Indologists and friendship

The first full day in Würzburg after getting back. Anna calls, Cornelia drops by..

3.

I was barely home when the phone rang. It was Anna's warm and friendly voice. 'Hallo Meenaxi, Bist du gut angekommen?' I realised I should have perhaps called her first to thank her for all her help. But she was not someone who minded such things. 'Do you want to come for lunch with us?' her warm invitation. 'It would be so good to see you again.'

'I would love to, thank you very much, but you have left so much food for me in the fridge, let me use up some of them. Also, there are piles of post that I need to work my way through. But we must meet soon, perhaps tomorrow afternoon, for tea,' I suggested.

‘As you wish. You know you are always welcome to my home, don't you? See you then, tomorrow. Let me know if you want me to do anything for you till then, okay?'

I was very lucky to have a friend in Anna. Although much younger than me, Anna was my teacher when I was doing Indologie at the University here during my Masters studies. She had a contractual job in the University then. Since then we have been friends. She has a son who is in his teens and her husband is a professor of philosophy in a university in Italy. Anna lives with her son in Würzburg and her husband commutes by train at least every other weekend. Anna also has a keen ear for music and plays the piano and the harp. Anna is very much a doting mother and is very caring and friendly by nature. So much so that I often have the feeling that friends like me take advantage of her goodness. I also feel guilty sometimes about depending on her so much. But I do not know what else I can do, and who else I could ask for help. And in her usual style, Anna just brushes off all my worries by saying it is absolutely no trouble whatsoever. So I continue to bother her.

But despite being so normal and so much there for everyone else, Anna is also incredibly good at her work and is already Habilitiert (that means she has done a post-doctorate degree, of which there is no equivalent in India, something like a D.Sc. maybe, I am not sure) and she knows several India languages like Kannada and many old Indian languages like Pali and Sanskrit. I could tell you a lot more about what she does, but the most important thing to know about her is that, like many other well-trained, talented and passionate researchers in Germany, she does not have a permanent job.

Right now she has a DFG-project, but she has no idea what she will do after it is over. In her usual optimistic and generous style, she says 'Something will turn up' but I find it not acceptable that someone as knowledgeable, as qualified and as passionate about her work as Anna still does not have a proper job as a teacher and a researcher at some university. Given the amount the German state has invested in her education, and given the number of years of her life, Anna has given to become an expert in her chosen field, it is an absolute shame that the German system can find not better use of her huge expertise, her vast knowledge and her long experience.  As the years go by, she is over qualified for most jobs that she applies for, and she does not have the right godfathers and godmothers to land her a professorship! Yes, that's right, the fact that Anna still does not have a permanent job is proof for me that something is wrong with the higher education scene in Germany. 

And she is not the only one. Another dear friend who was also my teacher (she taught me Sanskrit besides other things) and who also does not have a job in academia is Cornelia. And Cornelia came visiting me that first evening in my flat. Just like that, without prior appointment, pure Indian style. 'I was passing by your flat and thought I would ring the bell and see if you were in,' she told me. Of course she knew that I was coming. But she didn't know the exact details. 

It was lovely to see her again. Cornelia had helped me a lot when I first came to live in Wuerzburg and had to set up home by myself. She is very good with official work, something that terrifies me, something that I am hopeless at. So she has often picked up the phone and spoken to officials on my behalf. She has accompanied me to government offices where I needed to get something done, she even took me to get my passport photo done once! She was that kind of a person. If you had a problem, ask Cornelia. She might know the answer, if she didn't she probably would know someone who did. All through Stephan's illness and the immediate time after his death when I was at my wit's end, Cornelia (and a few others) stood rock solid behind me, not letting me lose my head. 'Keep going, you are doing it right, just keep going.'

But then Cornelia's turn to be a caregiver came earlier than she had expected when her mother died leaving her no choice but to move to her parental home (a little outside Wuerzburg) to take care of her old father. That also meant separation from her partner who was a professor at Würzburg university. But she had taken all that in her stride and when she came to see me, she brought with her a bottle of home-made jam, made with wild berries and fruits that she had plucked in the forests behind her home. 'One has to do something and use the time, no? I learnt that from you, my dear,' she told me beaming.

Cornelia had done more than merely something. After getting her Ph.D. Cornelia had spent years in India researching the Theosophists and had enough material to write a monograph on the subject and do her 'Habilitation' in the process. But then having spent a couple of years as a researcher in a top notch research institute made her see the inside of German academia from up close.  Realising how unhealthy it was made her realise that she would not survive in the system; moreover, and thankfully for her, she also did not want to continue in the system which she found so counter-intuitive and counter-productive. She was always interested in the esoteric and so when an opportunity came along, she dumped her research and started learning astrology and is a trained professional astrologer now. But after so many years of studying and researching and learning about India, she was not ready to give India up completely, so she offers a regular course on Indian religions to beginner bachelor students at the University. She earns a pittance for doing so, but then she does it anyway...

 These two stories only to give you an idea of the kind of friends I have in Germany. Most of them of course have something to do with the University but that is to be expected, I guess since both Stephan and I have been academics all our lives. I wonder whether it is strictly true for me, because I don't think I am an academic any longer. Why did I give up? Were my reasons similar to Cornelia's? Well...it is perhaps not as simple as that; these are questions that will need a long and considered answer. For the moment, I just want to take you back to my flat in Würzburg by the river where I have settled down finally, with a hot steaming cup of strong filter coffee (thank God there was some coffee and some filters still left in the cupboard from last time) to sift through my mail and see if there is anything there that needs immediate attention.

It was barely six in the evening that I found myself dropping off. Jetlag, of course. It was still bright and sunny outside and would probably stay like that for some time longer. Once in India, one quickly forgets how long the summer days can be in Germany. It wasn't summer yet, but still...  I should try to keep awake for another couple of hours at least, if I have to beat the jet lag, I told myself. I had bought some lovely 'Aufschnitt' (sliced meat) that I had missed all the time in India. I made myself a sandwich with it with the bread Anna had bought for me. Some salad to go with it, and a glass of dry white wine (Riesling) from the region. That looked like a nice dinner.

 And to add to the mood, I switched on my laptop and decided to look at the latest episode of the weekly satire named the 'Heute Show'. I had always found the subtle sarcasm and the implied stupidity of the politicians in the Heute Show really very clever. Why do we not have a comparable satire show in India, I asked myself. How stupid can you be, can you imagine anyone making fun of your great leader (who thinks he is the Messiah come to save us from ourselves) in India and getting away with it? Forget it! You must be really tired. Just enjoy watching Oliver Welke making fun of Olaf Scholz, Harbeck, Trump, and the rest of them and then go to bed. You really need it. Maybe the sleep will help you to understand that these are two different worlds that you must not constantly keep comparing...it just cannot work. Just go to bed!