Yet, even in institutions like JNU, the space was highly constricted and seems to have become more so over time. Theoretically, for example, a student can seek admission to any discipline in JNU irrespective of one’s previous disciplinary background, if one is able to clear the admission test; and there have been cases where such boundaries were indeed crossed. But on the whole the ratio of such cross-discipline admissions would not exceed a fraction of a per cent. The boundaries get tighter once admission has been given. The faculties are mainly uni-disciplinary, as are the courses; and reaching out to courses in other disciplines is tightly controlled. Yet, whenever these controls are relaxed, the results are spectacular. Let me cite two such examples.

Ramya Srinivasan was a young lecturer in English literature in Miranda House when she sought admission to the PhD course in history at JNU with the proposal to work on the evolution of the many legends of Rani Padmini of Chittor over several centuries and in different regions. She could not convince the Centre for Historical Studies that, given her background in English, she would be able to deal with the subject with competence. Luckily, the Centre for English was more relaxed and admitted her, to be jointly supervised by Professor Minakshi Mukherjee (later Professor J.G. V. Prasad) and me. Today, an associate professor of history, she is the author of an outstanding book on the subject, that dexterously combines her expertise in literary criticism and historical contextualisation. Sumit Ganguli was doing his Master’s in medieval history and wanted to opt for a course in human rights. Asked the faculty: what has human rights got to do with medieval history? But somehow he got permission. He pursued the subject further — coming back to Chennai as UNHRC’s representative.

... contd.