Her Calling

The Vanquished

"So? Ms. Banerjee? Vanquished him?" Meher was waiting for Rupali in the canteen.

"Whatever you mean."

"No worries. I will spell it out for you. How did it go with Prof. Khanna?"

"I think I saw a mattress in his office," Rupali said, partly because she was still curious about it, and partly to divert Meher from her sallies which reminded her too uncomfortably of her embarrassed escape from his office.

"Okay?"

"Why would anyone have a mattress in their office?"

"I think he sleeps in his office."

"To save money?"

"Make a better guess if you can."

"Why would he live such austere life?"

"Why would my friend obsess over a mad professor? Why would she not drop the idea of doing a project with him, and write exams like normal people?"

"I am not obsessing."

"I believe you."

--

Rupali found three of her batchmates in Paritosh' office.

"Great!" Paritosh began as soon as she joined others, "So, the four of you have chosen to go the project route. I decided to meet you all together, because there is a project I have in mind in which all of you could work together and produce something useful within a semester."

He went on to explain the project, where they would replicate two studies on the circumstances in which people cheat.

"The reasons we are trying to replicate a study instead of designing something new ourselves are two folds. One, we have limited time and resources. There is no existing research group and no Ph. D. students whom you can join. And one semester is too little a time to design and conduct a study from scratch. Second, replicating the studies in different places and cultures is a significant contribution to the academic literature. It helps verify the earlier studies and if our results are different from theirs, then it helps our understanding of cultural differences. Is that okay?"

Everyone nodded. After discussing the plan for the semester, Paritosh dismissed them, but stopped Rupali.

"Ms. Banerjee. Please stay back. We need to discuss your attendance issue." The other three were still within earshot and Rupali grimaced. She hadn't been attending his classes since their last encounter. He had sent a word through Meher to her for this meeting. But it didn't mean her classmates needed to know that she was going to be lectured by the professor.

"Now that the project issue is resolved, shall we see you in the class from tomorrow?"

She gulped and nodded.

"The project we just discussed was indeed something I didn't have in mind when we first spoke. That idea was not approved by the administration. It was about..."

"That's fine. You don't need to tell me."

He smiled. That patronizing smile would have left her seething normally, but right now the mortification she was feeling didn't leave any scope for other extreme emotions.

"Sit down." He waited for her to comply; then continued, "If we are to work together, it is important that there is some respect and trust between us. Sometimes we have to work towards building that trust. I have checked your academic record. Your grades and extra-curricular activities are impressive. So, on my part, I am happy to trust you. You, on the other hand, know nothing about me. You haven't even seen enough of me in the classes. So, the very least I can do is reassure you that I was not bluffing about the project on the first day. My first project idea was a very hard-core criminal psychology project. You would have to speak to incarcerated criminals--"

"For what? To get their point of view?"

"You are in the habit of jumping to conclusions. This was not to be a project of journalism, Ms. Banerjee."

Rupali bit her lips and mumbled an apology.

"We outrage when things go wrong. We want the rapists to be hanged and murderers to be stoned to death. But we make too many assumptions about what led to the crime in the first place. Too many simplistic assumptions. Whether or not the rapist is hanged, we have no better understanding of what to do differently in future? What created that rapist? If we don't know how the criminals are created, how do we stop more from being created? Punishment after the crime is not enough of a solution. It is no solution at all."

"You mean you believe in reformation more than punishment."

He slumped back. "I would like to believe that prevention is possible, instead of waiting for them to commit the crime and then reform or punish. But I don't know enough to really believe anything. Developed countries have done a much better job of understanding criminals. But their lessons are not always applicable in different social, cultural or economic contexts."

"Hmm..."

"Anyway. I have lectured you enough--"

"But why did the project not get approved?"

"The administration was not comfortable with undergraduate students talking to convicts. What if something went wrong? What if parents objected? Etc. etc."

"But we are all adults. In our final years..."

"Sure, you are!" he grinned and did not even attempt to hide amusement in his voice.

She stood up flustered, "I should leave now."

"Here," he offered her a bunch of stapled sheets, "Copies of the notes I used for lectures. Should help you in catching up with missed lessons."

"I... Uh... Your notes?"

He groaned impatiently.

"Right. Thanks... Thanks a lot, Sir."

"Don't be a truant again."