The Panel Discussion
Teachers' day here at IIT Madras was celebrated with a panel discussion on a topic that according to me, could never be conclusive - "The IIT Degree - A passport to material prosperity?". The discussion was chaired by a renowned professor here who was extremely impressive with his interplay of words in English. One could possibly keep listening to that well-modulated, commanding, flawless (I've run out of adjectives) voice of the moderator all day long - something that is the monopoly of great speakers.
The speakers at the discussion were five in all - three faculty members and two students. After they had voiced their opinions loud and clear, the moderator took charge yet again, enthralling listeners with his charismatic strain. A major portion of the discussion revolved around attempts to define what prosperity exactly is. Again, an unending venture that unfortunately showed up as it does consistently at such fora because every human has his/her own definitions of prosperity. All of a sudden, the moderator gave the entire thing a new dimension, a new outlook.
Someone I had heard of recently as being a fighter in life had to get a postgraduate degree from an IIT before getting a job to support the rest of the family although she had excelled in her undergraduate education. That made me ask the panel if material prosperity should necessarily presuppose prosperity in other domains. He ventured into stating that as long as someone believed that he/she is just the layer of flesh around the skeleton, one is poor and realizing the subtle beyond the gross is what makes one prosperous in life. Time and again, he quoted from the ancient scriptures that laid emphasis on what kind of prosperity one should be looking at achieving. His intentions to get us thinking out of the planes of poverty consciousness seemed right.
But that still does not answer my question and this is exactly why I am putting a piece of my mind here. In utmost humility, I feel the entire topic dwells around the gross aspects of getting a degree from an IIT(not subtler knowledge) and material prosperity. Now why did the thought of realizing the subtle come into the picture? I very much agree that realizing the most subtle aspect of creation, the proof to equality of life, is the king of all kinds of prosperity that every human should aspire to achieve. But that is entirely different from the whole point being discussed. For more than an hour, this was the topic being spoken of and I always had the feeling that the speakers had flown far away from the crux of the matter. Probably too much knowledge in that domain makes people who have come close to realizing it, talk of it everywhere.
Towards the end, there were questions raised on why professors liked to stay at IIT to which a senior professor remarked that they still had ideals in life. As if IIT is the only place where idealists live. Another member of the audience asked if the exit tax imposed on emigrants was fair, to which he was told to prosper by not cribbing about such small things. A member of the panel wanted to know what was so attractive about a UG programme at IIT and not so attractive about an M.S from the same place? Yet another thought was put across in an attempt to answer the previous question. Someone wanted a talk about India before every lecture started.
I just hope the reader is getting where I am getting at! Well, in the least, we are nowhere near the topic being discussed. Nor were they! And it took me this blog to mitigate the turmoil in my mind.
The speakers at the discussion were five in all - three faculty members and two students. After they had voiced their opinions loud and clear, the moderator took charge yet again, enthralling listeners with his charismatic strain. A major portion of the discussion revolved around attempts to define what prosperity exactly is. Again, an unending venture that unfortunately showed up as it does consistently at such fora because every human has his/her own definitions of prosperity. All of a sudden, the moderator gave the entire thing a new dimension, a new outlook.
Someone I had heard of recently as being a fighter in life had to get a postgraduate degree from an IIT before getting a job to support the rest of the family although she had excelled in her undergraduate education. That made me ask the panel if material prosperity should necessarily presuppose prosperity in other domains. He ventured into stating that as long as someone believed that he/she is just the layer of flesh around the skeleton, one is poor and realizing the subtle beyond the gross is what makes one prosperous in life. Time and again, he quoted from the ancient scriptures that laid emphasis on what kind of prosperity one should be looking at achieving. His intentions to get us thinking out of the planes of poverty consciousness seemed right.
But that still does not answer my question and this is exactly why I am putting a piece of my mind here. In utmost humility, I feel the entire topic dwells around the gross aspects of getting a degree from an IIT(not subtler knowledge) and material prosperity. Now why did the thought of realizing the subtle come into the picture? I very much agree that realizing the most subtle aspect of creation, the proof to equality of life, is the king of all kinds of prosperity that every human should aspire to achieve. But that is entirely different from the whole point being discussed. For more than an hour, this was the topic being spoken of and I always had the feeling that the speakers had flown far away from the crux of the matter. Probably too much knowledge in that domain makes people who have come close to realizing it, talk of it everywhere.
Towards the end, there were questions raised on why professors liked to stay at IIT to which a senior professor remarked that they still had ideals in life. As if IIT is the only place where idealists live. Another member of the audience asked if the exit tax imposed on emigrants was fair, to which he was told to prosper by not cribbing about such small things. A member of the panel wanted to know what was so attractive about a UG programme at IIT and not so attractive about an M.S from the same place? Yet another thought was put across in an attempt to answer the previous question. Someone wanted a talk about India before every lecture started.
I just hope the reader is getting where I am getting at! Well, in the least, we are nowhere near the topic being discussed. Nor were they! And it took me this blog to mitigate the turmoil in my mind.
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