Dhaka University English Department alumni reconnect, make memories

Former students of Dhaka University’s English Department have warmed their hearts up on a wintry afternoon by reconnecting with their friends, seniors, juniors and teachers and making new memories.

A sweet nostalgia permeated the air as graduates, from as far back as 1940s to as recent as last year, converged on the lush landscape of the Teacher-Student Centre or TSC to attend the get-together on Friday.

Started at 3pm, the event was filled with smiles, laughter, warm embraces and friendly banter much like the student days of the alumni, who engaged with the wider community, forging bonds old and new.

Memories of the department are always sweet, many of them said as the old friends rejoiced in reuniting with each other.

The alumni of Dhaka University's English Department gathered at the Teacher-Student Centre on Friday for their annual bash.

“All were students of this department, and that’s the biggest identity here today,” Professor Emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury told bdnews24.com.

“They hold this identity, this pride in their hearts. This is how the union of English Department alumni is different from the others. We take from here this connection at the end of the day,” he said.

“The space for the reunion has shrunk due to different obstacles, walls. But we see us all as equals here,” he said.

“Some may have tasted success in life while the others may not, but what matters here is that all of us were students of the department,” he added.

After completing his study at the department, Prof Choudhury joined it as a teacher by the end of the 50s.

The alumni of Dhaka University's English Department gathered at the Teacher-Student Centre on Friday for their annual bash.

The department was opened when the university started its journey in 1921. The English Department Alumni Society came into being in 1986. It has since organised the annual bash every year. It also elects a new executive committee during the bash.

Generally, they pick the last Friday of January for bash. The alumni society is also planning a picnic on Feb 16, one of the organisers said.

(From left to right) English Department Alumni Society President Rasheda K Choudhury, former general secretary Toufique Imrose Khalidi, theatre activist Ramendu Majumdar and former senior secretary to the government Hedayetullah Al Mamoon among others at the annual reunion of the former students of the Dhaka University on Friday.

bdnews24.com Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi, a former general secretary of EDAS, said they wait throughout the year for the day of the reunion. “The last Friday of January is marked on all of ours calendars,” he said.

Recalling the days of their youth spent on the campus, the 1984-85 batch student of the department said it seemed to him that those days were “much better”.  

“We spent a lot of time hanging out here when we were young. We had bubbling youth. Those days, it seems to me, were much better. We used to fight, protest; we were rebellious, revolutionists,” he said.

He thinks the TSC has lost its old look like many other things have changed with time.

“The scenario appears to have changed a bit. This green lawn of TSC does not seem so green to me,” he said.

Theatre activist and advertising industry entrepreneur Ramendu Majumdar, who received his post-graduate degree from the department in 1965, said he never misses the event to take a walk down memory lane.

“I try to attend the event every year if I am in Dhaka to see old friends. But I haven’t seen anyone from my batch yet today because we passed out long ago,” he said.    

“I also meet many who I did not know were English Department alumni. It’s amusing. They are established in different levels of society now.      

“We go back to the good old days through chatter when we meet the known faces. Memories are always sweet,” he added.

EDAS General Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon was excited about the venue. “First of all, it’s TSC. Our memories are deeply entrenched in TSC. Our reunion gets a new dimension when we gather here,” he said.

“We go back to the good old days through chatter when we meet the known faces. These memories are always sweet,” he added.

English Department Alumni Society President Rasheda K Choudhury at the department’s get-together EDAS Bash on Friday.

English Department Alumni Society General Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon (right), a former senior secretary to the government, with other alumni at their annual bash on Friday.

EDAS President Rasheda K Choudhury said, “I am proud to be a former student of Dhaka University’s English Department, and I also think the university has given us many things. We organise this annual event together so that the old ones can come and the new ones can join.”

A development worker, Rasheda also thinks that the reunion is not only for banters, but it also reminds the English Department alumni of their responsibilities.

She said they should feel lucky to have studied in a department like the English Department of the university.

Paying respects to the seniors and teachers of the department, Rasheda said, “We had teachers like martyred (intellectual) Jyotirmoy Guhathakurta. We had Kabir Chowdhury, Munier Choudhury. Now we need to preserve their memories, works to follow the light they showed and show it to our successors.”

Rasheda, who is also executive director of the Campaign for Popular Education, said, “We came here not only to get degrees, but also to become enlightened human beings. We will spread our pledge among all, we will come together, get enlightened together.” 

Poet Gultekin Khan said she was delighted to see many faces from her department. “I am very excited. I did not use to hang out much at the TSC during my university days, but I feel great to have a chat and hang out with past students, teachers, my seniors and juniors when this special day comes every year.”  

Former students of Dhaka University's English Department spent Friday with laughter and chatter in their annual bash at the Teacher-Student Centre.

Singer Mehreen Mahmud, a 1993-94 batch student, said, “I return to get same feeling every year.”

“I did not have much liberty to rejoice, hang out. My mother wished to send me to study English. That’s why the Dhaka University memories are different,” she said.  

“Back then my life was strictly controlled while my friends roamed like free birds. I used to immerse myself in books. Now I hang out here quite a lot. I feel much free than before,” she said.

She also said she had first performed with a band at the Ruqayyah Hall.

English Department alumnus Shameema Ara Rahman brought along her husband Md Jahidul Islam, whose alma mater is also Dhaka University.

“I feel very excited. The day is very well spent here,” she said.

Jahidul, now an Upazila executive officer, said, “We wait for the day to see the others.”   

It was the first reunion for Afsan Afroz Moon, who left the department last year.

“We will also get old one day. It feels good to see the seniors, to connect with them,” she said. 

Nazneen Afroz Mouly, who recently passed from the department, said she too counts down the days to see everyone.

“It feels different to visit the old place where we used to hang out. Today we will see the seniors. We’ve only heard names of many of them or saw them on TV. We will talk, take photos together. That’s how we are going to make memories,” she said.        

A group of students of the department welcomed the alumni by singing Rabindranath Tagore’s “Jodi Tor Dak Shune Keu Na Ase”.

Rasheda and Mamoon delivered speeches after the programme started. Prof Serajul and the department’s Chairperson Prof Dr Kajal Bandyopadhyay also spoke.

EDAS awarded nine students for standout results in the evening. 

A fireworks display was also held after Prof Syed Manzoorul Islam, the election commissioner of the EDAS polls, announced the new executive committee. Rasheda and Mamoon have been re-elected president and general secretary.   

The former students of the department were also entertained with live music.

The ex-students gravitated toward old friends and filled up on winter cakes and popular Bengali snacks like ‘Puri-Singara’, ‘Fuchka-Pakora’, ‘Jilapi’, and ‘Jhalmuri’ as they used to do during the campus days.

Former Dhaka University Central Students’ Union or DUCSU general secretary and Jatiya Party leader Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, former National Board of Revenue chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid and former president of Dhaka University Teachers’ Asociation Prof Dr Sadrul Amin also joined the bash.

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