A Letter to My Teachers - 1

Dear Teachers,

I start writing these letters at the end of my seventh semester. If I had been a little wiser, this time would have occurred two years ago. I make a point to end this lack of wisdom. This set of letters is intended as a progress report on how I'm doing on this resolution. I am also feeling a great need for expression and that is why I have decided to write in great detail. I have learnt a lot in the last few years. We are all searching for people to talk to. I have found them in you. I cannot begin to tell you how indebted I am to you for putting up with me, for listening to me.

This semester has been a singularly pleasant one, it has been better than most of my time here by almost all respects. The only real problems I had were a in some paperwork with the students' section and the examination department at the University. That has only cost me time. You might think that's a great cost, but fortunately for me I can keep myself engaged even when I stand in queues at the students' section window. It would have been much more expensive had the problems been more serious. For instance, if I was a defaulter (miraculously this semester I was not) I would have spent time and labour in compensation, not to mention the residual lethargy and sleepiness that comes with it. You know that I am a compulsive defaulter and this semester was hardly different. There was indeed a lot of subject matter that bored me. But I have learnt to enjoy self-study, so I am doing quite well. Anyhow, not at the end of the semester I find that you have graciously ignored my low attendance. And for that, among other things, I am very thankful.

I chose to start writing these letters because I am experiencing a great clarity of thought for the first time in years, and I think it is because I have spent a lot of time in learning. Particularly in this semester I have found a lot of support and quite a conducive atmosphere in the college. I'm not saying that it was not there before, I was just too foolish to detect it. For the last few years my mind has either been surrounded by frustration at the 'system', or it has simply been high up in the clouds. Now that my vision is clear after a long time, I want to leave a record of my insight. Everyone likes to say that their journey towards achieving clarity was long and arduous, but in my case that was completely unnecessary.

These letters are addressed to you, my teachers, because you are the ones who have saved me. All my life, without exception, I was blessed with the greatest teachers I could find. I could believe in God just because of this singular fact. Even if you didn't actually teach me, you always made yourself available to me. I was never among the best of your students and you still encouraged me. The way things turned out, I probably betrayed all your faith. Yet, there have been times when you have had more confidence in me than even my parents did. You gave me your knowledge and faith. I gave you nothing but disappointment. You knew me better than I knew myself. You entertained me even when I was probably wasting your time. After my parents, you are the only ones qualified to judge, reward or punish me. I continue to learn that it is simply not in the nature of a true teacher to be anything but kind and loving.

Whatever I become in life, it will be because of you. And I promise you that I will do my part in doing justice to the love and admiration I have for you. Whatever accolades I earn will be yours. If, someday, I have students, I will miss you when I talk to them. Whenever I feel, however naively, that the universe has grown less mysterious, I will be silently thanking you.

I shall continue to write. There is a lot more that I have to tell you. But I will have to wait for something to feed that great need of expression which I mentioned earlier. Since I am keeping quite busy, I think that will be soon enough. I had quite an active semester and if all goes well, the coming months will be full of learning too. I think the only way to maintain my clarity in the clutter of conceptual detail is to write about what I have learnt. I will write about what I have learnt in engineering and in life alike.You know me well, so you are the best judge of whatever progress I make.

Thank you.

Penitent's Progress - 1

I've spent too much time thinking about what justifies the proper use of a blog. Is it the work of an adventurous chronicler that needs to be blogged? Or is it the daily to-do list of a nerd?

Enough of it, the thinking.

What better way to start blogging than to deal with the very foundations of human knowledge?

The inspiration for this post, and some following pieces comes from a number of sources – books defending the paramount importance of ideas, philosophy, and public discussions (none more so than Amartya Sen’s works); exchanges with friends about the utility of ideas and philosophies (“These things are too philosophical to be practical.”) – exchanges that are at best excited arguments and at worst end in venomous glances; and a very general discontent towards all those – individuals, organizations, and cultures alike – that downplay the importance of ideas. (A very good depiction of this tendency can be found in the movie 3 Idiots, in the scene where the Dean of the college says, “This is not a philosophy class!” I felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu, having been told countless times that engineering is about facts and concretes, and that I shouldn’t bother myself or my colleagues with philosophical abstractions.)

Earlier I could only term this tendency of wrongly isolating utility from philosophy as utter blasphemy, as if these ‘practical’ folks sought to break the natural link between cause and effect. Today the frustration has gone, but the disquiet remains.