When God Speaks

Wait..This isn't any spiritual/religious stuff. This post is a fan's tribute to my favorite professor God Bole(Now do you get the title of this post..?:)). He has been my newest inspiration in the longlist of amazing people who have enriched my life. His greatest asset as well his signature style, apart from his brilliant clarity of thought, is his temerity built on mastery over the subject, bordering on arrogance, blended with a deceptive simplicity which beguiles his brilliance. Its a treat to watch this contrasting portrayal of intellectual temerity wearing a humble cap through his senile voice. The fragile voice filters out the extraneous effects of his audacious self and makes it so palatable to the ears(I admit , at times, soporific, also).

Its as if arnold schwarzeneger plays the role of a coward person with aplomb, fully aware of his strengths. One often wonders whether his dynamic self is encapsulated in his humility or is it the other way..

Hang on....This article isnt supposed to be psycho analysis of my favorite teacher. Its about his unique method of teaching which makes him a genius.

His teaching runs like the popular zeitgeist movie: Rang De Basanti.

If in case you are wondering how a seemingly soporific lecture would resemble a block buster movie, then read on..

For the uninitiated, Rang De Basanti movie brilliantly portrayed how colonial past juxtaposes with the present times. The director of the movie showcases his genius when the lead protagonists after playing the role of martyrs in a documentary reach the 'epiphany moment' when they realize how the roles they play seem to reflect the bitter truth of circumstances they are forced into.

Similar epiphany occurs during the project presentation when the boring theoretical stuff in the book, written in a monotonous, didactical tone suddenly acquires 'live' dimensions.

For instance, while most of the students were growling during presentation sessions over how can the professor-'manager' can be so vague in his needs, a vacuous statement in the text book on the necessary uncertainty of the needs of the manager suddenly appears so hauntingly real. Several statements in the text book appear real when looked from the prism of the project experience.

His brilliant evaluation techniques by letting us feel the shortcomings of the marketing research techniques to our own judgement makes him a philosopher of marketing research who accidentally teaches the subject too.

Teaching cannot get better than this...!!

I can keep rah-rah ing about various other brilliant facets of his teaching. I shall leave that for another article some time later....

Venky (09-11)