Homeless by Choice

I was raised in the city of Hyderabad, Telangana. My parents were never rich but they managed to put food on the table, after covering all expenses. All my life I was pursuing a quest to find something meaningful. But I was clueless. This lack of knowledge created fear, this fear created doubts, these doubts … Read more

History Mystery

Mini Menon is an army gal. She was a late kid for her parents. Her dad was already a brigadier in the army when she arrived. (He subsequently retired as a Lt General.) She grew up in Cantonment towns all over the country, before finally landing up in Delhi to pursue her bachelors in history … Read more

From Father to Son

When do your first memories form? Difficult to say. My first memory about myself is leaving the house to attend a playgroup close to our house. Then dad plonking me on the cycle to take me to Big school. The next memory is of dad’s studying alongside us kids for his M.E. course. A career … Read more

From Father to Daughter

The easiest way to not fail – is to not plan. Most of us adopt this approach for the long term. However, in the short term there are always plans: food has to be made, houses have to be cleaned, online lectures have to be attended, hobbies have to be indulged in. All this mundane … Read more

Engineering Guru

My first memory of Prof DK Joshi goes back to a Machine Design class. There were only 5 students in the huge classroom. But that did not deter Sir. What he lost in communication, he made up in enthusiasm. ‘Go back to fundamentals’ was a mantra he tried to reinforce in all of us. I … Read more

Destinations and Weddings

The difference between a marriage and a wedding is not just semantics. You can attend a lot of weddings, but you only end up attending one marriage. (Ok, for some of us 2 -3). Off late, I have been diagnosed with wedding phobia. The first symptom is that you don’t feel good about spending one … Read more

Data Security

Fun fact about Shivangi, a 95 batch IIMC alum: of the 4 members in the family, her mom is the only one who is NOT an IIMC alum. Shivangi runs Arrka. Have always thought that there should have been one more vowel in the name – but it’s a Sanskrit word, and why play around … Read more

Daam ka Kaam

Rajesh had been a quintessential auto design guy for more than a decade. He started with Bajaj Auto in 1990. After finishing his MS from Alaska, he shifted south to Chrysler in Detroit. At Detroit, he joined the Ross School at U Michigan, Ann Arbor, to do his MBA. Post MBA, Rajesh was part of … Read more

Cycling the Silk Road

Siddharth Gadekar talked about his experience in the Silk Road Mountain Race at Kyrgyzstan. (https://www.silkroadmountainrace.cc/) This was Siddharth’s first public talk – and he did a good job. He had done a lot of homework. From doing a dry run on the projector, to collecting the photographs and videos. He also made a nice use of … Read more

Corporate Monk

Over the last three years, thanks to WhatsApp University, have been exposed to the sermons of 3 corporate monks. The most famous one is Gaur Gopal Das of ISKCON, who is my junior from COEP, 95 batch. Another is Swami Mukandananda from my alma mater, IIM Calcutta, and before that IITD. Mukundananda runs his own … Read more