Chapter III

Truth and Mirage: Prema Nandakumar’s Atom and the Serpent

In the preceding chapter an attempt has been made to study Saros Cowasjee’s

campus novel, Goodbye to Elsa. The engagement in the present chapter will be

to examine Prema Nandakumar’s Atom and the Serpent in the light of campus

fiction. Atom and the Serpent is a biting satire that powerfully projects the

relentless realities of an Indian University campus which is replete with

opportunism, character assassination, moral depravity and all sorts of insidious

politics, jealousies and intrigues. True to the subtitle- ‘A Novel of Campus Life

in India Today’, the novel has pictured a realistic and interesting portrait of the

contemporary campus life in India . The novelist brings out the two-fold danger

impending on humanity in the modern age, which is indicated in the novel to be

the Atom and the Serpent. Whereas on the one hand, there is the threat of

nuclear hazards to humanity at large, on the other hand, there is the threat of

serpent-like academics who poison the atmosphere of our academic groves.

The plot of the novel is woven around Dr. Kamalapati Vatsa, an atomic scientist

from Bombay who spends a brief span of five days on a provincial university

campus as a visiting professor. During his stay, Dr. Vatsa comes in contact with
the Vice-Chancellor, Principal, academicians of various types, research scholars

and other servants of the institution and observes the psychological clashes

among the inmates as well as the wide proliferation of university intrigues and

scandals. Through the perplexing, though eventually humbling experiences of

Dr. Kamalapati Vatsa, the author paints a thorough picture of the multi-faceted

campus life in an Indian university and exposes the severe break down of

morality and the propagation of perversion in thought, conduct and action with

reference to the faculty.

From the beginning, we witness the unsavoury fight for position, promotion and

foreign deputation among the members of the faculty. The tussel for power and

position can be seen between Dr. D.K. Adhyaksha, the Vice-Chancellor of the

University and Dr. Dattatreya, Principal of Applied Politics department. Dr.

Dattatreya is shown constantly striving to replace Dr. D K. Adhyaksha as the

Vice-Chancellor. Sheela Rani, wife of the Principal is also seen scheming

against the Vice-Chancellor, along with her husband, for her own promotion.

When Dr. Vatsa inquires as to why Mrs. And Mr. Dattatreya are after the Vice-

Chancellor’s position, Dr. Yaugandharayana also known as Dr.Yana, Head of

the Atomic Research Department informs him :

“Mainly that her family and her husband’s family have been in the

university service for generations. They have worked in all capacities,

except as Vice-Chancellor. That is their grouse and the motive-force

 behind their machinations.” “That must be galling. Maybe they could

achieve it now.” “Oh, the Otter has moved all heaven and earth, and the

whole of hell, but so far luck hasn’t been in his favour. I don’t think he’ll

ever become the VC.” “Mrs. Rani?” “Her major problem just now is to

become a Professor. The short-sighted UGC has sanctioned a second

Professor-ship in her Department. While the VC is adroitly stalling, her

own Professor is plainly antagonistic. But she will manage, she will!

They know all the arm- twisting and knee-bending chicaneries.” (101)

As part of their scheme, Mr. and Mrs. Dattatreya manoeuvre Sheela Rani’s

brother, Kshema Rao to hold demonstrations against the Vice-Chancellor until

he agrees to their demands. The workers who participate in these

demonstrations are hoodwinked to believe that the strike is for the demand of

increase of their Dearness Allowance while in reality it is for the promotion and

career advancement of Kshema Rao’s sister and brother-in-law. As the VC

rightly points out:

“You are referring to the workers’ demands? But who cares for them?

The real reason for today’s demonstration was, not that Sowbhyagyappa

should sit as a Syndic or that Mahendar should accompany me on my

next foreign tour; the inner purpose of the whole show was to make

Sheela Rani a Professor.” (298)

But Dr. Adhyaksha is a man of Chanakyan abilities, who too like Chanakya

“...revealed no spiritual beauty; it was pure intellect weaving and unweaving

intrigues for the sheer pleasure of it” (299). He therefore counteracts all the

crafty moves of Dattatreya and his wife. The shrewd VC displays his wiliness

by advancing another established association in the university called

Karmachari Sangh headed by Bansi Ram. Raj, Dr. Adhyaksh’s son explains the

motive behind his father’s decision: “Since Kshema Rao has to be contained,

father encourages the Karmachari Sangh” (83). It was thus a ploy of the VC to

keep the power and control in his hands. Though the VC has to grant Sheela

Rani’s professorship unwillingly, he retaliates by adopting a clever strategy:

“But will it not create any heart-burning within the department?” Vatsa

asked. “You have a long way to go, my young friend. Do you think I will

so readily give in if I do not have the counter-move ready? Rahulkar will

get the other chap to put in a writ petition the first thing in the morning,

which will effectively block the appointment by getting a stay order

before our official letter reaches that woman. It will thus have been a

pyrrhic victory for Kshema !” (298)

