Community – Page 5 – The KGP Chronicle

From the heart

Prof.Damodar Acharya, alumnus and former Director of IIT Kharagpur, was the invited guest of the Director, Prof. V.K. Tewari, at the 17th Annual Alumni Meet. He participated in the brainstorming session with three other former directors to contemplate on the future of the Institute. Prof. Acharya has decided to pay for the renovation of the two hostel rooms he occupied, first as an MTech student in 1970-72, and then during his PhD from 1972-75. KGP Chronicle talks to him about his decision and his thoughts on his alma mater.

What prompted you to contribute to the renovation of the two rooms you occupied as a student of IIT Kharagpur?

Answer: Freshers to college, including their parents, get their first impression about the Institute as they enter the room allotted to them. Our hostel rooms were good and matched the taste of students of the period of their construction. With time and lack of proper upkeep, they are not as good as they used to be. Government gives money for new construction. But for renovation and upgradation hardly any budget is available. No doubt some of our alumni are contributing to renovate common facilities like kitchen, dining hall and common room with big ticket funding. During my period, efforts were made to improve toilets. However, the rooms could not be renovated. Renovation of a room, I understand, requires modest expenditure of about Rs 100,000 that most of our alumni can afford. In KGP every student is attached to his/her hall and to the room that he/she stays. By contributing a small sum for the renovation of the room where one has stayed, one contributes for a good cause and in a small way pays back to the alma mater.

I firmly believe that with this type of small donation from each of the alumni together can make a lot of difference and ensure involvement of a large number in Institute building. This consideration prompted me to contribute for the renovation of the two rooms where I stayed during my student days with the hope that many more like me with limited capability will join the movement,

IIT Kharagpur wants to be among the top 10 institutions of the world. Is there too much focus on global ranking?

Answer: Higher global ranking, whether we like it or not, has become a goal of any Institution that offers world class education. Higher ranking helps in attracting good students, both national and international, world class faculty, funding from national and international sources and excellent career for its alumni. Perusing higher ranking is the goal of any Institution and IIT Kharagpur cannot be an exception. Definitely the focus on higher ranking is not too much.

Becoming one amongst the top ten institutions in the world is no doubt a laudable long term goal. IIT Kharagpur has to strive to achieve this in the shortest possible time. However, this calls for charting a strategy and time bound actions to reach the achievable mile stones. Some universities have done so with amazing success in a very short period though most have hundred or more years of history.

What do you think IIT Kharagpur should change or improve if it has to improve its ranking?

Answer: Comparison scores of IIT Kharagpur with those of the Top ten Universities in each of the QS ranking parameters will reveal that we have to go long way. We have to improve our score in each of the parameters. A strategy and actionable plans with time bound implementation schedule have to be developed. To identify the action set, we have to learn from our bench mark Institutes. The process is not sequential. One has to attack from all fronts. Two most important ones will be the teaching-learning process and research. Both will require a paradigm shift in our approach and allocation of resources for faculty, students, infrastructure and money.

Prof. Acharya at a session at the Computer Science and Engineering Department when he was Director, IIT KGP

If you were to be the Director of IIT Kharagpur today, what is the immediate thing you would have liked to concentrate on?

Answer: If I were the Director today, to improve ranking I would select bench mark Institutes and bench mark departments to understand how they have done so well. For instance NTU Singapore, which achieved a QS ranking of 11 in a short period of 33 years, will be my bench mark Institute. Georgia Tech will be my bench mark for the Mechanical Engineering.

The Institute and each of the departments will have to develop the road map on how to come nearer to their benchmark Institute and Department in teaching-learning and research. Targets for five years, 10 years, 20 years and 25 years shall be set.

The teaching-learning process has to be totally changed. The Institute has to change to outcome-based learning and use flipped class room, active learning, collaborative learning and experiential learning pedagogy to replace chalk and talk and ppt based delivery. Research will form an integral part of undergraduate and postgraduate education.
Focused research on a few areas with global and national relevance has to be initiated with the clear objective of becoming a reference Department in that area,
Attracting world class faculty and retaining them will be the other focus.
Innovation and entrepreneurship culture has to be strengthened.
Performance-based incentive system ought to be introduced.

Can you please share with us some anecdotes related to your time as Director of this institution?

