Mahesh Dangar
Shiny, bright, emerging ideas: thoughts which run the world and which make people think differently. These are the thoughts Mr. Mahesh Dangar is always on the lookout for. A Senior Research Fellow at Gujarat University, Mr. Dangar’s interactions with NPTEL began during the course of his Master’s Degree. Encouraged by educators he remembers fondly – Dr. Milind Solanki and Professor Dushyant Nimavat – he dabbled in an introductory course, ‘Literary Theory and Literary Criticism’ by Professor Aysha Viswamohan of IIT Madras, which marked the beginning of his enriching experiences with the platform.
Mr. Dangar continues to be driven by newer ideas and fields which are sprouting up in his discipline. As a researcher of literature interested in postcolonial studies, literature of climate crisis, and contemporary literary theory, he believes it is his task to make himself familiar with all that is going on around the world.
NPTEL has provided unwavering assistance to him in accomplishing this: he always comes to the platform looking for promising saplings of groundbreaking ideas.
Mr. Dangar is also greatly appreciative of the innovative ways in which NPTEL approaches assessment. He notes that the newly introduced audio questions help make the evaluation process more transparent. The live interactions and feedback process are also hailed as incredibly helpful for the average student, who comes to NPTEL looking for deeper engagement with learning than their college curriculum can afford. Mr. Dangar, interacting with students through and beyond lectures, admits to the limits of such syllabi: designed to provide a broad overview to students from varied backgrounds, they may leave limited room for depth and critical engagement. This, he believes, is where NPTEL can make a difference.
A schedule of Ph.D. research work during the week and NPTEL lectures on weekends fuels his pursuit of new and influential thoughts. He believes one has to start somewhere, and once that first step is taken, it is an immensely fruitful journey from there. Having completed seven courses himself and earned the tag of Discipline Star, he claims that such certificates and accolades are quite motivational, keeping newer learners on track. However, he admits to having engaged with multiple courses without having opted for certification, just so he can keep on absorbing unfamiliar ideas and refining familiar ones. In his impulse towards novelty, he hopes that the platform would introduce courses about topics such as phytohumanities and food literature, among others, in order to keep up with the ever-growing expanse of the discipline, and his erudite urge to keep up with it. He recalls a memorable moment where he felt that such recognition for his tireless efforts was complete: meeting his favourite instructor from NPTEL, Professor Pramod K. Nayar of the University of Hyderabad. Having completed two of his courses, ‘Posthumanism: An Introduction’ and ‘The Literature of Climate Crisis’, he was deeply moved on meeting the same professor at a workshop in Baroda.
It is connecting with such figures beyond the screen, and being able to belong to such a network of eminent thinkers, starting out his journey from the remoteness of Kutch, that makes NPTEL a quintessential learning platform for him.
It keeps him meticulous and organised, a factor which has greatly helped him along in his research journey, which he believes every student today should cultivate.
Newer things to think about, and newer ways of thinking, tend to keep one sharp. Mr. Dangar illustrates the significance of these alternate ways of thinking, encouraging learners to keep on expanding their horizons, one NPTEL course at a time.
~written by Eshani Bhattacharjee