It is unfortunate to see that teachers who should be working towards imbibing

knowledge and culture in students are shown to be engrossed in university’s

dirty politics. Through the character of Dr. D.K. Adhyaksha, the author also

tries to highlight as to how the university’s dirty politics could draw off the

potential of a teacher. Dr. Adhyaksha is shown to be a very good teacher and is

shown to have an immense interest in learning. The author describes the VC’s

library in the following words:

 They skirted the passage that ran along the drawing room, took a turn

beyond the office room and entered a narrow strip of closed space. This

led them to a large hall through which they entered another commodious

room lined with books. A faded old carpet received their footfalls. Vatsa

found a fairly large Library. “Is it all the VC’s?” he asked Satya. “Uncle

has collected a lot of books. He is very fond of them. In fact, this is only a

part of his collection. The rest is in his village home.” There were shelves

of books on Political Science, History and International Monetary

Economics. Hard-back editions of Parkinson, a gleaming volume of

Drucker on Management, and other recent best-sellers were there. Plenty

of paperback fiction-from Dickens and Thackeray to Robbins and Shute-

was also arranged row upon row. “It is a wonderful thing, this habit of

building up a personal library. We are afraid to buy even paperbacks

when we live cooped up in flats!” “I suppose it has got to do more with

one’s interests.”...He glanced at her with surprise and moved over to a

large shelf in a corner. It contained mostly Sanskrit books or books on

Sanskrit literature. “The VC seems to be interested in Sanskrit literature

too” he said. “What? Didn’t you know he is a Sanskrit Scholar? It’s part

of his family heritage. He keeps in touch with it still.” (55)

Though the VC’s subject was History, he had a collection of latest books on all

subjects, which illustrates his love for learning. When still in post graduation he
had done a noteworthy study of the development of political intrigue in the

times of Chanakya and Ilango and had all the capability of becoming a great

historian but instead he became a politician:

He was busy with his intrigues, somehow managing the academic and

ministerial staff whom in private he referred to as his ‘Kennel’.

Adhyaksha had no time to change the decor. If he had had, the effect

would have been worse. He would have gone in for divans and pillows!

In his own subject, of course, he was a fairly well known scholar. When

still a postgraduate student, he had done a remarkable study of the

evolution of political intrigue in the times of Chanakya and Ilango. Now

the scholar was a memory, while the politician had become the reality.

(19)

Sucked in completely by the morass of politics, he now indulges in “endless

intrigues just to stay in power” (262).

The author also throws light on the internal wrangles and compartmentalisation

prevalent among the faculty members. During the dinner given by the Staff

association in honour of the visiting dignitaries, Dr. Vatsa observes that there

was no academic community in the campus but only competing power-groups,

and he rightly feels: “What a set! What a priggish, swinish, preposterous set!

What a knot of vipers biting one another interminably” (38). At the dinner given

in honour of visiting dignitaries Vatsa observes:

 The faculty had as usual herded itself into goats, sheep and the like. One

could sense this compartmentalisation because of the occasional furtive

glances exchanged by sundry members in the various groups. For all that

he knew, one group might have been hatching a plot against another in

that subtle, suave, poisonous way that is perhaps characteristic of the

provincial universities. Dr. Vatsa had watched all that complex of wan

seedy faces and bristling side-burned visages. But he could not hear

anything clearly because of the general buzz. (12)

All this politicking makes Dr. Vatsa parallel the Indian academic world to

Vishakadatta’s Mudra Rakshasa:

There were several editions of Mudra Rakshasa here, some with English

translations of the play. Vatsa chose one and settled down in a chair. It

was delightful reading, even the English introduction! His own father had

but small English, and did all his writing either in Sanskrit or his mother-

tongue. This editor touched upon the characters in the play with masterly

expertise, and found both Rakshasa and Chanakya of “the same depraved

school of politics that reveals a curious state of public morals and freely

employs fraud and assassination as weapons for the achievement of

political ambition.” Vatsa, however, found the climate of morals in the

play the very image of the Indian academic world. Go-getting was the

order of the day! There were no guiding lights, although darkness had
 descended on the Groves, and knots of vipers were slyly moving about.

The play is a network of political intrigues, Vatsa thought, even like our

own universities. (193)

As the novel proceeds, the corrupted world of education is unleashed layer by

layer in front of the readers. The kind of corruption which is found among

teachers and professors is ethical corruption which mainly includes

unscrupulousness, jealousy, lethargy and total disregard for duty. Sheela Rani

for instance is denied professorship because of her lack of research

qualifications and she follows all the possible devious methods to acquire

professorship. In fact, towards the end of the novel, she is shown to have

acquired professorship without a doctorate and without even going through the

formality of an interview.

