Our final SM lecture

The Management Conclave (or ManCon, as we've been referring to it all this while) went off fine. Like I'd said (and expected), there were a few hitches from time to time. For example, I can never forget the second day of the event, when I was talking to a few friends at the reception desk at the entrance of the institute and a junior came running asking us where he could find a bottle of mineral water.

"Kyun bhai, kya hua ?"

"Arre woh @*#$%*#$#@$ speaker stage par saara paani pi gaya...ab bottled mineral water kahaan se lau ?" Trust me, he had the most frustrated look I've seen on a guy's face. It was as if he were a farmer who'd been tied to a chair while a thief ran away laughing with his chicken.

What was even more fun was when the same guy ran past the reception desk a minute or two later with a bottle of mineral water in his hand. The joy on his face was unbelievable. Why, I almost felt he was like a knight (in shining armor et al.) who was just running back to his beloved saying 'Honey, look what I found in the lion's lair!!'

Anyway, ManCon did get over without any major problems. Even the Press & Publicity bit went off smoothly. We did have our share of nervous running around, what with some of the journalists lazily wandering into the Institute and the guest speakers in a hurry to catch the flight back to their respective cities and their boardrooms; but like I said, there were two very certain things about the event. It was a learning experience, and it MOST DEFINITELY was fun.

Life is now back to normal, with tensions of the upcoming end-term examinations looming large over our heads. Classes are the usual....except of course the Service Marketing course.

We've come to the end of our Service Marketing (SM) course taught by Prof. Ram Kumar. And boy, has he taught us!! There are many who doubted from time to time whether some stuff that he taught was directly related to SM. However, we all agree that he has one unusual method of 'teaching'.

For example, take the manner in which he concluded the course.

He asked all of us to meet outside the Institute gate. Once there, he took us to his car (a Mahindra 4x4 Scorpio) and told us, "Look, there ain't anything about SM that can be taught in a classroom. What you need to do is go out in the world and learn..." Saying that, he took out his laptop, in which the lyrics of "We don't need no education" was prominently displayed. Next, he switched on his car tape which played the track at full volume.

Song over. "Got the message ?? Ok boss...best of luck for everything" And he drove off.

Shouldn't surprise you when I tell you that this is the same guy who rode a Bullet bike INTO the classroom last year as his concluding lecture.