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MY WORLD

AN UPRIGHT MAN

S.M. Ali
IT is in our tong-cherished cultural tradition that we think of our teachers in glowing terms, seeing In them, especially in retrospect, qualities which transcend their academic classroom performance. We are close to them through mutual concern, with devotion from our side and care from theirs dominating our ties.
A touching story I once heard of a teacher is that when he was dying and everything was getting hazy, he whispered, "It is getting dark, my boys, you may go home."
Looking back on the life and times of the late Syed Moazzem Hussain, one greal
A.G. Slock would look at my chances of sitting next to some bright-eyed boys from the Presidency College of Calcutta — Zillur Rahman Siddiqui was one of them — In the same class and digest Shakespeare and swallow Milton day In and day out
Dr Hussain was quite firm but polite in turning me down.
It was them I told him something about my modest journalistic ambition, with a Just a gentle hint about my flair for writing in English. Then. 1 offered to show him some clippings of my articles pub llshcd by an English-language weekly In Sylhct. He agreed to give me another interview.
quality of the former distinguished teacher that immediately comes to my mind is his uprightness. This impresston has something to do with my own admission Into Dhaka University and with my effort to get a place in the Salimullah Muslim Hal) where Dr Hussain was the Provost 1n the year, 1947 when I ventured into my university education.
With a poor second division obtained from second rale college In Calcutta, and that too In Intermediate Science, my chances of getting a place In the Honours Department of English Language and Literature were Just as slim as finding a seat in the prestigious Salimullah Hall.
During my first interview with him. Dr Hussain patiently explained to me why I could not get a place in his all. It was obviously pretty hard for him to tell a student right on his face that his past academic record fell below the required standard. For the same reason, he doubted if the them head of the English Department. Ms.
My second meeting with the Provost went off far belter than 1 had expected. Dr Hussain flipped through my scrap book. I lanced at the headlines of my reports and even read one or two pieces with some interest. Then, without wasting any time, he handed over to me two short notes, one giving me a place tn his hall and the other recommending to Ms Stock that she might consider me as a student for her department.
What impressed me was Dr Hussain's approach to the matter. It was straight-forward and somewhat original.
In fact, the Provost could have adopted a less upright position in giving me a place In the Hall and write a letter of recommendation to Ms Stock for a seat in her department.
After all, he knew my father very well, as one of hi* contemporaries, with the late Altaf Hussain and the late Mizanur Rahman.
However, being another upright man in his own way. my father had turned down my
request to write a personal note to his friend tn the university days. "Let Moazzem take his own decision without any pressure from me." he had said.
Wc saw quite a bit of Dr Hussain al various functions of the hall. In less than a year s time, he became the Vice Chancellor and started dealing with a variety of administrative and semi-political problems, ranging from filling in the void created by the departure of non-Muslim teachers for India to sporadic strikes, one of which called by the low paid employees of the university which saw the emergence of Sheikh Mujlbur Rahman, then a student of law, on the political scene. Then, we saw the first signs of the Language Movement, following the visit of Mohammad All Jinnah to Dhaka.
Slowly but surely, the University of Dhaka was get ting drawn into the political crosscurrents of the country. A quiet and a slightly conservative man, unused to political challenges. Dr Hussain probably watched the unfolding scenario with a mixture of alarm and concern. However, as far as wc could see, he kept this reaction to himself. Outwardly, he was sure and confident, almost unflappable and in sympathy with the hopes and aspirations of the student community. His performance has its lapses, deliberate or otherwise. but in time, they were no more than footnotes in the story of his life and lime.
It is gratifying for this newspaper that the leading tribute to the fate Dr Syed Moazzem Hussain comes from Dr M.N. Huda, another distinguished teacher during our lime In the university, one of the most affable personalities we have known in our academic world and later in the government when he served as the Finance Minister In the government of the late President Ziaur Rahman.