The gentleman teacher
N. MANU CHAKRAVARTHY
|
TRIBUTE C.D. Narasimhaiah, one of the finest English teachers of the State, who passed away recently, believed that the university was the centre of consciousness in the modern world
|
EXTRAPOLATION: Like F.R. Leavis who started looking for the `Englishness' of the English tradition, CDN began his quest after the Indianness of his culture — Photo: Courtesy M. Sreedhara Murthy
The years of consumerist globalisation have certainly led to the gradual erosion of the value and significance of the liberal arts, the basic sciences and the humanities. At the present moment one cannot come across many who would, with unflinching conviction, speak up for them. Today, the dominant tone that deafeningly bombards the ears celebrates the values of a technological age that promises the happiness of all human beings. Such an argument also celebrates the rule of technocrats, bureaucrats and corporate bosses. It is only in whispers, a hushed tone, that those who have faith in cultural and civilisational values articulate their cherished beliefs, often in an apologetic manner.
C.D. Narasimhaiah raged against all this in a voice that was, both literally and metaphorically, booming. He raised his banner fiercely and his opponents had to take him head on, if they ever desired to. He inherited this from his great mentor at Cambridge, Dr. F.R.Leavis, who ripped apart in every "act" of his, the dehumanised world ushered in by the Benthamite-technological civilisation. It was the destiny of literature, as a cultural expression, to resist the hegemony of a desensitised technological civilization. The consciousness of science was a different matter altogether and had to be distinguished from mere technology. Like F.R.Leavis, CDN valued science and, like his great teacher, would refer to Michael Polanyi, Marjorie Grene, Jacques Monod, Whitehead and other thinkers. This should set at rest any speculation about Leavis or his followers being "Luddites".
In faith and trust
At a personal, emotional level, CDN built a relationship with colleagues and students governed by absolute faith and trust, a virtue that appears anachronistic in these days of scheming and manipulation, something shockingly practised by young students in an unethical system that is largely responsible for all that. CDN nurtured `Idealism' as a man and a teacher. CDN's whole being shaped the department of English at Manasa Gangotri, in his dear town of Mysore, as a centre of consciousness. It symbolised intellectual and cultural excellence. There was, perhaps, some elitism to begin with. But, like Leavis, who started looking for the `Englishness' of the `English tradition', CDN began questing after the Indianness of his culture. Out of the Leavisian tradition, CDN extrapolated the strands of Indian tradition and, in terms of literature, moved away from "British Literature" to American, Commonwealth, and Indian literatures arguing for writers like Raja Rao who were, then, dismissed by many Professors of English as "cock and bull story writers". Raja Rao's classic foreword to "Kanthapura" reveals how right CDN was. CDN moved away from elitism without mouthing anything about post-colonialism, though one felt that as a pioneer, he tended to over rate writers like R.K. Narayan and Mulk Raj Anand.
In civilisational terms, dealing with aesthetics, spirituality, philosophy, religion, it was the journey towards the Buddha, Shankara, Ramanuja, Anandavardhana, Abhinava Gupta, Kuntaka, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Sri Aurobindo, Coomaraswamy. Leavis had acknowledged in his essay Retrospect that his disciples from India and Pakistan were working towards an intellectual tradition that was indigenous. In actual terms, CDN inaugurated the tradition of turning to native cultures and traditions in the context of a University.
It is important to foreground the atmosphere that prevailed in the Department of English shaped by CDN. The presentations at the weekly literary club meetings and the annual Nehru Seminar were extensions of the rigorous study of texts done in the classrooms. Diverse points of view and critical stances contributed towards extending the meaning of the "text". The "text", though central at a certain level, was not a dead artefact on which conclusive judgements could be made. On the contrary, it was a "pre-text" engendering multiple perspectives. Inside the classroom CDN brought texts close to students with "character". The brilliant range of Dr.U.R. Ananthamurthy and the highly sophisticated analytical method of Dr.B. Damodar Rao were supplemented by the "character" of CDN's approach. "Character", as Wittgenstein once told F.R.Leavis, meant taking an ethical position about a text without being passively neutral about it or flirting with it through ideas picked from all kinds of sources.
CDN taught students how to relate to a text with "character" (in the Wittgensteinian sense), without being afraid of the "error" in one's judgement. It was a measure of one's integrity to uphold or denounce a text, and, a sign of intellectual honesty and courage to correct and revise one's position whenever required. "Character" had this intellectual dynamism built into it. What it also meant was that the "personal self" was deeply involved in every "act" one participated in, whether it was literary oblique cultural analysis or political oblique ideological faith — there could not be anything "impersonal" about one's choices oblique beliefs.
It still remains a mystery as to why CDN never fully reached out to the Kannada literary tradition, as he ought to have, as part of his search for indigenous cultural traditions. At a very serious intellectual level CDN chose to remain an `outsider' to the full range and depth of the Kannada literary tradition. This paradox has to be seen as an intriguing aspect of his intellectual life and should not be superficially dismissed as the position of an `anglophile'.
CDN took certain decisions and maintained them till the end of his tenure. Until the semester system was introduced the department of English produced not more than one first class every year, or, at times, none at all. When it came to research, only full-time research scholars were admitted, a rule that was relaxed only after CDN left the department. CDN stuck to it with great conviction. The fact is that in these days of wholesale first classes and doctoral degrees, CDN's stand as regards intellectual excellence seems truly vindicated, especially when one witnesses the recent phenomenon of private-funded research centres which, though seeming to confront `hegemony', `elitism', theoretically, in actuality practise the same rigorous standards in choosing their candidates. CDN's attempt to uphold excellence within the framework of a state supported University appears more democratic than the practice of exclusivist research centres that depend on the benevolence of private funding agencies.
All the above are situated in the public realm. Personally, I wish to record three details that offer glimpses of CDN as a human being. They reveal, symbolically, the essence of a man who, for three decades, was like a father-figure, a role that two other men, his own disciples for that matter, continue to play in my life now - U.R.Ananthamurthy and B.Damodar Rao.
Old friend
CDN would unfailingly call on Prof. S.V. Ranganna at his home at Krishnamurthipuram regularly. The old, frail, "uninfluential" S.V.Ranganna, forgotten by others, was "lonely" and as a "vrata", a "dharma" CDN would, as spiritual fidelity, spend time with him with great love and affection.
After a long absence CDN met me while chairing the session where I presented a paper at Delhi at the Central Sahitya Akademi's Festival of Letters on "Myth and literature". CDN introduced me to the audience as his son who had stopped visiting him and had become more of a myth than a living reality, prompting many to rebuke me for not visiting him regularly.
Last year he desired to meet my old parents, came all the way home and spent the whole evening with us, telling my mother repeatedly that she had sustained the entire family, and instructed my brother and me to take good care of her. The visit home on "his day", "Narasimha Jayanthi", a wonderful coincidence, thrilled him.
Remembering CDN, reflecting on the last couple of decades, fills one with a sense of gratitude and an overwhelming feeling of responsibility.
For those who consciously believe that in the modern world the University is the centre of consciousness CDN is the paradigm of an unrelenting spirit that truly lived out such a vision.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Entertainment
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
