The Taj, the Radisson, Kingfisher – Vinay Sharma has worked there, seen it all. As a matter of fact, he has the rare distinction of having felt the sun from both sides – first as an insider in the hostility business and then as a faculty in the training side a vocation in which he has spent close to a decade literally training the high flyers. Naturally the Bhawanipur Education Society College (BESC) could not have had a better expert to talk table manners and etiquette to students. If attendance was to be considered a yardstick, then certainly, the event was a see out.
Prof Dilip Shah, the Dean of student affairs of the BESC introduced the speaker and underscored the necessity of propriety and decorum in life, especially in view of the fact that we are increasingly moving towards a border less, global village, where thought and content will be as important as the presentation.
“It is all about your concern about the convenience of others”
said the speaker, adding how it is important to feel as well as show such concern – apparently little things, gestures even, that have a huge impact. He then proceeded to explain the necessity of etiquette and how it often marks the difference between the suave and the philistine.
Speaking from his considerable experience and interspersing the dialogue with anecdotes, the speaker carried the audience, often taking them on a flight – not of fancy, but as a highly accomplished Stewart / hostess, ready to meet any eventuality, “pro-pah” politeness firmly in place, that too with a smile. He talked about “small talk” at the dinner table. He talked about the art of raising a toast and about the little speeches that accompany them. He talked about posturing – about the proper ways of sitting; table manners and expected behaviour patterns in a formal sit down dinner; about the need to know and be acquainted with the use of cutlery; about the use, efficacy and proper handling of napkins and a host of related things that are often taken for granted, seldom taught and therefore the Achilles’ heel to many.
Excusing one from a formal gathering, taking of a call in a situation where such sacrileges are frowned upon, even the placement of cutlery to signal that one is through – were all matters that were highlighted in great detail, the speaker often going at lengths to explain the finer nuances that spell class.
The session was then opened to the floor with Vinay Sharma taking questions from the students and explaining to them the etiquette issues involved.
Prof Dilip Shah gave the wrap up speech, thanked the speaker and his accompanying colleagues before felicitating him on behalf of the college.
The 50 students who had attended the talk, were highly impressed by the dapper Mr Sharma – as much with the man as they were with the gist of his message, often wondering aloud at the little things that they thought were of no particular significance, but learnt, are noticed by the discerning eyes often spelling the difference between the winner and the also-rans.
This report has been filed by Prachi Shah of the Expressions collective of the BESC.
The National Science Day (NSD) was celebrated at The Bhawanipur Education Society (BES) College on the 28th of February, 2023 to celebrate the discovery of the eponymous optical phenomenon, the Raman Effect, by the great Indian physicist, Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman on this very day way back in the year 1928. The Government of India …
Forty students of the Bhawanipur Education Society College (BESC) led by Prof Stuti Vershney and Prof Rajesh visited the leather works of Rajda Industries & Exports an entity that has been engaged in the business for over four decades now, on February 23 rd , 2018, located in the Bantala Leather Complex in the eastern …
The stock market never ceases to fascinate the BE-ites. Successive generations of BESC students have built their careers – not to mention fortune and fame – with almost everyone having dabbled in it at some point in their lives or the other. The dynamics of the market, the desire to read the tealeaves to predict …
December 3rd, 2019. Society Hall. The Mukherjee Commission, which was constituted to look into the matter of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s “alleged” whereabouts during its investigation had comprehensively rubbished the Gumnami Baba theory, which propounded that Netaji had not, in fact died in the plane crash as is stated, and had lived in disguise in …
ChicMode – Etiquette that converts crass to class
The Taj, the Radisson, Kingfisher – Vinay Sharma has worked there, seen it all. As a matter of fact, he has the rare distinction of having felt the sun from both sides – first as an insider in the hostility business and then as a faculty in the training side a vocation in which he has spent close to a decade literally training the high flyers. Naturally the Bhawanipur Education Society College (BESC) could not have had a better expert to talk table manners and etiquette to students. If attendance was to be considered a yardstick, then certainly, the event was a see out.
Prof Dilip Shah, the Dean of student affairs of the BESC introduced the speaker and underscored the necessity of propriety and decorum in life, especially in view of the fact that we are increasingly moving towards a border less, global village, where thought and content will be as important as the presentation.
said the speaker, adding how it is important to feel as well as show such concern – apparently little things, gestures even, that have a huge impact. He then proceeded to explain the necessity of etiquette and how it often marks the difference between the suave and the philistine.
Speaking from his considerable experience and interspersing the dialogue with anecdotes, the speaker carried the audience, often taking them on a flight – not of fancy, but as a highly accomplished Stewart / hostess, ready to meet any eventuality, “pro-pah” politeness firmly in place, that too with a smile. He talked about “small talk” at the dinner table. He talked about the art of raising a toast and about the little speeches that accompany them. He talked about posturing – about the proper ways of sitting; table manners and expected behaviour patterns in a formal sit down dinner; about the need to know and be acquainted with the use of cutlery; about the use, efficacy and proper handling of napkins and a host of related things that are often taken for granted, seldom taught and therefore the Achilles’ heel to many.
Excusing one from a formal gathering, taking of a call in a situation where such sacrileges are frowned upon, even the placement of cutlery to signal that one is through – were all matters that were highlighted in great detail, the speaker often going at lengths to explain the finer nuances that spell class.
The session was then opened to the floor with Vinay Sharma taking questions from the students and explaining to them the etiquette issues involved.
Prof Dilip Shah gave the wrap up speech, thanked the speaker and his accompanying colleagues before felicitating him on behalf of the college.
The 50 students who had attended the talk, were highly impressed by the dapper Mr Sharma – as much with the man as they were with the gist of his message, often wondering aloud at the little things that they thought were of no particular significance, but learnt, are noticed by the discerning eyes often spelling the difference between the winner and the also-rans.
This report has been filed by Prachi Shah of the Expressions collective of the BESC.
Related Posts
National Science Day 2023
The National Science Day (NSD) was celebrated at The Bhawanipur Education Society (BES) College on the 28th of February, 2023 to celebrate the discovery of the eponymous optical phenomenon, the Raman Effect, by the great Indian physicist, Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman on this very day way back in the year 1928. The Government of India …
Visit to a Leather Factory
Forty students of the Bhawanipur Education Society College (BESC) led by Prof Stuti Vershney and Prof Rajesh visited the leather works of Rajda Industries & Exports an entity that has been engaged in the business for over four decades now, on February 23 rd , 2018, located in the Bantala Leather Complex in the eastern …
Dynamics of the Capital Market
The stock market never ceases to fascinate the BE-ites. Successive generations of BESC students have built their careers – not to mention fortune and fame – with almost everyone having dabbled in it at some point in their lives or the other. The dynamics of the market, the desire to read the tealeaves to predict …
Conundrum – Subhas Bose’s Life after Death
December 3rd, 2019. Society Hall. The Mukherjee Commission, which was constituted to look into the matter of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s “alleged” whereabouts during its investigation had comprehensively rubbished the Gumnami Baba theory, which propounded that Netaji had not, in fact died in the plane crash as is stated, and had lived in disguise in …