The Thought Provoking Quality Of Academicians In Our Country India : A country That Was One Of The Greatest & Finest Centres of Learning In The Ancient & Medieval Times, For Students From All Over The Globe

India was one of the greatest & finest centres of learning in ancient & medieval times, for the knowledge-hungry-students & scholars from all over the globe.

The quality of teachers in the Indian academic institutions today, is indeed thought-provoking, and a subject for serious thought, in spite of massive, expansive structures of  schools & colleges in this 21st Century Indian Subcontinent. 

A brief write-up follows the pictures down below. Please don't miss the write-up.

Once in a while, every now & then, I love seeing the Linkedin profiles, & YouTube Videos of some of the impressive & accomplised men & women, who came in my life, just to see how they are today, where they are today, and what great things are happenning in their lives today. This includes the list of some of my near and dear ones too.

It's practically not feasible for me, to keep in touch with everyone, even thru the ultra simple Social Media Sites, as finally it has to end in Live Socialising, and people do expect that, at the end of the day. And I find this to be an extremely laborious & unachievable task. 

Even my very near and dear ones in my family circle, often keep cursing me for being absolutely unsocial. Not that I am a snob, and neither do I have any great achievement to my credit, to be a snob. But I am an extremely poor multitasker. An absolutely useless creature in multitasking. But that doesn't stop me from learning enthusiastically, what all great things are happenning, in the lives of my friends & near & dear ones, around the globe. 😆

And, Is this, healthy curiosity, not the reason behind the great inventions of Internet & World Wide Web ? 😆

One fine morning, during one such joyous research activity, while browsing the Youtube videos, with academic interest, a couple of days back, I suddenly bumped into the following video of Devika Subramanian, Today Dr (Prof) Devika Subramanian of Rice University in the United States. Devika was a good pal of mine, during my IIT, KGP days. A brilliant student, and the prestigious President of India's Gold Medal Winner, Devika graduated from the Institute, with a BTech in Computer Science, during my time.

Computer Science was just then introduced at IIT, Kgp, and it was a brand new, nascent speciality.

Devika subsequently did her Masters & Doctorate from the prestigious Stanford University of the United States, and is a dedicated Professor & Researcher at Rice University these days.

An impressive extempore speaker, and a very talented Carnatic, Hindustani & Western Pop singer, Devika was a person of simplicity in her attire & behaviour. Her parents were originally from the holyThiruvaiyyar, or some such place, in Thanjaavur district. And we often chit chatted in pure Thanjaavur Thamizh, while our meetings in the hostel corridors.😆

She was from a family of academicians, and always wanted a dedicated career in teaching & research. We discussed about everything under the Sun, other than Computer Science & Chemical Sciences. Academic interests are not the only interests in life, to connect, two people.  😆

It's so impressive to see the quality of faculties, in the academic institutions of developed nations. The teachers there, have great credentials, and have utmost dedication towards teaching & research, & of course industrial exposures too.

Why don't we in our country, realize the importance of great teachers, in Nation Building Activities? Teachers are the very backbones of society, for both secular education & spiritual

education. 

We in our country want good food. But the quality of incregredients is immaterial to us. We want great Human Resources & brilliant Manpower, but the quality of teachers, to achieve this great goal, is immaterial & tertiary to us.

I had the great good fortune, of being taught by some of the finest teachers of our country in my life, in Nursery School, Primary school, Middle School, High School, College & IIT. And I'll always fondly remember their contributions in my life, both secular & spiritual, with utmost gratitude. Gurudev Swami Sivananda & Swami Chidananda, are no less important in my life. 

My School education in 'Shri Arya Samaj Mandir' of Bengal, reminds me even today, of the great Guru Shishya Parampara   (गुरु-शिष्य परम्परा ) of ancient India. Even the Montessory Teachers of my Nursery School, gave me all the fun & all the joys of my life. The British Nuns, whom we called Mothers & Sisters, & the Anglo-Indian Teachers, whom we called Miss, were SOOOOO dedicated to their professions, and were both loving & disciplined towards the children, at the same time.

Am craving to see the same quality of dedicated 'Gurus' in our country, even in this 21st Century of utmost materialism & snobbishness in India, where money & only money has taken an upper hand. And the teachers who taught me during my school days, even my teachers in IIT, were hardly getting a decent pay, for all their dedicated service. Even today, I wonder what motivated my dedicated, knowledgable teachers to doggedly stick to their poorly-paid jobs, with not even once looking elsewhere for more many. Can we see such things happenning, anywhere in the world today??? It's looks next to impossible, to me at least.

Would love to go, & meet all my dearest teachers today, and thank them profusely with all my heart & soul. But Alas !!! Only 'The Great God Almighty' can tell us, where are they ?? ;  in which Universe in the endless space, in which Plane of Existence, those Greatest Teachers of mine, are there today ???

We have Infinite numbers of IITs & IIMs today, across the length & breadth of our country India. Just by massively constructing palatial buildings, can we really take great pride in the fact, that we have built great Institutions of knowledge & learning, in our country? 

Some of the great Educational Institutions of Pre-Independent India, like Roorkee Univ., BHU-IT, etc always had a standing of their own. Just by branding them as IITs, have we done anything revolutionary in our Higher Education? 

Even without mighty huge skyscrapers, we had World-Class Universities (Vishwa- Vidyalayas) in ancient India, in open spaces, under Banyan & Peepul trees. Just the ambitious act of palatial building- construction, & a huge stamp of IIT, IIM & IISc on them, is never going to be enough, as we are perhaps wrongly convincing ourselves today, for raising the standards of 'Education' in the country.

India is a millenia old civilization, and has the cream of the world, as its population, in every field of human-endeavour, without a shade of doubt. We can't disagree on that. Even my domestic help, dynamic Chaamundi's two tiny-tots are so brilliant, and full of creativity, and so is my dear Chaamundi.

But unless, we know how to recognize, groom and exploit these creamy resources, no point bragging & yapping about our intelligence, wisdom & cultural heritage, and blowing our Naadaswaram, in all 7 Saptha-Swaraas.

So Long Mala