In Memoriam
Prof. R.K. Gupta
(17 August 1936-10 June 2025)
by
Sachidananda Mohanty
Prof Raj K. Gupta (RKG) of Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Kanpur was a distinguished member of English Studies at the national and international level. He was widely admired by a generation of students and scholars for his seminal critical work in English and American Literature. A multifaceted personality with outstanding international awards and publications, he was modest to the core. He lived a life of quiet dignity and forbearance, free from a desire for public fame and recognition.
A Fateful Encounter
I knocked gently on the door of Prof. R.K. Gupta’s study at IIT Kanpur, and nervously waited in the corridor of the multi -storied Faculty Building. It was a sultry day in 1986; not a soul was in sight.
I had joined the Ph.D. program in English [Humanities and Social Sciences] at IIT Kanpur almost by accident in 1984. The institute then offered a second-class train fare for appearing at the entrance examination. ‘One might as well travel to see the city!’ I thought. I had journeyed from Berhampur University, Odisha, where I held a permanent position as a Lecturer in English.
I got through the interview. Should I join the program?
I liked the institute’s avant-garde facilities, its spacious library, aesthetically designed and built with concrete, steel and glass. Erected by the Americans in the 60’s, it faced a majestic fountain; a marvel to watch, especially during the evening hours. The waters cooled down the summer heat of Kanpur.
In the evening, I met Dr B.N. Patnaik at his residence. A faculty member at the HSS; he knew my family, and that helped.
The Campus
I strode down the salubrious, tree-lined avenues: peacocks strutted about merrily, and rabbits scurried for cover. I visited the halls of residence, the ‘Visitors’ Hostel’ and the ‘Health Centre’ that boasted modern amenities; In one corner of the campus, there was an air strip with hangars, planes and gliders; An Olympic size swimming pool vied for attention; there was distinguished faculty and a modest scholarship waiting -- rare attractions in the eighties of the last century.
I made up my mind to join IIT Kanpur.
By 1986, I had completed the Course Work and the Comprehensive Examinations that followed the American pattern. While my batchmate, Neelakantan took up the ‘Fiction of Saul Bellow’ for research, I selected the ‘Later Fiction of D.H. Lawrence’. Both of us opted for Prof. R.K. Gupta as our thesis supervisor. We were impressed by his dedicated teaching and quality publications.
‘I have become the editor of Gymkhana News, dad!’ I wrote with excitement to my father.
‘When are you completing your Ph.D. my son!’ my father wrote back in the return mail, He was nonplussed.
I shall not forget his remarks for the rest of my life! ‘Indulgence,’ as a word, was clearly absent in my father’s vocabulary!
***
Prof. R.K. Gupta turned out to be more severe than I had expected him to be. ‘Keep working on your chapter’, he had sternly advised, ‘Come back to me after a few months when you are ready with a draft’.
I thought I was now ready.
***
Back to the Present
‘Come in’, he said and I stepped into his office. It had a spartan look: a table, chair, a book- shelf and a glass of water.
‘Please sit down’, he said, as he took the draft from my hand, and began reading. I watched, nervous and expectant.
He glanced quickly at the first page; his gaze went down swiftly to the bottom; fixing his gaze at the footnote section.
“Why have you put a comma when you should have used a semicolon?” he demanded.
I froze, distraught and dazed. I had never met such a teacher in my life. At Sri Aurobindo International Centre at Pondicherry and at the University of Hyderabad, I had encountered teachers who were strict, but most were kind and generous. Now I was in front of someone who appeared aloof, austere and forbidding.
How am I to deal with such a supervisor for the next few years, the thought crossed my mind.
I returned from my reverie.
‘You call this work, Mr. Mohanty!’
Take it back and keep working; come back when it is absolutely perfect.’
He returned the chapter, impassive and taciturn.
I picked up the draft and retraced my steps, crestfallen.
As I returned to my room, G-208, Hall V, it took me a while to get over the shock and the grief. I resolved not to give in. however: could not let down my father.
