LET US STOP OUR HYPOCRISY III: THE TOWER OF BABEL AND THE HOUSE OF BABBLE

When the early humans attempted to build the tallest tower that would reach the heaven, God in fact became envious of human potentials, particularly their ability to cooperate with fellow beings. Feeling insecure, He divided their tongue with a single spell. Speaking different languages from then on, people started misunderstanding one another and the great project of building the Tower of Babel was thus given up once for all.

When the Barbarian Bishop came invading the College in May 2008, the college community rose united in anger. They raised the battle cry “Save American College” like thunder. Even the government was stunned for a while. Hail American College! Hail Academics!

Like God, Satan too saw everything. He did not like the Bishop in the first place, neither could He like the idea of people coming together to defend a good cause. He knew very well the God-Act of dividing the tongue in primordial times. With the moderns, He thought He can easily work on their penchant for treachery, caste, religion, easy money and vanity. When He finally cast the spell, the crowd became a House of Babble.

Since then, they have been talking in different tongues. They also suffer recall amnesia and memory loss; perform noontime sleep-walk; deliver incoherent speeches without provocation. You whisper in their ears ‘Liberal-Christian-Higher-Education’, they would instantly suffer a seizure similar to an epileptic fit and send forth foam. In the House of Babble, they spoke four major languages known by the following names: Bureaucratic Babble, Minority Babble, Caste Babble and Small Brain Babble.

Contrary to his initial expectation, Satan had to work hard with different constituencies to create the House of Babble.

The language Satan first imposed on any constituency was Bureaucratic Babble. This is a peculiar language of deceit and cunning that a person holding responsible public office could employ in order to misuse his office and refuse administrative justice. For instance, if a perpetrator of an offence and a victim go before say, a Commissioner of Police, the Commissioner instead of enquiring or investigating into what offence has been committed and by whom, would blatantly accuse both as having done something equally wrong that he may have to book both. Why he does it? First, at the most innocuous level, the officer is seen as evading to discharge his duty. It may be due to inefficiency, vested interest or pressure from powers that be. At a deeper level, Bureaucratic Babble is used by corrupt bureaucrats as a double edged sword. On one hand it is used as a method of extorting money or favors from the wrong doer or the criminal and on the other hand, for silencing  the real victim from raising his or her voice.

The very first day when Satan saw the solid demonstration of unity against the rioters, He decided to act. He went to the big man in Khaki, the Commissioner of Police (CoP) and whispered in his ears “Here is the gravest of grave cases coming before you. The offender is city’s prominent Christian pontiff. His offences are Trespass (IPC 452), Rioting (IPC 146) and committing fraud on property (IPC 420)… But Son, you must discretely use your babble so that you can stand to gain riches… I know the crowd is right in claiming that the College property is being thieved…. But somehow you must shut their mouth up.”

The Big Khakithought for a while and said to himself. “Satan could be always right on worldly matters, particularly on making quick riches… I can’t afford to lose this opportunity.”

As he was walking up and down inside his expansive office room, he suddenly started murmuring something. In another minute, the murmur became a loud babble. He then called his officer on duty at the College who was trying to expel the rioting mob from inside the campus. He asked him to stop all operations against the rioters.

The baffled deputy made a feeble protest to Big Khaki saying that the rioters were truly on the wrong side. Big Khaki controlling his anger mildly chided the deputy and asked “Why on earth you try to be oversmart? Have you not heard of Babble… Bureaucratic Babble… new method of dealing with disputes… our force can spare lathis! Police can become peace force.”

Small Khaki with a little impatience responded, “You are right Sir… But here the crowd is indulging in violence. I must prevent serious mishap… goons are afterall trying to thieve the property… This apart, it is an educational institution of noble heritage… we must somehow save it… Sir, you said something about Bible… but you know Sir, I am a Hindu.”

Big Khaki retorted angrily, “You small brain! It is not Bible… it is Babble… Oh, now I understand… You are a Hindu… Hm…. That’s why you are acting Harichandra… No sermon hereafter from you. Did I ever say the college is not a noble institution? You thick head! I am more concerned about the College than you… even more concerned about it than the blasted bishop and the professors, the eggheads. All are important for us. When I ask you to babble them, I say, you make them equally responsible for the crisis irrespective of their rights and wrongs. If we police do not care for the college in the public interest, who else? We can either trust the pontiff or the eggheads. Clamp a curfew on both.”

