The body of a linguist, Prof. Manjali, gets consumed by a word called 'dead'
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On 14 May, my father, my teacher at home, had passed away, and exactly a month after that is today on 14 June, Prof. Franson Davis Manjali Frans Manjali , my teacher at University, passed away.
I don't bother if any literature exists suggesting the period of completion of grieving, as I had not overcome the grief of my father's death, that the news of death of Prof. Manjali hit me in the evening.
I am trying to gather some courage to say explicitly that Franson, for many, and Prof. Manjali, for some is no more! His body is now no more with us in this world. His ideas are. His body has been consumed by a word called 'dead'. As we had the fortune to witness the presence of his bodily expression, now we have only his expression left in memory confined within words either through expression on our own or heard following somebody speaks. Now, no silence can connect us, only words by us about him!
Prof. Franson Davis Manjali, the linguist, philosopher, litterateur, translator and the best of all a legendary teacher cum mentor, breathed his last today on 14th June, 2023. He taught hundreds of students and inspired thousands minds to pursue the passion of learning. He instilled the passion of learning among his students and remained critical to those who could not grow into dispassionate thinkers.
Prof. Franson remained known for his witty and satirical remarks in his conversation. The best of all, he hardly thought whether his satires would be exactly understood as intended.
Prof. Manjali, the name we, our batch of M.A. linguistics, used to refer remained always the name of a personality mixed in modernity and profound knowledge. Hardly any exception is to be found in which Prof. Manjali did not happen to be the reason of creating a sense of pride and a reason of joy among his students irrespective of batches divided across a long span of his years of working as Professor whether in Centre for Linguistics and English or later on partitioned into Centre of English Studies and Centre for Linguistics.
Prof. Manjali injected criticality and instilled the passion of reading and learning. He taught his students to internalise the strength language holds, and how language is transformed and becomes redundant.
His lectures remained very complex to most of all, to many labyrinthine and but to few it remained life-changing. His lectures changed the worldview. It changed the way we understood language as an object of sub-discipline.
Language for him remained so colossal as an idea that the moment of defining Language as an object under study in the discipline of Linguistics took a flight to ....... Furrrrrrrrrrrr!
Franson, as called by his colleagues and Manjali, referred by his students largely, received expanse of respect and love.
Franson, as recalled by almost everyone, used to be the first teacher students encountered after admission across batches. Undoubtedly, it seems that his charming personality, a mix of stylish pony-tail, accented English in strong base voice and beautiful eyes gazing straight uninterrupted into students eyes during lecture made almost all students crazy. His sharp wit and situational satire left his students speechless. It can also be understood that his appearance was taken to be enough evoke profound interest in the course. He was probably the captain of the course of linguistics.
Once, I arrived five-ten minutes late in his morning class of 9 to 11. He remarked, "ya ya you are late, ummm". I said, "sorry sir, I got late because I woke up late in the morning today." He sharply retorted, "I see, you came all the way from your home to here covering 1000 kms. to sleep. Ummmm". His sharp gaze fell on us, all latecomers. We felt caught.
He didn't bother about variety of reasons given as excuses to defend the lackadaisical approach of learning by students.
I can't say how he looked at the advent of a thing called 'time', but he always chased time and was never late for his morning classes no matter winter, summer or rainy season divided between two semesters in a year.
Franson's personality helped weave several stories by his students, evoked fun, filled us with love and pushed us towards learning.
Though there were so much to listen him speaking about, only mourning remains.
Dear Professor Manjali, we always loved you immensely and so will be forever!
You will forever remain an eternal teacher for all of us.
Rest in Peace, Pride and Philosophy!