Prof. R. K. Kale
Dean of Students Welfare
is interviewed by one of our students, Manish.

Manish: Tell me about your old days at JNU?

Prof. Kale: I came to JNU from a small town in Maharashtra and was very comfortable in the environment of JNU those days. There was homogeneity in heterogeneity. Students were from different regional, social and economic backgrounds but all of them had a feeling of common identity. There was no show off and people used to live simple life as all others.

There were not much vehicles on the campus those days and teachers even used to walk down to schools. They used to walk alongwith students and thus there was many times more interaction among the teachers and students. Interaction between teachers and students was fabulous those days. We used to go to their houses at any time for any of our problems or even without problems – just to have good food even.

I remember my teachers like Prof. P. N. Srivastava or Prof. Rao, who were very friendly with students and went out of way many times to help us. Now the students are inhibited and so teachers. Life styles have changed over the years and so the lives of the teachers and students.

Cultural environment of JNU was very vibrant those days. Many national and international personalities used to come to the Campus like Durga Prasad, Swapna Sundari, Gangu Bai Hangal, etc. Once we called Hari Prasad Chaurasia for the silver jublee celebration and when we presented him a sum of 10,001 rupees, he just took one rupee from us.

There was only one TV at Nilgiri dhaba those days and students used to throng that place in groups to listen to news and for vote counting during elections. Those were the days to remember.

Manish: Your views on JNU politics?

Prof. Kale: Politics is life of JNU and we have not seen a more vibrant campus than JNU. There were free thinkers, SFI, AISA and many others, but there was no polarization on the campus along political lines in the personal lives of the people in the hostel. There were no political tensions on the campus; there were pamphlet wars and different perspectives and the number of students was not very high, thus every one had one to one contact with each other. There were no personal arguments and the environment was very cordial.

Manish: What changes do you see in JNU over the last decades?

Prof. Kale: There are reflections of the surroundings on JNU, it is not located in isolation. People were not brand conscious then as they are now. There was a tailor in Sector 3, R K Puram and all of us used to go there only. Now you see so many bikes and mobiles in the campus but earlier there were not so many bikes. But even then, JNU is much better than any other place. It is better in Quality and Quantity both. The number of students has increased but at the same time teachers base has also increased. Standard has remained same, I don’t agree that the standard has gone down at JNU. Students are collectively good and I believe that we will remain better than others.

Manish: What do you have for the students in the coming semester as Dean?

Prof. Kale: It’s true that I am Dean these days, but I consider myself a student till date. I would like to be student of JNU for all the life. But as part of this responsibility I would like to tell that JNU is coming up in big way for the infrastructure development. Construction of new hostels is on the way, one full fledged hostel for girls will be completed in the new session. TEFLAS is going in for an extension, there will be new hall for cultural events and some more extension. A food court is coming up in front of Sabarmati hostel and a Cafeteria at Pashchimabad turn. These places will be made world class and will provide new venues for different activities on the Campus.

Manish: What are your comments on the new format of JNU News?

Prof. Kale: Change is always welcome. But this pattern of JNU News is not very reader friendly. Earlier format was better and it was easy to read and keep. It probably has more space than the earlier pattern.