Classes

At St. Stephen's, I'm probably going to be taking the following classes: :: Indian Government :: The Problem of Economic Development and Policy :: Greek Philosophy I've had the Government class and the development class already. Both are really interesting. Teachers here really are a force to be reckoned with. Case in point: during my development class, the teacher had been talking for a while about this concept of disguised unemployment. Disguised unemployment is when there are workers in a traditional economy that are not essential for output, i.e. they could leave and the same amount of work would ultimately get done. While explaining this, my teacher, Ms. Mohan stopped and asked one guy what he thought the critical point of her lecture up to then might be. He fumbled a little, being so put on the spot, and talked a little about why disguised unemployment is important for development in the theoretical scheme she was developing. It was slightly b.s. -ey, but mostly on point. She said, "No. You weren't listening." "No, really, Professor, I was." "No you weren't. Leave. Immediately." "Prof-" "Now." I saw that guy walk past my window on the way out and I think he was about to cry. It'll be interesting to see if she lets him come back. Sort of an impressive, if scary, display. My government class is fantastic. The professor, Mr. Ayde, is first-rate. He's also the Dean of the College and rather likes us (he thought my questions after our introduction on democratization were good, so I think he likes me as well), so he could come in handy. The students in his class have amazing respect for him, and I can see why. When he walks in the classroom, everyone stands very tall and silently. It had been quite noisy before he arrived, but when he walked in the room all you could hear were the fans and his shoes on the dusty floor. When he sits at his desk to take attendance (they take attendance at every class here), the class sits down. Though he this impressive aura about him, he's really very upbeat and funny. He punctuates his lecture with anecdotes and stories and seemingly ridiculous but apt comparisons. He knows an amazing amount about Indian politics.

Sidestory: Professor Ayde told us today about the minister for food and health in the Uttar Pradesh state government whose name I absolutely could not understand during lecture. The man has over 100 separate criminal cases currently filed against him. That's 100 cases, by the way, all with separate charges beneath them. He is said to personally have killed at least 20 of his political opponents and many others have mysteriously disappeared and were never heard from again. One of the suits against him is actually a suit filed by the Uttar Pradesh wildlife control agency, their reason being that he keeps an unsafe number of tigers and lions on his massive estate and has a large pond in which he keeps some huge number of crocodiles. Apparently he hasn't denied that some of his political opponents have ended up as a late lunch for his crocodiles. Then again, he hasn't affirmed it, so I guess we just give him the benefit of the doubt, right? At least the most damaging extra-curricular thing our politicians do back home is make inedible pasta sauce.