In the present world, changes are inevitable, some of which are conventional while others are dreadful and unacceptable. In a corresponding way, the relationship between students and teachers has changed to a great extent when compared to guru-shishya relationship of the olden days.

In this day and age, the approach towards gaining knowledge and information takes different paths altogether, when compared to the yesteryears. Students, now have access to all the requisite information at the click of a button. When we want to clear our doubts, a Google search is all we need. Students often crosscheck and confirm what a teacher speaks in the class from the information available on the internet, which may, at times, lead them to suppose that the teachers are not-so-required. The place of a teacher is replaced by Google, in the minds of the students, and this motorized system has substituted human conduct.

However, changes have taken place, but I suppose that a lot of them are constructive ones. We have moved on to a more rational and curious atmosphere from an utter and tight-lipped approach. Today’s generation greets teachers with a ‘Hi’ instead of greeting them with a ‘Good morning’. The student-teacher relationship is not characterized by compliance and acceptance, but by questioning and scrutiny, acceptance may or may not follow depending upon the student’s analysis.

The prevailing situation has more teachers who have money-making and impersonal approaches and for whom teaching isn’t a vocation but a means of livelihood. There is a need of more teachers who join the profession by preference rather than by unconcern. To understand and come to terms with each other’s expectations is what this relationship should be all about. It is about having a very comprehensive rapport.

The inculcation of values that are considered as ancient, in the whole system, is necessary. On the other hand, no one can fail to notice the undying job of a teacher as a counsellor and guide in transporting and familiarizing information to a student. The restoration of the guru-shishya traditional relationship, with a contemporary tinge, is the need of the hour.

Image source: www.examiner.com

Shaily Sharma
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As we all know, September 5th is celebrated as Teacher’s Day (now also refered to as the Guru Utsav) in India, which marks the birth anniversary of the second president of India, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan.

There are two things I shall be primarily discussing in this article. First, the notion of soft power, and second, the imposition of the state’s ideology over the public mind.

While development and related topics might be the propaganda tool of leaders today, power does not merely operate at the level of hard, tangible power. It also brings along with itself a set of discourse that plays a significant role in shaping the mindset of the civil society at large. Power structures are not restricted to legislation and administration, but are also key shapers of the ideologies of the people subjected to the rule.

Through his speeches (and I would say ‘only’ speeches and not work, because 100 days is too less a time to assess) Modi has managed to make the population visualize an Indian utopia where the youth is not unemployed, where India doesn’t beg for loans from the World Bank, where our cities are world class and a thousand and one other such things. Interestingly, this India is devoid of any class/religious/gender conflicts, and the center of the mission remains the highly glamorized word ‘development’.

The question is, ‘Who’s development?’ Of the richest creamy layer of the society or probably the one’s in power? Whether its Manmohan Singh or Modi, the rikshaw wala will still take Rs.20 to take you from Visvavidyala metro station to Arts faculty. How is he developing? The unequal distribution of resources is so deeply entrenched in us that we’ve almost started taking it for granted. Modi has not risen above the religious/class conflicts, he has chosen to ignore them, in order to satisfy the capitalist model.

It is his soft power that derives it strength from his overwhelming hard power. The right wing politics has assumed new strengths in his rule and are permeating the civil society through modes like the speeches. While the idea of speech is not my problem, it is the fact that it’s in Hindi and that it’s being called Guru Utsav is what I have a problem with.

Going ahead with the belief that India was and continues to be a land of  ‘hindus’ and everyone else is hence an ‘outsider’ and apparently needs to be subsumed within the dominant Hindu discourse is a big problem. BJP was founded on the idea that India is a Hindu nation, Hindi is our national language, and the Hindu aspects of history constitute as national heritage while our aspect of Indian history is just history of the invaders is highly erroneous.

It is only an extension of this ideology that everything pristine has to accommodate itself in the larger Sanskrit linguistic (hence, Guru Utsav) and the way to create an imagined sense of togetherness among people is to unite them with the language of the dominant class- Hindi.

Though officially we maintain that English and Hindi are our official languages and we have no national languages, Hindi continues to operate at the level of the soft power, and conversations in English invite the criticism of rightists who believe we’re belittling our own culture.

I understand that English also at one level has been the language of the colonizer, but at the level of communicating to a nation which speaks multiple languages; English becomes a comparatively less biased language. The over emphasis towards learning Hindi, points towards our obsession with formation of a national culture that is largely secluding in nature and seeks to establish the rule of the dominant class and therefore needs to be subjected to critical analysis.

Bipin Chandra, it wasn’t the first time we had heard the name. In almost every Indian history lecture the name was repeatedly announced for the authors we needed to consult. Without actually knowing the iconic historian all students of history knew him for all the help his books had been in the last minute finishing up of assignments.
Born on 27 May 1928, Bipin Chandra bid his final goodbye to the world of history on 30th August 2014.
Bipin sir had not just one but many achievements under his belt and even after his departure he would continue to be a huge part of the history world for teachers and students alike.
He had completed his Ph.D from the University of Delhi after completing his education at Stanford University.
For many years he graced Hindu College as a lecturer and then a reader and one of his students and current professor at Hindu College, Mrs. Suchitra Gupta talked about his good old professor days and his passion for history at a condolence meeting organized by the history department of Hindu College on 1st of September. He then joined the Jawaharlal Nehru University as a professor of history but his career did not pause there. He was also the General President of the Indian History Congress in 1985 along with being a member of the University Grants Commission in 1993 and the Chairman of the National Book Trust, Delhi from 2004-2012.
In 2010, he reached heights by winning the Padma Bhushan Award. Bipin Sir carved a niche for himself in the historical world and while his body won’t be around anymore his ideas through books like Making of Modern India, In the Name of Democracy, Essays on Contemporary India, India’s Struggle for Independence 1857-1947 among many more will stay with us forever.