Last week, Tagore Arts College (T.A.C.) - the first
premier institute for higher education in Pondicherry celebrated its Golden
jubilee. Incidentally this institution also happens to be
my Alma matter and the event managers/ organizers were kind enough to remember
me and extended invitation for the inaugural function. Given my prior commitment
and academic engagement I could not participate.
Through media, as a distant observer I learn t from
the deliberations that every one spoke about the need for giving recognition to
an institution which has completed its fifty years of physical existence. Thnak
God, the T.A.C has survived successfully, by silently producing many scholars
and bureaucrats amidst all the chaos inherently built into the institution.
I was privileged to address the student community
and the faculty under the shamina erected in front of the building, just a year ago
and at that time I understood the existential dilemma of the institution which
nursed and nurtured people like us academically. I had my natural guts and
innate academic commitment to outsmart the hooliganism displayed by a few
drunkards on that day. I will try to revisit that event at a late stage in tranquility.
In the Golden jubilee celebration, the Chief
Minister reiterated his commitment to the establishment of state university and
another agricultural university. I was told that another speaker, a former
student my contemporary then gave a
novel idea that the university shall be started in the T.A.C.Campus.
It is just
puzzling and perplexing to hear how the
elite and the intelligentia could be so hypocratical and artificial in their utternaces
and action as the very same people hardly paid any attention to preserve and maintain minimum
academic law and order in the campus
.
This is not to say or suggest that everything is in
shambles and there is no redemption for T.A.C. There are still many stalwarts
and eager students keen to learn and prove themselves as worthy students in a
government institution in order that the old academic legacy of the 60s and 70s
could be re invented.
At this moment I think about one professor .Bala
Krishna Nair, who did the real
magic as
the first principal of the college . Having made a mark in presidency
college Madras, he could instill
discipline and professional honesty in T.A.C .
I take this opportunity to remind our C.M of
Puducherry , who has rightly lamented that our region should produce more I.A.S officers that an old T.A.C student who was lucky to study
M.A. economics under our dispensation , eventually elevated himself to the
status of I.E.S and currently he holds
the position of Additional Economic Advisor
in the Finance Ministry . In his education and ultimate elevation , a
few faculty members played a prominent
role and among them I will mention my own contribution and that of Dr.Dharma Lingam , a scholar of repute .
It would have been more appropriate if the event
managers of the function have taken pains to honor Satish kind of students on
the stage and thus motivate the budding scholars to rise to exalted position.
Personally speaking, it was a rewarding experience
for me to study economics under the regime of Prof.Sasankan and
Prof.Palani.G.Periya sami. I am thankful to the Lord for my education – the most
foundational one at T.A.C and come out as college first which gave me a birth
in Madras Presidency College. Otherwise I would have ended up my life as a
clerk in Government office or taken over my Father’s profession. And who knows? I would have made more money in life.
Before I conclude this piece , I can only pray to the Lord sleeping in heavens that the
institution should be freed from all
kinds of divisive and destructive politics and a strong leader should take over the administration , giving
strength and support to both students and faculty .
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