What is happening to EPW?

Times are changing and the whole world has turned right. Left initiatives are falling by the wayside. Some are being destroyed. (JNU - a bastion of left thought) The drift is clearly visible in Economic and Political Weekly. Its iconic position as a journal with high quality academic papers in economics, politics, management, gender studies is eroded now. It is an internationally known journal and getting published in it was a milepost in one's career.
It does not attract serious economic papers anymore. The fraternity of economists has decided that it has bent too leftwards to be objective. Senior bureaucrats used to read it regularly and contribute to it. They have stopped doing so. This has been stated in one of the invited pieces from past illustrious contributors.
For one thing, the generation of economists who wrote in stylish English and has a political economy angle to their discourse is extinct. Younger economists are more technical in their approach. Their reading is poor and career aspirations high. Their choice of subjects is also different.
I go through each EPW issue by force of habit and get saddened each time. Each reading guaranteed plenty of stimulus and food for thought in the past. Now it feels so tired and the topics are also tertiary.

East of the Sun by Julia Gregson, Orion paperbacks, 2008

Three young English girls join the fishing fleet and come to India in search of husbands. One is the right material for becoming a memsahib; another is afraid of having to 'return empty' because she is fat and a straight talker and the last one is a penniless orphan in search of adventure. All three fulfill their desires but with lots of upheaval in their life.
A strange book: a modern, pet plot has been grafted on some research on colonial India. A far cry from Flora Annie Steel or Maud Diver. I will go so far as to call it an attempt to deconstruct the colonial experience.
Julia Gregson worked as a model, journalist and foreign correspondent before turning to writing fiction. She is a romantic who has worked hard to introduce realism and a lot of period (1928-30) detail in this book. Many details are wrong - particularly the names of Indians, their customs and idiom. Some other characters are strange. The writing is tedious in many a place. Tighter editing was required.
Still the book works. So many new novelists are working and fishing for ideas. A lot is always happening in English literature.

Nil battey sannata

Curious title. It is an idiom in Hindi meaning that nothing works out for some people.
That is what Chanda Sahay fears will happen to her daughter who has no aspirations. Chanda is full of them. The two make up their family. They are poor but Chanda's hard work ensures that the daughter is well cared for, not short on necessities.
At the behest of Chanda's employer, she joins school - the same class as her daughter's and starts picking up. The daughter starts competing and does better only to have her mother out of the school. And she promptly gives up studying.
In the end, the daughter now chastened and motivated passes civil services exam with maths as her main subject.
A simple, motivational piece. Straight forward narrative. Small town reality near Agra shown with feeling. Competent acting.
Simple end. It was not necessary to show that civil services examination bit. Viewers can easily join the dots and there are so many careers open today! They are not as difficult as IAS but are equally fulfilling albeit after some adjustment.
Good for young folks.
Ok while it lasted and I promptly forgot it the moment I stepped out of the theatre.

Stopping by woods on a snowy evening - Robert Frost

Whose woods are these
I think I know
His  farm house is in the village though
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farm house near
Between the woods and the frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is a mistake
The only other sound is the sweep
Of easy snow and downy flake

The woods are lovely, dark and  deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep

Every educated Indian knows the last stanza of the poem because it was Nehru's favourite.
How did the poem get written?
Frost wanted to buy some Christmas gift for his children. Magazines that published his poems, did not pay in time. So he decided to sell some stored food grains to buy the gifts. Even that proved impossible. On his way back home at night, he lost his way with his horse. He despaired but got a hold over himself for the sake of his children and reached home late at night. Children were asleep. Frost crafted some wooden toys for them and Christmas dawned.
Frost left for England soon afterwards. This Christmas eve was etched on his mind and thus the famous poem came about.
We think it is about the valour of a soldier.
I read about the background in 'Zapurza' (Marathi) by Achyut Godbole and Neelambari Joshi

Graduation ceremony in college

Call it decentralization by force. The university of Pune cannot cope with the vast number of students earning degrees year after year. It has restricted its geographical spread of affiliation to only 3 districts. By one swift fiat it has handed over first year examinations to colleges and now this is the latest. After persistent criticism about traffic jams caused on the convocation day, the university has decreed that colleges would conduct a graduation ceremony so that the university can confine itself to post graduate and other degrees.

