When a notice regarding “The Last Lecture” was sent out to the BITSian population, reactions ranged from startled to panicked, as one could only wonder about its contents and why the lecture was the Director’s ‘last’. There was no cause for concern however, as Prof. Ashoke Kumar Sarkar clarified that the lecture was indeed not his last, but modelled after an ongoing series of lectures, where top academics gave a hypothetical ‘final talk’. Held in NAB 6163 on the 8th of November, the Director addressed a packed room full of students and teachers for about 80 minutes, sharing his experiences with the audience.

He began the talk by stating that the lecture was in no way connected to BITS, and was instead based on his own personal experiences. He stated that the characters mentioned in the talks were his personal heroes, who helped shape him into who he was today.

“Each one of us must have met some people who have left a deep impression on us, or experienced things that have helped us gain some direction in life”, he stated. “In this talk, an attempt will be made to talk about people and incidents that have taught me in life, and also have made deep impressions on me so as to become a better human being. “

The lecture was delivered as a set of short stories and experiences, each one related to a virtue. Stories ranged in length from a couple of minutes long, to almost a dozen, and often described incidents that drove home core values and made the director want to emulate the people involved.

Some of the protagonists of these stories were  his mother, his professors in Assam Engineering, to members of the IFRTD in Sri Lanka. Notable members included Prof. S D Phukan, Prof S Raghavachari and Priyanthi Fernando.

Morals like ‘Hard work and honesty’, ‘Love of place of work’, ‘Simplicity, Honesty and Punctuality’ were discussed, along with teaching related experiences like ‘Learning from Students’ and ‘Interactions with Parents’.

Prof. Sarkar also used the opportunity to display his talents as an amatuer photographer, and the presentation was interspersed with snaps of flowers and birds which provided some comic relief.

The Director’s talk, along with thunderous applause, ended with a single piece of advice – “Do not do anything in life for which your parents have to shed tears or beg for mercy”.