Professor Zillur Rahman Siddiqui

AMONG the few faculty members of whom we as students were proud of, Professor Zillur Rahman Siddiqui was one at the Department of English in Jahangirnagar University. The way he taught us, his analyses of literature, and the ethics he maintained when teaching us are still vivid in our memory.

When I enrolled in the university, Professor Siddiqui was the vice chancellor. During the first two years we saw him speaking as chief guest in various seminars, symposia, and cultural and social programmes. The manner in which he delivered his lectures and speeches, and his communication with people attracted us very much. When we were promoted to the final year of the Bachelor's programme, we came to know that in addition to his assignment as VC, he taught one course in the final year and one course in Master's programme. As soon as we knew about it, we waited eagerly to meet him in the class. Accordingly, he taught us in the final year of BA (Hons) and continued till Master's class. The punctuality and the regularity that he maintained in teaching our classes are simply rare. He was never late for class; neither did he miss any class. Moreover, he gave a clear instruction to us: “You should be here (in the class) before I'm here.” And we obeyed his instruction word for word.

His gracious and elegant presence in the class impressed us immensely. His way of speaking English with immaculate British accent was admiringly inspiring and something to emulate. And we noticed that when he used Bangla in his speech, he used only Bangla, and when he used English, he used only English, and while lecturing in the class he did not utter a single word in Bangla. He did not mix languages even in his day-to-day conversation.

He was well versed in the subject he taught and was always prepared. We never saw him groping for appropriate words, phrases or expressions.

We never heard Professor Siddiqui saying anything boastfully about himself or his deeds. I remember once he was on leave for one day with a prior notice saying he would not be able to teach our class the following day owing to an unavoidable circumstance. On that day he was in the TV and radio news. He was seen in a helicopter hovering over Khulna to select a site for the then proposed Khulna University. We came to know from the news that he was the chairman of one of the committees formed for the implementation of Khulna University. Being entrusted with a nationally important responsibility like this was, no doubt, a remarkable event in Professor Siddiqui's life, but never did he mention it to us in or outside of class.

Professor Siddiqui was born in 1928 at Durgapur in Jhenidah. He obtained BA Honours and MA in English at the University of Dhaka in 1951 and 1952 respectively. Then he went to Oxford University in England, studied English literature during 1952-1954 and obtained MA from there. Coming back to erstwhile East Pakistan, he joined Dhaka College. Later, he joined the Department of English of Rajshahi University where he structured and established a full fledged English Department. Subsequently, he joined Jahangirnagar University as Professor of English and organised the Department of English, designing a state of the art syllabus and appointing some eminent professors. He served there till 1996.  He became the vice chancellor of the University in 1976, and served ably for two consecutive terms (8 years) there.

He was appointed education adviser to the first caretaker government of Bangladesh during 1990 -1991. As a prominent writer he wrote about 40 books both in Bengali and English. He has been the editor of many books, one of which is Bangla Academy English –Bangla Dictionary. Besides writing and editing books, he wrote columns in several national dailies of the country. His column, 'Myself and Others' in the now defunct Bangladesh Times was a much read one.

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to literature and education, he was awarded 'Alaol Shahitya Purashkar' in 1977, 'Bangla Academy Award' in 1979, 'Kazi Mahbubullah and Begum Zebunnisa Trust Shammanana' in 1990, 'Alokto Shahitya Purashkar in 1998, 'MA Haque Swarna Padak' in 2003  and Independence Award in 2010.

This revered octogenarian educationist left us forever on November 11, 2014. May his departed soul rest in eternal peace.

The writer is Assistant Professor of English at Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, Dhaka.