Dr. Laxman Yadav’s ‘Professor’s Diary’, published by Unbound Script, exposes the system of Delhi University. This is the shortest selling Hindi bestseller book. This book tells the untold truths of the Indian education system in a fiction style and easy language. It has courage, analysis, pain and also humor and satire. Read its chapter-
Patriarch’s pistol
Those who love Delhi University’s Vice Chancellor Professor Markandey Singh believe that he gave a lot to Delhi University- DU. One of the unique things in it was ‘Antardhwani’. Delhi University’s annual festival named Antardhwani was started with great pomp and show. Buildings worth crores of rupees which were lying deserted after the Commonwealth Games were now used for DU’s annual festival. Today it is going to start with a colourful beginning. Teachers, staff and students of all the colleges have gathered in the rugby stadium built during the Commonwealth Games. If seen from an academic point of view, the artistry of the students, hard work of the staff and instructions of the teachers have decorated the entire campus. The entire Delhi University has gathered amidst the pandal decorated with colourful curtains all around and the stage equipped with a strong sound system. Then a commotion was heard in the crowd.
Delhi University Vice Chancellor Professor Markandey Singh is coming to the main meeting place sitting on an elephant. In the history of independent India, no Vice Chancellor of any university has got such ‘elegant pleasure’. An elephant has been present in DU’s logo since 1922. Today DU was thrilled to see it walking. I started thinking that it is a blessing that DU has an elephant in its logo, if there was a buffalo then? Would the Vice Chancellor sit on it too? If he had sat on a buffalo then he would have become a buffalo chancellor. Actually buffaloes are standing at the threshold of our civilization and elephants are a symbol of feudal arrogance of royal courts.
Seeing our Vice Chancellor sitting on an elephant, we all thought as ad hoc that one day this moving elephant will definitely make us permanent. But later we came to know that the elephant had come on daily wages. It took many days for the mahout to get the government payment cleared.
Why did it happen that universities became a haven for sycophants and flatterers? Professor’s diary reveals
All the ad hocs were witness to this great scene with their respective college people. Chiranjeev Kumar, Hindi professor in Rashtrabandhu College, used to write a satirical paper for DUTA during this period. This time he wrote that the tradition created by the Vice Chancellor was not followed by any Vice Chancellor who was capable of carrying it forward.
The colourful event continued. A cricket match was also held in which some ad hocs were selected in both the teams. Later it was known that some ad hocs were selected to play cricket in their VC XI but could never become permanent. The match ended with the decision of victory and defeat but the ad hocs who played in it are still playing the game of adhocism without any decision.
In fact, this was the same Vice Chancellor who imprisoned an open campus within four walls. Every corner of the campus, including the tea-mongers and the stalls selling Maggi and fried rice, were vacated. Where we sat with our friends and sometimes cleared our research topic; and sometimes got entangled in debates about the country and the world. All the places where tea was available yesterday have now been vacated. Even the Speak Mackay Building and the book shops of the Law Faculty within the campus fell prey to this change. There is not even a single book shop left near Delhi University. Sharing that old memory, Raghu Da said one day- ‘Markandey Singh is following in the footsteps of the previous Vice Chancellor Deshdeepak. Earlier this campus was very open. We used to go from Mansarovar Hostel to Kamala Nagar from within the campus itself. We used to go together to get the Rawalpindi chhole bhature of Chache Di Hatti, Bhelpuri of Brijmohan Kaka opposite Birsa Munda College, and lemon masala tea of D-School. Now it has become like a museum locked in a cage.
Vice Chancellor Markandey Singh made the entire Delhi University shine but now all the academic activities of that shining campus have been reduced to groaning classrooms. This game was understood later that the money received in the name of OBC expansion was misused in this manner. In the year 2006, 27 percent OBC reservation was implemented in higher education. It was provided that crores of rupees would be given to every university. New classrooms and hostels would be built with this money so that facilities could be increased for all. Almost all the universities of the country spent the money received in OBC expansion in the renovation of old buildings. The money which was supposed to brighten the dreams of the deprived and exploited sections after half a century of independence, was spent in the colorful display of floors and buildings of the campuses.
Using the example of Markandey Singh, who enjoys riding elephants, my college history colleague Professor Tauqeer Anwar had narrated an incident from his student life. The VC of Aligarh Muslim University used to keep a pistol. Perhaps you do not know that in this country, many retired army officers were made VCs or proctors of many universities, just as retired army personnel are employed as guards. It means that you can stop the educated youth with a pistol. The student leaders from Sir Syed’s garden wearing sherwani chased him so much that he ran away. When he went home, the peon came out searching for something.
The students asked- ‘What are you looking for?’
The peon said, ‘Sir’s pistol fell somewhere while running away.’
The students said angrily, “Go and tell your boss to get the cannon now.”
Book- Professor’s Diary
Author- Dr. Laxman Yadav
Publisher – Unbound Script
Tags: Delhi University, Hindi Literature, New Books
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 27, 2024, 19:23 IST