Alma mater, Alumni and some musings - 2

 

This is a sequel to my previous post “Alma mater, Alumni and some musings – 1”. Therefore anyone reading this post may please read the first part first. In this note I want to be less romantic and more realistic or pragmatic but I am sure that I am bound to fail in this endeavour. Yet let me try.

Technically speaking an alumnus is a former student of an educational institution. Again speaking technically, students after completing their studies receive their transfer certificates (TC) and are out from where they once belonged to. Now, technically and legally they have absolutely no right or business to interfere in anything related to the institution. If ever the institution loves or welcomes them back with honour and dignity, it is certainly out of its magnanimity and at a lesser level, generosity too. Though this is right technically, humans are not machines or robots. Certainly there is something called the umbilical cord relation. The cord becomes a non-physical entity along with receiving the TC. One cannot say that whatever is non-physical does not exist and it’s all an illusion. But then, aren’t such illusions the most beautiful things in one’s life? Indeed they are, I believe. So the umbilical cord and the romanticism or the beautiful philosophy associated with it is indeed real. With no doubt about this anymore, let me delve into some of the realities, temporarily abandoning all those subtle dimensions involved in the issue.

I have heard many people talking very emotionally of their Alma mater. But I have seen few doing anything substantial when it comes to helping the very same Alma mater.  The Alma mater needs no alms. It’s all about giving back. Giving back to the school or college that shaped one’s life. Well, most often all those sermons on the mount stop here. Now why should I talk about this “giving back”? It’s just to make it very explicit that the alumni have a solemn duty to support, ie, give back. Any talk or deed without this realisation is meaningless.

Rakesh Gangwal is the co founder of the IndiGo airlines and an alumnus of IIT-Kanpur. Last week he donated a mind-boggling  Rs 1000000000/- (One Hundred Crores) to his Alma mater. Prof ECG Sudarshan, the great Physicist is an alumnus of CMS college. In1986 he donated two computers (Work Horse II, HCL) to the college. No college in Kerala had a computer then. This donation , over the years, changed the life of many a student and the history of their families. In the same year, Prof Sudarshan made an even greater donation. He donated a huge collection of Physics books to the CMS College. These books were the personal collections of Prof Sudarshan and his teacher Prof Marshak. What greater contribution should an alumnus make.

When I describe the donations by Prof Sudarshan, it may give a wrong impression that any donation has to be in such material/monetary form. Far from that.  Wherever Prof Sudarshan went he was a great ambassador of CMS College. Even while speaking at the greatest centres of learning around the world, he talked about two of his teachers with great reverence. The two teachers were Prof George M Thomas of the Physics department and Prof P A Eapen of the Mathematics department of the CMS college. He kept telling everyone how these two teacher motivated him and shaped his future. (I am witness to the great Physicist doing the “shastanganamaskkaram” before these gurus. When he did this he was 75 and the gurus were in their nineties!). I have narrated this to make clear what “Giving Back’ means and how Prof Sudarshan considered himself small before his Alma mater and his revered teachers. Yes, ECG Sudarshan, one of the greatest names in Physics considered himself infinitely indebted to his Alma mater.

On flip side of this there are alumni who think that the CMS college exists because of them. Needless to say that there cannot be a more stupid notion. My only prayer is the following. Let even” those who come to scoff”, fight, defeat and conquer with profane intentions “remain to pray”, support, love uninhibited and praise the college wherever they go.

Let everyone know that this is a pious place. This is a place blessed by God. This is a place where future is born. This is a place where love is showered upon all without any sort of discrimination. This is a place where from the noble ideals of equality emanated at a time when all kinds of inequalities and associated cruelties existed in the society. This is a place where emancipation from bondage of sorts took its first roots two centuries ago. (Can you believe that a slave market where humans where traded like livestock existed very near to the present Kottayam town?)

Let me invoke the words of Amir Khusrau portraying the enchanting beauty of Kashmir:

  "Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast,

Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast"

which means,

If there is a paradise on earth,

It's here, it's here.

Yes, I admit that there is an element of exaggeration in adopting these words as such for CMS college. But then, would anything lesser suffice? I doubt.

Alma mater, alumni and some musings - 1

 

Alma mater is a school, college or university that one has attended or from which one has graduated. Alumni is the plural noun for a group of graduates. Both are descriptions from the dictionary. These words have a much deeper, romantic and even spiritual meaning than what the dictionary says. It goes without saying that this group will be most happy when their rendezvous is their Alma mater. The CMS college celebrates the old students' meet on the 26^th of January every year with the enthusiasm of the old students once again back in the campus, soaring sky high. The function used to start in the evening and the aesthetically illuminated campus was a delight to watch. I am sure that no other campus in Kerala can match this unique elegance. Almost every year there used to be a “Ganamela” led by  Mr Prem Prakash, film producer and actor. I remember the “Pyaar Ka Nagma” duet by him and his highly talented daughter Thankam, which mesmerised the audience. Programmes like this transcended the alumni to nostalgic spots back in space and time. But these days, there are some dark areas in this otherwise beautifully lit campus.

