Open letter to Madan Singh

Hello super-professor,

You must be a happy man now... You successfully managed to kick me out.

We did our MSc and PhD together as classmates.

Back in 2011, it was getting tough to fill some existing positions, because no one seemed to be willing to join NUL. Many had refused after initial acceptance. Most people in the Department won't even know (or remember) that in a Staff Meeting with NUL Management in SLT, the then Bursar had clearly said that NUL will be a 'closed shop' in the next few months! Amidst such uncertainties, it was agreed in a Departmental Meeting that members should contact former colleagues and friends and invite them to join the Department. It was then, when I had contacted you with a lot of difficulty because your contact details wasn't with me! VK Singh had helped.

Many people in the Department won't know or remember that you had applied for a position in 2007, but your application was rejected. Because you didn't have enough publications and experience of University level teaching! I had asked you if you were still interested and you had said you were, even though the expected salary was ‘not enough’.

You applied and this time there was no competition. Things were ok but soon I started to realize what mistake I had committed. I had thought of cooperation and growing together but instead you opted for competition, and not a healthy one. By hook or by crook, your only interest was money. You often failed to hide your feelings of jealousy regarding my smooth academic movements, and your thoughts about my apparently sound finances. I don't want to wash dirty linen in the open but I did lose a good friend because of your newly acquired sick attitude. It was a personal loss!

Regardless of all this, acting professionally, I fought for your promotion to Associate Professorship, which you attained with some positive support from an external member at FoST sub ASAC.

Later in the year 2017, as a Head, I supported your renewal for four years when an Associate Professor was supposed to get only three (a questionable rule change brought in during Prof Sivert's time). The then Dean-FoST, late Prof Ramollo successfully defended your case at main ASAC ( and that's why your next renewal was considered in 2021, instead of 2020).

Now, uncertain of your further renewals, you started adopting unfair tactics of bootlicking, and including names of colleagues in your papers arbitrarily, just to earn their favours, which you eventually did.

Because of the reasons mentioned above, we stopped seeing each other. You always tried to avoid me because of your own guilt (your face tells all that goes on in your heart), and I wasn't interested in someone whose actions, even if unintentional, had already started damaging my good image.

Just like the other members of the Department, you too, didn't feel it necessary to pay me a courtesy visit to ask about my well-being when I returned after surviving my complicated brain surgery. Expecting anything beyond that was, and it still is, foolish obviously.

I know it is all about surviving the war that is life, but I wish you realize what you have done, and I wish you remember why your first three months at NUL were better than the rest.

I have nothing more to say… Enjoy your life!

:-)

H N

Prof

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