As I write this, both the teaching and the non-teaching staff are on strike at Tagore’s Visva Bharati University. This not only extends the long Puja holidays that the teachers and students have already had, but makes it clear to those with any interest in academia that syllabi will not be completed in time for the November semester exams.
But for those on strike the future of a few thousand students is only a minor consideration in their search for justice — rampant corruption and nepotism by the vice chancellor (VC) of the university and their demand is that he should be removed. The man in question has responded by saying that he will go by the messages his soul receives from the Maharishi (Tagore’s father, for the uninitiated) himself and has so far refused to step down! And just when one would think that political parties in West Bengal have their hands full with all the violence of the Maoists and their preparation for 2011 elections, not one has failed to get to Santiniketan and support the cause of the VC’s removal.
Whatever be the allegations and counter allegations, this has become, for many years now, quite the norm for Tagore’s beloved ashram school. The honeymoon with any VC lasts as long as he does not do anything. For all the time that he takes to understand what he needs to do, his colleagues do not stop singing his praises, but when he actually starts implementing anything, it seems to be against the heritage of Tagore!
Since we run a coffee shop which is frequented by students and teachers and tourists who come in search of the mythical peace of Santiniketan, we get to hear everyone’s take on the strike. The students seem completely indifferent as they cackle over their tea and pakoras, the teachers cynical, hoping that the strike call is lifted before payday and the tourists bewildered. “What are the issues did you say?”
In all of this what is sad for bystanders like us (who have never had any links with the university), is to watch the rot getting to the core. Since Santiniketan is an extension of the old town of Bolpur (Tagore’s ashram area was named Santiniketan) there has always been an interesting relationship between the two. Santiniketan depended for much of its everyday supplies on Bolpur. But the residents traditionally felt superior to those who live in Bolpur, breathing as they were the same air as Tagore. Despite things having changed, there still exists an aura for those living on the right side of the imaginary border between Bolpur and Santiniketan.
Patha Bhavana, the school that was instituted by Tagore traditionally excelled in both academic and extra-curricular training. I am always amazed at how upon entering many a home in Santiniketan I know at once that the master or the mistress or both are ex-students of Patha Bhavana.
But from what I come to know from my evenings at the cafe, many of the parents of those students now studying at Patha Bhavana are actually looking for mastermoshais who teach in Bolpur schools. Apparently the standard of teaching at Patha Bhavana has dropped so much that parents are being forced to look elsewhere for supplementation. And the students are complaining of all the rather meaningless tradition that they have to adhere to simply to keep alive the Tagore heritage. Much of the meaning is gone; the teachers of today neither know nor care; only the rituals remain.
But what I thought was truly at the core of the rot are that teachers at Visva Bharati themselves are putting their wards in the care of teachers from Bolpur. As they furtively ferry their children on bicycles, bikes or rickshaws to their teachers in Bolpur, I wonder if they realise the long-term harm they are doing, to the brand Visva Bharati.
