International Taxation

It was one of those back-to-back sessions where you had to endure the same subject for 4 continuous sessions, which lasts from 8 AM to 1:30 PM. Almost 5 hours of International Taxation!! "Taxing", you'd think.
But I thoroughly enjoyed the session today.
Professor L Sridhar, who is a Chartered Accountant by profession, and a partner of Sridhar & Brito delivered the lectures. He is 53 years old, but was as active as a 33 year old throughout the lectures.He started with the question, "What is tax?" and was ofcourse, bombarded with various "definitions" of what tax is, including - "It is the penalty we pay to the government for earning".That ofcourse, is not true.The session covered why some people (read businesses) prefer certain countries for certain "transactions", when can there be Double taxations, how countries resolve it with Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), what are the loopholes in it, why exactly Lalit Modi routes transactions via Mauritius, what can be the rules of DTAA, what are the numbers present generally, what happens when you order a product in US site(online) from India but it is manufactured in China - which govts can be taxed how much, how organizations try to gain money by arbitrage between countries, how governments try to cover these loopholes with transfer pricing policy, what are the conditions for transfer pricing policy etc etc.It might seem like total alien topics (atleast, I would've felt that way if I was reading this in some one else's blog) and extremely boring, but the Prof. Sridhar simplified it into such a low level and gave very very relatable examples (I know there is no such word as relatable, but you get the point). He kept the class very much alive and made the whole learning experience FUN.
The lectures were thoroughly enjoyable.
And that followed by super delicious lunch :D