Op Sindoor - Pride Without Prejudice

Shershah
Uri The Surgical Strike
Lagaan
Ain't these the titles of Hindi feature films?

Yes.

What about them?

These films make excellent teaching and learning aids.

How?

We let the students watch the film and then select few clips/instances for discussions in the class.

What do you discuss?

The lessons that can be drawn from the story. The correlation with relevant concept or theory being taught otherwise.

How does it help?

It helps in understanding the concepts and how is it useful in real life. It helps in internalisation of the concepts and theories as applicable. It makes the learning more experiential.

Sounds cool.

Add to the above list real life incidents or events in real-time. Such real-life events also help in experiential learning. And if done in real-time (immediately after the event), it generates a lot of debate and excitement in the class.

This story is based on a real-life event, Operation Sindoor. Although it happened in 2025, yet it re-surfaced few weeks ago. While teaching a one-semester core course on Project Management(PM), we chose Op Sindoor to bring out many concepts of PM. Sharing below some of the takeaways from the case discussions.

Was Op Sindoor a Project?

In simple terms, a project is one-off, not repeated, has a start and end, a well defined objective and outcome, which demand resources. The MBA class unanimously said yes it was a Project. See the pictures below of the two cohorts of 50 students each. They look energised after the case discussion, right?

Any reader who thinks otherwise, your views are welcome in the comment field.

Similarly, the discussion on following topics saw active participation from the students:

Who was the Project Manager?

What was the Objective of the Project?

How was it achieved?

How was Project Planning done? What were the options?

Who executed the Project?

Were multiple agencies involved in execution? How were they monitored and controlled?

What was the outcome? How was it measured?

Who were the stakeholders?

How was the communication to the stakeholders managed? Was it effective?

What were the risks? How was risk mitigation done?

Was it just a Military Operation? If not, what else and why?

Sharing another picture of the 'live' case discussion steered by Vaishnavi, one of the students.

Another student Vishwashanthi was present in J&K at the time of Pahalgam attack. She wrote, "In April 2025, I went on a trip to Jammu and Kashmir with my friends to explore its beautiful tourist destinations. We had been enjoying our journey and visiting different places. On 22 April 2025, while we were near the Vaishno Devi Temple in Katra, we heard the heartbreaking news about the Pahalgam attack."

"The news came as a complete shock. I felt scared and anxious because we were also in Jammu and Kashmir at that time. The atmosphere suddenly became tense, and everyone around us was talking about the incident and checking for updates. I immediately called my family to let them know that I was safe.Although we were safe, that moment reminded me how quickly situations can change. It was an experience I will never forget, and my thoughts and prayers are with everyone who was affected by the tragedy."

Thank you Shanthi for sharing your memories.

An opeartion like Sindoor has lessons in many other subjects and areas like, Strategy, Leadership, Decision Making under Uncertainty, Team Work, Goal Setting, Contingency Planning, Resource Mobilisation, Technology Adaptation, Media Management, International Relations etc. But we had restricted our discussions to the lessons in Project Management to keep the story short.

Corporate Lessons

While discussing the above questions, we also brought out the corresponding lessons for the corporate world. The whole exercise appeared very meaningful. The students seem to have internalised the Project Management topics with clarity and ease. Thank you the PGDM Class of 2027 at VVISM Hyderabad for your wholehearted participation.

Question for the Reader

Whether you are an MBA grad, student, working professional in any field, home maker, parent, grandparent, veteran or any other netizen, what was the most significant outcome of Op Sindoor? Mail your response to hbindia@gmail.com or leave a comment. Selected responses with names will be included as Postscript.

Postscript 28th July: None of the readers responded to the above query. However, two of the students nailed it! The most significant outcome of Op Sindoor was not the destruction of the terrorist camps but enhancing of the National Pride. Don't you think so?

End of Postscript.

