Bring me back my pulpit

Bring me back my pulpit

When I was young I was mesmerised by the huge and gigantic contours of our church. The church built during the British Raj was a symbol of British pride and culture and had all the engravings of a true British routine. Church music used to filter onto the outside during morning mass and the organ player used to play hymns as a prelude to morning mass.

As a child I would tug at the coat tail of my dad and meekly follow him and my mom to church. As I grew older, we were provided bicycles to pedal all the way to church. So every Sunday morning we would be in our Sunday best and cycle all the way to the church a distance of around 4 to 5 kms. Special care was taken to fix a stretchable ring at the bell bottom of our full pants so that the edge did not get entangled to the bicycle chain.

Once in church, the majesty and magnanimity of the place overtook us and as kids we were more engrossed in the vastness than the moral that resounded out of the pulpit. Yes, the pulpit used to be a round circled raised stand fixed in a place around some corner in such a way that the preacher could be seen from all angles no matter where you found a place in church or irrespective of the height and manner of the person sitting in front.

Sunday after Sunday the preacher would climb onto this circular raised formation and render his version of the interpretation from the scripture. The pulpit was synonymous with teachings, with wisdom being served, with sermons that had the power to even convert the converted. We kids used to love the moment the preacher stepped into the pulpit, because that gave us a chance to be seated and rest our weary legs.

In the old British made churches it was always a formation made of stone, marble or such material till the modern churches started to introduce the wood work that we see on the pulpits. The sermons remained the same, always the word of God. As kids we often used to wonder whether the clergy have been instructed not to smile. Such was the deliverance that any meaningful message could only be delivered with a straight face. It was unholy to crack a joke from the pulpit.

Times have changed, the preachers have added humour to their discourse, congregations have started to debate the sermons, and more attention is paid to the voice from the pulpit than the hoarse sales call of vendors on the streets outside. Intermittent cry of a baby is scorned upon, such is the meaning one tries to decipher from modern day sermons. But even as all this was happening around us the pulpit remained the same and stuck to its familiar position in church.

Modern day preachers have started to be in the midst of the masses and therefore the pulpit has lost its sheen, its importance. Like the great church buildings of Europe that are now being lent out to malls and shop owners because of the stupendous rise in maintenance and a correspondingly steep fall in the number of church goers, the focus of attention has changed from the pulpit to the preacher. Nowadays preachers roam around in front of the congregation to keep the attention of the congregation going. Speeches and sermons are more gesticulate in substance helping to bring out the chore of the message and preachers seem more animated while spreading the word of God.

Has this brought about a change in the position of the pulpit? I think so, because slowly but steadily preachers prefer to discard the famous pulpit for even ground. No surprise then that last Sunday I found my church pulpit missing and what stared me back was a blank wall designed to match its twin on the other side, so much for the pulpit and fond memories that surround it.

Don’t know if other emotional strands in my church building will stay put, will they be able to stand the test of time, or will the church turn out in the future to be a place as bland as an ailing persons breakfast or still, are we on course to rent out our majestic buildings for want of church goers attention? Only time will tell.

 

Robin Varghese

robin_vargh@yahoo.com

11^th November 2015

 

Human Resource - a saviour thou must be

Human Resource – a saviour thou must be

There are a lot of meanings and definitions to Human resource right from the top notch HR professional to the lower rung entrant. Books, chapters and volumes have been written and studies continue in B-schools and are used as referral guides. People have gained doctorates researching this new phenomenon called Human resource. It is not as it never existed before, but in India its importance has gained only in the last 30 odd years. In short Human Resource can be defined as you please, write thesis, research it to infinity or practice what the world believes and develops, it all depends on how you see it.

