Saturday, June 28, 2008

Publications

S. Jagadisan was an English professor at Madras Presidency College. When he called me up to locate a book he was trying to find several years ago, I was more than happy to oblige. After all, he was my grandfather. A King's Story was the first of many books he asked me to locate, and on trips to India, Professor Jagadisan would turn either my sister or me into his dutiful assistants, who would type up articles he had written.

During my cousin's wedding a few years ago, I had a chance to talk to my grandfather about being an academic in India. In what ways did his experiences compare to mine? Was there a research component to his work?

While there were attempts to start a few peer-reviewed journals, my grandfather answered, for the most part, the emphasis was on teaching.

The answer failed to include Professor Jagadisan's publications in other types of media. Some of these came in the form of books and many more could be found in the form of articles for The Hindu, India's national newspaper.

On a whim and with the help of Google, I set out this morning to find as many of these articles as I could. The collection I've amassed runs the gamut from literature to religion. The articles about English literature range from Shakespeare to the Berenstain Bears. There is an article about Pudukottai, his home town, and another about James Russell Macphail, most likely his former professor. One muses about religion and another discusses religious tolerance.

An anything but comprehensive list is included below: