User:Pradkumdas

I, Prof. Pradeep Kumar Das, started my early education like any ordinary Indian who comes from a small village. I still remember those glorious days when I used to go to the village school carrying my own sitting mat. We all used to sit under the shadow of a huge tree as there was no school building as such. The teacher, in fact, the only teacher used to teach us everything. I really feel thrilled whenever the memory of those bygone days flashes on my mental screen. I do not remember anything very special about my studies up until my 10+2 ( the  Intermediate of Arts). I did my 10+2 and B.A.(Hons) from Deoghar College, Deoghar, Jharkhand. It was indeed a real challenge  for me to earn B.A. (Hons) in English Literature from Deoghar College. Well, I did manage it. This, of course, could not have been possible without the guidance of Dr. Ch. N. K. Thakur. He should be given credit for everything I could do in my life. After my graduation from Deoghar College, I came to JNU, New Delhi to do another B.A.(Hon) in French. But then I got attracted to the study of Linguistics, through which I could learn any foreign language very fast and systematically. So I decided to appear for the entrance test for M.A. Linguistics. I joined M.A. Linguistics in 1993. It was a real beginning of a new era of my career. I got a solid platform to launch my desire to learn things. The free and healthy academic environment of JNU provided me with ingredients for an overall growth of my personality. I earned my M.A. with an overall CGPA 6.5 (i.e. A-). I again joined Centre of Linguistics &English, SLL&CS for an MPhil/PhD. I worked on " Agreement in Hindi-Urdu" for my MPhil dissertation. I got an offer to pursue my PhD in the Department of Linguistics, University of Texas, Austin, USA. It was a very good opportunity for me to get exposed to new world of experience both academically and culturally. I got a TA-ship in Hindi in the Department of Asian Studies, UT, Austin, USA. Prof. Herman V. Olphen hired me as a TA there. I really appreciate his dedication towards Hindi Language and culture. We would talk for hours about Hindi and Indian culture. It happened so that one of the TAs at South Asian Studies, University of Texas left us in the middle of the semester. This brought a very tough time for us. We all were over burdened. I thought it was my duty to take care of the classes that came as an additional work load after this event. But, this put me in another trouble. I started overlooking my own studies and could not do well in my papers. The summer brought another trouble. No Hindi TA-ship as there wasn't enough students to opt for the course. I had to make a career decision and the way I was doing things put me in an unbearable and stressed state of mind. I decided to come back to JNU and do my PhD. I came back home with a heavy heart and decided not to feel bad about my decision. I put on hard work and tried to keep going. I felt happy when I got to know that I have been selected as an assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics, BHU, Varanashi. I was waiting for the joining letter to come. In the meanwhile, another break through came in. I also got selected as an assistant professor (lecturer) in the Department of Linguistics, University of Delhi, India. I got re-appointed in an open post of a Reader (Associate Professor) in the month of December 2006 in the Department of Linguistics, University of Delhi. I became an associate professor in December 2009. I worked as an associate professor at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Linguistics, University of Delhi from December 2009 to April 2013. I have recently been selected as Professor of Linguistics in the Centre for Linguistics in JNU in the month of May, 2013.