I came to know about the existence of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) a few years ago when I had to send a few documents via post. I searched for “India post near me” and Google Maps led me to the one in IGNOU. The staff at the post office were friendly from what I can recall. It was a good experience.

Some time in 2024, I realized I was sleeping really well, and that did not sit very well with me. So, I did what a rational person would do: sign up for a new academic degree in a completely new field. Still, I thought an MA in Political Science sounded really cool. “Worst case, I’ll have something to write about. Best case, I’ll have something to write about, and a fourth degree.”

I filled the forms, made the payments, and before long I had the term-end exams on my plate. Thankfully, the test center was not too far away from home, so I could write answers really fast, and still make it to work on time. And when the exams happened during the weekends, I walked back home—the weather was good for walks. I really love winter!

On the last day of the first-year term-end exams, as I walked past a food cart, I felt an intense sense of, “oh, I miss eating roti-sabji so much.” But I had already booked an auto to come back home. Fortunately, I was able to convince the auto driver to have some roti too. He did not seem to be in a hurry either. It was finger-licking good!

It reminded me of the winters of my childhood. We didn’t really make roti-sabji at home. On a good day, we’d have three meals of rice and call it a day. But on some days, my grandparents would get roti-sabji from the market—rotis wrapped in a newspaper, hot sabji (potatoes and peas) in a transparent plastic bag. For some reason, I think that’s one of the most delicious combinations of food items that I’ve tasted.

The exams were good for the most part. As Yuri Slezkine in his excellent article Boyhood says, “Globalization, among other things, is about people from anywhere reading about people from nowhere.” I like reading non-fiction and that proved useful when answering some of the exam papers. Some answers also included my personal experiences—that’s such a lovely thing because I get to live life, and then recount that in some of the answers, and someone goes, “ooh, that’s a 14/20 experience.”

Overall, it was a good experience. If you are sleeping too well, I’d recommend signing up for another academic degree.

The difficulty level, out of 55, is subjective and based on my impression of the material. 11 represents a straightforward course, while 55 represents a very challenging course.

Courses

First year courses

Second year courses

First year courses

MPS1 - Political Theory. As I said before, I do not have formal training in the field and hence this was probably the most difficult course in the entire curriculum. Obviously, I did not have a lot of say in what each thinker thought because they all came and went a long time ago. However, I genuinely liked what some of them had to say. And I made my feelings known in the exam paper.

As the title of the course suggests, the course talks about various theories and concepts such as Rights, Democracy, Liberalism, Multiculturalism, Feminism, Citizenship etc. It is quite enjoyable because the material deals with what various scholars across time, cultures, and geography thought about each of these concepts.

Difficulty: 4

MPS2 - International Relations: Theory and Problems. Reading the course title reminds me of this meme where the person goes something like, “so, how are the international relations these days? are they good?” The course deals with various approaches to the study of international relations. It takes a macro view of the world: about economic relations between nations, terrorism, various regional groupings, questions on the idea of the nation-state itself, the impact of Science and Technology on international relations, etc.

It also felt very grounded in everyday reality. And I’m very much interested in the everyday reality. Historically, a lot of subjects I studied seemed abstract, not immediately visible, and very distant in some sense. I very much do care about India’s place in the world, about the betterment of my fellow citizens. I have so much to say! Perhaps, that’s why I also got the best marks in this course.

Difficulty: 2

MPS3 - India: Democracy and Development. This was a very easy subject because in summary all it seemed to ask was, “write about the things you deeply care about in cursive.” The course deals with federalism, how the political system in India evolved over time, various institutions, governance, development, poverty alleviation, among other things.

I was pretty disheartened when they published the term-end test score for this paper. But then I remembered, it’s the sort of material I think about when I’m at a coffee shop by myself. So, I requested them to re-evaluate my answer sheet and then the score almost doubled I think.

Difficulty: 1

MPS4 - Comparative Politics: Issues and Trends. The course has a few theories to learn, but other than that it takes a broad view on issues, and makes comparisons across geographies, and time periods. For example, the role of religion in anti-colonial struggles, community identities, how different groups present their views to get a particular set of outcomes, globalization’s impact on society etc.

It was quite nice learning about different countries, cultures, societies, and how something that worked out a particular way in one country worked out differently for others. It was also helpful looking at one issue from various perspectives, and making comparisons.

Difficulty: 4

Second year courses

They let me choose the second year courses. Naturally, I picked the courses on topics that I was very interested in.

MPSE1 - India and the World. As I said previously, I deeply care about India and its place in the world. I found the course material quite simple because of that. It talks about the evolution of Indian foreign policy from the past to the present, India’s relations with other countries, the Nuclear policy etc.

It’s a fascinating subject. As fascinating as I can get fascinated.

Difficulty: 1

MED8 - Globalization and Environment. The course deals with globalization itself, and its impacts along several dimensions. It also talks about various measures taken by countries to address environmental degradation. Then there’s the part about various types of disasters, and how countries are mitigating some of them.

All in all, it’s an easy subject if you care about the topic, and also read up about how countries around the world are tackling the climate crisis.

Difficulty: 1

MPSE7 - Social Movements and Politics in India. The title of the course pretty much explains what the course is about. It talks about many social movements, various political movements, and how some political parties emerged out of such movements. There is much to learn, and even more to think about. Honestly, I thought so much throughout the course: when reading through the material, doing the assignments, and in the exam hall. It was quite pleasant.

Difficulty: 2

MPSE8 - State Politics in India. This course is so fascinating because it deals with so many things that affect us directly: determinants of voter behavior, mechanisms for resolving differences between states, the impact of contemporary changes on state politics, the rights of minorities, coalition politics, and so much more.

Difficulty: 2

MED2 - Sustainable Development: Issues and Challenges. Unsurprisingly, the course talks about sustainable development, and the challenges we must overcome collectively. The content is generic, but a lot of perspectives on the concept of development are introduced.

Difficulty: 3

MPSE3 - Western Political Thought. This was one of the hardest courses because I had to actually remember the names of the thinkers, and their thoughts on a lot of subjects. In terms of the timeline, it deals with thinkers from Plato to Marx. I remember thinking, “wait, really?” on several occasions. But, that’s expected because that’s how thought and society as a whole evolve. What was once reasonable might not be so a century later. Or as one of the most prominent thinkers of this decade, Harry Styles, said, “…it’s a sign of the times”.

Difficulty: 5

MPSE4 - Social and Political Thought in Modern India. The course is as hard as Western Political Thought if not harder. If you set aside the fact that you need to remember the names of a lot of thinkers, and their actual thought processes, it is quite enjoyable in terms of reading. There are chapters about M. K. Gandhi’s formulation of the relationship between religion and politics, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s understanding of caste, and untouchability, socialist features, tribal movements, political mobilizations, etc.

It is quite remarkable that so many people thought about so many dimensions—what India and her people ought to be. And it is very audacious too because a lot of the choices the country made could be termed “unconventional.” Look closely, and several of them could be directly traced to one or more of the modern Indian thinkers.

Difficulty: 5

MGPE13 - Civil Society, Political Regimes and Conflict. I chose the course because I needed to pick 8 electives, and I had more or less run out of the ones that interested me. But, this turned out to be a surprisingly good pick. The course material deals with the concept of civil society, swaraj, different types of political regimes, human rights, conflicts in various parts of the world, etc.

Difficulty: 1