Better Lucknow than Lucklater, it seems. In Lucknow, India, the new Sardar Bhagat Singh College of Technology and Management has finally completed its national search for a chairman. It is Hanumen: the Hindu monkey god. To properly appoint the god-chairman, the school has set aside the large Chairman’s incensed office with computer and chairs for the monkey god and friends. However, even before Hanuman appears, the board and all visitors must enter the conference room with bare feet.

Now, some would take being Vice Chair to a Monkey God, a bit off-putting. However, Vice Chairman Vivek Kangdi is delighted: “It is our belief that any job that has the blessings of Lord Hanuman is bound to be a success.”

The search, it appears, eventually ruled out human contenders: “When we were looking for a chairman for our institution, we scanned many big names in the field of technology and management. Ultimately, we settled for Lord Hanuman, as none was bigger than him.”

One can see the academic value to having the Monkey God appointed. After all, while there is no academic credentials on his Curriculum Vitae, he does not a couple of impressive battles such as his triumph over King Ravana. The school may have trouble with some of his demands, however. For example, it is recorded that, here, that “As a young monkey god, Hanuman was quite naughty and abused his powers to pester the saints living in the nearby forest” It further notes:

As soon as Hanuman was born he felt hungry and his mother could not satisfy him. Then he caught sight of the Sun and thinking it was a fruit he leapt after it. The Sun took flight but Hanuman chased him as far as Indra’s heaven. Here however, Indra intervened and injured Hanuman’s jaw with his thunderbolt.

This could make tenure review a bit dicey.

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