Tribute
Memories of Jahangir Tareque
I had the privilege of closely knowing Professor Jahangir Tareque since 1965 when he joined Chittagong College as a lecturer in Bengali. I had joined the same college a year earlier. During those days Chittagong College was one of the biggest and best colleges in the then East Pakistan, having more than one hundred teachers at various levels and with Honours courses in several disciplines. Locally it was known as B.A. College. Some fifteen fresh graduates from Dhaka and Rajshahi joined the college in 1964. Some of those who had joined earlier two to three years back belonged to the same age group. Thus, young teachers constituted a significantly large group with close and cordial relationship among them. During off-time we used to meet in the teachers' room. Sometimes we used to go to the seaside or on picnics, no matter whether it was winter or summer.
Professor Tareque was friendly with us all, but did not normally join us on such occasions. He used to remain occupied with his studies (he was a voracious reader). But we naturally wanted him to join us and once I went to meet him in the room which he used to share with another colleague of ours. The idea was to try to convince him to join us in our "adda" and outings. I had rather a long discussion with him and he impressed me so much that I forgot to tell him what I had meant to tell him. This marked the beginning of a new phase in our relationship. I started visiting him more regularly, sometimes listening to his Tagore songs. Several others started joining us and they were Professors Montazuddin and Nazrul Islam of the Bengali Department and Sikandor Khan of the Economics Department. I do not know remember why Professor Tareque and Sikandor Khan used to address each other as "nana" (grandfather on the maternal side).
From Chittagong College I moved to Chittagong University and from there I went abroad for higher education. On my return after the Liberation War I joined Dhaka University, where I got Professor Tareque once again as my colleague. After sometime, Professor Tareque was awarded a post-graduate fellowship by the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation of Germany. This was a rare honour for Professor Tareque, firstly because since 1953 this foundation had been selecting its fellows on the basis of world-wide competition; and, secondly, because Professor Tareque was one of the very few awardees who did not belong to a pure science subject. This fellowship is awarded for a period of two years. This is not all. The foundation maintains life-long contact with its fellows and this means the fellows are invited to German universities after two years. Professor Tareque did very well in his chosen field of research, semantics (which itself is a very difficult subject).
Professor Tareque was an ideal and successful teacher. At the same time he was a highly committed research scholar. His publication on semantics bears testimony to his competence and dedication as a researcher. But he was always shy of publicity. The objective of his research work was mental satisfaction and advancement of knowledge. For many who could not see him closely, he was reserved. But he was very sincere and loyal to those whom he knew as friends. In his death the nation has lost an ideal teacher and committed research scholar.
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