Misplaced aspirations

The dumps of garbage covering many areas on the land under the jurisdiction of the University is proof the Visva-Bharati University can't even clean its own backyard

It is an annual feature. Like all government departments in a rush to finish budget allocations before the financial year comes to a close, the Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan too gets in a tizzy. What is visible to us outsiders is all departments plastered with flex sheets announcing various workshops and seminars. 

Like other years, the subjects this year were as varied as “global peace”, yoga, meditation, page to stage and many esoteric subjects. The one that caught my attention was an international interdisciplinary conference on “Road map for the development of eco-tourism in and around Santiniketan and Birbhum”. Just when I started to wonder why the University Grants Commission would pay for such a conference that seems a little outside the purview of University engagement I noticed the second half of the flex board. The public relations department was organising it in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, and the Department of Tourism, Government of West Bengal.

Since the promotion of Tagore’s Santiniketan is close to the hearts of all tourism departments, raising funds for such an event could not have been tough. Insiders in the know put the money spent at around Rs 1 million which must have come from the Centre and the state along with a cut-out of Mamata which graced the entry to the auditorium where the conference was held. Not having anything to do with the University I could not wangle an invitation to the conference keen as I was to know about any other road map for development of Santiniketan and its surroundings except one of destruction which the state government seems to have embarked upon. Rampant construction of houses and roads and felling of trees with no plan for sewage or water resources can hardly be the perfect road map.

So I had to depend on newspaper reports to glean that some Chinese and Thai delegates were taking part in the conference to give it the “international” flavor. Also the grotesque green and blue fairy lamps that had lit up the party venue at night (visible from outside) attended by  conference delegates and a few other lucky invitees ensured that at least the Rs 1 million of funding was well spent. 

But what remained a mystery —because neither the newspapers nor any of the university insiders who I asked could throw any light on — is why a conference organised by the PRO was deemed “inter-disciplinary”. Or did they mean the different disciplines of the tourism industry — the transport guys, and the hotel wallahs?

A bigger mystery was why the Centre and the state would choose to collaborate with Visva-Bharati for such an endeavor? The dumps of garbage covering many areas on the land under the jurisdiction of the University is proof the University can’t even clean its own backyard. A recent gherao-ing of the acting vice-chancellor by inmates of the girls’ hostels to protest inedible food being served highlights the University’s ability to appreciate service. A recent spat in the boys’ hostel that led to outsiders beating up hostel boys is proof of the University’s understanding of providing security.

Why Visva-Bharati for ideas not just on and around Santiniketan but the entire district of Birbhum? If that is bordering on delusions of grandeur on the part of the University, the fact the government tourism departments chose the University to collaborate with probably means that there are no others that are any better. 
 

Frightening thought.