She is known in the whole of the university, as the Classic Class Cutter. She

evades her duty by cutting classes. She often doesn’t even remember that she

has a class and when students enquire about the class, she wastes no time in

cancelling it and sends them to the library:

“What’s the matter?” “Madam, it’s your hour, Madam, for our tutorial on

Price Fixation, Madam.” “Are you sure?” “It’s Wednesday, Madam.”

“Oh! So it is! Well it’s already some time past, so what’s the point? You

may tell the others too that there’s no class; you can lose yourself in the

library!” (164)
 Here a similarity can be drawn between Sheela Rani and Matangini Mistri

from M.K. Naik’s Corridors of Knowledge, who also adopts all possible

methods to reduce her lecture time. The author also refers to Sheela Rani’s

method of assessment of the students’ examination answer scripts:

Rani opened her Godrej for Vatsa to view it. ...The lower two shelves

were stuffed with answer-scripts. Where had she the time to assess

answer-scripts from, may be, a dozen universities? Perhaps she farmed

them out among her assistants and pocketed the remuneration. Anything

was possible in that intriguedom, and especially for her! (160)

A similar way of shirking from responsibility is found in Dr. Yana. Dr. Vatsa

had hoped to see the department interact with the students and hold discussions

with the faculty and he asks Dr. Yana for help, but Yana is seen to be neither

interested in his subject nor in his department. When one of the student who

was to present a paper in the seminar held in Yana’s department absents

himself, it is proposed that all the present candidates would read a passage from

a book. Yana decides makes use of this opportunity for leisure, and instead of

engaging the group, prepares himself to unwind. It is amusing that he himself

shrinks from his responsibilities and expects others to be attentive on his behalf:

“Anyway he is absent. What shall we do now?” Yana glared at the two

Readers. One of them ventured at last. “Why not read a passage from a

book and discuss it?” “That’s a good suggestion,” grudgingly came

 Yana’s reply. “I’m going to relax, I’m dog-tired. Somebody bring a book

or magazine, be sharp!” None of those present felt exactly energetic and

even Vandana got up only half-heartedly. “Every other seminar peters out

in this manner. The paper-reader is absent, the discovery-reporter has

misplaced his note! I’m afraid, Vandana, you are slack”, Yana said. But

there was no frustration in his voice. He was bored, that was all. (145)

It is therefore very natural that being the head of his department, if Yana

behaves in an indifferent and lethargic manner, the same mood spreads all over

the group and the faculty and students who are to be led by him are also

engulfed by the same. The novel thus abounds in the instances of lethargy

among teachers.

The novelist also points out how the teachers are seen to be least bothered about

upgrading themselves academically. For instance Dr. Yana shows least interest

in books and academic endeavours. In Yana’s bookshelf, Vatsa finds:

…the off-prints, book-lists and the free scientific literature sent to him.

There were books, too, having library markings. Vatsa spent a few

minutes gazing at the titles, but many of them wore an ancient look. Yana

obviously had no time to keep abreast of new publications, thanks to his

administrative preoccupations. (34)

When Vatsa enquires if the Departmental has a library of its own, Yana replies:

“No, no. What’s the use? Nobody is interested in books here. These are all from

the University Library” (34). Vatsa is also quite disenchanted when he tries to
explain a recent interesting research from a journal to the staff members and

gets a very compliant and disinterested response. What upsets him most is that

many of the faculty members hadn’t even attended his lecture which was on

their own subject:

There was some mild applause. Vatsa, however, was disappointed by the

lack of response from his audience. None of them so much as extended a

hand to borrow the journal and have a look at the contents. What

discussion was possible with this blank wall? In any case, Vandana was

up with her cheerless vote of thanks and Yana with his “It’s time for

lunch, let’s move on.” That is one thing done well here, eat, eat, eat,

thought Vatsa bitterly. Though Yana ignored his senior staff deliberately,

Vatsa couldn’t. He could only feel pity for these people who too had

become fossils in spite of having chosen the most modern of sciences.

(147)

Teachers are also seen to be totally disinterested in research work, thus further

highlighting the sorry state of education in the campus. Sheela Rani is good

neither at teaching nor research, and so, exalts teaching and flaunts contempt for

research. At one point in the novel, she says unabashedly: “The need in Higher

Education today is teaching, not research. But our authorities won’t understand

this. No wonder Higher Education is gravitating to the gutter” (148). She could

be seen expressing condemnation of all research works:

 “Gone are the days when our people bleated about parity with Oxford and

Cambridge standards. Now-a-days you just assemble a few pages of

plagiarized parrotry, then appoint the negotiable chap in the neighbouring

dump as the external expert and hey presto! You are a Ph.D. one of the

neo-Brahmins of the academic hierarchy!” (162)

Since she doesn’t have a Ph.D. herself, she irreverently calls Ph.D. as

“superlative silliness” (46) and a “stupid anatomical appendage” (47). Carrying

on her disparaging remarks about research she says:

“Your experience of Indian universities is woefully limited, as I can very

well see. I have watched for almost a quarter century, mind you- not a

short period! All these Ph.D.s are shams and shampoos, and in America, I

hear, you can get a Ph.D. for psittacine performances or for working out

the average of a middle-aged porcupine’s tail!” (162).

