[Reader-list] Reflections on the University

[Saumya Gupta]

University in the City / Sarai Reader 02

The city and the University share a strange relationship. At an 
obvious level, the two are inextricably tied. The whole economy of 
services around everyday needs - dhabas, tiffins, rented flats, 
neighbourhood shopping locales, cinema halls etc. - and the everyday 
physical flow of the city into the University (particularly DU which 
has no formal walls defining it as a 'campus'). Add to that the fact 
that DU is spread practically all over Delhi in the form of its 
numerous colleges. The students, in particular the Day Scholars, 
dependent on the  public transport live with the city in a more 
intimate way than the hostellers who perhaps constitute a rather 
self-sufficient lot. 

These self sufficient hostel students - migrants from other cities - 
along with other groups resident in the University, teachers living 
in-campus, karamcharies etc., form a self sufficient community largely 
cut off in their day to day interactions with the City.  Then there 
are issues that emerge out of the specific University politics -  the 
students, teachers and karmacharis have their plates full all the time 
- elections, wages, exams, apart from the regular compulsions of 
disciplines and courseworks  that perennially claim attention. So, in 
an equally obvious way, the University space is also a relatively 
insular space within the city.   

There is so much happening and with such immediacy that it seems at 
times that the part does not belong to the whole at all. Of course the 
two meet both inside and outside, on the Parliament street or the 
Vivekanand Statue in moments of struggle. When there is crisis. That 
may range from an eve teasing of a student that takes place on her way 
to the college, to, a Pokharan that needs to be publicly condemned, or 
a Babri Masjid demolition that shakes the University, along with the 
city, to its very core. Or, when there is a fight in the hostel, or 
nearby residential area, when the insulated world of the  university  
has to engage with the big, bad wide world of the city, with its 
police, goons,  dalals and politicians. 

And since the city of  Delhi is hardly read or taught formally as a 
subject, or the University reflected upon, we thought it would be a 
good idea to create an occasion for the students, teachers and 
scholars to reflect about their relationship with the university and 
the city. It can be a memoir or an article, anecdotal or academic, 
personal or institutional, past or present. Content may vary, as the 
opening paragraph shows,  but we would be inclined towards more 
reflective or analytical attempts to think through aspects of 
university life - the University and political culture, the university 
within and as a city space, reflections on a particular experience or 
set of experiences related perhaps to a particular college, or even a 
more academic examination of a particular 'discipline' as it manifests 
itself in the curricular life of the university. Physical proximity 
dictates that perhaps more attention will be paid to Delhi University, 
but contributions relating to JNU and Jamia, or any other 
universities, or comparing life in two or more universities are 
equally welcome. 


Please feel free to be as unorthodox as you like in terms of the form 
of your contribution. An discussion between 2 or more people 
(preferably conducted over the Sarai Reader List), an interview, a 
short biography of an unusual person or group of people, snippets from 
a conversation and any other innovation will be as welcome as an 
academic/literary/ journalistic essay. The only stipulations are a) 
the word limit [3000 words for the essays/articles, 500-1000 words for 
short discussions over the readerlist] and b) the slightly rushed 
deadline - December 9th  for all contributions to Sarai Reader 02. 


We look forward to your responses! 



Bhrigu, Ravikant, Saumya





Saumya Gupta
The Sarai Programme
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi - 110054
Tel: 3960040, 3951190
Fax: 3928391, 3943450
www.sarai.net