Walking with an Anthropologist

 While my days at present seem to be quite idle and mundane, glimpses of my past days in Delhi come back in vision--an overwhelming sense of movement striking back with retrospective vigour. I would love to look back at those cozy December mornings, when unexpected acquaintances with complete strangers would illumine my day. Little would I then know how significant those acquaintances would prove to be, later in my life.

That was a cozy December morning, as I said--chilly, and windy, as Delhi winters generally are in their peak. I had set out for a solo exploration of the Safdarjung's Tomb (actually also planned to visit Shalimar Bagh that day, but that didn't quite materialize). I was walking towards the university gate leading towards the Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station. But my path seemed to be blocked, by personnel of the Delhi Police, who stood there guarding the road. I remembered, a couple of days back teachers of the DUTA were in a protest against the University's policy towards Ad-hoc professors, and I could still see their banners and posters around, and some representatives trying to get comfort from the morning sun, distantly placed here and there. I pleaded the police personnel to let me go through the gate, as that was the only way I could make it easily to the metro station, rather than following a rather convoluted path. But I met with a "No!" everytime, from the duty-bound service-personnel.

I was a bit dejected and upset, and had taken the turn towards the opposite way, when a man, in his late fifties, crossed my path. He seemed to be having a good rapport with the policemen there, and exchanged some casual niceties. Eventually, he caught me by the logo of my college printed my sweatshirt, and sounded even happier when he came to know I am a final year student of History! He asked me where I was intending to go, and very willingly asked me to offer him company as he was returning home from his usual regime of a morning walk! Needless to say, I accepted that offer!

I had heard the policemen referring to the man as "Sirji". Now I got to know that he was a professor of Anthropology at the Delhi University Anthropology Department. I shrunk within, in my own ignorance, as I had never really bothered to look into the Anthropology Department building, that just lay opposite to my college, and was just a stone's-throw away! I was really living under a rock, as it became apparent that he had been visiting my college too often!

Naturally, I was very cautious in my entire journey. We were walking briskly and the professor asked me about my future plans. I was very cautious not to talk anything remotely related to Anthropology, because hardly did I know anything then, more than Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens! I discussed my interest in Archaeology, and the professor seemed very elated to hear that! He started referring to a few other professors and scholars to contact and read about, and I started scribbling them on a piece of paper, like an obedient student would pretend to do. The road to the metro station had never seemed so enlightening and so different to me, as everyone else around me passed into oblivion and I seemed to be interacting with a professor, walking as if down my college corridor. 

Soon it was time to part ways! The professor told me the importance of understanding lithics, and the reason why Anthropology is important to students of History and Archaeology. He told me how he had been invited by Dr. Malay Neerav, for a lecture on hominin evolution, for First Year students in our college. He was very happy to have interacted with the students and seemed quite hopeful about future prospects in that field, just like so many other anthropologists are.

 

I have only come to think about the professor very recently, as I have recently started to delve into hominin evolution quite deeply. I would love to meet him one day, but I know not his name, nor do I have any other remnant from that time, save those conversations ( students of Dr. Neerav might help me, if possible!) I would love to talk to about evolutionary morphology and the OOA theories. I can never forget the bright face (you don't get to look at your professor's face for long), his optimism, his vitality, and obviously his spirit to have helped me out of nowhere. Probably he foresaw my later inclination towards hominin evolution, something that I surely despised at that time when I met him. That morning in December, a moment rich in retrospective quality.