Winning the IIT Journey

Having seen it first hand through my 4 years of education, I found this article profoundly true, well written and genuine. Do give it a read: http://alumniconnect.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/by-the-time-i-graduated-i-had-10-as-and-11-fs/)

The candid blog talks about a journey of a guy through IIT Kanpur - taking one F (Fail) after another, with his final total stand at 11 Fs! And yet he resolutely kept moving forward with his life and always tried to make better of it. I take the liberty to quote from his blog, where he explains why he didn't commit suicide:

"The reality of it was an eye opener. Having been so near death, I was convinced for life that suicide is simply not an option for anyone and even those who do it must be terribly afraid in those last few moments of their life. But perhaps by that time it would have been too late for them. Regardless of my failures and whether or not I got the IIT degree, it was clear to me that I would never do anything to harm myself. My life wasn’t my own. I owed it to the people who brought me to this world, who trusted me and gave all they had so that I could have a better life and were counting on me to graduate and help them. I owed it to all those people who had enriched my life by just being there for me. I couldn’t die before I had fulfilled my duties to them, not even by accident, forget by suicide."

The pressure - not just academic, but social pressure to perform and conform to the standards is so high - that there have been an alarming increase in number of students giving it up. On their life. 

This has truly increased the respect for all the professors who are genuinely concerned about their students, all the classmates who reach out to help their peers, all student welfare clubs and the Psychiatrist department at IIT, and all the mentors who care about their mentees - in my eyes. 

Aside, it was great to find mention of Prof. H.C. Verma in the article. Brought back the fond memories of working through the books written by him, and attached another piece in my image of him.

Keeping aside the debate on how good are the IIT systems of education, the important thing to note for students is that there's nothing worse enough to throw away life, and for others is to realize that their genuine ethical help can be life changing for someone else.

Obscuring the Truth: Good or Bad? (Environmental Courses @ IIT Delhi)

Even as I remember the times of July-November 2009, I cannot forget the course RDL340

I did this course as a part of compulsory Environmental Course which we had to do, and even though a recent RTI filed at IIT has revealed that it was NOT compulsory, I am not regretting.

Among all the talks about sustainable living, Gaia theory (shown in AVATAR!), bamboo housing - there was an intangible element of the course which has left a deep imprint in my heart: In every class the first 5 mins were reserved for meditation. Yes. At the start of the class everyone would close their eyes and meditate for 5 mins. Despite some nonsensical giggle it felt wonderful.

At the start of meditation, my mind would suddenly begin racing in all directions, all sorts of thoughts about life, death and universe would come up in rapid succession - reach a pinnacle and start to fade away. By the end of 5 minutes my mind would become blank like a sea after storm, fresh to concentrate on what I was going to hear next. Felt like being back in Gurkul days!

However, finding out the fact that we were duped into doing environmental courses (for 06, and 07 entry students -enviro courses were NOT COMPULSORY!) felt bad and the first question which came to my mind was: why the world is so busy in obscuring the truth?

Interestingly enough, as I gather from the mail forwarded to me: even the AIC confirmed that it was compulsory doing such courses.

My guess is that we don't have courage to fight for the truth so we find it more convenient to hide it, or twist it ~ it might do more good than bad in select cases, but definitely obscuring truth does not help society achieve utopia!

And accordingly the quote of the weekend is:

"He that would keep a secret, must keep it secret that he has a secret to keep"
- Sir Humphrey, Yes Minister

42 Things to do before you graduate from IIT Delhi

IIT Delhi - like never seen before (from the roof of our lab in charge)

1. Make friends. Get close to them. Let the boundaries dissolve. Let the ego melt. Trust them. Understand them. Let them be what they are. Be what you are  
2. Fall in love. But don't let your boyfriend/girlfriend cut you off from the remaining world.
3. Do atleast one course with absolute interest, such that it brings sparks to your eye whenever you think about that course.
4. Find a mentor (senior/professor). Get friends with him/her.
5. Climb on the hyperbolic-parabolic roof. Lie down facing stars. Hear soft music
6. Go and sleep on your hostel roof, when it's too hot or when it's drizzling. Don't get caught.
7. Write a personal mail to each and everyone who has touched your life in last 4 years. Thank them.
8. Go to the Himalayas with your friends on a challenging trekking expedition. It strengthens your friendship.
9. Participate in some highly competitive cultural activity: Inter Hostel, Rendezvous etc...Atleast go for the audition. You will never get a chance to experience such fear again; and an opportunity to overcome it.
   
10. Participate in some highly competitive sports activity: Basketball, Water Polo, Hockey. Try playing rough and soft; for yourself and for your team. Experience how different emotions does each thing arouse in you and others.
11. Go to Chandni Chowk: Eat chaat, parantha, lassi, sweets and kulfi. (Some of my visits: Chawari Bazzar , Chandani Chowk ) 
12. Surprise your parents/close relatives with a surprise visit. Invite them to IIT Delhi; especially during some festival. Introduce your friends to them. Give them a chance to relive their college life.
13. Treat freshers (and all juniors) with love and respect.
    
