Chat Masala - My Youtube Channel

 So far, we have published 3 episodes. If you want to watch them, the links are

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNwMxUqIW9M for the Happiness episode

https://youtu.be/x4drlX8nQh8  the second is about my favourite heroes from films

https://youtu.be/1Ey5BlUQI7k the first, is about why I like Hindi films.

Actors and Roles

 Some actors made some roles/characters they played famous. Just like some professors- Kotler, Parasuraman, CK Prahalad- made the universities they worked in famous.

Good to recall a few-

Sean Connery, Roger Moore- James Bond

Peter Sellers- The Pink Panther's Inspector Clouseau.

Charlie Chaplin- Hitler, in The Great Dictator. A tramp, common man in many films. 

Amol Palekar- Man next door, in Rajnigandha, Chitchor and Chhoti si Baat

Amjad Khan- Gabbar Singh in Sholay

Rekha- Loveable rebel in Khoobsurat.

Rajesh Khanna- a positive thinking cancer patient in Anand

Rishi Kapoor- a young romantic, often paired with Neetu Singh

Sanjeev Kumar- Khilona, a 'mad' person

Amitabh Bachchan- Angry Young Man

Mithun Chakraborty- Disco Dancer

Dev Anand- the romantic, in many films

Helen- Club dancer, in multiple films

Julie Delpy- Before Sunrise, first of a trilogy - of two people meeting in a train, spending a night talking..

Netflix, Good and Bad

 Good

Monk- mainly, for its main actor.

Graveyard, in Turkish. A decent crime detection drama. Acting and emotions are well done.

Anna, the Detective. Russian series, with a beautiful main character. 19th Century, with period atmosphere, costumes. Still watching it..

Bad/ So so

Many American series seem forced, and stereotyped. Forget their names.

Saw the trending one, Adolescence. Only liked episode 3 with the psychoanalyst. Rest was either predictable or a drag.. particularly the last one. Fast forwarded some parts.

Rants on Social Media

 There are 4 major types of rants.. keeping it simple.

Personal rants- about being wronged, sidelined, not promoted, or similar

Rants Against a System- What is wrong with it, and why people (except the ranter) are ignoring it.

Rants against Specific People- Bosses are usually the target, but it could be a celebrity cricketer, selectors etc., or friends who ditched you.

Rants for no particular reason.. to let off some steam, perhaps..

 All these are interesting, some more than others.

Benefits of Blogging

 You never know what it might lead to. Many years ago, I reviewed a book I had read, and also sent the link to the author, from her mail ID on the book cover. That led to a friendship with her and her husband, who also wrote a book on a different subject. I met them a couple of times, and she guest lectured at IMT Nagpur and Ghaziabad where I was. That was Devapriya Roy, author of many books, starting with The Vague Woman's Handbook, that I had reviewed.

Yesterday, I got a pleasant surprise from another author, Priyanka Gupta, who wrote.. I am "a Computer Science graduate from IIT Delhi turned itinerant writer, and my 1st book, a travel memoir, Journeys Beyond and Within... has just been released." 

She also offered to send me a copy, so I can review it on my blog, which she is a reader of.. a pleasant double surprise. So, as I said, you never know.. 

Student Literature From Student Days at IIMB

 

Of Sirs, With Love

This piece was written to commemorate a guest lecture in a visiting faculty’s class. The visiting faculty was Prof. Kalyan Das. The style is based on a popular column in a mag called Blitz, then edited by Russi Karanjia.

The SLAVE who’s a clinical psychologist gave a gueshtu lecture yesterday on ‘Managing Change’, instead of the SLAVE who is WELFARE. . Samajh gaye na?

A large part of his opening was punctuated by shrieks and creaks of a tortured door- opened by the late Lateefs (and Lateefas) at regular intervals. The speaker paused at the twentieth interruption while saying “For instance, how do you sell home computers?”  (CRE…AK)

Looking at the door with trepidation, he continued, “We’ll see how….when the door is closed.”

He exhibited brilliant wit while narrating this one about how children relate to SCHEMAS- the images of things they see.

A child which sees a dog for the first time might say to its father, “Daddy, dog!” and point to it.

The pleased father, feeling proud of his child, may respond, “Shabhash beti. You are all set for the IIM already.”

Such was the KINSHIP effect that Jockey (a classmate) asked 3-minute-each questions full of words and containing some sentences. What JUNTA now wonders is- Who is next in the line of the illustrious SLAVE dynasty? K.C. SLAVE (the sweet shop) or our own SLAVE-H (Dash, another classmate) who is a LINE ?

-In collaboration with Rajan of India aka ROI.

Time for a New Adventure

 I last lived in the East in 1991-92, with mixed results. Had some dreams, and some went unanswered. But that was my initiation into Indian academia, which was quite different from the American academia then.

Since then, many experiences across India have shaped my worldview. Lucknow, Kozhikode (Calicut), Indore, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Harihar, Bangalore were some places I lived in, and Delhi, briefly. Met so many nice people along the way-staff, students and colleagues. Yes, bosses too, including directors and promoters. Some had lots of traffic, and some had little!

Now it's time for a new adventure. With new challenges, perhaps. I am going in as one of two Pro Vice Chancellors to JIS University Kolkata, soon. Part of a larger group of organisations and institutes. Looking forward to it!