In Solidarity with Satya
Teaching is one of the most challenging and under-rated jobs in the world. I say this not only because of my own work as an educator but from having seen, at close quarters, the intellectual rigour and emotional labour that go into mentoring young people as they navigate a complex world of experiences and ideas.
Being a teacher is not everyone’s cup of tea. It takes a combination of knowledge, skills and passion to be loved by your students. Trust me on this one. Scholarship alone does not make a teacher engaging, relevant and interesting. Students look for someone they can reach out to. They have a special gift for detecting bullshit in a jiffy.
The worst thing to do to a teacher is to take away their dignity, to tell them that their worth is equivalent to the money they make and not the minds they influence, to treat them as criminals simply for committing themselves to a life of reading and thinking. This is exactly what happened to Prof. K. Satyanarayana, a renowned Dalit Studies scholar and my former teacher at the English and Foreign Languages University in Hyderabad on August 28, 2018. We used to call him Satya.
The police raided and ransacked his house, took away books and gadgets, made casteist remarks, and humiliated him and his wife. There were no formal charges against him. He was targetted for being the son-in-law of writer and activist Varavara Rao, who was arrested for allegedly participating in a plot to assassinate Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rao has already been flown back home by the police.
I was pained to hear how Satya was treated. I am glad to know that he has decided to move the Supreme Court and stand up for his rights as a citizen of India. Teachers who wear their politics on their sleeve, who dream of a world with equity and justice, are scary to those who like to govern by suppressing and silencing. These powerful ones feel threatened by questions which come from who those who refuse to gulp down fake news, state propaganda and media trials.
Satya taught me an introductory module on Dalit Writing as part of a semester-long course titled ‘Indian Writing in English’ when I was pursuing my MA at EFLU. I remember him as a friendly, approachable and kind-hearted person. My favourite text from that time was Narendra Jadhav’s book Outcaste: A Memoir. It showed me a world that I was completely oblivious to.
Teachers who thrive on unsettling students from a life of privilege and ignorance are the most feared because they hold the power to change. We may or may not share or endorse their views but they deserve respect as human beings and as intellectuals. We can choose to register our dissent through dialogue. Intimidation is a weapon used by the insecure.
The author is a writer, educator and consultant. He tweets @chintan_connect, and can be emailed at chintangirishmodi@gmail.com
