'So everything sort of came together, just at the point when I thought that nothing was ever going to work out!'

Rendezvous with A Legendary Art Historian

@ MCC Today

Deborah Thiagarajan, Founder & Director, DakshinaChitra - in Conversation with Preesha and Malar

One little spark was enough for Deborah Thiagarajan to launch her ambitious project!

And what pray, do you think was the spark?

Well, while working in tandem with Tamil Nadu Nutrition Project and CARE, Deborah had the privilege of interacting with a lot of villagers especially in the Karur – Pollachi regions. It was then that she noticed a void – a lacuna of sorts –

She found that, quite a lot of art & crafts skills were slowly perishing because of sheer callousness and neglect! There was no possible drive to support and help thrive the slowly fading community of artisans!

This then became her inspiration to found DakshinaChitra – a great grand abode for the promotion, preservation and propagation of all aspects of the unique art and craft of South India!

Coming back to the event under discussion –

The Centre for Women’s Studies had their inauguration today in the Anderson Hall, with Ms. Deborah Thiagarajan as their chief guest.

Ms. Deborah – just 79 years young - gave a powerful speech to the packed audience on the topic, ‘Following your Dreams’.

I had no idea that I would be setting up a heritage museum. But it all fell in place because of team work. Team work is very important today. It takes discipline, perseverance and a lot of effort. But it’s worth it.

Moreover, those of us who are privileged to be educated, have the onerous duty of giving back to society in some little ways that we can!

My daughter has got a vibrant, indefatigable competitive spirit on her – something that she has acquired during her days as a student in MCC, 

said Ms. Deborah Thiagarajan!

Well, well, it was a momentous occasion you see!

So not wanting to miss out on this lovely opportunity, we had asked the II MA English students if any of them would be interested in doing a candid, spontaneous interview with Ms. Deborah!

Two of our vibrant students – Ms. Preesha and Ms. Malar gladly volunteered!

[Special thanks to Dr. Sheeba Davidson, Coordinator, CWS, and our Vice-Principal Prof. Sridhar, who gladly gave their go-ahead for our students to do an interview with Ms. Deborah]

Ms. Malar and Ms. Preesha in conversation with Ms. Deborah Thiagarajan

The students asked highly thought-provoking and engaging questions to Ms. Deborah, who responded cheerfully - all through their 23 minute-long conversation.

Giving here below, a transcript of the first part of the interview -

Says Ms. Deborah, Art Historian & Founder & Director of DakshinaChitra Heritage Museum, Chennai -  

Well, I had to study folk performing arts, then I had to spend two full years studying architecture, so we would know what are the specifics of particular architectural plans, had to study various languages, to study the architecture in the vernacular of each state, we did a lot of school programmes, programmes especially for teachers, since we found out that most teachers had no idea about the many aspects of Indian music, Indian dance and Indian culture!

Malar: There must have been ups and downs, challenges in your journey. How do you face that? How do you overcome it?

There was one point, in 1991, when nothing was working out. I was thinking of telling my husband, I worked on this now for seven years, we’ve gone into schools and done a lot of programmes but nothing seems to be working! May be I have to go back to the US!

And just then he had a heart attack! He had a massive heart attack! He was 46 years old. While he was in the hospital, the TN government gave us land, and I got a grant from the Ford foundation. So no way could I leave! So everything sort of came together, just at the point when I thought that nothing was ever going to work out!

And then there were times when I thought I can never make this happen! I couldn’t find any contractor to come out and try to build myself with Laurie Baker. He was trying to teach me to be an architect! Back then, my daughter was far away. I needed to get the accounts together.

I think sometimes when you’re desperate, something falls from heaven! I believe in it.

Because as regards the architecture, I went one day to L&T, to meet the President for fund-raising. I couldn’t find anybody to help me. He said, he’s got a wonderful colleague who’s just retired, and that’s how Mr. Sharma came and helped me. He handled everything for me. Again, I reached out to Mr. Ramakrishnan, the President for the managing of the accounts. Suddenly someone told me, that he’s got a CA to help me manage the accounts. He did it so perfectly well, digitised the entire process, and everything fell in place!

There was a man, recommended by Mr. S. Muthiah, - who was a senior executive with a company – who helped us with all the administrative systems! Unfortunately he died when he was 56!