The Title

Did you like the title of this story? The credit for suggesting the title goes to Padma Ramesh, an accomplished journalist and former Dean of a PG Institution of Media Studies. In her own words:

"I thought of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's novel! (When I saw the word) --a Literary echo.

There is pride in what we achieved with Op Sindoor. The phrase "without prejudice" implies pride that isn't driven by bias or hatred."

Thanks Padma for creating such a befitting title for our story.

Experiential Learning - Some More

Ghumakkad has been a strong proponent of experiential learning. As a child, most of our learning has been experiential. Learning by doing, simple yet effective. But as we go up the 'education' ladder, experiential learning takes a back seat. It is more of lecturing. Sharing below some of my endeavours at experiential learning for my MBA students. You may click the link to browse the corresponding story.

Uri The Surgical Strike - Many lessons in Management from a feature film

Shershah Beyond The Movie - Based on the real-life story of Capt Batra of Kargil fame, the movie brings out many lessons in Leadership, Team Work, Task Orientation etc

Teachers Also Love Outdoors - Real learning happens outside the classroom.

Real-Time Cases for MBA Teaching - How to design and conduct the classes for enhanced experiential learning. Faculties are free to reach me for details.

Thanks for browsing. Do share your experience of making the teaching and learning more experiential.

We firmly believe that knowledge gets multiplied when shared.

Stay connected.

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ Secunderabad/ 18th July 2026/ hbindia@gmail.com 

Postscript:

21 July: Vinay Bhargava, an experienced marketeer wrote; "Indeed military operations are very inspirational as it involves clear aim, astute planning, dedicated research, inputs, execution etc.

In our marketing campaigns to inspire sales team we based many on wars and used terms as pincer movement in strategies. Excellent!"

#learning #teaching #ExperientialLearning #VideoCases #CaseMethod #MBA #PGDM #VVISMHyderabad #OpSindoor #Shershah #UriTheSurgicalStrike #LearningFromMovies #ManagementEducation #RealLife #RealTime #PahalgamAttack #ProjectManagement

Teaching Design Thinking Differently

'Design Thinking- such a drab subject!'

'We know the five phases - EDIPT!' 

'We have seen enough examples on YouTube.'

When your MBA class is so forthright in expressing their views, you have to think differently. Taking a cue from Dr Abdul Kalam's famous quote 'Creativity is seeing the same thing as everybody else, but thinking differently', we converted the remaining sessions of the course 'Innovation In Business' into a Design Thinking Workshop. In a workshop you are supposed to use some 'tools' and 'do'  and 'make' something like in a carpentry workshop. 

We asked the class if they would recommend the college to others? The answer was a chorus 'No'! Do they regret the decision when they joined the college? This time another chorus 'Yes'! When asked why, many reasons came up. That ignited Ghumakkad's mind to do a 'live' workshop on issues plaguing the students' minds. For a class of 70 students, we identified 24 'live' issues being faced by the students. Teams of three each were free to choose any one issue. The process was repeated for both the sections of 70 students each. The die was cast. Few of the issues selected by the students are listed below. Am sure students at other colleges would not feel much differently.

• Improving student quality
• Developing college pride & sense of belonging
• Branding of the College
• Entrepreneurial Support
• Attendance through biometrics

Each team was given 48 hours to complete the first step of Design Thinking 'Empathise'. It involved interacting with the people concerned for the issue at hand. It could be other students, faculty, staff or management of the college. It could also be other colleges in the same geography. By actually empathising with the people concerned, the students learnt the nuances of Step-1 of design thinking. Whether it was mere observations or an interview or a focussed group discussion or collection of facts and figures, the students gained 'insights' of the issue at hand. These insights were then utilised for further steps of Design Thinking.

Remaining steps namely Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test were completed by each team after two days in the class itself. Breakout areas gave freedom for brainstorming. The teams had two hours to deliberate the issue and apply the design thinking to come up with suggested solution. The teams were also given a chart paper and coloured markers to summarise their design thinking effort and present it to the class for greater learning. The posters were thereafter displayed in the college foyer for wider viewership by other students, faculty, staff and management of the college. The whole event thus generated lot of enthusiasm and energy by the students in experiential learning mode. Sharing few pictures of the event below.

