The Hindu : New Delhi News : A homecoming of sorts for this Chilean professor

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 22, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

A homecoming of sorts for this Chilean professor

Parul Sharma

NEW DELHI: He has “wonderful” memories of the time he had spent in the Mahanadi hostel of Jawaharlal Nehru University and so it was only natural that on his homecoming of sorts to India, Chilean professor Sergio M. Carrasco would make efforts to establish a collaboration between his alma mater and the University he serves now.

During 1986-92 Prof. Carrasco did his M. Phil in History and Ph. D. on “Brahmanical Monastic Institutions in Early Medieval Period of India” at JNU and is now the chairman of the Asian Studies Department at the University of Chile that is one of the oldest universities in the America.

“I’m looking for some help in terms of strengthening my department. I would want JNU professors to come and teach at my University and give an impetus to the teaching of Asian studies. Similarly they can take some professors from our university in whichever field they want,” he said.

Formal agreements

“The Governments of India and Chile have signed formal agreements in the past. It is time we take this forward in terms of cultural and educational exchange. My Rector sent me to India to try and formalise a tie-up with JNU. Ideally, we would like two professors from this University to teach Modern History at my Department. I have exchanged these ideas with some faculty members here and will discuss the same with the Vice-Chancellor as well when I meet him,” adds Prof. Carrasco, who studied at JNU on a scholarship.

The Chilean academician, a self-proclaimed “sadhu”, feels he has a “deep spiritual” bond with India. Prior to studying at JNU, he had lived on the outskirts of the Capital for a year in 1980 where he lived in an ashram. It was here he was exposed to long discourses in Vedic studies. “Deeply fascinated” by Sanskrit that drew him to the country, Prof. Carrasco also got enrolled in a beginners course for the language at Delhi University.

Interestingly, it was here he met his first wife, who along with the couple’s eldest daughter later lived on the JNU campus for five years.

“I have travelled all across the country. I learnt Hindi from the ‘dhabas’ and ‘rickshawwallahs’. Recently, my daughter who is now 27, visited JNU during her trip to India to remember the good old days. India has a special place in our hearts and that’s why I want the bond between India and Chile to be strong,” says Prof. Carrasco.

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