 

As gravity was in existence before Sir Isaac Newton’s discovery so was HR in prevalence and integral to business processes much before it came about to be recognised as a potent force in business development also recognised as the most important strengths of business to move forward. However its strength to move mountains was only discovered lately and ever since the world has gone gung ho. Business processes look to Human resource for upliftment. CEO’s need the best HR team. People are always scouting for the latest and the best practices. But no one will disagree that coaxing, cajoling, making human capital develop, helping them believe in themselves, enabling and raising them to more than they can be is the core to good human resource practice. I am reminded of a lovely song “you raise me up” the central lyrics go thus:

 

“When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;

When troubles come and my heart burdened be;

Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,

Until you come and sit awhile with me.

 

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;

I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;

You raise me up... To more than I can be”.

 

This is what Human resource is, herein, lies the core of human resource, the heart of the topic. A Human resource professional must be able to talk to weary and tired souls, be able to coax them back to attention. Must be able to lift up their spirit, and help in unburdening them mentally and physically. You have to lend an ear to the resource and listen to all that is said no matter how important or unimportant it may be. You must make space and time to sit in solitude and silence with the victims of mental and physical turmoil and understand their wants and needs, and counsel them, coach them to be better human beings.

 

A human resource professional must also be able to recognise the hidden talents, lying dormant or stifled and bring it out for the betterment of the individual. The professional has a job on hand to guide people and their destiny, cultivate traits that are seemingly good and true and bring out the best in people. The resource must feel strong to face the rough stretches in life, they must be geared to respond to disadvantageous situations, they must feel rejuvenated on the strength of support lent by the department and they must re discover themselves, to add more meaning to life.

 

All, in the Human resource department must feel the need to change lives, and that change must start from within them which will enable them to have changed perspectives. One can only do convincingly things that one believes in everything else is false or creating a façade. -A saviour thou must be.

 

robin_vargh@yahoo.com - 1st November 2015

For You

For you

Vandalized streets, with bodies littered all over, houses burnt, broken bones lying in hospital , apparatus assisted souls lying nervously breathing on their death beds, animals afraid to stray after dark, eating habits being questioned, chants and call for prayers subdued, cowering behind false facades of expression, that’s what life has become  in my beautiful country.

A country I called the best-“East or West home was best”.  Uncle Rahman no longer cooks meat lest Dev uncle and his stupidly religiously exuberant kids smell a’ cow’. Rakesh Sharma would dare not repeat what he said from space long ago “Sare Jahan Se Aacha Hindustan Humara”. Where are we going where is the friendship, where is the bonhomie between cultures, friends, religions, leaders and followers?

What has education done to us, has it eroded our social values, has it been failing in its calling? Education that once helped the mind to think beyond now seems to help in thinking inwards. The educated said “sabash” when the Babri Masjid was demolished. They call him the iron man but he was unrepentant when the Liberhan Commission convicted him in the Babri demolition case. A leader of national stature, tends to be philosophical when the end is in sight, but clamouring to be seen with the rest during his heydays?

Expression begs freedom- Creative artists hounded to the extent that some have left the country and lie buried in foreign land others threaten to quit the country.  Where is freedom of expression as envisaged in the constitution?  Do weI have to clamour to the needs and sentiments of the majority or do I have freedom of expression?

Repercussions and retributions follow, trains are blow apart, blasts triggered to avenge, the trusting ways of a neighbour, the good and the bad identified by the clothes they wear. Sides argue on national television each proving the other wrong when what has been lost is the innocence of a friend, the trust of a neighbour, the continuity of a great civilization that we take time off to praise and market across the shores.  A time to introspect, do I keep silent, am I afraid to commit, do I make myself a target?

Who wins, which side turns the winner I do not know all I know is that humanity has lost. The bonds of friendship, trust and continuity have been snapped by the avoidable voices of insanity. Blood splattered on the walls, cries that extend into the night, wailing and soul searching hand in hand travel into the night to meet the morning rays of the sun.

My God deeply anguished asked me- Who do you do this for my son? Why let blood into the streets, why are you supressing your neighbour, why do you trample on freedom, why would you want to chain your culture and country to the insatiable thirst for one man ship? What do your gain by breaking bones why are there numerous injured, why do mothers flee with their new born, why do dogs bark in the lonely eerie streets of silence and darkness? Who do you do this for?

