Are the academics deserted?

Politics and dreams of power became the sweeping influences in academia.

A series of other questions should be addressed to answer the question in the title. Who deserted the academics? And, why and how did they desert them? I am writing this because I have heard this complaint made by some important and respected academics over time. The semantics of such melancholia is somehow related to politics and power, with sharing and advantage being the principal instigators. Being a senior member of the same fraternity, such questions make me pensive, and sometimes even bewildered. I had opted for the academic career for its almost Zen-like simplicity and joy that emanates from a condition that naturally comes after accomplishing the karma. The most favourite modus operandi of the cohort has been teaching and, of course, reading, writing and researching freely. The overall satisfaction that comes after accomplishing this is academic too in nature. But something went wrong in this covenant. The academics were lured by the apple in the Garden of Eden. That was the genesis of our pain and disorientation.