English, cow, and university

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English, cow, and university

FACT & FICTION

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=49410

 

By ARUN GUPTO

 

- The reward for revering cow and English are similar with the only

difference that the former brings prosperity in the paraloka (the

world beyond) and the latter brings wealth in the ihaloka (the

physical world).

"Why do you study English?" Someone asked a group of aspiring

students. A Pakistani replied, "for a promising career." A

Srilankan said, "for a good wife." An Indian said," for being an

NRI." And a Nepali said, "for the greencard."

 

Since English studies has both created interest in admissions and

problems in higher education in Nepal, the significance, reverence,

and linguistic passion for the language of the Anglo-American world

are radically devotional in nature. A slight change in the

expectations of grades degrades student-teacher relationship. You can

smell suspicion and distrust in the campus air just after the results

are published at Tribhuvan University. As soon as students complete

their degrees in English, the teaching job market offers warm embrace

(though it may not continue for long).

 

Our devotion towards cow is of a similar intensity. The cow is a

sacred creature and many of us began our formative writing years with

essays on the animal. Our writing days in school began with writing

paragraphs on cow in Nepali and English.

 

The cow is believed to take us to the paraloka after we die. There

are many stories of such journeys in Hindu religious texts in the

post-Vedic literature. The cow was a gift sought by gurus in the past

and it still holds immense religious significance. Here are some

textual evidences. Driptabalaki once said to Ajatasatru, "I will tell

you about Brahma." Ajatasatru proposed, "We will give a thousand

cows for such a speech" (Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad). Once Janasruti

told Raivaka, "Raivaka, here are six hundred cows and here is a gold

necklace, and here is a chariot drawn by a she-mule. Now sir, teach

me that divinity — the divinity which you reverence" (Chandogya

Upanishad). Myths tell that Brahma created the cow together with the

Brahmin on the first day of Vaishakha (April-May). Furthermore, one

of the heavens is named after the cow. The cow is symbolic of plenty.

She is the favorite animal of Lord Krishna.

 

Ihaloka now! If English is cultural imperialism for many, it gives

immense opportunities from knowledge to power, money to fame to

billions of people. Many would prefer the view that English is a

window on the world rather than the notion of our eternal slavery to

the Anglican West.

 

The gift of cow is still significant in the Hindu rituals, but the

problem is how to impart the gift of English to the students so that

everyone speaks and writes in fairly good style and then goes to join

higher education with confidence.

 

The problem with English education is not very complex, but the

problem is that the education constantly creates distrust and hatred

among students and teachers. Though it is not a pervasive behavior,

it always is a bone of contention in the campuses in Nepal.

 

If there are mediocre students, there are mediocre teachers too and

the problem may be solved if the mediocre self analyzes itself and

tries to improve for the better. I hope that the statement implies

many meanings and there should not be further elaborations here for

being politically correct.

 

These days I am reading books on the topics of English, pedagogy,

colonialism, and postcolonialism. One among them is The Politics of

India English: Linguistic Colonialism and the expanding English

Empire by N. Krishnaswamy and Archana S Burde. I have borrowed the

analogy of cow and English from the book.

 

Some five years ago, somewhere a question was asked — why do you want

to study English? An enthusiast answered,". . . So that I can work,

dance, play, cry, laugh, marry, die, sing, jump, fall, etc. in the

ocean of English." I only later understood that s/he probably was

referring to the idea of English and performance.

 

He was talking of performance that is understood as the activities of

everyday life. English certainly has the power of theatricality. The

world in the English education classes in the higher education is

full of life and vigor most of the time.

 

If you look around carefully on the premises at Kirtipur university

campus, cow dung can be seen dumped sacredly around. Whether it is

English or cow, we are devotional in nature.

 

The imagery is brilliantly hybrid in the campus: one the one hand,

there is Anglican medium of speech and interaction, and issues of

Shakespeare, Kant, Derrida, colonialism, late-capitalism,

postmodernism, and on the other hand, there is the native pastoral

images of cow and its excremental sublimity in the ancient

corridors.

 

My colleague Nagendra Bhattari once told me, "Arun dada, we live on

the border of dung and Devkota, we are liberated human beings!" The

day when a helper comes and sweeps the corridor, Nagendra feels sad.

 

pallabi