Answer: I have been a workaholic and a private person throughout my life. In spite of my taking many path-breaking initiatives and doing work of long term value to the Institute, I was often misunderstood as a strict disciplinarian and insensitive person during my tenure. Frankly, I am just the opposite. My only limitation was that I am outspoken and did not know how not to tell a spade a spade. I was so deeply involved in work that I could not devote time for socializing. Therefore, I do not have many anecdotes to quote except the criticism I have faced for obvious reasons I do not want to quote and which I shall prefer to forget.

Around the Campus in 60 minutes…

“How big is the campus, and how long would it take to see everything around?” asked an inquisitive voice. Pratyush Bansal, a 9^th grade student from Global Indian International School, Singapore had come as a participant to IIT Kharagpur campus on the event of the Young Innovators Program 2019.

Launched in 2017, the Young Innovators Program or YIP is in its third year with almost three times more participants from India and abroad. With more than a hundred students, the task of touring the 2100 acres campus within an hour was indeed a challenge.

The day was windy with erratic spells of drizzle at regular intervals, owing to a depression over the Bay of Bengal. As the bus just rolled out of the Vikramshila complex, the children were shown the huge, expansive Tata Sports Complex to their left. They were surprised to find a ground as huge as this where IITans play both soccer and cricket.

As the bus moved on its first gear, ADDA was spotted on the right. “What does the word mean?” asked a few. “In the local language, it means casual chit-chat and gossip” replied one of IIT Kharagpur’s student volunteers. Crossing the clock tower on the Tikka Circle, the bus moved on to the Halls of Residence. The constant rustling and mumbling of the students in the bus reminded all of our schooldays, especially the picnics and excursions. One child could no longer contain his excitement – “Can you please show us Sundar Pichai’s department?” he asked. “Yes, of course. But before that, this is where he stayed”, said Rishabh, a volunteer, pointing out to Nehru Hall. The children strained their necks out of the window to get a glimpse. The bus moved on to Madan Mohan Malviya or the ‘MMM’ Hall of Residence. The students’ jaws dropped on hearing the hall capacity of 3000 students!

Completing a round of all the Halls of Residence, the bus took the 2.2 route, going past Jnan Ghosh Stadium, Technology Students Gymkhana, Swimming Pool, Basketball and Volleyball courts and entered the main academic campus. Most students wished to get down for a snap of the main building, but were discouraged by the bad weather. Passing the Central library, the bus crossed ECE, Physics and Mining Engineering Department and halted in front of the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering. A few children screamed with glee as they were able to identify Sundar Pichai’s department. Cameras and mobile phones captured numerous shots.

“IIT Kharagpur grows its tea in its campus itself,” remarked Prathmesh, a student volunteer.

“Are there hills in the campus?” asked a participant, given that tea is known to grow on hilly slopes.

Their doubts cleared up as the bus took a turn towards Nalanda complex and stopped briefly near the tea garden. The astonishment on the faces clearly indicated their curiosity to know the science behind tea cultivation on plain ground.

After around 15-20 minutes at the DIY Lab at Ramanujan complex, the children headed to the most sought-after location of the campus – the Nehru Museum. Formerly Hijli Detention Centre, this massive colonial architectural marvel has now been converted into a science and technology museum and attracts both students and teachers alike from schools in the surrounding neighborhood.

“Were there real prisoners in these cells?”

“Hey, just look at the locking mechanism! The inmate can never open this.”

“Goodness! This stone ages back to World War II?”

“What kind of a fighter jet is it? Any idea?”

Questions like these and many more floated around the old IIT building as students waited outside for their turn to visit the museum.

It was an interactive session of sorts inside the museum. The young bunch indulged in different hands-on experiments, which included the flow of solids and liquids in a given medium, the probability curve, rolling contact, the swinging of pendulums, the magnet-testing equipment, the elliptical carom board, the formation and conduction of electricity in clouds and so on.

With the recent launch of Chandrayaan 2, the students found the aerospace enclosure of the museum highly interesting. The principle of aerodynamics and propulsion installed in the equipment in experimental boxes drew the maximum crowd.

The last room of the museum is dedicated to some of the best photographers of the campus – both students and employees of the Institute.

“Are these pictures taken by IIT students?” asked Sanjiv. He represented NSN Memorial Senior Secondary School, Chennai. “Can’t be,” guessed Surya, his teammate, adding, “Where’s the time left for IITians to indulge in hobbies after studying through day and night?” Student volunteers broke into a fit of laughter!

