The support cast (there is a lot of this) helps the cause.

My Cracker is Louder than Yours

The different ways in which man competes with another! Examples abound, of this competitive spirit. Some of these are-

My car is bigger, more luxurious, more expensive than yours.

My house is bigger, better located than yours.

My wife is better-looking than yours.

My shirt/trousers were made in a better country (Italy/France) than yours (India/Bangladesh).

My guru writes/teaches yoga/discourses better than yours.

Kids' version of the same spirit- "My daddy strongest."

Maybe these days, it would extend into territories like 'My hospital is better than yours.' Or, 'my bypass surgery took longer than yours.'

A Joke About Perspectives

Someone forwarded this unusual joke to me.

Dirty Laundry


A young couple moved into a new neighborhood.

The next morning while they were eating breakfast, the young woman saw her neighbor hanging the wash outside.

"That laundry is not very clean," she said. "She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband, "Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder, who taught her this?"

The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.