“Rupali Banerjee! What a surprise!” Prof. Paritosh Khanna had been given the papers of the new joinee to the department just a while back. So, his surprise was still genuine when Rupali was ushered in to meet him on her first day of the work.

She smiled while replying, “Surprise indeed! I had no clue that you were the HOD here. I was interviewed by Prof. Rao.” Paritosh noticed that her features were more mature than what he remembered. That was to be expected, he thought. He remembered her as an eighteen year old student. Eight years had passed since then.

“Yes. Please sit down. I was on a sabbatical for two years and was working as the director of a recently started social sciences institute in Delhi. I restarted here just a few days ago.”

“Interesting,” Rupali replied trying hard to hide her uneasiness. Paritosh noticed it, but decided not to bring it up.

“Anyway. So, welcome to the institute – a second time – this time as a faculty member. I hope you will have a great time here. You have already met Meher in admin, right?”

“Yeah. She is the one showing me around.”

“Good. Feel free to reach out to her for any help. And, of course, to me as well.”

“Sure. Thank you, Sir.”

“See you around. And yes – let’s schedule a meeting sometime early next week to discuss the courses you are going to teach this semester. Meher should be in the meeting and also Prof. Sinha, our representative to the course committee.”

“Will do that, Sir.”

—

Dr. Khanna had been friendly enough in the meeting, but Rupali was not happy to discover that he was the head of the department. She had practically run away from her life in the US. To find some peace, and stability. And this hadn’t been an auspicious beginning.

She remembered her days as a student in the same institute. She was mischievous by nature and was known to be a prankster. She was also careless and reaching the classes late or forgetting about a quiz was quite normal for her. But she got away with it most of the time. She was intelligent and did well even without working too hard; hence she was well-liked by the faculty members.

Not by Dr. Khanna though. He seemed to have taken a dislike to her early on. Rupali had noticed it during the first course she did under him in her second semester at the college. He was, generally, not one of the most approachable or friendly faculty members. But a delay of few minutes in reaching the class was not a big deal even for him. Except when it was Rupali who was late. Her friends had figured out that even if they were late for Dr. Khanna’s class, all they had to do was to reach there before Rupali. He would not care about anyone else. But he would not allow her in the class if she was late; and hence anyone else coming with or after her would also be banished.

She never accepted it before her friends, but his behavior really bothered her. Outwardly, she made fun of his attitude, but deep down, she took pride in being loved by all. Dr. Khanna was an irritant; his dislike for her was a blemish on her otherwise perfect world. She thought about confronting him sometimes, but could never gather the courage. But she could not let go either. So, she tried to work harder than usual in his courses. It showed on her performance, but not on his attitude. Beyond studies, she’d be on a look out for extra-curricular activities where he was the faculty advisor, participate and do well in those, but to no avail. She had tried everything possible in the first two years of her college to get into his good books, but he remained indifferent towards her at best; and grudging at worst.

In her third year, he had disappeared going on a long, unpaid leave. The opponent in a duel had suddenly vanished, and her hopes of conquering him were quashed. She had been frustrated.

For her post-graduation and Ph. D. she went to the US and over time forgot about her little teenage issue, until that morning.

“Hello, Dr. Banerjee. Welcome to the institute,” Meher had greeted her in the morning.

“Hi Meher. Nice to finally meet you in person.”

“Same here. We will have a lot of paperwork to do the entire day, but the HOD is free right now. So, you should meet him first.”

“Dr. Rao?”

“Oh no! Dr. Rao has left. Dr. Khanna is back in his place.”

“Dr. Khanna? Dr. Paritosh Khanna?”

“Yes. You know him?”

“He taught me when I was studying here.”

“Oh! That’s great then.”

‘Not really,’ Rupali had thought wryly.

—

“Good afternoon everyone,” Paritosh was addressing the monthly departmental faculty meeting, “As you are already aware, the primary agenda for this meeting is to nominate people from the department for the various administrative positions. But before that we must welcome Dr. Rupali Banerjee to our department as an associate professor.” He waited as a formal round of applause followed, “Most of you might already have met her and if not, I’d request you to make your acquaintance as soon as possible, preferably right after this meeting. By way of introduction, Dr. Banerjee has been an undergraduate student in this institute and some of the older faculty members here, including me, have taught her then. So, I feel not only the joy, but also pride, in welcoming her here as an accomplished young faculty. She has done her MS and Ph. D. from the New York University. Her doctoral thesis as well as post-doctoral research has already made waves in the academic world. And so we have high hopes that the addition of this young blood in our team will hugely benefit the students as well as the department and its research output. Please welcome Dr. Rupali Banerjee.” Another round of applause followed which Rupali acknowledged gracefully. She thanked Paritosh and everyone else in the department for helping her settle in quickly and said that she looked forward to exciting times in their company.

Inwardly she wondered about the Paritosh’ generous words. Had he forgotten his earlier attitude towards her? May be. He had been teaching for so many years. So many students would have come and gone – every year a few of them would have been good students.  He couldn’t be expected to remember everything about each one of them. It was perhaps surprising enough that he remembered teaching her.

‘Anyway,’ she shrugged off her thoughts and tried to concentrate on the meeting, whose focus shifted to her again after a while.

“For the students counseling forum, Dr. Banerjee, I was thinking of nominating you from our department. You have been a student here and as one of the youngest faculty members, I believe you will be in the best position to connect with the students and help them with their problems. So, can we send your nomination?”

“Sure Sir. I will try to do my best,” Rupali gave a formal reply. There wasn’t much to discuss about the proposal. As a young hire, she’d be pushed into various administrative roles; that was a given in the world of academics. This one would be as good as any other. But she was surprised when Paritosh asked her to meet him in his office after the meeting.

“How is it going, Rupali?” he was using her first name in private, she noticed. After their first meeting they had met only for departmental meetings or on some formal occasions, where others were also present. There she had gotten used to being addressed as Dr. Banerjee by him. Any chance meetings in department corridors involved no more communication than a nod and a smile most of the time.

“It’s been fine. Thanks for asking.”

“I just wanted to have a quick word with you regarding the responsibilities as a member of the students counseling forum. About some of the things you would need to keep in mind.”

‘Of course, he doesn’t trust me to do it right,’ she thought to herself; but smiled outwardly, “Sure Sir. I’m sure I can do with some help.”

He laughed slightly at that surprising her, “No. I am not offering any help. You don’t need that, I am sure. But just wanted to give you a word of advice and caution. Most of the administrative tasks are looked down upon by the faculty members. But there are some which are very sensitive. Student counseling is one of them. The kind of things that bother young people deep down, the kind of issues they deal with, and the far-reaching effects that they can have, are beyond our wildest imaginations. Help and support at the right time can prevent many a disasters. Young students have some experiences for the first time and a lot of it can be confusing. Particularly for those staying in the hostels, who might have come away from their protective families for the first time. So, do take care of your students.”

“I will keep that in mind, Sir.”

“Good.”

‘He has started understanding a lot about the confusions of the young students,’ she thought almost bitterly as she recalled her first brush with Paritosh several years ago.

—

To be continued