Four Decades in Three Roles

Four Decades in Three Roles
Pratip Dutt, 1979 Mechanical Engineering

The file photo is dated 1983, the department of Mechanical Engineering with faculty & students (B-Y Section). Dr. Arun Kumar Seal, the Principal, is at the centre. My father, Prof. Bhupal Dutta is in front row, third from left. I was also a faculty member, joined in 1982, and sitting extreme right. My brother Alok was a student, standing behind me. His father-in-law, Prof. Panna Pal is also sitting in the front row, extreme right. So, I can say, it is our institutional family photo.

I had the privilege to spend forty years of my life in the B.E. College campus, first as the son of a faculty member of Mechanical Engineering Department, then as a student of the same department and last fifteen years as a faculty member of the same department.

I am the son of Professor Bhupal Dutta. In my childhood, I used to address all senior colleagues of my father as Kaku or Jethu. When I got admitted in B.E. College as a student, I used to address them as Sir inside the classes but as Kaku and Jethu outside the classes. Then when I joined B.E. College as a teacher, so many of my teachers, who were Sir to me till yesterday, suddenly became my colleague cum Dada. Going forward, some of the children of faculty members also got admitted to B.E. College and they became my students. I was sir to them inside the class but Pratip-da to them outside the class. When my youngest brother Alak married the younger daughter of Professor Panna Lal Pal in 1988, my HOD of that time, suddenly became my brother’s father-in-law and my brother’s brother-in-law Dipankar had to call me Sir inside the classes and as Pratip-da when no formality was needed.

Our family’s relation with Professor Pal’s family may be an exceptional one, but since my childhood, I could feel the strong emotional bonding between all campus residents, as if they are all part of a big, extended family. For many of us the bonding is still as strong as it was 50 years ago. Two clubs played a significant role in creating the bond, first the Professors’ Common Room (PCR) and second the Staff Common Room. Every year the PCR used to organise an outing to places like Diamond Harbour, Kolaghat, Deulty or Mayapur where the entire family of all club members used to participate.

Later Professor D.N. Roy of Mechanical Engineering department and his wife Mrs Sunanda Roy added a new events Basontotsav, inspired by the immensely popular event of Viswa Bharati. The venue of the program was our tennis court at the back of the Principal’s Quarters. We used to assemble again at 2pm at the club premises for a joint lunch. The next event used to be our Saraswati Puja where Professor P.G. Bhattacharya of Civil Engineering department volunteered to act as the purohit. It used to be followed by a Cultural program in the evening.

The daily activities of PCR got a sudden boost when black and white TV came to the Indian market. Most of the college employees decided not to purchase a TV set, not because of any financial constraint but as a matter of principle. This ensured a gathering of many faculty members, their wives and children at our clubhouse to watch the weekend movies, Wednesday Chitrahaar and important sports events like Olympics. Some of the faculty members who used to participate regularly like Professor Panna Pal, Professor T.N. Maulik and Professor J.L. Chakraborty, had their brilliant sense of humour. Their humorous comments often used to send the entire hall bursting into laughter.

The students often consider their Professors strict, puritan, serious minded disciplinarian with no interest in anything outside their academic domain. That is always not the case. Even before I was born, my parents acted in Sarat Chandra’s Pather Dabi, in which the other actors were Prof Durga Banerjee and Prof Bhanja. When I was about 10 years old, another drama was performed in the college Re Union. It was D. L. Roy’s Shah Jahan where my father played the role of Dildar, Professor J.L. Chakraborty acted in Aurangzeb’s role while Prof Bhanja stunned everybody with his brilliant performance in the role of Jahanara. When I joined PCR as a faculty, I had the privilege to play the role of Purnababu in Tagore’s Chira Kumar Sabha. Professor J.L. Chakraborty played the role of Akshay and Professor P. K. Sinha Roy partnered with me in the role of Rashik dada. Professor Suman Dasgupta was the backstage singer, singing for Akshay’s role.

