Seeking confluence of Indian wisdom and western dynamism

 

 

 

The prophecy by Swami Vivekananda in 1897 -- that 21st century would belong to India -- lights up the eyes of Padma Bhushan Dr. S. B. Mujumdar whose name has been inscribed in golden letters in India’s permanent educational log-book. Swamiji had stated proudly that the 20th century might belong to the West, but the 21st century would belong to India. Even as Dr. Mujumdar recalls that prophecy, he insists that “Bharat can achieve that status only through education, education, and education”. To that goal, Dr. Shantaram Balwant Mujumdar dedicated himself as a young professor fifty-one years ago when he founded the iconic Symbiosis. That small start in a room at Pune’s Ferguson College (where he taught Chemistry) has now become an internationally acclaimed institution with the motto Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (One Earth-One Family).

 

That ancient Indian assertion was part of Dr. Mujumdar’s dream -- of making possible a symbiosis of ancient Indian wisdom and western dynamism, of course through high-calibre education. At eighty-six years of age, Dr. Mujumdar’s face glows with passion. Watching him interact with the team of his senior colleagues is an experience in itself. Mastering each detail, he guides the team undertaking important projects, managing expansion, launching new endeavours. His memory is sharp, reflexes quick, and gait straight -- marks of a leader. In 1969-70, Pune had as many as 1,100 foreign students from 32 countries. They felt that the locals around them did not accept them, did not relate to them. Dr. Mujumdar sought to change that -- and Symbiosis was born, in an attempt to create conducive conditions for foreign and Indian students to connect with each other well. “I saw all those foreign students as ‘Ambassadors of Goodwill’ for India. I realised, when all of them return home, they will speak about India gloriously, realising in part the vision of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” Dr. Mujumdar says with his voice dripping softness. For a boy who took his primary education in a rural school in Kolhapur area, this is really a big dream, a great vision. Later, the young S.B. Mujumdar went to Rajaram College to pursue further studies, and passed first-class-first in botany in the university.

 

Then came his PhD as well. A good career was assured. But the young Dr. Mujumdar launched himself on an unbeaten path -- his way having been lighted up with one single passion -- education for everybody, education for progress, education for future, education for ‘one Earth/ one family’. The rest is history -- a great and glorious history! -- whose chapters are still being written by himself in the lead. What type of youngsters does he foresee emerging from the educational process? The founder of Symbiosis and Chancellor of Symbiosis International (Deemed University) has a unique way of looking at this issue. He says, each young person must have mastery of at least three languages -- mother-tongue, English, and Hindi. “Mark my word ‘mastery’. Just because Marathi is one’s mother-tongue, one cannot claim mastery over it. The young person must earn good communication skill so that he can connect with others with confidence,” he adds. Here, Dr. Mujumdar pauses and then talks about youths from Maharashtra. “Many of them are diffident, lacking courage. They have talent, but lack confidence. So they lag behind in competitive examinations. That defeats education,” he says. “In my view, our country needs entrepreneurs -- the job-givers, and not the job-doers. For it is in this capacity to employ others that education finds its fruition. That is where India’s future is,” he adds. Why don’t our youth get such an orientation in schools and colleges? In response to this question, Dr. Mujumdar’s face pales a little.

 

“That is very unfortunate. We have over 1000 universities and more than 40,000 colleges. We have lakhs of schools across the country. But the products of this system are not as per the basic expectation. Unfortunately, our policy-makers did a lot of messing up of things in education. That is where a change is necessary,” he states -- with an unmistakable authority in the subject. “There can be several reasons for this. Education does not get appropriate importance in our scheme of things. Our country does not spend enough on education. We barely spend 3.5% of our GDP on overall education. And out of this small allocation, we spend only 0.67% on higher education. And as for research spending, the less said the better. And we have the world’s second largest educational system, next only to China, ahead of America,” Dr. Mujumdar rues, his face shadowed by disappointment.

 

Dr. Mujumdar’s mind darts back to the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. “India’s ancient wisdom is a global treasure. The ‘Ramayan’, the ‘Mahabharat’, other books -- all of them form the repository of India’s wisdom. Symbiosis looks forward to blending this ancient wisdom with the west’s dynamism, technology. Once that is done effectively, India will be able to fulfill the vision of Swami Vivekananda, bring his prophecy true. In the past fifty-one years, thousands of students have fanned to different parts of the world. Some of them have even become prime ministers in their countries. They are our Ambassadors of Goodwill”, he says with a legitimate sense of pride.