Principal Pics

Any photographer worth her pic will direct a Principal while the Principal is shot in one's office! She will direct the Principal to hold a pen, keep a laptop open in front and may demand certain files on the table, preferably open. It is clear that the photographs of the principals, the scores of formal pics of bureaucrats in offices the photographer has been familiar with, has dictated this need. In our country often the Chair of the officer has to be wrapped in a white turkey towel too which has national tricolour bordering it. The pen perhaps symbolising the signature, the power the person holds, the file probably linking the man with his work and the laptop, a sign of the times. All these pieces of regalia add to the sobriety of the position of the Principal, it is believed.

To the best of my knowledge , there are no Higher Education advisories which direct a uniform look for the heads of HEIs. Not so far. In my disobedient, unprincipal-like thoughts, I have been asking myself why there is no discord among the Principals on this aspect. How many of these Heads have tried to have themselves shot against some trees in the campus? In the backdrop of the massive gates? Sitting on the steps on the expansive, attractive flight of steps common in many campuses? Why not a pic on the institutional web with the herbal garden set up for NAAC as the backdrop? How about a pic of the Principal as he strolls the corridors while the college is quieter in the evenings or when the college is not so quiet in the mornings? For some of us who are so proud, why not a Vivekananda like hands crossed on chest pic, all wow about the campus she leads, just to break out of the box?! 

We don't seem to have crossed over to such a space where the formal is not always rigid when it comes to the photographic representation of ourselves as institutional heads. Is the change the education institutions leads apparently yet to leak in through the stiff doors of Principals' rooms, to be reflected in postures and appearances?! Notwithstanding the counter --claim on the need to be formal where formal is the norm, there is always the still counter-claim of the multiple formal poses and looks possible! Or, aren't there? 

If one zooms out from the mug of the principal, then the room in which she sits comes to view. This is apparent in certain pics of the principal while many of those pics on the institutional websites seem to show the room off! The rooms of the HEI heads are generally well furnished, well presented, groomed in the ethics of the trade. The room in which the head of the institution is seated, shot, must be neat, clean and presentable and none would disagree on that count. It is a matter of satisfaction that a good share of the rooms of the Principals pass this test hands down. The quality of the room should set the benchmark for the campus she leads. Disagreement, as far as I am concerned, springs from two counts.

One is related to the absolute mismatch between the look and comfort of the room of the Head of the institutions and the rest of the Campus. There sure will be a jump in appearance, comfort and quality when one moves into the room of the Principal from the rest of the campus and that is necessary too. It defies logic when the said jump is a quantum leap. When the room of the Head of the institution is really a world apart, when one feels like he or she is entering an oasis from a desert, there is a problem. When that difference helps amplify the lack of quality, care and comfort of the rest of the campus, the room does a disservice. Lack of quality classrooms, insufficiently furnished faculty rooms, inadequate student support- all aspects of the campus need to be in sync with the scale of comfort at the Head's room. If not absolute sync, it must have kind of sync, at the least. I walked into a popular library in a college last year and was amazed seeing the spectacular interior of the library inside. But it doesn't take long to realise that the amazement is equally caused by the bare-looking outside of the library. The walk-in, the reception, the verandah, the classrooms, washrooms all looked so out of place. One is taken back by the perfection of mismatch! Well, in fact, was it the library that was out of place?! Similar feel is common in certain colleges while we observe the lack of continuum once we step in to or step out of the Principal's room.

The second is the occasional luxury of the room. Isn't there a world of difference between looking good and looking ostentatious? Certain Principals' rooms reek of luxury and pushes them far beyond their academic domain. One wonders if one has walked in to the room of an a academician who leads or into the suite of a showbiz seller. There are cases where all the wood paneling and gold silver plating illustrate lack of taste for me. I am afraid there are cases of interiors of the institution heads' rooms where this can be toned down.

Zooming back in on the pic of the Principals, let us root for change (Isn't education all about change?) and down our pens occasionally. Lap inside the frame or not, open or close, let it be a good, interesting pic. The work of a Principal involves a lot and calls for many hats to be worn. More hats than the pen-laptop-file trinity represents! Unplug, breath out and unstiff! Well, as your young students would put it, cool!

Cheers!

Babu. P. K., Ph D.