Entrepreneurship and Innovation

 Made in JIS is a competition that enables students in teams to propose innovative ideas that can be turned into commercial products, after planning and mentoring through an incubator. We had a competitive evaluation through our faculty, Debmitra Ghosh, who coordinated the event, and a distinguished panel of judges. Ms. Jaspreet Kaur, Director, JIS group is the chief supporter and patron of this event.

We were at the inauguration of the finale, termed the Celeb edition, recently. Some pics- 

Jury members, VC, and Ms. Jaspreet Kaur, along with us Pro VCs. Above.

One of the jury members, being felicitated. Above.

Meeting Tharoor- The Week Ed Conclave

 Not exactly, but I heard him live. If you want an example of how good English (and good looks) can take you far, he is that example. Came on time too, give or take a few.. rare among his ilk.

Anyway, the occasion was The Week's Education Conclave where students, higher education and so on took centre stage. Pics-

IMT Nagpur Revisited July 2025

 I have a high dose of nostalgia when visiting Nagpur. This time it was a visit to the institute that I really cherish as a workplace. After 2013, I was visiting them for the first time. The roads are now very good, and the drive is a breeze. Met the new director, and my old secretary Archana, in addition to lots of staff and faculty..

With the Director Dr. Rajneesh Chauhan, and external Dr. Mukherjee from MDI, with old colleagues TK Chatterjee, Rajnandan Pattnaik and Subodh Tagare.

At the placement office with Isha and the new team.

Coffee with Colleagues, above, and dinner with two at Tuli International, Sadar.

My old haunt- where we played Golf!

Favourite Songs From the 70s

 Most of my favourite songs are from the period 1969- 79.

Aradhana, from 1969, is why I also included 1969 in the decade. Another film that had good songs was Mahal, also from 1969. Aankhon aankhon ein hum tum ho gaye deewane, Yeh duniyawale poochhenge, and Aaiye aap ka tha hamein intezaar were three good songs.

Phoolon ke rang se, Shokhiyon mein ghola jaaye, from Prem Pujari, and Dil aaj shayar hai, and Chudi nahi ye mera dil hai.. are songs from Dev Anand films that are top of my list, during this period.

Rajesh Khanna had several films with hit songs, Kati Patang among the top ones- Pyar Deewana hota ahi, Ye jo mohabbat hai, and Ye shaam mastaani, were three great songs from that film.

Amar Prem was another with Chingari koi bhadke, Kuchh to log kahenge and Ye kya hua, were three gems. Again with Rajesh Khanna in them.

Aap ki Kasam and Mere Jeevan Sathi had great songs too- Zindagi ke safar mein guzar jaate hain jo makaam from the first, and Chala jaata hoon kisi ki dhun mein, O mere dil ke chain, Deewana leke aaya hai from the second were great.

Hare Rama hare Krishna had Dum Maro Dum, and Sholay had Mehbooba, mehbooba..

Rajesh Roshan entered with a big bang in Julie, and Dil kya kare, and Bhool gaya sab kuchh were great songs from that film. 

Apradh and Dharmatma by Feroz Khan had good songs too. I liked Hamare siwa tumhare aur kitne deewane hain, and Tum Mile pyar se, from Apradh, and Tere chehre mein woh jadu hai from Dharmatma.

Rajnigandha had its captivating title song, and Chitchor had several, sung so well by Yesudas- Gori tera gaon bada pyara and Aaj se pehle, and Tu jo mere sur mein.

Jawani deewani had great songs like Jaane jaan dhoondhta phir raha.. and Ye jawani hai deewani, and Samne ye kaun aaya dil mein hui hulchul.

Namak haram was another film of Rajesh Khanna with great songs like Main shayar badnaam and Nadiya se dariya..

Gol maal had the song Aanewala pal jaanewala hai.

Parichay had a favourite of mine- Musafir hoon yaaro..

Aandhi had 3 great songs- Tere bina zindagi se koi shikwa, Tum aa gaye ho, noor aa gaya hai, and Is mod se jaate hain.

Guest Lectures and Invited Lectures

 These are different from regular teaching that might stretch over 30-45 sessions. Therefore, you can approach it differently.

Create interest by either asking a question or have a good first slide. I tried it with a dummy visiting card created with Canva in one of my invited sessions. I included two or three different photographs, chosen for their impact, to create the card.

I used it at the Calicut Management Association invited talk..

Know your audience, and what makes them tick. Most people don't want a long discourse with you giving gyaan. Instead, share interesting experiences and leave the lesson to be drawn out by the audience. 

Thank the people who invited you. But for them, you wouldn't be there.

Use the board, if there is one. It creates interest.. 

If you can ask questions, even if rhetorical, it breaks the monotony. It can be a poll, where people have to raise hands to agree..

If it's a class of students, give them a small group task. Usually works..

Stick to the time given.

Industries That I am Helping Sustain

 First is social media. Facebook in particular. If not for me and some of my friends, Instagram would have taken over the world, and FB would have shut down.

Scotch labels from Scotland. The malts I consume are 50-60% Scottish, helping their industry thrive. Glenlivet, Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Caol Ila, and occasionally others like Glenmorangie, Lagavulin etc. 

Indian makers of Single Malts like Amrut and Paul John. 

Pan masala makers - rather, the ones who make those that taste like real pan. Also, one masala supari from Satara called Bhave supari.

Golf ball makers, by losing balls regularly, whenever I play Golf. 

The airline industry, by taking unnecessary flights.

The tourism sector, by taking unnecessary vacations. 

The restaurants wherever I live.

Bookstores, likewise.

After Anna Hazare, I think I am the most socially useful guy alive.

Anopheles and AI

 I was meeting Anopheles, my winged friend, after a long time. For some reason, her visits to my house had dwindled. Maybe she had found food closer to her own place. 

Anyway, I said hello, and asked her how she'd been. 

'Well, not bad, I'd say. And you?' she replied.

I said our whole world has been upended by this thing called AI. 

'What's that?' she was curious.

"It's like God," I told her. "It's omnipresent, and omnipotent. "

"What on earth does that mean?" she asked, quizzically, arching her eyebrows (in my imagination).

I said, 'Wherever you go, AI follows. You go to a seminar, it's about AI. The news, ditto. You can't turn a page (or scroll one) without AI hitting you in the face, it seems.'

"But what is it, exactly?" she was more mystified than before.

"That I am not so sure about," I was honest. "But I know it's pervasive. Apparently, we humans are about to replace our natural stupidity with this intelligence, which knows everything and can do anything better than we can."

"Well, it doesn't have a lot of competition, I'm afraid. Look at Donald Trump. Even an average mosquito can beat him. You don't need AI to do that." she said drily.

"Forget Trump. What I am most afraid of is that it'll start writing my blog, and telling me what to reply if you ask me a question. What will happen to my grey cells? Will they go into cold storage?"

"You seem pretty proud of your grey cells. Tell me, what's the solution to hunger, in your world, or mine - the mosquito world, I mean.

"A blood bath, for your world," I joked.

"And yours?" she persisted.

"Importing American corn, under threat from Trump, I suppose. " I replied.

Reflecting on that, she bade goodbye, and promised to come and visit more frequently.