Contrarily, she further referring to her unscrupulous ways says that obtaining a

Ph.D. is not a problem for her: “If I want it, I can get it in a matter of weeks.

There are ways and ways” (163).

Dr. Yana also considers research a waste of time. He complains that they don’t

have decent equipment for research and goes ahead to blame this inadequacy for

their failure to do anything meaningful in the area of research:

With a pointed reference to his own Departmental colleagues which

escaped no one, Yana said that the time had come to throw into the

dustbin the research being done in the Indian universities. “The whole
 thing is an exercise in futility, almost a hoax; and I too feel guilty being a

part of the racket,” he boomed. Intervening, Vatsa said that mere foreign

training gave them no right to pooh-pooh all Indian effort in research.

“Pooh-poohing, am I? I’m not blaming the chaps, there you have me

wrong! It’s the system, Sir! This grim rat-hole where I am expected to

conduct advanced research! The goddamn University doesn’t lift its

diminutive finger to equip the laboratory, and they want us to produce

scientists who can out-do the NASA!” The Readers looked at each other

sagely, and said nothing. “You call me a goddamn professor, put in my

hand a lot of men, but where’s the material? The other day I wanted a

couple of fridges to store some chemicals. The Principal says, Apply to

the UGC ! Then what’s he for? I tell you, I had a real smart set-up even as

a mere research assistant at Tootendarooga. And here? A junk-loft! They

advice us to manage somehow with things on hand. Things! What things!

Rusted eighteenth century equipment! Or useless, outmoded, hand-me-

down from the States! Oh, this Somehowism, this Anyhowism! I wish a

nuclear explosion blasts our Indian Universities so that we can build upon

the ruins something entirely new and worthwhile!” (144)

But as Prof. Rajeswara, the Head of the Department of Sanskrit in the

University very rightly points out that the faculty today has infinitely better

conditions and facilities in the Universities. But the people have stopped taking

interest in research work and thereby waste resources and opportunities.

The novel presents various instances of the staff members’ frivolous and petty

behaviour. Sheela Rani for instance, indulges in gossip-mongering, bad-

mouthing and defaming others. She is described as follows: “Rani could never

be cowed down and would always have the last word, Vatsa thought. She was

literally unfathomable and unsinkable. But by now he also knew that she was

congenitally incapable of a single good thought” (122). During his stay on the

campus Vatsa was able to decipher her true character:

It was time, Vatsa felt, somebody told her to her face what a vultures she

was, forever preying on the carrion of slaughtered innocence. A mere

three days had shown him that nothing, nothing, was sacred or inviolate

to her, neither the old values nor the eternal verities, neither the

philanthropic Zamindar who had donated the building, nor her colleagues

and students who were now occupying it, not yet any of the campus

community. For that matter, she seemed to have no more than contempt

even for her husband, treating him much as a convenient hawai slipper

for bathroom comfort. She gleefully called him the Otter without any

trace of self-consciousness; why should Vatsa, then, be spared her evil

tentacles? It was her primary nature to vilify everybody, to foul every

nest! (156)

Almost everyone in the novel is a substance of her gossip. Dr.Yana warns Vatsa

regarding Rani:
 “My dear Sir, I wouldn’t mind your carrying on a harmless flirtation with

her as well. But you mayn’t fancy her after the aristocratic conversations

you may have had in the Villa. I myself find Rani a bore at times.” “Now

that’s unfair. She’s always chirping and chirping.” “Chirping what? It’s

ok for you, you have seen her only for a short time. We’ve known her for

years. She has that unholy habit of munching scandals and ferreting out

unsavoury tit-bits to garnish her table-talk.” (101)

In her very first meeting with Dr. Vatsa she tries to paint a very negative and

fabricated picture of the VC’s family in a very empathetic manner:

“I am sure your chief doesn’t poke his nose into the work of the

Departments. But our VC must, poor man!” she sighed as if all her

sympathies were with him; and as though a demon drove her on, she

continued: “Poor, poor man! The wife always circulating in her social

welfare committees, the son who is a queer, and the daughter-in-law a

suppressed maniac!” He has much to suffer!” She sighed again, and her

words, sighs and silences become one for the nonce. Then she said

simply. “Sometimes I wonder whether there’s God!” (15)

Later in the novel, when Vatsa praises the VC for handling the demonstration

in front of his villa in a very masterful and calm manner, Sheela, in her usual

gossip-mongering way, tries to defame the VC and his family once again:

“They said there was a demonstration before the Villa, the VC puffed and

fell in a faint, his son looked at the crowd owlishly, while the son’s wife
went from room to room screaming” Vatsa was aghast. “That’s all wild

talk,” he burst out; “Who said so?” “Never mind who did. You give me

the correct version. Were you also upset?” “Not exactly. But, after all, it

was my first face-to-face experience of a gherao-like demonstration.”

