Three + 1 Questions

Yesterday afternoon was one of those which I always wanted to have as a student and later it turned out to be the one which I wanted to have as a teacher too, with every student batch of IIT, thanks to Prof. R… ‘s three questions and +1.

The power went off at 10 a.m. due to a massive cable fault. The deadline of restoration was getting extended. Students in DS… Lab were having fun – no work. The suggestion of flash viva was not accepted citing lack of preparation or everybody pointing to Su…. to become the first sacrifice.

To act as a filler (expecting power to come any moment) I sought suggestion on a real-life problem where people want to make quality drinking water available to remote villages in India. These are the places where water table is so low that tube wells are not a good proposition also there is no electricity. Students gave few interesting ideas. One is to have some sort of reservoir (concrete made) followed by filtration unit at the outlet. It is perhaps better than providing individual water filter which can be sold by head of the family, usually a male when in distress or to support his drinking or other habits. As we were discussing how to fill those reservoirs Prof. R.. returned after a very short and delayed (In IITs, life is like that. You are always pushed to the extreme!) lunch and the student in me got better of me. I was his student in my BTech days 20 years back. He asked us to continue. But …

Then Prof. R.. asked the students to respond to these three questions one by one.

1. What is your own dream for the future?
2. Is there any societal pressure in the choice you will be exercising?
3. Would you like to become an entrepreneur?

For most of the students 1 and 2 were not in conflict. I find that little disturbing. Have the students started dreaming what society wants them to dream? Which society? Cannot anybody dare to be different? About 10 of the 26 students (mostly toppers) want to go for higher studies abroad (except one). Only one (Debd…) of them wants to come back to India and take a career in academics. Here, for some students the societal pressure is in the form of parents asking them to go for management education!!! That is interesting! However, for a hostellite and IITians societal pressure is more than what parents desire. Next option for many was to go for management studies. Direct job with good salary was also a choice for many. And few want to go for Indian Engineering Services. Entrepreneurship is not a choice, at least for now. What was heartening that almost all of them mentioned that they are aware of their social responsibilities and will definitely be associated with philanthropic activities. One (Riz…) aspires to open a chain of schools in underdeveloped areas. Others do not have specific projects in their mind but have definite intention to reach out to less privileged people and be at their side. It was so nice to listen to the conviction of Young India. I am proud of you, students. Love you all.

To the skeptics, I would like to say, if these great minds spend even one percent of their time and energy towards nation building activity, reaching out to poor and destitute, it will do wonder for our country.

I dream of an India where every child gets at least the basic amenities of life i.e. food, shelter, healthcare, education. Every child should have the right and opportunity to dream big, have joy of life. It worth more than a million if each of us can wipe tears off at least one person’s face and bring the smile back.

