Theory of Happy New Year – Cracked

(The prose below is an imaginative piece of work giving a glimpse of the regular lecture sessions of XISS, and dedicated to the nurturing relation shared between Teachers and Students of the institute)

‘Which lecture do we have now?’ Asked Surbhi, noisily shutting her Statistics notebook, ANOVA was seriously a skewed concept.

‘Forget lectures, what is the plan for New Year, How are we celebrating it?’ Said Shashank from the second seat enthusiastically.

‘I fail to understand, why is there such a fuss about New Year? It is a mere change of date’ Exclaimed Aakriti, ‘We have HRM Surbhi, and Prof. …’

‘What do you mean by fuss, its new year..’ Interjected Siddharth annoyed.

‘Yes Yes New year!! And if you have forgotten Placement Season are on and..”

‘Don’t you mix placements and new year, anyhow you don’t find any company good enough for you – Topper’, Siddharth interrupted her teasingly,

‘What do you mean? Job and New Year, I do not find…’

Before the conversation could convert into a heated argument, the stakes of which were quite high, Prof. Hyatt entered our class, and there was suddenly a pin-drop silence, but not before he got the flavour of the conversation. Both Aakriti and Siddharth hurriedly took back their seats, which they had abandoned preparing for the battle. Prof. Hyatt was one of the strictest Professors in XISS.

He entered the room with the same flair which reminded students of ‘no non-sense protocol’, but unlike daily, instead of distributing the case-study, he folded his hands and called a name ‘Aakriti’, at that moment her face was to look at, even Siddharth felt worried for her, she stood up and whispered in a voice that didn’t exist ‘Yes Sir’.

‘Could you complete what you were saying about New Year?’ Professor enquired in most comforting tone that immediately relaxed all of us. That was the connection with our Professors, they had the perfect mix of friendliness and the magic required for teaching, we understood each other well. Aakriti needed no explanation that discussion was up for chatter, she smiled and replied:

‘Professor I fail to understand, this Theory of Happy New Year? It is a mere change of date, the night and day remain the same, work remains the same, and it is celebrated all over the world as the biggest Change, why is it even required?’

Professor smiled most serenely and signalled Aakriti to sit down, the class got curious and excited. After looking at the most patient faces and assuring we all were interested, he started what was to turn into one of the most important lesson in our Management course:

 “ ‘The Theory of New Year’, as Aakriti has put is one of the most important theories the world needs to learn and specially all of you who deem to be successful managers. ‘Why is it required?’ if you can answer this question to yourself, to your employees and also to employers, you will have learnt the key concept of valuing Humans and thereby the whole organisation.”

“Your placements are on, and all of you are labouring hard to achieve what you dream of, but do you think it is possible without your peace of mind? Similarly, the whole world needs that peace of mind and because we do not realize it, we need reasons to make us realize”

Saying this he started pacing the class looking at each one of us, as he was departing to us some secret that had more meaning than words transformed. He continued:

“True - It is a mere change in date that happens every 24 hours, but it is necessary to celebrate. The world needs change to survive, anything that continues for long, becomes monotonous. This is why industries make a point to celebrate all festivals, the concept of ‘Employer’s Day’ ‘Star Performer’ etc. emerges.”

“New Year brings hope for something new, something better, hope to correct what must have gone wrong, a hope to start afresh, it brings chance with itself, also dreams. It gives a new opportunity to the world, and the best part is – you own it, you are not obliged for this change, this is your right – you may choose to celebrate it or keep it regular but a mere indulgence of feel gives all of us an option – an option that we desperately need”

The whole class was listening with utmost attention, when he asked Hitesh, ‘How do you feel?’

Hitesh stood up and assessed himself before replying ‘I feel empowered, like there is more to come, and nothing can stop me’.

‘Do you?’ Professor confirmed smiling. ‘Yes Sir’ – he simply replied.

‘And isn’t that what Management is about, making you feel empowered?’ He enquired to the whole class, which affirmed the answer with introspective silence.

 ‘Do you see pupil, the Theory of Happy New Year – It is about making your way, getting your work done whether it be placements or life’.

Without our knowledge, Professor had not only explained us one of the most complicated theories of Human Resources, but also ­­filled us with aspiration; taking off the pressure we were carrying and showed us the ‘Path to New’.

We all were amazed, when the bell rang, signalling the end of our 70 minutes lecture before we could realize it.

Prof. Hyatt took in the view of the class, collected his laptop and was about to leave, when like awakened from a dream the whole class shouted in unison:

“Professor, Attendance!!”

“New Year or not, few things never change –

And for us, XISS is that place –

Leading the Path to New!!”

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year..

  Contribution by:

      
     Shreysee Banka

 Department of Finance 

(2015-2017)