14. Go and visit the house of all your close friends. Talk to their parents, siblings. Dine with them. It strengthens your bonding.
15. Blog about your experiences, feelings, ideas: anonymously or otherwise. Express yourself.
16. Get access to the IRD conference room and sneak through a door to its right. You will find yourself on the unexplored Insti Roof of IIT Delhi. Don't get caught.
17. Do a fascinating project. Something you always dreamed of doing since your childhood. Give the project everything. Years will not be able to fade the joy of working on your own ideas. I have heard people who graduated 10-15 years back talk with child-like joy about their college projects.
18. Visit Delhi University (of course find someone who you can talk to, once there!). Apart from other things, they are awesome in their right brains where we suck, and can teach you a thing or two about arts and literature among others...
19. Buy a good camera. Develop a good sense of photography. Take a lot of picture of your friends throughout your stay here. Have a friend who can take a lot of equally good pictures of you. But don't get obsessed with it.
20. Watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S
21. Talk to Juniors. See where IIT Delhi's future is going. Relive your past.
22. Devote yourself to at least one organization within IIT Delhi. (For me it was Technocracy)
23. Get out of your comfort zone: visit slums in Delhi. Work with an NGO/NPO.
24. Write an anonymous letters to a professor in the middle of a course: Critically comment on his/her teaching methods and how can they be improved. Note the professor's reaction in the classes onwards. If there is no difference write another letter.
25. Go to India Gate with your guitar (or someone who can play guitar well) and your friends. Sing songs till wee hours.
26. Talk to people about their dreams. Things they are really passionate about. Discuss with them things which you are really passionate about.
27. See people getting wasted. Make a complete fool of yourself: once.
28. Try penning down a paper. It needn't be a core technology paper. It can be something on Environment, Literature, state of education in India...Just try to write an essay at some competition...especially about something you like doing. It makes you introspect a lot.
29. Put a night out at Wind-T when the weather is nice and breezy. Spend it reading a book you like.
30. Write examination for someone else. Don't dare get caught.
31. India is a very diverse country. Your peers are the best people who can educate you about real India. Talk to them about it. Ask them to tell about their city. Discuss the problems you think India is facing and it's solutions. Discuss each others religious believes. Try to understand others religion.
32. Don't get ill. The simple way of doing it is: Get regular sleep. Eat proper food. Exercise. I didn't do either in my 1st year. I was constantly ill. After I started doing all of these things: I haven't been ill even once from last 3 years.
33. For once in a while, do what other tell you to do. Let them decide. Let them lead. Enjoy the joy of having no responsibilities.
34. Develop a habit of questioning. Try to find how can you do it in a polite way so that you don't put people on their defensive. We Indians, as a culture, ask very little. Change that.
35. Talk to kids who are yet in their school. Visit your school sometimes. Talk to principal. Don't worry - you will always be treated very highly. It will bring back all the fond school memories.
36. Don't do all spartan stuff. Do things in group. Even when you watch movie or TV try to do it in a group. You will anyways watch movies alone for the rest of your life.
37. Do some part time job. Don't do something boring on computers. Go out and do some intern/teaching/journalism/marketing etc. Do something where you will meet a lot of new people completely different from what you get to meet here. Don't make this work your priority. Just try it for 1-2 months. Don't do it without good pay.
38. Play kho-kho near WindT. And also all those childhood games: Vish-Amrit, Unch-Neech, Tipi Tipi Top, Chain Chain, Sitolia etc.
    
39. Try appreciating things. It's hard to do that. Give people credit for what they are doing. They will do better. If you feel things are not upto mark - give them suggestions; don't criticize them.
40. Carve out time for yourself each day. Think about your goals, priorities, mistakes etc.
41. Hunt for home food. Day scholars make excellent preys.
42. Decide a date when all of your closest friends will meet, once a year, on a vacation trip. This is something you should do on the last day, the day when you are leaving IIT Delhi. For ever. (We have gone to several places, some of them being: Laddakh, Har ki Dun & Dodital)  
    
    These 4/5 years are never going to return. Ever. You will never be a free bird again. Enjoy your freedom. Responsibly. And do something that justifies your belonging to this institute. To the least, become a good human and a good citizen.
    
    Dream. Dare. Do.
    Also 50 things to do at MITPS: Janta - you are welcome to extend the list. To agree, to disagree with the things said. I hope several things written here go beyond IITD and apply to college life everywhere...
    ~~~~~~~~~~
    Later Additions based on suggestions from people:

1. Have a "pen" friend in a far away IIT to be able to understand a different perspective, to be able to tell things the way you want to (Surbhi, IITM)
2. Have a "pen" friend from far-far away world
3. Help someone in dire need, may not be a friend. you'll feel good about it... and there will be someone who'll remember you forever... (Naman, IITM)
4. Go and ring the bell at the top.....the one that tolls only at graduation.....and yes - don't dare get caught :D (Anshul, IITD)
5. Savor the food of Sassi and Tankush. Chances are that you will get ill but past experiences say that you will not. So do it (Abhishek, IITD)
6. Somehow sneak (possibly with your girlfriend!) to Bharti Roof. Watch the sunrise/sunset Anonymous
7. Meet a really special girl at your social. Have a great time. Let her go. (dunno if let her go = ditch her!) Anonymous

Let there be Tranparency

"Yaar, there is too much work as of now..."
"Why - I guess all the competitions have ended?"
"Yes, but trophies still need to be decided"
"But the competitions have ended"
"Yes, but trophies aren't yet decided"
"That doesn't make sense"
" :) "

- Week1, March 2010

The institute night (called BHM) is approaching and winners are to be awarded. But it isn't yet decided who are going to be winners! Next 2 weeks are going to be devoted to intense round of negotiations to decide winners. Winning competitions round the year is not sufficient. You need to master politics! Ah, my IIT Delhi.

