.….Sleeping Books !
We often complain that the Library culture is declining among the students. It has vanished even from the daily routine of adults. After my retirement, I was Principal of a private college for some time. As per my habit, I sent a note to the Librarian to buy some general books for the Library. She told me that she cannot order these books because the Management has strictly directed her to buy only books which are recommended for studies by the University’s visiting Inspection teams. As for English books in rural India, there are absolutely no takers, because youngsters are not even interested in Punjabi or Hindi books. I donated 140 books to the National Library at Kolkata. They accepted these books very gracefully. I sent a note to the Vice Chancellors of two state Universities of Punjab. There is no reply, although I had offered to donate a hundred of my books out of 180.
How can we blame the students when the administrative bodies show no interest in book culture. It can be very strange if I link the fall of general standards of conduct among the youngsters to this lack of interest in books. This lack is equally visible among the faculty members also. It is important to mention here that it is the general air of despair at literature which is responsible for falling interest in books. Literature books are considered best as time-pass. And the more alluring a book is, the greater is the mass who likes it. Meaningful and serious literature is being edged out as per the choices of the market economy.
Today we want things which are subject to the laws of ‘use and throw’. You can read a thriller and leave it in the railway compartment when your destination has come. But, if you are reading an author like Salman Rushdie, or our brilliant author Arundhati Roy, can you afford to treat their books like ‘use and throw’? Everything that fits into this new mode of living is acceptable to the upcoming mass.
Too busy for Books: A Devastating Development
The most devastating development as a result of which I do not fault the young students, or the young faculty members is, that neither has any time left with them for indulging in reading or studies which do not directly relate to their courses. Students cannot raise their head from their books, and faculty members are forced to remain busy in paper presentations, Ph.Ds and running here and there taking care of hundreds of duties which are imposed on them. With no time at their command, they soon turn into bored machines. Feed the syllabus books into their heads, and they give out the information that is fed into them. They have no time to reflect on it, digest it and make it a part of their thought system. As a result, a student of 8th knows [only knows] a little more than a student of 6th standard, but essentially, they have no time for play, no time to sit idle, no time to dream and no time to give themselves over to imagination. Same is true of our teachers who have been reduced to labour in our schools and universities run by multinationals.
Academism versus Scholarship
There is a difference between academism and scholarship. The schools, colleges and universities are becoming a big machine in which students are fed, and they come out, not as scholars, but as trained individuals, fit to join different jobs. Some of them receive huge packages even during their gestation period. The educational stalls where students enter into intellectual Kabbadi, wrench their imagination, and all their wishes, fill their minds with passion for success and wealth, thus twisting their minds, focusing their gaze only on marks. Marks, papers presented, citations, and jobs – this phenomenon marks the pursuit of academism, which is not more than a physical garment of scholarship.
Scholarship has been left behind. We are afraid of free thinking. We want them to think in a particular way, act in a particular direction. I have a serious issue with the overriding passion of the students to join services. ‘Naukri’. Every student is working hard to join some ‘naukri’ [job]. Most of them are trying hard for civil services. Perhaps, we do not realize that as soon as we join such services, we get power, and wealth, and a sense of self- importance, but what we give away in the first instance is our freedom to think and act. And for this loss, we are amply compensated.
Young students who are toppers in schools and colleges must think of creating something new, adopt innovative fields, and work for an independent work culture, as creators. Services should not be the first priority of the first breed of our students. They must look beyond this colonial passion, which is finally suicidal for independent thought and creative spirit.
Finally, we come back to the Library culture. We have to look at our students and teachers as human beings, who need to be given time to grow their human faculties. They cannot be considered as columns in a form to be filled with typewriters. Syllabus needs to be curtailed, and teachers need a cut in their working hours. Studies should not be reduced to only academic work. Academic red-tape needs to be checked and replaced with provision to give a fillip to scholarship, which stands for independent thinking and creative passion.
[Dr. Jernail Singh Anand, the Laureate of Seneca, Charter of Morava, Franz Kafka and Maxim Gorky awards with an opus of 180 books, is a towering literary figure whose work embodies a rare fusion of creativity, intellect, and moral vision. His name adorns the Poets’ Rock in Serbia.]
Dr Jernail Singh Anand has been an alumnus of Satish Chander Dhawan Government College, Ludhiana ( Punjab ) India in early 1970s.