What Prevents Teachers to Engage with College Students in Real Classrooms? *
By: Nandan Nawn
Tags: Students, Space, Responsibility, Teachers, Care

Respected teachers and other members of the CESP community, can you notice my trembling feet and choked voice? I still carry a legacy that began with something that happened during one of the early lectures on Microeconomics in 1992. Anjan Sir inquired, perhaps to gauge the level of

knowledge of the new batch, what happens to output under CRS production function when input doubles. There was nothing but silence. This may be little exaggerated, but the underlying point is quite clear. Ask anyone from the alumni, however brilliant, sincere, hardworking and meticulous an academician she or he is. In front of our teachers, one is rather shaky with the rigor, no matter how much effort is involved.

After all, excellence has no upper bound. Such is the legacy of the Centre, whose students are carrying its baton to all corners of the world, at times even without realising it. It is this legacy that has taught us to question the obvious, extend the accepted and think beyond the existing.

We have been fortunate to have been taught by teachers with both a philosopher’s stone and a touchstone, which is a rarity. Such rigorous training and scrupulous testing is often daunting, no doubt. But, no sooner than you pass out from the centre, you become aware of this asset. The probing questions that you ask at all forums, the way you make your students work, the scrutiny that you undertake before exposing your work to the outside world, for all these, this legacy is solely responsible. Thank you teachers, for making such a lasting impression in our lives, both academic and personal.

At times, it goes a little further though. For example, consider the phrase given to a classmate of mine in a dumb charade while on a field trip: methodological discrepancies between NSS and CSO data.

To me, the word retirement is a terminology which has only administrative connotations. It has no other meaning for a teacher or for his or her students. Thus, in my understanding this rendezvous is for the students and the teachers to come together to look at the shared past with distinct contributions from the three senior-most teachers. It remains a good idea to look at the history but only if it matters for the future. Today’s togetherness will be more meaningful, only with the legacy of the Centre carried further in time with as much care, zeal and dedication as these three teachers did along with others.

Some of us had been lucky enough for the privilege of interacting with Anjan Sir, Prabhat Sir, Utsa Ma’m, and many other teachers at both personal and academic levels. To me, it is this relationship that gives us the strength to surpass the challenges and cross it with confidence and style.

For throwing light on the academic contributions of these three stalwarts whose contribution to the Centre have brought us all here, I am the least qualified. Rather I will share with you, glimpses of some of the cherished moments that I have spent with them.

Not many have had the experience of singing popular songs with Utsa Ma’m on board a train to Udaipur for the fieldtrip in the Production Conditions in Agriculture Course. Or for that matter, not many have had a serious academic discussion on the agrarian crisis in India, while sitting on a rickety bench outside one office in the Dumdum municipality office in Kolkata that had prompted the in-charge to come out and offer seats inside!

Not many, again, have had the privilege of sharing with Anjan Sir his happiness, agony and at times tension over the Centre, its students and even his health. Over a discussion to convince an ailing Prabhat Sir to teach us the “Theories of Imperialism” course, not many could hear, “I will take the course, even if I die”. In 1998 perhaps, the hard disk in Utsa Mam’s home computer developed some bad sector, and not being able to find anyone else, Prabhat Sir saw me. I still find it unbelievable, that Sir was making a request with folded

hands to do something to restore Ma’ms work. I was at a complete loss of words.

During the last 9 years, while I have not been a regular here, during each of my occasional visits, not less than two in every year, one room that I have almost always found open, is that of Anjan Sir. And this is just not my observation, but of many such occasional visitors. Perhaps that

influenced my subconscious so much that I used to do the same at the University where I have been teaching. It raised many eyebrows.

On winter afternoons, it was a common sight during our MA days to find Deepak Sir and Anjan Sir starting a discussion outside their rooms enjoying the sun, with Satish Sir and Prabhat Sir joining them in no time. This vivid image of camaraderie is so deeply embedded in our hearts, that one always seeks a similar environment in the institution one is in, only not to find it.

The mutual respect among these teachers belonging to a different vintage is exemplary for those belonging to later generations. Once, a visibly agitated Prabhat Sir, over a proposed UGC regulation on evaluation of Faculty members on the basis of their publications, literally yelled, “Is there anyone who can review Anjan’s work?” On a lighter note, a PhD student of Anjan Sir, often used to debate with me about the brilliance of Prabhat and Anjan Sir. We could agree about the size of the difference: epsilon almost equal to zero, but not its sign. The spirit of being receptive and respectful to each other’s work, however different the other person’s methodological and ideological position has now found its place in the Schedule I of the Wildlife Act — the list of endangered species.

Let me finish by narrating a story, over email communications. These days Prabhat Sir is rather email savvy, but this was not the case earlier. This was 1997 or so. JNU had given an email ID that ends with ernet.in to all the faculty members. One PhD student used to operate Sir’s email ID. One day Sir could not find him, and seeing me in the computer room he had asked me if I can send an email. On receiving a positive reply he gave me a piece of paper with a name and the text.

I was confused, and thus asked him to which address the letter is to be sent. His look was equally quizzical: you don’t need the address for the email. I explained that it is email address, and not postal. His reply was you have the name, isn’t it sufficient!

To carry the story further, on one morning, he again had to send an email but this time he could not even find me, but saw one Phd student of Anjan Sir. He enquired whether the student can send the email, this time with an email address and the text. After sending the email, the student went to him to report that the mail had been sent from Anjan Sir’s account, as he did not know Prabhat Sir’s email ID or password. Sir was perplexed, and asked him, but then, how much do I have to pay?

You can well imagine Sir sitting in his chair, in front of a pile of dust covered books and materials, with that look. You can also imagine without much effort, Utsa ma’m in the middle of a dust covered but well organised pile of books and materials, and her restlessness touches you. You can also imagine a poised Anjan sir, with neatly kept dust free books and materials, looking at you with all seriousness through his heavy glasses, even when you are discussing the everyday. I carry these images, and that defines the Centre, for me. Diverse yet defined, linked together with the thread of academic excellence.

My gratitude to all three of you, for imbibing in me the innocence, sensitivity, romanticism, restlessness and rigour, for the motivation, courage and confidence in excelling in every little thing that I do, for the dedication, commitment and care to the institution and finally for making me a

workaholic.

Wishing each one of you a very healthy and happy life.

Nandan Nawn

MA (1993–95)

MPhil (1995–98)

PhD (1998- )