How did you find our department and the institute when you joined it in 2008? You were the third batch right? What were your expectations then and do you think they were fulfilled? Also, you did not have a 46 strong class, did you? Generally, is there anything you would like to share about insti from those days?
I didn’t have expectations so much as anxieties about being able to live up to the standard in the department and amongst my batch. I think I spent my first semester catching up to my peers! The department had a very exciting atmosphere of things in the making back then, especially the first two years. We were a much smaller class (29 in my batch), out of which only 8 of us chose English. The small classes were intimate and fun because we got to have lots of conversations with each other and our professors. At some point after specialization, I had gotten good at predicting what my classmates would say based on their expressions.
In the very first class, you talked of how you people had to constantly justify your place in the institute. What made you say that? Were HS junta discriminated that badly at that time?
This wasn’t instant so much as a gradual awareness of our place in the institute’s dynamics. And while at the time, I imputed a lot of this to a natural defensiveness of the humanities in a tech setup, I realize now that it was also because the programme was in the making, an experiment and not as established as the other undergraduate programmes in the institute. That said, I had many frustrating conversations with engineering students who didn’t understand why people would choose to do this course. Interestingly, I don’t remember engineering students who were committed to their disciplines (elec or comp sci. or engg physics) asking that question. It was the ones who had a more utilitarian approach (use the degree to leverage social capital and land a great job, or seat in B-school) who usually did the questioning.
Obvious question, but how does it feel to teach in the very department and perhaps the very classroom in which you learnt as a student?
Very surreal in the beginning, but better now? Perhaps I feel more kindly disposed towards a lot of our professors now because I understand the challenges better J
The professors – how have they changed? Has the years made them any wiser and nicer or are they as they were back then? 😀
Its hard to speak for them all, as it seems they have all changed in their respective ways. I sense a little weariness in some of the older faculty, which is natural, since they seem to be terribly overworked. Otherwise, I’d say they are as nice as they have always been.
Can you tell something about the activities that you were a part of in the institute? And also, anything that you did and saw here during your times? Have things changed at all?
You’d find my record quite disappointing in this regard; I barely did anything outside of academic work in the department. I took classes outside the institute for a number of things that took my fancy (from language learning to dance); my batchmates were fairly active in dramatics, music and such. Some of the most talented actors in IIT came from my batch. Based on my observation of their lives and the students in the department today, I’d say – ‘you guys need to relax!’. I think we were a lot more bindaas back then, probably a reflection of the times also. While it is nice that the students in the department now are so prepared, they are also very serious.
I am sure you are following the discussion in MA-DoHSS about stream allocation. In that context, ES, DS and Economics – how were each of the streams? Was one stream preferred over the others and did that lead to problems?
We were one of the luckiest batches in this regard in that of close to 30 students, we were almost equally divided into three streams in terms of preference. So it wasn’t like only the top 10 got what they wanted. I think there were a couple of students who missed their first preference but it all evened out. As an English student who went there by choice myself (and I could’ve chosen one of the three as I was in the top ten), I find it difficult to process that it isn’t the preferred stream today. The modifications that the course has undergone means that you guys have a greater opportunity for doing cross-listed courses than we did back then. I don’t know the specific problems that afflict the DS course because of the combining of Eco and DS though.
The monkeys of Sharavati 😀 Any comments on those? Do you miss them? And generally, insti’s environment?
- They were/are awful and mean. I find it interesting that their behaviour was so gendered back then (they were much less aggressive around the boys’ hostels). With the separation of distance between the new girls and boys hostels, I’d like to know if that has changed.
PIES, HELL and CMB – how was your English Studies experience? How did it feel to be a part of small class? Were the professors passionate? What were the most interesting courses back then?
The professors were so passionate, it was wonderful! Almost all of the English courses were terribly interesting, but largely because the faculty teaching them made it so. And by fifth year, ES students in my batch were perhaps the least embittered of the three streams. Economics students were unhappy with the dilution of quant-based courses that they felt other university students had; DS students suffered because of several infrastructural changes and lack of organization back then; we were lucky in that we didn’t suffer these disruptions.
Is it true that the students who joined the MA program in those days were really smarter than us? Do you have anything to share about your classmates and seniors/juniors?
