People – Page 2 – The KGP Chronicle

A fauji at heart

An account of Shib Sankar Das, Network Engineer (VC), Centre for Educational Technology, and one of the superstars leading the initiative of eLearning through online classroom at IIT KGP

I had joined the Indian Air Force (IAF) on October 31, 1981, as an Airman after completing my high school. I underwent training in Belgaum and Bangalore before being posted to Chandigarh in April 1984 to serve as a Radio Fitter in the AN-12 Transport aircraft. During the training I was adjudged the Best in Education, Best in Trade and Best All Rounder, and passed out as Leading Aircraftsman (LAC).

From the beginning of my service career, my target had been to improve my academic background. To fulfil my aspiration, I had joined the Graduate program of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) during my service in Chandigarh. I cleared the Grad. IETE examination in 1989 and after serving in IAF for about nine-and-a-half years, I took voluntary retirement from defence service on April 4, 1991 to join the Punjab Wireless Systems Ltd. (A Govt. of Punjab Enterprise) as an Executive Engineer.

I was, however, desperate to return to West Bengal as my family in Kolkata was going through a difficult phase and needed my support. Soon after my confirmation at the Punjab Wireless Systems Limited, I resigned, and joined IIT Kharagpur as a Technical Assistant in the Department of Electronics and Electrical Communications in April 1992. Although my career took a step back, but I could now be with my family. Thankfully, I have not had to look back.

During my tenure in the Department of E&ECE, I joined a research project in the area of developing low cost ultrasound Doppler System on lien. The project was guided by Prof. Swapna Banerjee and Prof. Anindya Sundar Dhar and I actively contributed in the development of the front end circuitry of the prototype model. The teamwork led us to an Indian Patent in Developing an improved apparatus for ultrasonography using a continuous wave Doppler system. During this period, I also started working towards developing a non-invasive blood glucose monitor.

On completion of my deputation in the project in 2000, I was transferred to the Technology Telecom Centre to take care of its activities. During my two years’ tenure there, I developed necessary infrastructure for in-house testing and repair facilities of telephone instruments and underground telephone cable fault detection system.

In 2002, I joined back the E&ECE Department as part of the department’s technical resource pool. I completed my MTech in Microelectronics & VLSI Design from IIT Kharagpur in 2007. During this phase, I tried my best to advance the non-invasive blood glucose monitoring research projects that I was earlier associated, with active support from L&T, which could source us the required sensors and ICs. Our hard work bore fruit as our biomedical research work led by Prof. Swapna Banerjee and Prof. Anindya Sundar Dhar was recognized with the grant of an Indian patent in developing non-invasive photoacoustic blood glucose measurement.

It was under the tenure of Prof. Damodar Acharya as Director that I was transferred to the Centre for Educational Technology in 2009 to develop the virtual classroom infrastructure of the Institute in 15 locations spread across Kharagpur and the extension centres at Kolkata and Bhubaneswar. The primary aim was to start online MTech program in the disciplines of ECE, EE and ICT, to improve the quality of teaching for teachers in engineering colleges and also benefit industry professionals.

With former Director, Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, and Sundar Pichai (extreme right)

It was a very challenging task to design and oversee the development of the classrooms in terms of acoustics, lighting and air-conditioning, installation and testing of video conferencing equipment at these locations alone without the help of any support staff. Continuous travel to all three locations was the need of the day and at one point things became very difficult to manage. The administration appreciated my concern and gave me a free hand to choose my team to help me with the job.

Later, following the Institute’s MoU with the Govt. of Chattisgarh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, I developed two more virtual classrooms in Raipur and brought Port Blair into our virtual classroom network. We installed the VSAT facility to connect Kharagpur with Port Blair for online teaching. During 2010-2013, I looked after the complete operation and maintenance of the 3-year MTech program from all five locations with the support of a few contractual staff members.

I have always loved to take up new challenges, and creating the infrastructure for the countrywide classroom program under the T10KT and NKN virtual classroom was one such challenge. It was quite difficult to design the T10KT studios in the basement of Kalidas Auditorium and three NKN classrooms in the Departments of ECE, Industrial and System Engineering (later shifted to Sir JCB Lab Complex) and GSSST, but I now feel happy that everything went well and we are still continuing to use all the infrastructure for their intended uses successfully.

A job well executed is always gratifying. I have derived immense pleasure from managing the NPTEL online certification program since the third quarter of 2015, when Prof. Anupam Basu assigned me this responsibility. Till 2015, IIT Kharagpur did not participate in the NPTEL Online Certification Program and it was primarily other IITs/IISc who offered industry focused online courses to bridge the gap between the academia and industry as per the inputs from the NASSCOM group of companies.

With Vice Chancellors of Biju Patnaik University of Technology and Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical University

I took the initiative to join other Institutes in offering the NPTEL online courses in 2016 with just 12 courses. There has been a phenomenal growth in terms of scaling of the operations since then. Now we can proudly say that IIT Kharagpur is the single largest contributor of SWAYAM-NPTEL MOOCs in the country. More than 500 courses have been offered by the Institute so far. In the ongoing Jan-Apr 2020 semester, out of the total 391 NPTEL online courses, IIT Kharagpur alone is offering 94 courses.

To popularize the SWAYAM-NPTEL activities across the Eastern Zone, I have conducted more than 60 awareness workshops across the states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim and other North-eastern states. This has resulted in the acceptance of these courses by many universities for credit transfer and earning Honours degree in engineering programs. The result is reflected in the increase in the number of registered examinees from a mere 120 in 2016 to more than 25,000 now in West Bengal alone.

