NLUD Talk
What NLU Delhi Has Taught Me Mini Saxena, V Year
Half a decade is by no means a short time to spend in any one place. Inevitably, at the end of such a period, one looks back to examine whether it has been spent constructively, or whether one has simply whiled away the time, gloriously doing nothing. While my time at NLU Delhi has certainly involved copious amounts of the latter, I daresay that some actual learning has also been accomplished. Of course, most of this learning has occurred outside of the classroom. As I embark apprehensively onto the next stage of life, I thought it best to pen down some of what I have learnt. To be clear, this is not meant to benefit anybody (and I doubt it will), but can be treated merely as the rambling incoherence of a nostalgic fifth year. So, ladies, gentlemen and others, here is what NLU Delhi has taught me. NLU Delhi has taught me time management. It’s true what they say: out of sleep, good grades and a social life, you can only have two. The number of opportunities in this place is vast and ever increasing May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in
does not take advantage of them. So fill your day in with as much as you can and remember, sleep is for the old (or for extraordinarily boring lectures). NLU Delhi has taught me the worth of simplicity. I’m not sure what it is with law schools, but at some point, usually in second year, almost everyone starts feeling disillusioned, disoriented and out of place. The feeling overwhelms you, and it is difficult, almost impossible, to cope with everything that seems to be happening. But there is hope; the clouds immediately clear if things are compartmentalized and priorities realized. Don’t be ashamed of seeking help if you realize that you need it, whether it is in the form of a friend, significant other or professional. Given the challenges of law school that are still ahead, it’s good to sort one’s shit out in the second year itself. Speaking of sorting one’s shit out, NLU Delhi has also taught me not to give a f***. When we come to law school in first year, most of us care. We care
about how we look, or how we do on tests, or what other people think of us. By the time fifth year rolls around, all of that has mostly vanished. People will always try to label and compartmentalize other people, fit them into neat little boxes in their heads; but this place has a knack for making each one of us realize the value of objectivity and detachment, and the insignificance of trivialities. NLU Delhi has taught me how to be superficial. Five years is a long time to live with people, and it is best lived without animosities or long-standing grudges. So it’s important that you smile even when you abhor the person talking to you. NLU Delhi has also taught me how to adapt. When I joined NLU Delhi, I was one person to everyone. Now, I have realized the importance of being different people to different people. People like nothing more than being told what they want to hear. NLU Delhi has taught me that most people in law school are, to employ a friend’s beautiful turn of phrase, ‘sharks and wankers’. I used to be tremendously disturbed by this, but now it’s just amusing to see the kinds of fragilities most people build their egos on, like
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NLUD Talk better CGPAs. It is even more amusing to see the kinds of schemes people come up with to bring others down. Call me a cynic, but in law school, you’d be best off trusting almost no one. On a related note, NLU Delhi has also taught me the significance of friendship. It is rare to find people who are not out to get you. Perhaps something will happen during your time here to make you realize who your true friends are. If it doesn’t, I can only suggest that you not live under the illusion that everybody who is nice to you is your friend. But when you find those 2-3 people who are, hold on to them as tightly as you can, because everyone needs friends, and because those people will do anything for you. NLU Delhi has also taught me the worth of compassion. For those who demand exacting standards of others, it is especially important to appreciate those others. If you are a terribly difficult person to work with (like me), it’s best to sometimes take a moment to be thankful for those around you who put up with you. I am truly grateful (and frankly, quite surprised) that over the
past five years, so many have managed to put up with me. NLU Delhi has taught me the importance of knowing myself. NLU Delhi has, in fact, helped me find myself. Most of us have major insecurities, but nothing good can arise of self-loathing. You will only be able to truly function to your best when you know your own strengths and weaknesses, and when you come to appreciate yourself and all your flaws. As human beings, we come up with all sorts of rationalizations for our actions. Don’t ever try to fool yourself; it never leads to any good. NLU Delhi has taught me to love my parents. Over the past six months, I have had two major disagreements with them, one relating to my sexual identity and one about my career choices and what I want to do in life. Relationships with Indian parents are complex, especially because studying law teaches one to think rationally, which leads to the rejection of a lot of norms one’s parents might hold dear. Sometimes they may not realize that age brings with it autonomy, the agency to make one’s own decisions. Simple things like the difference
between disagreeing with their opinion and disrespecting it, are lost on them. Trust me, I know how frustrating it can be when your parents deny something as basic and integral to you as, for instance, your sexual identity. But it is unrealistic to expect them to change, because the social conditioning they have been brought up with is too ingrained by now. It is next to impossible to have a rational conversation with one’s parents without emotion getting in the way. But it is always useful to remember that these are the people who birthed you, raised you and always protected you from harm’s way. I really believe that parents are the only people who truly want the best for their children. Perhaps they may disagree on what the best is, or how to achieve it, but at least they’re trying. NLU Delhi has taught me that we are all a work in
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NLUD Talk
“… IF I HAD TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN, I WOULD, ESPECIALLY THIRD YEAR.”
