Random Reflections during the Lockin period.

Random reflections during the Lockin period.

I have deliberately used the word ‘Lockin ‘ in place of ‘Lockdown’. The reason is not far to seek. We are not yet down and locked out, we are still in- in our homes, still in possession of our reasoning faculties, still in an objective mental frame to think and analyze all things-(not) “bright and beautiful,” (not) “wise and wonderful” quoting the memorable lines from Cecil Fernandes Alexander’s poem. The one great advantage of being ‘in’ is we have more time to reflect even if randomly and less time to indulge in futile talk and gossip. For barring one’s family and that too limited at best to a couple of peer group of elders or bored youngsters, there is hardly anyone to talk to.

Not one given to Whatsapping messages to and fro, the lockin period is to me more stimulating than the much awaited lockout period  a few days hence when I will see the sunlight on the streets and breathe the fresh air with the lines of Sir Walter Scott humming in my ears

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native soil(land)!

I write this piece to record all my reflections during the lockin phase that will fade and disappear the moment I sniff the air of freedom. Freedom is what we treasure most and we know the truth in the words of Rousseau “ Man is born free; everywhere he is in chain”. Rousseau asserts that modern states repress the physical freedom that is our birthright, and do nothing to secure the civil freedom for the sake of which we enter into civil society.  Today globally there is mixed reaction to the imposition of stay at home orders. In US it has given rise to Coronavirus protesters who shout with guns in their hands “ we want liberty”. This group- hopefully still a minority- does not understand the difference between liberty and freedom. Freedom,  as Rousseau said is our birthright, but in the last two millennia since he wrote, a lot of changes has taken place and we need to rewrite Rousseau without fear of his disapproval and  say “ Man is not born free, but is set free by the creation of the human institutions that protect his rights.” We expect the state to provide institutional guarantee of that freedom which shall hold us responsible for the welfare of our fellow human beings. In the words of Marcie Bianco of the NBC, “Liberty is a type of freedom defined and limited by civil society. It is not an unrestrained, unchecked license to do whatever one desires. Rather, liberty is a right constituted by the society — or, here, nation — one lives in.”  She points out the clear distinction between freedom to and freedom from. In the context of Corona Virus the question is do we have the freedom to infect or do we seek freedom from infection?

Unlike Americans whose incompetence, as Yuval Harari says, has been exposed by the Coronavirus, Indians and in particular the middle class have not sought liberty to break free of lockdown order.  It is a pity that it failed to stop the poor migrant labour who defied the order, preferring freedom from hunger and poverty over freedom from Corona virus, exacerbated by the privileged elites and policy makers who, locked in the comfort of their homes turned a blind eye  to their hapless misery. But the rest of India – the middle and the wealthy class out of fear and nervousness about CV has acted with maturity and discipline much to the surprise of the West that has all this while painted us as the most undisciplined group, suffering from queue phobia.

As the mind aimlessly flitted through many things happening around us, it stumbled on the statement of our FM on higher education.  FM during the course of her fourth and final announcement about the government’s economic package gave assurance to her colleague, the HRD minister that she is one with him in using the Corona period to push through educational reforms. The gloomy prophecies from our political leaders citing the WHO experts that the virus has found its permanent abode in our midst and we should learn  to live with it( either share our space with it or cede our space  in its favour and find a 6’x6’ niche for ourselves  underground) have made our ministers and policymakers to crystal gaze into the future of higher education and come out with  the quick fix mantra-‘Go online , Go digital’. Otherwise why the FM while announcing one tranche after another take a breather from the world of economics and  enter the world of higher education,  with her  proposal to make a push for online education, e-Vidya, a technology driven higher education? This proposal mandates the top 100 universities of the country that include IITs and IIMs and a large number of private universities to go online

Sitting in the quiet of my living room, I reflected on these changes. Having been an active teacher for over four decades and an active learner thereafter for the last 15 years, I wondered why the government was in such a hurry to seize the Corona time to make a quantum jump towards digital learning? Does this extra budgetary allocation for digital education from the PM’s 20lakh crore package mean making it supersede traditional classroom learning? Inter alia, this means our accepting Corona virus as a permanent cohabitant in our little planet and making  adjustments by  remaining at two arms length from each other. In numerical calculations, this means not more than 12 to a classroom, which effectively will shut thousands of students from college education. No more classroom teaching ( and I shudder to visualize to what use  all those great university and college buildings will be put to),no more interpersonal relationship between the student and the teacher, between student and fellow students and replace the human- centric institutions to soulless  machinery!  I remember one of my students telling me that after three years of life in the lap of liberty in colleges, she found it difficult to be tied to her desk on a 9 to five job. Imagine what will happen if there are no classes at all for  the future generation. At least now students get ready, dress up and reach college in the morning. Flexible timing- a euphemism for freedom to learn whenever and wherever one wants to- will mean losing even the iota of discipline to wake up in the morning and start the day’s activities. The lovely Wake Me Up song by Avicii will have to give way to Chris Brown’s song

Don't wake me up, up, up, up, up, up
Don't wake me up, up, up, up, up, up
Don't wake me up

sung in the context of extending love dream beyond sunrise..

 Do our youngsters have the freedom to decide if they want to go online or offline? Why is there such a push when one is hopeful of the possibility of Corona losing its grip over mortals in the next few months- at best in the next 12 months?  A lot has been said in favour of face to face teaching and learning.  College education is multi dimensional-it is not about academics only,  it stretches outside of the classrooms and helps the student to assimilate new ideas  through exchanges with peer groups and professors.