The deputy knew the consequences of disobeying Big Khaki. He raked his brain for a while before he arrived at a solution. Then he suddenly started babbling to his colleagues and others. “No! No! It could not be a noble institution… No! How can there be noise without two hands clapping? These are two parties fighting for something precious. What could be so precious in a college raised over a period of 125 years… that too in the prime location of the city. Ah! Property! Property…. property thieves, property thieves… I will teach them all a good lesson.” By this time, his brain was suffering some magical atrophy and was wasting away.

He called for a loudspeaker climbed to the top of a parked vehicle and made his proclamation. “People listen carefully. I now on, declare this college as a disputed property. The party fighting under the Principal is called ‘A’ party and the party fighting under the Bishop is ‘B’ party. But both parties have committed offences under section 145 (1) IPC. They will be dealt with appropriately. All disperse.”

When he got down from his improvised podium, Small Khaki suddenly felt overwhelmed by the exalted pride of a colonial magistrate.

House of Babble

A noble institution with an invaluable educational and cultural heritage becoming a ‘disputed property’ is not a matter to get amused. First, it demoralized those who took up the cause against the erring Bishop. Second, it caused a doubt in the mind of the public. The Bureaucratic Babble became real grist for the rumor mill. The media blew it beyond proportion and the college came to be caricatured as a kind of a sporting arena. They made it a sensation. They just stopped short of drawing cartoons portraying the Principal and the Bishop in langode fighting a wrestling match. The Bureaucratic Babble spread to other arms of the state – the Collectorate, the Directorate of Education, the Registration Department , various ministries; you ask for it, I name it.

Even the city’s oldest Trade Union made use of the caricature. It ostentatiously believed the rumors. It’s Politbureau declared that it was a mean personal fight between the Bishop and the Principal and had nothing to do with the proletarian class interest of teachers and their livelihood. The TU would not spoil their image by engaging itself in petty matters.

This is how Satan succeeded in placing the academician-defender of the American College and looter-religious mafia on the same platform. And this is how a noble cause was caricatured to mean petty thieving by two sets of mindless Christians. After all the state is another manifestation of Satan – Leviathan. This was the beginning of the erosion of public sympathy and support for ‘Save American College’ struggle.

God by stopping ‘project Babel’ made it impossible for people to ascend to HEAVEN. But Satan by opening the House of Babble has made it easy to experience HELL.

Next, I will tell you how Minority Babble was started.

(To be continued)

Prophet

LET US STOP OUR HYPOCRISY II: OUR SLOGANS AND TROJAN HORSES

“Save American College” has come to stay as our slogan. Slogans are war-cries and are deeply emotive. They mobilize a lot of energy for immediate attack. They are symbols that simplify otherwise complex justification for action. They easily define a target or ‘other’ an enemy. On the negative side, slogans are very partisan. They remove the element of reflexivity in our thought and anaesthetize our senses against our own mistakes. Slogans are short-lived and easily become relics. Thus they make a mockery of the original vision. It is imperative therefore that in fighting for a cause, we often undertake reality checks so that our sloganeering does not make us false prophets and hypocrites.

When Bishop Asir and his cronies made a diabolic attempt to take over the college beginning April 2008, he justified his actions in the name of the Church. With wailing and breast-beating he said, “Principal Chinnaraj is taking the college away from the Church”. Like a medieval crusader he launched violent physical attacks, rioted inside the campus, foisted false cases, got the Principal dismissed through a fake council and in this process abused maximum, the process of law and law courts. Though the Church had its own axe to grind, Bishop Asir did everything primarily for personal gain and aggrandizement. He cunningly concealed his personal motives behind the voice of the Church. He used the resources of the Church and its authority for muzzling down anyone who came in his way. Finally, he shamelessly gifted away the college to his son-in-law. And he was gone by February 2012.

