Overcommunicating May be Good

 Not when politicians do it, perhaps, when you are at the receiving end, but in most other situations, I would say. Good because people don't necessarily know as much about your situation as you think. To me, I am the greatest thing that happened to the planet (!), but to others, I may be just a speck of dust. I am exaggerating, to make a point.

On social media, where scrolling is the norm, and attention spans are even less than in a classroom (contradictory as it may sound), explaining a post/picture is probably better than a cryptic caption that does not say much, and assumes that people know the context of what you are talking about- could be a new job, a change of place you live in, a new relationship, or multiple other things. 

So here is some (unsolicited) advice- communicate, communicate, communicate. You may find the results are pleasant when you do. 

Creating Memories

 Living in the present is fine, but I think life is about creating memories-preferably good ones. So it's not surprising whether imprinted on a photograph or just on the mind, I am full of memories- mostly good ones. It's a different matter that I forget my passwords, but important people and time spent with them, I do remember. 

That process has started- compiling some memories of my two years at NMIMS Bangalore, with a lot of wonderful people. 

Above, Rakshita- we first met online during her induction. Later, in person.

Sreejani in a virtual performance at an event, during the pandemic

Manuja, my first Emcee at the virtual convocation we pioneered at NMIMS.

Felicitations.. staff and students, with Mr. Shenoy of MTR Foods.

PR Committee again, just after I had joined.

Below, a faculty dev. program I did.

The diverse programs..and my office.

Gayathri, a friend of Preei Ravikiran, andd a student (below) learn Golf.

Sandeep Rao (ex-PES, student) is now a prof in Dublin. Neelima Watve brought him to visit.

Prerona is a part-time Golfer too!

Diti Goswami sings a Bong song.

Shatakshi the guest faculty

Khushboo, Shaukat, Tanaya, Kavya, Sangram Wadkar from placements

Lily, Devi, Alisha, Santosha..

Prerona sings an Assamese song at a gathering we had.

Common Purpose, with Dundee and Brunel University students.

Shloka, Akshita Ghildiyal (her brother was also a student earlier), Jay from the P.R. Committee.

The Colony Strikes Back at the Empire

 The circle is complete.. India overtakes UK to become the world's 5th largest economy.

They took away our spices and textiles, so we invented software, which cannot be removed.

They gave us a cold shoulder, so we warmed up their Summers to 40 degrees centigrade.

They were too serious, so we let them elect a buffoon to rule over themselves.

They left us with an archaic school education system, so we got ourselves Edtech.

They boasted about their (neighbour's) Scotch, so we made Amrut.

They are still learning how to cook..where those spices went is an unsolved mystery.

Awards to Best Rulers

 A junta ruling over the janata..award goes to Myanmar (formerly Burma)

Most meaningless wars award- shared by Putin/ many American Presidents/Generals.

Hit-wicket and Sixer which threw him out of power, Imran Khan.

Apne pairon pe kulhadi award- former Sri Lankan rulers for all the chaos.

Best hair-style award- Boris Johnson, closely followed by Trump.

Clap for.. the Tali-ban too.

Cooking is Fun

 Note I said cooking, not cleaning up.. that is not as much fun. But cooking gives you scope to experiment, and be creative. Of course, being spoilt by having Mom and Maids do most cooking, I never properly learnt it until I went to live abroad. Learnt by watching other Indian students and hearing from people- those were pre-Youtube days.

Some of my creations

Now I can fend for myself. Had learnt buying vegetables from my trips with Dad to the Andhra markets in childhood. So I can get veggies, can cook a decent rice, dal and chicken/veg meal. Also, eggs of two or three kinds. Dosa if I have the batter. Poha, and a couple of things more.

In short, I can survive. With Youtube, it should be far simpler.

Identity and Politics and Media

 Any media report without the identity of the main players you heard recently? On TV, I don't think so. The newsmaker is always identified by caste, community, religion, or whether his/her father was a rickshaw-puller, and so on. 

This actually perpetuates politics of identity. Why not just mention the facts of the case? And then we blame politicians for using all of these as vote banks. Why wouldn't they, because the media- you and me- perpetuate it all the time.

This is not restricted to India- it's always Democrats versus Republicans in the news reported by American media.

If it is a riot or fight between communities, maybe that's relevant to the news item, but mostly, it is not. Being conscious of this is the first step towards treating all human beings as one.

Good Photography

 For people pics, one trick that invariably gets a good photograph, is you take the camera close enough for a close-up. Or zoom it if you are some distance away. Proof from recent encounters.. it always makes the subject look beautiful/handsome as the case may be. You can also do this with editing the pic after taking a pic, by cutting out the non-essentials..

Group of students, NMIMS Bangalore. On a golfing day.

Pratima, above, and Anusha, below.

Nargundkars are naturally handsome, but still, a closeup helps.. Satish Nargundkar with niece, Anjali.