Through the workshop, the students could address many real-life issues like how to select the internship company? Big vs small? Branded company vs a startup? And so on.

The whole design thinking workshop was conceived on the go. The idea came because of students' disenchantment with the college (a normal reaction towards the end of the two-year-PGDM-program). Germinated in the class, a 'drab' subject was successfully transformed into an invigorating and participative workshop. It led to experiential learning. See the video clip below of the poster designing in progress.

For teachers like Ghumakkad, there is never a dull moment. With 140 inquisitive and restive minds around, it is a pleasant challenge to devise and conduct such 'live' learning events. Special thanks to all the students who participated, both the class reps and Dr V Jayashree for the wholehearted support.

Sharing below the links to some of our other 'live' teaching and learning events which had also ensured experiential learning at PG level:

Uri the Movie- Management Lessons

Shershaah Beyond The Movie

Real Life to Real Time Cases

Hope you enjoyed the teaching and learning of Design Thinking with Ghumakkad. Do share your experiences of other modes of experiential learning.

Thanks for browsing.

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with the PGDM Class of 2024@VVISM Hyderabad/ 30th March 2024

#learning #experiential #PGDM #MBA #highereducation #nep2020 #designthinking #workshopmode #reallifeissues #insights #innovationinbusiness #creativity #learningbydoing #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh

A Squirrel Comes Home

Ever seen a baby squirrel?

Ever adopted one?

How tiny is it?

What to feed?

Will it bite?

We have a real life story to answer all these questions!

Ghumakkad has great pleasure in bringing you another guest story about 'Gillu' the baby squirrel. 

Our guest writer is Dr Rohini Tiwari from Coimbatore India.

Rohini Tiwari

Rohini is a true blue Nature lover, with an ear for bird songs and compassion for adopting abandoned creatures- much to the chagrin of her family. As a child she wanted to open a Zoo😄. A Food Technologist and Nutritionist by profession, Rohini is a music lover and a culinarian. When not talking to her pets, she conducts Stress Management seminars/webinars. She holds a PhD in stress and anxiety management with diet intervention. 

Over to Rohini for Gillu's story in her own words. Gillu ki kahani Rohini ki zubani गिल्लू  की कहानी रोहिनी की ज़ुबानी 

__________________ 

Little Gillu arrived in our lives about two weeks back, when Radha, our house help mentioned that it had fallen off it's nest in a mango tree in her house. My daughter, Tanvi and I begged her to bring it over.

Wary of us and especially our dog Toffee at first, but Gillu settled in pretty quickly. 

He was given a nest of sorts made from a kitchen mitten hung in a linen basket.

Gillu's mit nest. You can see how much tinier it is in these pictures.  He had to have his "safe place" after all.

He loves to play hide and seek. See the video.

It loves to have milk in the morning and has its own special dropper for feeding.

Gillu has brought so much love and joy in our lives that it can't be expressed in words. There is such kindness and tenderness that I see in my daughter's eyes when she pets or handles Gillu.

Like a typical baby, Gillu loves to play hide and seek behind pillows, curtains and cushions. See a short clip below.

Watching the world below from its perch on the curtains tops....

Gillu's favourite stance... Hanging upside down...

Gnawing at bits of branches with bark on them.

Squirrels like to chew on wood and bark because their front teeth are constantly growing. This helps to file their teeth down.

Gillu's favourite haunt... The window net.

I have to mention how well Toffee (our dog) took to Gillu. She literally pines for it and whines longingly whenever she sees it. Gillu however, true to its instincts doesn't let Toffee anywhere close to it. Scrambles up to a safe place as soon as Toffee appears in its vicinity.

We keep introducing it to the local flora and flowers. But when you don't give it wood to gnaw... 🤭🤦🏻‍♀️

As the baby grows, we are giving it a taste of grass and its seeds which it relishes. See the video below.

