Last time I met Dr. Chatterjee almost
12 years ago, in Durgapur, during the Rath Yatra Festival where he was one of
the organizers of the Book Fare, hosted as part of the festival. Dr Chatterjee had
just come back from US after attending an International Seminar on Development
of Metallurgical Engineering. I purchased a few books including one anthology
of essays by the great Bengali author -Sarat
Chandra. The other Bengali book was “Amader
Meyebela.” (My childhood) by controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima
Nasreen. Nasreen used the word “Meyebela” instead of the original Bengali word “chelebela”
(childhood) to highlight the discrimination of the girl child in the male dominated society.
“Tui Bengali Boi porsis” Dr. Chatterjee was exalted seeing me buying
Bengali Books.
Dr. Chatterjee was the first person I met after getting off from the
Shatabdi Express at Durgapur. He was
waiting at the platform to receive our group of young and energetic Management
Trainees, fresh from the Engineering College. For the next one year, I had to
visit Dr. Chatterjee from time to time as he was our Training Manager. As a
Training Manager, he never enthused us to go any extra mile and often we took
advantage of his leniency to bunk training to relish life outside during office
hours.
Somehow Dr. Chatterjee grew fondness towards me and he had always a lot
of spare time for me for discourse on diverse subjects but never on steel business.
In those days, the financial might of SAIL was crumbling in the midst of global
economic slump but many employees still used to work like the Government Babus.
Dr. Chaterjee’s area of interest was Ancient Indian Metallurgy. As History was my
subject of choice, perhaps Dr. Chatterjee found it easier to correlate
with me more than my other friends. Though my closeness with him made some of
my batch-mates little envious, it had little to do for me in getting the
highest rank in the one year of Management Trainee program. Years later, I
heard that the rank helped me getting a timely promotion inspite of my absence
from office for almost two years on extraordinary medical leave.
Dr. Chatterjee’s story of ascendance in life was inspiring. Hailing from
a very poor family, Chatterjee joined
Steel Authority as a lowly paid contract labour after passing out from school.
In my last seventeen years of professional life, I have worked in various roles
in Steel industry, seen lives in Crude Oil drilling and then the jobs in a
refinery. For those unfamiliar with the steel making process, it will be appropriate
to tell that steel making is by far the hardest and at times the heat inside
the shop floor is unbearable. Working as a contract labour in such inhospitable
condition, it requires incredible drive to think beyond. But he was a man with a dream. So after a hard
day’s work, Chatterjee used to attend classes for Engineering Diploma course in
a college in nearby Asansol which hosted classes in the evening for the working
students. After passing out, Chatterjee soon got absorbed as a permanent employee as a
Diploma Engineer in SAIL. Thereafter, he completed AMIE , equivalent to B.Tech Engineering and soon
joined the executive cadre of SAIL.
After Engineering, Dr. Chatterjee didn’t stop and completed BSC and Post-Graduation followed by Doctorate
in Ancient Indian Metallurgy. He often used to tell me about his struggling
days. As a training Manager, his biggest contribution to me in that one year
was his own life story.
He he told me once “ Choose a subject and start gathering information
and knowledge on it every day. After twenty years, you will find, you are one
of the most acknowledged persons in that field”.
After seventeen years, I realise how true were his words !
Dr. Chattejee advised me to do one such research project on Chilarai-
the Koch general. To him, India has seen many great generals but never in the league
of multifaceted Chilarai, a Great General, scholar with impeccable knowledge
and wisdom . Yet history has not been kind to him and forgotten his
contribution to the Vashnavite Cultural Revolution in Assam as well as his
military pursuits to create a vast Koch empire.
“Kamaljit, start your research on Chilarai and bring him to the
limelight of Indian History over the next 20 years.”
I listened and forgot his words quickly. In the last seventeen years, I
haven’t turned a page on Chilarai- the legendary figure and History continues
to miss him.
Perhaps I make good Chemistry with the “Chatterjees”. There is another
Chatterjee, a retired General Manager of
Indian Oil . An immensely knowledgeable technocrat, he was also
disliked by some for his habit of throwing probing technical questions to others.
Before he left Digboi, he wished to give me his copy of the “Parry’s Hand Book”
- a classic handbook of Chemical Engineering which he was awarded in IIT Kharagpur
for his academic excellence. Being fully aware of my limitations, I politely
refused to accept it. In an official trip to Paris, he gave me 100 US Dollar as
a loving elder to spend on some French food( he knew my weakness for good food) which I returned after coming back saying that I
couldn’t spend the money and it brought immediate smiles to his face. He refused to
take back and asked to arrange a small get-together instead by volunteering to bear the additional expenditure.
May both the Chatterjees live long healthy lives and continue to bless
me and my family.
