Remembering Prof. Suman Dasgupta

Remembering Prof. Suman Dasgupta
Ashish Basu, 1983 Civil Engineering

I came to know about the sad demise of Prof. Suman Dasgupta’s from our 1983 batch social media group. Initially, I did not believe it, then one of our classmates attached a picture. That confirmed the bad news for us. It was heartbreaking for all, perhaps a bit more so for me. In these Covid ravaged times, many of us have had to endure losses, but some losses rankle and hurt more. The news of his passing was one of those for many of us. This is my humble effort to cherish his memory and express gratitude.

My first boss at NIDC, Debu-da, Late Debabrata Sarkar was a graduate from B.E. College in 1964. He was the Chief Engineer, later became the GM then Chief GM I think he finally retired as ED. At NIDC, I had the opportunity to work with him for a short stay of 3 years. When we joined his team in Delhi as young engineers from IIT campus he told us, “Your teachers and your first boss will have a big impact on your world view, professionally – remember that and use your time well.” Years later as we go closer to our retirement, I think I understand what Debu-da meant. We might traverse many paths in our journey of life, climb many peaks, fall through many crevices, but we can never forget where it all started. Those of us that came from modest family backgrounds without many role models within the family probably felt it more and benefitted even more.

The fact that Prof. Dasgupta influenced the lives of so many of his students, should not be surprising, he was a great teacher and an even greater role model. In the eighties, the faculty of the Department of Civil Engineering in B.E. College, had several exemplary professors, but even among them Prof. Dasgupta stood out. His quiet demeanor, confidence, and deep knowledge of the subjects he taught endeared him to the student community. That universal respect all over was well deserved. Those of us that studied in other institutes after B.E College, know that the experience and the relationships we developed at B.E College campus were unique, irreplaceable

My first interaction with Prof. Dasgupta in 1980 was quite bumpy, though. Our second-year field survey assignment was surveying a section of the campus roads that led to Richardson Hall. That was a required experience before we were sent to off-campus survey camp. Prof. Pradip Roy, our faculty for that course, had requested other professors to stop by and supervise the progress of each group. There were many teams surveying different sections of the campus simultaneously, so he alone could not have done justice to the entire supervision effort. Hence the request to others. Thus, Prof. Dasgupta was assigned to our group for that task. On day one, he advised us to learn to take measurements, get familiarized with the instruments and prepare. As is often the case in second year, we got caught up with ‘other activities’ in the hostel: and didn’t follow his advice. We clearly thought very highly of ourselves and blatantly ignored his advice. Next morning when the survey started, we were far behind other groups, we had to learn how to use our Theodolite when others were working with that instrument. He was upset with us, and he said so in as many words when Prof. Roy stopped by for an interim progress report. We thought he was a demanding teacher, so that evening we worked late and the next day our progress was comparable with the other teams.

A year went by after that incident, we started our third year with some trepidation. As we got into the core Civil Engineering subjects, many of us started enjoying the courses. However, there was one subject that did not sound like anything to do with Civil Engineering at all. That subject was ‘Numerical Analysis and Computer Programming’- I spoke with a couple of seniors from 1982 batch about the course, the collective feedback I got was not very encouraging. Most of them said it was a peripheral topic, not that important for Civil Engineering. For our batch, that subject was taught by Prof. Dasgupta – that was when I got to see him closely and got to know him a bit more. I loved the course and the way he taught it. B.E. College campus had a TDC 316 computer from ECIL at that time, students of Civil Engineering rarely used it. We changed that trend. Until then, the computer center was mostly used by students of Electronics and Electrical Engineering. There was no concept of departmental time allocation. I had learned later that B.E. College was among the very few institutions in India in 1982 where Computer Programming was a compulsory course in Civil Engineering. He and others in the department had pushed the academic council to include it, it wasn’t easy. We interacted extensively during that course and remained in touch afterwards.

Fast forward another year, our fourth year came and went, finals were done. I was among the unemployed most from my class, but it was not a huge deal because I had decided to study. I wanted to do my masters, but I had to make a choice between studying in Bengal (KGP, JU or BEC) or going to IIT Madras. My parents, friends, relatives were all against going to Madras. So, I went to Prof. Dasgupta’s office one day and asked for his advice. My friends told me that the ME/ MTech scholarship amount was the same everywhere, in fact if I went to Madras, I would probably spend more. I was myself leaning towards staying in Bengal as well. He listened to my predicament, pressure from family and friends etc. and then said thoughtfully that I should accept the offer from Madras. He also added that he had personally worked with a team in the Structural Engineering Lab (the place where I was going) at IIT Madras and it was awesome. As I was leaving his office at the back of the soil mechanics lab, he called me back and said, “Listen Ashish, get out of your comfort zone, knock on a few new doors.” I remember boarding a Madras bound train from Howrah station a few hours after that conversation, there was no time to wait for a reserved seat.

That advice resonated with me. Over the years I have given that advice to many of my BEC juniors, other friends even to my sons. When I gave that advice to my BEC juniors I always told them where it came from, originally. Such pearls of wisdom from Prof. Dasgupta changed the career trajectories of many students. But that is not the point, the main point here is Prof. Dasgupta’s concern for ordinary students. He did not think his job ended in the classroom, that is why he stood out. From IIT Madras I wrote many letters to Prof. Dasgupta on usage of computers in Civil Engineering how the courses in B.E. College could be tweaked. I wrote to him about the need for a change in mindset as well. As always, he was very generous and offered his critique openly.

In those days, the contrast between B.E. College and other top tier institutions was overwhelming, but only a few members of the faculty realized it. Even fewer decided to do something about it. Some of you might recall those days. There was no internet then, no cell phone, no email, and no social media either. We still wrote letters by hand in a yellow parchment called post-card and if I needed to call my mom, I had to book an STD call. Speaking of the technical landscape of Computer Aided Design at that time, UC Berkeley had just started licensing SAP IV; Georgia Tech had just gone through the process of licensing GT STRUDL and NIC in New Delhi was planning to license SESAME from a Norwegian entity. Computer Graphics and 3D Modelling was relatively new, but very few people in India could afford Silicon Graphics or Evans Southerland hardware. In B.E College a student from Civil Engineering going to computer center was newsworthy, in IIT Madras it was the norm. Faculty and students in Civil, Structural Engineering, Fluid Dynamics were among the heaviest users of the IBM 370/155 mainframe in IIT Madras campus in 1983. It was in that backdrop Prof. Dasgupta tried to lead us into the world of computers.

Years later, after I had moved to the US permanently, I learned from Sujit Das of 1984 batch Civil Engineering that he had read out some of my letters in their classes with him. Prof. Dasgupta’s passion was to help his students, prepare for the future, he did everything in his powers to achieve that goal. Such relentless focus on excellence is not common. Typically, many in academia see teaching as a nine to five job, Prof. Dasgupta did not. I remember going to his office at the back of soil mechanics laboratory at odd hours. After his passing, IIEST had arranged a condolence meeting in Prof. Dasgupta’s honor on July 20th, 2021, the notice read, ‘He was an alumnus, Professor and former head of the Civil Engineering Department of the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur’. He was much more to many of his students. Such teachers were rare then, and even more so now. We were blessed to have him in our midst.

If I could reach out to him magically, just one last time, here is what I would say, “It was an honor to be among your students Sir. I do not know if we deserved it, maybe we just got lucky. And Sir, because of inspiring teachers like you, a generation of B.E. College students are getting out of their comfort zones every day and successfully knocking on new doors. You will be missed forever.”