Mrinal Datta Chaudhuri

Mrinal Datta Chaudhuri, retired Professor of Economics at the Delhi School of Economics passed away today. He was one of a kind, a vanishing breed, both as an academic and as a person. Back in 1990 I took a topics course in the second year of the Master's programme, called Transport, Infrastructure, and Planning (as far as I can recall) just because MDC (as we called him then) taught it even though the course title did not sound very attractive at that point with game theory and information economics in the air! Other than learning some really interesting economic applications of certain mathematical methods, there were fabulous anecdotes that were worth their weight in gold. All delivered with his unique style (laconic air, short sentences, and an accent that had traces of both Sylhet and Boston). As a person he was caring, warm and affectionate yet in a very dry and no-nonsense way. A few years after graduating from Delhi School when I was a second year PhD student at Harvard, he looked me up during one of his regular visits to the Boston area, and then as a way of starting the conversation drily remarked "You look prosperous" referring not to the tight budget of a graduate student but to a bit weight I had put on, which was not hard given how skinny I was earlier.

He never published up a storm but was widely respected for his erudition and brilliant insights. I once asked him what his life philosophy was, and he said to do the things one likes and get through the day without unnecessarily hurting someone's feelings. This was interesting coming from someone who could be quite tough in terms of taking stands and calling out nonsense (for example, he was outspoken in his opposition to the Emergency.)

I feel privileged to have had many chats with him over the years, and graduated (with some initial trepidation) from calling him "Sir" to "Mrinalda".

Will carry on our conversations in my head.