Apart from an otherwise strict academic curriculum, IIT Kharagpur takes pride in having among its students some amazing photographers, filmmakers, a keen Everester or two and others who have dared to ditch regular engineering jobs and chase their dreams instead. The Young Innovators Program seeks to trigger that passion in these blooming minds where they learn to think differently, carve their own path and stand out in the crowd.

It was suddenly time for all to head towards the Kalidas Auditorium for the inaugural program.

Every Frame Has a Story

The office door creaked open and in walked a gentleman in a pink-purple striped shirt and grey trousers, with his laptop bag hung from over his right shoulder. It was 6:05 pm by the clock.

Shyamal Biswas – the name was synonymous with photography, in the campus. He is an ace photographer with credits from the National Geographic.

“My passion for photography goes back a long way. It accelerated after coming to IIT. I remember I just passed out of my 10^th standard, and was awarded a national scholarship of Rs 300. I spent 150 rupees to buy a Snapper camera and it all started from there”.

“I joined Jadavpur University and used to attend all their photography exhibitions. In one such exhibition, I came across a picture which captured a tribal Rajasthani lady smoking a beedi out of a moving bus. That struck me! I knew I could take pictures like these.

Here, around the campus, the Subarnarekha will always be my favourite photography spot”, he said.

“One year, Prof D J Sen, Chairman, Nehru Museum, approached me to capture the flora and fauna of IIT Kharagpur as the annual calendar theme, giving a 15-days deadline. That was the beginning of my pictures getting featured. I started taking birds’ pictures”.

“The genres of my photography kept changing with time. Initially it was general photography. Then it was wildlife that focused mainly on birds. Now I am more inclined towards human character, landscape and most importantly, street photography. This is closest to my heart. Each picture captured, has a story in itself. Either they have motion, or they have some unique subject, or some particular moment. I try to keep a human figure in most of my pictures. Presently, I am exploring subjects like colours of sunset and abstract photography. I do this out of my own satisfaction. I do this because I love doing this. I do this because it keeps me going”

“The best part is when you get recognized for your passion. I consider my greatest achievement when National Geographic featured two of my pictures. Interestingly, one of them was captured on my mobile. I was driving around the campus, when suddenly I came across a structure being constructed. I found the concept fascinating – one person on each step of the structure. I brought out my mobile and captured it. The framing and the context of this picture was what stood out”. I named this picture, ‘Stair to Heaven’.

The second picture featured by Nat Geo, was taken with a high end camera. Titled, ‘The Petal Collector’, the picture was clicked in Satkosia Gorge Sanctuary, Odisha. I randomly took a few shots of birds. It was later while I was going through the pictures back in my camp that I found a petal stuck in the bird’s claws. I was awestruck”. His face lit up with pride as he narrated this.

“Evolution of photography is very interesting” he continued. “People today, are moving over still photography. Point and shoot cameras will no longer exist. What will stay are high-end cameras, lens and mobiles phones. With the coming of digital platforms, photography has gone up by a few notches. In recent future, it will be dominated by mobile cameras. These days, the inclination is more towards video-blogging or Vlogs, than still photography. This is one area that can be developed”.

“Photography is an art”, he continued. “And why do you think people take up such art forms? To share it”. “No matter how much I say that I do not own my pictures, but somewhere deep in my subconscious, if someone likes or comments on my pictures, I feel satisfied, motivated”, he confessed.

“How do you manage all these with your job?’” I asked.

“Very tricky question”, he laughed. “I extract time and just drive off. It gets a bit taxing at times, but they’re worth it. It is my oxygen”, he signed off.

Circle of reason

It has been six years since Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, published her landmark book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, and stirred the hornet’s nest. She not only raised questions about the severe dearth of women in leadership positions or their difficulties in the workplace, but she did something different – she asked women to question themselves about what they were doing to change the status quo and encouraged them to take charge.

The book, and Sandberg’s NGO, LeanIn.org, have since caused a ferment of sorts, inspiring women, young and old, to be vocal about their dreams, ambitions and aspirations. Employers across the world have felt ‘Lean In’ insidiously changing the weather, if not the climate, of the workplace. They are witnessing more and more women asserting their rights to equal or better pay, negotiate for a vacation or that deserved promotion.

‘Lean In’ does not work in thin air. It works through ‘Lean In Circles’ that can be formed in colleges, communities or the workplace where women talk openly about their ambitions and are encouraged to take on new challenges. Women in over 170 countries have joined the Lean In community. And now many of IIT Kharagpur’s women are part of that growing community.

