After long deliberations it was decided that Shahed would be Indian representative Krishna Menon, Mohiuddin would be Pakistan's Feroz Khan Noon and I will be the representative of the United States. As the meeting ended, we all crowded before the college canteen. It was my proposal to pull our resources for a treat in the national restaurant at the New Market. We all contributed around half a taka each. Friend Baki Talukder as the 'manager' collected some Tk 4 (in those days, the taka was called rupee and a rupee was probably valued at par with a US dollar).
Once at the National restaurant, we of the BIT sat around the main roundtable at the centre. A lively and joyful session of continuous humour, jokes and mock debates followed for about an hour. It is needless to say the session was filled with varieties of tasty snacks and numerous cups of tea. There is no doubt that Baki's management was superb. First there were two singaras for everyone. They disappeared in a few minutes.
Samuchas followed, coming in pairs for each. Cascades of energetic conversation flowed alongside the tea party, everyone, from the usually reserved Mahmood Ali to the cautious Enamul, spoke spontaneously with exuberance. I cited the poet, Wordsworth, to say, 'A poet could not but be gay in such a jocund company'. It needs no mention that the poet I meant was me!
'Nimakpara' followed samuchas and the entire session was rounded up with sweet tea. This unalloyed wave of joy continued for about an hour from 1:00pm to 2:00pm. One recalls the wonderful evening at tea at Nasim Khalilur Rahman's place towards the close of our school life at St Gregory's. The components might have been different but the theme was the same--joyful moments with adolescent friends of long-lost memory. One suddenly feels sad and pensive: when we will no more be adolescent or young, will we be able to dig out from under the deep layers of time, these invaluable moments as precious as priceless gems?
The two years from the middle of 1957 to the middle of 1958 constituted a lively hyphen between our school and university life. To be a college student like students of all times was certainly different from the life in school. Later we found that university life was vastly different and multi-dimensional in comparison with the days as a college student. This one can say is a universal experience of youth of all times.
Many significant changes, in fact, transformation, took place during these memorable years. Viewed generally, the days were studded with youthful energy, questions about our individual and collective future and adolescent fun and frolics. Life was certainly more casual in the college than in the school. As described already, off hours and classes in which teachers did not turn up formed a new feature of student life. The college canteen and restaurant and cafes in the nearby New Market which was then really relatively new held a constant attraction for friends and class fellows to visit and engage in lively chatting.
Studies did constitute the core of life. Nevertheless, the charms of co-curricular activities never ceased to captivate us. The 'board of intelligence test', a loosely-knit informal body of class fellows that has been described before, was a regular exercise in enriching our general knowledge and preparing us for competitions of life in which viva voce mattered. Knowledge has to be accompanied with smartness and ready wit. In fact, the test contributed greatly to the later success of many of us in competitions for government and non-government careers. As one looks back, one finds justifiable pride in being associated with such a venture at a relatively tender age.
The British Council was another hub of intellectual and cultural activities which led to the enrichment of our personalities. Borrowing texts and fictions of superior quality from the council's rich library helped an entire generation to equip itself for a thinking and creative life. It was also the focal point of varied and diverged cultural and entertainment activities. The various youth social and cultural organisations within and outside the college used to be held here. The council's well appointed and spacious auditorium served the purposes of culture and entertainment.
Illustrations of participation as volunteer and audience in some such functions have already been described in the detailed diaries of four days of late November and early December 1957. Alongside, studies and entertainment we carried on with continuous and untiring social service activities through the Palli Mangal Sangha and the then Pakistan National Youth Council.
Friends from school days such as Jamilur Reza Choudhury, Syed Yousuf Hossain, Kazi Masudul Haque, Md Alamgir, Abdul Baqui Talukder, Abdul Hafiz Hiru, Enamul Haque, Aziz Faruque Sarkar and others who came to Dhaka College became closer and more intimate comrades. Some of the classmates in Dhaka College who came from other schools but were friends already came closer to us as Dhaka College class fellows.
Among them were Safayet Jamil, Aga Kohinoor Alam, Abul Hossain Mahmud Ali, Hussani or Abul Hassan and others. Others school and childhood friends such as Shahed Kamal, Jahangir Md Jasim. Nazmul Huda Rintu, Abdul Hamid Riswas and a few others went to the Notre Dame College. This institution earlier known as the St Gregory College was run by the missionaries of Notre Dame who also ran our school, St Gregory's School.
Mention has been made of new close friends such as Mohuddin Mahmud Hafiz, Mia Md Nuruzzaman and Abdus Sattar who also came from other schools but endeared themselves to us by their charm and sincerity.
A fresh and lively dimension of social service was opened for us by the first ever Workcamp held in the erstwhile East Pakistan. This was in fact a training camp for future trainer of the Work Camp movement in the region. The camp was held during the last days of December 1957 up to January 1, 1958 at the well known but at that time remote village of Paril-Noadha in the then sub-division (now district) of Manikganj. My participation in that unforgettable camp was possible because of my association with the Palli Mangal Sangha.
The core idea was conceived and popularised by a Swiss social worker, Pierre Ceresole, just after World War I. His mission was to break down barriers between the hitherto enemies: the French and the Germans through hard manual work together to reconstruct war-ravaged villages on the frontiers. This would help bring former enemies close in understanding and friendship and also imbibe and inspire the youth with the sense of dignity of manual labour.
The Paril-Noadha Workcamp was a unique and memorable experience. The cornerstone was so to say a dedicated couple from the United States of America--Max and Margaret Parker. The first introduction to them on the steamer on the way to Manikganj was electric. In 1957, the easiest way to travel from Dhaka to Manikganj was the huge steamer that sailed from Badamtali Ghat at night and reached Manikganj the next morning. During the journey and at the weeklong camp, we became closer to the Parkers and admired their selfless service and commitment to humanity. They have left their prosperous and easy life in the world's richest country to strive to fulfil their noble mission in the neglected villages of the sub-continent.
Among others who participated in the Paril camp were Habibur Rahman who later became a justice and chairman, Bangladesh Press Council. Masud Ali Khan who subsequently became a reputed and popular actor on television and in films and Nayeb Uddin Ahmed, a reputed photographer who was at that time serving the Mymensingh Agricultural University. Nayeb Bhai and Masud Bhai were natives of Paril and, therefore, part of the anchor of the work camp.
The author, founder Chairman of Centre for Development Research, Bangladesh (CDRB) and Editor quarterly "Asian Affairs" was a former teacher of political science in Dhaka University(1964-1967) and former member of the erstwhile Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) (1967-1980) and former non-partisan technocrat Cabinet Minister of Bangladesh (1990).