I smiled and reply “for you”

Robin Varghese

Robin_vargh@yahoo.com

Planning a key component to growth

Planning a key component to growth

Many of us indulge purposefully at the spur of the moment without giving it an elaborate thought or sitting down to plan out the course of events that may make or break a string of events or an event.

Planning is essential in that it allows you to think in between the various segments in the flow chart and trace out areas that are grey and need filling in. On the contrary actions taken on the spot always fail to fill the gaps, since time at your disposal is short and the eye span on the problem remains edgy and short.

Planning can bring in ideas on what can be encountered by way of problem areas before, while and after implementation of ideas. Even while discussing an idea more heads are fulfilling as it leads to sounder and wiser decision making. Also all gaps can be plugged. Comparing a group activity of planning to that of an individual could be like finding out an arithmetical error in a series of calculations. The one who has worked out the series of mathematical calculations often fails to pinpoint the error made during the course of his calculations. There is a lingering feeling of something being amiss but he is unable to put a finger to it.

He tries in vain pouring over the calculations a number of times in order to weed out the defect, but gives up in the end, since the mind tends to follow the same route when you pour over your own calculations again and again. This is when a second person seems to unearth the problem area in a shorter span of time and with fewer attempts. This is because this second mind is pure and fresh not tainted by the route map of the question on paper and no wiser than the blue print on the table.

But this new person can think in a new way without being prejudiced with the thought process of his predecessor. This is why it is essential to have a group pour over ideas. Team meetings and group discussions and board meetings are therefore practiced in industry where opinion matters and a broader consensus is taken on board.

Planning eradicates wasteful expenditure or wasted efforts that do not add up to the quality of the final product nor does it add value in material or money terms. A single mind ticking at an idea is all right but when it comes to implementation singly tackling it might not be the brightest idea going forward in organizations. To arrive at a uniform and informed decision one has to sit around and thrash out a line of thinking that utilizes best implementation methods.

I often travel to work via the Greater Kailash –II road that leads to Alaknanda in south Delhi.  For the past month or so they have been digging up the central portion of the road to establish a concrete divider that would keep traffic from merging and demerging onto the two way traffic, especially since parts of the road are heavy with traffic due to various reasons. First they built a divider, and then in few days’ time I noticed that parts of the concrete slabs/stones were dismantled.

First I thought that must have been the work of some disillusioned mind, but it soon dawned on me that it was actually the handiwork of the public works department, who dismantled sections to make way for concrete stumps that would probably act as bases for pole lights. Then I noticed some other portions were dismantled to make for obstructed walking/crossing pathways so that pedestrians did not have to take a detour.

This is when I start questioning the utility and practicability of laying down concrete slabs to form dividers then dismantling them to have other things built into them. Whoever or whichever department is engaged in this activity obviously did not have it planned and it also calls for unwanted expenditure a sheer wastage of public money.

Had they planned it properly they would have the design in front and planned all the ingredients well before start of work. This would have allowed them to not only complete the task at an earlier date but with a reduced expense budget.

The government lost it because they have not properly overseen the work in the bargain adding man hours all at a cost to the common man. The implementing authority lost it because what could have been completed in lesser days took more time, waste of labor, effort and manpower besides man hour, the calculation of which is surely going to dent their profits and effect turnover of the company. 

This is what planning does; it curtails wasteful expenditure, increases profits, and adds to the turnover and overall growth besides reducing wastage in all fringe activities connected to the main activity. Apply this to any area of life, individual. Personal or organizational the results will be the same.
 

Robin Varghese

Robin_vargh@yahoo.com

9^th June 2015

 

Life's a full circle

Life’s a full circle

Saturday 27^th June marked the birthday of famous musician R D Burman who passed away at a rather young age. During his lifetime he was credited with compositions that swayed the lowly and the rich. He brought a certain unexplained freshness to daily routine and propelled an upward swing in the moods of the depressed souls through his tantalising music and scores.

