ABSTRACT
A profession and vocation in Indian higher education (HE) has become a risky decision in neo-liberal times particularly due to the systemic malaise and administrative rot in neo-liberal times. The power and politics of knowledge in the lives of nations were evident since colonial days but its mimetic effects can be seen even today in the Global South in general and the Indian education system in particular. All these factors and many more had a bearing on the author’s self-anointment as an ‘independent researcher’ and were related to his inability to imbibe the ‘tricks of the trade’. This chapter is an auto-ethnographic account of the author’s lived experiences and his involvement with the world of knowledge specifically on matters related to professional integrity, values, ethics, employability and dignity. It is an open diary of the issues plaguing Indian academia and the angst of a reclusive rebel and an ‘outsider or brut academic’ like him who wanted to explore the complex whole of societies and cultures along with the intricacies of systems, processes and phenomena. However, in doing so, he forgot the distinction between ‘hard work’ and ‘smart work’ due to the failings in his own approach to academic practice.
