Terry Pratchett

 My introduction to this author happened recently, thanks to a present from Nishka, a former student and a writer herself. The book is called Nation, and it has a lot of wit and sarcasm, about Colonial Powers (especially European-the author is British). This story is a satirical take on a small island that gets wiped out by a Wave, but for one Man-Boy. Because he'd gone elsewhere to become a Man when the Wave hit.. 

A couple of survivors from other islands/boats come in, and their story of survival is the rest of it. There's a girl from the Trousermen initially, who helps him explore the scientific riches stored in The Grandfathers' cave, kept hidden from commoners. It proves that they had knowledge of astronomy and a lot more before the rest of the world. Her father accidentally becomes a King of his country, making her Princess.

Almost everything has a parallel in human history, except it's upside down. The islanders are far ahead, and others, backward. But this is hidden behind myths that the islanders have created, sometimes to preserve history, and to make it palatable. 

Interesting, and recommended if you like understated humour.

Masala Films

 Masala adds zest, if used well and in right proportions, to food-and to films. Some people in the 60s-70s who made good masala films, and their work that I enjoyed. In Hindi films, music is also a big part of the masala..

B.R. Chopra- Humraaz, Gumraah, 

Yash Chopra- Kabhi Kabhi, Trishul

Don- Chandra Barot.

Teesri Manzil, Jewel Thief, Johny Mera Naam, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, ..Vijay Anand, and Dev Anand.

Prakash Mehra- Zanjeer, Muqaddar ka Sikandar.

Khel Khel Mein, and a couple of other Rishi-Neetu romcoms..

Manmohan Desai- Roti, Amar Akbar Anthony.

Nasir Husain- Yaadon ki Baraat and Hum Kisise Kam Nahin. 

Brahmachari, Jungle Mein Mangal, Zakhmee, Paheli (Rajshri film, with Namita Chandra), Dushman, 

Disaster films were a thing in Hollywood- Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, ..

Also Star Wars and Close Encounters of a Third Kind.. Spielberg.

The Omen..a sober horror film.

Comedies by Mel Brooks and Woody Allen- different as chalk and cheese.

Change the Only Constant

Maths was not my favourite subject, though I did well enough in it, academically. All those sub-Maths subjects also did not make any holistic sense to me, though they must have had an over-arching meaning..it was never explained to us.

Anyway, the equations always had a constant. No change, even if you changed the equations.. the constant remained in most. So the statement that change is the only constant is wrong, in my view. It should be- Change (your equation) howmuchever you will, the constant will remain.

Anyway, the biggest change in the last five months has been the Corona pandemic, and the richest people in the world have remained the same, more or less. The airline barons always lived on the edge financially, and they just went a little more red - in the face and on their balance sheets, if there is any such thing-more imbalanced or unbalanced than ever, I assume. 

The makers of food and liquor continue their brisk business, particularly if they also do takeaway. The media and politicians the world over continue to blabber, show how elections (or similar agendas) matter more than lives or anything else and generally make fools of themselves..so no change there.

Corporates are at a loss for words..or maybe are just at a loss, period. Barring those that make biscuits..my consumption alone would have made Britannia millions! Work From Home is the norm, so the laptop makers are smiling..except that they can't get parts from China. There, the Supreme Leader never smiles, because it's a sign of weakness..no change there!

WHO suddenly became very prominent, and we found who its Chief was..small mercies.

Businesses That Do Well

 If you had to start a new business, these are pointers- I myself am into consulting, in case you are curious.

Do something that will let people

-gossip through ridiculous forwards - WhatsApp

-show off- Instagram, Facebook, etc.

-not do what they should be.. cleaning, cooking, going out.. all delivery businesses, in short.

-be couch potatoes- Netflix, Amazon Prime and the rest.. 

-not sure if physical dating is still required to get into relationships/marriage etc., so will add online dating and matrimony sites too.

What else? That covers most of it, I think.. anything that promotes laziness, in short.

If

 The word 'if' is magical. It lends itself to many unknown continuations, many possible endings. 

It's the beginning of imagination, in a way. And we all imagine the world, beginning with if..

If only, my last name was Ambani, or Biyani. I had a student, whose last name was Bihani, by the way..a narrow miss. Right now, Mallya is not a cool name to have, though it was, once.. in spite of the performance of his IPL team.

While growing up, we thought all Anglo-Indian names were cool. No idea why..now, a Nadkarni or Kulkarni looks cool to me. If only we had more sense then,..

If man had been vegetarian, would the Corona crisis have struck? Maybe not, but the plague could still have..rats spread it, I think..and rats and cockroaches are almost indestructible. So there's no escaping pandemics.. and wars are always a good substitute.

