Death of Nasrin Khondokar- one of my most favorite teachers

Prof. Nasrin Khondokar died yesterday. She was my direct teacher in Dhaka University and taught Microeconomics in my third year in the course. I really enjoyed her class. I was never happy with my teachers as their teaching quality and professional ethics were questionable, with few exceptions of course. Nasrin Khondokar was one of the exceptions.

Most of the teachers used to use the same old class notes that they once prepared in the early days of their careers, when they hairs were black, and muscles were stronger to write. As their hairs became grey and the power of their muscle to rewrite was lost, their class notes became yellow. And we were the victim of those yellow obsolete rags. By the end of the second year, I completely lost any interest in their lecture, yet my presence was close to 100 percent in them, mainly to avoid any reprisal for showing my audacity not to show in class. Frankly speaking, I lost my respect to them as well, as I was convinced that they did not care at all for my learning, let alone my future. I was afraid to deal with two types of people in the campus; the terrorists and my teachers. The former are well known to the nation for having no class, the latter are not.

It is in this backdrop, Nasrin Khondokar, who just returned to Bangladesh after completing her PhD from Boston, started teaching the microeconomics in the beginning of my third year. She was a fresh air for us and great relief as well. She used the most recent textbook. She was methodological. Her style was elegant. Her delivery was crystal clear. Her intention was to give something to the students. She cared for the students. It is only because of her, my interest in economics was revitalized before it was completely killed by a group of people whose responsibility was to grow it. She died, but my interest in economics will remain alive. With her death, many will be deprived of the fortune I once had. I will always remember her as one of my most favorite teachers, who introduced the wonderful world of economics to me. Peace be upon her soul.