I then came to realise that, when you are desperate, and when you are sincere as well, you just need to reach out to people, because nobody can come to you, if you don’t reach out! And so it happened that, all these people came, and actually the whole set-up of DakshinaChitra came about only through volunteers, who were willing to give back to society.

Then I worked with six women, none of these women had worked before! But they were so smart!

And so I found out what each one of these women were good at.

I called them and met with them every single day, for months and months, and one of them founded my Crafts Shop, she’s now Head of the Crafts Council of India.

One of them helped me with all my exhibitions, and setting up food with a small canteen, food service. She now runs her own foundation – the MRM Foundation. She brought in all the VIP guests, and she and her children were the ones who would lead everyone around, and she became the honorary counsel for France for sixteen years, and then she started teaching French at Stella Maris College. She had never worked before.

One of them, Gita Vasudevan, who had done her PhD with KV Raman, - the same time I had – she visited and liaisoned with all tourist agencies, visited all hotels, and later she started an organisation called the Hayagriva Study Circle in Chennai, where she did all these talks.

One person was our publicity person! She is now secretary for the Seshaiah Home.

So none of these women had worked before. But when they got into an opportunity where they could use their skills, and develop their skills, they were able to achieve! ‘If she can do it, I can do it too!’ was their mantra!

So yes! we started completely with volunteers. And it’s been a wonderful journey so far! Perseverance is part of it! You should believe that it will work! And it will surely happen!

To be continued…

'You and me and we' – are equally responsible for creating these ‘shared versions of the past!'

Little Isles of Memories | Ruminations

On 22nd August

in the years - 1994, 1997 & 1998!

Sailing along with Halbwachs’s Collective Memory & Individual Memory

Collective memory is simply put - the organic memory of the individual; or in other words, shared versions of the past, which results through interaction, communication, media, and institutions within small social groups as well as large cultural communities, says Maurice Halbwachs!

How beautiful ain’t it?

Goes on to prove that, you and me and we – are equally responsible for creating these ‘shared versions of the past’ that go by the Halbwachian term – Collective Memory!

Every act of remembering the past, as part of ‘individual memory’ is always because of these lovely ‘social frameworks’, says Halbwachs!

What pray, then are these ‘social frameworks’?

‘Social frameworks’ are, for Halbwachs, first of all simply the people around us.

Humans are social creatures: Without other humans, an individual is denied access not only to such obviously collective phenomena as language and customs, but also, according to Halbwachs, to his or her own memory.

This is partly because we generally experience things in the company of other people, who can also later help us to remember the events.

Let me kindly take the privilege of repeating yet again the last part of this past paragraph please –

We generally experience things in the company of other people, who can also later help us to remember the events.

How lovely, ain’t it?

Social frameworks, thus, form the all-encompassing horizon in which our perception and memory is embedded.

Hence Halbwachs would probably have said Kaspar Hauser (a young man in nineteenth-century Germany who allegedly grew up without any human contact) had no collective memory, while the lonely Robinson Crusoe most certainly did, since in his thoughts he could fall back on the social frameworks of his homeland, the English middle-class ways of thinking he had learned in his youth.

He signs off on this count, by stating the obvious – that - It is only through individual acts of memory that the collective memory can be observed!

Now for these individual acts of memory from pages of ages past!

22nd August 1997 | NCC Parade

Well, I personally feel that, the two delightful chances for a college student to get oneself drilled into punctuality and discipline would be –

NCC – National Cadet Corps

& Hostel Life in Campus

22 August 1997

Punishment drills for those who ‘escaped’ the Independence Day Parade were on full swing today!

22nd August 1998 | One year’s wait! 

Back then, booking a landline telephone connection, was a herculean task! So it was, that I went to the Telephone Office, paid Rs.200/- and gave the receipt to the Telecom Manager. 

22 August 1998

When, all curious, I enquired as to when we would be getting the connection, he said, it might take a year!

Another friend of ours, Mr. David said that, he had been waiting for more than a year for his telephone connection now, but frustrated, he said he didn’t need it now, so he was planning to surrender it!

Today, when the landline connection has become an anachronistic term, quite unbeknownst to Gen Z, and you get your connection within an hour’s time of applying – well, we’ve come a long long way, bro!

22nd August 1994 | School Day Antaksharis

Since chilly weather persisted today, we didn’t have PT this morning as well!

Woke up at 5.30 am, and we were asked to be ready for our morning prayer and assembly at 6.30 am.

