The Professor and the Pupil

As A K Dasgupta’s personal assistant from 1963 onwards, I had known Ashok Mitra for well over 50 years. Sad though his demise was, the tributes paid to him in the EPW and elsewhere have been heartwarming. However, I would like to make a few factual corrections to Deepak Nayyar’s article, “Renaissance Man” (EPW, 19 May 2018).

Mitra received his BA Honours degree from University of Dacca in 1948, and not in 1947 as the article states. This is significant because, in 1947, Dasgupta was not in Banaras during the time of admissions and, if it were not for him, Mitra would not have been allowed to do a one-year master’s degree there. Moreover, Mitra was not a student of Dasgupta in Dhaka.