Author Archives: rajeevgupta

 It was sometime in October it struck me that soon it would be that time of the year again. Diwali. In past many years, I would not be at home for this occasion. Not that it would a big pompous celebration. More so after my sister’s wedding and her transplantation into her husband’s home, theContinue reading “Happy Diwali”

Once at a workshop on race issues in the United States, I told an African-American colleague, “These race matters are indeed quite serious, I have one suggestion about it.” “Don’t you have caste system in your country?” she said before I could continue. *** During my usual Sunday morning calls to friends and family inContinue reading “Is it any wonder then that not many attempted to defend India from the writings of Sahaja Patel but Michaela Cross’ story got attacked from left, right and center?”

Morning time is quite a crowded time at subway stations  and while emerging out of station, many people (at times me too) walk up using the left part of the stairs when right one is moving too slow. I saw this Asian guy waiting at the beginning of stairs for the right lane to getContinue reading ““Well this is New York, people take different paths to reach their destination.””

The temperature was 95 degrees Fahrenheit. My feet were almost melting in socks further enclosed by a pair of leather shoes. Walking on 8th street, I noticed the feet of a woman in a sky blue foot wear that was letting every pore on her feet to breathe. I wondered how comfortable this woman mustContinue reading “Are you going to work?”

A famous Bollywood movie called Fashion featured the downfall of a fashion model played by an even more famous actress Priyanka Chopra. The nadir of her career and life is shown when she meets a Black man in a club and discovers later in the morning that she slept with him.She walks out of theContinue reading “What would it take a Zimmerman to see a Martin as one of him?”

In India, there is a broad spectrum of skin color. When I was growing up, I saw children, men and women of colors ranging from very black (which is often offensively referred to as the back of a frying pan in some regions in India), to varying shades of brown (which is objectively called wheatishContinue reading “People of Color”

One of the many reasons I wanted to MBA was to find out what the fuss was about. Well others, more important ones included learning to make more rational decisions and not feeling handicapped when someone threw the words like NPV or marketing mix! To some extent, I did figure out what the fuss wasContinue reading “As I graduate today ..”

A famous consumer food company conducted a taste test in which subjects were asked to identify the taste of a jelly with their eyes closed. In this test, one more sense was eliminated. Smell.  Subjects’ noses were blocked. No one could get the taste right. In the next round, noses were unblocked and almost everyoneContinue reading “Food, the new sex?”

When I was 3 and went to kindergarten, I don’t remember why I studied. When I went to first standard in primary school, I distinctly remember why I studied. To not fail. This continued till I reached standard 6th and without any planning, got rank 1. Well, the boy who used to take that placeContinue reading “Why do we need grades? Or not?”

Diversity in the modern context is often seen as simplistic as having certain number of people at one place from different backgrounds – race, color, culture, gender, sexual orientation. Many work places claim to be diverse because their employee composition represents a reasonable mix of people. Same goes for many organizations around the world. AtContinue reading “Diversity – In Action ?”