AN OPEN LETTER TO DR. SHOBA VENKATESH GHOSH

(HOD OF THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF MUMBAI UNIVERSITY)

 

(AN INSUFFERABLE BULLY)

I am not the one to write these things, but today, the ill-fated day when I had the displeasure of meeting Dr. Shoba Venkatesh Ghosh, I am being forced to write this letter. I will keep it simple worded and *try* to be polite.

First, let me start off with some background. It has been raining incessantly for the past few days, and the past two weeks have been really hard on my health, but thankfully I am recovering. My results were declared about week ago, and I am now a graduate. I majored in English Literature from Jai Hind College, which is affiliated with the University. So far, so good. However, my 5^th Semester and 6^th Semester mark-sheets are held up at the University due to some technical issues and this has hindered my ability to seek admissions in many different universities as the mark-sheets are required for the admissions process. This only leaves MU open for me. My father and I have been scrambling around since the day my results were declared for my mark-sheets, yet nothing seems to let up.

Now for the part you’ve been waiting. My dad has been accompanying on the account of my health, as I am heavily medicated and do have a history of passing out and MU’s campus is the size of a small city. We reach the Dept. of English just after lunch, very visibly drenched by the rains, tired (and just looking for a little ray of sunshine) to submit the form well before the due date. However the problems of the mark-sheets remain, and so the clerk takes us to see the HOD to discuss this further. First off, we’re made to stand with the clerk even though there are some seven chairs open there and just us in the room. Now quite frankly, I’m not at my best, I’m dripping wet, I have no make-up on, you can still see the marks of the needles that administered the IV drugs at the hospital, my hair is in a messy bun and for some reason I have pink floaters on, so yeah, go right ahead and judge me. This woman just takes one look at me and scowls at me. As my dad is explaining the issue to her, she immediately cuts him off, looks at me and sternly says, “this isn’t my problem, you have to go there and sort it out.” There where? A different office? Timbuktu? Heaven? Hell? I’m guessing Hell, because this woman’s office sure seems like Pandemonium right about now. So, as expected I ask her blankly “where?” “DO NOT TALK TO ME LIKE THAT. YOU ARE AN INSOLENT GIRL. *looks at my dad* ASK YOUR INSOLENT DAUGHTER NOT TO TALK IN SUCH A MANNER.” Right, I am just flabbergasted at this. Just a simple “where?” has got this woman all riled up. Still, my dad immediately apologizes to her, even though he doesn’t need to, and she is still going on at him.

Me: “I’m sorry ma’am, but I have been running around from one place to another, just tell me where to go and I will.”

Her : “THIS IS NOT MY PROBLEM. *points at me* I DO NOT NEED TO DEAL WITH YOU”

By now, I have obviously lost it. Call me a drama queen, call me hormonal, call me whatever, but I will not, WILL NOT have anyone talk to me in such a manner, and I will retort. I am not some common street-walker that she is asking to get lost nor am I a beggar that she needs to shoo away.

Me: “Okay ma’am, first of YOU WILL TALK ME CALMLY AND WITH A MODICUM OF RESPECT”

Her: “HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT? YOU ARE BEING SO INSOLENT. *she seems to love the word ‘insolent’ for some reason* GET OUT OF THE ROOM. PLEASE STAND OUTSIDE WHILE I DEAL WITH YOUR FATHER*

Me: “NOW JUST BECAUSE I AM YOUNG AND A STUDENT DOESN’T NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO TALK TO ME IN THIS MANNER. YOU WILL SHOW SOME DEGREE OF RESPECT WHILE YOU ARE TALKING TO ME.”

My father and the clerk standing next to him are begging me to leave the room, and in the best interests of all of us, I pick up my bag and umbrella and leave the room. I did not slam any doors, I did not mock anyone. I simple left had sip of water while I was waiting. Within a few minutes, my father and the clerk come out, they speak in inaudible voices, and the clerk walks to his desk and my father walks towards me. My father tells me that he apologized on my behalf, and she has accepted it, and that we can submit the form with a letter from the registrar and my college stating the issues with the mark-sheets. Here I think, what the hell, let me go in and say I’m sorry, even though I do not think I did any wrong, but in the end she is a government bureaucrat and we all know how they are.