But the problem lingers. The most frequently asked question now is that why the much weakened son-in-law Davamani who is illegally occupying the chair of the Principal of the American College is not able to be removed. If we must answer this query, we need to tell a story that has two sides. First, legal or illegal, Bishop Asir managed to give the kiss of life to an old grudge that was lying dormant in the heart of the Church for long. It is nothing but the unfinished task of appropriating and assimilating into its fold all those autonomous institutions of Christian Higher Education founded by Missionaries prior to the formation of CSI in 1948. Moderator Deivakadatcham is sharply aware of this now and is thankful to the departed brother Bishop for handing him over a noble cause. However civil and subtle, Moderator Kadatcham is also a crusader. It is not the love he has for Davamani but the good excuse he finds in him for the Church makes him openly support him. No wonder he said “Davamani obeys like a child”. Davamani survives. We shall return to this new crusade of the Church later.

We will now narrate the other side of the story, how ‘Save American College’ movement lost so much of its cutting edge in general and bargaining power in particular with the new crusader, Moderator Deivakadatcham. The slogan has been so romanticized and idealized that it looks as if every other soul in American College is committed to liberal Christian values, inclusiveness of religion and caste and autonomy of the College from the Church. This is far from reality. There are many internal enemies to the cause whom we have handled soft so far, for the sake of general unity.

When I think of this plight, what comes to my mind is the story of the Trojan Horse, a popular Greek myth which all of us know. I want to recollect it here for you again from Homer’s Odyssey. The Greeks were fighting the battle hardy Trojans for almost ten years. Though the Greeks won many battles, they could not take the well fortified city of Troy which was their ultimate aim. Weary of the battles, they finally derived a clever strategy. Taking advantage of Trojan veneration for the horse, they played a trick. They built a huge wooden horse with a big hollow in its belly. They packed the belly with lethal fighters captained by Odysseus. The entire Greek force left the scene of battle faking a retreat but leaving the wooden horse and a Greek guard by name Sinon. When Trojans came opening the gates of the fort, they saw the horse and Sinon.  Sinon wailed and cried and said that the Greeks had mercilessly left him behind with the order to guard the horse and tell the Trojans that they had left the wooden horse as an offering to the Trojan goddess Athena praying for atonement. Believing that, the Trojans took the horse and Sinon into the city. In the night, when the Trojans were asleep, Sinon opened the belly of the horse and the Greeks came out and slew the Trojans and opened the gates of the fort for the Greek forces. Trojans lost.

The phrase Trojan Horse has come to stay with us now. It refers to a person or an element that weakens an organization covertly from within especially in collusion with or under the instruction of an enemy. Whenever I think of the predicament of American College, interestingly it is not one Trojan Horse, but several Trojan Horses that come to my mind. These are faculty leaders who when in open ostentatiously make tall claims about the independence and autonomy of the college. But in reality, they by deceit search for, or hold roots, in the nasty Church politics. (Mind you, I make a clear distinction between the true involvement in the Church and the quest for power within the Church which is unchristian). The levers of power these people gain in the church, they use to seek positions in the college. Some of these people only colluded with Bishop Asir and shocked the academic fraternity through their betrayals.

When Vice-Principal George Selvakumar defected overnight, locked up the Principal’s room and illegally declared himself to be the principal in a military-style coup on the fateful April 12, 2008, he did it in the name of the College Constitution and ‘save the college from Devil Chinnaraj’. Another one from the same clan swore on the MUTA floor that he would be the first person to lock the gate against Bishop Asir and go on fasting in protest against any attempted takeover. Ironically however this Trojan Horse, on the night of April 19, 2008, brought in its belly a pack of violent goons armed with sticks and clubs who rioted inside the campus before the ban order was promulgated by the police. He was later rewarded with the second-in-command position by the regime which was in illegal occupation of the College for about a year. Now retired, he is happy using the label of his former position as prefix and suffix with his name. (Retirement syndrome).