But history is witness to the fact that he was left with almost no work and historians record the fact that he had lost his touch during his later life. The very crowd that would follow him around now shunned him and the very people who sang his praises now made a beeline for other musicians. He was left unsure of himself and professed to being pained by the vagaries of life.

Such is life, it lifts you one moment and dumps you in another, like the weather in Delhi that tests the extremes in summer and winter, and so did life treat many a soul, many a recognizable face in life. Some came out unscathed, some with minor bruises but with their self-worth intact, others still were bruised and came out poorer than the past, some simply got crushed under the ruthless changes of the wheel of life.

Lalit Modi, flamboyant and the new kid on the block with his IPL organising skills, became a fugitive and is for the moment tucked away in London. He was the connoisseur of all eyes when he acted as the chairman of the IPL. His utterances were keenly awaited, his instincts held good and firm and yielded results, but the same faculties deserted him, when he travelled too deep into the unknown. Wrenching himself from that position of being neck deep in the quicksand of the past, wasn’t easy and is paying the price even today. The cricketing world considers him a pariah and no one is willing to even touch him with a barge pole.

Amitabh Bachchan, the mega star of Indian Cinema, was followed by the millions during his peak. They called him the angry young man of Indian cinema. Fame and recognition spurred this man to even greater heights. But he got caught in the tangles of this world when he went into business to invest his hard earned money and squandered almost everything with the financial houses resorting to auctioning his residence as a final measure of desperation. However he rose from the ashes and re-established himself as a credible human being and an artiste who re invented himself not on a stereotype mould but as someone who graced with time and willed to assimilate with time.

Indira Gandhi the famed prime minister of India, was at her best having brought laurels to the country through her exploits in the battlefield in the 1971 war and was known as the iron lady. Ministers and Chief Ministers waited on her and clamored to be seen in her company. But the Allahabad High court ruling unseating her and banning her from elections forced her to take extreme measures which could not be justified over a period of time. Critics found ample ammunition to keep her targeted. But she rode out that phase and re-emerged the leader of the masses till her assassination.

Back to the man who is my point of focal interest in this article. People called him a genius, one that could not be emulated or replaced, one who had no competition, one who was a perfect match for an out of this world entertainer and music composer. He reigned in the Film world, produced music with gusto and experimented in his cerebral laboratory with music and sound. All and sundry agreed to this description and whatever he touched turned Gold. He could never be wrong, he couldn’t do anything wrong - musically, yet towards the last 3 to 4 years of his life he struggled to remain in contention where other music composers were belting out new disco numbers.

The melody and touch of R.D. Burman lost its sheen, its finesse, its pull at the heart strings, it simply did not sound good, did not register in the mind and hearts of the music lovers. He looked faded, jaded a poor reflection of his former self. He tried hard, but somehow the Midas touch deserted him, he was depressed, and sad, unhappy at the way life had dumped him from the heights to the pit bottom. He suffered two heart attacks and the second one took its toll. Vidhu Vinod Chopra for whim he composed music for “1942 a love story” sums up thus.

When Pancham (Nickname for R D Burman) gave him the score for the movie Vidhu told him on his face it was not good, he had to do better, that he had still reposed faith on the maestro though others had ditched him. Vidhu suggested he draw inspiration from the Photo of his late father S.D. Burman and after which the story goes that he re composed the same songs and produced hits once again, but alas he did not live to soak in the accolades. Death snatched him just before the release of the movie.

We have no way to know whether R D Burman would have made a turnaround, would he have grown with the inspiration from his father and guru, did the last part of his reincarnation face an abrupt end due to his demise? We do not know, but what we know is certain that life treats everyone as equal.

