I am tracing a point of convergence. Convergence sticks to my conscience as a motto of life. But here I should rather call it the point of return if ‘convergence’ includes multiple realities. I will probably deal with the intrinsic multiplicity in a while, but the point of return draws my attention right now. This again urges me to consider its binary, the points of departure. As I reflect on these binaries, I realize a degree of curiosity surging in me for the first time. In fact, were those the points of departure or return? And KU features here — again.
When the Department of English under the School of Science was dissolved into the Department of Languages and Mass Communication in June-July 2005, it signaled/signified both departure and return. That we were sent to the School of Arts was a kind of return to the actual disciplinary home where we could explore more possibilities of program expansion in the humanities and arts. But that we had to leave the core – the Department of English – was a departure in the actual sense, to which none of us English folks of the old times could return in our lifetime. There is still no ‘English department’ – neither in Arts nor in Education – though we bear the positions as faculty members in English, English Studies or English Language Education. The tag ‘language’ or ‘languages’ carries the only consolation, no matter whether it directly signifies English or many other things.
My relocation to the School of Engineering in 2013, again, signified both. It was the return in two respects. First, I returned to communication skills and English, leaving behind media, journalism, and related jargon. And it was a return to Dhulikhel leaving the School of Arts at Hattiban. It was equally a departure from the disciplinary home of the Arts to a narrow entity like communication. And it was a departure from being a meanly undermined entity amid the so-called media experts to being the founder of an interdisciplinary group, the Humanities and Management Unit (HMU)
When HMU evolved into the Department of Management Informatics and Communication (MIC), it signalled a return of the domain of management from SoE to the School of Management and of the Bachelor of Business Information Systems (BBIS) program to its administrative home. I, the leader, felt a sense of natural homecoming, thinking the program I tutored for five years had found its genetic guardian. But it was a radical departure as well, resulting in a gradual disconnect from the School of Science and the School of Engineering, the alienation that would never allow MICians to reclaim their natural affinity as in the years till 2019. Symbolically, it was the sacrifice of ownership that grew into a give-and-take arrangement. I did not regret this dichotomous shift but certainly felt the urgency of another logical move. Hence the pledge: My affiliation with KUSOM would end with the end of my tenure as the Head of MIC.
My tenure at SoE ended in February 2019, and at KUSOM in April 2022. I moved to School of Education (SOED) with full preparedness to change School but not to leave Dhulikhel. But the move to KUSOED was both a departure and a return. It was a departure from KUSOM as pledged. But more strikingly, it was from the comfort zone, the state of extreme familiarity and usual activities. It was a departure that landed the family in Bhaktapur after two stays, first at Lokanthali and then at Imadol. Interestingly, with relocation to SOED, I had also returned to Hattiban, the place I had so unwillingly abandoned in 2013. I had returned to the proximity of the School of Arts if not to affiliate with them, but to signal that I could establish my worth wherever I went. I sound a bit boastful at this point, right? But, it was a return to English and then to writing, which I so much idealized. It was a bona fide return to a coveted field of scholarship.
Probably, I can also call it a return to the administrative track that had ended with headship of MIC, because with the transfer to SoEd, I took up leadership of the Department of Language Education (DoLE). The chain has not broken to this date.
What to the central administration as the Director of Academic Excellence? This seemingly is the return to Block 2 and the main campus. It is the return to the ambience I did not necessarily miss when I quit it in April 2022. It has felt like coming to the same space with a more meaningful role. It is the return to the cohort of thinking for the University at large, which I was into during my tenures at the Student Welfare Directorate and the Coordination and Communication Division.
Finally, it is the return to a hazy role of mentorship for more than half a dozen staff and faculty members. I cannot yet say how much departure it is. It is at least a departure from the hustle-bustle of the metropolitan cities, though I will be frequenting the newly old venue on purpose. I have probably gotten rid of conflicting priorities with no apparent signatory roles.
I return to convergence now. What factors converge, and where? What is the point of convergence? Is the point abstract or concrete? Coincidentally, after my induction as the director, Dhulikhel has turned out to be a point of convergence. Anurag has already started his job. Kanchho is preparing to graduate from KUHS and transition to KU. Their mother is more than eager to finalize the settlement on the piece of land bought in 2008.
Overall, it is the convergence of our individual attachments to Dhulikhel, the place of the boys because they were born and raised there. Of Apsara and me because we built our careers and dreams on the soil of Dhulikhel.