The New Cool

Earlier, there were three ways to be cool. Two of them involved travel. The third involved running- that started roughly a year ago.

Now, all three are out. Therefore, we have had a rethink, and had to re-invent COOL. So here are some new ways-

1. Try out weird yoga poses, either real or invented.

2. Try out new recipes. They should look good, no matter the taste.

3. Jokes and memes about staying locked up- I mean locked in. You forward them, mostly.

4. Take selfies, usually with disastrous results. You know why. What used to be super-cool, is , let's just say, lukewarm? Still, it keeps you occupied.

5. Take Balcony shots (if you have one- Rohit Srivastava, no offense). If you don't have one, well, sneak into the neighbour's and get a quick shot.

6. Write an autobiography..nobody's tried it yet, but would be Super-cool, if they did. It's not an option, coz I already did it many years ago.

7. Develop a sense of humour. Tough to do, if you didn't have one already.

Halfway Mark at Covid Lockdown and the Future After

I think it was a bold and necessary step to lock down India -a vast country- for a period of three weeks. U.S.A. has not been able to bring itself to do that, nor the U.K. until recently.

The next step/s will also be critical. To isolate areas or cities with a large population (or even a significant small population) of likely spreaders, and current hot spots. If this is done well, and it may mean a spurt in detected cases- a good thing in the short run during lockdown- we may be able to prevent a larger disaster. The hot spots may need a further bunch of restrictions over a longer period, in my own view.

Either home delivery of groceries and medicines, or keeping small stores open with distancing being practiced will of course be required, and can be geared up once areas are identified that need it for longer periods. Migrant labour camps will also need to gear up and provide food and/or a kitchen and groceries.

Domestic flights except for the hotspots can be started at first, and then all domestic flights, in phases. International flights should be restricted to those who have a family emergency and can prove it..otherwise they can wait for a couple of months. Big congregations including malls, theatres will in my view, have to remain shut for a few more weeks. If not, gains made will be frittered away.

Sensible planning (and behaviour) may still carry the day. Let us hope so!

Harihar- Unique Days

My years (six and a half, 1995-2001) spent in Harihar, a small two-road town near Hubli, were unique in many ways. One of the unique things was the close relationship between everyone, the students, teachers and non-teaching staff. I still have fond memories, and occasionally meet the non-teaching staff from Harihar.

Raghavendra, Rajesh, Rajasekhar, Mr. Joshi (who passed away, was the librarian), Capt. Murukesan, Dr. Gopi, Karibasappa (aka Amitabh Bachhan), Parmeshwarappa, Pavan, Yuvaraj, Mehboob, KT Nagaraj, Umesh, were all like family, and we frequently went out for parties in the "best" restaurants in town- Narthaki was one- as equals. We also had a couple of picnics in rural Rajanahalli (river Tungabhadra) and Kondajji ( a hill-lake) nearby.

Many students from batch 1 to batch 4 that I was fortunate to interact with closely, are still in touch, from Dubai to Singapore, and in between. That feels great. Just in the last year, I have met Savitha, Sharmistha, Sunil Kataria, Shweta Agarwal, Nishka and Vikram, and before that, Achint, Padmapriya, Jogeswari, Dheeraj Mohan, Smita, Vidya TC and Swapna a couple of times at least..also Anushka Mishra and Zargar Basharat, though they are from recent batches that weren't around in my time (we met online first)!

Playing Golf (and learning from Sadanand who came from Belgaum) regularly was another unique feature. The caddies were among the best and taught us a few tricks! Made a few fast friends there, like Yashad Gaur, and my own colleagues Dhanapal and Vijayakumar, with whom I have played in various places.

Hyderabadi Finally Gets It

No, he gets what's Corona, not the virus. Finally..

Panicking Non-Hyderabadi: (PN) Samajh mein aaya miya, kaiku ghar meich rehna bolre?

Hyderabadi (H): Hau, ab main baharich nahin nikaltun dekho. Magar ek baat samajh mein nahin aari, ghar mein baithke kya karna bolke..

PN: Kuchh bhi karo- taash khelo, saanp seedhi khelo,

H: Yeh bachhon ke kaamaan hain, main kaisa khel saktoon?

PN: Kitabaan padho.

H: Hai kahaan padhneku? Bookstoraan kabke band ho gaye-yeh Corona se bhot pehle!

PN: Hau, woh bhi sahi hai..to phir emailaan likho na?

H: Kisku likhun? Koi padhta aaj kal emailaan?

PN: Phir picture dekho koi bhi.

H: Hum logon ku bolne ki zaroorat hai? Sab dekh liya so hoon..

PN: Chai banake piyo phir har ghante mein..

H: Subah se aath cup pee liya na ab tak..

PN: Aisa? Phir to khana khaake so jao..khwaabaan aate achhe achhe..

H: Kya baat bole yaaro, pehle nahin bolna tha? Jaarun, kal milinge!

Of Lockdowns and Beyond

Just when airlines thought they had got their act together and would fly higher into profits, the Covid-19 has virtually grounded them all. Domestic flights too, till April 14th. (in India)

So after the lockdowns end, when they do, will normality return to air travel, hospitality, and all the rest? Business travel is likely to pick up first, followed by a cautious uptick in personal travel, and finally, leisure travel or tourism. People are likely to be wary of international travel for a few months at least.