I also look after the day-to-day operation of SWAYAM Prabha DTH educational channels 11 & 13 of MHRD, coordinated by IIT Kharagpur. Besides the virtual meeting infrastructure of the Institute, I coordinate the recording and live streaming activities of ISWT, GIAN, LEAP, Annual Convocation, GES, etc.

In the face of COVID-19 related lockdown, the challenge before the Institute was to continue with the regular academic activities through online mode. I helped organize YouTube live based online teaching for the 1^st Year UG students during 8 am-6 pm. The program has been hugely successful, garnering a thousand or more viewers.

With inputs from CIC, I interacted with CISCO to get 200 WebEx licenses for our ongoing online teaching activity free of cost for a period of 3 months. Till the summer break, this helped our teachers to carry on with the classes as normally as possible. Around 80 per cent of our students have been able to attend these classes.

The Institute bestowed Best Employee Award in Group A category to me in 2018. Besides the regular institutional activities, I am also associated with the IIT Kharagpur Alumni Foundation (India) as its Treasurer since 2019.

I am thankful to the discipline that my career in the armed forces taught me when I was young. But a fauji at heart, I always like to fight in the trenches instead of coming to the forefront.

Digging Deeper: Parama’s Story

Parama Mukhopadhyay tries to answer why women lagging behind in the mining sector in India

“What is your department?”

“Mining Engineering”

“Mining? Are girls even allowed in Mining Engineering? Will you get any job in mining after you finish your study? Why mining? Is it suitable for girls?”

These questions – that come with raised eyebrows – are common for us while discussing our subject area with others. Us – the WOMEN in Mining in India! The above-mentioned questions are well-justified if we consider the number of women and job opportunities for them in the mining sector, not only in India, but worldwide.

Let’s focus on the Indian scenario. Our country has different types of mineral reserves, and the mining industry contributes a sizeable amount to the country’s economy and generates a good number of employment opportunities every year. Unfortunately, since historical times, this sector is highly male-dominated and even hostile towards women. Though mineral production and overall employment generated by the sector have gone up exponentially, involvement of women has fallen further. In FY18, the country produced minerals worth Rs 1.13 lakh crore, registering an increase of 13 per cent over the previous fiscal. Compare this with the other figure. Women are said to account for only 4.4% (24,294 females) of the total mining workforce, which is considerably less compared to women labor force participation rate (22.5%) in India.Not only the numbers, but the job quality and salary amount is significantly poor for women compared to their male co-workers. Women labourers are paid less than males and this is because jobs that require technical skills are never offered to women with an assumption that they are not suitable for this.

Where are we going wrong??

What could be the possible reasons of such tragic situation of women in mining sector? Discriminating laws, historical patriarchal myths, issues with clothing suitable for mine works, so-called masculine- not-suitable-for women-job, lack of proper safety and security, lack of basic facilities including toilets, lack of technical skills are the primary reasons prohibiting females to join this industry. Laws in our country had always prohibited girls to take up jobs in mining sector. According to Mines Act, 1952, women were restricted to be employed in opencast mines during night shifts (7 pm to 6 am) and totally barred from working in underground mines. Later females were permitted to work in mines only in day shifts (6 am to 7 pm).

In February 2019, the labour ministry of Central Government allowed female workers to work in open cast mines round the clock and also in underground mines even in night shifts. The implementation of this rule has to strictly follow few rules for underground mines that include safety and security of female workers. According to this new law, the deployment of female workers in night shift (7 pm to 6 am) can only be done for technical, supervisory and managerial work that does not need continuous presence. She should be in a group of not less than three. Owner of the mine should have a written consent from that woman and adequate occupational safety, security and health benefits has to be provided. Also this deployment will be subject to the framing and implantation of Standard Operating Procedures that will follow the guidelines issued by Chief Inspector of Mines at regular intervals.

Execution of this new rule will undoubtedly bring more gender equality and more job opportunities for females in mining sector. But, still women are restricted to choose their favourite job type in underground mines, as they can only participate in “technical, supervisory and managerial work”. We still have the Coal Mines Regulations, 1957 that states no adolescent or woman will descend or ascend a shaft in a cage or other means of conveyance unless accompanied by one or more adult males. It clearly implies that working in underground mines for women will depend on the availability of male workers. This surely make women less favourable as a candidate for underground mine jobs and they have to restrict themselves to choose option in office jobs above ground or be involved in opencast mines.

But, at least changes have begun!

Why are women lacking skills to work for mining industry? This is because, not many courses or workshops are being offered to girls/women that can help develop required skills to work in mine exploration areas. Currently, three IIT’s – IIT KGP, IIT BHU and IIT(ISM) Dhanbad are offering admissions to girl students in Mining Engineering in B.Tech. M.Tech. and PhD. [Lucky to be part of IIT Kharagpur!]. Also, in 2015, Anna University allowed the same. But, even after offering courses, due to the lack of awareness among girls about job prospects for mining and about recent changes in laws in favour of women, mining is still not on the preferred list of courses for girls.

What to do now? Changes in laws that create more jobs, assurance on safety and security, suitable courses to develop skills and spreading awareness among girls to encourage them to consider mining as a prospective industry for career. Changing process will take time, but surely will succeed.