“It’s common enough here. When the VC is unreasonable, things are

bound to get out of hand.” “I don’t think the VC was unreasonable. Not

this morning, at any rate. He managed the crowd very well. The Union

President went away quite crestfallen.” “Hm, hm. So no great damage

was done.” “There was a lot of rampaging in the garden, though, and I

think the VC’s daughter-in-law was rather upset over it. She seems to

take a personal interest in gardening. Come to think of it, I think I saw her

wet cheeks because of a fallen guava tree specially grown by her. This

must have led to the report about her running around and screaming.”

“But even if she had done it, it wouldn’t have surprised me. Poor Satya!”

Rani sighed and relaxed in the chair. “Oh!” “After all, what’s there for

her in life? That is why she spends all her time gardening and gardening.

Maybe a gamekeeper-like gardener might yet bring her happiness!” The

sentence was said with such dangerous nonchalance that it took quite

some time for Vatsa to register the terrible, shameful, Mephistophilean

insinuation in the oily words of Rani. How utterly despicable! He felt a

revulsion within and kept quite. (95)

Rani’s dubious nature comes to the fore when she comes across Raj in Silka

Pinta Bar. On his face she speaks with him in a very motherly tone and behind

his back ridicules him:

“Isn’t our Raj lucky?” Rani cooed. “To have bagged the cleverest and

most beautiful prize!” There was no perceptible reaction from Raj. Vatsa

wondered. Raj got up abruptly. “There, I must go now. My people have

come. At his retreating back Rani murmured: “The silly good-for-nothing

neuter gender’!” Vatsa shuddered inwardly because he didn’t like the way

she spoke the words almost within earshot of the students. Even for them,

it was perhaps nothing unusual. There was some giggling, and Yana

made a clownish face. (122)

She doesn’t even spare Dr. Vatsa and conjures up a rumour about him and

Satya that they were having an affair. With this incident Vatsa comes to know

that, “Single-handed, Rani could destroy battalions of lives. Perhaps she had

already done so, as her tongue constantly flicked in and out like a wily snake’s”

(142). Yana tells Vatsa that he is very sure that in spite of all the odds Rani will

win her professorship: “She will manage, she will! They know all the arm-

twisting and knee- bending chicaneries. Besides, she’s pretty for her age, and

that, you must admit, is an advantage” (101). These words of Yana, without

doubt throw light on the immoral undertone of Rani’s character and makes one

wonder how beauty of a teacher can be a plus for her profession.

Jealousy between colleagues in the field of education is much prevalent and

many instances of this can be found in the novel. Sheela Rani for instance feels

that her colleagues are jealous of her intellect, good looks and popularity as a

teacher: “My real problem is my Professor. He is jealous of my brains and

beauty and popularity as a teacher. That is why I tell you one should never be

brilliant” (163). Dr.Yana has an assumption that the two Readers in his

department are jealous of him about whom he tells Vatsa:

“But there are those specimens closer to me in the Department.” “Who?

The morose pair?” “Who else? They can’t stand that I am a success in my

work, my department, and the International meets I attend. And of course,

in my relations with the Campus Eves, ha, ha!”....They seem such a

harmless pair.” “Are they? They are notorious for lab scandals and

manipulations. Their speciality is upsetting the research in progress by

maladjusting – detaching or misconnecting wires- and causing serious

derangement of work. That is why each time I go out, I lock up my room

and my laboratory.” (148)

Vatsa is baffled by the behaviour and mindset of the staff members in the

university. Prof. Rajeswara also tells Vatsa about the deteriorating standard of

teaching and research in the University:

“You seem to be sorely disappointed with our Academies.” “Indeed I feel

sad because of the conspicuous waste of resources and opportunities.

Even in Science, we had but third-rate equipment- yet our first rate men
 made the most of their opportunities.” “I have heard of such things, Sir.”

“They were eaten up with zeal for work and there was fellowship

between workers in the same ‘field’. Now-a-days everything’s so

different. That is why I avoid even going to the Staff Association Hall

where there’s nothing but idle talk, and most of it malicious into the

bargain.” “Besides, for all his Vedic scholarship, father has no love for

soma panna,” said the irrepressible Lakshmi. “Come now, soma was not

the Vedic whisky,” Satya interposed. Rajeswara resumed: “It’s not

simply the soma paana as you call it, Lakshmi; or the cigarette homa! It’s

the aimless irrelevant talk, the reckless character-assassination, the

constant politicking for promotion and all that…there’s no time for

silence, and work, and achievement.” (186-7)

Kumar informs Vatsa that although the Staff Association Hall was equipped

with all the games, nobody took any interest in them. Vatsa is surprised to see

that on most of the tables in the hall, members of the staff could be seen

indulged in futile talks and activities like playing cards or discussing the

actresses in movies. Even the magazines stand did not have a single issue of

academic magazine, instead only the ones related to films and sports could be

seen:

By now they were entering the University’s Staff Association Hall, really

an enormous rectangle topped by asbestos sheeting. Many plywood

 cubby-hole enclosures had been made to provide comparative privacy.