The Staff Common Room (SCR) was different from Professors’ Common room in two aspects. First it was almost open to all, acting like a melting pot, bringing all college employees participating under one roof. Secondly, it’s day to day activities were limited only to its members, not their wives or children. The major attraction of this club was playing bridge. I was told by my mother that there had been instances when some members played cards throughout the night, returning home in early morning, having a quick bath and breakfast, then rushing to the college at 8 am. She also told me that the former Principal Professor A.C. Roy was a very good card player and sometimes used to come with his wife to play cards. Some of the regulars were my father, Professor Panna Pal, Prof Anil Kumar Chowdhury of Applied Machanics, my uncle Professor R.K. Dutta of Civil Engineering, Professor Subrata Sengupta and Professor Biswanath Datta. I may have missed many names as I have never played cards in the club because I always preferred to keep a safe distance from heated arguments.

Nevertheless, the staff common room used to organise annual sports where almost all the campus residents used to join. Two major attractions of the sports were breaking the hari (হাঁড়ি) blindfolded, with a stick and the other one was musical chair. The college Durga Puja and the college Shyama Puja, followed by a khichuri bhog the next day and the annual picnic of SCR in Botanical Garden were some of the other activities where the campus residents used to participate enthusiastically.

After telling you briefly about the activities of two common rooms, I would like to share with you four incidents from my campus life. The first incident happened during a study break before a summer exam. Professor Sobhen Roy, our extremely popular PICSA, told me “Pratip, I have come to know that some students sneak into the swimming pool at noon by climbing the wall and swim for hours with no one to supervise. We must stop this practice which may result in a mishap any time.” The next day we took our strategic position at the end of the road leading from 2nd gate to swimming pool. The first two group of students, who all came prepared wearing shorts and slippers, with gamchha and towels on their shoulders, could be persuaded with a little effort to go back to their hostels. The third group watched from a distance the police picketing at the gate and guessed everything from the depressed faces of the first two groups. They discussed something amongst themselves and slowly took a right turn which left us in no doubt that they are heading to the Ganga ghat. Professor Roy lost no time to summon them and calmly told them “You don’t have to go anywhere for swimming. From tomorrow the swimming pool will remain officially open for a few hours so that you can swim under the supervision of few physical instructors and final year students”. I was as happy as the boys.

The second incident happened in the so called Saheb para where some students entered the staff quarter gardens in the middle of night. When they got nabbed by some staff, instead of apologising, they argued that they are the bonafied students of this college and has the right to go anywhere in the campus whenever they like. The arguments continued for some time till a young staff riding a bicycle arrived and told his colleagues “Do not let these boys go. Professor T. N. Maulik is arriving within five minutes.” Even today I am not sure whether the announcement was genuine or a clever invention of his mind, but the students vanished from the scene within seconds without waiting to verify the authenticity of his statement.

The third incident happened when Professor J.L. Chakraborty was going to his home walking during the lunch break. One first year student, who had taken admission only a few days back, asked Professor Chakraborty “Dada, automobile workshop ta kon dikey boltey paren?” Professor Chakraborty took it sportingly and politely gave him the direction he was seeking. After a few days, when the departmental freshers’ welcome of Mining Department was about to begin, Professor Chakraborty saw the boy sitting among the freshers. The boy also recognised the person whom he had addressed as Dada and slowly tried to move out of the hall. Professor Chakraborty, in his signature jovial style, called out “Arey arey, jachchho kothai? Tumi i to amaar sei bhai to?”

The last incident is about an unusual passion of Professor Dinabandhu Mukherjee of Applied Mechanics Department. He was so fond of walking that one day he decided to walk from B.E. College campus to Uluberia covering a distance of 31 kms. After reaching Uluberia he enjoyed the beauty of the Ganges for some time and then asked a local youth “Bhai, Uluberia bus terminus ta kon dikey?” The youth answered “Kaku, ota to ekhan theke mile khanek dur. Apni otota hantey parben na. Apni borong ekta rickshaw niye nin”.

With all these memorable incidents this I end my little walk, down memory lane. These are so many spanning for 40 long years. Let some of them remain for sharing in future days.

                                                               If the people remember me as a good teacher that will be the biggest honour for me.
– A.P. J. Abdul Kalam