I went for my elixir of life – coffee - first thing in the morning!

22nd August 1994 - Page 1

Then after reading the day’s newspaper, went to class, placed our books on our respective tables, and came back in time for the General Assembly.

22 August 1994 - Page 2

Well, the General Assembly is a regular feature on Mondays, where the HM gives us instructions and important announcements as well.

During our Chemistry Practicals, Master taught us on the preparation of salts and tabulation. Since we had a free period, I took a kutty little nap in class today.

Our Zoology Master in particular, usually gives us valuable advice, for which we regarded him very highly.

22 August 1994 - page 3

On this particular day, he highlighted the importance of text books in our class.

Text books have the capability to beget creative, critical thinking in you; whereas guides sound the death-knell to your creativity quotient that’s latent within you,

he used to tell us very often!

Today, he had this to say - [and I quote from my diary]

If anybody has an abundance of money, let him give it to me rather than wasting them on buying guides.

Money is precious. I know how much your parents suffer for this money. Some even force themselves into extra work for money.

Some boys go to shop or market and buy a dozen guides.

Many guide-writers come to me asking me to recommend their guide.

But I refuse them.

I want all of you to become a guide for yourself.

But if there are reference books, I’d gladly appreciate.

We are given salary only to teach and not to cheat.

Else, you can join some tutorial colleges for 3 – 4 hours a day, which are advertised on the trains.

Physics Master met us in the next hour, and started the third lesson.

He said,

Only when two people are concentrating, the teaching will flow smoothly, as in the case of the battery & wire, he said.

22 August 1994 - page 4

He also added on an ironic vein,

People bring the exact change of Rs. 10.25 paise for their Cinema show, while they pull out a 100 Rupee note for a 70 paise ticket in the PTC buses.

He compared himself and other teachers like him to bullocks, symbolically connoting to mean that, a teacher has the sweet burden and responsibility of carrying along all their students with them!

And then he spoke on inertia as an inability to do work!

Coming back,

Evenings were for antakshari, when we all sat in a sweet circle in the garden, and sang aloud to our heart’s content!

Night, played three games of chess with Girish – lost 1, won – 2!

Requoting the legendary Halbwachs yet again,

Social frameworks are first of all simply the people around us.

Humans are social creatures: Without other humans, an individual is denied access not only to such obviously collective phenomena as language and customs, but also, according to Halbwachs, to his or her own memory.

This is partly because we generally experience things in the company of other people, who can also later help us to remember the events.

Let’s together conclude this blog post by saying a ‘woww’ and a ‘lovely’ to Halbwachs and his take on Collective Memory!

Well, on the brighter side, felt so delighted and happy to know today, that two of our students from the II MA English class have been ardent votaries of diaries since long!

Sruthi says she’s been a diarist from Standard 5 onwards, and Archana says she was gifted a diary by her brother, which she relishes so much and jots down every little incident that she values a lot day by day!

More power to you, dear dynamic students of ours!

with inputs from Astrid Erll’s Memory in Culture

The 'ABCDE' Mantra for Students in College / University

Design & Concept: This Blogger's [in association with his bosom buddy - Scupin Richard]😍

'Every state in our country has a unique core competence for a knowledge society...' 💛

47th Independence Day | Musings ❤️

28 years ago | 15th August 1994 

Perspectives – Back Then & Right Now!

The very term ‘Independence Day’ meant something entirely different to a school kid, on school-mode, I guess!

Even a week before the I-Day happened, students from the Secondary and Higher Secondary grades were given their routine march past drills in the afternoons, which was simultaneously accompanied by a slew of competitions – music, dance and speech included!

Skipping our otherwise ‘mundane’ classes for these enthu-out-of-the-classroom activities was always sheer fun for all of us, ain’t it?

There was suchmuch joy in these sweet, diplomatic bunkings that had an aura of great unearthy ecstasy on them, - and that ‘deliverance’ we longed for, that ‘liberation’ we pined for, from our routine classes!

Hence, to a school kid, these once-in-a-blue-moon type free-pass bunkings were our own impy mode of tasting ‘independence’ and its accompanying ‘freedom!’

Again, it was that one day, when everyone in school, right from the Headmaster to the staff, the wardens, and the students were all in single-minded devotion to making the Independence Day festivities a grand success.

