Prof.Franson Manjali is among the few Professors at JNU who treats everyone equally in a classroom. I was not new to the linguistics field when I joined my Master's back in 2013. However, his courses were something totally new to me. It was because of his courses, I got my first ever experience to do presentation, term paper, and open-book exam. It was for his assignments and exams that I used to sit in the library through midnight, but then I enjoyed his readings and JNU life by having tea at 3.00 am in Mamu dhaba. His classes sometimes go till 7.00 pm but later we (classmates) enjoyed tea and pakoras at Sabarmati dhaba. He gives time to each student, and gives them feedback on their term papers and assignments. Though his courses (such as semiotics, post-structural approaches to language and culture), were di cult for me, I never opted out of his courses because I LOVE his teaching❤
We never spoke in Malayalam, but I still remember that during the Kerala Rood relief camp in JNU, he came to contribute and asked me if everyone was safe back home. I was surprised and realised one does not need to have long conversation to know each other. It was a massive intellectual loss for our centre students when he retired in 2020. But NOW, it is an irreparable loss to the whole academics and the JNU fraternity.
I hope you will find peace wherever you are, dear Prof. Manjali!