The Lean In Chapter at IIT Kharagpur started in 2017 when Ayushi Mrigen, then a student of maths and computing, read Sandberg’s book and felt inspired, Jasmine Jerry, a 3^rd year UG student of Aerospace Engineering informs me. She has been part of the Lean In Chapter since early 2018, and is already feeling the change. “I feel more confident while approaching people,” says Jasmine, who is also exploring her interest in aerial robotics with an alumni the Lean In Chapter has got her in touch with.

Mrigen, who has now graduated, enumerated the chapter’s objective in an article (https://medium.com/lean-in-iit-kharagpur/what-are-we-doing-at-lean-in-iit-kharagpur-bbb3d3832a26): “The major objective of this group is to create a community for women in IIT Kharagpur, and to give them a platform where they can learn, be inspired and serve as role models for others in the community.”

Samruddhi Pataskar, a member of the Lean In Circle, states the reason more explicitly (https://medium.com/@samruddhipataskar.pune/lean-in-iit-kharagpur-chapter-cae9706f5c18), “Although girls have displayed engineering proficiency and conquered challenges in STEM across the globe, we are yet to see a balanced gender ratio in engineering colleges. With a small peer group, it can get intimidating to pursue tasks that require teamwork. We aim at bringing together the girls of IIT Kharagpur to a common platform where they can find people with common interests, learn from each other, form teams and collaborate to work on projects.”

The Circle meets every week, where about 15–20 women come together for about an hour and engage in debate or discussion regarding at least one aspect which they believe will help them grow. “We try to discover our strengths, weaknesses, priorities, goals etc. through these activities,” writes Mrigen.

Complementing this slow and steady engagement are the “targeted workshops” that try to expose women to a variety of skills and options. They have seen overwhelming response from the campus girls. Take the two from the ‘Skill series’ – one was on Competitive Coding and the other was on Communicating with Confidence. There have also been two ‘Career series’ workshops – one a webinar with a former analyst of McKinsey to give an idea of what consultancy means, and the other a workshop where Mr. Rahul Sachdev from SAP Labs gave them a lowdown on Design Thinking.

A mentorship program with the alumni is picking up as well. A recent interactive session on August 31– titled ‘The Power of Us’ – saw lectures by Dr Malathi Lakshikumaran, a renowned Intellectual Property Rights lawyer, and Prof. Sudeshna Sarkar, Head of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence. The Lean In Circle has also been regularly interviewing successful female alumni and publishing these interviews in order to provide an opportunity for the college students to interact with their role models, and give them ready inspiration.

I talk with Shruti Shaunik, one of the lead coordinators of the Chapter and a fifth year student of Chemical Engineering. She has also helped set up an FQ Lounge, which is supposedly a “destination”, be it at conferences, companies and college campuses, where women connect, collaborate and activate change together. It is quite obvious that Shruti is thinking ahead.

Shruti says, “The idea behind Lean In is that if you have a group of women actually invested in your success and who believe in you, you will definitely develop the confidence to approach anyone who you believe would be helpful. Just because the next helpful person is a guy, you will not hold back because now if you have the sufficient confidence or the skills to approach anyone who can help.” True to her words, the Lean In Chapter at IIT Kharagpur has not held back from either enlisting or seeking the help of the opposite gender in furthering its objectives. Take the Competitive Coding workshop, which was run by the boys.

The Lean In movement in general has been criticized for selling women wrong ideas – among them the belief that the woman is somehow to blame for an inequitable workplace, that she needs to behave like a man to be paid like a man, that all women are necessarily her well-wishers, giving women a misplaced sense of fulfilment and so forth. But Lean In the world over, quite evidently, has had as many detractors as ardent supporters.

Most certainly, Shruti and her team mates, who have taken charge of their future, belong to the second category. They are clearheaded about a lot of things – they want to stand up for themselves and are eager to learn and teach themselves ways of doing it. They believe that perceptions need to change, as much of women as that of men. And they also believe that it would help the cause if women bolstered and mentored one another.

“The larger aim of the movement is to make women realize that their power lies in unity,” says Shruti. Despite the mid-sem, the needs of the Lean In Circle is never far away from her mind. She is already thinking of how best to inform and involve 1st year students into the Lean In Circle for giving them a headstart and a more permanent place to hold Lean In Circle and FQ Lounge meetings.