I would like to end my article by narrating the inspiring story of Dr. Chandrani Prasad Verma, India’s first female mining engineer and currently holding the position of Principal Scientist at the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel research at Nagpur. Dr. Chandrani Verma qualified her B.Tech. as a mining engineer at 1999. Her qualifying year clearly indicates that she started her journey at this field years before the amendment of laws were implemented and institutes started opening their doors for female students in mining courses.

Being passionate about pursuing a career in this field, she had to fight a case in court for one year just to be enrolled in a college to study Bachelor’s degree in Mining. In 1996, she was admitted in Mining Engineering as ‘special case’ in Ramdeobaba Engineering College in Nagpur and in 1999, she graduated and became India’s first female mining engineer. Even after graduating successfully, doors for jobs in mines did not open for her, but her determination helped her to continue her work in this field. Besides working as a lecturer in college, she completed her M.Tech. in 2006 and completed Ph.D. on Web Pillar design in Highwall Mining from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur in 2015. She was the only woman candidate during her interview at CSIR – Central Institute of Mining & Fuel Research. Her interviews were hesitating to select her, as her job will require regular visit to underground mines, but her passion for mining impressed them and she was selected as a scientist. We are proud of her. She opened the doors for many other girls to choose the dream of pursuing a career in mining.

Finally, we, the women in mining, are hopeful that the administrations, lawmakers, educationists, professors and our society will come forward together to end the long-prevailing gender discrimination in this particular field and support us to become more and more successful in this field.

Parama Mukhopadhyay (16MI91R05)

Research Scholar, Mining Engineering Department,

IIT, Kharagpur

Three decades and counting!

“September 24^th 1982. I joined IIT Kharagpur as a Lower Division Clerk, giving in to my parents repeated requests. Today, after spending more than two-thirds of my life here, I do not regret the decision of my parents.

Rubber Technology Center had started the year before, in 1981. With no one to look into office work there, I was posted in that department as secretary to the HoD. My job profile consisted of mainly typing and maintaining office records. I stayed there from 1982 to 1987. With my promotion in 1987, I joined the Recruitment Section for a few days and was later transferred to the Deans’ Office. In 1989 I was posted in GATE office initially and then SRIC office. I served there for perhaps the longest time – from 1992 to 2006 – a good 14 years!

During my tenure at the SRIC office I was in the team of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system which happens to be synonymous with IIT Kharagpur. This system was started by Prof R. N. Banerjee. We, as a team, were thinking of introducing a new system of documentation. ERP was initially a project mode of SRIC headed by Prof Banerjee and we were involved in providing all information to this pilot project for its smooth functioning – details of accounting, administration and project monitoring – all had to be fed into the project, which was further programmed by Prof Banerjee with the help of his students.

Since then, ERP has become an integral part of IIT-KGP system and has been upgraded continuously since the time of its inception.

It was during my tenure that the modernization of the SRIC office took place. What you see today is a complete rehashed version of what it was during the early 90s. A lot of brainstorming went into how to give the office a modern, corporate look. Under the leadership of Prof Damodar Acharya, the then Dean SRIC and Dr D Gunasekaran, the then Principal Administrative Officer (who was also the Registrar of the Institute), we visited a few corporate offices in Kolkata, to get an idea of a modern office set-up. We also concentrated on the work culture and environment, alongside a new corporate model. Workstations, with individual desktops were introduced along with in-service training for employees and new recruits. This included computer training, soft skill development training, training in office administration, rules’ implementation training and others.

After I took charge of the Establishment Section in the year 2006, the Institute took a policy to modernize all its administrative section on the lines of SRIC office. This called for a lot of effort, which had to be put in so as to get the desired infrastructure of a corporate office within IIT.

The best part of my service here at IIT Kharagpur would be the purchase of a piece of land from the Government of West Bengal to set up a Research Park, which will be operational very soon. I was one of the signatories in those official papers back in 2008.

We worked as a team under the leadership of Prof Samir Kumar Lahiri, the then Deputy Director and Prof. Anil K. Bhowmick, the then Dean SRIC, during IIT Kharagpur’s Golden Jubilee in 2001. It was a year-long celebration with an exhibition at Science City Kolkata, for three consecutive days. That huge event saw the participation of all departments of IIT Kharagpur, few industries and several colleges in Kolkata.

The work culture of the Institute was always highly appreciated by the guests / visitors to the Institute. Maintaining and nurturing a positive attitude to work and towards colleagues, I feel, is the need of the hour. Good conduct always pays off and it costs nothing. What do you say?”

Image credit: Suman Sutradhar, Mr Animesh Kumar Naskar

I Came. I Saw. I Played.

“When I came here in July this year, I found a few students playing football at the Tata Steel Sports Complex. That intrigued me. I also wanted to play, since I come from a country where football is widely played. We won the FIFA World Cup last year, you see! I didn’t know who to approach or how to go about it. I have a friend who also works in the same Mechanical Engineering lab as mine. He was playing in the IIT Kharagpur football team. I told him of my desire to play for IIT Kharagpur. He told me to come to play with them. Since then we have been playing in BC Roy.

We started practicing for the Inter IIT from August this year. Initially, I could not go for the practice because I had a lot of work, and then I was not here for quite some time. I returned in October and it is from then that the rigorous training sessions started. It was from that practice session that 25/26 players got selected for the team. We had several meetings, practice camps and I had to extract time out of my lab sessions to attend all of those. Inter IIT Sports Meet is a big thing. Intense training started in the beginning of December, and there been no rest since. We had to come for practices every single day and spend hours on the field.

