"I was the youngest of three brothers and three sisters and it was left to our eldest brother to bring us up single-handedly. He's one of the deepest influences in my life. Later, when he got married, his wife and her father, Dr Makhanlal Roy Choudhuri, Professor of Islamic History and Culture, Calcutta University , encouraged me to shift my focus from English literature to history. I followed his advice and remain grateful to him till this day," reminisces Prof Palit.

Prof Palit has had a distinctive academic career. He obtained a First Class in every single academic examination he has taken, beginning with his School Finals and closing with an MA in History in 1961. "I was a Presidency College Blue in tennis and played football and hockey as well. I played a lot of table tennis even during my stays abroad and I still play these games well. I recall having written my first poem Jharna , (Waterfall) for school magazine when I was ten. My teacher refused to believe I'd written it. He called my father, who simply replied, "My son doesn't lie," and that was that. This incident was the beginning of a long series of events when I had to struggle relentlessly to prove myself against all odds. But I was determined to make it some day," says Prof Palit.

Prof Palit was a research fellow of the UGC at Calcutta University . Directly after studies, he joined Burdwan University as a lecturer from 1965 to 1968, and then shifted to Jadavpur. At this point, he won the Commonwealth Scholarship for Ph.D at the University of Cambridge . He lived in England with his new bride Alaka, from 1971 to 1974. "The three years were like heaven and we had our first child, Sridevi, there. The Commonwealth Scholarship was a milestone in my life. The competition was tough, with 900 candidates from across the Commonwealth countries." Prof Palit set a record when he became professor at the young age of 39. He still teaches at Jadavpur as the University extended his service for five years after retirement, and is the senior-most professor in the Arts Colleges. "I had no choice but to excel. Funding, I understood quite early in life, was a serious problem. I also knew that I was very strong in academics. Hence I was determined to self-fund my entire academic career through scholarships and fellowships. Not once did I have to fund a single trip abroad. This gives me a sense of self-fulfillment," explains Prof Palit. Wife Alaka, a postgraduate in English literature, is currently with the British Council in Calcutta as an examiner and also teaches English at an international school in the city.

Prof Palit has authored around 18 books on different aspects of history such as the History of Medicine in India , new viewpoints on 19 th century Bengal, Commerce and Industries in Bengal and so on. He has also featured in not less than ten edited compilations on subjects related to history. He's the pioneer to initiate research into the history of science in the eastern region of the country. Towards furthering this research, Prof Palit founded the Corpus Research Institute in Calcutta in 1996. The Corpus concentrates on interdisciplinary historical research.

Among the many assignments through his life, Chittabrata counts his work for the Centenary Volume of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce (BNCC) entitled The Growth of Commerce and Industry of Bengal as one of the most challenging. "The work took 14 years on a shoestring budget of Rs 23,000 and was about to find its way to the garbage bin. The study spans a time capsule of 100 years beginning from 1897. When it finally came out in 2000, I was both happy and sad. I was happy because I completed the project within one-and-a-half years. I had given up all hopes of it seeing the light of day. I was also sad that it came out in a truncated form, minus two very important chapters. The manuscript was vetted over and over again and even lost once. At one point, I'd planned to publish it on my own. Then BNCC said they'd traced the lost manuscript and were publishing it. So, though it was a challenge in every way, the final book is not to my satisfaction," he sums up. He brought out a few unpalatable truths about how Bengali `businessmen' were more interested in owning bazaars and `bustees' as property rather than shares and corporate entities.

Asked to define the significance of history, labelled 'bunk' by intellectuals, Prof Palit says, "if history is a dead subject as is commonly believed, then why should anyone study it? History is very much alive and kicking. Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan has defined history as a biography of society. It's the parent subject that includes all human development. Far from being concerned only with facts and dates, history also has an applied side to it. People in the civil services must consult history, which provides general knowledge about society. Lawmakers and law interpreters extensively use history as in case studies. The modern perception of history has changed dramatically and will continue to change forever."

"Today, a study of history opens the door to countless career options. These include general administrative services, media and communications, tourism and journalism. Law is another viable option. There are also special courses that may benefit a student specialising in history. A diploma in mass communications, journalism, tourism, public relations, museology and archival studies are specialised areas for history students."

He is aggressive in his views on the globalisation of education. He attributes the decline of classics, humanities and the natural sciences and the rise of commerce and business management to globalisation. His analysis in a paper on Globalisation and India - A Multidimensional Perspective , (edited by Purushottam Bhattacharya and Ajitabh Roy Choudhuri) draws attention to the need for the state to protect traditional disciplines and institutions by funding and subsidy and by offering a minimum amount of protection from market forces.

This two-time Fulbright Scholar, who went to Michigan once in 1981 and again in 1994, has guided 33 students in their research. The topics of their dissertations range from the History of the Portrayal of Women in Bengali Cinema to Women Litterateurs in Bengal from post-Independence to contemporary India - from Swaraj to Swadesh. He has thus widened the horizons of history greatly. His roster of research students lists academic celebrities such as Sujata Mukherjee who teaches at the Rabindra Bharati University , Dr Achintya Dutta of Burdwan University , Dr Abhijit Dutta, a Senior UGC Research Scholar who has authored several books, and three students who chose to join the IAS.

Prof Palit has great respect for Mahatma Gandhi. He says that the Muslim youth before and during the Partition was instigated partly by their hawkish but misguided leaders and partly by the British, like Theodore Beck, Principal of the AOM College , Aligarh . On the other hand, Hindu retaliation led to the birth of the Hindu Mahasabha in 1937. "And fundamentalism begot fundamentalism. Till date, this part of the globe continues to pay a heavy price of the partition. It was Gandhi who worked truthfully and tirelessly against this barbaric communalism. But sadly, when the prizes of freedom were within grasp, he was no longer at the helm. Saints are out of place when there's bargaining to be done between businessmen."

Prof Palit is also a very good singer of Rabindra Sangeet, having trained for several years under the late Ashoke Taru Bandopadhyay but has given it up due to pressures of his academic work. He also holds a diploma in French from the Alliance Francaise and has reasonable command over Sanskrit. "I got many offers to teach in the UK and USA . But I was not interested in taking up a job in a foreign country. I am now Vice President of the Fulbright Alumni Association in Calcutta . My only regret is that teachers of the current generation is too materialistic and lacking in sentimental values. For me, nobility of the profession is not the issue. If I choose to follow the criteria that (a) I must teach well, (b) I must be a researcher of excellence, (c) I'll be a very good guide, and (d) I'll find placement for my students, then nobility will emerge at the end of the road on its own. My brothers had wished that I sit for the IAS examinations. But I chose to teach. I had a single focus -- to make something distinctive out of my life. I was aware that I had the talent and willingness to work hard to achieve my goal. All I want to do for the rest of my life is to influence good and committed young people to teach history. The teaching of history has made me a better human being."