Vinod Khanna is No More

I remember (and will continue to remember) Vinod Khanna for many things.

His good looks and easy, effortless acting.

He played bad guys and good guys and grey ones with equal aplomb.

His movies were usually watchable, and sometimes excellent. Mere Apne, Achanak, Amar Akbar Anthony, Inkaar, Kudrat are some that I can remember readily. Lahu ke Do Rang too.

His Imtihan (which had the inspirational song Ruk Jaana nahin tu kahin haar ke) was a remake of To Sir With Love, a film about the beautiful teacher-student relationship, and how a single teacher can transform the attitude of students. Later, a Robin Williams film called Dead Poets' Society would turn out to be on a similar theme (that's also my favourite).

He is also remembered for going away to live with Osho in his Oregon ranch when he was a successful actor. His role in Qurbani with Feroz Khan was also quite memorable.

Local Flavours

Every place in India has its local delights- food being a major one.

And so it is that we have a Chitale's bakarwadi in Pune, a biryani or Double (bread, also called double roti) ka meetha in Hyderabad, and a Tunde kabab in Lucknow (hopefully it's still around).

Other delights I can remember are Tirunelveli halwa, some variation of which was also available at Calicut (and a shop called Bombay Halwa in Hyderabad sold something similar too-colourful, gooey, semi-solid stuff).

Of course, Gujarat has dhoklas, and theplas, and khakras. Gujaratis are foodies, though many are vegetarian, and have a variety of snacks. Kachoris are famous eats in many parts of North India, including Indore which is my current abode.

Aamras and puri and Puranpoli are two Maharastrian ideas, whereas the Avakai mango pickle is an Andhra speciality (I am at least partly an Andhravadu, having grown up there, and have a hot tooth, the opposite of a sweet one. Mirchi bajji is therefore a favourite).

Kolkata has many culinary ideas that involve fish, but its street food, particularly rolls, are quite distinct. Goa has its sausages, and also a dish spelt Xacutti which no one knows (at least I don't) know how to pronounce. Vindaloo with some meat (usually Pork) is also quintessentially Goan.

Belagaum has its kunda, a sweet, and Maddur has a vada named after it called Maddur vada. Pune's Kayani Bakery has a well-known Shrewsbury biscuit, and Karachi bakery in Hyderabad has its fruit biscuit that are now "world-famous" at least in India.

Memories of the US

Memories are now hazy, since I returned from the US in 1991 and have not visited since. But I do remember many places that we went to for sight-seeing. There was this plane somewhere in Charleston that we saw. Another large plane was called The Spruce Goose exhibited in a huge hangar in Los Angeles I remember seeing.

There is of course the famous Newsweek Cover I got made in an amusement park that I still have in my office. Our first New York visit was also awe-inspiring, and we did all the touristy things. The twin towers were still intact, and here is proof.

Will continue this story sometime...

Text Book Nostalgia

I am suddenly nostalgic about text books. Not certain I read all of them, though.

Resnick and Halliday was a Physics text.

BL Theraja wrote several books that became our Bibles for Electrical Engineering.

Tuli's book on Chemistry I still remember the title of.

Pindyck and Rubenfeld was one for Macroeconomics, and Paul Samuelson, for Microeconomics.

Don't remember the book for Advertising, only the fancy ads shown by guest faculty at IIMB.

There was also a thick Operations Research book, that terrified me by its sheer size.

But I was impressed by some non-text books about various management disciplines. Ogilvy on Advertising, Positioning, Maverick, The Goal, for instance.

I did not exactly like them, but some books that I referred to in Marketing Research included those by Green and Tull, Luck and Rubin, and Churchill. They inspired me to write my own.

Spices Make Us

We are Indians, and our country is spice country. They make us what we are. Here are a few common ones.

Ginger-from tea to a curry, it spices everything up. Cough cure too, in the right form.

Garlic adds a different kind of taste to cooking. Pickles get extra zest from it.

Cinnamon (dalchini) is a great-smelling additive to many a dish. Also tea. Saw a plant/tree from whose bark we get this.

Elaichi (cardamom)-Mom used this in every non-veg curry.

Clove- Promise used this in a toothpaste ad- and rightly so. It's grandma's cure for a toothache.

Pepper- History is peppered with wars and colonisation, over this spice. Vasco Da Gama went around in (large) circles, and found it in Kerala.

Cumin and coriander seeds (dhania) are like a staple in any curried concoction. Green coriander and Pudina (mint) also add spice to anything they get into.

Nostaljio

Coined a new word to commemorate the launch of Jio, and also to remind myself that we live and remember. Some pics from my batchmates of IIM Bangalore. First, all (almost) the lovely young ladies of my batch. Second, a few young men preparing for placement Third, my flatmates at Vasant Vihar, Delhi in 1984.

 And this was the launch of WINDOWS at IIMB.

Coimbatour

 Prof Poongodi at KCT, with guess which book? My Marketing Research book that she uses. Another pic with KCT faculty in front of their institute.

I had an occasion to go to Coimbatore on invitation recently. A bustling city, with a lot of entrepreneurs in and around. Tirupur is not too far away. Textiles are a speciality. Lots of educational institutes too. One such is KCT, where I spent some time with students and faculty. Founded by a Gandhian, the institute has an autonomous MBA program, and a couple of technical programs.

Met my friend Dhanapal, who runs a couple of schools in the town. We worked for a few years at Kirloskar Institute in the past, and have remained in touch. Golf is a common interest, and we have gone to Kodaikanal and Munnar to play too-unfortunately this time there wasn't time.

Coimbatore is also a gateway to Ooty and Coonoor, where I had been recently on a vacation trip, and to play Golf. I first went to Ooty on a KSTDC tour bus in the 70s, and remember eating my first strawberry there.

Karnataka always had a tour to Mysore and Ooty, from as far back as I remember, and they were good ones too. Unfortunately, that led to a neglect of many other destinations in the state-some of which I got to see during my stay at Harihar. Jog Falls is one such, Hampi being the other. And Belur-Halebid, which have some of the most exquisite carvings I have seen.