Those who get trophies during the negotiation are happy. Those who don't - think that they will negotiate better the next time. Everyone cribs about the system. Anyone has the power to change the system. No one does. The system continues. Ah, my powerless IIT Delhi.

Let me clarify the point once more: Passion oozes from people when they are competing. And winning definitely plays the major role in deciding the winners. But that's not all. This last line is what bothers me a lot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Today is the last date of submission. And every day you get late in submitting your term paper will see that 5 marks are deducted from your total marks"

"Attendance if for 10 marks"

"How did you present in the presentation was immaterial. How much of theory did you put in was important. That's how I am marking you"

- All dialogues belong to nearly last week of the semester and were never recited even ONCE during the whole semester

Professors are equally messed up in deciding clear policies. If they are first timers, I guess that's understandable. But when you have been teaching for x years: you are expected to know that students loose track of their priorities.

Students must attend all classes. O'course. Students must submit assignment before the last date. O'course. But why make all the reward and punishment rules on the last day itself. If such is the case what then gives teachers the authority to say that students do all the work at last minute!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One thing that dearly impressed me about TOYOTA was one of its management principles which said:

Use Visual Control so no problems are hidden

So tell me. Why can't each board and each course maintain an excel sheet which is updated every week?

Suppose you were to present your term paper on 2nd February. You didn't. Your marks on excel sheet show that you've got a zero. It's non-negotiable. Do you think that remaining people in the class would give their presentations on time?

Suppose attendance is daily updated. And so are the marks associated with it. I can just SEE my status. I don't have to keep running to the prof to keep asking him. It makes life easy for everyone.

Suppose you win an event in dance. Your hostel points shoot up. Suppose you have x articles accepted for publication in BSP. Your hostel get points accordingly. Immediately. The excel sheet shows that. The whole institute can see that. When the year will end all you would need to do is to sum up the points and see which hostel has most of them. No negotiations. No politics.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The gist of entire thing is this: When you use visible tools to express and monitor day to day performance of individual/hostel: all the problems will surface at once.

The main reason people don't do it is either because

1. They can't decide in advance what rules to make. They just aren't gifted enough.
   
   
2. They want to remain powerful by having the negotiating powers. They want to favor friends. They want people to come to them and beg.
   

Remember days when we used to prepare for JEE: wasn't test rank and instant feedback on our performance useful? Didn't it motivate us to take correcting steps?

In the beginning there will be clashes. There will be a certain level of inconvenience. An unsettling feeling. But this happens with every change. However, over a period of time things will smoothen out; people will being to respect the system and everyone will be able to divert their energy to better cause. Or probably to just enjoy, get time to chill out: to study.

Let there be Transparency

Kumaon Times

Published the following article in Kumaon Times on the occasion of my farewell!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saying Goodbye and Everything Else

As far as I recall, Arya was the first person I met after reaching Kumaon Hostel on 27^th July 2006. He had taken up the responsibility of showing us our rooms. My father thought he, my seniors, was going to be a beacon light in my life; I thought he, my senior, was going to be a ragging nightmare in my life. No awards for guessing who was right!

I enter my empty, dusty room. Of all things they had brought along – my parents forgot to bring broom. Rohit, gave away his broom after much ado (and a scary – give it back warning). After having cleaned up the room, and having jumped with joy on seeing Sankalp (finally – I had found someone from my Bansal days) I welcome my roommate – Nikhil. O the first sight of him never warned me that he would be the dirtiest creature on earth. His socks used to stink the whole day; he slept over his books and clothes and the cough syrup bottle he spilled on his study table wasn’t cleaned until it got dried and was scrapped off, gram by gram, by the blowing winds.

We used to get up at morning 5, were made to run till 7 by our seniors, eat breakfast – run for PHP lab and other crappy stuff only to return late in the evening, get ragged till midnight and then gossip away till wee hours. And soon after that we were swept away by Kumaon fervor. Some people were cleaning fans, some were hiding in the rooms of their seniors, some got influenced by Puneet’s speech and started playing hockey, some were busy sneaking out of the hostel by throwing their bags from balcony, some people asked other to lock them up, while some people mistakenly locked their rommies, some got influenced by the to-be IIMA guy and tried shouting Jai Kumaon just like him – In all this, I was busy acting. Time passed – grades came. There was a lull after the storm. And then things started all over again.

Suddenly one fine morning we walked out and some skinny guy called Dhanda was pole dancing. I realized-we had become 2^nd yearites! I don’t remember anything from the year except AOE, Swimming, Apping and R2, oh and o’course the mess-became-good for a change fiasco!

Come 3^rd year and we were made the mentors. Some mentors had to paint their faces black; some were already black.

Oh and then the wretched final year which was mostly hazy: Drugs, Booze and Nights Out: either devoted to Dota or to Series or to BTP – there was hardly anything else which people did!