This diary entry of mine seeks to brings back from memory, one such Independence Day festivities during my ‘Higher Secondary School Days’ in the good ol’ Madras Christian College School, Chetpet, Chennai.

Even as the tri-colour flies high, students march in unison to the beat of the grand music band of our School. 

But the cream of the session is when, the NCC Cadets - decked up in their finest resplendent uniforms - from all the three wings – Army, Navy and Air - march so elegantly to the tune of the band – a gallant march that sure sends goosebumps of patriotic fervour all over your body from head to toe!

On an aside - well, back then, we were an all-boys school!

The Headmaster, after witnessing the march-past parades, would then give a short speech on the importance of our Independence Day, as usual, following which, students came out with their bestest performances.

This was followed as usual by distribution of sweets and tea to all the participants.

Hostelers in particular, always had added ‘freedom’ on such days, as usual, as they were given the free-pass by default, to head straight to the nearest cinema – the good ol’ Ega Theatres – which even today continues to screen some of the loveliest films in town!

Prayer time was something we dreaded - back then as students, as our HM used to give his marathon sermons on values, ethics and discipline – left, right and centre - [which was something akin to Goscinny’s Cacofonix – the fictional bard from Armorica, who was often seen carrying his lyre whenever he had his special bouts of inspiration] - much to the chagrin of all around him – clogging in such harmonic unison - the blessed ear drums of all of us his pavapetta audience! Hence it was, that, when the warden announced that, evening prayer was cancelled, we were doubly delighted, and celebrated this ‘added’ freedom on us!

The Cultural Fest by the North East Christian Fellowship every Independence Day was indeed a real treat to watch! They never failed to enthrall us with their sonorous voices and titillating music! It was really ‘thrilling’ as I’d jotted it down back then!

This was followed by our back-to-square-one routine of doing our unfinished Home Works and other assignments – on unfreedom mode, to escape the corporal punishment from our dutiful masters!

Well, now 28 years later, when I reminisce on the Independence Day festivities of our good ol’ school days, I guess I am now able to kinda see the whole thing from a much broader perspective - at least to a little extent!

Only in schools do students get themselves acquainted with the notion of ‘nation’, nationhood etc even as they respectfully sing the national anthem and salute the national flag, and perform the as usual rituals associated with such a grand day as this!

Prompts one to vindicate the Foucauldian and the Gramscian ideas of education as an ideological apparatus in the hands of the state!

Although education is, was and will be an ideological apparatus in the hands of the state, its functionality and performativity can be realised in either of two ways – as a ritualistic - as usual - annual exercise or as a productive annual observance!

This productive annual observance will become a possibility only when productivity combines with knowledge!

Dr. Kalam envisions this productivity as a ‘knowledge society’, in his highly inspirational book titled, Ignited Minds!

Says he –

Knowledge has many forms and it is available at many places. 

It is available in academic institutions, with teachers, in libraries, in research papers, seminar proceedings and in various organizations and workplaces with workers, managers, in drawings, in process sheets and on the shop floors.

Knowledge, though closely linked to education, comes equally from learning skills such as those possessed by our artists, craftsmen, hakims, vaidyas, philosophers and saints, as also our housewives.

Our heritage and history, the rituals, epics and traditions that form part of our consciousness are also vast resources of knowledge as are our libraries and universities.

There is an abundance of unorthodox, earthy wisdom in our villages.

There are hidden treasures of knowledge in our environment, in the oceans, bioreserves and deserts, in the plant and animal life.

Every state in our country has a unique core competence for a knowledge society.

The ability to create and maintain the knowledge infrastructure, to enhance skills and increase productivity through the exploitation of advances in various fields will be the key factors in deciding the prosperity of this society,

says Dr. Kalam!

Hence, it would be a real added delight if, apart from organizing cultural performances and march pasts and distribution of sweets in schools, the state [read: educational institutions] can go a step forward and instil in their kids the importance of contributing their rich skills, talent and abilities in the service of their motherland, by facilitating in the honing and fine-tuning of their precious gifts!

I’m really convinced beyond measure, that this productive annual exercise would sure go a long way in ensuring that, our beloved nation would never be in want - on any count - whatsoever! ❤️

“I’m always going to make this little light shine!”

75th Independence Day | 

- An Inspirational

13th August | II MA English Class

Dear all,

We are so blessed and privileged to be part of this momentous historic moment of our beloved India’s 75th Independence Day, ain’t we?

