Class of 66-68: My Unfolding Voyage 46

It is over four decades that our Class at the Economics Department of the University of Calcutta completed, in three years, the two-years of Masters Degree studies. Thanks to the incompetent State government of non-Congress coalition of communists and new breakaway local Congress parties, the weak and incompetent University administration as well as the juvenile Bengali revolutionary disciples of Marx, strong in both muscle-power and translations of Lenin-Mao verbiage,to fight both the communists in state power, the feudalist-petty bourgeoisie elements, we had to allow for sporadic and violent campus disruptions and examination delays that took away 12 months. After forty years, revolution is nowhere in sight: many revolutionaries have managed to live under capitalism with whatever comforts that they could extract from the system. A few has shot into prominence now giving their expert opinion on the television based on their experience in revolutionary communist activity and in teaching as university professors. A few of them we meet during university reunions or elsewhere and they seem to be happy with their life-long achievements.
Those days the boys had different groups, so did the girls. Only a few students would be part of more than one group. There were hostel groups (those who lived in the students’ hostel at that time), college groups (those who studied in the same college at the undergraduate level), common room groups (those who spent lot of time together playing table tennis, carom or simply gossiping over cups of tea and snacks), political party groups (generally communist), train groups (students generally traveling back home in the same train/ bus), same-row group (students regularly occupying the same seats along particular rows in the class-room, study-together groups (generally studying together and mutually helping each other outside the class), and teacher-Fan groups (special relations with particular teachers). Except for political groups, most groups were unisex groups. There was no inter-group rivalry or animosity. While these groups provided some kind of identity, there were many students who did not form part of any group and yet very comfortable with members of many groups. I had many close friends across several groups like Presidency College group, Moulana Azad College group, Seating Row group, etc.
While a special friendship with a member from the opposite sex would have been a good experience, the girls in the class either did not find interest in me or I did not find them of my type. I had very little interaction with the girls and limited to a few who were smart enough to talk to. One girl however did create avoidable problem. She was trying to draw my attention and one day she asked me to write down some quote in her notebook meant for collections. Since I was poor at quoting from the scriptures or works of great authors, novelists, poets, philosophers or speeches of great politicians and the like, I considered it worthwhile to try quoting from my own thoughts. I penned down with care some thing like this: ‘Mind needs to take control of the petulant heart’. To my surprise I received a long letter at home within a few days from a girl who claimed to be student of the Masters program in Bengali literature. She referred to my quote in her friend’s notebook and said that it was self-contradictory and I must listen to the heart of her friend. I did not reply. I received a few more letters and remained silent. While some friends tried to find out if I would comment on what they have heard about the quotation incident involving me and the classmate, they would surmise from my behavior that nothing really had happened. The quote-collector classmate would try for a while to talk to me in this regard but I succeeded not providing her any chance. It was an interesting but unfortunate incident: the girl was bold enough to take the risk of seeking quotes from a stranger and not probably a good sport to accept unwelcome quotes.
Those days many boys and girls did not develop the capability of transacting as responsible adults with members of the opposite sex. But some were capable and smart in friendly, rational conversations. There was one such classmate with whom I had occasional, intelligent conversation outside the class. I last met her in the examination hall. But that is all that I had interacted with my classmates of the opposite sex. I had no interest in discussing about girls in the class with my groups. Except once did I remark about one, a married girl, that the University was getting short-changed as this girl was paying fees for one student but allowing another within her to take lessons in economics free of cost. More than forty-five years later during one of our class reunion meets, this classmate, a retired college professor, told my wife and me that she had been amused with my remark when she heard about it at that time from another fellow classmate in my group. Then there was another girl who one day looked back on her way from the campus to the bus stop to see me walking 30 feet behind her. She slowed down her pace, allowed me to go head of her and probably felt relieved that I was not following her. I get my bus first on my journey back home. We had both skipped classes early that day.
Classmates were generally enjoyable companions. We had lots of fun and debates. Discussions about teachers' class performance, leg-pulling , unresolved issues in the classroom and gossiping were common. With some lot of affection grew over the months. There were classmates from different groups who would request me for help either for my class notes or even visit me at home to understand certain theories or problems.