The whole interior had a depressing air about it. In one corner several

tables were piled up with magazines and newspapers: Filmfare, Femina,

Stardust, Eve’s World, Varsity Varieties, India Today, Blitz, Sputnik,

Sportstar, Newsweek, Time and even Men Only and La Vie Parisienne.

Seated uncomfortably in the frayed cane chairs, some of the academic

elitocracy were intently researching in the imaginary romances of

Dharmendra and Hemamalini, Zeenat Aman and Sanjay Khan, Parveen

Babi and Kabir Bedi. The rhythmic sound of ‘ping pong’ revealed that

table tennis was in progress at a nearby table, chess was being played at

another, but at most of the tables people played cards and pursued an

incoherent and interminable conversation. (219-20)

During his stay Dr. Vatsa comes to realize that the favourite work of the faculty

in the campus is to: “Chatter, chatter, chatter, and fission away reputations;

munch on, crunch on, and pass on the out-of-date as the newest knowledge

pitiful self-deception” (156). Dr. Vatsa becomes more familiar with the corrupt

and unethical practices of the faculty as he gets into close proximity of the

fraternity of teachers. The author for instance hints at the corruption prevalent in

the selection process of the university because of which the standard of

education and educators is deteriorating constantly. In the Staff Association

Hall, the faculty members were seen discussing the possibility of Dattatreya
becoming the VC and Sheela Rani becoming a professor. Through their

conversation one gets to know the inside-story of the selection process:

“A eunuch or an eunuch, no matter; but he is a mighty successful eunuch.

One day he will rise to be Vice- Chancellor.” “That would mean the GP’s

regime.” “Is it true her Professor is stalling her promotion?” “And are you

surprised? Why should he want a rival?” “Anyway they can’t overlook

our Kumar here.” “Why not? Appoint a yes-man committee, wine and

dine them at Silka Pinta, and get your favorite duly selected. It has

happened often before” (224-5)

The hard realities of the Indian education system dawns on Vatsa and he

realizes that: “Ritualistic interviews and wrong appointments had become the

rule rather than the exception in the Indian Universities, and no wonder there

was such breezy whirling talk” (225-6).

Another episode throws light on the disregard shown by the faculty towards

rules and regulations. Mr. Pannagesh was enrolled as a research scholar under

Sheela Rani, who ironically herself was not a Doctorate. Pannagesh wanted to

be registered under Dr. Kumar but the University had set a limit on the number

of researchers under a supervisor. Since Dr. Kumar already had the stipulated

number of researchers, Pannagesh could not register under him. He tells Vatsa

that although he is researching under Sheela Rani, in reality he was guided by

Dr. Kumar:
 “...Let me introduce myself. Pannagesh, researching under Mrs. Sheela

Rani.” He got up, shook Vatsa’s hands, and subsided into the chair again.

“I see,” Vatsa said. Judging the mood of those present he said a wee bit

wickedly: “But I thought my fair lady was not favourably disposed

towards research.” “Quite so, Sir. But in our University we have an

artificial limit regarding the number of research students who may be

assigned to a faculty member. Dr. Kumar’s hands are too full. So I have

put myself technically under Mrs. Rani.” “That means she has to guide

you whether she likes it or not.” “Not necessarily, Sir. It’s just a paper

transaction, or notional registration, as we say. If smiles and wiles can

guide,...but no! Actually, Pannagesh comes to me for instructions.” (220)

Dr. Vatsa also comes to know about the unethical and corrupt practice of

awarding first class grades to the students by whom the teachers get favoured.

Sheela Rani tells Vatsa that a professor once got a car as gift from a rich student

of his for giving him first class in examination. To this Yana in the drunken

state replies: “What ish there? There are others here who have such firsht class

fridges or firsht class stereos or firsht class foreign film projectors! What if?”

(123)

The deterioration and commercialization in today’s field of education is also

brought out in the VC’s words that the principal’s hostility towards him began

when he had not recommended the principal for a foreign trip: “Things got out

of my hand when I did not recommend him for a foreign trip!” (23)
The campus life of today is portrayed in the novel as cheaply westernized,

imitative and self-alienated. The novelist presents how some of the very

important ideals of Indian culture are being violated by the Indians themselves

under the influence of western culture and so- called modern education.

Teachers are shown loosing their gravity and dignity in front of their students.

