A renewed opportunity to become more of ourselves
After a long, slow summer, punctuated by more rain than I can remember in recent years, it will soon be time for me to return to the campus of the university where I teach undergraduate students. I was fatigued when we finished teaching and grading the courses earlier this year. I have a long commute to and from campus and my friends often try to persuade me to give up this investment. They wonder why I don’t see it as a drain on my time and resources.
Nearly three months later, as I prepare to return to the classroom, I have a better perspective on what draws me to this role at this stage of my life. As a professor, I get an opportunity to spend time with the latest generation of 20-year-olds. This is the age group of people I am most interested in.
I don’t have access to young adult children like my own outside of my family or circle of relatives. I am curious about their motivations and influences. I want to know what’s going on with young people. As my colleague Arpita put it, “They are so smart! They are articulate. They understand themselves and are able to speak about it.”
Young people become distant and inscrutable when they give up on the expectation that they will be understood. Most of the time, they are struggling to understand themselves and need a safe space where they can get more familiar with the contradictions within them.
Going to university takes me away from home and closer to myself. It also makes me less small. Less resentful. More satisfied. On campus, I notice the grass. Purple jacarandas against a blue sky. And young people. Their varied gaits. The spring in my own step as I find myself fitting in.
In one of the last classes of the narrative non-fiction course I taught last semester, we found ourselves feeling heavy with the sentiment that most of the students in the room would soon be leaving the residential campus after four coming-of-age years here. We did a class exercise in which we speed-wrote a list of five things to do and not to do at the campus we were soon going to leave for our summer break. I revisited the list and found big and small life lessons embedded in the hastily written points.
Five things to do on a university campus:
- Stop and respond to the security guard who greets you every morning. There are a few places where the security staff are trained to be both efficient as well as welcoming and courteous. Acknowledge the effort and make it successful by feeling welcome.
- Drink water. Buy drinks, try out different fluids. Bring tetra-packs from home. It’s a big campus, you want to hang around and enjoy the space but you must hydrate yourself regularly or nothing makes sense after a while.
- Smile at people. Don’t smile too much. Belong here without necessarily connecting to everyone.
- Hang out in the lawns in between the important things. Do nothing on campus… it’s a good place to pause. To not look at anything. To not be looked at by anyone.
- Make notes of your time in these years. It’s an island. An oasis. You may not experience this safety, this cocoon again for a long time. Make notes on what worked for you, so that you can recreate it in different stages of your life.
Five things not to do on a university campus:
- Don’t eat your favourite street food every day. It will lose its value of offering both excitement and comfort. Surprise yourself once in a while.
- Don’t start complaining about the new generation. About academia. About rich people. About privilege. About others from different parts of the country. You are part of the puzzle, figure out how you want to influence it all.
- Don’t be late for class. Don’t be rude in class. Don’t worry about vague fears and inadequacies. No one knows your history here. You can be your best version, one day at a time.
- Don’t dress up for college. Just be chill.You will find where your personal comfort and fashion intersect.
- Don’t worry about lists at university. Every day is a new day. Re-invent it. It is tabula rasa. Write a new script for yourself.
Becoming familiar with our own expression is a gift that touches every part of our lives — personal and professional, the fun and the serious. A new learning environment offers a renewed opportunity to recognise our special interests and gain the confidence and skills to follow them where they lead us. This is what will make us fuller humans; it will help us grow fully into our own selves. Use your time to listen anew. To feel seen. To stay silent. To hear our own inner rhythm.
— The writer is a filmmaker,
author and teacher