As the days of solitude draw near I have started looking at thing from a different viewpoint. Some things haven’t changed even a tardy bit: Nanda’s “Tu…Kat” and a long distance high handed “Hiiii” is still as charming as it used to be in the first year; Chachha‘s philosophies are as intact and his room as clean as they used to be in his first year; Ghoda is as beauty conscious as he used to be in his first year and so on. But some things have: for a change some guys names after a school have become exceedingly foul-mouthed people and have got a bandi. A Chennai born, Maharashtra-living Gujrati, studying in Delhi is going to Calcutta. A high-school stud re-found his studness by taming an animal. Some Gaziabadians deflated, some Delhites inflated, some people from East-India started giving hugs to random firangs sitting in parks, some bihari proved to be worth a dime as he entered some gate and so on…

Ah, it feels so :( when you think you will not be living with such people anymore. Sometimes it feels like I will never experience a change as monumental as this or, will I?

Dosvidania and everything else (hugs, kisses, shoves, nudges…)

Nishant Ranka

Crystal Priya: It's the time to Disco

Well, as it was just a few days to go before we all part our ways and waving each other, through misty eyes and shaking hands, say dosvidania; it was a great idea to have a batch treat, where people can come and dance together and with a final hug permanently cement their bonds of friendship for ever and ever.

There were discussions on batch treat from I-don't -remember-when but somehow something kept cropping up and the treat couldn't be finalized. Even the batch which proudly claimed itself to be the most united one couldn't come to agree on terms which were appealing to all.

I dared to say the 'most united' thing because I feel that somehow even with all our differences we respect each others opinion. Each batch has a google group, and each group goes through the same cycle of great chaos when some people post things which everyone else finds unsuitable for the purpose of the group or for that matter some people make it a habit to use the group as a medium to publicly malign and disparage people, institute and humanity in general. Our group too went through a similar cycle and at one point of time it had to be moderated, which aroused great sentiments and people united and fought against it - and for the right to say what they want to say. There was a great jubilation when the moderation was finally called off, but as according to me what followed this was something extraordinary: people started acting responsibly by self moderating the content they posted on the group, which according to me is an extremely difficult stage to reach for any given group of people...

But coming back to the point - the treat was in jeopardy and it is in such testing time that you need a champion who can galvanize people into action. I remember Director Sir once saying, "There is no cause without a champion - for every cause there has to be a champion". In our case it was was Shekhu who went from hostel to hostel - room to room; convincing people to come. And lo! they did come.

What followed was THE VERY BEST PARTY I've ever been to in my life. We danced for over 4 hours NON STOP. There is a great advantage in dancing with people who don't know how to dance but still have an enormous energy bubbling in their bodies, a shine in their eyes and an urge to dance their way through the night because then you feel a part of the group. You can dance even when someone is watching. The food at Crystal was great and I must recommend that place to anyone who would like to have a grand party. The Dj was super cool and the night ended with the song, "Yaroon, dostiiihiiiii badi hi haseen hai..." as we all sat down in a large circle, hands on each others shoulders,swaying with the music...

Listen to it one time; and as the DJ said, "feel the song..."

Click to hear music file

Or watch it here...

Visionary Nostalgia 1

"Life, usually, does not give me chance to say goodbyeBut now, when it has - I don't know how to say it..."

- Nishant, March 2010

Tom Alter Maulana Azad

Photo Courtesy: The Hindu

2 hours and 30 minutes. Can you imagine listening to a person for 2 hours and 30 minutes. 1 person. That too when he's not talking to you. Not only he's not talking to you - he was not even looking at you during the entire 2 hours and 30 minutes. And add to all this the fact that he's speaking in Urdu - on Indian History. How boring! How impossible to sit there for 2 hours and...

But hear this - Nearing the end I was sitting with my mouth open for atleast 15 minutes when the man was talking about Indian Partition. If there is one word I were to ascribe for this play it would rather be - spellbinding.

The play was called - Maulana Azad and a few things which made it spellbinding were:

Tom Alter

Remember a British man who used play all firang roles in the erstwhile TV shows? Remember Junoon?junoon
kisi ko mohabbat ka hai junoon
kisi ko chahat ka hai junooon
juoon junoon junoon

Anywhoo - what a fine actor he is. His voice - his actions - the voice modulation - the suavaness. I cannot but describe. And his sponties - When in the middle of the play the lights suddenly went out, he quipped

"यह भी जिन्नाह की ही कोई चाल होगी !"

"आज़ादी के बाद भी दिल्ली की बिजली का यह हाल है"
The great thing about these comments was they looked almost as a prepared part of play and totally in context thus leaving the audience all in laughs...

Urdu

What a language - so neat, so respectful, so beautiful. I had never appreciated this language as much as I do now after watching the play...

I admit I was not able to get a word of the purely urdu sentences, phrases and gazals. But I was able to note down a few mixed versions.

