Maharaja's college. FileI have always associated myself with Maharaja’s College with pride. Now, I am saddened by the actions of some of the students and teachers of the landmark college of Ernakulam. They have crossed the limits of public decorum.
The college strengthened me by instilling limitless confidence. Even we had our share of disagreements with teachers and students. Maharaja’s taught us to debate with those who disagree with us. That is history now.
Changampuzha Krishna Pilla’s ‘Vazhakkula’ was instrumental in fostering a sense of equality in the Malayali psyche. Many among us became communists after reading the legendary poem which projected the ordinary Malayappulayan to the center stage dominated by kings and lords. The unlikely protagonist proclaimed that he had a right to live as a human being like any other.
If someone decides to write an obscene poem that puts ‘Vazhakkula’ in a bad light, let us forgive him. Anyone has the right to write bad poems. Even the students who were silly enough to post that poem on the college walls deserve forgiveness. After all, those walls have seen far worse graffiti.
At the same time, it is a matter of concern that those students did not have any wise teachers to prevent them. The series of incidents led to the animosity towards the principal.
The students who burned the principal’s chair to burn her in effigy should know that education is also about knowing the limits of disagreement to the principal and other teachers.
I was always a critic of the Left ideology. All my students knew that. Still all students listened to me, including Sindhu Joy, then a state-level leader of the SFI. Of course, not all of them agreed with me all the time. But they never hated me.
Today, the students are letting their disagreement grow into disgust. A teachers’ association demands the ouster of the principal. The next day, the students barge into her office and carry the official chair out and burn it.
I sincerely wish that none of these students grow up to become a politician. Politics is a platform to uphold the greatness of human beings. Maharaja’s taught me that. That college has degraded into an intellectual and moral morass.
I appeal to the wise political leadership to show the students a way out of this condition.
(The writer is a former vice chancellor of the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit at Kalady and former chairman of the Kerala Public Service Commission.)
