1991. First day of university. A tall man wearing suit was walking along the corridor of the journalism department on the ground floor of the Arts building. A buzz arose! Arefin Sir, Arefin Sir. I clearly remember - sir was walking, something like a file in his hand. The thin man occupied only a small part of the scene! But it seemed as if he was the only one present in the entire scene. He kept moving forward! He passed us. And spread a smile. In this way, he welcomed the new students.
Without saying a word, but as if he said a lot. We are familiar with this smile of Arefin Sir. In the memory that is imprinted in the mind, a smile of his face appears. I think he threw the reaction of this smile even to the angel of death. May that smiling face remain intact in the memory. Be well in the afterlife, sir.
So, I was talking about Arefin Sir! The tall, handsome man won my heart with a smile. Then the day he came to the classroom and gave us the first lesson in communication, me or we were fascinated and accepted that lesson. Interpersonal communication, intrapersonal communication, and all kinds of mass communication emerged in the communication education he gave in course after course.
We learned interaction, learned modeling, or learned the meaning of cohesiveness from a deep level. We also learned meta-perspective, or meta-meta-perspective! That is, how accurately I am able to understand what you think or how much you understand what I think about you. He also taught me all the definitions and analyses of communication disorders, which are still embedded in my brain and I use them in my daily work and practice.
So I understand that the DU authorities have created a drama with some ulterior motive in mind, such as 'the ‘Janaza’ was not held on campus because the family did not want it'! Or with some ulterior motive, they are now announcing a one-day holiday in the university again.
Let's not analyze the communication lesson. Or I have not analyzed the activities of Dhaka University. Let's just say that if someone does something with ulterior motive in mind, at least every student who has taken communication lessons from Arefin Siddique can easily catch it, remember this.
Back to Sir's words. When Sir came to the United States a few months ago, he came to Virginia to see his daughter. Both the daughter and son-in-law are studying at the renowned Johns Hopkins University here on scholarship. So, for that reason, a few of us who are members of the Mass Communication and Journalism-MCJ family gathered at the house of Dr. Subrata Shankar Dhar, another former teacher of the department. At that time, I was very impressed after spending time with Sir. I was also impressed listening to Sir that day. Sir was saying- ‘We were able to become teachers because you are students…’ Later, I wrote in a Facebook post, how to give the credit of the greatness of a teacher to the student should be learned from Arefin Sir….
Sir knew each of his students by name. He understood the mentality of each student separately. One of the reasons for this is that he listened. Every time we met, the conversation started with a word, Sir would say- ‘Speak, Menon’. I can throw a challenge, it has never happened to anyone that Arefin Siddique said, listen or listen. He would only say- ‘Speak or speak’.
Towards the end of that visit to the US, Sir was in New York. At that time, a gathering of MCJ family members was also held there at the house of Ashraful Alam Khokon and Rizwana Nupur, a former student couple of the department. There, I once again experienced Sir’s rare mind of patiently listening to everyone. Later I wrote on Facebook- ‘He is unique in his teaching… I have always seen him as an attentive listener… When we go to elders, we only listen, we can hardly speak. But it has never happened that we could not tell Sir what is on our minds…’
Let Sir listen. And that is why the students and everyone would go to him with their problems, needs, and requirements. Sir would listen patiently. And he would say. ‘Let’s see’. He would inform us within the very words of Let’s see, that he would try. And he would do it. Those who benefited from Sir (we can also say beneficiaries) would know, they would get the desired result from that little Let’s see.
But did everyone go for the need? No! Many went unnecessarily, just to meet Sir. His door was wide open for the students. Taking advantage of that, sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes even late at night, we went to Sir’s house. Especially the members of the Alumni Association of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism would go to Sir's house after long meetings at night. Sometimes just to meet Sir for a while. How sincerely Sir would give us his time.
You think, he used to live in the VC's house on campus. That would have made it possible. Not so. Even before and after when he was not the VC, we had the opportunity to go to Sir's house. Have tea, coffee and sweets. Spend time.
Then when the translation of George Orwell's '1984' was published, I gave Sir a copy. Many days later, when I went to another job - Sir said, Menon, you translate all the works of George Orwell. You are very good at translating his literary works. I was really surprised - in such a busy time, he read my translated book and asked me to translate all his works. I said, 'Yes, sir, I will do it.' I said, 'Animal Farm' has already been translated. The king said, "Then what, you will do your translation." And that same day he told me that another book by George Orwell, "Keep the About the Aspedistra Flying. He said, ‘Get it translated. It is a wonderful novel.’ Imagine how fast he read. Let me say that I had started the translation of ‘Keep the Aspedistra Flying’ under the title ‘Urao Shatabati’. It is not finished yet. Unfortunately, I will not be able to hand over this book (if it is ever published) to Sir.
Many things are said about Sir, his tenure as Vice-Chancellor is looked upon with great importance. But I think that Professor A. A. M. S. Arefin Siddique’s place as a teacher is the biggest. He himself looked upon that with great importance. Whenever we talked, he would say, ‘I actually feel more comfortable in the classroom.’ After taking over the responsibility of the VC, he would say, ‘I want to return to the classroom’. And that is why he used to take classes regularly even during his tenure as the VC.
Arefin Siddique thought that he could not contribute much to the university as the VC. He knew the reason for that. In many discussions, he would say how difficult it is to work here. But even during his time, the university became free from session jams. By successfully doing this one thing, he saved two or three years from the lives of thousands of university students. The great contribution of this will be understood more than the students who benefited from it, who had previously completed four years of studies in one campus in seven or eight years due to session jams.
Let Arefin Siddique not want to promote his achievements in vain. Rather, he would try to improve the very place where he was failing. I have met him in full-fledged interviews at least three times in my journalism career. He patiently answered all the simple, difficult or stupid questions. He spoke frankly about his failures or inabilities.
The time when the entrance examination was canceled due to the question paper leak at the university - the news of the leak was published by me, through the university correspondent. As the incident had put the university in trouble, Sir was also a bit embarrassed. But he never told me that in any meeting.
Rather, I think for some reason, when his student created an example of worthy investigative journalism, he would be more proud whether it was a personal loss or a cause of embarrassment for him. This is Arefin Siddique. Professor Dr. AAMS Arefin Siddique. Who left the illusion of this world and went to the other world on March 13. He left behind his unique personality and a smile on the world. Which thousands of his students can see floating before their eyes when they think of him. And will float for a long time.
Author: Teacher, Washington University of Science and Technology, Virginia, USA.