~
My name was given by my grandpa (Debendranath). As far as I remember hearing from him, I was welcomed to the planet, in general, and to the family, in particular, being born a second male child in the family -- the obvious logic being that he was probably too fed up parting with handsome dowry amounts to marry off four of his female children! "Welcome" in Sanskrit is "Swagatam," and that is the root of my name. Cool, huh?!
I come from a family of musicians and artists on my dad's side, but higher learning and administration on my mom's. Most notable among all are my father (Sukumar), who passed away on December 19, 1999 after a very short illness, was a retired school teacher by profession, but a born musician-cum-fine artist, and was more versatile than any living being I have ever encountered, and my older brother (Gautam), who is a professional, hardcore music person (guitarist-songwriter-composer-arranger). The latter, nicknamed "Tyson" by the famous Indian pop singer Usha Uthup for his heart-rending "fights" with music, certainly, in my opinion, holds all the promise of hitting the headlines in the world of Indian commercial music someday in the foreseeable future!
My grandpa had a nice balance of education, trade, and artistry in him. But was an extremely honest and pious man at heart. He gave up the practice of law because he found he could not avoid telling lies in that profession! A man of great vision, his poetic artistry attracted me at a very early age. I owe a great deal to him for all that I am today. He was born on December 4, 1899, and peacefully passed away on November 28, 1983, right in front of my eyes. Thanks to my grandpa, I went to a school where English was the medium of instruction. And so did my two other siblings (both brothers -- I have no sisters). The school is called "St. Mary's Orphanage & Day School (S.M.O.)," Dum Dum. There I completed my elementary through secondary -- i.e., kindergarten through tenth grade -- education (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education, under the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, New Delhi) in 1980. Then I went to Scottish Church Collegiate School, Calcutta, and did my Higher Secondary (eleventh and twelvth grades) from there. This was a transfer from the New Delhi Council to the West Bengal Council, but I did not physically have to move myself from the cozy comfort of my Dum Dum (a populous suburb of the North Calcutta region) home.
My college education was also in Calcutta, and is outlined in my résumé. Calcutta University is a huge institution of learning, and has more than 275 colleges all over the city and the state of West Bengal. Also colleges are usually not separated by the fields of study -- except for medicine, law, and such special professional fields. Instead, they are kind of just a division and subdivision of the gigantic volume of students that the university enrolls each year, which means that each college may offer quite a number of different combinations of subjects and streams (like arts, science, and commerce). The academic calendar usually runs July through June, but is highly flexible at various levels, and there is no further subdivision of the year into semesters or quarters. The overall ex-officio administrative head of the university is the Governor of the state of West Bengal, and is called the Chancellor. The real functionary head, however, is the Vice-Chancellor, who is the immediate subordinate in position to the Chancellor, and is followed in rank by the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic), Pro-Vice Chancellor (Finance), Registrar, Deputy Registrar, Assistant Registrars, and several Secretaries.
Anything beyond the bachelor's level is usually christened as postgraduate study in India. So, MA/MS and PhD would be called postgraduate programs ("courses" in Indian terminology). And anybody who has passed the bachelor's level is known as a "graduate" irrespective of the fact if he/she is continuing his/her education at the graduate ("postgraduate" in Indian terminology) level!
One interesting experience I had was that in one of the colleges that I taught I was once a student at the undergraduate level. The college was a real fun one -- centrally located in the city of Calcutta, it was one of the most noisy, disturbed, and corrupt localities I've ever seen or known! Sometimes, it was hard to deal with that -- both being a student and a teacher for quite some years. Nevertheless, it was, indeed, fun!
My transition from India to the United States hasn't been an easy one at all. I have had hard-to-tackle hindrances at each and every step. But relentless efforts, undeterred determination, immense patience, and a strong belief in God made me cruise through all the rough edges in the long way from India to the US, like they have been doing in all the other aspects of my life.