Sometimes we had to accept special requests from each other. One my classmates, a very close friend, suggested that I should teach an undergraduate student of Economics honors whom he happened to know. I was reluctant. I got about twelve rupees (about 1.4 US dollars at the official exchange rate at that time and equal to a month’s tuition fee I had to pay to the University for my masters program) per hour that I spent with my pupil. But I had to spend another 90 minutes to go to his residence and come back. I gave him about eight hours a month. He seemed to enjoy my teaching of microeconomics and statistics. His mother used to offer me wholesome milk-based sweets and drinks, probably to make me energetic enough to teach her son. After three-months I gave up this assignment. I never liked to be a teacher, though I enjoyed the communication while teaching.

In the second winter that we had spent together in the University, some classmates arranged a cricket match between select elevens of two successive batches. Our captain, a stylish batsman, happened to know about my cricket credentials because he was from the same suburban municipal area. He requested me to play. That was the last time I played cricket. I do not remember the result, the scores and individual performance. But I came in touch with one of the junior fellow student, a smart, handsome guy. A few years later we would be working for the same employer.

One of my classmates was from a family in the newspaper business. He would drive in his car to the campus and sometimes gave me a lift one-fourth of my journey back home - the small common stretch on his drive back home. Once I had suggested to him that his family group launched an economics-finance daily (there was only one such daily at that time in India) so that they could offer jobs of economics correspondent when we complete our degrees. He did not finally complete the requirements of the masters degree, but his group did launch a business daily five or six years later. But I did not have an opportunity to work for his paper. Much later the daily did publish some of my articles, interviews and letters to the editor.
A part of the hostel group did cause the class some embarrassment. The Economics Department's student's hostel was located in a residential area close to the Department campus, about three minutes walk. Some hostel residents were bold enough to create lot of noise at the hostel even past mid-night hours, besides causing eve-teasing and got into some kind of animosity with the youth in the locality. There were lot of complaints on the behavior of these rather adventurous students suddenly enjoying the freedom from their parents and their strict discipline requirements at homes in towns or villages far away from the city of Calcutta. However, the problems would ease soon: facing threat of disciplinary actions from the University and such news reaching their parents, these few students changed their behavior and concentrated back on studies as the examinations approached. Weaknesses in the witness and evidence that surfaced at the last minutes save the students from the likely punishment of being expelled. Now when some us recount those days fore decades later at our reunion meets, it appears that none has any regrets for what had happened.

Re-unions however these days do not attract many of the alumni. In the reunion organized by the Economics Department of the University of Calcutta (AACUED) around 100 alumni turn up. From our Class of about 100 hardly five to eight attend. With age and various official and family commitments, only a few really can derive pleasure from attending Annual reunions. It is a wonder how some less than a dozen of active office bearers and members of AACUED still find interest in organizing the re-unions every year. The same is true of the reunion of our Class of 66-68. About 10 years back the attendance was about 35 out of the original class strength of about 100 students (the enrolment to the class was 123 but at best 100 attended). In the past few years, the attendance has been shrinking: it has fallen from about 20 or so to about 10. In 2010, surprisingly about 25 of us met at the residence of one of the classmates. He is a deeply religious man and runs his own business. He arranged a wonderful, sumptuous lunch for us. At these reunions, we seem to be much closer friends now, than we were when we studied together for about 500 days of classes spread over three years at the University.

Some of the classmates are no more: we come to know that only now. Many are unable to attend the reunions. Some lived in foreign countries, some others settled outside Kolkata (some have settled down in other states). Some are afflicted with diseases requiring long treatment. Even among those who join had by-pass heart surgeries or similar medical attention. Most of us are now grand parents and suffer from various aging problems. Most of us have retired from active employment. About one third of the classmates served nationalized banks (the banks were nationalized in 1969 just as we obtained our degrees and they would get into a raid expansion mode soon creating job opportunities for us. Another one-third went into various government services from income-tax department to sales tax department to judicial, police and administrative services. About a fourth of our classmates went to high schools teach. Some went to undergraduate colleges and various universities to lecture. Some picked up Ph d degrees along the way. Some students dropped out and did not pursue to get the masters degree - some went straight to get into some jobs, some girls were happy getting married.We have a nice profile of attendees at the reunions - from retired vice chancellors of university and university/ college professors and principals, to retired senior bankers, school teachers and former secretaries to the state government, and retired inspector general of police, business person, renowned film director and homemakers who did not get trapped into employment. I wonder if any of us had any idea as to how life would unfold after we left the University? And, we discover what as a group we have been doing since we parted on completion of our degrees?