My Grandparents

Talking about storytelling, the other day, I was reminded of my grandparents. Both were good storytellers- my maternal grandparents. My grandmom told us many stories, among which were classics like The Count of Monte Cristo- years later, I visited Chateau D' If, near Marseilles, where the story is set. My grandfather we heard less often but he had a favourite animal story about a rabbit who poses as a fierce animal from inside a cave, and scares a lion away!

 My grandmother (Radha Oak), above.

 My grandfather (Madhav Ramchandra Oak), above and left top, in the photo below. He was a professor of Philosophy, and worked at Jaipur and Amalner (where Mr. Premji's family had started).

My grandmother was also highly creative, and came up with a poem/verse to celebrate many family events- such as the birth of a child (she had many kids, and grandkids), or a marriage. She also published a collection of these, in small, multiple volumes titled The Inner Voice (Antariche Bol, in Marathi).

Interiors

I do up my (office, home) interiors with photographs, and sometimes, with mementos. As good as any, because they stir up memories..that sometimes stretch back to three decades, like that pic of mine on the cover of Newsweek :)

 Japan and Bali.

 Vietnamese and Sri Lankan.

 Japan, Sri Lanka, Bali.

Goa (above), and Cambodia, Greece, Bali (below)

Crowdsourcing in Digital Marketing

Some class exercises to understand how crowdsourcing might happen. Experiential Learning!

T Shirt Designs

We were discussing the crowdsourcing strategy followed by a company, Threadless, in class. I went back and found a couple of designs of t-shirts from my wardrobe. Two were from a wine company, Sula, promoting wine.

The other was from The Week, a periodical published from Kerala. The Good News on the front is accompanied by Bad News for the competition on the back. It was part of a promotion they did at IIMK.

 These were not crowdsourced, by the way, but companies could do that too.

Kids and Grandfathers

I really feel like a proud grandpa- no, my daughters are not the reason, but my former students who look young enough to be my grandkids. I feel young in their company too, so proud AND young, I guess. Had a great outing with some of these kids, appropriately enough, at Grandmama's Cafe recently.  Some pics-

 Multiple reasons were found for the celebrations- Tosha's and Abha's Dads in the news, Sirisha's enagagement were three. Of course, the fourth was simply the joy of meeting each other- a joy like no other!

Oh, we also celebrated my advanced birthday- I mean birthday in advance. That expression!! Sirisha, you are a photographer's delight :)

Students at Work- Digital Marketing

In the Digital Marketing course, 2019 edition, students at work.. on a class assignment.

Looking Back at 2019

I know it's not December 31st, but I am looking back at the action-packed eight and a half months that have passed by. I started in January by reading a new author- Kazuo Ishiguro. Never Let Me Go was the book-poignant, about human-like creatures grown for a purpose, and how they turn even more human-like. Unexpectedly, the delayed fourth edition of my Marketing Research text came out, and I was able to release it at our own conference. Lots of students from IIM Indore a couple of years ago contributed the case studies, so it was a proud moment. There was a Delhi conference at IMT too, and I managed to meet Padmapriya and her hubby, after long!

Started a new photography competition on fb in addition to usual awards and quizzes..discovering good photographers is a byproduct.

As usual, I met a lot of past students, some who visited Indore (like Anam and Harshad), and many more outside Indore on my travels to Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and Ahmedabad (that was for a book release by a friend at MICA). Pune too, where I met Neha Adiga. Also gatecrashed (no, I was invited) into an alum meet of IMT Nagpur in Mumbai.

Met Sharmistha Singh, Shweta Agarwal and Sunil Kataria of KIAMS after about 16 years- and Anushka Mishra for the first time (we'd met on fb first). Also met Bharat of IFIM and Shatakshi of IIMI in Bangalore. In May, I went to Reva University for a talk on Smart Cities and ran into Shinu Abhi, a former colleague. Met SP Kumar and Manoharan, also past colleagues at PES. In Mumbai, visited Bhagyalakshmi and family. Met Shraddha Nigdikar too.

My friends from MBA too. I met Dash in Kolkata, and a big gang at Venky's boy's wedding. Stayed at the Presidency Golf Club too, a first. Also went for a conference at Goa, but missed out on meeting Prashant who lives there as he was busy. Harish and Snail at Delhi and Hyderabad I did meet.

IIT Guwahati was a revelation. It looks like a European town, with lakes on campus. Had gone to Belgaum's Gogte Institute on invitation, and had a fabulous drive through the Chorla Ghat, with the rains and clouds for company. Saw a few good films too, and read a few more books-among them old favourites by A.A. Fair and Rex Stout.

Also visited Bali for a conference, and went rafting on a river. Not bad for eight months!