A Personal Tribute to Our JRC Sir
Brilliant is an understatement to describe him.
I am one of those few fortunate students of Professor Doctor Jamilur Reza Choudhury, or JRC Sir — as we lovingly addressed him — who had the opportunity of working with him closely. On completion of my studies, I went to work for the industry. But somehow or other, destiny frequently brought me close to JRC Sir. And every time I received something new from him.
My first meeting with JRC Sir was not very promising, although amusing as I look back today. It was 1981, my second year of undergraduate studies in Civil Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). A friend of mine and I were getting impatient in the classroom because we were not enjoying the lectures. After the roll call, we two sneaked out through the rear door. Those days we didn’t know much about JRC, except that he was the Head of the Department. As we stepped out, we bumped right into JRC Sir. Unbeknownst to us, he was walking along the corridor, perhaps expecting a few truants. Needless to say, he sent us, rather unceremoniously, back to the classroom.
In the 3rd year, I enrolled myself in a course on Structural Engineering that JRC Sir taught. I immediately started to appreciate his excellent style of teaching — eloquent, precise, and measured. We listened to him as the children did to the Pied Piper of Hamelin, as he skilfully and effortlessly guided us through the maze of complex mathematics and sophisticated algorithms in solving intricate structural systems. He taught mostly in English, although his usual conversations were all in Bangla. I can’t say what the others felt, but it was his way of speaking English that impressed me even more. My personal belief is that his English deliberations were more eloquent than those in Bangla. It’s from him that I appreciated the importance of pronouncing English correctly.
In the 4th and Final Year, I started my undergraduate research under JRC Sir. He asked me to carry out some analysis on slabs subject to different degrees of temperature at the two surfaces. I enjoyed the topic, worked hard, and ran multiple computer simulations to establish a pattern. I guess he liked what I did but didn’t make any comment. It was only much later that I realized how he taught me to work independently, without any direct supervision. It helped me immensely during my PhD studies and is still helping me in my profession.
Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project
In 2007, our company was pursuing the project for the design of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project (PMBP). For any company, it was a lucrative job, but for me, it was a dream project that comes only once in a lifetime. As we were preparing our proposal, I requested a meeting with JRC Sir at his office at BRAC University (he was then the Vice-Chancellor there). I took along our Head of Bridge Design Division. The meeting increased my interest in the project even more. My colleague later told me that he got some excellent ideas about the possible design options.
We got the job after intense competition and completed it on time.
In due course, we again submitted our proposal for the construction supervision of the Padma Bridge Project. This time I didn’t meet JRC Sir beforehand as I thought it might not be appropriate. The competition was again intense as expected for this high-profile project, but I guess our proposal was also excellent, and we won the job. I met JRC Sir at the contract negotiations, as he was the Chairman of the Panel of Experts (PoE). This time he was negotiating a commercial contract, and we were on opposite sides of the table. It was pretty tough, and I found him to be an excellent negotiator. What I noticed about him was that he was not trying to impose on us any impossible or unfair conditions; his only aim was to ensure proper implementation of the job. The result was a win-win contract between the Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) and the Construction Supervision Consultant that was us. It took several weeks of long-drawn negotiations, but finally, everything turned out to be acceptable for both parties.
There was an issue with the foundations of 14 piers of the Padma Bridge in the main channel, caused by unexpected sub-soil conditions. The design piles were not able to carry the anticipated loads from these piers, which needed review. While our project team was working on it, we met JRC Sir at his office informally for his suggestions. He sincerely appreciated that we went to him, ignoring the contractual formalities, and happily gave some quite helpful suggestions. Our team eventually solved the problem by increasing the number of piles and their load-carrying capacity by artificial means.
Karnaphuli Tunnel Project
My final interaction with JRC Sir was at the University of Asia Pacific (UAP) — he was the Vice-Chancellor there — as our company offered to share its industry experience with the students there. He appreciated it very much and immediately arranged for a meeting with the head of the Civil Engineering Department. I told JRC Sir that we had been doing a great business in Bangladesh for so many years, and it was now time for us to repay some of it to the community. I guess this is what he appreciated most. We soon entered into a long term collaboration agreement, including internships to UAP students and financial assistance. In November last year, we presented a technical talk on the Karnaphuli Tunnel Project, of which Sir was the Chairman of the Panel of Experts, to a full capacity audience at the UAP auditorium. JRC Sir took a keen interest in it and attended the whole session. I was told that it wasn’t usual for him to attend such long sessions.
Today we mourn the sudden demise of our JRC Sir, an icon and guiding star in the engineering community of Bangladesh. Let us also celebrate his active life that has enriched so many of his students, colleagues, fellow engineers, many others in the society, and the whole nation.
#JRC #UAP #UniversityOfAsiaPacific #PadmaBridge #KarnaphuliTunnel
