Thursday 21 February 2013

Our continued obsession with fair skin

A  symposium that I  recently attended in Guwahati was a good illustration of our continued obession with fair skin, which is bad twice over not only because it makes us behave abnormally with fair skinned people, but also because it prevents us from valuing and giving due respect to the great ones among our own brown-skinned locals. Read on to find out more...


I had always thought that the advertisements about ‘Fair and Lovely’ Fairness cream were a joke, but after what happened this time, I am no longer sure. I was part of a group of foreign scholars who had come to attend a symposium at a newly established academic institution in the outskirts of the city. The institution was new, and this was their first big event, so they had gone all out to extract maximum mileage out of it. So there was a press-meet on the day before the scheduled start and everything was done to keep the media persons covering the event in good humour. Fair enough, but the spectacle that was made out of the attendance of so many foreign guests was rather in poor taste. The profusion of gamochas and bouquets showered on them made them feel rather self-conscious, and the unbelievable servility with which they were treated left them all gasping. Each one was assigned a personal student ‘minder’ who was supposed to help the person even with pushing his chair while getting up and so on. Most of those foreign guests were young and energetic research scholars and many were visiting India for the first time. They were used to carrying their bags and to following instructions. Many of them were just students, just like their minders. They just did not know how to handle the attention.

And in all this drama over the foreigners, the Indian scholars who were also attending the meet were just ignored or just barely acknowledged. So much so that a very senior and renowned academician invited as an honoured plenary speaker to the symposium was made to pay registration fees. Being a gentleman, he paid up, without protest. I have nothing against having to pay registration fees at conferences, as long as there is no differential treatment. The same rules must apply for everyone. But looking back, that whole registration process was a joke. When they finally got their act together, and the registration began, participants were given nice-looking conference bags which were still in their plastic packing, all complete with price tags etc. And since they were still in the original packing, there was absolutely nothing inside – no programme, no list of abstracts, no name tag, no pen, no notepad. Do people participate in conferences only to collect conference bags? The absence of name badges for the participants was a real problem, and it looked all the more ludicrous because all the volunteers and the local organisers had posh and official-looking name badges hanging around their necks.

It must be said that the student volunteers worked very hard and they made a really good impression. But there seemed to be a complete disconnect between the facilities that are  normally expected to be provided while organising international conferences and the priorities of the organisers. The foreign participants wanted academic discussion, they wanted interaction with the local scholars since they had come here to learn and they expected basic facilities like clean and functional toilets and internet connectivity, and quiet spaces for preparing their lectures and for discussion with other scholars. But the local organisers were more concerned about inaugurations and valedictory meetings, cultural programmes and chief guests, bouquets and gamochas. The senior among the local organisers did not seem to have the time to listen to the actual talks. For them it was primarily a media event, not a learning opportunity, nor a meeting place for serious academic exchange; the talks were necessary, in order to justify the event, but that did not mean that one had to actually sit down and listen. It would have been okay if they had just kept away, but the few occasions when senior local scholars were present during a discussion, they felt they had to express their opinion, and in so doing they made it clear that they had not listened at all, nor had they tried to understand what the talk was about. Some comments were so plainly absurd that one could do nothing else but laugh.

Why do we not understand that if we want to honour and to show respect to serious scholars, the best way to do it is, not to shower them with gamochas and packets of tea, but to take their work seriously. We need to sit down and listen when they are talking about their work, to ask informed questions and to contribute in whatever way we can in their quest for knowledge. That is how we show them that we value their scholarship. But sadly very few in the audience shared my opinion. And those who did were too polite to be heard over the general hustle and bustle prevailing – for going by the heavy silk mekhela sadors and heavy jewellery or smart suits in which most of the resident faculty were dressed,  it really seemed as if there was a big wedding going on rather than a serious academic conference.