" गाँधी जी सियासत के मामलों को मज़हब की ऐनक पहनके नहीं देखते थे"

" आप भी गज़ब करते हैं हुमायूँ - दस्तान ए आज़ादी आज़ाद के मुहं ही लिखने बेठ गए"

Hindi

I had come to believe that I'd almost lost this language. When I was returning from the UK to India I decided to invest the 8-9 hours of flight time in writing a diary entry entirely in Hindi (I did and ended up teaching a little bit to the french girl sitting next to me too!). But again the play brought forward the fond memories of school when I used to enjoy reading the Hindi stories a lot. Just like every other language Hindi has some things, some thoughts, some emotions which could be best felt in Hindi only!

On Gandhi Ji's withdrawl of Non Cooperation movement"बस पूरी रफ़्तार से चली जा रही है और ड्राईवर ने आनन् फानन में ब्रेक लगा दिए"

" मेरे धुटने क्षल हो गए बैठे बैठे"

After criticizing Nehru in his book (Mulana Azad dedicated this book to Nehru!), he said that on reading this Nehru would say,

" किताब मुझे ही dedicate की और मेरे ही पराक्षय उड़ा डाले"

Humour

The humour was immaculate (as you can already see in the lines above). But there were more of such things:

"हुमायूँ आपकी अंग्रेजी में नेहरु वाली बात नज़र नहीं आती"

"कभी कभी तो ऐसा लगता है पूरी आज़ादी की लड़ाई २ दुबले पतले गुजरातियों के इर्द गिर्द घूमती है"

"में गाँधी जी का कट्टर मानने वाला हूँ - तो आज कल आनाज छोड़ रखा है; कबाब ही खिला दीजिए!"

Research and Practice

This was like the 100+ show of this play. It was first produced in 2002. The lighting, the movement, the dialogues - everything was perfect.

Well let me end by thanking the Dnd Club - IIT Delhi for organizing such an awesome thing. It brought back all those fond memories of my theater days. The good thing about this college is that you get to see such awesome things - just like that. I mean all you are required to do is to go there - sit and watch!

And this line"I simply loved the lines when he said,

“मौत को किस से रिश्तेदारी है; आज वह, तो कल हमारी है”

What bonds does death have with anyone, today it is his, and tomorrow it shall be mine "
Courtesy inagardencalledlife.blogspot.com

Another nice description of this play at Two Circles

The Hindu Feedback

Events in plenty - waste control not so dandy!

\m/ Beat This \m/
This weekend in IIT Delhi we've:
EDC E-SummitTons of awesome entrepreneurs pouring in Campus to give fundas; and several innovative events to raise enthu and give a chance to the budding Entrepreneurs
BSA SportechLargest Sports Fest of North India. 200 colleges - 2000 participants; from table tennis to basketball to volleyball - footie, LT, Cric and all those things...
BSP LiteratiIITD's Lit Fest!
EDLC International Parliamentary DebatePeople from all over India come to debate!
BRCA Spic MacayThis hardly needs introduction - Indian Classical Music and Dance comes under the roof of our sem hall - literally!
FAC SemblanceNow even Fine Arts Club have their own fest! Still...
Kumaon MelangeOur hostel fest - yes, I know *hostel* fest but after all it's KUMAON!
Technocracy WorkshopsFinally some flavor of technicality in a technical institution with workshops on MATLAB and Web Development

Now to leave you all in awe was not my purpose. The purpose was an observation - the observation on number of posters on the IITD walls! 10? 100? - Take a wilder guess; 1000 would be a little realistic number! Imagine the total cost of all the flexes (large and small) and A1, A2 and A3 sizes posters combined - my lower estimate is Rs. 100,000/-

*such a waste - such a waste* I thought.

Not that I am against publicizing events; but putting 100 poster in 10m2 of space does not serve any purpose! My belief is that people are intelligent beings and all you need to do is to tell them 'what will they get from such and such event' and they will decide for themselves - and for the lazy ones just put up a single poster which details out all the events!

However having an opinion without acting on it is another waste - so we at Technocracy thought it would be nice to go completely paper free (even otherwise we put only around 100 posters in an year! - seems like such a large no. Right? Wrong, it's the smallest!). And thus we are trying to have everyone on a google group where we would post the relevant Technocracy announcements... let's see if it works!

If you are from IIT Delhi - Join http://groups.google.co.in/group/technocracyiitd

For every1 else out there - Join us

Let's hope that we're able to do that

 

Foundation Day Speech - II

I has the honor to deliver this speech before the faculty and students on 27th Jan 2010, the 51st Foundation Day of IIT Delhi.This speech was published in institute magazine here and in Alumni magazine here

Other person who spoke on the day alongside me was Siddharth who too have penned down his speech here (he writes well!)

I also had the honor of giving a similar speech last year on the 50th Foundation day of IIT Delhi which too is available on request :)

Anyways, here's the complete version of this years speech:

--

Widening Horizons of IIT Delhi

Browsing the hostel notice board, I read the theme for the Foundation Day, “WIDENING HORIZONS of IIT Delhi” and then turned to think a little about it. I turned back to read it once again, but this time it appeared to me as “WIDENING the horizons of IIT Delhi”.

I am Nishant Ranka, a final year student of Electrical Engineering. I welcome you all geniuses and all geniuses who make geniuses to a very warm evening. In the next few minutes, I’ll talk about both the things, i.e. about how IITD is such a dynamic organization – the way it has grown in last 4 years, from a student’s perspective and about how I believe that we can keep this growth fuelled while continually widening its scope.

