Am an Argentina fan

 

During the early seventies I was a reader of the German magazine “The German News”. An uncle of mine was a regular subscriber to it. It was through this magazine I first heard about Willy Brandt who was a socialist leader and also the Chancellor of Germany. Reading more and more about him I became a fan of his. I became a fan of two more Germans. They were the great football players named Gerd Muller and Franz Beckenbauer. Both were big names in international football and Beckenbauer had the nick name 'Der Kaiser' meaning 'the emperor'.  Then I was a fan of the Dutch footballer, the handsome Johan Cruyff. He was a great proponent of the then new style called the 'Total Football'. I felt very sad when I read of his passing away in 2016. I had the same sense of loss when I read in news papers that the Brazilian player Socrates was no more. He was a medical doctor, in fact a paediatrician. Unfortunately both while being among the all time greats were heavy smokers. That’s another story.

Till the 1978 world cup I was not a fan or supporter of any country.  Television was yet to arrive. The radio didn’t give much information regarding the world cup.  As far as I remember (not very clear), those days I got sports news from two sports magazines, “The Sports Star” and the “Sports World”. The editor of Sports World was the great Manzoor Ali Khan Pataudi. Both magazines carried beautiful pictures of sports persons in action. During the 1978 world cup I became a fan of the flamboyant Mario Kempes and Argentina too. I think their jersey held some sort of a romantic fascination for me. That simple design of broad light blue stripes is an iconic one for me. From Mario Kempes to De Maria, from Maradona to Messi .......

Yes I am an Argentina fan.

Alma Mater, Alumni and some musings - 3

 

After reading my previous two posts some people told me that they sensed something  disturbing. They wanted to know the reason if I am really disturbed. Indeed, I am, after this year’s alumni meet on the 26^th of January.

VIDYA SOUHRUDHAM

Vidya Souhrudham. That’s the name of the Alumni Association of the CMS college. But this year it all started with no vidya and scant souhrudham. It is customary to have the  business meeting before the inaugural function where the new office bearers are selected.  Since I was never interested in these meetings, as usual, I remained outside the Great Hall. Meeting old students, who come there as “old students and old students  alone” with their minds filled with reverence for their Alma mater and love for their teachers and friends, is always a matter of great joy. While roaming around the campus I ran into a group which was in a jubilant mood, yet their language was very aggressive and slightly abusive. I could quickly understand that they were giving  vent to their anger against the “autocratic” and “audacious” principal who tried to bring the Vidya Souhrudham under the control of the college. Their jubilance was over the disruption of the meeting and the hurdles they could put before principal. They were bragging,how with number in their favour they could do this. This is a grey side of democracy, I told myself. Here heads don’t count, only headcounts count. Isn’t that grey matter doesn’t count a grey side of democracy? Some of the ordinary people like me there started asking among themselves; what is wrong in the association being under the college. Some of them narrated their experiences with other colleges where they were once students. They all were unanimous in their resolve that CMS is the only place where they can step into with a sense of belonging, remain there meeting teachers and friends, enjoy the unmatched beauty of the campus and leave with a greater sense of belonging and a pious aspiration to come back again and again.

A powerful group had come well prepared, with mustered headcounts, to spoil the business meeting. They emerged victorious as it always happens in CMS college and in CMS college alone. For over the past four decades I have remained a mute spectator to many a group hijacking the college and its activities. This time another aggressive group could successfully hijack another programme. This is the latest and can be the last if the college administration is resolute in freeing the college from evil forces.

I have often heard people saying that unlike other colleges CMS is different and it belongs to all. All who come here, all who roam here, all who booze here and have to be lifted away? I would ask these people to pause for a moment, shed their prejudices and ponder for a moment over what they have given back to their Alma mater to make inflated claims.The principal Dr Varghese C Joshua “after getting defeated and had to flee from the business meet” (this was what the jubilant group, I mentioned in the beginning of this note, was claiming) made a very powerful yet emotional speech during the inaugural function. He spoke of how the Alma mater is uniquely  important to its alumni. He enumerated how the alumni can support the institution and how important it is for the alumni to understand its romantic, spiritual and intellectual duties. May I advise you to watch the speech on the YouTube.

While being critical of those who came with malicious intents and drummed up support, I think I should thankfully mention the names of three alumni who have been working for years now, without any publicity. Their hard work never gets acknowledged as they always remain behind the scenes. Theirs certainly is a devotion to the college. I want to write their names here. Abu, Kiran and Roshia.

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.