Chander Gupta
I passed out from the Department of English, Panjab University Chandigarh (PUC), with a Master of Arts (MA) degree in the year 1981. Subsequently I joined Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) at New Delhi for 1-year Post-Graduate Diploma in Journalism. I was the only one amongst my class fellows in English Department to transition to journalism course at IIMC. I, therefore, lost touch with MA (English) class-fellows, barring a few. The few I stayed in touch were those who later became my colleagues also in a Bank.
Recently, one of the class-fellows in English Department, known fondly as ‘Hardy’, embarked upon the project of getting in touch with the long-forgotten class-fellows. I had completely lost touch with Hardy after leaving Panjab University. To set the ball rolling, Hardy was able to cobble together a meeting of seven class-fellows (including himself and myself) at his own place on November 24, 2024.
Except for Arvind who was my colleague in Bank, I was meeting the other five after a hiatus of more than four decades. We chatted gleefully for couple of hours and refreshed our memories. At the end of the meeting, it was decided to form a WhatsApp group with the exhortation to everyone to find out more of the class-fellows to add to the group. The WhatsApp group has been aptly named “PU English Dept 1978-80”, with Hardy as the Admin. Within less than one month, the membership of the group has soared to 35.
Mine is an odd place in the 1978-80 group. Though MA is a two-year course, it took me three years to complete it.
I joined in 1978 but passed out in 1981. Intriguingly, I flunked MA (Part-I) once, without any tangible excuses to offer. So, I was classmate of those who joined in 1978 with me for one year only. Obviously, I was out of the Department for next year to reappear for MA (Part-I) in 1980 as a private candidate. After passing the MA (Part-I) examination in the second attempt, I re-entered the English Department in 1980 as a MA (2nd Year) student, merging with the batch of 1979-81.
As I had spent only one year in English Department with the members of newly formed 1978-80 WhatsApp group, familiarity with me is even lesser. Having passed out in 1981, I will technically be deemed belonging to 1981 batch.
Amongst the reconnected group of 35, only Ms Harpreet Pruthi not only went on to teach in the same Department but also rose to become its chairperson. Two amongst the 35 retired as IPS officers. Another one who retired as District and Session Judge is now sitting on an NCLT Bench. One has retired as an IAS officer and another as Income Tax Commissioner. A couple of them taught English literature in colleges where they eventually headed the English Department. Many amongst the 35 are settled abroad. I landed job in a bank, as also couple of others. Overall, each one of the 35 has had an accomplished and fulfilling life journey after passing out from the University.
I am looking forward to meeting in person more of my old classmates from English Department on the occasion of the Reunion, proposed to be held before the end of 2024, for an enriching experience.