Artificial Governance- A Satire

Why we need a politician to govern us is beyond me.

Bureaucrats can run the show with the help of AI. All you have to do is load the AI machines with all the important functions of the functionaries.

Online auctions can be performed after every election to find out who wants to change parties at what price-that takes care of government formation.

Digital signatures can also be used to clear any files, and regular attendance can be changed to optional in any office. Imagine the reduction in vehicular pollution levels, and the savings in petrol.

Social media can be used to conduct a referendum on all important ideas- if only Britain had asked me for consultancy, they'd have been saved an election, and lots of confusion- and Pounds (or Euros).

If AI has gone for maintenance, it can be called a Chai break/Lunch break- an indefinite one.You get the drift, I am sure.. you are intelligent, naturally.

Cities Of The World

Great cities around the world..

Before and After- Digital Marketing

We decided to do a Before and After group Selfie in my digital marketing class at Mumbai, to see if the Selfie-taking skills of the Selfie-taker improved after taking this course. The results. (you can judge for yourself).

Shravan was sporting enough to take the selfies, and we all posed to the best of our abilities- some better than others! The first and third are After shots, and the middle one is the Before shot.

Teaching Digital Marketing

I always have a lot of fun teaching, mainly because I try and get students to do small activities in class, and enjoy what they come up with in response. This time, thanks to Anjali who assisted me in teaching, we had a new exercise. They had to come up with an endorsement on video for a matrimonial site (of their choice). It had to be only 30 seconds long.

Another activity was to do a podcast, for a brand in a given category. Some came up with very creative ideas for one, using only audio. Of course, I continued with a blogging exercise that student groups have to do through the length of the course, on things to do with Digital Marketing. There were a few interesting ones there too. Viewership stats also had to be shown, and ways in which the blogs were promoted.

There were a few other activities too,  which I will describe some other time.

The Mumbai MBA class also had subscribed to this course, and due to the smaller class size, it was a pleasure to teach it there. I really think our class sizes are too big for anyone's good.

Reuniting with KIAMS Alumni

I have actually met a few in the last months, some for the first time, and others after a long/very long time. I also met a few abroad, like Smita Mohan in Dubai, and Swapna and Vidya in Singapore some years ago. It was always a warm and fuzzy feeling. So it was when I again met a few alums in Mumbai recently. This time it was Nishka and Vikram Rathi, and Ashustosh. After 14-15 years!

We discussed everything under the Sun, from Ghostwriting, to organisational culture, to NBFCs, to Tata International (they had a Dewas factory), Davangere eateries, and good speakers, road trips, and dogs on campuses. And teenage tantrums, though Nishka and Vikram don't look old enough to have a teenaged kid!

 Savitha from Batch 1above, and Sharmistha and Sunil Kataria from B4 below.

Anushka Mishra (above) from a recent batch and Dheeraj Mohan from a batch I taught (B3/B4?)

Roses Galore in Indore

Well, what can I say? A workplace has never looked so welcoming! A pictorial study of the Roses around us at Indore campus.

These are from a path which I walk up everyday.

Saand Ki Aankh or Bull's Eye - A Review

This is another endearing film on a genre which seems within the grasp of Indian film-makers. Mostly, they are doing a good job of small-town heroes involved in sport- and most of these are women sportspeople. Mary Kom comes to mind, and Dangal. There was also a Dhoni biopic that I did not see.

This one (about shooters) is well-made, and well-acted in. One thing that struck me is that in almost all movies now, the villain is one of our own, not the "other"- larger than life guy with a den and a moll on his arm. It is men and women who represent patriarchy, oppression or false expectations. Prakash Jha as Tau is the perfect villain- patriarchy in its purest form- in this film. He seeks to maintain the old order-and fails.

Bhumi Pednekar and Taapsee Pannu have both acted in several good films, and here they both do a Sanjeev Kumar with panache- act old! Their individual acts and chemistry with each other make the film a delight. The supporting cast is adequate for their job.

Insights about rural India (and urban India by contrast, and Maharajas) abound, if you are looking for them. Seems like a directorial debut, and a good one.