The worst Trojan Horse tragedy is the most recent one. It unfortunately involved a leader chosen by the will of the struggling faculty; a rising star unlike the previous one who was to show a new horizon for the college; a victim of treachery as he claimed to be, was always boastful of his baptism by  fire. The magical power of the Moderator however was so great. Like Karnanof Mahabharatha who gifted away to Lord Indra his in-born armour and ear-rings, our fire-born leader too gifted away his armour to the Moderator. He made a secret covenant with him that he would never make his claim to the Principal ship in contestation with Davamani, the anointed one by the Church. Neither would he hold the ‘rival Council Meeting’. Of course each one has his own style of playing Trojan Horse in the College. No wonder the College is weak before the Church.

Anyway, I want the readers to understand an important truth. ‘Christian Leadership’ is totally different from ‘leadership in Church Politics’.

What does then ‘Save American College’ mean for us today?

(To be continued).

Prophet

LET US STOP OUR HYPOCRISY I: NO STARGAZING PLEASE….

More a struggle gets protracted more it suffers in the hands of mutineers than of the enemy. The American College struggle has become so. Day by day it seems to lose its focus. The legal and political twists it takes, add to further confusion. There does not seem to be a leader around. Ask a well meaning faculty or student for opinion; you will be only greeted by a plastic smile. Their exasperation is visible and cynicism deep. Even the front runners are contended playing wait and watch game.

A comic addition to the whole movement is often provided by self-appointed moralists, sentimental snobs and truth peddlers who by using the virtual space tell their own stories. Failing to understand realpolitik, they often personalize politics and politicize nostalgia and sentiment. For them, it is a hobby. They are quite fond of personal importance and limelight. Though I do not have reasons to quarrel with them, what irks me is their painting of particular picture about American College. They somehow believe that the American College is an unassailable fort which can be guarded by a few chivalrous knights. They seldom go to war themselves but cry foul every time they see their knights in armour.

The recent controversy kicked up by the signing of an agreement with the Moderator on 02.06.2012 is a case in point. The so called peace initiative in my understanding was initially mooted by Mr. Isaac Mohan Lal, Advocate and a good friend of the college and Dr. T. Chinnaraj Joseph Jaikumar, former Principal & Secretary primarily to settle two important issues: 1. When the issue of resuming of work by 55 Teaching Faculty (Management) and 39 Non-Teaching Staff (Management) could not be politically and legally resolved, the option open was to think of a negotiated settlement. These were people who were without their pay for 18 months. 2. There were more than 400 students who had become victims because of the strife who needed immediate solution.

The document signed opens with the affirmation “The American College is a Christian Minority Institution belonging to the Church of South India (Diocese of Madurai – Ramnad). (Clause, 1). I myself was shocked to hear this first. But when I read the document in its entirety and placed it in the political context of a negotiated settlement, I honestly felt that there was no need to blow it out of proportion and sensationalize the issue. Only Clause 2 and Clause 12 hold the key. Clause 2 says “The College will be managed and administered according to the Constitution and Bye-laws of The American College, which shall be amended to cope up with the changing times” (I too do not see anything wrong in the clause anticipating amendment as the constitution has not lived up to the times by not even meeting certain statutory requirements prescribed by the laws of the land. It requires changes in this sense but not in the sense of defeating the original vision enshrined.) Finally capping it all, Clause 12 says“All the above terms and decisions which are unanimously agreed by the signatories here under shall be implemented by the Principal from the commencement of the academic year 2012-2013. All the above decisions will be placed in the duly constituted College Governing Council.” The first clause in my opinion is only of rhetorical value. It is totally nullified by Clause 2 and Clause 12. The document in total is legally nuanced and at the end of the day has no value.

At this point, let us not lose sight of the real issue of 95 employees stranded without salary for 18 months. All of us the aided faculty gleefully left them behind and resumed our work in Nov.2011. We started taking our salary and claimed all compulsory savings. But the management staff were left behind like ticketless travelers on a railway platform waiting for a train that would never arrive. I do not understand with what assurance they lived their life for the next 7 months. (I will find another occasion for elaborating on their owes). After Justice Chandru’s Judgment, seeking legal remedy for management staff became totally precarious. When so many compromises were being made by a section of staff, in my opinion there is nothing wrong in opening up a negotiated settlement. I will certainly give credit to those who took the initiative and finally succeeded in getting the 95 management employees back in to the college on 18.06.2012. The document certainly is not a sale document transferring American College property to the Diocese. We must certainly distinguish between a rhetoric and legal commitment.

