The class I didn’t want to end

Today was one of the best days for most of us. We had the last class of our Services Marketing course and we are all still in a hangover.

I’ve never really admired any teacher or professor in my life. There have obviously been good profs who’ve had an influence on me, but the professor of this course is the best I’ve ever seen. Everyone who has taken the course is reveling for having taken it. Our students are so cynical and demanding that a faculty who handles a course really well might get a ‘good prof’ certification from just about 70 to 80 percent of the batch. But this prof gets straight five stars from almost everyone. ‘I admire him’ kind of threads has started on the newsgroups, and appreciation is pouring in – something I’ve never seen in more than one year of my stay here. That fact that I’m writing about our classes and professors in itself is a new thing to me.

I don’t want to disclose his name here, but I can say that his credentials are amazing. An IIMA passout, he’s currently handling classes in several IIMs and other B-schools, apart from doing consultancy services to hundreds of companies. Some of his projects have gained appreciation from the World Bank.

I’ve personally gained a lot. Not just the academics, but how to do things with a passion and complete devotion. He’s the only prof with him I’ve had an after-class conversation, and that ran into hours. The amount of energy he pumps beats everything else.

The best was during the end of the course when he showed a 30 minutes long amazing slideshow full of pictures and then asked us to tear up a quiz answer paper and let the bits fly while his double big bass speakers were crying out Pink Floyd’s “Another brick in the wall” – “We don’t need no thoughts control” humming in the background. Everything was captured in the cameras around. The fact that he brought his own big speakers and the picture projector for this purpose shows the enthusiasm he pumps in. As I write this, the song is still running in several hostel rooms now.

Anyway, I guess I’ve said enough. Sometimes, you come across truly amazing people who change the view you think and give you a lot of mental energy to do things with passion. This is one, and none of us are going to forget him or this bit of our lives.