Just a few days before Inter IIT, 15 players were selected to play the matches and the rest were for the reserve bench. I feel extremely privileged to be a part of the playing team. So far the matches have been good. We had a brilliant run against Ropar in our last match. And I hope we will continue to have a good run.

I play as a midfielder and as you know, this game calls for a lot of running for the entire 90 minute duration of the match. A few of our teammates have been injured, but that is part of the game. That, however, has not been able to put our spirits down. We are planning to smash the opponents with renewed vigour. I think it will be a great match against Delhi this evening. See you then, at 5 pm, today at Tata Sports!”

Olivier is working on ‘Biogeochemical Characterization of Water’ under the supervision of Prof Aditya Bandyopadhyay in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur

Ear to the ground

Prof. Jeevanjyoti Chakraborty, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, received Top Feedback from First Year Undergraduate students for Spring 2019. His faceweb page reveals a lot about his connection with students. More than the academic exploits of the teacher, it talks about how students should proceed if they wanted to collaborate with him in research or what they ought to do for a recommendation, and so on.

With little more than a decade separating Prof. Chakraborty from his students, and given that he has spent a considerable time of his student life at IIT Kharagpur – from his BTech years to his PhD – this connection is perhaps expected. But he has also been pro-actively reaching out to students. And he is not alone in doing this at IIT Kharagpur.

In an informal discussion on teaching styles and his memories of his time at IIT KGP, Prof. Chakraborty informs that he, like Prof. Mrigank Sharad of the Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering Entrepreneurship, proactively seeks students’ opinion by issuing a Google Form which the students are asked to fill in. Unlike the Institute’s feedback ritual, which takes place at the end of the semester, this comes early on. “If I ask them what they like and don’t like only a few weeks after the classes start, I can adjust my teaching accordingly,” explains Prof. Chakraborty, who ascribes the idea to his younger colleague, Prof. Sharad. “Since this is completely anonymous, students have no problems giving their free opinion,” he says. He also adds, “To keep an open channel with students, specifically related to course work, I also give my personal email address to students so that they can write whatever they want.”

Prof. Chakraborty taking a class at Nalanda

There are also things that he is doing differently. He says, “This year, I took rigorous tutorial sessions, which I sometimes neglect in the higher classes. For the 1st year, I borrowed one hour from the lecture time for the problem sheets that students were asked to solve and which I later discussed threadbare. I was asked to do this by Prof. Anirvan Dasgupta of our department who has also won best teaching feedback earlier.”

This grilling, one would expect, would make him pretty unpopular. But the opposite seems to have happened.

Prof. Ghoshal diligently writes down the notes she would share with her class

Students’ peculiar preference for rigour, through which they also seem to sniff out the dedication of the teacher, was evident in the case of Prof. Koeli Ghoshal, Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics, who earned the second slot after Prof. Chakraborty for the Spring 2019 1st Year UG feedback. Prof. Ghoshal, by the way, has won top teaching feedback consistently in different subjects since 2014, when the feedback system was put in place; this was her seventh time win.

Onkar Sabnis, Prof. Ghoshal’s student from the Chemical Engineering Department who attended her class in the Spring semester, says, “Prof. Ghoshal took the MA2 course, which is not a simple course but her teaching methodology, passion and dedication towards the subject made the course seem quite easy and interesting…Ma’am used various methodologies depending upon the topic but the one which I would like to highlight is that in every new lecture she revised the concept taught in the previous one so that students could recollect what was taught in the previous class.”

That perhaps sums up what students prefer. The handholding. The care. The diligence.

Prof. Ghoshal says, “I don’t consider teaching a job, it is my passion and responsibility as well.”

Like her and Prof. Chakraborty, the teachers who have won top feedback from students have tried to live up to their responsibility in their individual ways, as have done others.

Prof. Saibal Gupta of the Department of Geology and Geophysics, who received the INSA Teachers Award for 2019, says, “I present the subject in such a way that they begin to appreciate what they are studying… It is basically giving them respectability about themselves, to make them feel that what they are studying is worth it… something that has a lot of science in it, and also a bit of romance in it….”

Not surprisingly, one of his students said, “Sir is a master story-teller. The interest he evokes in the subject, which he lives and breathes, is infectious.”

Prof. Partha Pratim Das, Head, Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering Entrepreneurship, recently talked about how IIT Kharagpur has constantly experimented with “what would work” with students in “Avenues of Excellence”, a recent film on IIT Kharagpur shot for Doordarshan: “There have been experiments with flipped classrooms.. there have been different ways of handout-based teaching…We have tried to focus on the methods that have worked particularly well here in terms of increasing the engagement of students.”

“The day you take a good class, you know you’ve taken a good class. It’s like having a good meal. You know it when you have enjoyed a good meal, don’t you?” said Prof. Saibal Gupta laughingly.

At least in class, both students and teachers at IIT Kharagpur seem to be enjoying the spread.

Now and then

Why is a black coat and dark trousers the invariable wear during placements? If Pradeep Poddar, who just landed a placement with Accenture, is to be believed, it is only because students are following tradition. “We have seen pictures of our seniors wearing black, and so black it is,” says Pradeep, who is a final year Dual Degree student of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering.

But except for the colour, everything else seems to have changed about placements.