 

Me: “Ma’am, may I please have a word with you?”

 

Her: “Yes, come in” *at this point I enter and my father is right behind me.*

 

Me: “Ma’am, I am really sorry, I’ve had a terrible day, a really bad week and I’m not trying to be rude or impolite, and the way you spoke to me was uncalled for, but *she cuts me off*

 

Her: “WHY DO YOU THINK YOU CAN COME AND TALK TO ME LIKE THAT? THIS IS NOT MY ISSUE, GO THERE.”

 

Me: “YOU CAN SAY THIS CALMLY AS WELL. ONCE AGAIN, JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE SITTING THERE DOES NOT GIVE YOU RIGHT TO TALK TO ANYONE LIKE THAT.”

 

Her: “YOU ARE AN INSOLENT *there’s that word again* GIRL WHO DOESN’T RESPECT ANYONE *here my dad sees that I am about to say something and thus tries to stop and I ask him not too* DO NOT TALK TO YOUR FATHER LIKE THAT, YOU DON’T EVEN RESPECT HIM.*

 

Me: “I HAVE THE UTMOST AND IMMENSE RESPECT FOR MY FATHER AND EVERY OTHER MEMBER OF MY FAMILY; YOU DO NOT NEED TO TELL ME HOW TO TALK TO THEM. I JUST WANT TO ASK YOU A QUESTION- WILL YOU CONSIDER MY APPLICATION AFTER THIS ALTERCATION OR SHOULD NOT EVEN BOTHER APPLYING?’

 

Her: “YOU CAN SUBMIT THE FORM AND SEE THE MERIT LIST FOR YOURSELF, NOW GET OUT OF MY ROOM”

 

Me: “So basically you’re not going to consider me?”

 

Her: “YOU CAN FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF ONCE THE MERIT LIST COMES, AND WHEN YOU DON’T GET IN YOU CAN SUE ME, NOW GET OUT!”

 

Me: “Why can’t you just answer a question as it is? No one wants to sue you or anyone for that matter.”

 

Her: *looks at my dad* “GET HER OUT OF HERE OR I WILL CALL SECURITY AND HAVE HER THROWN OUT”

 

Me: “Calm down, I’ll leave.”

 

I obviously do not want to deal with this woman anymore, but just as I exit, this is what she tells my dad: “My condolences are with you for having such a daughter.”

 

Excuse the goddamned fuck out me, but condolences? No, no, no. Congratulate my father on having a daughter who can speak for herself and is not a fool. Congratulate my father on having a daughter who even though has a learning disability still appears in the General Category during her exams and for admissions. Congratulate my father on having a daughter who will not succumb to ridiculous bureaucrats like Dr. Shoba Venkatesh Ghosh. Congratulate my father on having a daughter who will stand up for herself no matter who she is pitted against. Congratulate my father.

 

I know this will generate a lot of hate mail towards me, and by posting this, I am confident that I will probably not be admitted to any college at-least here in Mumbai, and I know for a fact that my fellow students who are seeking admission at MU will definitely not be willing to share this on their Facebook walls or on Twitter, but at this point of time, I’ve had enough of this hypocrisy of the bureaucracy.

 

Just before meeting this horrific woman, we met up with Dr. Suresh Wakchaure, Head of the English Department, Associate Professor and Vice-Principal of Mithibai College. The minute we walked in, he asked to sit down with him. He in fact took the time out to talk to us, explain the situation to us and what exactly we should do in this matter. He asked me what I wanted to do, and where I see myself in a few years from now, asked me about my previous colleges and school. Spoke to me about my hobbies and we even joked about infrastructures of certain colleges. Here is a man who is the epitome of understanding. He spoke to us as an equal, seeing the stresses of admission and bureaucratic nuances taking a toll on us made a sincere effort to do explain to us what is needed to be done in this situation. Just like Dr. Kamal R. Jadhav, the Head of the English Department of Jai Hind College, he too comes off as intimidating, yet both these remarkable professors are completely approachable and friendly. I guess that is the difference between skilled and compassionate educators who give a damn about students (whether they’re students of their colleges or not) people like Dr. Shoba Venkatesh Ghosh who are just in a secure government job and treat prospective students like trash.