I ended up next to the New Market near Azimpur Dhaka after God knows when. I was at the Kalbela newspaper office to meet my colleague, collaborator and friend Sonjoy Ghosh to discuss some book editing issues. Going to a place one has not been in more than 30 years isn't easy. For one, one doesn't even have any landmarks in mind to navigate to that place. One is at the total mercy of the CNG driver who seemed to think it was at the end of the world.

It was certainly quite far away and though we began from Niketon slightly after two O'clock after negotiating what was a very outrageous fare demand of Taka 400. Took one which agreed to do the run for 350 but he made sure that the journey was arduous and worth his time and my money.

After doing practically half the roads of Dhaka he reached the avenue near the Dhaka College Balaka cinema zone and was very solidly encased in a massive traffic jam. Except that it was not incidental or accidental but chronic. It's always jammed this way. I sat unhappily wondering if I would reach my destination within any reasonable time.

After navigating for another half an hour, he reached the New Market and then dodged past Azimpour and stopped to ask a few young men about the location. And suddenly I was there.

Behind Dhaka College

Biswas building of Kalbela was very imposing and from the 7th floor veranda, Sonjoy pointed out the sights. Azimpur Colony was very much there but the buildings had changed into many long rows of buildings, each more anonymous than the one standing before it. It's the kind of sight that puts a mix of relief-many had places to live- and an ominous chill- no faces, no identity marks, just rows- in the heart.

One can see the domed gates of New Market clearly, now no longer so fancy but other rooftops looked better. One just below was actually a dyeing space for clothes to hang in many rows as the paint dried, to be soon ready for the market.

While further on to the right lies the rest of the middle city, to the left lies an awesomely huge pond guarded by thick sentries of tall and short trees. And it was with some shock that I realized that it lies within the premises of that old venerable institution called Dhaka College. I am an alumnus of that institution, having spent some of my most formative years there from 1969 to 1971 and after that returned to give our final exams and then moved on to Dhaka University.

I tried to find the buildings but from where we stood, they were not visible, trees hid them. Hostels stood dwarfed by the heights but it was the missing architecture of my past that jarred. Where did Dhaka College disappear? Behind trees of haphazard, urban mini jungles completely out of sync with the chaos of urban sprawl? Or was this inevitable?

Loss and gain

Dhaka College then was where the academically best went and we did form the crowd. Two years later, we did fill the top slots but it's not the only world that excited us. Both politics and literature also drew us and we answered that call. Many of us, including myself, began to write seriously after we entered college and formed groups to bring out little magazines. And several became literary luminaries like Wasi Ahmed, Shahidul Zahir and others.

Many of the good students were not just into politics but broadly speaking Left politics, particularly of the Soviet variety. Many remain politically sincere after all these years which speaks of the depth of their sincerity. And in some they all came together such as in Farabi, the shiniest amongst us who left us the earliest only a few years later.

Interestingly I think, we all were moving towards a world which could accommodate our many passions but we didn't know we were moving towards and that was the media. And so, we have Enayetullah Khan of Dhaka Courier and UNB as well as Hasan Ferdous, Manzurul Haq or even the most eminently independent jurist of this land, Shahdeen Malik. And there are so many other names in so many fields.

To be honest, I feel that this pre-1971 final generation was full of potentials of which much was achieved. We arrived ready in some sense at the college and given the post school freedom that all college undergrads are exposed to, we flourished. The College didn't mold us, we were self-molded to a good extent and both our schools and Dhaka College helped us become who we are. Ultimately as I look back a full half century + years I think our friends and peers influenced us just as much.

So, thanks Dhaka College even if I couldn't steal a glance at you hiding behind trees. You did good and was ready for us as we entered and then walked on to create both our achievements and crashes.