Thumba thanks ....demystified

5 people from a mediocre undergraduate college wanted to go to "THE IIM-B" annual fest and decided they were upto it.1 of them atleast went for the sole reason that he had no chance of entering it in the near future and this was his best chance to see and be at a place where people end up being offered salaries sooooooo much.his father thought this visit would inspire him to work harder and gladly agreed and pestered him to be there from day 1.(on the contrary this lad who ended up getting 70.49 in CAT went on to tell his father that he was a tinge disappointed with the standard at IIM-B..err..lets leave it at that)
so they went and 1 of them has been made to relive this sojourn,for this small talk he had on their way to the hallowed gate
1 of them to a shop keeper(respectfully)
"how far is IIM from here"
shopkeeper-"u'll get to know when u reach there"
(for some strange reason 1 of them persists trying to bring out the best in the man opposite him)
1 of them -"what i meant was is it possible to go on foot till there"
shopkeeper-"u can go on foot and if u want, u can go on aeroplane also"
1 of them baffled by this unexpected and uncalled-for effrontery,replies
"THUMBA THANKS" and walks away unruffled(ok..almost unruffled).
now more appropriate alternative replies came about later, benefited by hindsight...but the damage had been done and the phrase struck..thanks to YOU-KNOW-WHO.
anyway if u didn't feel this was funny..let me assure u, neither did 1 of them
P.S-much water has flown under the bridge since this happened and YOU-KNOW-WHO himself had to face a more embarrassing situation and what's more heartening...he managed this without a shopkeeper.