Dr. Rukmini. S - Senior Assistant Professor about being a writer, academician & career

 

Dr. Rukmini. S, Senior Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences and Languages, VIT University

Education is infinite in nature. To know its nature, one needs to understand its nature from an infinite perspective. How much ever one tries to understand it from a finite perspective one ends up in life only knowing the finite things and unfortunately today’s education facilitates us to understand the infinite from a finite perspective and thus culminates in conflicts within and without. Moreso making us proud of one’s own finite knowledge. Since my childhood my penchant for things infinite(spiritual) had made me journey inwardly questioning myself what exactly my role in this Universe is? Do I really exist? Who is this ‘I’. Is it Rukmini, the “I” or something beyond the external identities. If so then what could it be? These questions made me journey through my life, and it culminated in pursuing Research in things spiritual and taking up an M.Phil. on Sri Aurobindo’s concept of poetry and my Ph.D. on Sri Aurobindo’s concept of Nationalism which facilitated me to rightly understand the true meaning of literature. “Literature is the expression of the inner self “says Sri Aurobindo. This is what our Yogis and Rishis of the lore had expressed through our scriptures. “Kavayaha Satya sruthah” and “Kavayaha Satya druthaha” which meant poet is the one who hears the Truth and sees the Truth and true poetry is the expression of the One Ultimate Truth, the Supreme truth, the secret behind all existences which our scientists have been still exploring in this posthuman and Post truth age. In my 25 years of experience in Teaching and Research I have been looking at all the subjects/courses handled by me from a Holistic perspective and I try to impart the same to my students. Taking the responsibility of developing the future building blocks of the nation I facilitate them towards looking within and try to understand the world from within than the without. I keep on reiterating to them that all knowledge should end up in the building up of character as Gandhiji had averred. Knowledge sans wisdom is useless tinsel says C. Rajagopalachari. My focus as a Teacher and Researcher is to inculcate wisdom in my students. Today, Information that is considered knowledge is acquired everywhere from the Internet. Google stands as the Ultimate Guru for all the Information disseminators (teachers) and the taught. While the Teacher is something beyond just a mere information disseminator it is quite challenging for the teacher to step forward and make the students understand what education really meant. Is it just gathering of Information or inculcating in oneself the sense of discrimination(wisdom). My understanding of Teaching is there is neither the teacher nor the taught. Together we journey and try to explore the true knowledge. i.e., the Ultimate Truth behind all existences. Enshrining the Bhagavad Gita. “Adyaatma Vidya Vidyanam” and the Upanishadic saying “Sa Vidya ya Vimuktaye” it is this true knowledge considered the highest of all knowledge that liberates us. In my journey inwardly I have published 50 research papers and presented more than 50 papers in the Conferences at the National and International level. 7 Scholars who have been pursuing Research under my supervision are also trying to explore newer avenues in their areas of research from a holistic perspective. Two of my scholars are working on Technology and Humanity. Two on Digital Humanities of which one was awarded with Ph.D. for research in exploring the Internet linguistics from a Tolkappiyarian perspective and the other is to submit her research very soon. The rest are working on Spiritual Ecology. For me position and possessions are obstacles in our life which do not let us progress but rather inflate us with false pride and lead us to crave one after the other. So, I neither crave for both. I keep myself balanced inwardly in all times and climes.

 

Dr. Rukmini. S, a teacher and a researcher

As I told you earlier, positions and possessions are obstacles in our life that shall inflate us a sense of false pride and knowing or unknowingly never let us progress. If you call the progress in one’s profession as career, being a Teacher and Researcher I would be rather uncomfortable with its meaning. To me Teaching and Research are like two eyes of one sight. Teaching as a profession is a journey that facilitates us to dwell and explore more and more, and the more and more we explore we understand that the less and less is known and there always is something more that is left unknown. Exploring the unknown is what research is. The sharing of the knowledge that we gain during the process of exploration is Teaching.

To me success in my profession meant to explore knowledge more and more and keep on enjoying sharing that knowledge. It is knowledge alone that you keep on sharing in this world you get infinite returns in your journey towards leading a holistic life.

I have always been checking the status of my inward journey and I do not know where I have reached now. I believe that all is well that ends well and We become what we behold. We become our thoughts. So, it is for one to choose which way to take up the inward or the outward. I have decided to take up the inward and I am sure and confident that one day it will lead me towards understanding and doing the right things in life. My grandfather once asked me the names of eight flowers that one should decorate ourselves with. As a child I mentioned the names of flowers such as jasmine, rose, lily, marigold, lotus, shoe flower, Champa, and chethi (jungle geranium). He told me that I didn’t understand the Question properly and further recited a sloka that mentioned the eight flowers the Almighty likes and it is with those flowers that humanity need to be decorated with. The sloka goes, “Ahimsa prathamam pushpam, pushpam indriya nigraham, sarva bootha daya pushpam, ksama pushpam viseshataha, jnanam pushpam, tapam pushpam, santhi pushpam tataiva cha, satyam ashtavidam pushpam Vishnu Preethi karam bhaveth”. He further explained to me that it is Non-violence, Control of the senses, Compassion to all living beings, Patience, Right knowledge, penance, tranquility of mind, and truth are the eight flowers that is dearest to the Lord, and it is that we need to be decorated with. Since then, I have been trying my best to inculcate these qualities and decorate myself with. I check how many of these flowers I have procured in the Garden called Life. To me success meant procuring these flowers. These days I am losing my patience in few aspects of my life. I am working up on it now.