As young Indians, we all have a great responsibility towards contributing to our nation’s growth in our own sweet ways.

With this in mind, on 13th August 2022, in our II MA English Literature class, we had a few valuable nuggets of inspiration, and a host of patriotic thoughts for our class, followed by an oath, and a candle-light pledge!

The question posed to the students at the outset, was this –

1. What is the contribution that I am going to make to my Nation, that nobody else has already made?

So to begin with, everyone in class was given a sheet of paper that had a wondrous Independence Day-Inspirational package printed on it!

Then we proceeded to quote from the epigraph to the opening chapter of Dr. Kalam’s Ignited Minds, which also happens to be the oft-repeated mantra of Dr. Kalam’s –

Dream, Dream, Dream!

Dream transform into thoughts!

And thoughts result in action!

Secondly, the class read out from the epigraph to the second chapter of the same book [by Mahatma Gandhi], after asking our vibrant kids in class to replace a few words with the pronoun ‘I’ and then read it aloud -

Humans (replace it with I) often become what they (I) believe themselves (myself) to be. 

If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. 

But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn’t have it in the beginning.

- Mahatma Gandhi

Thirdly, our class students were asked to write down their own names above the name of J.R.D. Tata, Vikram Sarabhai et al, and re-read the sentence again!

Here goes the lovely sentence from Dr. Kalam’s Ignited Minds!

Vision ignites the minds. 

India needs visionaries of the stature of J.R.D. Tata, Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan and Dr Verghese Kurien, to name a few, who can involve an entire generation in mission-driven programmes which benefit the country as a whole.

Fourthly, we had a rendition of Tagore’s ‘Where the mind is without fear’ played out for the entire class, through the Sound Box we had brought along exclusively for the purpose.

Where the mind is without fear

Rabindranath Tagore

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Fifthly, the students were asked to repeat after their teacher, the inspirational Oath of Courage administered by Dr. Kalam, when he was in MCC on 26th February 2007, which goes as follows -

Oath of Courage to the Students

Dr. Abdul Kalam

Courage to think different,

Courage to Invent,

Courage to discover the impossible,

Courage to travel into an unexplored path,

Courage to share knowledge

Courage to remove pain,

Courage to reach the unreached

Courage to combat the problems and succeed.

As a youth of my nation, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all my missions.

Sixthly, we had a beautiful rendition of the English version of the immortal inspirational song, Sare Jahan Se Acha, composed by the poet Muhammad Iqbal – An Anthem of opposition to the British Rule in India.

Even while the music to the song was playing on in the background, Jean Elizabeth Mathew gave a bold and beautiful rendition of the lines of the song in English, which goes as follows -

Better than the entire world, is our Hind,

We are its nightingales, and this is our garden

If we are in an alien place, the heart remains in the homeland,

Know us to be only there where our heart is.

That mountain most high, neighbor to the skies

It is our sentinel; it is our protector

A thousand rivers play in its lap

Gardens they sustain, the envy of the heavens is ours

O the flowing waters of the Ganges, do you remember that day

When our caravan first disembarked on your waterfront?

Faith does not teach us to harbor grudges between us

We are all Indians and India is our homeland

In a world in which ancient Greece, Egypt, and Rome have all vanished without a trace

Our own attributes (name and sign) live on today.

Such is our existence that it cannot be erased

Even though, for centuries, the cycle of time has been our enemy.

Better than the entire world is our Hind,

We are its nightingales, and this is our garden.

Finally, each of the students was given a beautiful little candle, and the teacher proceeded to light one candle in each row, which soon saw the whole class being lit up with such lovely radiant lights!

Then I proceeded to give them their pledge by candle-light –

“I’m always going to make this little light shine!”

I shall never ever look at the light in the candle of my friend.

I shall never ever be envious of the light in the candle of my siblings, cousins, or neighbours.

Because,

I too have a lovely light on my own sweet candle!

A light that’s so uniquely mine and mine alone!

I shall strive to make this little light in my cute candle shine alwaysss!

Well, on the delightful occasion of our 75th Independence Day, if we can take a resolve to make our lovely little light - that’s contained in our own cute candle - to shine its brightest, all of the time, I’m sure that this would be the bestest contribution that we can give to our mother India on this momentous occasion.

Jai Hind!