It has been raining educational institutions on me. Last fortnight, I was at the Sri Kanyaka Parameswari College and last week, I was at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT M). The latter had invited me to the 20th-year celebrations of the institute’s Heritage Centre. One common feature was that at both places, I was gifted caricatures of myself, and both credited me with more hair than I possess. But be that as it may, I came away filled with a great sense of happiness. The Heritage Centre is a facility that is doing great work, as befitting the centre of excellence that the IIT is.
Having worked for over 25 years now on compiling the history of institutions, I have frequently been struck by how much of the past is lost owing to faulty record-keeping. Government departments and institutions, which should lead by example, sadly are the worst-off. Most documents and photographs vanish, many because of lack of continuity or sheer disinterest of those at the helm. Then come shifting of premises, the great fire (which happens at some point or the other), and then the great flood, which happens all too often these days. Thankfully, the great plague is a matter of the past. And then comes wilful destruction, to “save space” or because someone up top said it was all a waste anyway. And lastly, there is stonewalling – everything is top secret, one that can be used to build deadly missiles.
