Why I was displaced from Indraprastha College for Women?
Dr. Shubhda Chaudhary | 16 December 2023 | Maktoob Media
On January 2019, I was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Multi Media and Mass Communication of Indraprastha College for Women. My happiness knew no bounds. This was my Alma Mater, my own department calling me, to give back to the students. I had been the first Indian student to get full scholarship to study at University of Westminster, London. Then I had worked with a think-tank associated with Foreign Ministry of South Africa in Johannesburg. The choice to return to India, pursue an M.Phil. and PhD in International Relations, was intentional: I wanted to grow my roots in my own country, make my students ahead of their time and space, even mine. I had visited/worked in several countries like Egypt, West Bank, UK, US, South Africa, Oman, etc. It was time to give back to my society.
Alas, the department was beyond mediocrity, which took me years to understand, why? Most of my colleagues had strong social capital but less intellectual pursuits. We never came out of the discussions on ‘mother-in-law, husband, child and maid’. I felt alienated, so alone in a department filled with people. I could not even have a conversation.
Therefore, I was termed as ‘arrogant’, ‘aggressive’ and ‘pseudo-intellectual’, because I always questioned and demanded professionalism. Obviously, it made it difficult for them to work with me. They could not understand where I came from. I do not blame them. But when it came to academic help, I was sought after. I had supervised the entire PhD of one of my own colleagues, who recently got the degree (I have full evidence to support this). Why did I do so? Because I was living in a paradox: I desperately wanted to belong to the department but was alienated….