For one, placements were not concentrated around the month of December and January. Alumnus and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Prof. Anandaroop Bhattacharya (1997/BTech/ME), says, “Placements during my time used to take place throughout the semester. Moreover, if one had got a job offer, one had to wait till all others in the Department had gone through the process and got offers, to wait for a second offer.”Besides, adds Prof. Bhattacharya, whatever happened, happened on the day of the interview.

Not so anymore. The placement process is much more intensive. Pradeep, for example, braced 40-45 tests from companies from the month of October before going for the placement process in early December. “According to the set rules, no tests could happen from 8 am to 5 pm, but starting from evening, some of us took tests way into the night,” says Pradeep.

He also prepared himself rigorously in coding, analytics, computer programming and on other platforms together with his friends. Some of this information was provided by the CDC itself, which keeps a repository of the feedback from previous years’ students facing the placement process. “On some of these platforms, you can enrol yourself to learn how to crack puzzles, gain expertise in data structure and programming for free,” says Pradeep.

Perhaps the process may be said to have started even earlier, with the compulsory internship in the third year for which students earn two credits. Himanshu Mundhra, a third year student of Computer Science and Engineering and a blog writer on Medium talks of how he had begun preparation for his internship interview from the second year itself https://medium.com/@himanshumundhra98/internship-chronicles-the-cdc-chapter-948d1a1f5a51

If Himanshu’s experience is anything to go by, a CDC internship does not come easy either. In fact, the IIT KgpFundae– anonymously Facebook account is strewn with worries being voiced on what happens when one is unable to secure such an internship. Many, like Pradeep, work their LinkedIn network to land off campus corporate internships.

But apart from the duration and the intensity of the placement process, there are other differences. Take job offers from the core sector. Prof. Bhattacharya says, “The number of companies and job offers in the core sector may have remained the same or even increased, but the number of students have gone up 3-4 times. So if you take the ratio of core jobs to number of applicants, it has definitely reduced. A lot of students now go for sectors different from their own discipline, perhaps aware that there are not many jobs to go around which are related to their discipline.”

The picture gets even rosier if one looks ahead at the early Nineties. Prof. Pallab Dasgupta, Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, who completed his B.Tech in 1990 and M. Tech in 1992 from the same department, says, “Since there were only a few IITs and a limited number of graduates – there were only 21 in my batch from my Department – the number of jobs were comfortably more than the number of students. So getting a job was fairly easy. Many, in fact, had multiple offers from companies as many left for foreign shores for research.” Prof. Dasgupta even calls it a “problem of plenty”.

The situation seems to have taken a 360 degree turn. An IIT Kharagpur: Undergraduate Mental Health Survey (https://medium.com/@shastrarth.iitkgp/iit-kharagpur-undergraduate-mental-health-survey-196082ef67db) puts “CDC internships, and then the placements hunt as the most stressful phase of their academic life in KGP”, with many putting the period after the third year as a completely different phase of their student life.

But nothing apparently can prepare a student for what ultimately happens during placements. Pradeep, for one, calls the process of selection “quite random”. His friend, Rajesh Yadav, a Dual Degree student of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department, says that he had concentrated on garnering software skills throughout college. He, in fact, appears mildly surprised by being chosen by Société Générale, a French multinational investment bank and financial services company, despite not having any experience in finance.

Pradeep explains, “As an interviewee, it is your job to convince the interviewers that you are the right candidate.” There are, obviously, no magic formulae for this. Pradeep supposes that the test he gave for Accenture in October had gone right, and hence the placement offer was perhaps natural. But he is not sure if that is the only explanation.

Most going for placements take this uncertainty factor on their chin and brace hard for it. Prof. Bhattacharya is, in fact, visibly impressed by the sureheadedness of the students of today. “Students are very sorted out in their minds whether they would opt for placements or not. Some of my students skip placements altogether as they know that they are going into research. Yes, I would say that they are way more sure now about where they are headed than they were during my time,” says Prof. Bhattacharya.

The other thing that impresses him is their professional way that students dress for the placement. “For us, it was different. We often used to borrow each other ties and shirts. More than shirts, we used to share shoes. There were probably 2 formal shoes in my wing where 6 of us were applying for jobs – one was size 8, the other 10. Even if the size did not fit, we would say, ‘How does it matter? You will be sitting during the interview anyway’. That was our definition of one (well two) size fits all,” Prof. Bhattacharya adds with a laugh.

Pradeep laughs as well on hearing about this, perhaps at the impossibility of that happening today. For his placements, he chose a blue jacket, but only because he had the material lying around in his home. Left to his own, he would have settled for black.

Photographs: Suman Sutradhar

Gaaner Opaarey – My Parallel Universe of Rabindrasangeet

The first person to introduce me to Tagore’s music was my mother, a trained Rabindrasangeet singer herself and alumna of ‘Geetabitan’ an eminent music institute in Kolkata. Thus, one could say, I was born listening to Tagore’s songs. My mother introduced me to my first gurus – Shri Sailen Basu Roychowdhury and his wife, Smt Kamala Basu – both renowned Rabindrasangeet exponents of the time.

I believe, whenever a child is exposed to something over a sustained period very early in life, it leaves an indelible impression on her mind. It becomes difficult for the child to dissociate herself from that influence even later in life, no matter how hard she may try. That is exactly what happened to me. After I trained under the Basus for several years, I met and started to learn from Acharya Jayanta Bose – a classical singer who taught me the basics of vocal symphony and voice training. However, in this too, I was driven by my desire to improve my versatility as a singer of Rabindrasangeet.

