30 Silvers of the Vice Chancer

Down, by the river sucked dry by greed
Sat a few thousands in calm silence of truth,
Covered in the fog of hunger and thirst,
Smeared with the dirt of scorn, ignored.

One of them, seventeen and hungry
Glimpsed her mom faintly as she fainted.
Another shed a tear drop for his dreams
Of a just tomorrow- a student's dream in vain?

Just then came a van of glaring khakis,
Counting what was just delivered in bundles.
Marching, they swished latis and last,
On hungry little girls and thirsty little boys.

The sun smiled down on their wishes,
Of good food and enough water,
Of clean clothes and some freedom.
Latis watched as the Vice* Chancer** passed by.

As hunger climbed the hills that surrounded,
They dropped one by one like kites in gale.
'You', said the Vice one 'are at fault for your state'.
Helpless, hopeless, the little ones fell to hunger.

To the slaughterhouse were they led.
Silent like lambs, lamed too soon by life,
Walked they, the road of shame  and defeat,
While the Vice one grinned victorious and counted his 30 silvers!

 

*evil
**opportunist and self-seeker

Why I can't but HATE my University!

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          You Know I am talking about the English and Foreign Languages University. Without denying the fact that my university is a wonderful place, I should confess that I already hate my University. My University is international in its character, it has a great tradition, and holds a great name among academics all over the country. It is also one of the best contributors to the English Language Teaching and English Linguistics fields. My University stands proud with its specialties. It has 5 Schools and over 35 departments. It teaches English and many other foreign languages and offer courses from under graduate level upto research and post doctoral studies. 

BUT

          But my great University is on its way to some god-knows-what status. It expanded tenfold in 3 years. It has a buzzing population of over 3500 as of now! Considering the small area of 35 acres, this population seems quite BIG. And you would agree with me when you read further. 

Hostels

          The 3500 strong campus lives in congested spaces of the available hostels. Why are the rooms congested? Now you are wrong. Rooms are not congested. Those hostel rooms which were made for single person are inhabited by 2 people, those meant for 2 are inhabited by 3, and so on. So if there are 100 rooms, instead of accommodating a maximum of 200 people, we got over 300 people living in them. And the amazing fact is that most of the construction is still underway. People live in buildings where construction is still on. What are the problems experienced in hostels? There are 3 major problems.

1. Space

2. Food and Water

3. Electricity

          Space is already explained. 

          Food and Water: The mess which is run in collaboration with the students is not able to satisfy everyone in the hostel, because there are a handful of dividing factors among the students. Ethnicity, food habits, political and religious background, etc. keep the students in different groups which complain about every kind of food provided. And the food provided is actually worthy of complaints at least sometimes. Food is not ready on time on most days. Students are not there on time for breakfast on most days. 

          Electricity: No electricity also implies no study, no class, no water and sometimes, no food. This is not a rare phenomenon. There are times when students had to run around to find water to use toilet from early morning till evening.

Academics

          There are very talented and committed teachers in our University. There are also less talented and less committed teachers. There is nothing unnatural in it, because we live in a real world, not in an ideal one. But there are some students and teachers who wait to avoid classes, who wait to catch upon slightest opportunities to escape responsibilities, to tread the easy way! This makes me feel sick! I am tired of going to the university only to know that classes are cancelled and nothing moves on campus. I may differ from those who live on campus, because my experience has been different. 

          Whatever be the reason, when academics is compromised upon, the standard of an educational institution stoops. What gives us a stand is its scholarship and encouragement to learn and produce and think critically. Here, people are encouraged to remain under the critical level, not to think out of the box. Some teachers find it a threat! :-) 

          We spend hundreds of crores of rupees in building infrastructure. But people here forgot that only adds to the physical aspect of the University. Investment in academics is given lesser importance. Once things started moving in those lines, every group on campus got distracted from their central responsibility. Everyone here are supposed to help students learn. But some teachers forgot that, some non-teaching staff forgot that, some students forgot that. Everyone started wondering and eying fringe benefits, including me.

          Now, even if everyone desires a U-turn back into the academics, it is not possible in the near future. We have set things in motion, and according to the law of inertia, it will take time for the process to reach a stop and then to turn back.

Conclusion

          I hope that things will change at least by the end of this decade. There shouldn't be a time when I hesitate to say where I graduated from. Let us all try to make things fall in line- students, teachers, non-teaching staff and the bureaucracy. Long live my University!

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My First Day at College

My First Day at College

The day broke an hour prior to ‘my day.’ Waking up-though late-was quite a task. Yet, expectations of a new beginning threw me out of the bed. A quick rush through the morning business made me ready for the church-thought of beginning the day well!
Huh! As the saying goes, man (woman) proposes, God disposes. Half way through, the heavens opened and lo, showers of blessing poured down, drenching me inside out. Assured of God’s blessing, I came away like a wet dog.
Drying up, eating, dressing- all these happened in 20 minutes. And I was ready to get wet again!
Wading through 2 feet deep water on the road, my friend and I managed to reach the bus station. Thanks to the merciful drivers who splashed enough water on us and made us look like chicken. The first bus to the College came round the corner and disappeared round another corner! The next bus seemed to remain perpetually at the bus stop. A third bus took us into the city, which was almost like a swimming pool, except for the dirt. Thank god, we landed safely in a puddle as we jumped out when it slowed down.
Again another adventurous walk took us to the College. With sighs of relief, we headed for the notice boards which exhibited notices 3 0 5 days old. It bluffed us, saying nothing about neither classes nor class rooms. So we were there, at the College, like two lost tourists, in a large group of young folks, not knowing what to do.
Great, isn’t it? Hmm… not over yet. Each time I spotted a class, I reached just in time when they were dispersing. Now its 4 pm. I am happy because I could meet scores of other friends who were equally lost as I were. And… of course, I had 2 full meals in the meanwhile. A great day indeed – my first day at College!
Secunderabad,
20.08.2009.