Before the Book, the Banner: On Our Obsession with Looking Impressive
The recent controversy around Galgotias University, reported by outlets such as The Print and The Wire, is less about a robot dog and more about a national habit. The focus should not be on the machine, but on the mindset.
We have perfected the art of appearing impressive.
Somewhere along the way, the average Indian public imagination developed a restless hunger for declaration. We are world class before we are competent. We are global before we are grounded. We are innovative before we have innovated. The announcement precedes the achievement. Somehow, the cover of the book has gotten more important than the book itself.
This instinct to self inflate has seeped far beyond universities. It is in corporate presentations that sparkle with jargon and emptiness. It is in social media bios that proclaim visionary leadership after a weekend workshop. It is in institutions that speak of disruption while struggling with basics. It is in our collective addiction to the phrase “first of its kind”.
The university scandal merely held up a mirror. It showed what happens when performance overtakes substance and when branding becomes a substitute for labour. I think the embarrassment was more psychological than it was technological. The embarrassment was not technological.
We have begun to confuse aspiration with accomplishment. There is nothing wrong with ambition. The tragedy is our impatience with the slow dignity of building something real. We prefer the applause of announcement to the silence of work. Somewhere along the line, we, as academicians, have forgotten how beautiful the process of building something is. The slower the process, the deeper the satisfaction. Somehow, everyone is eager to announce that they have become this or that, but few are willing to relish the process internally and reflect upon what can be done to make it better.
Until we rediscover the virtue of understatement, of letting achievement speak without amplification, these spectacles will recur. Not because we lack intelligence, but because we have become enamoured with the performance of it.
It is perhaps time that we teach our students the importance of building something brick by brick and block by block, so that they understand the pure joy of true accomplishment. Whether it is an essay or a product, let them experience the discipline of process and the quiet pride that it yields.
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