My father had been an ardent fan of Smt Ritu Guha, one of the legends of Rabindrasangeet and wanted me to learn from her. Baba took me to her place, where my very first rendition of a song I had learnt from one of her recordings impressed her. She suggested I undertake a 5-year certification course from Dakshinee, the reputed Kolkata institution that she too was an alumna of.

Ritu di referred me to Shri Sudeb Guhathakurta, the current Principal of Dakshinee and thus began my journey with the Institute. This was April 1,1996. Here, I had the opportunity to train under various stalwarts of the genre including Smt Meera Ghosh, Smt Rupu Boral, Shri Rono Guhathakurta etc.

The training and practice of my formative years now yielded dividends, as I was given an opportunity to perform on stage much earlier than most students were conventionally allowed. Soon, I started performing regularly at Dakshinee’s programmes. Carrying the Dakshinee legacy forward was a huge responsibility. It gave me goosebumps performing at Rabindra Sadan and Kala Mandir for the first time!. I was euphoric as my journey as a ‘performing’ artist had truly begun.

By then, I had earned a Bachelor’s degree in English and decided to pursue postgraduate studies in music with Rabindrasangeet as a major. Thus, Rabindra Bharati University happened, where I had the good fortune of learning from yet another bunch of stalwarts – Prof. Agniva Bandyopadhyay, Prof. Bulbul Sengupta, Prof. Mekhola Dasgupta, Prof. Shantanu Bandyopadhyay of Bishnupur Gharana and many more. During this phase, I also signed up for Maya Sen’s classes of Anandadhwani.

My MA programme at RBU and the certificate course at Dakshinee got over almost at the same time. I secured second position in the final examinations at Dakshinee. I always say that RBU taught me technicalities, whereas Ritu di and Dakshinee taught me rendition, the art of performance. I have had the opportunity to perform on various platforms – in India and abroad – all because of Dakshinee. I have performed in Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Allahabad, Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Colorado (USA). In 2002-2003 I recorded almost 60 songs and dance drama Chitrangada for Rabindrasangeet CD series Gitabitan Live 1 & 2 released by ISS Infotech USA.

In 2003 I moved to Ranchi with my husband. I could not detach myself from Rabindrasangeet. One of my acquaintances introduced me to Mr Subir Lahiri who was the Cultural Head of the Bengali Association of Ranchi. He suggested I should perform at an event organized by Ranchi’s Union Club. Thereafter, the Union Club regularly invited me to perform in all its programmes.

I moved back to West Bengal when my husband joined IIT Kharagpur in 2006. I started performing at various Tagore events and other programmes while shuttling between KGP and Kolkata. In 2009, I performed for the first time at IIT KGP, at an event organized by the Technology Club on the occasion of Durga Puja. Over the next few years I had the opportunity of performing at cultural evening of conferences conducted by different departments of IIT Kharagpur.

It was a pleasure and privilege for me to participate in the Induction Programme for freshers at IIT Kharagpur as a resource person for Music Appreciation in 2017. In 2018 I was awarded the Arundhati Devi Smriti Puraskar for Best Female Vocalist by Dakshinee. That is another milestone of my career in music. Very recently, the former Director of IIT Kharagpur, Professor Partha Pratim Chakrabarti felicitated me on behalf of Technology Students’ Gymkhana after I conducted a day-long workshop on Rabindrasangeet for students, scholars and music lovers on campus.

Receiving the Arundhati Devi Smriti Puraskar from Shri Buddhadev Guha

My introduction as a singer on campus gradually brought in students, mostly spouses of faculty members, and some faculty members themselves, who wanted to learn Rabindrasangeet. I realized that teaching students five days a week would make it easier for me to keep up with my reyaaz. I decided to turn my passion into my profession. I got endless support from all my teachers, especially Shri Sudeb Guhathakurta. He even suggested a name for my little school; and thus Chirontonee was born.

I do not expect Chirontonee to be a very famous institution. However, I have a certain vision for a future for Chirontonee.

Felicitation by Prof Partha Pratim Chakrabarti

Having resided in this campus for 14 years now, I am a part of a community which includes students, faculty members and other non-teaching staff. Through Chirontonee, I have had the opportunity to interact with KGPians from all walks, and I realize the immense pressure each of them faces in the regular journey of life, and the need for some respite and relief. I strongly feel the need to involve them in something creative, something that affords them a break from their regular routine. I’m striving in my own little way to bring all these individuals under an umbrella called Tagore, through Chirontonee.

The healing power of music is infinite and I shall consider myself blessed if Chirontonee can provide that succour for the community. If through this humble initiative of mine, I am able to inculcate positivity in the minds and lifestyle of a few, and bring them even some fleeting moments of joy and rejuvenation, I shall feel accomplished.

It gives me immense pride when my students travel across the globe for higher education and also earn accolades as Rabindrasangeet singers. They carry Chirontonee’s name across borders — what more could I ask for?

I can only thank Tagore in his own words: “Amaare tumi ashesh korechho emoni leela tobo… (You have made me infinite; such is your aura).”

Taare Zameen Par

Diwali was just round the corner when a galaxy of stars descended on the Structural Reliability and Research Facility (SRRF) Lab last Tuesday evening over mouth-watering snacks and a tête-à-tête with the International Relations Office of IIT Kharagpur. These students, enrolled for various postgraduate courses and programs at IIT Kharagpur, and hailing from Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Nigeria, Russia, Syria and France, participated in an engaging session that continued for over a couple of hours.