It’s amazing to see the activities in my IIT – IIT Delhi at a new high. There is a revived enthusiasm in all the boards: for example - whenever there is a major educational event in Delhi – there is a BSW trip going to it, when it’s time for UG registration – AIC steps forward and takes the charge. Library and Reading Room have undergone a major makeover and so have the eating joints. I still remember the days of my first year when the net speed was so slow that seniors would click a link on their computers and talk to us in the meanwhile – compare the speed today! On my very recent visit to the Robotics club I was amazed to see the level of streamlined work – it was so different from my 1st year when the club was new. The club is now an inspiration for the student bodies, just like SPIC MACAY. It is a quintessential example of what we can do with sheer desire to do it. The important take home lesson for me was we can DO. In last one week, I met 4 great personalities – Nicholas Burns, Tom Wheeler, Charles M Vest and Peter Chan – all due to the fantastic initiatives like the Institute Lecture Series, the Bharti Lecture Series and those of our Entrepreneurship Development Cell.

We all invariably fall prey to criticism – don’t we? It’s so easy after all. It’s so easy to criticize that we always forget the hard work done and the several positive changes that have been made. And when I see all these things I realize how much of hard work must have gone into every single thing.

I recently read the Toyota Way – and the book hit me hard. Someone asked me – what did you find so fascinating about the book? I said, “The Toyota Culture”. What makes Toyota the no. 1 manufacturing company, is in my opinion - its culture…And this is what I see happening today – seeding of the IIT Culture of the new decade, of the new century, of the new India. And my dear friends this is what we have to enrich – You and I.

Last month, I was talking with a UK based journalist, and invariably I showed her the microcontroller circuit I had built for my BTP. She looked at it intensely and told me that I could’ve soldered it in a better way. I said er, OK, but if I may ask how you know?” She told that she studied from Oxford where they had several such interest groups, like the embedded interest group where they used to meet up and discuss such things.

Consider for a second – wouldn’t it be great if we would have astronomy, electronics, car designing, aero modeling, high energy physics, Rubik’s Cube and other such clubs in IIT Delhi…so that when a student comes to IIT Delhi – he is not only stupefied by the amazing cultural activities of IIT Delhi, but also get a glimpse of its technical potential. Wouldn’t that be a good way to expand our boundaries?

There is always a great buzz about Jobs. The great Day 1 Job stories do round in every nook and cranny of each and every hostel, and to the least I’ve repeated MY Job story 100 times. But I have never heard any such buzz about the stories of brilliant people who go for their MS and PhDs. Isn’t there a need for some form of information which gives the profile of these several people who have gone for their post graduate education. Wouldn’t that give students a realistic picture from early on – just like we have about the best jobs? Wouldn’t that be a step forward?

These are just 2 ideas, but there are several others as well. However, the important question before us is that how do we make it happen? As you all know, ‘Great ideas which are not implemented are but a waste’...And that brings me back to the point of culture

The initiatives MUST come from the students, because after all…they are the group for which these activities are meant for. Let me go back to my school days – invariably my whole class used to love 2 subjects – History and English. Were these subjects any better than others – No. Then why? We passed the class – and got a new History teacher and slowly History again became boring. Students didn’t love the course – they loved the teacher. And students try to emulate teachers they love. Thus when we talk about the cultural change, I believe that it HAS to come from the students but those with the experience, authority, knowledge and with the bigger picture need to walk hand in hand with the students to change things until this ‘dream culture’ become a part of their DNA.

I would rather say that the mission in front of us is 2 faceted. While on one hand there is a great need to have dedicated teams with focused vision and mission to take the current activities to insurmountable heights, on the other hand we continuously need to be open minded and initiative taking to increase the width of our activities.

And thus there cannot be a better occasion for me to urge you all to continue trying indefatigably, just as you’re doing now – to bring about a lasting cultural change and to broaden the excellence of IIT Delhi in all directions.

Horn OK Please

As I descended the stairs to eat my Dinner, I saw a dozen people going out together somewhere. "Where?" I asked out of curiosity. "Horn OK Please". "Oh, wait for me", and spontaneously - I too joined in.

Horn OK Please is a play which is written and directed by Shahrukh (Tarun Singhal, in case you want his real name!) and is being starred in LTG Theatre, Mandi House; on 6th and 7th Feb at 7:30 PM. The play is choreographed by Ashutosh Matela.

To know more about these two guys, I would direct you the 3 page Mint article here. Even though I do not agree with all what Tarun and Matela have to say, the article is interesting.

The play too was! I was amazed to see that Rj, Ruchira, Pandit, Shrutika are such good actors. It rather came as a shock. I see these people daily in my insti; and have seen them in insti plays too; but suddenly seeing them act so well in a pro play left me all in praise.

Danka, as usual rocked; Shahrukh was a little sketchy but probably writing and directing the play were more important responsibilities. I was not able to identify Matela till the very end - he was one of the best actors in the play! Sudeep Mathur was, just like the good old day, handling lights! Other actors were great too, but I do not know them personally.
Vyom was also there, handling backstage. Then I remembered that he was absent in today's morning exam: Intro to Lit. And then I saw our Intro to Lit teacher; Multani sitting and watching the play! Perfect plot!
The play had a lot of dance sequences, all choreographed by Matela. They were great. I liked them. I have not seen many Indian plays, but as I've heard that such sequences are never performed here- I saw them in London Theater though. Adds life to the play!
I believe that Desires Unlimited has a great future, provided they sail through the tough time they are facing at the start - shoestring budget, IITians as main audience, social pressure (with peers earning 20L p.a. you can but guess the magnitude!) and so on. Infact, I wonder how people like Nasruddin Shah, Irrfan Khan and others would have gone through in their theater days...No pain - No gain, I guess!

