He did not enter the staff room, he barged in; he did not speak with respect, he shouted at; he did not address a fellow teacher, but a bonded labourer; he did so because he was a permanent college professor speaking to a lecturer appointed on ‘academic arrangement’.
Strangely, though, the lecturer had a PhD from a top Indian Central University and a post-doc from the United States.
Feeling humiliated and rebuked, the lecturer spoke no word. A few minutes later, he groaned and said, “Aah, my hard luck. My research, my experience, my education got me a job of Rs 28,000, and left me to vultures who know me not.” In his pain he murmured, “At home, I am a lecturer, to students I am contractual, to the government I am an academic arrangement, to permanent faculty members I am a nobody, and to the non-teaching staff my writing Dr as my title is abominable”. As he sighed, I was reminded of Colleen Wilcox, an educator and administrator who describes teaching as the greatest act of optimism.