had to stay in the hostel. This gave him an opportunity to get to know his students better. Almost all students in the College came from farming families around Kolhapur. From their village level panchayat schools they had suddenly entered this totally different world. Most of them had huge inferiority complex and stuck to their own small groups. Listening to their stories Joshi realized their ordeal. Later on he wrote, ‘There was a world of a difference between my fellow students in Sydenham and my students here. A student in Sydenham, even when facing financial difficulties, was wellrounded from birth and upbringing. There was no basic flaw in his organs. With healthy diet and exercise he could become strong. But these students in Kolhapur sitting in front of me and listening devotedly were basically handicapped. Their brains were under-developed. While seeing their professor take a flight, they did not have enough strength to even attempt to take a similar flight by spreading their wings. Poverty and illiteracy of generations had sapped their strength in all aspects. In a way they had not come here for the purpose of educating themselves. For them college was an escape route, which would somehow free them from the drudgery of farming in their villages. For them college, education, professors were not the means of progress but the inevitable obstacles they somehow had to cross. And with their scared eyes they were staring at these obstacles wondering how to overcome them.’ Many years later Joshi wrote an article Letter to a college student in which he gave some advice to an imaginary young student coming from a village to a city and staying in a hostel. That article appeals to the student that there would be temptations galore in the city life but he should not forget his parents struggling on their field who after great sacrifice had made it possible for him to go to a city. The letter tells him that despite their years of toil they were unable to get enough to eat and urges the student to find out who are the devils responsible Entering the Professional World
Q
37
