B E College 1961-1967, My Memories of the Sports Activities

B E College 1961-1967, My Memories of the Sports Activities
Niladri Sarkar, 1967 Mechanical Engineering

Above photo is BE College Badminton Team 1964-65
Sitting L to R: M. Banerjee (General Secretary & Captain Athletics), Dr. Sankar Sen (Prof. In-Charge of Swimming & Gymnasium), Dr. P.N. Chatterjee (Prof. In-Charge of Athletics), Prof. D. Banerjee (Prof. In Charge of Cricket), Principal A.C. Roy, Dr. S.C. Chakrabarty (President Athletic Club), Sri N. Guha, Sri A.K. Mukherjee, Sri K.C. Bhattacharya, Sri S.K. Mukherjee (All Physical Instructors).
Standing L to R: D. Roy, A. Banerjee, Niladri Sarkar (Captain Tennis), T. Bose, K. Chatterjee (Captain Badminton), J. Dutta.

I first went to B.E. college in 1961. I was very impressed when caught the first glimpse of the College. I remember the taxi veering past the Centenary Gate, I could see the Lords playground on the left, and then when the taxi turned right after the Clock Tower, the Oval playground was also on the left too and Heaton Hall was on the right. My allotted hostel was No. 12, a newly built hostel next to the Ganga. Only Downing Hall was between our hostel and the Botanical Garden gate.

I remember that the first two years were spent mostly admiring the seniors playing, while we would try to get our foot in the door by practicing and putting in hard work. There were quite a few great senior athletes that I admired then. In tennis there was Inderjit Singh, Souren Majumdar, and Bhaskar Sarkar. They were contemporaries to Premjit Lal and Jaideep Mukherjee and also all active participants in the Calcutta tennis circuits. Their matches were very exciting, and one year BE College won the University Championship. In cricket Asok Dutta got in the university team. In hockey we had a very strong team and won the University Championship more than once. Bhola-da (Amitava Sen) was the star of that team. Kamalendu Ganguly was another super athlete who shone in track and field – winning the 100-meter dash at the University meet. He also showed great talent in football as he could outrun the defense and shoot strongly. Achinta Banerjee was also very good in football and played in the first division in Calcutta. So did many others, however I do not remember their names right now.

In my time we also had a good number of players. In cricket Shankar Bose who joined in 1962 was very good in batting along with Shyamal Sarkar. Both of them were University Blue. I think Shankar played for more than two years for the University. In badminton we had a great team of myself, Niladri Sarkar in peak form. In 1965 we won the University Championship which was held in our University Hall against Ashutosh College. I was selected captain of the University badminton team that year but the team was not sent out for the inter-university tournament due to budgetary constraints. Akhil Banerjee who was my partner, later became a university star and from what I hear, was on the Bengal team. I have shared a picture of the team. A swimming pool was built to standard while we were there and Saurov Bose was one star who became a University Champion.

I do not remember many other University level events because I was so busy with my sports activities and study. I had very little time left to be a spectator in other games. I played for the college in cricket, table tennis, hockey, badminton and tennis. I was the college champion in badminton, tennis and table tennis and was a key member in cricket, football and hockey teams. I had won the college Sportsman of the Year four consecutive times from ’64 to ‘67. We also had inter-hostel and inter-year matches in quite a few games & sports, in which I enjoyed participating. I participated in athletics at our college and was good enough to win a number of medals. Often, I would spend three to four hours practicing cricket followed by hockey and ending the day with badminton.

The most enjoyable event that I remember was the University Badminton Final held at our Institute Hall. We had to play four singles and one doubles. Ashutosh College had two good players and so did we. In the first singles match Akhil Banerjee, my partner played very well but lost to their number one player. I played their number two and won easily. That made it equal one and one. Next in the doubles we lost which was followed by Akhil playing their number two. He showed real good skill and won the match. It was two and two. I had to play the final deciding match against a very tough opponent. It was a long exciting match, going to three games and exhausting both the players. Our college student spectators were naturally cheering loudly for us in the hall and the final game continued past midnight. Even Professor Durga Banerjee, the head of the Mechanical engineering department and other professors were encouraging me in the locker/change room. At one point I remember Professor Banerjee massaging me. It was a battle for every point. I barely survived and won the game to make our college the champions. Then there were the celebrations with the students and professors carrying the team all around the hall.

I still miss my college days.
I might have missed some other athletes of my time, so please forgive me and my memory.

1962-63 College Athletic Club Committee

Pictorial Source: From BECA 1962-63