Celebrating 4 Years at IIM Indore

My second longest work stint- I have worked at Clemson (Teaching Asst.), Lander University, XIM Bhubaneswar, Vignana Jyothi, Kirloskar Institute, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, PESIT, IFIM B School, IMT Nagpur and Ghaziabad before I got here. Kirloskar was the longest I stayed-7 years approx.

I learnt a lot here, and have enjoyed the company of some lovely people. Taught in our Dubai program, PGP MX (Weekend), Exec PGP, FPM, and the flagship PGP. Also did a couple of administrative stints as MDP chair and now as Dean (Faculty). Went to a few conferences and designed a few programs on Retail and Digital Marketing. Watched some talented students perform my favourite plays such as "The Importance of Being Earnest"  and work on the Google Online Marketing Challenge and win it.

Some glimpses from these 4 years.

 Shweta Kushal becomes a Golfer!

 Me and the Narmada river at Maheshwar.

 A great view of IIM Indore.

 Jayasimha and Archana at Jahaz Mahal, Mandu. He and I have now worked together at 4 institutions.

 Office with a view.

 Mandu-interesting place.

 Road trip to Udaipur.

 Anjali (Ph. D. student) with our Conference poster.

 Starry visits. Suhita Thatte, my cousin, visits us.

 Pataal pani, and we pose, filmy style.

More sober pose at Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Odd Films That Stayed With Me

Jangal Mein Mangal was one, mainly because of one song. "Tum kitni khubsoorat ho"- sung with a lot of feeling by Kishore Kumar.

Gumnaam, because of two songs- Mehmood singing Hum kaale hain to kya hua dilwaale hain, and Helen singing Gham chhod ke manao rang reli, aur maan lo jo kahe Kitty Kelly.

A Fish Called Wanda, due to a scene in which a guy is caught with his pants down-hilarious.

The Naked Gun, due to Lelie Neilsen's antics on a Baseball field.

Lootmaar because of the Asha Bhosle song picturised on Simple Kapadia - "Jab chhaye, mera jadu, koi bach na paaye."

Bombay to Goa,..one dialogue stands out- "Amma, pakoda."

Aulad, where Mehmood and Aruna Irani sang - "Jodi hamari banega kaise jaani, hum to hai angrezi, tum ladki Hindustani.."

Barsaat, due to the colourful shades/glasses that Bobby Deol wears in it.

Yeh Dillagi, due to its rollicking song- "Jab bhi koi ladki dekhun mera dil deewana bole Ole Ole.."

Adavi Ramudu starring NTR and Jayaprada for the song "Aresukoboi paaresukunnanu ..."

Saboot, due to a scene in which Rajendranath has wipers on his glasses..

A dialogue by Mehmood in Naukar, "Nahaane ke pani mein kewda, Peene ke pani mein bewda," while praising his host's hospitality. 

Even More Memories

We happened to go to Sri Lanka for the first time in 2017.

 with family at the destination wedding of my niece Miskil.

 Vaseem and I pose.

 My foot poses.

 Can Pooja be far behind? At World's End, Horton Plains. Below, a mask in the showroom, Laksala.

 Second trip to Colombo,..for a conference. with Bhakti More and Fanni Wong.

 Also went to National University of Singapore. For a training program.

 Met my music group in Hyderabad.

 Muthu and Vasanti in KGA Bangalore. Borrowed a flowery shirt from him.

And of course, caught up with Osmaniacs in Hyderabad-my engg. classmates.

Discover Yourself - Through Karaoke

Last night we had fun with karaoke. A bunch of multi-talented students and I celebrated their world-beating performance at the Google Online Marketing Challenge. They are all in the pics here, but doing something entirely different - singing Tamil and Hindi songs on the karaoke mike. This is a great way to unwind, and has been popular in Japan and Korea for some time. Recommended! You may just discover the singer in you!

Memories 2017

The good ones from the year.

Winsome smiles.

A student group winning the Google Asia Pacic title for a Digital Marketing competition, ably led by Kalaivani, and comprising Mathan, Akshaya, Swathika, Chandran and Sadhana. It was an awesome achievement, and nothing pleases a teacher more than a student's achievement.

Teaching the course itself, with some innovations like an online bidding game. And an MDP (short training program), and meeting some great minds -faculty and participants.

Then, a major conference which my young colleague Abhishek organised so well along with NASMEI and UT Austin.And a conference in Colombo on Tourism, my current research interest. The pics below are from these two, in reverse order.

 In Oct. Yu (Fanni) Wong, a new friend, speaks at Colombo.

with Prof. Rishikesha Krishnan, and Abhishek Mishra. July 2017.

Nidhi, an old/still-young student of Kirloskar MBA from long ago, visited me, her then-mentor, at IIM Indore. She has an infectious smile, as you can see-

Of course, great times with other past students -met Sapna Patni, Bhuvneet Raheja, Garima Shah, Zargar Basharat, Shafique Gajdhar, Pallavi Sharma, ...and then some. And colleagues-met Shahida here at our own conference. Might have to continue...with more memories, might create a few more before the year is out.

Tumhari Sulu- Film Review

Vidya Balan is a favourite actress, and pleasure to watch in any role, but this one is especially good, well-written. It has all the sweet and sour taste of a typical middle class family story, with some twists which are convincingly picturised.

At its heart, it's about a married woman and mother trying to break out and work to discover herself. There are the usual obstacles, real and perceived. Her job is at night, and commuting is one of the issues. That is quickly sorted out, with a woman cabbie. But other problems like handling the family and relatives remain and fester.

Some clever touches such as the contrast with the Jet Airways crew who are her neighbours, or the incident with the shopkeeper not providing home delivery, add to the authenticity of the proceedings. The parallels with her hubby losing prominence at his job while Sulu is ascending, also send a message.

Though the first half is a bit slow and could have been edited more tightly, it is a well-knit story with the husband's part well played. The radio station crew led by Neha Dhupia provides a fun foil to Sulu's humdrum life, and is an important support for her in bad times.

Worth a watch, definitely.

Ruled Out?

There was this curious phrase on the news today. There was a suspicious-looking package that turned out to be a bomb in Germany. The police defused it, but they also said that more such packages in town CANNOT BE RULED OUT. That got me thinking about what else we can't rule out.

Aliens coming to earth day after tomorrow.

RaGa as the P.M.

My learning how to dance.

Kapil Sharma coming out of coming out of a depression induced by too much comedy.

Santa really turning up with a gift for all of us.

North Korea's great leader getting a proper haircut.

Trump making sense.

America banning ownership of guns.

Teenagers giving up social media and reading books.

Startups without a Bansal or Agarwal at the helm, in India.

Padmavati releasing.

All of us losing weight in exactly the (kilo)grammage we want.

My blog going viral.