 College is best described as liberty hall. It gives the freedom to learn or not to learn. The choice is that of the student.  But even without any conscious effort, the student gains by exposure to other bright and brilliant minds. Debates, dialogues, seminars are part of the learning schedule,  providing a window to the thoughts and ideas of scholars and ideators.  Webinar is the newbie in place of open seminars. But the difference is between reality and reality shows . There is no gainsaying the fact that the impact of listening to a speaker in person far outweighs the same heard over a digital platform. It is like attending a live concert and watching it on the TV in your living room. What we need is not either-or but a mix of both what has come to be known as blended learning. College life is the time to enjoy and rock through live concerts, participate in music and dance, theatre and arts and they help the student develop aesthetic and artistic sensibility which in turn promotes human sensibility. When I had my house painted a couple of years ago, one of the labour employed by the contractor was different from the rest. He warmly greeted everyone as soon as he came to work, worked diligently, spoke softly only when spoken to, showed himself to be a person with reasonable understanding of politics and society which he never displayed until we engaged him in conversation. When I asked him how he had acquired so much knowledge, he smiled and shyly said he was a graduate and since he could not get employment, had taken up the job of painting. He added that the three years in college had shaped him to understand, accept and appreciate life in its myriad forms.   A three year stay in college makes every student turn into a mature and responsible social being.  Cultivating social etiquette, learning the art of listening, acquiring elegant manners are packaged into college education.  Colleges and universities are the crucibles in which different social forces and intellectual influences come together and bring forth  new developments towards building the future citizens of the nation. Our Gurukul heritage stands as a testimony to shared learning and living with fellow students and their Gurus. Our pride in our heritage is not matched by our abandoning its basic principle of learning together.

Corona time is abnormal time. But abnormality does not demand junking traditional education that has shaped Man to what he is today. When times are chaotic, colleges and universities function to steer Man out of chaos. Major researches for the Corona  vaccines are coming out of university laboratories of  Oxford, California, Pennsylvania, China, Imperial college of London and from universities in Germany, Israel,  Italy and Spain  It is not  that Indian universities lag behind-  Pune University, Vellore Institute of Technology, IISER in Mohali and Trivandrum and IICT  Hyderabad, to name a few. They illustrate the importance of universities in respect of research both in sciences and social sciences. The most pressing need today is developing Indian youth to shoulder responsibility as a future citizen of India and the foundations have to be laid in colleges and universities. IGNOU is doing yeoman service for those who want a degree through online courses. Let us not forget that Coronavirus  interruption is temporary. The university contribution is perennial.

 Yet another disturbing thought in my mind is about the order seeking obedience to downloading Aarogya setu, the COVID 19 tracking mobile application. There has been a slight let up as the government has retracted from the compulsory enforcement of this App at least for the private employees though it is required for travel by train or metro or flight and for all government employees. The important point to note is this app requires the individual to give details of his /her health history. It has the GPS that records his/her movements. If an individual wants health insurance and if these details despite the assurances of the Government get hacked, the Insurance company may not provide the health cover or may jack up the annual charges  even if the health problem was a thing of the past. Cyberhacking is  not something we can be blind to.  If one wants to change jobs, the health factor that comes into the public domain may inhibit his /her induction even if he is otherwise healthy. It is natural for any employer  to be risk averse  in appointing a COVID19 recovered  healthy individual. Genetic inheritance of Huntington’s disease, Cancer , Alzheimer , Aids where pre screening and reports  may predict the possibility of a terminal ailment- if not now, maybe in one’s late years, - which if recorded will disturb the privacy and well being of an individual  The relationship between an individual and his/her physician will  no longer remain a private affair.. I wonder if those who have designed this app as a bridge to health did not think of the personal and private concerns the data will raise for people.

The third reflection has been on the migrants’ pain and hardship. I am not interested in apportioning blame on anyone but I know that even to raise a question seeking accountability in today’s authoritarian rule is to be labelled anti- national. The fear of being detained under the draconian UAPA where no questions shall be asked of the cause of detention sends shivers down the spine. The same fear desists many like me from questioning the innumerable initial lapses including the mass gathering of more than 1.5 lakhs of people to greet President Trump when CV had already made inroads into the country, asking why a new PMCARES fund is needed when PMNRF is already in existence, why there was delay in ferrying migrants to their homes, why there was delay in testing initially, why 20,000 crores should be spent on Central vista redevelopment  by dismantling the existing structures- almost like the monkey in a Tamil ballad saying after destroying the nest of the cuckoo bird “I do not know to build, but I know to dismantle built nests.” There is no freedom to raise ‘why’s and ‘wherefore’s but there is freedom to accept implicit obedience because it is hammered that  whatever is done is for the welfare of you and me.  

Vaclav Havel, the former Czech President once remarked that “Freedom is only one side of the coin, on the other side is responsibility.” PM has asked us to take on the responsibility of atmanirbhar-self reliance. We are free to pursue atmanirbhar as our responsibility. As for the State their responsibility ends setting up institutions only to protect those rights that the state has given us. Today the State has given the people o India the right to stay at home to be free from the Corona assault. CV has turned Rousseu’s concept on its head. This is the new world, the Corona world, a digital world that opens up your personal and private world only to protect your health and welfare, a new form of the much reviled  communism where the state owns everything by preciously  guarding your privacy in its digital app. In this new Corona world, the State has the power without responsibility(accountability)and the people have the responsibility without power.

Do I have the freedom to express myself? I pause in trepidation.