With so much activity all around, what with keeping media people happy and arranging coffee for the participants, even those who wanted to listen had a hard time. Many of the contributed papers were downright poor, most were barely passable. I did seriously think that somehow the culture of serious research and thinking was still missing in our land. The stark difference in standards between the papers presented by the foreign scholars and those by the local ones only proves my point. And that is a real pity, because the younger scholars are energetic and enthusiastic. They are willing to work hard and to learn. But who will teach them? And if senior local scholars cannot be bothered even to listen to what the younger ones are presenting, then how can they help them to become better?

It did look to me that the whole reason for this huge number of paper presentations was the increased number of credit points that the paper-presenters (who are mostly college teachers) would get for participation in an international conference. And that fact seemed to be clear to the organisers at least. For fancy looking 'certificates of presentation' were signed and ready to be given to the paper presenters even before they had presented their papers; there were certificates also for those who did not attend, there were certificates also for chairing a session and so on. Foreign scholars are not used to going up to formally receive certificates of participation. As such they were really puzzled by what was going on. In normal conferences and workshops, such certificates are given to participants only on request, and even then they are handed over discreetly and informally. But here, the organisers missed no opportunity to make a big show out of even such trivialities.

I had a unique position with regard to it all – since I had also come from abroad and was part of the foreign team I was supposed to have some special status, but since I did not have white skin and blonde hair and since I insisted I was Asamiya and Indian, they could not slot me so easily. Like other Indians, I paid my registration. They had arranged separate accommodation for the ‘honoured’ foreign guests and for the ‘ordinary’ Indian participants. So when they ran out of space in the former, they just informed me that I had been moved to the latter. Of course I did not take this lying down; not that I have anything against staying with fellow Indians, but I have something against discrimination on the basis of skin colour. And this policy of segregating the foreigners from the Indians meant that the foreign and Indian scholars had little opportunity to interact with each other informally later in the evenings, and this was a huge missed opportunity.

And if all this was not enough, what happened at the valedictory event takes the cake. It was the end of another intense day of deliberations and for those few who wanted to attend as many talks as was possible, it was also exhausting. But courtesy demanded that we attend. As was to be expected, the names of all the foreign scholars were read out once more, for the umpteenth time, this time to go up and receive a gift (called very modestly, a small token of appreciation) from the Chancellor himself of this fledgling University. While handing over the gifts the Chancellor shook hands with the person and then posed for a photograph. But that was not all, while shaking hands, the Chancellor asked each one of the pretty young foreign lady scholars their age! And when it was the turn of one of the foreign male scholars who happened to sport a pony tail, he was asked to ‘give us a song’!

I could not believe what I was hearing. I wished someone would tell the man to mind his own business. I accepted my packet of tea only on condition I would not be asked my age, but the hint was not taken. And the foreigners did not know what hit them, they were too polite to protest, they smiled and took it in their stride, and their polite smiles were mistaken by the organisers to be a sign of approval. As far as the local contingent was concerned, they seemed to be hugely enjoying this public demonstration of rudeness and bad manners -- that too from the head of an academic institution, that too in front of students. I have never felt more outraged in my life. Many of the foreigners asked me later whether it was normal for young women to be asked their age publicly in India!  What could I say but apologise and hang my hang in shame at the misbehaviour of a fellow-countryman. 

All this was even more shocking because the bad behaviour came from someone who calls himself a Chancellor. Having studied in state-owned universities where the Chancellor is never present and the Vice-Chancellor is the local god, it was just unimaginable that someone who is even higher than a VC could behave in this unseemly manner. When I asked about his personal credentials, I was told he was a very successful entrepreneur. So I understood that that is what is required in today’s India to become a Chancellor of a university -- not scholarship, not university degrees, but pots of money and the ability to conjure up more. Not surprising since opening academic institutions has become very good business in our land. And after having seen this particular Chancellor in action I understood better why the students and faculty had not given too much attention to their very learned but very modest VC at the inaugural event. After all, it was clear to everyone working there who called the shots in that place. 
  