 

Favourite works in English Literature

My favourite works in English literature are Walden by Henry David Thoreau, Poetry by John Keats, where Keats says, A Thing of Beauty is a joy forever and Beauty is Truth and Truth is Beauty, “Heard Melodies are sweet and those that unheard are sweeter”. P.B Shelley’s poetry, “Ozymandias” and “Ode to West Wind” where he says, “If Winter comes can spring be far behind”, T.S Eliot’s ‘Wasteland’. Apart I like the Transcendentalists of American Literature namely Ralph Waldo Emerson’s, “Nature” and “American Scholar”, Wallace Stevens’s poetry, where he describes Death as “Death is the mother of Beauty”. It took many years for me to understand what Stevens exactly meant by stating Death as the mother of beauty but later when I connected this to the Yaksha prasnas in the Mahabharata I rightly understood it. I do like Emily Dickinson’s, poem “The Chariot” where Dickinson says, “Because I couldn’t stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me’’.

 

 

Dr. Rukmini. S – Life achievements

When I retrospect I understand that I have got the excellent teachers who awakened me from slumber and carried me on their shoulders and led me towards the paths of knowing the unknown through the known and the known through the Unknown which culminated in my understanding of the beauties of life that rests in knowing the known through the Unknown. I was awarded the Gold Medal for my M.Phil. It was the movement when my joy knew no bounds. I owe a lot to my Supervisor Prof. P. Mallikarjuna Rao, Kakatiya University, Warangal for he had always opened me the doors of my inner spirit. He has always been a beacon light in my world of Teaching and Research. Apart I worked in Thailand, a southeast Asian country that gave me opportunities for me to know more about journeying through the Unknown. There too I was fortunate to be associated with the right people who opened me the doors of my inner spirit towards understanding the World’s Religions, History and Cultures. I was invited by the University of Sarajevo as Visiting Faculty to deliver lectures on Post colonial Literature. In the city of Sarajevo, Bosnia too I got the right people to associate with, who has been leading me till date in my journey towards the Unknown. Currently my service in VIT has opportunitized me to visit several places that opened me newer research avenues in Technology and Humanity. After my joining in VIT, I started reading more books on Technology and Culture, Philosophy on Science and Technology, Techno-Self Studies, and the Digital Humanities. Before joining VIT, I wasn’t so much inclined towards science and technology, it is the infosphere in VIT that facilitated me to explore the world of science and technology which led me to publish empirical research. Reading and Writing is my forte and my full-time pre-occupation. Unknowingly I started hunting for more books on Science and Spirituality. To me understanding the world we live in and knowing the very purpose of our lives in this Universe is the most important and unavoidable goals that we need to set up in our lives. Every day, Every second, Every minute is very important in reaching the goal. Time is very precious, Once gone is gone forever. I spend much of my time towards reaching this goal. The more we think that we have achieved indicates the less we have travelled in life. All my degrees are just a signpost that indicates towards the road that I travelled less.

 

Technical writer skills

Passion towards writing, Interest in science and technology, understanding the problems in the scientific and technical world and expressing them in a crystal clear way are the foremost important skills that one needs to have inherent in them and then the rest i.e., Using of Technical writing tools and team building skills. Nevertheless, Research and Exploration skills and of course organization skills and Proof-reading skills too. Knowing the nuances of writing a Social Sciences paper and Scientific paper is also very important. Today the emergence of Digital Humanities is an opportunity for those in the Department of languages, especially English to explore more ways for writing that could bring much flavour to science and Technology with their imaginative skills. Imagination is looked down upon by the scientific community but it was a science fiction novel, ‘Snow crash’ which led to the use of the term, ’Avatar’ in a digital context and one that inspired the makers of Google Earth and further Imagined the dystopian Metaverse that Silicon Valley is racing to make a reality.

 

 

Dr. Rukmini. S, writer

I am very passionate about writing. I do write a lot but don’t publish all that I write. I have composed a few poems on the realities of our lives and recently writing a book on Techno-self culture. Most of my research publications are on Indigenizing Indic knowledge Tradition and Culture. Designing curriculum that discusses various Innovative Teaching Methodologies that facilitates the Teacher towards moulding the students in the right direction is what I am interested in. Contemplating and Writing on the lives of Spiritual Leaders and the World’s Famous Scientists is what my interest has been these days.