Knowledge had never been for a price.
Amongst the countless deep principals that we have effortlessly dismissed in the world of today, there is one of Guru-Shishya parampara. A sculpting of years, in the humblest of places, strict yet tender, unforgiving yet understanding, testing yet aware and knowing; that was then. In the world of today, where education and knowledge are barely overlapping, where a professor and a Guru are not the same person, where learning is curriculum bound, we are in a chaotic soup of syllabus and courses without the introspective churning of the body, mind and intellect.
As of me, I have been lucky enough to have gotten the same sculpting in my two and a half years of NID. Little did I know that when he was being strict, it was so that I would give my best, when he seemed to be unforgiving he understood everything in his heart, when he was testing, he knew what he was doing for us.
It was like living the dream without ever having dreamt it.
I have hated him, fought with him, learnt from him but most importantly I have known him. Known him for the man who practiced what he preached and for the first time I had someone in my life who knew what he was talking about; he followed the principles he wanted his students to follow. When a fellow classmate of mine asked him on day one if there were any ground rules he wanted us to follow through the course duration, he spoke of something which did not directly affect our education but indirectly affected us, which would not be a hurdle to him but would be a speed breaker in our growth as individuals. Why did he do this? A stranger to fifteen young strangers and yet speaking of that which would matter in our lives in a place where no one bothered about those. That is the man, who today is being given a verdict in the name of justice for those very countless acts. Serves him right! After all we live in a world where gender equality is imperative but gender studies are offensive, where sex education is important for teenagers but confusing for students of a Master’s course, where proofs of science are dust compared to the unacceptability of the human mind. How dare he then, speak of knowing the self when the self is a hypocrite.
In my engineering we had courses and their syllabus but in NID, I discovered that learning cannot be bound by “topics to cover”. You are an explorer and it depends upon your capacity to cross oceans of perspectives to then arrive at something of your own because you saw what no one else could, you read what no one else did, you connected what no one else ever dreamt together. It is sad to say that this institute of National Importance has reached a stage where a student has more say about “course content” than a faculty who designed the “multiperspective course” after 25 years of experience with the intent of bringing knowledge to the table. Ironic that a place which was started with the vision of interdisciplinary studies has not only secluded disciplines but also put boundaries on the plane of myriad connections between the infinite areas of studies. No one knows what this boundary can capture, but one knows for sure that what is lost is unthinkable in comparison.
What we went through in the years of learning at NID was exciting, confusing, weird at times and sometimes completely “huh?!??”. What was never lost, was the sense of respect and faith in the process because of the person. The day we left NID and entered the real world, was when the first wave of sense making hit. The real world needs real insights, the real world needs people who can process layers of behaviour and functioning and decode the drivers. It is this very man who taught us to decode those drivers with neutrality sans the ripples of emotional instabilities.
We learnt to make our own theories, models, processes, algorithms and strategies with the courage and strength of the holistic approach of those years. Whenever a new book or research paper got added to the already long list, the adult in us worried about “ek aur book?????!”, but the child in us got excited because we had the latest and the best name whenever we needed any reference.
The layers of reality are often misunderstood as the truth. Do we know if we have managed to reach the core or are we happy at the surface?
He would be the first idiot in reality to have genuinely confessed, “Main Science ki taraf see hoon”. But idiots are often misunderstood and unfortunate for this place that it did the same. There isn’t a Virus for every Rancho who ultimately understands him. Lost has NID the one torch bearer of science and spirituality, a dedicated man to the mission of learning, a student of multiple accolades and teacher who many adored.
Knowledge has today paid the price.
#savethetruth