Earlier I used to find those phoren-returned memonis intolerable, when they would start complaining about how letera-petera our dear old Guwahati is. Of course I do not like many things about the city too. It was not just the sight of garbage lying on the streets or the crazy traffic, but after having lived for many years in Germany now, it takes me quite an effort each time to adjust to the change of pace and the general loudness of the city. But Guwahati of late seems to have also changed in completely unexpected ways. The huge respect and loyalty a person can command simply on the basis of his wealth, regardless of anything else, is one of them.

Some other things, however, have not changed. Not only does our fascination for white skin remain, we also continue to behave like uncivilised imbeciles whenever we see a fair-skinned foreigner. There are probably many reasons why we should respect some white sahibs even today, but doing that just for their white skin means we are missing the point altogether. If we are so proud of our education and our wealth, where is our self-respect? How much longer will we continue to re-enact the drama of the white sahib and brown coolie? This obsession with fair skin is bad twice over not only because it makes us behave abnormally with fair-skinned people, but also because it also prevents us from valuing and giving due respect the the great ones amongst our own brown-skinned locals. And the symposium I attended in Guwahati was a good illustration of all that and more. Suddenly, I am beginning to dread being in Guwahati. God knows what more there is in store for me to see before I head back this time...

27 comments:

  1. Wow, Meenaxi, that is so true. You are a brave and brilliant writer!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Anastasiya, this is the least I can do. I am still smarting under it all...
      hope you had a much better time in Delhi...let us keep in touch.
      best

      Delete
  2. Many thanks for this piece, Meenaxi! Your precise observations and sharp comments hit the very problem.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Ergo. I am glad that I did not misunderstand your feelings about the whole affair...it was simply completely out of the world... and I thought I needed to record it before the anger died down.

      Delete
  3. Dear Meenaxi, I see that there were several things that made you upset about this symposium. Therefore I hope that you will be glad to hear that the overall impression of at least some foreign participants was not that bad at all. There were some incidents on the symposium that surprised me and there were others that made me just smile. Yet what I will remember most are some brilliant papers that I could hear and several really fruitful and enlightening discussions after some papers and during the breaks between sessions. I had the chance to talk with Indian researchers (also with you) about topics that really interested me and I'm really thankful about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Reet, Thanks for trying to make me feel a little better. My point is, you did not need to come all the way to Guwahati to talk to me or to Irina. But I am glad that you did manage to make contact with some new people despite the general festival atmosphere that was prevailing everywhere...you are a positive person, a kind person and a forgiving person. I am less so... and what happened hurt me very much.

      Delete
  4. Thank you Meenaxiba! Some aspects of this event made me cringe in shame and I thank you for your outspoken write-up. Regards

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks, dear girl...I am sure this will not change anything, anyway, this is the least I can do by way of saying sorry to those who came and had to face the music...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Comment from Mitra baideo via e-mail;
    Meenaxi, Very well put. WHite skin, phoren people, of course! But also I always think that as far as seminars etc are concerned we are always more concerned with the style than the substance.Not a single new thought or idea is ever articulated there.
    What to do!
    Warmly,
    Mitra baideo.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good observations, Meenaxi! True, all this looked like a fertility ritual that was centered around white-skinned spirits who are expected to pave the way for the glorious future of this recently opened university (that would probably entail numerous more pompous events like this). And yet, it seems to be a problem of periphery which is not endemic to India. I have noticed similar practices of segregation - although maybe not as elaborate as in this case - in the Russian province. Anyway, this anger is well spent here!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, Laur, you could probably write an anthropological paper on this! I did not imagine we were doing field work during the symposium although there were moments when I had the certain feeling of being pursued and hunted...maybe others were collecting their field data on the reaction of white-skinned spirits to certain fertility rituals...