Dr.Yana for instance, drinks heavily in the parties. In the party thrown by

Dattatreya for the students, he drinks and starts taking off his clothes and even

drags Sheela Rani to dance with him. Vatsa’s statement that “The West is

winning its battle of subduing the East by its culture” (56) is applicable on Dr.

Yana. He is westernized in his speech, dress and behaviour. After his visit to

America, he constantly indulges in looking down upon everything that is Indian

and has adopted “What is there in India attitude” (34). A sample of his

disparaging speech belittling his own country is given:

“Roads! You call them roads! We have a University Engineer who won’t

be employed as a rag-picker in the United States!”.... “I never bring the

car out if I can help it. I have a scooter for my usual work. The people

here are worse than niggers. They destroy everything good. One day I

found the seat gashed because I had forgotten to lock the car. See this!”

Yana drew Vatsa’s attention to the bonnet. “I spend a year’s saving and

bring this car from the States and some native idiot uses it for the display

of his sneaky wit. That’s India for you!” (31-2)

He displays an insensible craze for everything imported and considers the

articles brought from America as his valuable possessions- a spoon from

California, a silver model of Eiffel Tower from Paris, the replicas of the war

drums of the Mohawks, and to crown it all, a pissing prince from Brussels.

With the character of Vatsa the author exhibits how the youth in modern India,

blinded by their craze for the West, fail to appreciate the significance of ancient

knowledge and Indian traditional values. He had looked at his father’s learning

as obsolete and useless and had considered his modern outlook to be far more

superior. But later on with the assistance of Prof. Rajeswara he realizes that his

father was a teacher in true sense of the word who imparted higher knowledge

to the most dedicated scholars. Students in the States are shown appreciating

Sanskrit as a language, including Mudra Rakshasa text in the curriculum of

their university and drawing analogies for Chanakya, Rakshasa and other

characters:

During his many years in the States, he had thus taught a dozen or more

batches of students varying the texts from year to year. But Mudra

Rakshasa was a must for all his students....Visakhadatta’s power politics

and political intrigues were terrifyingly contemporary. And the students

enjoyed reading the play with Vatsa, and came up with all kinds of latter-

day analigies for Chanakya and Rakshasa, and for the Nipunakas and

Karabakas. The students went one step farther still, and applied the
 Mudra Rakshasa Test to the teachers and students of their own

University. (192)

But ironically in India even faculty members like Sheela Rani insult research

work in Sanskrit.

One can also observe in the novel how the highly regarded Indian valve of

teacher-disciple relationship is jettisoned. The teachers ask for favours from

students and students take the teachers for granted considering the favours done

to them. For instance Yana, makes his rich final year student Rajshekhar to pay

the bill each time he wants to impress a visitor whom he invites in Silka Pinta

Bar . As Sheela Rani puts it:

“Yana afford a night out at Silka Pinta, my foot!” she said in a controlled

but effectively contemptuous voice. “You mean to say that the poor man

is throwing up the party for me in spite of his problems? How nice but

imprudent of him!” Rani’s shoulders shook mincingly with laughter as

she looked at Vatsa with a mischievous smile. “Are you kidding? Or

maybe, you’re really a baby?” Vatsa smiled shyly, “I’m still in the dark.”

“Our host is not Yana, my dear Sir; our host is moustache Raju.”

“Moustache Raju?” “That’s the boy Rajshekhar. He foots the bill each

time Yana wants to impress a visitor. Prabhat simply phones him and that

kid prepares the stage.” (120)

The bearing of such favours taken from students is also shown in the novel. The

student thus takes advantage of his favours to Yana and impudently answers

him when Yana refers to his absence in the Department:

“You’re a busy young man, aren’t you, Raju?” Yana said. “It’s long since

we saw you in the Department.” Raju laughed happily. “And would you

say that I missed much?” Vatsa was shocked but Yana took it in his

stride, and Raju continued nonchalantly: “When you’re sure of your class

and your future, what’s the point in attending classes? Isn’t it preferable

to hunt chances in cinema studios?” (119)

One can note that how the image of ‘Guru’ in India has been subverted in

today’s world.

The author also reflects as to how the citadels of learning going through a

frenzied phase with vehemence, selfishness and greed leading the way, not only

make the persons closely as well as remotely associated with it suffer, thus

totally defeating the purpose of creation of these institutions. For instance the

unpleasant effects of the campus politics are explicitly seen on the relationship

of Raj and Satya. The venom of campus politics is seen to have its affect on

their entire being taking away their capacity for endurance towards each other.

Raj confides in his friend Lakshmi : “Life and love have no chance in this

arena!” (262) Lakshmi realizes the root cause of their problem and advises him:

“I think I have got it. It is this place, Raj. Here’s neither knowledge nor

justice: it is but ajnana kshetra, adharma kshetra! Get out of it, and
 everything will be okay. Stay back in this place, you’ll succumb to small

town gossip and the gales of the campus.” (262)

During his stay, Vatsa gets hold of a book titled Marie Antoinette by H. Belloc,

which was presented to Philip Macfrank, the earlier VC, by his wife Kate, in the

year 1911. He comes across the following passage in the book:

“There are others to whom cheating, intrigue and cunning are native: they

have a keen nose for the herd; they will always follow it, and it is their

ambition to fill posts where they can give favours and draw large salaries.

