It was like any other Friday: it was past 8 pm now and review was being conducted. Our boss was talking of numbers, making conclusions, using decorative words and we were thinking of the nearest bar. Review reluctantly ended at 9.13 pm precise. We, three of us, fled and hit our Cattle Class Bar. The smile of the waiter and the aroma of the place felt so refreshing. We ordered and gulped two pegs for a faster relief. Bosses torn apart, strategy of the company redefined, insurance market redrawn, we were five down by now.
“Excuse me..excuse me please,” a meak voice hit us. “why do they say on advertisements that INSURANCE IS A SUBJECT MATTER OF SOLICITATION? Don’t you guys sell insurance? I purchased one because my agent sold it to me. I never went out and solicited one. You guys are so funny,” he concluded. Our sardar friend could take it no longer, especially when called funny, though he exhibits stronger traits for it. He ejected himself from the chair. “see my friend, we are not funny, we are gentlemen. It is our Legal Department who sendsout advertisements. Bip..bip..they are funny. We are gentlemen,” thundered the Sardar. “but ..but ..you all belong to the same…” The meak voice was stopped by the burly Sardar, “no..no…yes..yes we belong to the same company but you then ask.. hic..IRDAI who make rules. We are hic..gentlemen.”
By this time our blue blooded friend, who claims to have insurance platelets in his blood, was ready. Meak voice was asked to sit on the chair. Leaning towards him he started, “Insurance is as old as 3rd century BC but modern day insurance dates back to 17th century AD. I will not get into the details of insurance history but let me tell you the journey from known to the unknown.If you are into business you have to tread unknown territories. So, businessmen combined together to face that unknown. They shared any financial loss which happened. This was insurance. It was complex, confusing and crunchable (intellectual pause, as if trying to understand what he himself said. One on the rocks please). As time went by, complexities multiplied, insurance policies started bearing covers and exclusions and interpretations gained ground. SOLICITATION was born then. It provided a win-win situation for both the insurer and the insured. While the insurer provided the cover, the insured has to ask for it and understand covers and exclusions according to his needs. Understood. Going further…”.
“..ya..yaunderstood..understood fully”. The meak voice vanished for the fear of being assaulted again.
Our Sardarfriend, not willing to get dislodged from there, said “…bip ..bip..insurance is hic.. complicatedyaar. Our bip..bip..bosses think it is darukachakhana. We must send a letter to IRDAI to make regulations for these bosses.” We agreed in crescendo and decided to leave.
Act Two
Next day I decided to bounce the thought to my friends. I asked them “is this declaration relevant today?” 11 chose to ignore on account of being impartial in the eyes of law. Of the 49 who replied, 19 said YES and 27 said NO. Our 3 distinguished friends said Yes & No together. I sent this data to our business analyst friend who speaks truth and nothing but truth. And he doesn’t need a holy Gita for it. He needs data. He spent almost three hours analyzing it from all possible angles. He prophesied: (i) NO is more that Yes (ii) Yes is less than NO!
Act Three & Final
“What are you upto,” asked my wife late in the night, finding me glued to my laptop. I bounced the same question to my wife. Insurance is a subject matter of solicitation. Is it relevant today? “Forget it honey, you guys sell crap,” she said with conviction.
The views expressed are personal and that of the author Shishir Sandipan