Jose C. Palathingal

Whispers in the Tower Jose C. Palathingal

The fictional story Whispers in the Tower begins during the early 1990s in an unspecified region of west central India. Veerendra, an ambitious and unscrupulous registrar, is the prime architect of the retrogressive policies that ultimately ruin the young Akbarabad University. And, he had the unlimited support of the demagogic, oratorical and unprincipled Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Anand Vivek. Akbarabad University started well under a motivated vice-chancellor, but soon after him, under a politicized administration, became a playground for power wrangling, financial corruption, indifference to quality and hostility to academic growth. The result was a third-rate institution, where earnest, scholarly work was deprecated, and the best among the faculties looked for the exit door. This enlightening story shows how the higher-education environment can be polluted by political interference. Education in India, particularly higher education, has become a tool of political activism that weans a series of mostly corrupt politicians, who in turn later infiltrate and help decay the very system that provided them a cradle. The secrets of the "ivory tower" in Whispers in the Tower are now out! Jose C. Palathingal lives in Kochi, India, and New York. His next book, currently being written, is about the corruptive forces in religion, and especially amidst the religious hierarchy. http://sbpra.com/JoseCPalathingal