Paritosh noticed Rupali in the class, but avoided showing any signs of recognition. Without the party makeup and tipsy countenance, she looked much younger and innocent. But looks could deceive!
"All right," he spoke over the din created by students still streaming in for the first class of the morning, "I am Paritosh Khanna, a visiting professor here, and since most of you do not know me, I will start with a quick introduction..."
Rupali's mouth twitched a little when she heard him tell that his specializations included child psychology as well as criminal psychology. Could there be a more disconcerting combination? She started doodling on her notebook and for a while lost track of his speech. When she came to, he had moved on to something else, and it wasn't an introduction to the course as she had expected.
"You are in your final years; so it is a fair question to ask. Do you all feel prepared for the real world out there?"
Few people mumbled a response.
"I need you all to speak clearly," he urged.
"No Sir," a chorus that would have put kindergarten class to shame went up.
"Why not?"
No reply came.
"Somebody?"
Before she could will it to stop, Rupali's hand shot up.
"Yes, Ms. Banerjee?" he forgot to pretend non-acquaintance with her, realized his slip immediately, but maintained a plain face.
The other students in the class stared at them. He knew her by name?
"It's because most of our education is too theoretical. Most of us will have jobs that has nothing to do with all the psychological theories we have studied, and even if we did, we'd hardly know how to apply any of this knowledge."
"Great!" she sounded more mature to him in the class than he would have expected from their party encounter, "Do you all agree?"
Murmurs and nods went up all around.
"Alright. So, while I can't solve all the problems of education system, in this class I can give you an opportunity to do something more practical. You have a choice. You can choose to be graded through exams as usual. Or you can work with me on a project, which I think would give you practical experience of how psychology can be applied to understand people better, and would also add something valuable to academic literature. I must warn you, it is going to be a demanding project; you can't google up and copy-paste your reports here. But real life is quite demanding too. So, those of you, who think that education should be practical, and are willing to put in the effort it takes to do practical stuff, should let me know within a week."
He looked smug, Rupali thought. He had not given a choice to the class, but thrown a challenge at them. It infuriated her. What did he think of himself?