From the desk of Head of the Department

The Memorabilia 2018-19 reminds the sense of an ending.

Julian Barnes has rightly said that the sense of an ending is one
of the most curious senses. There are ‘senses’ which are very
crucial for human beings. The senses like ‘common-sense’ is
necessary to understand worldly affairs when our academic
sense fails to unlock the enigmatic life. Similarly, ‘civic-sense’
makes us responsible and accountable citizens of the
democracy. Likewise, ‘academic-sense’ guides us in using
lessons learned in academia at right time and right place. Unlike
these senses, political senses is not much valued and talked
about. However, for the citizens who are eligible for casting
their votes in democracy, this sense is as inevitable as any other.
Bertolt Brecht has equated this with literacy and told very
boldly that the worst illiterate is the political illiterate. s/he hears nothing, sees nothing, takes
no part in political life . . . and does not seem to know that all citizens life depends on political
decisions. Among all these senses, it is ‘historical sense’ which makes a huge difference. In
T.S. Eliot’s words - the historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the
past, but of its presence. The historical sense will help in better perception of zeitgeist of our
time and space. It is this sense which differentiates people from sheople (sheep + people). We,
at Department of English, while teaching English studies, makes an attempt to see that students
develop these senses and become more sensible towards their personal lives as well as our
society.

Coming back to the sense of an ending, the most curious sense of all these high-profile senses.
When we get towards the end of two years, when a batch full of students are passing out –
some curious feelings engulf and numbs our senses. No! It is not this Keatsian ‘my heart aches,
and a drowsy numbness pains’ – sort of sense of an ending. It means an end of any likelihood
of change in the life. We work very hard and we expect a sort of progressive, positive, and
constructive metamorphosis among those with whom we so
passionately get involved. At the end of the year, the sense of an
ending engulfs.
This Memorabilia 2018-19 is nothing but a sort of pensive of all
those wonderful memories. It is like that Time-Turner device
made by Ministry of Magic in J K Rowling’s Potter series. It is
like the Time Machine of H. G. Wells. Turning pages of this
memory-booklet is like unwinding the time in Time-Turner or
travelling back in the Time Machine.
All credit for this sort of meticulous record keeping goes to the Documentation Committee. It
is really tough task. However, social media like Facebook is helping a lot to them in keeping
records. It was always satisfying to read their posts in the happenings with an interesting write-
up and a few photos. It is even more satisfying to revisit all those ‘happenings’ in this
Memorabilia, again.
When I look back at the quality of students who are passing out, I see that these students were
a bit quicker in adapting to technology than the previous batches. These students have surprised
me on several occasions. From presenting their work in digital form to working on online
surveys, or preparing certificates with mail-merge feature, or collecting data, or working in
collaboration, or even this Memorabilia itself . . . . With almost professional precision, they
used assistive technology. I hope the digital skills they have acquired and honed are going to
be very vital in their future career and life.
Another unique feature perceived in this batch was their courage and confidence to speak-up
and voice their happiness as well as angst and anxiety. Many of them wrote and some even
published good poems, short stories, social media posts and blogs.
This was the batch on which we worked very hard to
improve their English language. Not that these students
were very poor in English language. They possessed
normal English language skills which is common with all
other batches. However, this time we were able to spare
time for remedial classes, answer-writing workshops and
academic writing workshops. In a way, this batch is
fortunate to have many sessions of improving academic
English writing skills. Some of them have learned it and
displayed the improvement in their writings also.
It is a tradition that most of the activities are carried out
by students of the Department. They are divided in various committees and those willing to
lead become natural leaders. Every year, apart from regular co-curricular activities, some
unique activities are also planned by these committee members. This year,
 the Library committee planned a visit of Barton Library. This library is historically
very important site for all book lovers,
 the ICT committee organised workshop for P.G. students of all departments and
exposed them to basic digital tools. The entire workshop was conducted by senior
students and even the resource persons were members of ICT committee,
 the Film Screening committee organised watching Hindi film Uri – The Surgical
Strike in the cinema theatre,
 the Art and Creativity committee organised various competitions on the occasion of
Guru Purnima and made digital display of short stories, paintings, poems, photographs
and rangoli and winners were selected by online public voting system,
 the Celebration committee celebrated International Day of Yoga at Department,
 the credit of maximum participation in Sports and Adventure activities goes to the
Sports and Recreation committee,
 the Gardening committee carried out projects to support Swacch Bharat / Clean India
campaign,
 the Daily Schedule committee organised some very courageous debates on
challenging issues like Pulwama Terror Attack, Adultery Act section 497 of IPC,
LGBT Act section 377 of IPC,
All members of the committee from Semester 4 and 2 are appreciated for these unique
activities. We know that all humans are not similar. Neither are we
born to do similar things in life, nor are we supposed to think alike.
We all are unique and the uniqueness shall be maintained,
irrespective of what-so-ever-life offers us. In spite of this, the fact
remains that this rule does not apply to leaders. The leaders are
supposed to be different from other people. The uniqueness of
leaders lies in the fact that they are ready to merge and assimilate
with one and all. That’s the sure way to lead the people. There is a
famous quote ascribed to Bruce Lee: “Be like water making its
way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find
a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will
disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you
put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes
the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it
can crash. Be water, my friend.” Leader are supposed to be like water. It is glad to see that
without knowing all these things most of you have displayed these characteristics. Be with it. In
future, you may unlearn many things and relearn also. But do not unlearn these characteristics of
leadership which you have acquired by being so – water like!

Lastly, keep reading literature. Great readers make for great leaders! Reading literature ripens our
maturity. The emotional, intelligence, spiritual, creativity, adversity, and physical quotients (EQ,
IQ, SQ, CQ, AQ, PQ of literature students / readers are much higher and deeper than students of
any other subjects / discipline. At the same time, I would like to suggest to watch as many films as
you can. In this year, we have seen the rise of web streaming services. It has opened new vistas for
acquiring all these quotients which altogether makes for literary quotients and literary sensibility.
If one wants to put it in arithmetic equation, it shall have an integer of multiplication. So, it can be
– LQ = IQ x EQ x SQ x CQ x AQ x PQ. In addition, L = B + eB + F + YT + WS +TV, wherein
Literature is equal to books, eBooks, films, YouTube, Web Steaming and Television. Do not nurture
bias against these mediums. Do not privilege one over the other. All are equally important for the
acquisition of literary quotient.

Wish you all the best for your future career and life. Keep sharing your achievements with us. We
will make anecdotes out of your achievements and turn you into role-models for upcoming batches
of students.

- Dilip Barad