I am so delighted
to share with y’all, dear gentle readers, about a particular Seminar that happened this last week,
which was so unique and a cut above the rest, on so many counts!
Well, initially, I was all curious, and all surprised, when I received a mail from a college student that said –
Well, initially, I was all curious, and all surprised, when I received a mail from a college student that said –
Dear Sir,
We the students from the
Department of English (Shift – II) Sacred Heart College, Tirupattur District
are planning to organize an invited talk on Postcolonial Studies. It is going
to be a student-organised talk. We would like to invite you as a resource
person for this invited talk… We would like to know when you are free, and give
us some details about… We are waiting for the confirmation date.
With regards,
Organising Committee
‘We the Students’
was the catchphrase that made me so curious! I’ve never received an invite of
this sorts, from the students of any Institution, in this manner! This one was hence special! This
one was hence unique!
Added, I was so
happy to see the enthusiasm and the vibrancy with which the mail was drafted
and sent across to me. ‘This is something quite new by all means’, me thought.
Still curious, yet
delighted and happy, I sent them a reply appreciating them on this noble
endeavour, and giving them three probable dates in the month of February for them to
choose from!
On my day of
departure too, right from the time I boarded the train, at around 5 in the
evening, they were keeping sweet tabs on me, through my journey all the way, and the
moment I alighted, at around 8 in the evening, four young men were there, all
sprightly and joyous, waiting to receive me with such excitement and dynamism
writ large in their faces!
They then drove
me up to my place of stay that they had booked for me - in their own private
car! And soon, by 9.30 pm they were back
again with a lovely parcel of food – ’Your dinner, sir’, – they said!
The next day, their own sweet Red-letter day, quite early into the morning, as is wont with me, I took a long
walk down the campus, to see delightful banners and festoons placed prominently
in campus, quite near the entrance, by the students themselves, heralding this,
their own Seminar on Postcolonial Studies!
Still, I was
quite curious! On what exactly was the spur and the prompt that made them organize
a Seminar of this sort, with little or no help from the management!?
Morning, the programme
started sharp on time, and I was there, on the dais, with the Fr. Additional
Principal, to a 400-strong audience. It was students all the way – be it the
student EmCees, the student choir, the student receptionists, the student
volunteers, the student facilitators, et al it was entirely of the students, by
the students, and for the students! There was not a faculty member anywhere in
eye’s way to be seen!
Fr. Dr. Maria Arockia
Raj, the Additional Principal, took to the podium to welcome the gathering,
when he said, I would like to share with the resource person, on the reason
behind this student-initiative in organising this Seminar, and he then proceeded to enlighten me and many of us
in the audience too, on this count!
Says Fr. Maria
Arockia Raj,
A few years back,
we had organized a Seminar in the Dept of English, when we found around twenty
of our students loitering around campus, not having bothered to participate in the
Seminar. It was then that I decided to make them realize the value, the
burden and the responsibility involved in organising a seminar.
I told those
twenty of them to organize a Seminar, all by themselves, by choosing for themselves the topic,
the resource persons, the venue and all the logistics concerned in organising
a Seminar. ‘We teachers would just not involve ourselves in any way. But you
guys have all the freedom to do it in your own way’, he had told them!
The very next
year, the students had taken their teacher’s words quite seriously and
had organized a grand seminar, and from then on, the trend has ever since continued,
he adds on a happy note!
‘We never ask
them anything about the topic of the Seminar, the name of the Resource Person
or any other logistical details, at all! It’s entirely up to them to decide on them all‘, he added.
And well, the memento that they gave me was quite amazing! A beautiful little tree sapling it was, along with a lovely book for reads! Curious yet again, I asked the organizers if these ‘tree saplings’ are given just for this once, when, to my sweet surprise, I got to know that, in fact, donating ‘tree saplings’ to every guest who came to SHC, was a practice with this good ol’ college for the past many many years! What a noble thought! What a noble gesture!
I promised them that I would sure plant it the moment I came back home! And true to my word, yes! I did! Here’s the snap for y’all, folks! ;-)
And well, the memento that they gave me was quite amazing! A beautiful little tree sapling it was, along with a lovely book for reads! Curious yet again, I asked the organizers if these ‘tree saplings’ are given just for this once, when, to my sweet surprise, I got to know that, in fact, donating ‘tree saplings’ to every guest who came to SHC, was a practice with this good ol’ college for the past many many years! What a noble thought! What a noble gesture!
I promised them that I would sure plant it the moment I came back home! And true to my word, yes! I did! Here’s the snap for y’all, folks! ;-)
In fact, after
his address, Fr. Maria Arockia Raj had to take leave of us from the auditorium for a host of his other
commitments, and there were just around three or four faculty members in the
huge auditorium, and that too, seated in the last rows, quite unobtrusive to others.
Yet, the
participants were so responsive, and so well-behaved right from the start till
the end of the talk.
When it was my
time now to return, Mr. Mouliswaran, Mr. Vijay and his friends promptly drove me back in their car for my evening train at
Jolarpet Junction. Midway through the drive, I could hear one of the students
whispering to his friend, ‘Stop at that shop I’d told you, da!’
I was now all curious to know
what they were up to!
Then he said a
bit louder to the student who doubled up as driver! ‘Macha, stop at a good coffee shop da. Sir loves
coffee!’ ;-)
I was all smiles! Donno from where they got this sweet little info!!! ;-)
And they did stop
at a coffee shop for me to have my delightful sippa coffee! ;-)
I couldn’t have
imagined this sweet little surprise in store for me at the fag end of the day!
Such thoughtful
student-organisers they were, in every sense of the word!
Right from the word
‘Go’ they had taken all the required care and concern to leave no stone unturned in making the
Seminar a success!
And well, I would
say, the Seminar was a grand success by all means!
I take this
opportunity to appreciate Fr. Dr. Maria Arockia Raj, for believing in the
students and their capabilities, and kudos to the student-organisers, under Mr. Mouliswaran, Mr. Vijay and others, who did an
amazing work in making the event a grand success.
More power to you
guys! So proud of y’all!
Way to go!!!
[Snaps are awaited. Will put them up once i get them!]