For various reasons, I was recently thinking about de-Stalinization, something I've not thought about seriously for more than 20 years.
A drawing by Niyaz Karim
Revisionist thinking is really quite interesting. And a necessary part of life. It is not healthy to just blindly believe in the same old sources, or worse, the same one source. It is healthy to question and look for evidence. For there always is more evidence than you have been told there is.
While I was thinking about de-Stalinization, of course I remembered how I handed in a highly nonsensical essay on the topic. Those were the days when I was almost becoming one of the 'full-time hostelites, part-time students' in my hostel, haha. It was so bad that my tutor, Dr Agnew, got me to re-do it, and very kindly gave me a list of relevant references I could look up. As I emerged from his room feeling stupid and sheepish, and filled with well-intentioned thoughts of doing all my future essays properly, I was greeted with a real hard stare by one of his groupies who was waiting outside. I hard-stared her back and went out into the corridors with my newfound academic enthusiasm.
I just googled and found that Dr Agnew is now at George Washington Uni. I remember his giving me a second chance much better than I remember any of the topics in his course. But that's what education is all about, isn't it? Lessons on life, attitude, treating people as human beings, etc.
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