But there was a great peer support too. People realize that there is atleast one person who is doing what he loves to do! Everyone was there - KGP, Abhiroop, Harry, Ujjawal, JJ, Bidhu and scores of other seniors and contemporaries.

Well, anyways - it was nice to watch a play after a long time. It brought back all the fond memories of watching London Theater, and acting in 5 plays in my 1st year. Shahrukh, Lallan, Danka, Mittal and others were my seniors who introduced me to theater; but unlike them I did not find it as my passion, and I am still searching for one!

PS: Watch the videos by Desires Unlimited here. I simply love Jigar Machis and Chintu Candy! Do watch them, pakka...

Five Whys of IIT

Making presentation for the UG curriculum review workshop; I asked 5 Whys to find the root cause of a problem.

Aim of IITs: The IITs were created to train scientists and engineers, with the aim of developing a skilled workforce to support the economic and social development of India after independence in 1947.

PS: Has the Aim of IITs changed after 60 years of independence

Students don't go for higher education/technical jobs

Why?

They don't have a great experience; or find a field which they are interested in during their B.tech/dual degree

Why?

They don't get to do great projects here

Why?

They are not interested in doing great projects because they require hard work and technical knowledge

Why?

They are not motivated to learn the 'technical' stuff

Why?

During their initial 1-2 years, the courses and labs do not motivate them to do something of their own; after which due to increasing pressure of interns/jobs etc; they shift their focus to other activities.

PS: They continue to score good grades, but they are not 'interested' in the courses/their dep: but scoring good grades is prereq for good interns/job/other things....

What's your opinion?

Charles M Vest at IIT Delhi

Another fantastic person, and another fantastic experience.

Charles M Vest was the President of MIT for over a decade, director of IBM for over a decade and director of DuPont for over a decade, and has led several committees during the Clinton and Bush government.

The topic of his talk: Engineering Education in 21st Century.

China is currently the world's largest producer of Engineering Graduates; India does not come even in the 1st 7. (You can find several such indicators here) However, the good news is, that India is the largest producer of finance graduates; throughput: approx 350,000 per year. Infact, the other day one of our deans jokingly said, "We should rename IITs as the Indian Institute of Banking Technology."

Anywhoo, towards the end he mentioned his MIT learning, which in his opinion could be applied to IITs as well:

"Making universities and engineering schools exciting, creative, adventurous, rigorous, demanding and with empowering environment is more important than specifying the ciruculla details"

Hell yeah, I say :)

Also visit Rosseta@Home which is a new vista in science aiming at 'Brain Integration'! It's very interesting. Go find out for yourself...

Peter Chan at IIT Delhi - Bonsai

Who is Peter Chan? B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kgp; batch - 1958-62. Yes, he is among the first, or as some might say - the purest IITian!

What does he do now? He is a Bonsai Expert! In his own words, 'When I started my bonsai business back in late 80's - I was no. 6th, but now I am no. 1'.This is one of the Bonsais he made, and believe it or not, this bonsai is worth over 30,000 pounds. Keep converting that to Rs, but at any rate you now know how rich he is!

On 19th January 2010, he came to IIT Delhi, and wanted to meet students. Pity, only a handful of our students turned up. However, I knew little of who all were there and who all weren't. I was busy listening and observing...

Picture yourself 72 years in age. How many smiles do you think you will be able to manage in a day? How much enthusiasm would you still carry to learn, to see? How much self satisfied would you be? Boy! You so should have met Peter Chan.

In his presentation (rather conversation) we talked at length about several things. Like, how back in his day there used to be an interview apart from the written test for getting into IITs. How his stint in the Margret Thatcher's government proved to be a vital value add in his life. How can the London Alumni Association help IITs and so on...

After the whole discussion, we went on a short IIT Delhi tour with him. Oh, he's a true IITian I would rather say. How friendly! Infact, he came visiting even our hostel rooms! After meeting him, I realized that there are some things which haven't changed even after 50 years. Like IITians differentiating b/w people who got in through JEE and those who didn't, our star studded language, the innate curiousness and inquisitiveness to see new things, cherish old things and learn more. Well, at the end of the tour, we waited atleast 10 minutes in the sem-hall for inter hostel GD competition to start. He wanted to see it. Alas!

Several people ask him, 'How Bonsai, after engineering?' And he answers, 'Engineering is the training of the mind. The inquisitive nature my IIT education developed in me helped me learn Bonsai all by myself and make my hobby, my business'

Check out: Heron's Bonsai

PS: Bonsai = Aesthetics

PPS: Stories about other people I met during this week to soon follow (Nicholas Burns, Tom Wheeler and Charles M Vest)

History of IIT Delhi

History of IITD

Recommended Read. Nice account of how IIT Delhi came into being, but I am still curious where did the writer find this all information from?