Life Beyond Academics

It was a tad difficult to hunt for a vacant seat at the Netaji Auditorium on the Friday eve. The only empty ones were those reserved for the Deans, Professors and panelists in the first row. Even those were partially taken up by some guilt-laden students who couldn’t manage a place for themselves and had to encroach on space designated for the Faculty.

That there could be a flipside to an otherwise India’s premier academic Institute, was something newcomers were extremely curious about.

Professor Anandaroop Bhattacharya, Associate Dean, International Affairs, took up the microphone to welcome a packed hall of around 1200 students gathered to attend a panel session by IIT Kharagpur alumni on ‘Live and Learn – The KGP Way’. The panelists included 2002’s President Gold Medalist of IIT Kharagpur, Prof. Soumyajit Mandal, Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. And then there were the star performers in fields beyond academics and industry. There was the swimmer and athlete – Mr. Koushik Banerjee, from Nomura.Inc, Singapore, the Sitarist – Prof. Pallab Dasgupta, Dean Sponsored Research & Industrial Consultancy, IIT Kharagpur, the Violinist and Author – Mr Sudipto Das. And, of course, an amazing vocalist – Prof. Bhattacharya himself.

Professor Dasgupta, who was moderating the session, spoke for a couple of minutes giving a brief about how much effort, devotion and dedication it takes to maintain a good CGPA all throughout in order to bag a decent job, or pursue higher studies. He turned to Prof Soumyajit Mandal and asked, “Soumyajit, you are a President’s Gold Medal recipient. Did you ever bunk classes?” The expression on Prof. Mandal’s face clearly conveyed that he was not prepared for such a direct question. “So many of them… Don’t remember what time the first class started at…” was all he could say. “Professors knew that if there was one place where I had 100% attendance, it was the swimming pool,” added Mr Banerjee. The entire hall broke into a roll of laughter.

Perhaps the most dreaded part of hostel life in India is food. Hostelites across India complain that they might have received the best education but that came with a huge cost – hostel food. The two-minute noodle was their only mode of escape.

“What about mess food?” asked Prof. Dasgupta wryly, this time to Mr Banerjee. The panelists seemed to observe a one-minute silence at this question amidst the roar of claps and laughter from the audience. “There’s just one thing I can say,” said Prof. Dasgupta turning to the students, “Your future better halves will never complain about your eating habits, trust me.” “KGP mess food strengthens your digestive system to a different level altogether and you can survive on almost anything available under the sun.” added Mr. Banerjee. His words got drowned in a deafening roar of claps, whistles and laughter.

Turning to the audience, Prof Dasgupta asked, “How many of you have got bicycles here?” One hand from almost every seat went up in the air. “And how many of you wear slippers to class?” Amidst the rumbling sound of confusion, some smarty said aloud, “But our classes haven’t started yet…”. Prof. Dasgupta pointed out that Kgpians have devised a technology that connects bicycles to slippers. Slippers are used as bicycle-brakes– newcomers would soon realize that once they start their classes in full swing.” The students cracked up.

Amongst all the anecdotes, fun, laughter and sarcasm, the entire session centered around introducing IIT KGP from a new horizon altogether – a place that has much more to provide than just labs, lectures CGPAs and placement. There are things that the Institute, very subtly, drills into the psyche of its students. Humility, as Mr. Das pointed out, along with teamwork and leadership skills become second nature. “The best part of the Institute”, he continued, “is that it gives you an incredible support system in the form of classmates, roommates and hall-mates.” “Never fear failure, because there is space for everyone here,” quipped in Prof Soumyajit Mandal.

As the session drew to a close, Prof. Pallab Dasgupta pointed out that parents these days teach their children to compete more than to collaborate. He advised the students to stay away from this league

Now that was a googly. For students who had competed nationally, often with each other, even for that one mark, it would take some time for the message to sink in. But perhaps it had already started to sink in. When students left the hall, they were laughing and jostling with each other, almost with the carefree abandon you see among children who have just started school.

Book Release at the Event:

‘The Broken Amoretti’, a book authored by Mr Sudipto Das was released by Prof Pallab Dasgupta on this occasion.

The Greenery and the Glory

Pavel Karmanov, a Russian M.Sc. student of Geology and Geophysics at IIT Kharagpur, says that he wanders around among the campus greenery whenever he has time. He crosses his heart to swear how amazed he is by the verdure surrounding him. Given that Pavel hails from East Siberia, it is perhaps not surprising that he is quite taken in by IIT Kharagpur’s lush green surroundings.

