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Heeding the Call |
DILIP D’SOUZA (’76
EEE)
Dilip D’Souza
is a
prolific writer for several publications and is a member of the
Editorial Board of BITSAA Sandpaper. For more of Dilip’s
musings, visit
his blog |
TRAVELLED
to Rajasthan recently. By road. Entered the state at its southwestern
end, town called Sanchor on NH-15. But here's the thing: almost from
the minute I entered, I began feeling the distant call from a little
town way the hell over on the other end of the state, that place where
generations have grown to be women and men of substance. I knew the
call would come, and that's why my travelling buddy and I planned a
night halt there. But for various unfortunate reasons, we had to
cancel, less than 24 hours before we would have arrived in Pilani.
Too bad. But the call, it was there. And when it next comes, I will
heed it.
As
something of a substitute, though from my Pilani-biased perspective a
poor one, we visited another place where they teach things to students,
MBA types. (Aside: why do people do MBAs? Decades out of college
myself, and I'm still trying to figure that puzzle). Withou knowing it
would happen, we found ourselves thrust into a class full of them.
Bright eyes and eager faces listening to what two middle-aged men,
dusty from days on the road, could find to say off the top of their
heads: it must have been quite a sight. But yes, they listened.
Then
they asked many questions, and we would have loved to go on discussing
stuff till the cows came home, but a bell rang and we were shepherded
out.
But I found myself brooding over one question in
particular. Apropos of nothing else that had come up for discussion,
one young man put up his hand and wanted to know our opinion about what
he called "recent peace moves towards Pakistan." Like it often happens,
he didn't really want to know our opinion, he wanted the chance to
offer his: that this was going to be a disaster for India because
Pakistan instigates terrorism against us and Pakistanis cannot be
trusted and they are a dictatorship and we will never compromise on
even an inch of our land and we have been so kind to them for so long
and our patience is wearing out and our position is morally right and
Kashmir belongs to us! (Said in pretty much that breathless fashion).
This
is not the space to get into a dissection of all those allegations and
arguments. But I mention it here because at the time, it struck me that
he was saying essentially what our governments have said for years
about Pakistan. What, therefore, a lot of Indians say about Pakistan.
Nothing wrong there. But it also struck me, as we discussed what he had
said a little bit, that he would not, or could not, question these
statements. In fact, he seemed unable to imagine that they could be
questioned at all. To him, these were givens. Much
like observing that the sun comes up in the east. Who would question
that?
And
I wondered how it was that this man had missed the fundamental lesson
of education and citizenship that I think I picked up in that little
eastern Rajasthan town those decades ago. In a word, questioning.
Question everything, authority especially, yourself always. This does
not mean that you go through life disbelieving everything. Question,
that's all. Question and satisfy yourself about the answers as they are
given, that's fine. But question.
Yet with this bright-eyed
student, I got the distinct feeling that the very idea of questioning,
at least with the Pakistan issue, was not even a possibility.
Why do
I say I picked it up in Pilani? It's not that our professors, whatever
the subject, told us to do it in every class; not that they dinned it
into our heads. We didn't have a course anything like the one I know
IIT Kanpur recently offered its students, "Responsible Dissent". No,
there was no explicit, overt mention of the value of questioning and
scepticism.
But it was certainly there: unstated and subliminal, perhaps, but there.
And here's where I think it came from: the much tom-tommed "broad-based
education" BITS offers.
Think
about it. Why, after all, should an electrical engineer know anything
about economics? Why should a physicist know anything about sociology?
Why should a computer scientist know anything about English literature?
Yet if these are BITS graduates, it's likely they have taken such
courses.
And what's the value of it all? In a previous column
here, I wrote about the different paths that BITS alumni have taken,
and of how that's a tribute to the kind of place it was and the
education it gave us. That's the value.
But more subtly, I
believe the exposure to a wide range of subjects and issues gives you
the tools, the confidence, for that process of questioning. When you're
immersed in one subject, it is easy to emerge thinking that's the way
of the world. Yet of course, it isn't, and that's the sometimes harsh
lesson you have to learn. It's when you understand that there are
multiple truths out there, different ways of looking at things around
you, that you begin to ask questions.
In fact, this is precisely
why two professors at IIT Kanpur -- one in Computer Science -- came up
with the idea of the "Responsible Dissent" course in 2001. They were
increasingly worried by the kind of citizens that great institution was
turning out, with its relentless focus on specific engineering
disciplines.
Now I have no idea which college my young friend
with the firm opinions on Pakistan graduated from. I also have no doubt
there are plenty of BITS alumni who have just as firm opinions -- on
Pakistan and on other issues -- that they will not question.
Still,
my feeling is -- and believe me, I am trying hard not to be the alumnus
holding a worshipful candle for the alma mater -- my feeling is that as
a rule, people graduate from BITS with a certain openness of mind and
spirit. And I think that comes from the kind of education. BITS has
always prided itself for offering.
And -- to return to my road
trip -- that's really why I feel that call whenever I enter Rajasthan.
Because as the years go by, you appreciate that spirit more and more.
You appreciate the place in your life, the time in your life, that you
learned those lessons.
So really, the next time that call comes, I will certainly heed it!
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