Like all of us Gillu also likes to be cuddled and tickled. See how it is enjoying the gentle tickle.

I keep it outside on the terrace for sometime (while still in the basket), to expose it to the outside sights, sounds and smells to acclimatise it.

We need to respect every lifeform around us. They bring unfathomable joy in our lives and teach us love and kindness. Am hoping to release Gillu into its natural environment once it's a bit older.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share our joy.

_______________ 

We once again thank Rohini for sharing the story. All the pictures and videos are courtesy her and duly acknowledged.

Hope you enjoyed being with Gillu the baby squirrel specially during the boring lockdown.

We wish Gillu a safe return to its natural environment.

We had done another story on a squirrel frolicking in a park in Jaipur Rajasthan. You may click the link below to browse the story:

Powder Puff- Squirrel's Favourite

We are very happy to collaborate with guest writers. Here are some of the guest stories from our blog in recent past:

Krishna The Male Showstopper Story of a Tiger by Koushik Gopinath

Winning the Hearts of People Story of village development by the Army in Arunachal Pradesh by Abhishek Singh

Fallen but not Forgotten A Tribute to WW-I Soldiers by Trixie Asirvatham

Women Hiking in Water Story of four women who nearly drowned hiking in water by Akanksha Bhargava

Feel free to contribute your pictures and stories. Due credit will be given as in the above stories.

Thanks for browsing

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Rohini Tiwari/ 13th June 2020

#squirrel #animals #pets #adoption #compassion #loveforanimals #carelikebabies #babysquirrel #powerofobservation #nature #environment #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #travelblogs #bloggers

Management Lessons in a Forest

Management lessons from a forest visit?
Sounds weird.
Not until you read this story and see the pictures.

Ghumakkad with his PGDM students, went on a Nature Walk in Telangana State Forest Academy Hyderabad. The Academy run by the Forest Department has a program called CAFE- Children And Forest Education. Under this program, the students are taken on a 4-km Nature Trail. The trail goes through a man-made forest which is not very old. The terrain consisting of rocks and boulders has not been disturbed. It is an easy hike fit for all age groups. That is why the Academy gets regular group of students from schools and colleges alike.
As Syeda, one of our students wrote "It was like a bit close to the heavenly Nature, the sound of  the birds, the fresh breeze and pure air."

After uploading the pictures on my laptop, I was wondering whether there were any lessons from the hike? Apart from sensitising the students to Nature, Environment Conservation, Forestation and Awareness about Flora and Fauna- was there anything else? The answer came through the pictures. Am sharing some of the pictures in this story. Few pictures of the flora have been reserved for upcoming KBG (Kaun Banega Ghumakkad) Contests.

Enjoy the pictures and do let us know if you have something to add to the learnings.

Get a feel of the excitement of the students after climbing the rock face in this short 30 seconds video.

Picture story continues.

Vasudhaiv Kutukbakam वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम a Sanskrit phrase, means the whole world is one family! Peaceful coexistence at its best!

We all took back memories as well as learnings from the forest visit. Thank you Dr Dharma Chandra of TS Forest Academy.
With a large group I could not 'shoot' the birds although I could discern the calls in distance. Pictures of birds of the Academy, some other time.

Credit for plant names and research goes to Dr Chitra Shanker. Despite being on an assignment in Australia, she beat the time zones with prompt responses. Thanks again Dr Chitra.

We end with RW Emerson's famous quote on Nature superimposed on a picture of Neem flowers. PQ- the picturesque quote for you!

Thanks readers for your patient browsing. Stay connected.

    -   Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 15th Sept 2019
#forestacademy #forest #floraandfauna #nature #environment #plants #trees #managementlessons #learningfromnature #powerofobservation #firstmoveradvantage #teamwork #leadership #conservation #wildflowers #productpackaging #reusability #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #vvism1 #vishwavishwani #vvpgdm