Prof Anandaroop Bhattacharya, Associate Dean, IR

“What is this Illu thing we are hearing in our halls? Is it something big here?” asked one student. He was visiting the campus for the first time and was highly curious about the upcoming Diwali celebration on campus.

After a formal introduction by the Dean and Associate Dean, IR, the students were asked about the issues they would like to address and the things they liked about IIT Kharagpur.

“The Lake!” came the unanimous answer. On being asked the reason behind their fondness for the water body, they replied that the lake reminded many of them of their hometown. The other places most of them loved to hang around were ‘Vegies’ and the Tech Market. Quite a number of them found the campus expansive and interesting and their hallmates “wonderful” and “helpful”. A few also wanted to explore the campus in a group of their own.

“I like Bollywood films and Taare Zameen Par tugged at my heartstrings. I want to learn Hindi to understand these films better,” said Charith Rajapaksha from Sri Lanka, an MTech student of Chemical Engineering. “If you come to Sri Lanka, I would show you whales,” he said, his face lit up with pride. Charith, who has been snorkeling for quite a while now, also added, “Dolphins are common in the area where we go swimming, but it takes real luck to spot a whale. That way, I have been lucky as I have seen whales quite a few times.” As he looked around, he could see appreciation in many eyes.

Apart from studies, grades and late night labs, the students showed a keen interest in sports. “Archery is the national sport of my country and I would love to learn that. Do you have any opportunity here?” asked Karma, a student from Bhutan, pursuing postgraduate studies in Physics. Like Charith, Karma dropped an open invitation. “Visit Bhutan either in autumn or spring,” said he, “It is then that the real beauty of the place unfolds. And don’t miss Tiger Nest Monastery in Paro. You know, the Duke and Duchess of England had hiked three hours to get to that place!” Boundless emotions flowed out as Karma framed a picture of his beautiful country for the assembled audience in front of him.

“We would love it if the Institute could organize a trip or two to Kolkata. That is the nearest metropolis and we have even charted out places to visit in that city. Victoria Memorial tops the chart”, was an appeal that went out in unison to the Dean. A few had already visited Kolkata on the occasion of Durga Puja and were fascinated by the enormous scale on which the festival is celebrated across the length and breadth of the city. They wanted to know if Diwali was also celebrated in the same manner.

“Even better,” informed Prof. Anandaroop Bhattacharya, Associate Dean, IR. “You will witness a spectacle that is unique to IIT Kharagpur fraternity. Illumination, or Illu, as we call it here, is a show of barely 15-20 minutes, but it is an experience in itself. Over two months of intense, sleepless labour delivers something you would never want to miss,” said Prof. Bhattacharya, himself an alumnus of RK Hall, which is famous for putting up an elaborate illumination every year.

International students in rapt attention

Some wanted to know if there was any opportunity to learn the local language. “Sounds interesting! We will look into the matter,” promised Prof. Baidurya Bhattacharya, Dean, IR.

One of students wished there were a wing in the hostel exclusively for international students. The logic? Given that they came from different cultures, international students took a little time to assimilate into the KGPian diaspora.

Others, however, seemed to be enjoying IIT Kharagpur’s free-spirited melding of diverse cultures. In fact, while gorging on the varied spread of paneer and chicken tikka, and vegetable pakodas, Manish and Santosh, both students from Nepal, chipped in, “Hum sab jab ek jagah hote hain, toh ek guldasta jaisa ban jate hain (When we all come together, we make a lovely bouquet).”

We couldn’t have put it more beautifully.

Evolution of Office Automation – A Personal Experience

“I was a naïve, confused 21-year old when I joined IIT Kharagpur in 1982 through an open advertisement. Having appeared for a three-step test which included written, typing and interview, my first posting was at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. By 25, I graduated to the secretarial post from clerical cadre by clearing set of internal examinations.

It was the time when predecessors of computers ruled office work.

What am I talking of? Typewriters.

Typewriters manufactured by companies like Remington, Godrej, Halda and Facit , were mostly used in this Institute for preparing a typed document. Carbon papers were used for making 3-4 copies of the same.

Guess what was the most challenging part of typing? Manual correction.

You had to have an eye for detail, coupled with skilled mental calculation ability for adjusting the paper and roller of the typewriter. We used correcting fluid for correction.

In case of an examination or a seminar / workshop, multiple copies of a single document were required. This involved manual typing on Kores Stencil papers. These stencil papers were fitted on the inked roller of a Gestetner Cyclostyling machine. Papers were placed on its tray.

A stencil paper was a combination of a translucent type paper on the top and carbon paper below and thereafter a hard cover on which the impression of the typed matter could be seen. While typing, the translucent paper got perforated by strokes of the letters of the typewriter and thereafter when placed on inked roller of the Cyclostyling machine the impression got printed on the copying papers. Around 1984 or so, a small black and white photocopier machine was added as office equipment.

Possibly by the end of 80’s the Rural Development Centre was given two desktop PCs mainly for students and faculty members. So, when in 1986 I was posted there, I touched a keyboard for the very first time! Slowly, students there, helped me learn this whole new technology. As far as I remember, MS-DOS was the operating system and WordStar and Chi were typing programs.

