The other day in the class, before beginning to lecture on Central Bank’s intervention in forex market and draw its implications for management of monetary policy, I recalled two episodes (academic), the one- very recent- visit to AVC College, Mayavaram, in connection with rereading of Keynes General Theory Workshop, on the eve of 75th anniversary of its publication and another, a distant one- an occasion when Prof.Paul Krugman got the Nobel Prize. I just told my audience that how these occasions, made me to float on sea of happiness, a feeling which one can only internalize, but not adequately express.
While writing a lengthy introduction to Keynes General Theory in 2005, Paul Krugman made a confession that, he read that classic as a student, but later he hardly touched it; nevertheless while writing this lengthy introduction, which by itself a classic commentary on a classic work, he read General Theory again and passed on the central message of Keynes, how did he do it, what he missed it and so on, to lesser privileged people like us who have a passionate interest in the subject in general and Keynes work in particular but definitely lacking scholarship his work, but Lack of scholarship to wade through the complex , disorderly and slippery water of Keynes work- A book, definitely not well written , despite the author’s incredible command and mastery over English Prose.
Prof. Neela Kanthan , form Director of Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), now about 75 years old was an ideal and fitting personality to deliver the keynote address, and did full justice to the job assigned to him .His PowerPoint presentation was a great exercise in scholarship by extracting the essentials of Keynes General Theory. Thanks to Prof.Ramgopal of Annamalai University, the co- organizer of the workshop and Dr.Ramaswamy, HOD, Dept of Economics, AVC College, Mayavaram I was also a part of that Keynes club and the philosophical musings on Keynes Monetary Theory in General Theory- the topic given to me for articulation , will ever linger in my green memory. I thankful to the Lord , sleeping in heavens , who really made to recollect , reinvent and rediscover my potentials by revisiting my old Guru, Harry.G.Johnson, about whom, the modern generation of students of Economics may not be knowing much .
In the last few months I have been facing something called betrayal of love from those who do not know the value of life, the meaning of friendship and the purpose of our existence . Like Paul Krugman, when he got the Nobel Prize, John Maynard Keynes Genral Theory’s 75th anniversary celebration made me happy.
Life has been never fare to the good and the honest. I have written this already in the column. Whatever happens in life we should not abdicate out social responsibility and our inherent tendency to love the fellow human. I am a blessed man on Earth in the sense that I can always romance with my subject in my own way without getting anybody’s applause or approval. Thank God that I am not alone in this world. The subject is always providing me the much needed comfort and peace in life.
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