A PROFESSOR WHO CHAMPIONED PLAYFUL PLURALITY

Sociologist Jit Uberoi inspired generations with his eccentric ideas. His work critiqued the West. But, like Gandhi, he also tried to rescue its ideas through cognitive playfulness

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JIT Uberoi, professor of sociology at the Delhi School of Economics, died a fortnight ago. This small tribute is for a man who increased the availability of eccentricity for all of us. Jit defined the university as a place that made eccentricity possible. In many ways, he was difficult to describe. I remember when he was head of the department, a senior professor complained that he hadn't responded to his letters. Jitendra Pal Singh Uberoi or JPS said, "I only reply to the interesting ones." Yet, JPS cared. I remember, after a cyclone hit the university, Jit worked for weeks making sure that Sikhri, an office manager who had been swept away, was reasonably compensated.

When moved, Jit could cackle like a housewife over a piece of gossip. He had an enormous range of interests from semiotics and consumption to the city. He would walk around Kamala Nagar providing a discourse on modernity centred on the model Katy Mirza. Sociology, Jit felt, allowed the unexpected in storytelling. As a storyteller, he was unparalleled. His lectures were equally deep.

I remember, one lazy afternoon we were sitting in an empty classroom. There were remnants of the previous lecture on the board, a few dog-eaten triangles. Jit was chewing on it. "This faded triangle," he said, "captures the power of the enlightenment. It signifies the slogan of the French revolution: liberty, equality and fraternity." He quickly added, "The West is stronger on the first two.

The dog-eared part of western theory is fraternity." The West was poor on difference and plurality. The farthest it could go was tolerance. And tolerance was a reluctant coexistence with labour. The other really had no place in the theory of plurality. He added: this is where India could add to theory by providing a culture that celebrated difference.