On 22 & 23rd October, our college organized a seminar sponsored by UGC on the occassion of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio's bicentennial. Governor of West Bengal, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, was present on the first day and he gave an address after Swapan Chakrabarty, JUDE and Rosinka Chaudhuri, CSSS had presented their papers on Derozio. A great speaker, no doubt. A handsome man, ask Simmy;besides, he was frequently combing his hands through his hair during those 5-10 minutes that he spoke- 14 was my count, correct me if I am wrong. He rightly pointed out the indiscipline of the audience in the Derozio Hall:it was truly unbecoming of Presidencians that we kept on talking with total disrespect for the speakers who had come so enthusiastically to read their papers. Given the hapless acoustics of the Hall, the chatter made it really difficult to appreciate or criticise the papers.
But I didn't expect this of Guv. Being a descendant of Bapu, he has taken very critical positions on various issues as the Governor of this state. Sometimes he's been praised, sometimes criticised as acting hysterically like when he tried to make a point in his own way-which was quintessentially the Gandhian way-on the recent spate of power cuts in Bengal. Irrespective of all that, he has made it to the hearts of the people and earned admiration and respect for his principled character. But it was missing this time-I don't know if anyone else noticed it. The first session of paper reading started after all speakers and guests-including the Governor- were invited on the dais. When the first speaker , Swapan Chakraborty, started reading his paper, the Governor decided to leave the dais and sit below amongst the audience. As he stood up to leave the dais, so did the Hall as a mark of respect to him. Being a Gandhi, didn't he realise that on the dais it is the speaker who was the most important, not the dignitary. I think Bapu would have made this point clear by requesting the audience to remain seated or instead, by sitting through at least, the first paper.
But I didn't expect this of Guv. Being a descendant of Bapu, he has taken very critical positions on various issues as the Governor of this state. Sometimes he's been praised, sometimes criticised as acting hysterically like when he tried to make a point in his own way-which was quintessentially the Gandhian way-on the recent spate of power cuts in Bengal. Irrespective of all that, he has made it to the hearts of the people and earned admiration and respect for his principled character. But it was missing this time-I don't know if anyone else noticed it. The first session of paper reading started after all speakers and guests-including the Governor- were invited on the dais. When the first speaker , Swapan Chakraborty, started reading his paper, the Governor decided to leave the dais and sit below amongst the audience. As he stood up to leave the dais, so did the Hall as a mark of respect to him. Being a Gandhi, didn't he realise that on the dais it is the speaker who was the most important, not the dignitary. I think Bapu would have made this point clear by requesting the audience to remain seated or instead, by sitting through at least, the first paper.
Isn't it, Gandhiji?