How to answer this! I don’t believe that at all. We were the victims and beneficiaries of early experimentation (less standardization, more errors but also more joie de vivre and optimism at least in the beginning); but like I said earlier, I think you are all more prepared than we ever were. Some of my best memories from IIT are really long conversations had at Tifany’s (what is now Vindhya mess), Guru or during walks with friends to get chai and such. Maybe it wasn’t the most optimal use of our time – talking so much, but it really made my IIT life. Having spent a few years outside the institute and department now, I have renewed appreciation for the quality of the minds I came in contact with here (batchmates, seniors and juniors). Its quite difficult to replicate outside, I think.
Ah, you wanted stories! Like I said – some of the best actors came from my batch – Rihan, and Saudamini (who is still doing very exciting stuff in theatre). Some of my immediate seniors, notably, Vibhu and Vigyan were absolutely amazing to watch. I still remember Vibhu’s performance as the sleazy Paravacini in an adaptation of The Mousetrap. Or Shabnam’s amazingly physical performance in Black Comedy. Or this wonderfully improvised comedic sketch by Rihan and Priyanshu (He was known as Mistake, two years our senior in engg). Sharav had a solid WM act back then, because we had singers, great guitarists and Raiza, my batchmate and drummer extraordinaire J Rihan was queen of the mono act – her adaptation of Kafka’s A Report to the Academy gave me the chills. And Kaushik (Corgi)’s singing! He had a Frank Sinatra-esque voice and style that was mesmerizing.
We had a bad theory about what the different eatery zones in IIT meant. If you were spotted hanging out at CCD, you are most definitely a couple who were in each other’s pockets to the point that others were socially awkward around you. Tifany’s was the zone of ambiguity and possibility – things could happen. Guru meant you had been friend-zoned for good.
PhD in three and a half years (actually lesser!) My batch and seniors went Woah! when we did the calculations to figure that out! 😀 How did you manage to do that? Can you tell something more about your thesis?
I had no weekends for about three years and worked about ten hours a day, especially in my writing year. I would not recommend it to anyone, and did it under duress of not having my scholarship afterwards. In those three years, I also visited 16 countries, moved seven houses, and worked in at least three different university environments. So it was not without its rewards! That said, the phd in Denmark is an interesting experience because they give you the freedom to overwork or underwork yourself to any degree. I’ve heard a colleague describe it almost as a kind of therapy 😀
My thesis is about revival movements around the sari (real and virtual) in response to post-liberalization changes in the context of late colonial, nationalist and postcolonial debates relating to dress, womanhood and national heritage. It combined historical and ethnographic frameworks. Due to the spectacular dearth of literature on dress in India, I spent a lot of time amassing a coherent literature and social history of dress and the sari. It was exciting work that charted new territories for me. For the ethnography, I worked within the craft world in Chennai and tracked social media movements related to sari revival. The thesis suggests that there are homologies between these different temporal moments of revival and that colonial ‘ways of knowing’ continues to exert its directives in the contemporary state.
What has changed and what remains the same in our department? What is the infrastructure changes in the institute?
You have a wonderful cafeteria! I went green with envy when I saw. Going into the infrastructural changes in institute would be a separate conversation altogether – it suffices to say its been seismic.
If a junior comes up to you and asks you – “Will we get jobs after this course?”, what you would you say to him/her?
I’d say, you’ll certainly get jobs, but getting the job closest to your heart and fattening your purse will be trickier. But you already know that.
Anything about your future plans that you would be willing to share?
I’d like to continue in academia to see if I can make a future here? But hopefully, I’d like to be in a research area where I get plenty of opportunities for engagement and outreach.
Any gyaan that you would like to impart to us as a super-senior? 😀
Super-senior, hehe. That is such an ageist term, don’t you think? Lets see: super-seniors don’t have superpowers except the power of retrospect. Bad jokes aside, I’d pass on something Prof.Srilata told us in our very first interaction with her: she said that she had noticed a tendency amongst all students (across disciplines) to get cynical over the years. Then she said, try to avoid letting this happen to you! We tried, but some of us were quite cynical towards the end of this education. Maybe you should try that as well? Once you graduate, you will realize there’s plenty of stuff to actually worry about, and cynicism is a luxury in itself!
Sorry, this should have been the first thing I should have typed – can you please introduce yourself?
Erm, like how? I came to Chennai for this Master’s from Madurai. Graduated and went to Aarhus for my PhD. Now I’m back here teaching!
Interview by Venkataraman Ganesh
Article 19 