Class of '96

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This is all about a batch of M Sc Physics students whom I taught in 1995, 2 Semesters of Theory and 2 of Lab concurrently in 1995.

There were many batches like this; it just turns out that I happen to have their Roll List with me after 15 years.

But, this batch is rather special. For one thing, they were the only one that made me 'write' a Lecture Notes on the fly and distribute them in every Lecture Class.

I didn't use to write up a pucca Lecture Notes ever (till the Jumbo of 2000, which I got printed). For good reason: once you have a well-written thing, you tend to repeat it and not improvise and improve. For another I was too lazy to do it.

But I did one better: I used to watch which student in the Class is attending all classes and taking down Notes diligently and legibly. Then I used to 'steal' it from him or her at the end of the Semester; and use it later on as a breadboard.

There was this student of II Year B. Tech (Electrical Engg) by name Umakant Chowdhury around 1980. He was the topper too. I snatched his Physical Optics Notes. It came to much use to me 20 years later. He met me in his Final Year and asked me if he could borrow 'his' Lecture Notes for a week. I asked why. He said he was preparing for IAS (lots of dowry) and taken Physics as one of his papers. I gave it to him and chased him till he returned it.

Then there was Dahlia Datta, whose EM II Notes was my staple till 2002 when I gave the course up to Sayan. Sayan borrowed Dahlia's Notes for a week and still sort of pesters me mildly to write it up as a Book (he doesn't know me since he was never my student).

Then there was Indrajit Mitra (who called me 'shameless' in print, and I am proud of it). It just happened that one night before the Semester started, Prof AK (the Time Table Prof) met me and ordered (from above) that I had to take their QM-O Course in their III Year. I never did this earlier. But was raring to go. IM took the Lecture Notes and gave me a Xerox Copy. I wanted to refine it and build it up over a few years. But, Prof AK came to me next year and said: "Thank you", you don't have to teach it anymore. This one-off thing alienated me; and in hindsight I wish I never accepted the original offer. But 'greed' prevailed.

Then this '96 batch. They were quite happy apparently with my EM Course. And came to know that my QM II Course next semester would be weird, since it didn't follow any text book in the market. So, they met me before-hand and requested that I write up a pucca Notes before every Class and give it away to them for copying and returning the original. Somehow I liked this batch and also liked the idea. In the end it turned out to be a 100 page closely written affair. I got it bound and used it for the next five years.

Each student of this Class is as different from the others as possible. Whatever their interpersonal relations, each of them established a cordial 'friendly' relation with me by the emd of the Year.

And I also happened to be their Professor-in Charge of Training & Placement. I thought that since they made me 'work' usefully, I should throw them an @Home Dinner. My wife agreed. Instead of inviting them in the Class Room, I sent a T & P Notice:
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"T & P Emergency Meeting will be held this Friday:

Venue: Qrs B-140
Time: 7 PM Onwards
Agenda: Tea + Delta Tea

Attendance is compulsory"
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I gave this Notice to Didi in the Office asking her to kindly circulate it urgently, take their signatures and return it to me.

While going home for lunch I noticed that they had all ganged up in the Office and were fooling around, with Didi smiling broadly at me. By the evening Didi returned me my Notice, with not only their autographs against their names but also 'Finger-Prints'. That was what they were doing in the Office: stealing Didi's 'Stamp Pad', inking it and letting themselves go.

It so happened that in the last Lecture, Anupam presented me a gift in the Class Room. Opening it, I found a wonderful 'Rangoli' done by him on a black Drawing Paper in white paint, with Tagore's figure at the Center. I came to know that his paintings were exhibited in the Soviet World and won him prizes. He showed them to me later.

So, it just took a minute for me to decide to get it framed with glass on both sides. On the reverse of the painting, I pasted the Notice containing their signatures and thumb impressions as a batch-memento.

My son Sonoo preserved it and it is hanging on my wall now. I took it down today and spent an hour Googling to find out what happened to each of these kids.

