Importance of being a professor

Dr Abhayasundara never turned on radio in his car. He did not like the distraction it offered. He would only concentrate on the road that lay ahead. He would not even wear out his mind with other thoughts.

Yet things were different, and difficult, today. He was tired.

All what happened at the senior common room rolled on. His colleagues were in merry spirits as they drained cups of tea over the salary talk. The government is smiling at them with an increased pay. The professors would be the most benefited.

"You have been in the university for so many years, no? So you can easily apply for the professorship."

But Dr Abhayasundara remained quiet. For some reason, he could not fathom himself.

Some of his colleagues were already applying for the position. It did not really matter that they had no doctorate. Years of service would back them up.

Some colleagues had other plans too.

"I am going to compile a publication. It's easy I have a collection of assignments I had given to our special students."

Dr Abhayasundara was listening to them without much contribution. He could not think of anything to comment. There were more ripples of laughter when he dared experiment new avenues in sociology.

"Sociology is what he doesn't know though it's his subject. Anyway why should he tire himself so much, when he gets his salary anyway?"

Suddenly he felt depressed. Even in the luxurious air of his newly bought hybrid, he felt like sweating.

Professorship!

The word hung on his head like a rotten chunk of meat. It used to be meant for the prestigious scholars. Crows now tread where swans are supposed to be. Abhayasundara wondered if that simile was right.

He could have applied for the professorship with offhand ease. He took sabbatical leave to roam in other continents, while it meant one year's paid vacation. He edited, compiled and authored a number of publications, while his colleagues made copies of the assignments they had given to students. He was busy working on many government projects, while his colleagues spun money in tuition classes. Like his colleagues, Dr Abhayasundara too has a long service record. Above all, he has a doctorate.

He wished the red light would last longer. But it did not. He had to move on. He did not feel like driving any more.

In the heavy surge of depression, he suddenly remembered his father. He had no doctorate. He was not as wealthy as his son. No, he did not even have a Toyota hybrid. But he led a happy life with simple needs. Even at 40, Dr Abhayasundara noticed in himself, his face looked more aged. He stared into his own hair, salt and pepper. Despite all academic perks and gathered knowledge, he was still a victim of depression. He was yet to take a decision: is he actually going to apply for professorship? As a child, it was his dream to become a university professor one day. As a fresher strolling along the colonnade, his wish-thinking was to be among the professors he had great admiration for. He loved lagging behind these giants who walked tall. But he felt as if his dreams are capsized, whiling away with his colleagues.

But now the question keeps on coming to him: why should I apply for professorship?

We are now infested with false professors, he mentally wrote down. Aren't I being too harsh, Dr Abhayasundara had inquired himself. No, most university professors are genuine ones, he tried to argue. A professor is the scholar with a wider knowledge - if not the widest - on a particular subject area. Now that most of his colleagues are professors, he tried to broach some intellectual talk with them. To his dismay, or surprise, he found they had forgotten the nitty-gritty of their subjects. They were ready to teach him how to evade income tax, nonetheless.

Did the professors have to pay income tax when he was small? Dr Abhayasundara settles his income tax on time, as he has ample sources of income. A university don is a highly prestigious job, and his ways of earning has only the sky as a limit.

But is this what a university don supposed to do? Is this what a professor supposed to do? Come on, there is nothing wrong in making money, he argued once more. But... there was something that troubled him.

His father was not a university don, let alone a professor. But he was the village's top scholar. The children of the village came to learn under him. The rich paid him handsomely, and the poor banked on him. He treated them alike. He never had to worry about evading income tax, as he did not earn that much of money. He never had to worry about demanding a salary increase, as that was enough to satisfy his needs. That was enough to save his children too.

Even at 70, he was as fit as a fiddle - it suits him well, though the idiom may sound trite. He never had to worry about his health, as his ailments were quite trivial which required little medicine.

On the contrary, I am spending a fortune for my health, Dr Abhayasundara thought with a gust of worry. Unbeknownst to him, his mind was getting flooded with depressive feelings. He felt too late when he realized he is depressed. He tried to unlearn what he had studied and recall what his father used to tell him.

He was sympathizing with his colleagues. He bore no grudges against them and himself. But he had to take a decision on his career.

Watching the bright sunset, Dr Abhayasundara sensed the lesson of comparison. Everything would come to devastation. How could he have expected his colleagues to be like the professors of his childhood? If there is a sunrise, then there has to be a sunset. So be it for everything - his colleagues are no exception.

And then he was relaxed. Dr Abhayasundara felt it is the right moment to decide. There would not be any turn back.

He would not apply for the professorship.

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