Madhosh Kiye Jaa

Office Office

Some pics from my offices over the years..not all.

PESIT, Bangalore. 2005-2008

IIM Indore. 2013-2020.

NMIMS Bangalore. 2020-2022. above and below.

Lander University, USA. 1989-1991.

Prestige University, Temporary Office. 2022-2024.

and regular one, with Pratima Gaikwad. Below.

JIS University, Kolkata office, with Shrabani, my Exec. Asst. - 2025.

Outside my office. IIM Lucknow, 2001-2003.

IMT Nagpur 2009-2012.

IIMKozhikode. 2003-2005

Vignana Jyoti, Hyderabad. 1992-95

Mother's Day 2021

Celebrating with pics of mothers I know or have clicked.

My sister, her daughter and my Mom.

They are playing cricket in the pic below.

Two of my students Anshita (above) and Manjari (below) and their daughters.

Friends gathering, with a daughter Rimjhim, and her Mom Rajni behind.

Cousins Sheelu and Pramila, with their daughters behind them.

Shonika and her Mom, Kailash Gupta at their home.

Shweta Kushal on karaoke, with her sister and two kids.

With My Mother-in-law at Charleston, SC.

Air Force Golf Club, with Madhuri Helchel and her son.

A young lady learns Golf as her Mom watches, Kodaikanal.

Shubha Gokhale, my cousin, with her daughter Maya.

There was a heroine, Sadhana, who made a Sadhana cut (a hairstyle) fashionable during her heyday. But there icons of style who had a lot of following. Two of my favourites are/were Rajnikant and Dev Anand. To a lesser extent, Shatrughan Sinha in his early films too.

It is difficult to define, but easy to see style. There is no one thing that defines it. For example, Madhubala's crooked smile could be defined as stylish. Raaj Kumar and Shatrughan had dialogue delivery in style as their forte. But back to Rajni and Dev Anand. When Rajnikant is on the screen, it's hard to focus on anything else. The heroine, other actors, seem almost superfluous. He has a magnetic on-screen presence, and everything -his mannerisms- become imbued with that word- style. Many heroes do exactly what he does on screen, but without that magic ingredient.

I think it's the same with Dev Anand. Even the most mundane scene, he could enliven by the way he said his dialogues, or a smile, or a way of walking- crouched, many times. Regardless of what it was, he managed to be the focus of attention as far as his audience was concerned, at least until the eighties.

Just doffing my hat to two of my favourites, for giving us many hours of pleasure.

Anopheles on Current Events 2021

My dear friend Anopheles was with me after a long hiatus. I wished her a Happy Mothers' Day. But her mind was elsewhere. She said, "What is black-marketing? Aren't you a marketing prof.?"

"Yes," I had to agree. And added "Though we don't put it in white and black categories, it's an illegal practice of selling something for more than it's real or legal price. Sometimes it's harmless, like cinema tickets or cricket match tickets. Known as scalping in America."

"And your pals are selling life-saving machines and stuff in black?" she looked incredulous.

I must admit this didn't look very good for the country, or humankind which was turning out to be unkind- heartless, even. Still, I tried to defend us as a species.

"It's just a few bad apples among us. Lots of people are actually helping out with free medicines, or oxygen too." I said weakly.

She was caustic. "Well, if your species goes down or vanishes, don't blame us. We neither caused this Corona thing to spread, nor are we responsible for how you behave in times of a crisis. At the most, maybe there were cases of malaria, or chickengunya that we were spreading. But you found cures for these. Why can't you find cures for COVID?"

I said, "Not sure, but we were busy buying guns, or manufacturing them, or both. Didn't have money left for scientific or medical research."

"That should teach you a lesson you won't forget in a hurry." was all she had to say. I didn't want to stretch the conversation any longer, and so I promised to discuss this another day, and called it a night.

Maskhari

The word is legit, and used in Hindi, and Marathi without the h, to mean clowning around- as a verb. The context here is a bit more specific though. I am concentrating on the mask part- the prolonged use of it, in times of the pandemic, and some possible consequences. Imaginary or real!

Imagine a newborn who has seen the parents masked all along, for the first two years of his life. When they take the mask off, does he scream and try to run away from his 'kid'nappers? Possible, if he has learnt to run.

Say, a lovey-dovey couple fell in love while wearing masks. After the masks come off, will they still love each other like they used to, or "face up" to the fact that they don't like what they see?

Another couple, living with masks, discover that they exchanged partners while walking out of a grocery store, inadvertently, and lived together for a year. What do they do now, after the pandemic ends?

The boss may not recognise his employees, and vice-versa. Imagine Marketing chaps reporting to the H.R. head, or worse, finance heads in organisations! (I am biased, yes). Or, a boss reporting to his subordinate? A dream come true, I might add, for many.

You may get the wrong guy/gal sitting in the Chief Minister's chair, and discover the mistake after two years!

On the positive side, you don't have to look at faces that you don't like. On the negative side, you can't look at the ones you liked, either. This is a balanced view, just in case you didn't notice.

Mayday

May used to be a month of school vacations, right from childhood. Though hot, we had compensations like a swimming outing in our club, and mangoes, and visits to cousins in slightly cooler places, as we grew up in the hot coal-mining towns of Kothagudem, Ramagundam and Bellampalli. So a trip to Pune was almost like going to a hill station.

This time around, though, the situation is unreal. There is a forced Work From Home for most. The COVID situation is actually worse than it was last year, at this time. Though we know a lot more about the virus, somehow we seem less prepared for the ferocity with which it is now hitting city after city, even smaller towns.

Hunkering down and waiting for it to pass seems like the only option available, hoping you won't catch it, and getting vaccinated is the other. Of course, double-masking too, and distancing, when you have to go out of the house.

Here's hoping that the nightmare will end soon, and wishing everyone a safe month ahead.

Foodies in a Lockdown

Most of us would have learnt to cook by now, if not learnt how home-cooked food tastes. Thanks to the virus going around the world. Here are a few good eats, made right at home, not necessarily by me. Pics are always better than words, esp. when related to food. Drinks have been kept out, so imagine those..