If it ain't shut, it's open!

On my arrival in Santiniketan, now almost 10 years ago, I remember being thoroughly confused about the days of the week on which shops in different areas remained shut. While most of Bolpur town and the university town remained closed for the second half on Tuesdays and the whole of Wednesdays, there were exceptions to this rule.

There was one market near the Tagore museum that remained shut on Tuesdays, but opened on Wednesdays; and pharmacies that remained shut on Fridays. Whether the shops in Bolpur town had followed the same routine even before Tagore established Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan (and made Wednesday, the founder's day, the weekly-off) or they wrapped their lives around their newer but more famous adjoining town later, is not known. But the fact is that they had coordinated their weekly-offs till recently.

As in all government universities, the vice-chancellor (V-C) is appointed by the government; and, in this case, for a tenure of five years. Probably wanting to leave a lasting impact on the university's workings, the current V-C decided to change both the university timings and the days of weekly holidays. He felt early morning sessions, which started at seven and ended by mid-afternoon, should be replaced with the usual 10-to-six routine.

The Tuesday-Wednesday holidays were changed to Wednesdays and Sundays. But, of course, the Tagore museum, which is run by the university, could not be kept shut on Sundays, and so the museum staff followed another schedule. While teachers and students tried to reason with the V-C, he remained firm. He said the new dispensation would allow Visva-Bharati University to coordinate better with the University Grants Commission, Delhi. Accordingly, the new schedule was enforced from August 1 last year.

But within less than a year, there has been a change of heart. Rumours have it that the arts, music and agriculture departments in separate representations pointed out how the new schedule was affecting their functioning. The arts students were finishing their theory classes only by afternoon, leaving them little time for studio work. Music students were complaining about the inappropriateness of singing or dancing mid-afternoon. The agriculture students were missing out on their early morning field trips. So, the powers that be, who were firm only a year ago, have now apparently yielded.

So now when the university opens mid-June for a new academic year, there will allegedly be yet another dispensation for these departments. Those of us who are not part of the university are not really affected by such decisions of each new V-C (this is the third since my arrival). In fact, our detached vantage point allows us much entertainment in a small town bereft of much other stimulation of the brain.

The only worry, though, is how it would constrain our ability to dispense information. Tourists are dependent on cycle-rickshaw pullers and lately, hired car drivers by way of information dispensers. Neither the government nor the university believes in information kiosks. Consequently, those of us who stay here (and are stupid enough to run cafes) get asked a lot of questions. About the various departments of the university, all we now would be able to offer is: "If it ain't shut, it's open".