A real fighter must have the ability to read not only the factuality of a situation but also their strategic importance. After talking to the people who attended the negotiation, I realized that without the rhetoric affirmation ‘American College belongs to CSI’, nothing would have progressed across the table. The price: all the 95 management staff would have been still be left stranded and we would continue contributing our tithe money to enable our poor brothers and sisters buy monthly  grocery and of course in that process, wash our guilt too.

In addressing this issue, what one must readily recognize is the fact that Moderator Devakadatcham is no better than Bishop Asir when it comes to defining the relationship of the church with American College. In this, he is a true legatee of Asir. Maybe, he differs in his ways and means and is truly good in many other aspects, compared to Bishop Asir. He is politically more capable than Bishop Asir. The pluralists, non-denominationalists, secularists, liberal Christians and sentimentalists must see this as a very hard reality. The challenge the Moderator might throw on you is much more formidable than what Bishop Asir could throw by his delinquent ways.

Secondly, let us not exhibit an ostrich like attitude burying our heads under the sand and say “Beware! Beware! The Church is coming… Guards of the Gates close them all.” In terms of realpolitik, the church is already there well entrenched in our territory. The very fact that Davamani Christober who violently threw away Dr. P. R. Anbudurai from his office on 10.12.2012 with the help of goondas and police was never at any point pulled up by venerable Moderator, demonstrates the attitude of the Church. Legal or illegal, violent or peaceful, Church tells you that it is omnipotent. It wants you to obey. Worse, when Moderator Devakadatcham got a chance, he anointed the vandal as the Principal. Everything within American College is now done by the Church coolly in the name of Child Davamani.

Thirdly, the gain we made through the first round of peace talk by getting in 95 stranded management staff should not screen the heaviest of losses the college has suffered today by the intervention of the church. More than the rhetoric “American College belongs to Church of South India”, the damage came by way of Moderator arguing the case of Davamani. Not only did he agree to take in those who were on the job on the date of Dr. Chinnaraj Joseph’s exit but also all those who were appointed illegally by Mohan and Davamani himself subsequent to Chinnaraj’s exit on 30.11.2010. Most of these ad hoc appointees are from the ranks of Davamani’s relatives and caste men and from his family’s cronydom. So many who acted as hit-men for Davamani will now be absorbed in the ranks of non-teaching staff. The thoughtless overstaffing can be explained as follows: for every teaching faculty we got back to work, Davamani managed to add 1.44 persons of his personal choice. (The overstaffing in the management sector (Teaching) should be about 60%). For every non-teaching staff we got back to work Davamani managed to add 1.38 persons of his personal choice. (Here the overstaffing is about 40%). Imagine the amount of financial ruin that awaits the college in another few months. Less said better about the maintainability of academic standards, efficiency, discipline and decorum. I think it is the severest of blows the church could ever deliver on the body politic of the American College. It is exactly here, the church has practically exercised its power by tearing into pieces the fabric of administration which had been an unrivalled Christian witness for 130 years. Minoritisationis not exclusion. And institutionalization of mediocrity in the name of Christianization is paradoxically un-Christian.

The price paid for addressing the pressing humanitarian issue which in fact is a rights issue of employees is so high that it has become self destructive. In this sense, no negotiator can take any pride in what they have done. The Moderator in order to muffle the arguments seems to have said, “Whether a child is legitimate or illegitimate, it is only a child. Every child needs to be cared for.” We can understand the overwhelming Christian concern and sentiment expressed through this statement. After all American College is not a Children’s Home. Moreover, why should Moderator protect and patronize producers of illegitimate children?

 Concluding, I would say that no more the borders of the college are safe. There are several breaches, encroachments and occupations. Wounded knights and traitor knightscannot do much. Neither can kings, philosophers and sentimentalists do stargazing anymore. Notwithstanding the good that has happened by way of getting back our friends to work, we can only say that we have struck a very weak bargain. What did weaken our bargain?                                                                                       

 (To be continued)

 Prophet