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This would be the first time I would be teaching business administration students. Also this would be the first time I would face a non-economics audience. I faced the foundation of all economic analysis- scarcity, the scarcity of time. The first two weeks went on reviewing basic microeconomic concepts. The next eight weeks turned out to be one of the most enjoyable experiences I had with any batch of students. I was surprised at the absorption capacity of the tenth batch. Their willingness to challenge themselves surprised me the most. Shuddha was right. In the last eight weeks we had something like thirty long classes. And guess what? We finished the course on time and also managed to cover the syllabus! It takes two to tango. All this wouldn't have been possible without the co-operation I received from the tenth batch. And also the co-operation I received from my colleagues who accommodated their schedules for my longer classes.

A few weeks after I finished international business with the tenth batch I again found myself talking with Shuddha over a cup of tea. This time he asked me if I would be willing to take foundational microeconomics and macroeconomics courses in their department. Now. If international business was to help out my colleagues upstairs in the social science faculty building, this offer was one I didn't want to say no to. Until then I was teaching public finance and microeconomics related courses in Economics, Jahangirnagar to an economics audience, but never to first year students.

The mastery of teaching in any discipline comes when you can properly teach a foundational course in the first year. Once students master the foundational logic of a subject the rest is usually automatic. Until very recently, I never had the opportunity to teach in the first year undergraduate of my own department. Again, I didn't dishearten Shuddha. Fate had it my luck with foundational microeconomics and macroeconomics would start with the thirteenth batch of the Business Administration Department of Jahangirnagar University.

This time I had time on my side. The semesters in the public universities are usually of six months duration. This allows freedom to concentrate on foundational logic used to explain economic phenomena. I did that. And yes, Samuelson, the second recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics, and his historically successful textbook was the guide. Again, I found myself with another wonderful set of students who were willing to challenge themselves. I let go of myself and wonder like wanderlust.

While teaching the thirteenth batch, I was actually teaching myself. Revisiting foundational concepts made me appreciate what my own all time greatest guru in economics, The Late Mirza Mozammel Huq, taught us many years ago. It was then I started to appreciate economics and how scarcity forms its foundation. In more ways than one, I have to first thank Shuddha for meeting me at the right place at the right moment, but above all I have to thank my students in Business Administration of Jahangirnagar University for making my own foundations in economics stronger than what I thought they were! Mainstream economics is obsessed with the notion of efficiency, a situation where further change isn't necessary. I always tell my students, in life it's good to be inefficient. There should always be scope for further change. It's good to be confused. Confusion is the first step to moving forward towards wisdom. After the thirteenth batch came the fifteenth and the sixteenth batches. I just concluded my teaching with the sixteenth batch. Unavoidable circumstances restrict further long time involvement with Business Administration at Jahangirnagar University. I would though love to be associated in shorter capacities in future. One of the beauties of the teaching profession lies in the privilege of being able to be associated with young and fresh minds; minds that will one day rule and take Bangladesh forward. As a community we are uniquely placed to prepare the grounds for that dream to become a reality.

I'm writing this piece today to remind all my students the cruelty of scarcity- the cruelty of time. Every good song has to come to an end. Nothing lasts forever. “All things must pass”. And as “I must be on my way and face another day” I look back and see that the wind has blown away my footsteps in the sand. I can't return back. But then, no scarcity, no time is powerful enough to wipe away the experiences one gains. It's these experiences that have made me realise, as a student of economics there is some good in being inefficient. It's this lesson I learned from you all. Thanks!