Basically speaking, I'm very ambitious: always thoughtful of the fact that "there are so many things left to be done, but so little time left to do them!" But I can work extremely hard on fulfilling my ambitions. Life has taught me (and is continuously teaching me) how to live through life. Besides, I absolutely trust in my faith in the Almighty! Not only do I thoroughly enjoy reading holy scriptures, but also do I try to make my best use of the knowledge derived from them. "Shreemad-Bhagavad-Geeta" is my favorite numero uno Hindu scripture, and I feel that the irrefutable teachings of Lord Krishna therein help me a lot to understand the true meaning of life, and the battle that we are constantly fighting in order to survive! Just imagine how much of energy it takes to stand up on your feet without support! How much of inner strength one needs to possess to breathe in all the germ-filled air that we inhale at every moment and use it for our metabolic functions! How much of power we need to possess to fight out the friction that we are constantly encountering in order to traverse the passage of infinite space while we are moving in measured and disciplined orbits! What is the source of all this energy, inner strength, and power? How does the life cycle continue to continue? How at all did it all begin?
The above-mentioned questions maybe really hard to answer for a layman like me, but they certainly give me enough food for thought, and provide me the utmost solace and bliss! For my spiritual inclination, I owe a great deal to my dear dear mom (our culture says: "don't mention mom's name!" She is so so precious!). She is THE BEST mom that ever existed! She has taught me through a myriad of experiences in own her life not only how to handle the rough weather, but also how to maintain composure in moments of ecstasy!
Last but not the least, I want to mention that I have a sweet little brother (Sanjoy) whose sacrifice for work is hard to describe. He works for "Hero-Honda," a première motor cycle manufacturing company based on Indo-Japan collaboration, and probably considers work to be his first love!
A home-loving, down-to-earth person, physically away from all my family since September 8, 1996, I miss them all beyond measure!
My current research for my Master's thesis at the University of Nevada, Reno is based on export-base theory (a topic in regional economics). I am trying to develop a disaggregated model on Elko County of Nevada using the basic and non-basic components of each of the eight sectors under study. I am working under the able guidance of an eminent regional economist, Dr. Thomas ("Tom") R. Harris, who is a Foundation Professor and the Director of the Center for Economic Development at this university. Based upon the success of this study, I would like to conduct similar studies with other rural counties later on. I hope, thus, to pursue my interests in economic development.
Right now, I am really excited about two things: one, to finish my master's thesis and graduate from this school (UNR); and, two, to join a Ph.D. program in Agricultural Economics at the University of Georgia, Athens (UGA), for which I am offered an assistantship commencing the Fall of 1999. In the meantime, I am planning to attend several conferences too.
* My favorite dream: Flying like a bird...weightlessly and aimlessly!
* My favorite journey: Journey through life!
* My favorite food categories: Indian/Bengali, next Mexican, next Chinese!
* My favorite book categories: Autobiographies, Romance, Detective, Travelogues, Inspirational! (not necessarily in that order)
* My favorite movie categories: Classics, Romance, Romantic Comedies, Musical! (not necessarily in that order)
* My favorite music categories: Top 40, Soft Rock, Pop, Adult Contemporary, Alternative Rock, Jazz, New Age, Singer/Songwriter, Folk, Country, World in general, and Indian (Modern, Film, Rabindrasangeet, i.e., Tagore songs), etc. -- depending on mood and other things! (not necessarily in that order)
* My favorite dress categories: Vary according to time, place, mood, and circumstances! But certainly something loose-fitting!
* My favorite colors: The color of life, the color of love!
* My favorite words: Love, Mother, Patience, Will, Hope, Persistence, Happiness, Try, Heart, Mind, Eye!
* My favorite reasons to respect (others): Good Physique / Sound Health, Good Heart, Intelligence, Ability to respect others' feelings in the truest possible sense!
* My favorite advice: Do it straight, and keep doing it straight, as long as the goal is not reached!
The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
