The Hindu Business Line : Some wit & humour

No convention is ever complete without some wit, humour and ripostes thrown in by various speakers to regale the audience. So it was too with Future Shock. Mr R. Gopalakrishnan's talk was peppered with quick asides, like the one where he began by saying that it was odd that any function in Chennai could start during Rahu Kalam and the convention did despite the organisers efforts! It had the gathering in splits, setting the tone for the convention. Talking on "entropy of markets" or degeneration, Tata Sons' articulate ED commented that he was a victim of entropy when his power point presentation refused to screen an old Hindi song from the 1954 hit Boot Polish.

Jaguar for Birthday

The keynote speaker Prof Jagdish Sheth, prefacing his talk, asked the audience if he looked 68 years old. When a resounding "no" came, he said marketing men age slower than those in finance and HR! Carrying on in that vein, he said his nickname was Jags and that his ambition was always to own a Jaguar with the number plate JAG. He said he was touched when on his 68th birthday his daughter presented him a Jaguar with the number plate JAG. With the audience sufficiently moved by his daughter's magnificent gesture, he dropped the punch line: "It was a rental car!"

Garlands & Cut-outs

Mr Kiran Khalap, Co-founder, Chlorophyll, said he was touched when he was welcomed in Chennai, for the first time ever anywhere, with a sandalwood garland. "I next expected to see a 200 foot cut-out of mine outside the airport," he said with a huge grin. Replying later to a questioner on inane corporate baselines masquerading as brand names, he said an airline had the base line "emotionally yours". "What does it mean, that the Captain starts weeping soon as I board or the air-hostess grabs my knees so that I don't get to my seat?" Referring to the base line of a bank, "affectionate bank", Mr Khalap said: "I'm scared of sending my wife there, you never know what they will do. I'll send my driver to get my money!" The audience roared.