Teaching is a big opportunity for learning. You can learn in each and every teaching assignment that you do.

My training for NISM – I must have trained upwards of 1500 policemen, and about 300 people from the defense services, students, inductees into the police force, ….etc.

I was in Kolhapur to train about 2500 policemen, but thanks to the Maratha andolan, I addressed only about 150 of them. I could not travel to the nearby locations. No, not because of the law and order problem, but because the police were on ‘bandobast’ duty and were not available for training.

I was sitting with one of the top police officers for a couple of hours. I am more than convinced that the stress under which they work is immense. There is no pattern to the types of calls that they receive. From friends calling about thefts in hospitals, accidents…to politicians calling about the riot situation, to the common man calling about the movement of people…and there is no end to this. All of them work 24 hours a day – NO I AM NOT EXAGGERATING. They are on call, and they have to worry about deploying 2000 men and women all over the place.

I do think they need to be taught stress management, nutrition, avoiding sugar (they have endless cups of sugary tea), financial management, ….apart from what is taught to them for doing their jobs. Many of them have no clue about financial products – and that is something that the BFSI has to set right. The bfsi companies have enough and more margins to do some HONEST financial education. Right now their “Investment Awareness Program” ends with “Sir may I have your details…and when can I call you for doing business”. This is making a mockery of financial education. Of course, if the regulator says they did not know this was happening, I would be amused. EVERYBODY KNOWS WHAT IS HAPPENING.

The problem is that the budget for genuine financial education vs selling financial products is about 1: 50 billion. I am in the 1 part of the business!

When I am asked to go to do training for the police force or armed forces it is an initiative of NISM (Sebi initiative) where there is no attempt to take their names, and phone numbers. (this time in Kolhapur I saw somebody taking the names and feedback)…but generally we do not even know the names of the people who attended.

At the end of the session there was a lot of clapping. I said “i am no Sharukh Khan, I will not be happy with the claps. The day all of you do a SIP in an INDEX fund by going to the mutual fund house DIRECTLY, I will be thrilled.

I do not have the statistics…but I am on good authority when I hear that more than 300 people have started sip…in some mutual fund…from the lectures. I have no clue, and worried about this being wrong!!

Sarva Lokan Sukhinav bhavantu….