    ReplyDelete
  9. The obsession with white skin is not only over westerners. It has been there in our culture from ages ago.Remember the asuras and the Gods . Have you ever seen a fair skinned asura ? What happened at the university was embarrassing . But surely that doesnt represent all of us.Instead of being angry.I would have found it hilarious...and would have laughed every bit of the farce that brought so many well meaning people together.In the first place, the choice of the university seemed quite strange.A bit of cross checking would surely have unveiled the truth about that"university" beforehand. I am sure what happened at the "university" wouldnt have happened at any small town college of the state.But in some way its good that such boorish behavior by the Chancellor did take place.Otherwise,where would you have found the grist to churn out such a delightfully acerbic blog.I blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good observations, Bhaskar. Thanks.
      Yes, like you lots of people found it hilarious and funny and laughed away the Chancellor's abominable behaviour, and because they did so, he thought he was being very funny and 'cool' continued with it. If someone had had the guts to tell him to shut up, he would have done so, and the rest would have been spared the embarrassment of a public inquisition. Our society seems to have lost the courage to stand up to those who have power and wealth.
      You're right about the fair-skinned asuras though. They don't exist. And also that it was a mistake to have chosen to go to that university in the first place. Well...

      Delete
  10. In response to this blog, Upasana wrote over e-mail:

    That was a thought evoking and memory-reviving piece that you wrote. We have all seen it at some time or the other. Maybe that is the way we operate. We need to either disregard and discard totally, or go in complete reverse order. In private space, we usually are more moderate and can seem to accommodate more. But in situations that require obvious display of emotions, we do get carried away sometimes.

    While yours was a case of 'fair' versus 'not-so-fair' this time, but maybe you have forgotten some of the other times when it was a minister or some other bigwig who hogged up all the time and space of an inaugural function of an academic workshop, and then the keynote speaker was requested to cut short his/ her speech.

    But something else comes to my mind now....does it happen more in case of academic get-togethers? I don't know the answer and maybe I don't want to know.....

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am a college teacher of Assam and a research scholar of the university where the said seminar was organised. I found the seminar much useful to us who have attended it. The seminar was very well organised and disciplined. I have attended international seminar out side India and I have found those commercialized. One can not expect to participate a seminar with submission of registration fees well ahead and for everything we have to pay. The organising university has offered love and respect to all the local participants. For reason unknown you could not appreciate the organizer. We are happy with the organizer. You are looking only what is not good in the seminar, there are plenty of things which are very good. You have exhibited a very bad character of luitporiyas. You can not represent us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment and for your opinion about the conference. Just as you have a right to your opinion, I have a right to mine, even if it is different from yours. I certainly do not wish to represent anyone but myself, and I do not think someone who resorts to anonymous messages has any business to be talking about anybody's character, leave alone that of all luitporiyas. Well...

      Delete
  12. thank u baidau for this piece.u r indeed a brave woman to express the practical things into light.i was also really shocked about the local organising. After coming from Tartu very recently, they became my good friends that is how i understood them (at least a little bit i would say) and also some of the things happening during the conference were very dramatic!and for many things for which i apologized myself to them.Just now, Sir Desmond and me are together reading ur writeup and totally agree with u.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Purabi for your words of support. I am glad Desmond also agrees. I hope such events are never repeated again. It was a total disgrace and makes me ashamed to call myself an Assamese.

      Delete
  13. Apart from the many obvious points that you have raised here, I think, we need to be worried about the quality and credentials of so many private technical colleges and 'Universities' that have come up in Assam - within almost no time! Who are the owners and so called chancellors and VC's? What kind of people they have engaged - either as faculties or students? Why are they established - in the first place? I am sure the answers would be troublesome for many of us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Nazrul, it seems one needs only money to set up a university as faculties and students, even VCs, can be bought and made to toe the line with sufficient money. As for why they are established, I think they are very good business propositions, like setting up hospitals and newspapers. well... the rapid commercialisation and privatisation of our educational institutions and of our health care can only trouble many...