For the next fortnight or so, I worked hard and left nothing to chance. In due course, I submitted the chapter; this time I earned judicious praise from Prof. Gupta, known in the Department as RKG. In the process, I learnt the first and lasting (academic) lesson of my life: ‘Be thorough; never compromise with the quality of your work down to a comma, full stop and semi-colon!’
RKG was an absolutely dedicated teacher and a complete professional, whether in teaching, research, research supervisor and publication. If IIT Kanpur had the reputation of being set up by a Consortium of American Universities, RKG was a product of the best of the American system of higher education. As an early Fulbright Scholar, he had sailed the proverbial seven seas and acquired a doctorate in American Literature from a coveted University.
***
Impressive Track Record: International Education
Born on 17 August 1936 at Kanpur, Prof R. K. Gupta received his M.A. English from Agra University in 1957 in first class; M.A. English from University of Rhode Island, USA in 1962, and Ph.D. English from University of Pittsburgh, USA, 1964.
He taught at Robertson College, Jabalpur, 1957-1961; University of Rhode Island, 1961-62; Hindu College, Delhi, 1964-65; Kurukshetra University, Jan.-July 1965; Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, 1965-1997; he was Assistant Professor of English, Memphis State University USA,1969-70; and retired as Professor of English from IIT Kanpur In 1997.
Coved Awards
He was a Senior Fulbright-Hays Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, USA, 1977-78; Visiting Professor, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 1983-84; Visiting Fulbright Fellow, Yale University, Summer 1989.
At Jabalpur he came in close contact with Prof. S. Nagarajan and developed a life-long friendship with him. (Prof. Nagarajan came to be known as a legendary Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Poona and Hyderabad later). RKG also knew Acharya Rajneesh who taught philosophy at Jabalpur then.
If my memory serves me right, at Kurukshetra University, he taught Prof Amritjit Singh who served the University of Hyderabad with distinction during 1977-1979. (Prof. Singh retired as an acclaimed Professor of English from Ohio University).
RKG published two books, a monograph, and more than sixty research papers in journals in India, USA, England, Canada, Germany and Japan. His book, The Great Encounter: A Study of Indo-American Literary and Cultural Relations was co-printed by Riverdale Company. USA, in 1987.
***
RKG was uniformly punctual and disciplined in his work habits. During the cold mornings of December, he came to the class, smartly dressed with a muffler tucked around his neck, army-style; he cycled down to the Faculty Building to lecture to our class on American Literature. We admired his publications in American Literature and New England Quarterly.
In course of time, I saw other aspects of RKG and his loving spouse, Mrs Priyalakshmi Gupta who taught English at PPN college, Kanpur and retired as the Head of the Department.
Away from home at Bhubaneswar and my father’s company (my mother had an untimely demise) I treasured my weekly trips to the residence of the Guptas on campus. I was treated as a student and a son. Tea time with the Guptas was more than just tea. It was a tray full of snacks (and conversation) served endearingly by Mrs. Gupta. My batch mate, Neelakandan too was treated by him as a family member. Think of the Gurukul Ashram!
Like Prof. S. Nagarajan who taught me how to write with care, attention and precision (‘What is the connection between the last sentence of the first paragraph and the opening of the second para?) RKG went through each line with meticulous care and rigor. He was dead against breezy and superficial writing. ‘No pomposity and no verbosity please!’’ Sentence must be short and memorable; each note leading to a final symphony.’ ‘No flowery language. Every para must be organically connected to other paras, and together lead to a clinching end.’
Steadfast loyalty to Academic Values
In 1995, I came down to Kanpur from Delhi to seek his advice urgently. I was undecided about the inclusion of an essay in the Fulbright and Cultural Exchange volume I was editing for the U.S. Educational Foundation in India [now USIEF) (later published as, In search of Wonder: Understanding Cultural Exchange: Fulbright Program in India: 1950- 1956, New Delhi: [Foreword : J.K Galbraith], Vision Books,1997), because an author -contributor happened to be a well-known philosophy Professor, and I was uncertain about the quality of his submission.
