Tuesday 16 September 2014

On Marxist lectures and Sleep Operas.

What political orientation would the agents of polity have? 
Should the political orientation be declared? 
Can a civil servant be neutral? 

There was a guest lecture today by a faculty from a well known university. The lecture was about socialism (in particular Marxism) and its relation to politics. After the lecutre was over, the common refrain that I got to hear from the batch was that there was a bias towards one particular ideology and a bias against another. This is purely speculative, for a random overhearing of grumblings of sleepy OTs is in no way an authoritative account of their political leanings or preferences, but the majority seem inclined to a particular ideology. In itself, it is no harm. However, one wonders if it is desirable to have homogeneity in opinion. Does that mean heterogeneity is desirable as and end in itself? Another question might be, how has the selection process succeeded in screening so many like-minded people? I suppose it may be answered the day one understands the reason why there is a preponderance of engineers in this batch of civil servants.

While these and other thoughts were churning about, I found, refreshingly enough, that I was awake. It afforded me a chance to see my batchmates in (in)action. Perhaps I too may have snored gently, almost inaudibly. Perhaps I too might have been nodding away to dream lands all these days. We never know. A gentle tap on the shoulder by the kind staff woke those sleeping sitting near the aisle. What of those ensconced in the middle of a row, surrounded by similarly drowsy friends?

Tongue firmly in cheek, therefore, I would like to dedicate this tenor aria by Luciano Pavarotti to the batch, from the 3rd act of Giacomo Puccini's opera 'Turandot.' (I got this information and much of everything else from Wikipedia). Yes, the aria has shades of gray, but take the opening lines literally, please.

For those interested in what the aria means, here is a good source and this too.


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