The small playground opposite to the principal’s bungalow serves as the parking place for vehicles and is often poorly lit. But in the sedate moonlight the place is the ideal romantic place for people to assemble on an occasion like this and share old memories. People who were students here during different years forms different groups and “naturally” transforms to “high-spirited” ones. A few years back on such an occasion every parked car was acting like a mini bar. Even in their inebriation they posed no problem to the function probably because of their love for the college. Yet there were many who wondered whether this should happen in the campus. When Prof Korah Mani became the principal he changed the timing of this function from evening to morning. I still remember a very bold statement he made then. “I will not allow this college founded by committed, selfless missionaries with great vision to be converted into a tippler’s haven.

In 2005, I along with my family was in my Alma mater, the St: John’s college Agra. My wife and children were surprised to see me kneeling at the steps of the Physics department and removing my shoes before entering the place to which I owe my life, the place where I met Ghose Sir and Ram Sir who changed my entire concepts of learning and teaching Physics. The place cannot but be so sacrosanct to me.

As I don’t have the eloquence to portray my feelings as to what an Alma mater should be to its alumni, may I invoke the words of the greatest of the children of CMS, the former president of India, Shri K R Narayanan. During one of his visits to the college he made the following statement, “ every visit to the CMS college is a pilgrimage to me”. Isn’t this the ultimate statement regarding one’s love or bhakthi for one’s alma mater? Isn’t it a sin to go against the divine spirit of this ultimate statement and also against the soul embedded in those three magical letters, CMS?

Cruel Inaction

 

Some twenty five years ago a student travelling by a private bus in Kottayam fell off the bus suffering fatal injuries.  People were very sad reading the tragic news. As usual the news papers were full of discussions, allegations, counter arguments etc. After a week or so, my son, then a small school boy ran to me with that day’s news paper in his hand. He was very happy and told me that such accidents will not be repeated as the government has made it compulsory for buses to have doors that can be closed and opened. I was not any enthused as I was sure that things will be as usual after a month or so. But I was really surprised to see buses fitted with doors within the time allotted to them by the government. So finally the government is acting with an iron hand, I thought. Things went well for a month or so. Suddenly the bus-operators invented a new method to overcome the ‘brutality’ of the government. They all heeded to the government’s instruction by fitting doors.  The government had not asked them to keep the door closed while the bus was moving. They kept the door always open by tying it to the body of the bus, and as usual the government did not see this for long until, I think, the court intervened.

I thought of this when the food inspectors all over the state have suddenly sprung into action after some fatal food poisoning incidents. They pulled the shutters down on innumerable restaurants all over the state. They suddenly pulled out hundreds of kilograms of decayed chicken from the freezers. They, in their new found enthusiasm, found that the food served in many restaurants were not fit for consumption.  Kudos for the bravado of the duty bound food inspectors. But where were they when rotten food was pushed down the throat of hapless unsuspecting  consumers. Aren’t they answerable for their inaction? The news papers carry stories of the pyrotechnics by the food inspectors. But this time my son did not run to me with the news paper, because now he not a boy but a man in his early thirties.

SPEECHLESS

 We are speechless when Dr Sashi Tharoor speaks. Yesterday I remained speechless in the Great Hall, CMS College, all the while Tharoor was speaking. He was delivering the inaugural lecture of the "Bishop M C Mani Foundation". I need not make any comment on a speech by Tharoor. Like anyone in the audience I too was delighted  listening to him and seeing him too from such close quarters. The well attended function went off very well. The 'tornado' left and the campus almost instantly settled down to its serene, soothing romantic self.

The principal Dr Varghese C Joshua had invited me to his bungalow for coffee after the programme. I was walking alone towards the bungalow when two ladies joined me. One was my friend Dr Reenu Jacob, the Vice-Principal and she introduced to me the other as Dr Jeena who is with the dept of communicative English. Reenu also told me that Jeena was the compere of the programme. I expressed my sincere appreciation for her sterling performance during the function. Things would have ended there. But my mind kept telling me that this lady is no ordinary, she has some real talent shrouded. Talents often speak through the eyes. I was very sure, but how can I ask her, who was a total stranger to me till a short while ago. At this moment of confusion Reenu, almost out of the blue, said, "Sir she is a highly talented person. She is a dancer, a researcher and she has produced documentaries etc. I felt happy for two reasons. First, my intuition was true. Then, I feel happy talking to talented people even as I myself am not one. See, listening to talented people, in fact, you are listening to ideas. During our talk she wanted my opinion of Tharoor's speech. For two reasons I was reluctant to answer her. One how can I comment on a Tharoor speech? The second was more inhibiting. Yet I told her the following. "I should not be mistaken. Most often I do not get anything new from the speeches I listen to. Yet I religiously attend speeches by people like Tharoor for a certain reason. I may have some opinion regarding a certain issue in my mind but I may not be able to conclude that my beliefs are right. When people like Tharoor too have the same opinion I can feel assured of the correctness of my thinking. This is no mean thing".

The three of us talked for half an hour. It was very interesting and a little enriching too.

Note: Listening to Tharoor I felt happy when I found that some of my ideas were in agreement with his. One was regarding the government's decision to allow foreign universities to have campuses in India. Another was regarding training students to acquire a certain skill with total disconnect with the rest of the world. I think I will write about these in another post.