Debit what comes in....

In response to a frantic call from my neighbour (who is a professor), I recently found myself addressing a classroom of some 40 odd 3rd year law students of the Pravin Gandhi College of Law, Mumbai. Earlier known as the SVKM College of Law, this is part of the Sri VileParle Kelavani Mandal (SVKM) which runs several educational institutes across Mumbai, including the prestigious Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics, Mithibai College of Arts, Commerce & Science and the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.

As part of a student skill development program, the College had decided to conduct short (2 hours) sessions on various topics which would be useful, interesting as well as fun for the students. I was roped in to deliver a talk on 'Fundamentals of Accounting' (which honestly is neither useful, nor interesting nor fun). Wondering why law students need to know fundamentals of accounting? Well, that was the very first question I put to my prof neighbour who was part of the faculty incharge of organizing the skill sessions.

The fact of the matter is that lawyers are involved where there are disputes. Disputes occur over things that are worth some money. Where money is involved, accountants are surely involved. And when the lawyer and the accountant have to deal with each other, all hell usually breaks loose. So, the objective of the session was to familiarize the would-be lawyers with atleast the basic concepts and jargons of accounting so that they are on the same page as the accountants (which rarely is the case). Fair enough!

So I quickly put together a few slides on the topic and enthusiastically presented myself to the class (I dont know how much of my enthusiasm was shared by the class :-) ). Luckily for me, a good share of the class had opted for commerce in their Class 11 and 12 and had a decent idea of what I was talking about. For a subject as dry as accounting, I had a phenomenal amount of class participation (may be it was because of the fact that all my examples to explain the concepts had something to do with pocket money, pizzas and mobile phones). Just as we were discussing the golden rules of accounting, one of our latecomers walked into the class and the entire class erupted into 'Debit what comes in....'. Imagine applying one of the rules of accounting on flesh and blood persons!

Anyway, the session went well (nobody hooted, booed or threw stuff at me!) and one of the students even got me a nice cup of hot coffee during the break. It was great interacting with the younger generation (sad, but true, we are all aging), but what I enjoyed even more was interacting with other guest lecturers. One session which particularly interested me was on collecting forensic evidence from the crime scene. The lady who conducted the session is a professor at the Institute of Forensic Sciences, Mumbai, and was carrying this extremely interesting kit with all sorts of finger print dusting powers and what not. Obviously couldnt get to attend her session, but managed to get a few minutes with her where she explained some of the stuff they teach. Quite an interesting field of study!

Really look forward to more such opportunities to break away from the monotony of regular work and broaden my horizons!