Veritas ki khoj mein!
A letter to the students of Ashoka University.
Dear Ashokans,
Today I write to all of you (and I do include faculty, management as well administration members when I say Ashokans) in order to start what I think is an important conversation. Actually, it would be wrong for me to say that I am starting it. I already see this conversation seeping into dinner table conversations and college gossip between roommates. I was hoping to formalize it and indelibly ink it on paper (or screens), so that not only could the larger community be a part of it, but also so that posterity could look down upon this conversation with glittery eyes. I am sure a number of us in the student body will go on to do a myriad of unique things as our faculty already is. At that time some of us will surely write pieces eulogizing the University in the same manner as Fitzgerald writes about Princeton (http://fitzgerald.narod.ru/crackup/047e-princeton.html) or Tharoor writes about St. Stephen’s (https://www.gqindia.com/content/st-stephens-college-alumni-who-created-history/#st-stephens-college). But today I call upon you to write back to this column concretizing your vision for and of Ashoka University.
Over the summers, I was working alongside students from some of the top colleges of the world (Yale University, Duke University, LSE, Cambridge and Berkeley to name a few). Sitting in on conversations with them, I think a sense of regret would overshadow my thinking. When they started discussing their college lives (filled with secret societies and century old traditions and unlimited resources and an ocean of legacy), I was sure, that maybe I was missing out on something integral. But then I realized two things.
The first was that I would truly regret not having missed the chance of going to a top US college bankrolled entirely by my parents, but having missed the opportunity of trying to mould Ashoka in the light of top global educational institutions and giving them a run for their money.
The second realization was that my friends were swimming down a well-endowed stream. Something which had been created centuries earlier and they shall be mere ‘birds of passage’ as Professor Mukherjee puts it. They might even be remembered by their colleges if they do something worthwhile (maybe even land a place on their ‘Famous Alumni’ page). But they are not the ones who have created their institutions. They are now thriving on its success (which required a lot of handwork no doubt). Here is where our purpose and therefore the arc of our college lives needs to be different. We stand at the inception of something special. Unlike them, we know how we have got here since we have no legacy to look back upon. However, we cannot leave Ashoka to be as it was when we entered. In the first few days in college, I believe it was Anchit Jain who told me that, “you know in a way we are all a part of this start-up that is Ashoka.” The future of this start-up cannot merely be built of infrastructure and foreign institution tie ups. It has to be consisting of challenging peer groups, the standing of its faculty and the drive of its students.
Some of the top colleges of the world seem to be obsessed with Truth and Light. Harvard’s logo is only one word: Veritas (truth). Yale: Lux et Veritas (Light and Truth). Oxford says “The Lord is my Light”. In India St. Stephen’s even though doesn’t call this its motto, has this inscribed on the walls of the College Hall: “ Jesus said, “I am the Light of the World” (Or as Tharoor translated it “Jesus ne kahan, main Noor Jehan hoon”). Ashoka too, needs to be in search of its own Veritas and its own Noor Jehan.
Our truth should encompass us fighting mediocrity. We should absolve ourselves of public opinion and dictate perception instead of letting it be a tyrant upon us. It should involve us creating new things instead of merely copying anachronistic ideas and traditions (starting at replacing the concept of a ‘cultural fest’ that each and every college, school and housing complex in this country organizes that Banjaara has become with maybe something like a music festival that involves comedians and thinkers and makes an actual expo out of it). If we are to be called elitist, let us change that image to be an elitism of merit instead of inheritance.
We need to set standards which we hold ourselves against. These standards cannot have blinders on like those of professional colleges like the IITs and AIIMS. Nor can they be casual, bunking classes and reveling in second rateness as those found in our counterparts in Delhi University. Our standards need to be in sync not just with our times, but with our ambition and the future.
When we say Ashoka: it should conjure up an ethos and an idea, which is unique to out University; both important conditions to aspire towards. I would like to advocate for a fierce debate on what both these conditions should measure out to be.
My vision for Ashoka is that it should reign through the endless march of epochs, through coups and overtures, war and peace, acclivities and anticlines, nadirs and zeniths; in the face of great travesties and immovable odds, raise its head, towering above all else, calmly reminding all of India that it is the Institution that it both needs as well as deserves and it is here to stay.
Today we are at an important juncture: either we can merely be birds of passage and memorize from Plato to Manto and Einstein to Eisenstein and cash in on the world that is looking for liberal arts students or also devote ourselves to what the Greeks said many eras ago: ’Ever to Excel, to do better than others, and to bring glory to your forebears’ by creating a University for the ages. The second journey would involve traversing on the road less travelled by: it will be tough and requires endured endearing. But I am sure, as Frost says, that is what will make all the difference.
The rock band Bon Jovi, in ’94 released an album ‘Cross Road’. As we are too at crossroads ourselves, I would like to remind you the title of a song from the same album: ‘Keep the Faith’. I too am keeping my faith in you as I invite you to write to me sharing your vision.
Thanking you,
Regards,
Sparsh Agarwal.
