English and
Cultural Studies

MSc Social Anthropology (2014-2015), University of Oxford BA PSEnglish (2011-2014), Christ University
One of my favourite memories at Christ was when the English Department got our class to put up a production of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. Not only was it extremely fun to play Blanche DuBois, but it was also illuminating to find new kinds of writing in what I think is one of the most diverse curricula in my college experience.

My time at Christ studying English instilled in me a deep knowledge and love of a wide range of literatures, and a flair for theatre (and theatrics) that has followed me since.

I was committed to Jabberwocky-the annual Literary carnival, hosted by the English Department as part of my Bachelors program between 2011 – 2014. The facilitators always helped us to find the questions within our personal spaces, and expand them to the Universe out there. I was so inspired after reading ‘Leaves of Grass’ by Walt Whitman, that I decided to take my bicycle on a solo trip from Bangalore to Jaipur, and then Jaipur to Vietnam. I cycled through 7 countries in a span of 8 months, and relived all that I had learned in my classes on this journey. Studying English Literature at Christ University helped me to get in touch with my own voice, and be able to express it to the world.

The teachers inducted us into the arcane world of English literature in unique ways. The teachers also had a unique way of reeling in the motley crew of seemingly recalcitrant high school graduates disguised as freshmen. Needless to say, it worked. To be honest I had no great expectations of literature altering my life in any significant way. I knew I liked the written word, but I hadn’t experienced its’ full impact until I was taught how to navigate my way to the right ones. That’s where the English Department came in. To teach me, through an understanding of rhyme scheme, that there was a science behind creating and understanding prose. An understanding I try and utilise in my professional life till day. I was also taught that the right text needed the right tools, like literary theory, for dissection etc. To quote Anias Nin, “we write so we can taste life twice”. And as a corollary, I’d say we read so we can lead many lives.