The year 2015-16 was supposed to be a grace year in which colleges could take over graduation if they wanted to. However, last week the university came out with an order and asked colleges to conduct graduation ceremonies before April 2016 end.

Examinations are going on or some are over; students have stopped coming to colleges; public holidays have come; non-teaching staff is not available - a number of points were raised but the university turned a deaf ear to them all. It provided degree certificates, convocation gowns to the colleges and asked them to proceed. The college copied the university convocation pattern and held its first graduation ceremony on 11th April.

The time was changed twice and venue once. The staff members and the few parents who turned up stared at one another with embarrassment. At the main function, all the dignitaries waited before the photo of goddess Saraswati to light the traditional lamp. The match box was missing.As the rank-holders' went up on the dais to receive their degrees, a girl fell down - from the stage into the prompter's cubicle and hurt herself.

And yet, the function was a glorious success. Afraid of the anonymity of the university, the students turned up in force to visit their Alma mater. They took the lapses in their stride because they are familiar with them. All were happy to visit the college after a lapse of a year. They envied the rank-holders who got to don black silk gowns and rectangular caps. The students and the council members in identical but maroon gowns and caps looked smart. Their procession was solemn. The proceedings were in chaste Marathi but were heard with respect. The chief guest's address was short and pertinent. The university anthem and national anthem were played and sung with affection. It was heart-warming to see this triumph of academics.

The graduation function is a nice addition to the college calendar. It also makes the end result more visible to students and so its importance goes up.

Today is my day

Heard of a Marathi movie of this title? (Well, it becomes 'aajacha divas maza' in Marathi)
I had not until recently. On 27 March 2016 it was telecast on one of the Marathi channels. My idle surfing in the evening revealed it and I could connect with another quick view in the past. So I paid more attention. And I was in for a pleasant surprise.
A good movie which holds full attention of the viewer. Later you realise it has not enriched you but it is good while it lasts.
The plot: the chief minister of Maharashtra is back from Delhi where he has managed to keep his detractors at bay and has won a second tenure. This in spite of the governor playing tricks. He attends a wedding in the evening where he ticks off the governor and also unwittingly insults a blind singer. His conscience keeps pricking him and he decides to atone himself by giving the singer what he had requested - a flat in Mumbai before the new day dawns.
The commissioner raises every objection but the CM overrides him and the house key is handed over in the early morning.
From 'Simhasan' onwards, showing political life on screen has become very easy for our film industry. Sachin Khedekar as CM was very natural - better than late Vilasrao Deshmukh who liked acting like a hero! Hrishikesh Joshi as CM's PA was excellent. Mahesh Manjrekar as commissioner - impressive and a lot of artists who have now become well known on the small screen. Satam, the steno who pretends he is hospitalized but is forced to come to office at midnight - the actor raised a few good laughs.
Some serious statements about the working of bureaucracy were made and the movie was over.

Students

Schedule of annual examinations has been announced and there is a mad rush of students to finish their journals. The submission dates are long over but who wants to follow the straight boring path? The popular short cut is to condense the whole year's work in two days! On day one, obtain the teacher's signature on the journal in which everything is copied and on day two, finish the viva!
Students come prepared with a battery of excuses to overcome any barriers in this chosen path. They look at the teacher and lie with a deadpan expression.
Then the yelling and shouting by teachers begins. They are driven to the wall and must do summary justice. In the process, they give short shrift to genuine needy students.
One such student approached me a few days ago. Attendance of 3 or 4 lectures in the whole year and late submission, too. A good looking, fair fellow with a noticeable lack of confidence. Inability to say anything coherent. A case out of the ordinary.
I persisted in asking questions.
"No, I cannot attend lectures."
"Cannot? Why?"
"Often I don't have money for transport."
"You mean your bus fare?"
He nods his head mutely. I take some time to digest this piece of information.
"There are times when I am forced to put up with my aunt. She is unable to give me money."
Some time passes when I ponder over this. His eyes are full of tears.
"Your parents are here?"
"Yes but they fight and every now and then I have to come and stay with my aunt."
"Any siblings?"
"Younger sister She is in 8th standard."
Further inquiries reveal that his father has a regular job in a good company. His mother is a home maker and their fights have a long history. Father gives an allowance to mother but it is released bit by bit and so there is always a shortage of money.
"Father wanted me to appear for CA entrance examination. I did but could not clear it. Since then he is very angry with me. Many a time he has told me that he does not want to see my face." The boy can hardly utter these words properly. The rejection has gone so deep that he has rejected himself.
I try to counsel to the best of my abilities. " There are several ways to succeed in life. Becoming a CA is only one of them. There are enough opportunities in life for everyone to become successful. You have started with a handicap for no fault of yours. Work hard.Take up a job. Allow time so that things can work out but have faith in yourself."
I realize the inadequacy of my words even while I am mouthing them.
What will happen to this fellow? Will things work out or will a life be wasted? Most probably the latter but will I ever come to know?