And just when you are there, you can explore the 'I Love you' too, an article which I wrote long long back...

I Love you

And then when you would have explored these 2 articles, do explore the others. They are great! Looks like BSP IIT Delhi should publicize this site of theirs more!

PS: The sad part is that results from this website are not indexed on Google!

Hidden Lands of IIT

I Know, I must be half insane to write a blog at 4 in the morning, but folks - can't help it.

YOU GOTTA DO WHAT I JUST DID - walk from Bharti Building to Kumaon (or anywhere to anywhere in Insti or Delhi for that sake!) and feel being transformed to mystic lands of yonder valley - yes, just like the one you always saw in your dreams.

It was 3 AM, when I decided that I would rather sleep on my soft bed than on hard chairs of my lab. As I stepped outside the Bharti Building I was stunned, mesmerized and not to mention afraid to see that visibility was barely 3 meters in even well lit areas. As I slowly stepped forward I realized that I could only see in a radius of a hand's stretch around me in poorly lit areas.

It was like being in the forbidden forest of Hogwarts or being in some lost Valley of Ancient times - Since I was of those few 5-10 odd people out of total 10,000 at IIT Delhi out on streets; each step felt as if it was a fight for survival, as if I was in search of some hidden treasure.

My thoughts transcended when I heard a plane fly above me; and for the first time I saw upwards - only to realize that I could bloody see nothing - forget a hand's stretch. A little later, I heard a roar of engine go past me which told me that it was a truck, which looked to me as a mystic creature with light emitting eyes but a camouflaged body! The streetlights too looked the same - floating orange Sun's without a body of their own...

I was shuddering by the time I reached my hostel - half due to fear, half due to being in my fantasy land for 20 minutes at a stretch.

I will definitely carry a camera when I do this the next time, but the fantasies cannot be captured - you have to feel them, you have to see them!

Retrospect!

These days are same as the days after I gave my JEE: They have suddenly lost their meaning, the clock no more shrieks with every passing second, the heart beat is normal at 70, and I have the luxury to sleep for more than 6 hours, again!

What was the first song I heard after I got the job (noticed - the!) - Freebird (remember Forest Gump!). Who were the first persons I called after I got the job? Who were the second? Who was the third (I texted this one, though!)? Why did I jump up and down, and was really happy only 3 days after I got the job!

The feeling is nice. The feeling is that of completion. The feeling is that of satisfaction, but the feeling is also of a lot of responsibility. Responsibility towards those who have really made it possible for me to stand where I stand today -Family and Friends: who have always stood like a rock, who have been the place where I can go anytime for anything, who have known me inside out and sometimes even better than what I know myself.

Mentors and guides: who's experience have allowed me to look at life from several angels telling me which way I would like to shape mine into!

Sometimes even total strangers, or people who I have met just a few days, weeks, or months ago, those who have come in like a gush of fresh wind and have reinstated my confidence in self.

The society - something abstract, in my view, but something which is the foundation of everything we do, see, feel, touch, hear, smell - in how we perceive our life and how we grow to be intellectuals!

And most importantly those who have given me the opportunity to prove myself, and prove I will when the time comes, till then let's do some interesting things! (they will unfold slowly)...

What Odds

Well, a recapitulation:

Sitting back, reclining on chair, brooding
Suddenly it snapped from the middle
And I fell in a manner, we call ' backwards headlong'
Numb and astonished I, the phone rings - Why?
"Hi we liked you resume, would like to meet you. Will you come by?"

Waited and Waited and Waited
The Black Corollas never came
After 2 hours and a half
took the car of Shubham, to the task
And reached the room in Oberoi, behind the glass

A long sleepless night, a long morning and a long afternoon
All for a 5 minute interview, All for a stupid puzzle
All for a single question, All for another rejection
What Odds that I was called
What Odds that I will be called again

Copy Paste

united feature syndicate Inc. 2004

A few phrases which are endangered or have become extinctTaken from an IIT Alumni Magzine

Bhains ki aankh: Buffalo's eye. A substitute for a more offensive word that is unprintable

Kailashpati: A guy who spends most of his time/effort on the females of Kailash hostel

To mein Nachun: Interrogative word, meaning should I dance? Rumored to be a witty reply to some boring information

P K Palta: Fell over drunk

Quotes from an Outlook Article
"I also had friends who never needed to study, they had been apparently born with engineering wisdom in their genes. There were guys who spent most of the semester in a drug haze, but sobered up a few days before the exams, cracked them, and went back to their pharmaceuticals"

"The vast majority of males were totally deprived of female company. The girls lived a strange life-on the one hand, they were hounded by dozens of would-be suitors; on the other, they faced the petulant hostility of the majority which saw them as undeserving of so much adulation and so many free lunches"

And the story can't be complete w/o mentioning this Uncyclopedia entry

"A very effective test of whether a guy is fit for getting into the IITs is asking a very simple question: "Do you have a girlfriend"? A guy who says anything else other than "What's a girl?" would not get through the test"

Creative writing paper at IIT Delhi!

"Haathi mila tha". The elephant described in the questions was actually given to us, to 100 of us. 100 elephants were distributed in the class.

Our thrill was beyond measure - never Gave such an awesome paper :D