EMOTIONAL ATYACHAAR
For four years now, a man has written letters every day to L D Engineering College (that’s 3,000 letters at last count) pleading that his son, stuck in last year of engineering for 10 years, be granted his degree
YOGESH AVASTHI
For the past four years, a pushy father from Rajkot has been writing at least two postcards every single day to L D Engineering College principal, urging him to help his son clear his final-year engineering exam.
The hassled college authorities, forced to retain the postcards for reference in case of a legal development, have around 3,000 handwritten letters from Anil Makwana. The postcards, written in Gujarati, are scribbled so extensively that it is near impossible to read them.
Makwana’s son Manish himself is now 35-year-old, and had first enrolled in the college to study electrical engineering way back in 1992.
Till 2004, Manish flunked exams 22 times. For the past six years, he has even stopped appearing for exams, but that has not deterred his father from communicating with the college authorities daily.
Makwana insists his son is a “brilliant student” and a victim of “injustice.” He further said it was college’s responsibility to ensure he passes the exam.
The college principal, M N Patel, said Manish would merely scribble something on the answersheets. The college authorities have not only retained all answersheets written by Manish, they have also prepared a dossier on him.
Makwana told Ahmedabad Mirror that he never pressurised Manish for studies. He claimed Manish was still very interested in pursuing his education, but L D Engineering College authorities were “not cooperating.”
He said, “My son is extremely brilliant, and very dedicated to studies. But he is frustrated. The college authorities are not bothered to find out why he is failing his exams. Isn’t that the very foundation of education, trying to find out why students fail? All I am asking is, give my son a special test to prove his worth.”
Manish too insisted the college authorities were against him. He told Ahmedabad Mirror, “I write correct answers, yet the college claims I scribble irrelevant stuff. That claim is false. I will not give up till I clear the exam.”
Principal Patel said the college gave Manish a special test as well. He said, “Acknowledging the many letters Makwana wrote to us, we gave his son a special test. The result was still the same. What more can we do for this person? We are fed up to be honest.”
Makwana, however, is in no mood to give Patel and his colleagues at the college any respite from his postcard barrage. He vowed, “I will continue writing to the college till my son gets justice.”
The letter basket will keep getting bigger.
YOGESH AVASTHI
For the past four years, a pushy father from Rajkot has been writing at least two postcards every single day to L D Engineering College principal, urging him to help his son clear his final-year engineering exam.
The hassled college authorities, forced to retain the postcards for reference in case of a legal development, have around 3,000 handwritten letters from Anil Makwana. The postcards, written in Gujarati, are scribbled so extensively that it is near impossible to read them.
Makwana’s son Manish himself is now 35-year-old, and had first enrolled in the college to study electrical engineering way back in 1992.
Till 2004, Manish flunked exams 22 times. For the past six years, he has even stopped appearing for exams, but that has not deterred his father from communicating with the college authorities daily.
Makwana insists his son is a “brilliant student” and a victim of “injustice.” He further said it was college’s responsibility to ensure he passes the exam.
The college principal, M N Patel, said Manish would merely scribble something on the answersheets. The college authorities have not only retained all answersheets written by Manish, they have also prepared a dossier on him.
Makwana told Ahmedabad Mirror that he never pressurised Manish for studies. He claimed Manish was still very interested in pursuing his education, but L D Engineering College authorities were “not cooperating.”
He said, “My son is extremely brilliant, and very dedicated to studies. But he is frustrated. The college authorities are not bothered to find out why he is failing his exams. Isn’t that the very foundation of education, trying to find out why students fail? All I am asking is, give my son a special test to prove his worth.”
Manish too insisted the college authorities were against him. He told Ahmedabad Mirror, “I write correct answers, yet the college claims I scribble irrelevant stuff. That claim is false. I will not give up till I clear the exam.”
Principal Patel said the college gave Manish a special test as well. He said, “Acknowledging the many letters Makwana wrote to us, we gave his son a special test. The result was still the same. What more can we do for this person? We are fed up to be honest.”
Makwana, however, is in no mood to give Patel and his colleagues at the college any respite from his postcard barrage. He vowed, “I will continue writing to the college till my son gets justice.”
The letter basket will keep getting bigger.