RKG was clear in his thinking: ‘Forget about the fact that it is me or Prof Nagarajan,’ he said, ‘make a decision solely based on objective, critical ground.’ An advice I would always remember.
Similarly, he stood his ground on many occasions in his career. In the Nineties, for instance, when Delhi University Vice- Chancellor, a well-known Left icon, insisted in the Selection Committee (of which RKG was a member) that a particular candidate ought to be taken as a Professor of English. RKG firmly disagreed. ‘I am sorry,’ he replied, ‘there was more of polemics and less of criticism in the reply of the candidate, and I cannot recommend.
RKG was prepared to give a dissenting note, and the Vice- Chancellor had to relent. That was the integrity RKG! He did not care if he was to be invited again for a selection committee in Delhi or not. It was Truth to power. Nothing else mattered!
***
As I made progress on the ‘leadership fiction’ of D.H. Lawrence,’ RKG shared his joy. When the dissertation was over in a record time of one and half years (one and half years for course work and comprehensive examinations aside) RKG and I had become close friends.
‘It’s your own work Sachi,’ he would say to me periodically.’
‘You taught me how to write Sir,’ I would protest with a smile.
At the University of Hyderabad
I left IIT Kanpur in 1987 and joined the English faculty of the University of Hyderabad. At the latter place during 1977-1979, I was taught by a galaxy of English teachers, the very best in the country: Shiv K. Kumar, S. Nagarajan, S. Viswanathan, Amritjit Singh, Meena Alexander, Surajit Sen, Arvind K. Mehrotra and Prashant K. Sinha.
To this pantheon, I now added the name of Prof. R.K. Gupta. Whether during his visit to Bhubaneswar and Puri, meetings in his office or social visits, my teaching and headship at Hyderabad, and Vice-Chancellorship of Central University of Odisha at Koraput, my Fulbright assignments abroad during 1990-1991 and 2004-2005, and many other notable events, I shared my joy with RKG and received his blessings, good wishes and encouragement. He was a father figure indeed!
I learnt from RKG the need for professional and disciplinary rigor, the importance of objectivity in critical matters and the virtue of non-partisanship.
RKG believed that it is only the weak and insecure in all fields, including in academics, who believed in groupism and coterie activity. He was against all forms of superficial, trendy and dilettante activity. He disliked vanity and never courted favor from anyone. He hated all forms of vain glorious activity. He was a stalwart in his field and yet did not care for any accolades.
RKG has given a lot to all those who were close to him including his adopted family, Ravi, Nandini and their son. Sadly Mrs. Gupta passed away in 2014 due to illness. RKG faced his aloneness with fortitude.
RKG lived the life of a recluse. But he was stoical and had a quiet dignity. I never found in him a smallest trace of bitterness. Endowed with a razor-sharp memory and a fine sense of wit and humor, he was a storehouse of memory and a raconteur par excellence.
Conversations with him were most memorable; he was full of fatherly concern. ‘Is Sachi taking good care of you!’ he would tease my wife Simi’ from time to time. I felt proud that RKG was admired by academics at home and abroad. His books, including the classic study of the Indo-American literary cultural encounter, have remained classics in the field.
***
Lasting Memories
I remember Bollywood movies of yesteryears at IITK’s L- 7 [Lecture Hall Comple]; ‘Alu Paratha’, at midnight in the Halls of Residence, Cul Fest {Cultural Festivals] in the spacious sports ground complex, trips to dusty ‘Bara Chowrah’ and ‘Meston Road’ in the Seven Seaters; watching ‘An Evening in Paris,’ after passing the Comprehensive Examinations, and other memories, too sacred and personal to be named here.
Most of all, I shall remember RKG for making a difference to my life, then and ever after!
Prof Sachidananda Mohanty is a National Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study. Shimla. He is a Member of the University Grants Commission. He was formerly the Vice - Chancellor of the Central University of Odisha and Professor and Head, Department of English, University of Hyderabad.
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