Tuesday, October 04, 2005

SILCHAR JOURNAL III


Autumn is here!Mahalaya cassettes are replacing Hindi songs in odd shops!

And the weather is ….Well now hot! Now cool! now dry and dusty! Now wet and muddy!

That’s how the weather works here

By the way, I am still in Silchar...But I wont be for the next few weeks ...Puja vacation :)

Plan to spend it in a distant foreign land called home...Alias Kolkata

Last few days, well months have been sickeningly hectic (literally, I keep on falling sick these days)For some mysterious reasons of which I have no idea, I have apparently emerged as one of the cultural connoisseurs of the university,And come conferences, workshops vc’s meet Teachers association subcommittee And I am always there taking care of the cultural bit (there is always a bit of that bit) along with some colleagues..

I cannot say I don’t find it rewarding.Students here are amazingly talented. And they come from such diverse background, that they have so much to offer..The other day we had a northeast folk dance showcaseAnd it was dazzling !slow solemn Dimasa dance, vigorous Naga dance, rhythmic tea tribe dance in a melancholy tune, fun dance of dhamail…and they looked gorgeous in their traditional dresses..I felt privileged to be among them.

My colleagues… they are also from diverse backgroundfrom kanyakumari to Kashmir

From strict vegetarian to very strict non-vegetarian

From the rightest of right wings and leftest of lefts

From teetotaller to sworn boozers

But they have some things in common. They all, well most of them at least, seem bored and dissatisfied. Of course there is a good explanation. Intellectuals should always be dissatisfied …And teachers are such a boring lot, that they often end up boring themselvesas always,lookng forward to hear from you all

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