Original in brand. Original in mind
It is immensely important to brand educational institutions after one’s roots. Preserving one’s identity in the tsunami of globalization has become the greatest challenge for surviving cultures worldwide. While it may be practically impossible these days to isolate students from running a globalized ‘software’ in their buildings, at least naming an institution with local elements will ensure minimum attachment to their heritage.
While the campuses are possessed and obsessed with global fashion and tech brands, their minds fail to show equal passion for own culture and history. Education becomes meaningful only when it facilitates the protection and preservation of one’s heritage. Only then would the future nation-builders be inspired from the glory of their past.
Identity ignites courage and confidence. To extinguish it from campus is equivalent to treason and treachery.
C is for Campus. Cultivation too
Campus is the right phase to sow the seed of our future possibilities. If you missed the campus idea-harvest, then you are most likely to miss the life-train as well. Most successful minds testified their ‘eureka’ during campus life. There is no reason you should not be doing it either.
Countering the Other
While Campus remains the favorite hotspot for idea-incubation, the dreamers should also be careful not to coerce their ideas on others. For, no two people in this world are alike. The students might have an idea different from their teacher and their colleagues. Nevertheless, there are three ways one may try to influence or superimpose one’s ideas on others:
Easy Way
The easiest way is to use force and resort to violence. The result may seem quicker but will be short-lived too. Any hooligans will qualify for this method.
Hard Way
Challenging the other with a better idea or concept. This is relatively harder as it requires intellectual effort and one has to spend hours in thought and research, two most difficult tasks for the modern mind. This technique calls for scholars and thinkers to implement it.
Hardest Way
The third and most difficult method is to conquer the Other with concern and compassion. Few can actually practice it. When they do, we call them mentors and saints. But the fruits of their labor live the longest.
All said and done, one should remember that Pluralism is, perhaps, the only creed applicable to human thought.
Highlights from Mujeeb Jaihoon’s talk at Malabar College of Advanced Studies, Vengara
Jaihoon presents the book, Slogans of the Sage to the library of Malabar College of Advanced Studies