We all get our opportunities in life, we excel and reach our peaks, what matters is how we get up after stumbling which is bound to happen at some point in life. Life is a circle the wheel when turned will lead to the heights and depths. How and whether we turn resurgent or reinvent ourselves depends on lessons learnt during the worst phase. It is therefore important to not whine in self-pity or do disastrous deeds when we are down, but to learn lessons and come out victorious.

Life also teaches us not to take it for granted; the exuberance and exultation will not continue for ever, there are going to be downturns in life, pitfalls that teach us a lesson. So every time you are on top remember that the wheel only has to turn for you to experience the depths and while you are down in the dumps, take joy for you know good times are round the corner.

Robin Varghese- robin_vargh@yahoo.com

28^th June 2015

The Mouse trap

The mouse trap

I am appalled at the blatant attitude of the present Government in crushing the minority freedom in this country. They came to power on the agenda of development, but one year into their job they seem to be scouting for ways and means to trample minority freedom.

As soon as they ascended the throne they started with changing the textbooks to suit their way of thinking. This as they have done in the past with other decisions was projected as the real Indian ethos and the ‘desi’ culture and if your dare differ with them you were a traitor and working against the country. Their body language gives the impression of being a bully. I am reminded of a famous dialogue from a Hindi movie where Amitabh Bachchan mouths this line "Hum jahan khade hote hain, line wahin se shuru hoti hai”.

The banning of beef is another point, citing majority sentiment. Long ago I used to work in the Banking Industry and as a freshman I was intrigued at why a 100% majority union was not able to get the workers their rights. On the contrary I found to my amusement that Unions with a lesser majority were more successful in having their way.

A senior leader and colleague said thus “being in majority brings about more responsibility and since we are in majority it becomes incumbent on us to see that we do not propose or insist on unrealistic or unethical demands. It becomes incumbent on us to facilitate the smooth running of the institution. Had we been in a minority we could have played havoc with the management and asked for the moon and got a fair share of it too.”

The majority community must see to the comforts of the minority community and not needle them at the slightest excuse. But all this is playing to a perfect script. How else can you justify the celebration of Good Governance day on 25^th December which happens to be Christmas Day and the basis of Christian faith? But they chose to create a normal day out of what is an extraordinary day for the Christian community.

This is not an aberration or isolated incident but a definite trend towards annihilation of the feelings and sentiments of the minority. The idea of the saffron brigade is an Indian nation that confirms to their distorted vision and not a nation that responds to the heart strings of a majority of Indians.

Thankfully this may not be the majority viewpoint at the moment, but believe me it does not take time to gather steam. During the demolition of the Babri Masjid I was told by one of the saffron brigade members to go back to Israel if I did not like the sight of what I saw. The idea, is to erase from public memory the fact that minority is viewed as a separate block and should be carried along.

Those who remember Modi’s Gujarat rise will note that he had always advocated the erasing of definite space between the majority and minority. This follows the leanings of the saffron brigade who visualise an India ruled by the majority and a constitution that finds no mention of the minority. Religion that confirm to a majority view camouflaged as cultural identity of this country.

Again their view that since everyone was once a Hindu and got converted into different faiths therefore ’Ghar Wapsi’ was but natural. Inter faith marriages were termed as ‘love jihad’.  Remember the idiotic utterances which equated the wine in the chalice to alcohol, and the ridiculous pronunciations by others who were not against the Christians practicing their faith but against the way Christians emulated the west in their worship practice.

As Indians it is your duty to stand up and be heard, to protest in your own ways in places where one can be recognised for the views one propagate and to live peacefully alongside the majority. Failing to act unitedly may cause us to be caught in the mousetrap of insignificance.

I am reminded of a story of a mouse that tried to warn its other friends about the entry of a mouse trap in the farmer’s house but they all turned a deaf ear since it did not concern them. Read further and draw your own inferences.

The story-

There was a mouse that used to merrily live with a chicken, a pig and a cow in a farmyard. One day while the mouse was looking through the wall crack, he saw the farmer and his wife open a package. “What food might this contain?” the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap!!