Of this sort are parliamentary politicians today: from such we draw our

Ministers. They have of poor human nature an expert knowledge such as

usurers have and panders.” (283)

Reading this Vatsa feels that “Time has not galloped away in one

sense...considering the way Belloc’s words suit snugly our own present-day

politicians, including those of the despicable academic variety!” (283)

Vatsa who has been a witness to all the happenings in the campus painfully

remarks at the pathetic state of affairs: “Oh brother! The University itself is a

museum now. Archives indeed! Nothing’s normal or serious here, there’s

nothing here of the university ideal of noble living and straight thinking- only

its perversion and distortion and negation!” (286)

He gets befuddled and numerous questions arise in his mind:

Was it all mere scandal, or had the smoke its origin in some fire

smouldering somewhere? What had come over the Indian Universities?

 How come the Indian educational scene had grown so murky of late?

Something is rotten in the State of Denmark! But would Heaven take a

hand now, as Horatio had fondly hoped? (148)

When Yana admits that they as faculty just: “…encode raw B.Sc. graduates and

decode them as M.Sc.s two years later” (146), Vatsa cogitates on the revered

profession of teaching:

That was the wonderful thing about being a teacher. To be able to gain an

entry into the student’s heart and make him blossom into a true votary of

knowledge was verily to win this world as well as the world to come! But

to fail in this sacred task because of insincerity and lack of dedication or

the intrusion of deceit was to desecrate the sanctity of a teacher’s

vocation. Teaching was not the mere half-hearted trading of information,

knowledge and skills. It was something more, almost a vocation, a

sacerdocy... (170)

Noticing all these perversions, corruption and malpractices in the field of

education, Vatsa feels totally depressed:

I’m ashamed to call myself a teacher, a Doctor, a Professor! What’s it we

are doing in our Institutes and Universities? It’s not teaching, for we are

indifferent to the students! It’s not leadership, the way we drag the young

minds down! (136)

He then reflects on the words of Prof. Rajeswara about his father,

Visweswaranatha Datta. Vatsa’s father, Visweswaranatha Datta ,was a great

Sanskrit scholar, teacher, guide and benefactor and Prof. Rajeswara was Datta’s

student:

“There was such Brahmatejas on his face.... How Spartan was his life! He

had plenty of money but spent everything on scholars and scholarship.

How many benefactions he founded in his time! I was myself the

recipient of one of his scholarships till I could get employment when I

was twenty-two. Even later he continued to help me for the publication of

my research work. And with what grace he gave! He almost made it

appear that the giver was the real receiver!” (197)

Rajeswara further says about his Guru that:

He did not depend upon UGC grants or Foundation Fellowships to pursue

his research. He spent a large part of his life-time in an ill-equipped

affiliated college, didn’t he? Now look at us clamouring for sabbatical

leave and foreign assignments and roving National Professorships! (197)

It is through Rajeswara that Vatsa realises the contrasting environment during

his father’s time and feels guilty for his once being condescending of his

father’s way of existence and for blindly promulgating modern science:

“…this ancient knowledge has as much relevance for us today as modern

nuclear science….I feel guilty because I only saw deceptive appearance,

not the deeper reality. I saw father as a glorified Pundit, and not as the

head of a band of dedicated scholars who resurrected forgotten texts and

threw needed light on our living past. I saw him as a conventional

 teacher, and not as the Acharya, the Guru, the Rishi who was also

imparting Para Vidya, the Higher Knowledge.” (207)

Prema Nandakumar, thus beautifully highlights the concept that Indians should

never neglect the significance of their traditional values and core teachings even

in the modern age of Science and Technology. She indicates that the path which

is capable of taking the mankind out of this unpleasant atmosphere is the path of

traditional Indian culture. The essence of the whole novel is given in a nutshell:

Trapped between the atom’s twyfold terror

And the Speckled serpent’s spue, hiss and bite,

Ah, how sustain hope of saviour Grace?

Only patience, purgation and prayer:

Beyond this darkest night, perhaps the Dawn! (8)

Thus the hope for rectification and a fresh beginning is also denoted here.

The purpose of the author in writing this novel is mainly to expose the way

modern universities in this country function. We witness the unsavoury fight for

position and promotion and foreign deputation, the spectacle of waste and

pettiness, events such as strikes by workers and the resulting vandalism

perpetrated in the wild demonstration. The whole picture breathes with a wide

acquaintance of every current event of the world we are living in today. All

these are described with much sense of realism, making Atom and the Serpent a

campus novel of contemporary India.