Assignments

Marketing students are very happy with their last 3 assignments.
"Instead of just copying, we got to do something ourselves, something hands on."
What did they do?
They collected some print advertisements and analyzed them. Then in pairs, they designed their own ad and presented it in the class inviting teacher's terse feedback. Then they conducted a small survey to find out how far some brands were familiar and were liked by people.
In the past, the survey was rather elaborate. It had a rating scale to measure five levels of familiarity and favourability of brands. Most of the students could not handle that complexity. So the rating scales were discarded this year.
Apart from students enjoyment and the fact that no one copied it - everybody did it on his/ her own - it was found that Vicco Vajradanti, Nirma and Tata Nano were known to everybody but not liked. In fact, many respondents said that they were irritated by the incessant promotion of the first two brands.
Quite a finding for a small survey.

Students' project reports

A compulsory part of post-graduation. A student must choose a topic of her liking, develop a plan of research, prepare an outline and chapter scheme and by the end of the last term, produce 2 bound and printed copies of the project report with minimum 50 pages. It must be written as a research report i.e. it must have a methodology section, it must combine primary and secondary data and have some analysis followed by a conclusion. The syllabus also mentions hypotheses formulation and testing!
A tall order for students who have never thought about anything in the syllabus on their own. They have learnt by heart the textbooks which deal with the given syllabus without introducing any additional or new topic/ sentence or even a new word.
Sure, there is a previous paper of research methodology which covers the usual topics but it has never occurred to students that they will have to apply it themselves to their own projects rather than mugging up answers to questions like: What is primary data? What is the difference between open ended and close ended questions in a questionnaire? What is a good hypothesis? etc.
Students are utterly at sea. They approach teachers and ask for topics. When ready-made topics are not forthcoming, they go to the other extreme and start the lookout for completed projects. They are easily available: aplenty on internet and in the form of ready printed copies to be bought from bookshops serving the student community. However, some teachers can spot them a mile off. They open the report, put their finger on a randomly selected page and ask students to explain the meaning. The awkward silence that follows is a straight giveaway.
So students mostly settle for case studies.  A sister or brother or father working in a firm - details are never revealed - is the source of information. Any information available from this source is neatly typed out and shown to the teacher with great reverence. The teacher however, yells at them about research design.
Then some theory is added and some hypotheses are worked out. They are so general that any study has to validate them. The validation takes place qualitatively, never in a rigourous manner.
The teacher is impatient and cannot explain properly as her 0wn knowledge and vocabulary are shockingly limited. Much confusion, shouting, heart-burning and tears follow and somehow the report is cobbled together. specimen of questionnaires, certificates given by outsiders are in great demand because they help in reaching the magic figure of 50 pages.
There must be a certificate by their teacher or project guide at the beginning. It must also be signed by the Head of Department (HoD). Although the students have copied the format from previous years reports, they have forgotten to provide space for HoD signature.
So the HoD writes her name in long hand and signs. Students wince. They treat the handwritten matter as an ugly blot on their neat, printed work. The HoD glances at the Contents page.
Organization structure -- page 30
On page 30, there is neither an organization chart nor any other relevant details. They appear after two pages. The gap between actual page numbers and contents widens. The page numbers must be corrected.
"Now? How when everything is bound? Shall I paste another sheet on the current page?"
"No. Just cancel the present numbers and write the correct ones by their side."
The student is aghast. The whole report will now look shabby.
The HoD's plea that its real worth would go up falls on deaf ears.
Only her warning "Do it or I shall." brings forth a grudging compliance.
And we go on.