progress; that we are all constantly learning and realizing, whether it is our political affiliations or our emotional quotient. So when someone calls themself a feminist and then stereotypes based on gender in the very next breath, it is perhaps best to work with them so that they realize how problematic that is, instead of ridiculing and/or lashing out. Even the best of us, those who are convinced that they are not sexist for example, subconsciously give in to sexist tropes sometimes. Social conditioning is a worthy adversary; one can’t defeat it on one’s own. So let’s work together. On a related note, NLU Delhi has also taught me the value of engagement. Constructive ways of discussion simply must be found; else there can be no progress. Scoffing or jeering only serves to alienate; we must accept the challenge of engaging so that discourse can progress, if only little by little. NLU Delhi has also made me admire what others do. I have immense respect for these people, who stand up for what they believe in, and make others think, whether it be #padsagainstsexism or the efforts at rebuilding the life of an acquitted prisoner who has had State execution looming over him for eight long years. These people are equally comfortable in an air-conditioned classroom as they are in a village,
May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in
interacting with the family of a person accused of crime. I am truly honored to know them – my classmates and juniors – everyday conversations with who are what I will always try and remember. NLU Delhi has taught me the value of independent thought. You see it is a little difficult to hear oneself thinking when chaps like Arnab Goswami seem to be breathing down your very neck from the television screen. Mainstream media pushes pre-decided opinions onto people looking for fiveminute analyses. In that context, it is good to remember that the function of thinking is too important to be assigned to someone else. The value of dissent and protest cannot be overstated; as we have all heard by now: the dissents of today are the judgments of tomorrow. NLU Delhi has taught me that the study of law is a beautiful thing. Born and brought up on a fodder of math and science, I was always told how amazing it is that a mathematics question can only have one right answer. Perhaps that is why I see beauty in multiple answers, multiple truths. The very bread and butter of a lawyer or legal academician is to see the same thing from different ways, consider the same argument from as many different angles as possible. 36
NLUD Talk The subjectivity of rational conversation is baffling. It is also a much better reflection of real life, with its bewildering multitude of perspectives. NLU Delhi has also taught me the limits of my own learning. I know now that there is so much more that I do not know. In first year, one of our substitute teachers told us that the point of a good education is to make you realize how ignorant you are. Only when one is humbled does one truly thirst for further knowledge; that is precisely what has happened. NLU Delhi has taught me to look at everything in perspective; events and ideas cannot be isolated from their sociopolitical context. One of my seniors told me that it is possible to understand the whole range of human action if one understands politics and economics. In that sense, law school is much better preparation for the real world than, say, medical school or engineering college. NLU Delhi has taught me that the personal truly is political. In fact, everything is political. There is a power dynamic involved in every little act that you do, from the very moment of your birth to that of your death. Once one understands that, being political is inevitable. It is close to impossible not to harbor opinions and stand up for them if one truly believes in them. In fact, this is the perfect time to be political, before the jaded cynicism of age steps in. Once you realize that, you can only hope that the spirit of resistance stays with you. But as they say, it’s hard to find a Marxist over the age of 25. May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in
And lastly, but perhaps most importantly, NLU Delhi has taught me to question, to question everything, because everyone is pushing their own agenda. Everyone has their own vested interests. From everything you read here to the diktats of authority (especially the diktats of authority), question everything. I have done more unlearning at NLU Delhi than learning. I can only hope that that continues; I cannot wait to see how many more of my preconceived notions will crash and burn during the rest of my life. When I entered college, it was a barren and desolate place. I leave it a pulsating throb of dissenting and opinionated voices. It gives me immense pleasure to see how much discussion we, as a student body, have generated: discussion on everything from Insaaf posters to pads to across-hostel sexual harassment to the limits of humor to the legitimacy of forms of protest. I had almost lost hope in the aftermath of Kairos 2015, when some reactionary folk took to physical and verbal violence to threaten the protestors instead of engaging in any sort of useful discussion. But I genuinely believe (and hope) that now, irrespective of the opinions people harbor, they try harder to create forums for engagement rather than simply dismissing things off-hand.
“I have realized the importance of being different people to different people.”
Here it is that I will leave you, with a slightly modified version of a quote from one of our muchvenerated alumni – if I had to do it all over again, I would, especially third year.
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