In my 60 years on the planet, there were many times I thought of the word if and sentences that started with that word, but now, I am beginning to believe that I really did not need the Ifs. I am quite happy with the way life turned out so far, and the lovely times I have had- even in the current lockdown, because of socialising virtually.

Remembering Good Times

 There were lots of them at Indore. Professionally, I got to teach some nice people (though I wish the classes could have been smaller). Some students I have met after they finished too, and remembered our good times. Sapna, Anam, Bhuvneet, Shatakshi, Harshad, Tamros, Ruminder, Arshia, are a few names that readily come to mind. 

I started with teaching Advertising, but moved on to Digital Marketing along with that staple, Marketing Research. Also added Tourism and Retailing for Ph.D. students. And co-taught a Seminar on Thought Leadership with Shweta Kushal, and one on Data Analysis for one-year EPGP. Last time around, also taught a Capstone module on Marketing. Interesting mix. Had many academic associates along the way, all very helpful. Saumya Sharma always remained in touch, even after going to work in M.R. companies.

Ph.D. students also I had many, and continue to be on the committees of a few. Co-wrote a case with Sanket. Also co-wrote a few papers with Srinivas Raghavan and Shweta Jha, and presented many more at conferences. Worked with students (Aradhya, Ayushi, Satchi, Juhi,..) of the 5-year IPM as well, on a few papers in independent study courses. Also came to meet a few talented IPMers like Avik, Sanjana Rao, Jasmine, Shrunga, Philip, during their play directed by Shweta. (My Kaur competence got a boost with Ruminder, Barleen, Harshdeep and Jasmine helping me build it). Later, Shreya too, who starred in The Merchant of Venice. And Prachi.

In my MDP Chairmanship, it was Pradeep Kerketta, Bhupendra initially, and Manas and Hemendra, along with Neha who worked hard behind the scenes. And the same during my tenure as a Dean, where the Director's office staff (Santhi in particular) and our secretaries (Abhishek, Arun) worked really hard to help the Deans. Prof. Ghosh was a great support, and so was Prof. Rishikesha Krishnan. Also the various program office staff (PGP and FPM in particular), some of whom also came to admision interviews at different cities with us.

There was a big conference by our area we did in 2017 and 2019, where the energy of Abhishek and Veenus (and Rajhans in edition 2) which saw us make it really international. I also visited a few in Bali, Beppu (Japan), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), and Hanoi (Vietnam) and Bangkok, and learnt a few things from interacting with global audiences.  

Not surprisingly, the marketing area faculty had a few parties, from the time Bhagyalakshmi was a part of IIMI, and a couple at Mashal after that. Will miss all that. Also enjoyed a couple of impromptu ones where we did a Singathon for IPM students with Pawan Singh, me, Shweta, Venkat etc.

Tried teaching Golf to some of my colleagues and one alum, Akash Gupta, on our cricket ground-some MDP participants too. Our admission yatras across India gave us a chance to catch up with alumni of Indore and other schools we'd been a part of. Teaching at the Mumbai campus, ditto.

The 4th edition of my Marketing Research text came out in 2019, and also a co-edited book of cases on Indian Digital Marketing cases that I am proud of. This also contains an award winning case (live) by a group of students. As usual, student-authored cases formed a part of my M.R. book too.

 

Moving On

 There are moments in life when one takes a call and moves jobs. I have had a few occasions to do so, sometimes across countries, but mostly within India. This is yet another such moment. After about seven years at IIM Indore, I have decided to pursue an exciting and different role, donning the administrative hat once more, and have chosen to get Bangalored once again. Having spent a few years there earlier (PES and IFIM were the most recent reasons), 2005-2009, I am not new to the city. But now, I have many more friends there who are alumni from either IMT or IIM Indore (my last two employers)- Anshita and Sreeram and Aashish and Ishita and Neha and Shatakshi, are you listening? And of course, a lot of buddies from my own MBA days at IIMB and colleagues from my earlier workplaces. So it should be interesting at NMIMS.

Every job I had, I grew as a person. Indore was no different. I had a lot of FPM (Ph.D.) classes here (just completed an online course with them), and a lot of Executive program students in Indore and Mumbai campuses, in addition to MBA students. I also co-taught a course in the IPM program, apart from working with youngsters on project courses. They have all taught me something I did not know. I am grateful for this opportunity. I joined late in 2013, and have worked with 3 directors, and several staff who were a great support. Will name a few- Manas, Pradeep, Hemendra, Bhupendra and Santhi, Radhakrishnan, and Arunendra while I was Dean. My thanks to all. Will continue with some more names another time.