I was not expecting that Prof. R… would ask myself to respond to those questions and as expected the students wanted to know the other side’s story. I was not prepared at all! However, it is a good question for one to be introspective at 40. There is still some time left to do what always one wanted to do, allows one to take stock of the situation and take corrective action, if any. But it also opens the flood gate of emotion. I said something, mostly about an NGO that influenced me a lot in my growing-up days or how much I want every IITian to give importance to his own career and consider that as capacity building to serve himself, his family as well as few less privileged countrymen, if not many.
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What I did not tell that my upbringing was little different. My childhood, in some sense was living in a scary land. We, a family of five members were little better than those who do not get two square of meal a day. My father, who came from East Pakistan during partition as a refugee when in class VIII, (completed matriculation in India, couldn't study further and looked for one earning opportunity or the other) could afford to give only one set of dress every year that too used to be the school uniform. Another new dress I used to get from a relative during Durga Puja. The other dresses were the used ones collected from relatives. But my father did his best to support me in my study. I had to just name a book title, he instantly bought it from market (I took almost no private tution). He used to ask only one question – “Are you sure that you will read this?” I never dared to dream beyond doing well in the next examination. But my mother who even after getting double promotion at class V had to abandon studies, had a dream. She used to tell me – “Someday, I want to see your name in the newspaper.” It was fulfilled when I ranked among the top twenty in 10+2 board examination. Our whole locality burst into joy. Yes, I was a poster boy in our locality. I got lots of blessings and encouragement from every household. (My parents ensured that on every exam. day, before I left for the school, I touched feet of all the elders by visiting nearly 7-8 houses in the locality. One may wonder if that was a wastage of time during exam. days. But I never felt it like that. As such I used to study hard throughout the year. And during exam. only 2 hours in the evening and 1 hour in the morning. So had plenty of time. The otherwise chatterbox, I used to be very silent on exam days. However, there was no break in afternoon soccer practice. I was a soccer addict. Even if it rained heavily and there were few persons in the field with a football, one used to be me. School days, IIT days ... I never missed it. However, I made up for those two hours break in the afternoon by not wasting any opportunity of study. Even in a big 1 hour queue of collecting Kerosene oil (loadshedding was frequent, we three (myself and my two sisters) used to study in the evening surrounding one kerosene lamp) I usually had one note or one small book to study) Well, I was very happy to see the joy on my mother’s face when my name appeared in the newspaper. My father was always reserved. He did not allow me to attend felicitation functions, post 10+2 success, saying – it is nothing, you have a long way to go before felicitation etc. I believe he had a dream. I hadn’t. Later (after his expiry, when I was 24 years old) I found in his diary (my diary writing habit may have come from him - a matriculate, my father's composition of English in the diary was much better than me and that too in beautiful handwriting) that when I was only three years old he is writing – if nurtured properly, the boy has the potential to go very far. Anyway, the same year (1986) I ranked high both in medical entrance and IIT-JEE. My father wanted me to go for medical as he found it was a better way to serve the humanity. My mother wanted me to go for engineering for a reason which only a mother can think of. She thought that as a medical practitioner I was to be available 24x7 and thus would not get a good night sleep. I never studied late night but was an early riser. Actually, I used to be so tired after afternoon soccer play that it was hard to stay awake beyond 9 p.m. But I used to wake up in the morning at 5 a.m. or earlier. As I said before, I never thought beyond doing well in those exam.s and didn't have any dream as such, as far as career is concerned. I selected engineering because that allowed nearly zero shift in my coordinate, to stay in KGP only (I was not a campusite but from the otheside of KGP, called Golebazar), close to my lovely family. The IIT days were full of conflict. I was an off-beat Patelian. I had images of gods and goddesses in my room and I used to perform Puja every evening. I declined to give proxy for my batch-mate in NCC (EME), then 1st year also used to be together with seniors. But I survived the ridicule, opposition to reach the stage, one of acceptance. My SGPA was always more than 9, the final sem. being a perfect 10, ranked 3rd in the Dept. Going abroad was never on my agenda. I took a job in a nearby place TISCO, Jamshedpur. Turned down a generously offered PhD position by a Prof. in an East Coast university, a job at Standard Chartered Bank as the posting was Mumbai etc. In my 2nd year (1988) of IIT UG days, my father was diagnosed to have both the kidneys damaged, he survived for another four years. Throughout he led hero’s life, full of struggle, utmost honesty, selfless. It is easy to do great things in media glare when people are clapping. It is difficult to show greatness in small, small things in our day to day life that does not draw attention. The effort he had given to bring his children up was unparallel. He too used to wake up at 5 a.m. or earlier, take morning walk and Yoga, then visit bazar(market) and/or help mother in cooking - chopping vegetables/fish etc. (sparing children who were engaged in study) so that food is ready before we leave for school or he leaves for job. Returning, in the evening, he used to supervise and actively help us in our study. He turned down promotion offer many times that would require him spending more time in his job and less time for us. We had severe crisis of water in our locality. Almost every evening, sometimes in the morning too, he had to bring water from a well of nearby Masjid, 100-150m away. He was reluctant to take children's help though I forcefully accompanied him sometimes. He or my mother never thought about entertainment like going to movies or having one television etc. Their entire joy was in watching us grow, the real-life characters and not reel-life characters. When in class X, I was supposed to write one paragraph in school on ‘My Favourite Hero’. Everybody except me picked up character from History. I wrote, “My father is my favourite hero …”. The class teacher called my father and showed the copy to him. But he was very strict, didn't show any emotion, never, no - only once, in his death bed, two days before he died. He called me and told me to be realistic, careful, ...... He was a true soldier in the battlefield of this samsara. Lot of people of various age groups, including some of my school friends, yes, school friends and not their parents, used to come to him for advice, suggestions. In his funeral procession to burning ghat, there were hundreds of people. The body was to be kept in a playground for some time. It was about 2 p.m. Some of the teachers in nearby school were surprised when their students asked them to grant leave so that they could also join the procession.

Tulsidas says - Tulsi, jab jag me ayo, jag hase tum roye. Aisi korni kar chalo ki, tum hase, jag roye (Tulsi, when you were born, you cried and everybody was happy. Lead a life such that when you leave, everybody cries and you are happy.)