      Delete
  14. Ma'am, I'm glad u wrote this. I'm a student of this very institution and I couldn't agree with you more. Everything that happened in that seminar was in bad taste, just like every other event organised by our alma mater, all because of this so-called chancellor cum chairman. You can well imagine what we have to put up with everyday in college. All they do care is about money, our fees being cleared at the right time with no qualified faculty members to teach us, having some useless politicians visit the place every month(for the funds and stuff of course), no et al. They wouldn't even care if students fail in all subjects and do not come 2 class as long as the dues are being payed. That person is feasting on us students and our parents. And speaking about the faculty. They are just like puppets in his hands. B.Tech teachers receive just over 10k. That's u imaginable given the fact that some of the students get more pocket money than that.
    It's indeed a shame to be a part of this instt ma'am as i was an IIT aspirant in my 10+2. I just want to shout to the whole world what a DICTATOR he is. Sometimes we are so demoralized we feel like leaving the college. We will just have a so called B.Tech degree i suppose. besides, new innovations and inventions by our talented students are never encouraged and instead we are told "CLASS KORA JUA". I was just hoping someone would write the naked truth about our univ as everyone working under him are supposed to lick his boots and laugh at his disturbing jokes. Someday, i hope this the true picture of this shameless rich man comes in the public's view.
    And i on behalf of all the students and faculty would ask for your forgiveness for the difficulties you had to face because of this man ma'am. Because this just isn't about fair skin, it's a matter of dictatorship. No other instt in the North East has such a man at the helm.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can you imagine a Chairman of a College using SWEAR WORDS and KICKING his own students in front of Parents?? SLAPPING employees in front of students?? Moreover you were lucky that he did not see him scolding students in the conference hall in front of delegates(This has happened may times). This is the kind of Person he is ... Coming and studying in this institution was probably the biggest mistake of my life ...

      Delete
    2. Thanks for telling the world a bit of the inside story. I am totally shocked to read all this. Can't really believe that this can really happen in today's world. What can I say? I am very sorry for the students (who are interested in learning and not just in getting their degrees) and those teachers (who are really interested in teaching their students) who have landed, for whatever reasons, in that institution.

      I can only hope that things get better there. If they don't, do not let this short stint in that institution have an adverse effect on your general outlook to life. There are also many good people in this world, believe me, and much nicer things to look forward to in the future. I wish you the very best. If you haven't learnt anything else in this institution at least you know now what sort of a person you don't want to be -- so it has not been all wasted.

      You must not say sorry on anyones behalf. The students were the best part of our memories of that place and we are really very grateful to the students and some of the younger faculty. We will never forget how each one of you tried to help us in whatever way you could, despite all the odds.



      Delete
  15. I completely agree with you, Meenaxi Ba ...
    I am a student of the concerned university, and I am very happy that you have brought this to light because if we the students or teachers did the same thing we would be threatened by the so called higher authorities and what not. And Yes, the VC/Chairman himself is very impolite and a self obsessed person. He thinks only of himself and how to make money. Nothing else!
    I am sorry I am posting this comment Anonymously, for obvious reasons.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for speaking up. Of course I do understand why you have to post anonymously.That you dare to speak up despite all the threats speaks a lot for your character. I can only wish you the very best. Try to not let the bad things disturb you; Wanting to make money is by itself not a crime; but it is a pity that having money does not necessarily imply that the person will also be civilised and decent. It is really sad.

      Delete
  16. I completly agree with you views and would like to compliment you for bringing up the whole thing in such lucid manner. i really admire your observation and the presetation of the whole episode.This sort of showmanship and pomp is the trademark of the institute- neglecting adacemics,fair remmuneration to the faculties and so on. In a span of one and half year the university saw 3 VC coming in and going out. It speaks volumes about the affairs of the institute. Baideo, you have seen just a part of the whole picture, employee (VC to the Runner) gets humiliated if one fails to match up the whims of the dictator in prowl.
    I am also posting anonymously, for obvious reason.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your response. Honestly, I really do not want to see the rest of what is going on there. I can imagine how demoralising it must be for the students and the faculty to have to put up with such behaviour on a daily basis.
      I only hope that things will change for the better, soon. But I cannot imagine how that can happen as long as there are students who are willing to pay anything in order to buy their degrees and there are faculty who are willing to sell their souls for a few thousand rupees. That even VCs can be bought for money is a very sad reflection on our society.

      Delete