What about retail? A lot of business has actually come to the small kirana stores, as they are within walking distance of most houses, and are an essential service. Maybe bigger stores will take a while in India at least, to get back all their customers. They might have to incentivise customers. We are, in the meantime, re-discovering the virtues of small businesses. Hopefully, mom and pop stores will continue to thrive in India, and not just for groceries- given the employment challenges, they have the potential to keep the families working.

Hygiene-related products may see a sustained interest, because this crisis has taught everyone the importance of washing hands and disinfecting surfaces that you can.

A simpler lifestyle might result for a while, having got used to the necessities and being able to live without a lot of discretionary spends. Marketers of many discretionary goods will have to work harder to attract customers.

Getting the lost mojo back into many economic sectors will take quite a while. Hope it happens within a year or two. If not, education may also suffer-higher education, more so. Hopefully, allocations to the health sector will go up across countries.

Remembering Students- Roll Call

Thanks to Zuckerberg, I have reconnected with so many, it's hard to remember all...will give it a shot.

Most recent ones were Rohit Kumar, Bhuvneet Raheja, Akshat Surana, Nishka and Vikram Rathi, Sapna Patni, Anam Nuhi, Arshia Mulla, Ravi Mittal, Kedar Muley, Surbhi Mehta Chadha, Meghna Sinha, Kanika Mhendiratta, Sheetal Garg, Abha Kulkarni (Spice Girl 1), Ishan and Ankita, Keyur Bhalavat, Shraddha Nigdikar, Savitha, Bharath Shenoy, Harshad Sachani, Tamros Mondal, Pratima Gaekwad, Padmapriya, Sunil Kataria, Shweta Agarwal, Sharmistha Singh, Nikita Kumar (I owe her some chocolates!), Shruti Sharma and Aditya Naag, Latha from PGPMX, Tosha Dubey (Spice Girl 2), Anuj Mathew, Sirisha (does not like spice!), Khyati Jha (author), Abhinav Kamal (film-maker), Punyashlok (budding prof.), Manjari, ...

A bit earlier, Neha Adiga, Anushka Mishra, Divya Singh, Garima (Gary S), Dwipa, Sampark, Sheetal Srivatava, Shweta Sinha (my first taste of Vietnamese food was with her, in Bangalore), Sreeram, Anshita Abhishek Chetty (an able party organiser and from Indore, I must add), Aashish and Anusha Mamidanna, Shafique, Zargar Basharat, Pallavi, Vrinda Khanna, Arvind Joshi, Pragya Singh, Urvashi Anand, Shatakshi Tripathi and Varun, Sowmyashree Gonibeedu, Shveta Sahu, Jogeswari, Mrunal, Anant Ajmera, Vishal Golchha, Vishal Tibrewal, Animesh Jain, Supriya Jain, Shreyashi ( a prof, now), Meghana Joshi, Vikas Jain, Varun Somaiya, Swathika Selvam, Bhawana Sahay,

A bit before that, Swapna and Vidya TC, Dheeraj Mohan, Smita (named after the Patil, I learnt) Mohan, Anu Bhoopathy, Akash Gupta...

Some just-misses- Ishita Modi (Modiji se milna mushkil hi nahin,..etc.), Pallavi Sharma (she preferred Goa!), Bhavana Daga, Palak Narang,..

Of course, online chats or Nok-jhonk are on with many more..

Random Reminiscences

Since every day is like a weekend (Thanks, Corona), I decided to ramble and remember things (Random Walk Theory, or early signs of..., you decide).

Many years ago, we were in a small town called Harihar. Now we are at Indore, where it's mostly Har (Shiva) that rules. I know that among Iyers and Iyengars, one follows Vishnu and another Shiva, but which is which, I forget..

I have known a lot of smart Iyers- among students too, Anjali and Aishwarya come to mind. Since Iyengars did not use their tags, not sure which ones were.

My first visit to the North of India included Delhi, Amritsar, Shimla, Agra, Haridwar, and Srinagar, Gulmarg, Wular Lake, Pahalgam- I still remember staying on a Houseboat owned by one Ali Mohammad Dubloo who fed us Gushtaba and lots more.

I had relatives in Mumbai, Nagpur, Indore, Baroda, Delhi, Satna, Jabalpur, Pune, Hyderabad,..but not in Orissa and West Bengal. Made up with a job at Bhubaneswar in 1991, and visits to Kolkata.

Lander College in Greenwood, where I taught once, had a good Dramatics dept., and staged plays regularly. One was Equus, I remember. Impressed by the three I saw at IIM Indore over the last few years, involving a talented bunch of students (Sanjana, Jasmine, Shreya, Shrunga, Avik, Philip, Prachi, Kaavya, ..), and my director-friend Shweta, with her Woman Friday, Varunika.

Managed to visit Kodikkarai, from where Sri Lanka is just a small walk across the sea, thanks to a Golfing trip deep south with Gadgil and Vijayakumar. The Golfing trips southwards have been very productive, and gave me a Hole-in-one twice, at Kodaikanal and Wellington Golf Clubs, which I can boast about for the rest of my life.