The mouse realized that he was in big trouble. Hence he retreated to the farmyard and proclaimed this warning: “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house! ”The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. THAT’S NOT MY PROBLEM! I cannot be bothered by it.”

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”  The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.”

The mouse turned to the cow and said, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”  The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.”

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap all alone…

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house – the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it. It was a venomous snake whose tail was caught in the trap. Unfortunately the snake went on to bite the lady.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital. When she returned home she still had a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup. So the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient – the chicken!

But his wife’s sickness continued. Friends and neighbours came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig! But, alas, the farmer’s wife did not get well. She eventually died. Large number of people came for her funeral and the farmer had to slaughter the cow to provide enough meat for all of them for the funeral luncheon. And the mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

-End of story

I leave each one to draw your own inferences should we or should we not as individuals as a society, as a community or as a congregation fend off this evil before it enters our living space. Or do we ignore the mousetrap because we are too big intellectually and far too affluent to get caught in its trap?
 

Robin Varghese

Robin_vargh@yahoo.com

14^th June 2015

Captured - not caged

Captured - not caged

You can bodily restrict a person but can you capture ideals or idealism? This is the question that flashed in my mind on reading about a southern commander of the Maoists captured with his wife and friends from just across the border from the very state he belongs to.

This flash gathered speed when I listened to Amy the eldest daughter of the couple now 17 and in junior college who has fiercely decided to follow in her parents’ footsteps. It won’t be long before the younger one will follow suit. However what is astonishing is the singled minded determination in the child justifying her parents’ role as liberators of future generations and toeing their idealism as genuine and true and certainly achievable. Though she may camouflage idealism by pronouncing the lure to make this world a better place and secure a better future for coming generations, one cannot miss the sure footed way she has wilfully moulded herself irrespective of the consequences which are ever too blatant to miss.

I stopped to wonder what the government of the day could do to include such thoughts into the mainstream. Why do young people talk idealism even when on an empty stomach? How does one wean away such hopefuls and deter them from taking up such extreme views? My mind turns to the Naxalite movement of the 70’s in Bengal. I was quite young when I discovered that one of my neighbours has been shot dead by the police. They brought his body home and the last rites were performed.

I was too young to comprehend the extent of jingoism or dare devil attitude in their causes. I was too young to argue for or against them and their cause, for to a ten year old a neighbour was dead and he was shot by the police who equated him to being a thief or a criminal. In the annals of a young mind the neighbour was an evil man that is why the state had to punish him for his deeds.

A lot of water has since flown under the Howrah Bridge and the state has seen other upheavals. It has also seen the demise of the naxal movement in Bengal though elsewhere new recruits were attracted to its fold. Now Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Jharkhand seem to be the pall bearers of this ideology that has forced the government to tackle it with renewed vigour.  The army refuses to fight them citing the fact that they cannot fight their own citizens.

Yes that is the problem. How do we fight this menace? How do we put an end to this loss of life on both sides? The Naxalite movement and its ideological fathers will have to understand that they are fighting a lost cause. They are trying to jump over their shadows, spinning around in circles like a dog seeking happiness in its tail. They have to understand that the path of nonviolence can also achieve the same results that which they seek to draw through violence. They need to understand that no matter how much they seek their ideologies it will always follow them like the tail of a dog.

It would be better to participate in main stream politics and help build this nation on the path and ideologies that can be diluted with modern thinking and better cushioned to appeal to the majority. It would certainly be better to follow the law of the land and still be able to build a castle of their idealism which can exist side by side with other viewpoints. It would be better to grasp the finer elements of others and help co habitat with their core fundamentals evolving a better idea of a modern India,  a Nation that can withstand the erosions of time.

For that matter it would be advisable to whisper sweet sanely advise into the ears of the first born of Rupesh and Shyla so that they can eke out their existence ideologically even while following the law of the land and abiding to the laws laid down by society, a society which nurtured their grandparents and foregathers and who still believe in co-existing rather than annihilating the ones who serve a different view point. When this happens you can free the caged mind set of Rupesh, his wife and daughter and they will no more remain captives of the state.

