Goodbye Oxford of the East
On September 15, 2004, we were reading the letter, "Our Campus" by Moazzem Hossain in which he says a senior teacher once commented "This place is a goddamn zoo". Our fathers told us that Dhaka University was known as the Oxford of the East when they had graduated from the Political Science department in 1949. At that time, it was India. Our fathers told us that it was the time of Prof. Razzak and Sardar Fazlul Karim. At that time, they used to write with quill pens and they were interested in education. We lived abroad for many years. We came to visit Dhaka University in 1984, in the English department. We were visiting for six months, and we were very disappointed so we told our parents that we were leaving. My (FM Chaudhury) Native American Indian friend Mary also came to visit the language institute. She mentioned that the man continuously passed rude and dirty comments. I also met a student (with huge glasses), and she told me that there was a lady who was wearing a long dress and singing songs by Tagore. The students said that the lady should not be singing Tagore songs because she must wear a sari. I found the student to be very biased and prejudiced. I walked away from her, and I still remember her. She would always talk about me and my friends in a humiliating way, she said, "I feel so bad for them." I don't think she had any respect for people. Instead, she looked at people with pity. We didn't need her pity. There were many people in the English department who thought like her. Dhaka University, and some of the teachers were very different from the people of 1949. I didn't find any element of education or enlightenment. I left, for a long time. I said goodbye father, I do not believe in your ideas, and goodbye Oxford of the East. We crossed the Ganges and many other oceans. Why should I stay somewhere where there is no love or respect?
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