Zaad Mahmood (28), a recent entrant to the world of lecturers, loves his job for the same reason as does Tapasya Ghosh, who has been in the profession for more than 20 years — the love and respect they get from their students.

“So many of my students stay in touch years after graduating. I feel proud of all their achievements and touched by their love,” says Ghosh, who teaches Bengali at City College on Amherst Street, Calcutta. She feels that there have been no significant changes in the attitude of students in the last two decades — a section of them still comes to college only to have fun (studies are a distraction) while the other comes to learn.

“My satisfaction lies in passing on my knowledge to those eager to learn,” says Ghosh. She loves interacting with the new generation of students, as does Bhaswati Chatterjee, head of the department of history, Vidyasagar College, north Calcutta. “I find the enthusiasm of the students contagious,” admits Chatterjee, “Their lively interest in everything motivates me,” she says. “I would have been bored of teaching the same thing year in and out if it wasn’t for the freshness that new students bring.”

Chatterjee also enjoys the absence of deadlines and the measure of independence her profession allows. “In the classroom, I’m the boss,” she says with a smile. Sravanti Bhowmick, who teaches philosophy at Surendranath College for Women, Calcutta, agrees. “When I’m teaching, nobody can pressurise me to say something I do not agree with. I believe this is the only profession where you can speak your mind,” she says. The one thing Bhowmick does not like about her profession? “Earlier, professors were automatically shown respect but now I have to earn it from each new batch. But I don’t blame the students; some professors these days are so busy making money from private tuitions that they come to class only to relax. So, dedicated teachers like us have to prove to the students that we intend to take classes seriously. Of course, once they realise that, their respect for us increases,” she says.

Bhowmick finds no reason for professors to take tuitions because, she says, they now get paid a reasonable amount. “As a profession, it is decent paying,” echoes Mahmood, a full-time lecturer in the political science department of Jaipuria College in Calcutta. “And you can take time out for yourself — one of the reasons why I chose this profession.”

“I wanted to stay in academics, so I opted to be a lecturer,” says an English lecturer at Calcutta University. “In fact, I love teaching and never wanted to be anything but a lecturer.” The fact that she could have a personal life was the other attraction.

Bhowmick regrets that very few people these days choose to become lecturers — most wander into the profession having failed to do anything else. But the thing she misses most is “good students”.

“People choose philosophy as a last option but to understand the subject you need more than average intelligence. Naturally, average students fail to make the most of the subject.” With ethics becoming such an issue, job possibilities for philosophy students have boomed, she says.

Tapati Ghatak, who has been teaching for 25 years, has a different take on the subject. “My students are usually from the suburbs and many of them are firstgeneration college goers. After a few months in college, when those diffident eyes take on an intelligent gleam, it is my greatest reward,” says Ghatak, who teaches history at Acharya Prafulla Chandra College. Doesn’t she ever find her work repetitive? “Only when I have to correct a dozen copies with not only identical answers but even the same mistakes,” she says with a sigh.

These copies normally belong to students who attend the same tuition classes, she explains. “You take a lot of trouble to teach in class. Then you find carbon copies of the same answer sheet waiting for you at the end of the term. Nothing can be more demotivating than that,” says Chatterjee.

But students still want to join the profession, says the English lecturer. Maybe not the best ones, but the ones who love the subject and like to teach. To clear NET, students need to have their concepts clear and be ready to work hard. “If you are reasonably focused, you’ll be able to crack NET in a single attempt,” says Mahmood. Of course, a love of the subject is also necessary to become a good professor.

“It is a multi-dimensional career,” says Ghatak. “And even if you have to teach the same thing every year, life is never boring because each student is different and every year you have to work out how you’ll tackle that particular batch,” she says.

And those long vacations? Well, that is a bonus.