 

Robin_varghese@yahoo.com

9^th May 2015

 

 

Chaotic Democracy-unbridled freedom

Chaotic Democracy-unbridled freedom

 A recent spat between a final year student of St. Stephen’s college, New Delhi  and the principal who happens to be a priest has left me dismayed and question democracy and individual right and liberties. It also begs the question does democracy slow down progress? And are we becoming more and more intolerantly conscious to the extent that we fail to draw the line between individual freedom and freedom of society or are we usurping laid down traditions and principles in the guise of individual freedom, expression and modernity?

This St. Stephen’ s spat is not something that has suddenly erupted, readers will do well to go back in time and recollect the issue of minority run private institutions being denied govt. funding, or the debate about Govt. funds not be disbursed to institutions that were minority run with minority quota and the lot. If a minority run institution be funded by the Govt. it had to do away with the quota reservation for minorities. Alumni and others had public spat in newspaper columns and other places about the ills of taking minority students when deserving non-minority students were been shunned. This debate thankfully subsided and life went on till this lady professor saw something unholy in the system and with the teacher’s organisation volunteers tried to brow beat the management into toeing their line of thought. This debate too went on for a short period before dying a natural death. The moot point being that St. Stephens College was in the news for the wrong reasons and the reasons seemed deliberately aimed at tarnishing its reputation.

Past students will vouch for the quality of education and to this day minority and non-minority students make a beeline for this institution as if mere presence in its corridors would help rub off on an individual helping him/her to progress beyond the ordinary. However there is a concentrated effort going on to push the reputation beyond repair and force it to lose its sheen by people with vested interest. In our days a teacher would strap us and cane us unendingly without a murmur, but in modern times we dare not subject our kids to this form of punishment. The modern world terms it barbarity and inhuman and beyond acceptable norms of behaviour. Parents go to court and activists display placard and banners finding work in these upheavals.

So did we turn out to be scoundrels, were our parents not pained by the punishment meted out in schools? But they sided with the school management always without as much as a murmur. The general belief doing the rounds was that it was part of the learning process and it would make a man out of a boy. Today teachers and principals are ghearoed and beaten up, arrested and face trials which continue life long, so much so that indiscipline is routinely tolerated in schools for fear of backlash from parents and wards. This has lead our society to be inpatient and intolerant to the process of life and the tumultuous happenings around us.

Government’s barge into the mainstay of managements and even IIM’s ae not spared, everyone wants to control everything around them without so much think about the damage it causes to society through our children and students. Learned members and luminaries take sides in this battle each trying to outdo the other and prove a point. What reverberates in the cold is the suffocation of the vast majority who do not want to have anything to do with this system but who are victims to the whims and fancies of the minority who are vocally dominant.

True we live in a democracy and everyone is free to practice his beliefs, for the same reason a motorist should be allowed to drive on the payments and a pedestrian allowed to walk in the middle of the road, what comes out of this situation is chaos for the prevention of which, certain laws are formed and it becomes incumbent on road users to follow them. Going by the same philosophy we are free to propagate our views the way we want, but what must ultimately prevail is a balanced and tolerant viewpoint, a view point that takes into consideration not only democracy with unbridled rights but democracy that allows questioning without turning it into chaos.

Forcing the institution to bow to an individual’s viewpoint may be trespassing on the rights of the silent majority as equally trampling laid down process that is time tested and that has evolved out of a churning process over the years. Call the principal names if you must, disrespect him if you must but don’t call your teacher one for that would be exposing one’s character and lessons learnt to the outside world thereby laying bare your true self. Parents though prone to side with their kids must always advise them to the contrary, for as goes the saying ‘courtesy does not cost it pays’ and we must not practice our views at the cost of a majoritarian viewpoint.

 

Robin Varghese

Robin_vargh@yahoo.com

19^th April 2015.