Here is the output of my Research:
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1.Sougato Bose: Professor, University College London

[Campus kid. Knew him from his age 3. Dead-set for a career in Theoretical Physics from Class X. Fought with his parents and gave up a seat in EE at IIT to take up M Sc Physics. My co-author. Went to UK on Inlacs Fellowship, pursued Quantum Optics and never looked back]

2.Sandeep Tyagi: Morgan Stanley, United Kingdom

[Quiet smiling kid. Went to Pittsburgh (?) for Ph D. Thoroughly enjoyed doing Spacetime Software in my Lab. Also a wizard at JEE Problem-solving]

3.Anupam Mazumdar: Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

[Gave up EE after one year and joined Physics. Born to do Cosmology. Did Project with me. Like Hanuman, who brought the whole Mountain when asked to fetch a Herb, he did all higher Metrics when asked to do Kerr-Metric from ABS]

4.Palash Banerjee: Boston University, Mass

[With Ashish he barged into my room in his Final Year, thrust a Table from Kittel listing the ground states of all the Rare-Earth Elements and asked me to 'get' them using Hund's Rules, all 3 of them needed. Ugh! Had to recall what I did 30 years ago while dabbling in NQR. Lost his Degree Certificate, when his 'cottage' burned down at Boston. Took my help in getting a Duplicate, filing an Affidavit from a Gurgaon Notary stating that it was 'stolen' from his home!]

5.Biplab Pal: Lead Engineer, Ciena Corp. Baltimore, Maryland

[True to his name, he was the Revolutionary of the Class. Shifted to ECE for a Ph D at KGP and ran away to the Land of Gold, to start a Revolution there (?)]

6.Tania Chakrabarty: Sr.Scientist at Arryx, Inc. Greater Chicago

[Campus girl. Know her from her birth. Talented Actor. Father, Professor in Geology, my batchmate, well-known humorist and Bengali and English TDS patron. Shifted to Biophysics at UIUC and never looked back]

7.A. Ramakant Sharma: North Carolina State University at Raleigh

[Campus kid, silent, son of Math Prof. Got back to Acads after doing some Banking job]

8.Ashish Bhardwaj: University of California, Santa Barbara

[Born with a silver spoon. Son of IPCL Boss. Terrific talent in Eastern and Western Music. Liked holidaying at odd places like Ladakh, Andamans, Hawai Islands. Disgusted with Formal Theory. Went to Ph D in Experiments at Caltech. After some hiccups got many Patents in addition to Ph D. But challenged the Professors there and took 'Theory Classes in QM' while doing TA, successfully!]

9.Subhashis Ray: GMRT

[Taught me 'Breadboard' in the Lab. Instrumental in revolutionizing IV Year Lab by throwing 'soldering irons' out of the window, much to the dismay of Tarapada-da]

10.K. V. Shajesh: Saint Edward’s School, Vero Beach, Florida

[Fighter. Fighter. Did 2 wonderful papers with DB in JMP. Kept in touch with me till my retirement. Born teacher. Gifted a wonderful book on EM written by his Ph D Guide at Oklahama!. Too late. By then I gave up this Course. Happy for him]

11.Subrata Bal: Royal Bank of Scotland, New Delhi Area, India

[Sweet character. Dedicated to DB, his Project Guide. Did 2 papers with him in JMP. Met me just before my retirement. Lovable chap, but idealistic. Great that he settled down. I urged him to get married, hope he did it]

12.D .P. Acharya: National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (?)

[Fighter of a kind. Don't know much about him]

13.Pinaki Saha: Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada

[Great guy! Calcutta-based Lateral Entry. Very helpful. Never wanted to apply abroad. Changed his mind at the last minute and went to RENO in Atmospheric Physics']

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I guess with this I have completed my duties as Professor-in-Charge ot Training & Placement.

I would have done this gladly with all batches, but I don't have their Roll List and finger-prints.

I do hope I can auction or sell these finger-prints (depending on whether one of these gets the Prize or a Red Corner Notice).

When I brought down the framed Rangoli today, I found that it has 13 signatures. Western superstition of 13 made me blink.

But there is one girl-disciple.

And Jesus is yet to be crucified!


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