But Pavel is not alone. On even the most ordinary of days, it is impossible to be completely oblivious of the thick canopy over your head. If nothing else, you are thankful that it does not let in the sun through. In a more cheerful frame of mind, you may also have noticed the gay abandon with which life springs from the earth here – be it the thick moss between the little cracks in the pavement stones or the huge, gnarled branches of trees that sometimes weave around each other and then come down in tumbles of sprightly projectiles that hang from above in suspended animation.

Trees of every kind conspire together at IIT Kharagpur to keep the air moist and fragrant. They are all around you — Gulmohar, Radhachura, Neem, Sal, Sirish, Simul, Eucalyptus and Chatim. Then there are the fruit trees such as mango, lichi, jamun and Bael. Trees like Jarul, Bakul, Palash, Bahera, Mahogany and Tamarind sometimes line long stretches of the roads or cluster around particular areas. At the New Technology Guest House, a jamun tree is so generous with its fruits that the ground below turns a dark violet on some days and the mashed jamuns have to be swept away twice a day.

The campus is also home to some rare varieties of trees. Among them are the Nagchampa or the Cannonball tree, the Jagya dumur, a Ficus variety, and Bhojpatra or Betula utilis, a birch whose bark was once commonly used to write manuscripts and is still scraped out for ritual use. In fact, both Nagchampa and Jagya dumur are used for ritual offerings. The IIT Kharagpur campus also has some unusual trees, such as the Gamhar or white teak and Sausage trees.

Mrs Barnali Chakrabarti, wife of the Institute Director, Dr Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, has been on the campus for 27 years and says that the flora has changed over the years. The Ulatkambal or Devil’s Cotton and Hadbhanga or Veld Grape are two kinds of plants that are no longer seen on the campus. In fact, even beyond the campus, these two plants have been exploited so often because of their medicinal properties that they are on the verge of extinction, says Mrs Chakrabarti.

A former student of botany, a tree lover and green enthusiast, Mrs Chakrabarti, with the assistance of the horticulture department of the Institute, has planted close to 3,000 trees on the campus in the last three years. She maintains a detailed dossier on plant life on the campus, with their names and specific locations.

The Director’s bungalow has some unusual trees – like two Rudraksh trees and Allspice trees. Mrs Chakrabarti sourced the Rudraksh trees from Uttarakhand. Given that these trees are not native to the soil and grow in different climes (the Rudraksh is from the Himalayas), they required a lot of initial care. The Rudraksh trees bore fruits this year, says Mrs Chakrabarti.

The Horticulture department of the Institute has been making an all-out effort to refurbish the greenery on the campus. It has helped create a Biodiversity Park. It continues to plant and water thousands of trees in the nook and cranny of the campus. It cordons off trees that need special care. Take the ancient Banyan tree close to the Prembazar Gate that needed to be gated in order to stop the encroachments that would have prevented it from growing.

Rudraksh tree in the Director’s bungalow

The department has also been planting trees in the halls of residence. In some of the hostels, say the Lala Lajput Rai Hall and the Madan Mohan Malviya Hall, the staff are passionate about taking care of the greenery. In the Mother Teresa Hall and the Sister Nivedita Hall of residence, students have come forward to plant trees and shrubs. There are also two Sandalwood trees in two of the boys’ hostels.

There is a fledgling green movement on campus as well. Last year, some students participated in a unique program, “Life under the Canopy”, that required them to scour the campus and select 12 trees under which they had to take pictures with their friends. Early this year saw the “Pedal and Plant” rally in which students cycled to a chosen site to plant trees.

On the World Environment Day this year, Vision Probaho, an eco-conservation cum awareness forum created by a section of IIT Kharagpur’s research scholars, marked the occasion with a string of events. The day started with a pedal and plant initiative involving a cycle rally, which was followed by a plantation drive. Several students also enacted a street play to highlight issues arising out of the irresponsible use of non-biodegradable products and the way this is accelerating the destruction of the environment. Students of the Institute also showcased the floral diversity of the campus in a photography exhibition.

Monsoon in IIT Kharagpur is just as bounteous as the summer. If the Nor’westers in May bring down the mangoes, the monsoon showers loosen the Palmyra fruits. For some of the staff who picked up the fruits on their way home in late August this year, that provided occasion for making sugar palm fritters, a much-loved seasonal fare for Bengalis. These were joyously shared with colleagues the next day.

For the trees though, all this is business as usual.

Photographs by Arnab Moitra and S.K. Biswas