Six years later, I was posted at Materials Science Centre. Besides manual typewriters there, a Network Electronic typewriter was inducted sometime later. This had a display screen and the option to correct a typed document by an internally fed Eraser. The storage capacity of this electronic typewriter, however, was very less. Sometime around 1996, a desktop PC with a deskjet printer was installed in the office. My joy knew no bounds! I practically started learning the nuances of the computer from then on. Manual and electronic typewriters gradually faded out with the induction of computers at the Institute.

My journey in administrative sections started in 2006 when I was posted at the Director’s Office where I stepped into a new world of technology. Here, I learnt to use the scanner, fax machine and network connected photocopiers. The colour printer and colour photocopier with a scanner are the recent add-ons to a modern approach to office automation.

The Director’s Office maintains a computer registered filing system with a unique file code which helps locating a document kept in a coded file. Simultaneously, we also keep a hard copy of the same document in physical files, like previously.

Talking of evolution of office automation, IIT Kharagpur has developed the unique ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system which is the most significant part of office automation across the Institute. e-Office is also an added advantage.

So you see, with over three decades of service, I have witnessed the evolution of office automation from a very close proximity. I have had the scope of working from typewriters to computers. Today’s GenY might not have even heard of a manual typewriter leave alone working on it. However, at the same time I feel they are more fortunate as they are exposed to sophisticated gadgets of office automation from a very early age.

Tell me honestly, have you seen a typewriter?’’

Dadagiri with Sourav Ganguly

Zee Bangla Dadagiri, a unique quiz show hosted by former Indian Skipper Sourav Ganguly kicked off in 2009. Since then, the show has completed 7successful seasons and today, 10 years later, it steps into its 8^thseason. There is something very special the opening episode of Season 8 of Dadagiri. Piyush Kedia, a 4^th year UG student at the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Science at IIT Kharagpur and an Uttarpara resident, representing Hooghly district, participated in the episode. He won with 109 points. He battled it out against 5 participants from different walks of life and districts of West Bengal.

IIT Kharagpur has more than one reason to celebrate.

As Piyush walks into the office of the Alumni Affairs and International Relations, rain-soaked and clueless about who to talk to, I extend my hand, congratulating him on striking a century and winning the maiden episode of Zee Bangla Dadagiri Season 8.

I lead him away from a chilly office, lest he shivers to the bone, to a comparatively warmer enclosure and we begin a freewheeling chat.

“How was your experience like?” I asked him. Gushing, he replied, “It was great. I got to meet one of my favourite cricketers – one I had adored since childhood. It felt great to represent the college at such a prestigious stage. Representing a district and its people was also a huge matter of pride. To have so many people backing me up for this was wonderful.

Since it was a dream-come-true moment, the days passed in a blink and I was starstruck the whole time. However, here I would like to point out something. There are a lot of speculations people have regarding these kinds of shows being fixed and much malfunctioning occurring behind all the glitz and glamour. I, however couldn’t find any of those and that made me very glad. I wish to make my district and parents proud if I get the chance to attend the grand finale of this show.”

His parents and younger brother accompanied him to the show.

For Piyush who had been actively following the show since its inception in 2009 as part of his routine, even at times till late nights, the path to the Rajarhat set was not an easy one. As a 15/16 year old, he had queued up for auditions for a good 3 / 4 hours at the nearest audition venue every year, only to be disappointed each time. So, for him, it was surreal when the Zee Bangla Team called him for the Season 8 auditions and to finally step up on the sets, was the culmination of his patience and a far-fetched dream.

His appearance conveyed that he knew what I was to ask him next. He was perhaps eagerly waiting for this question. So, when I finally asked him, “How was it meeting Sourav Ganguly?”, words seemed to fall short for him. “I was starstruck and overwhelmed. I had lined up to meet him for his autograph during a football tournament when young but could not get up close to him back then, so this was one huge opportunity. It felt wonderful talking to him and getting a pat on the back. I cheekily asked him if he would agree to be Team India’s coach, which he gracefully avoided answering.” replied the super-excited Metallurgy student.

There was a time in the game where this boy scored the lowest and had chances of being eliminated. “What was going on in your mind at that time?’, I asked him. He thought a little and said that being a quizzer himself, he knew that the last two rounds were oriented towards quizzers and could reap high benefits. “My target was to somehow survive till the last two rounds and I was confident I could take away the game from there,” he said. His dream to hit a century came up with the last question.

As a regular 21/22 year old, unfazed by finances, Piyush is no exception. He plans to hand over the entire prize money to his mother, leaving her to decide on its fate. The trophy, however, is one thing he would love to keep for himself. He intends to stay actively connected to quizzing throughout his professional career, but presently, he would like to concentrate on his research project.

There were a few pointers Piyush picked up from the show. The most difficult part of the game, he points out, was to maintain calmness throughout, adding, that participants are required to be steady yet fast and need to think analytically.

His concerns showed up as our conversation took a turn towards the contemporary scenario of quizzing. Piyush promptly pointed out that moving towards content creation in quizzing was a normal phenomenon, which is somewhat derivative of the original sport. However, with very few good quizmasters around, taking up quizzing was a feasible career option for him, but not a lucrative one though. “If it is sustainable, then I think I might take it up professionally. It is a matter of love for me,” he said.

“How popular have you become in college, hostel and otherwise?”, I asked him. The perplexed expression on his face told me that the excitement and adulation from all was still about to sink in. “It feels really good to be popular and have well-wishers in the district. Not much of fan following that way, but the professors at college now know me”, adding, “my hallmates at RP Hall are very excited. I’m getting a lot of requests on Facebook right now, but haven’t really acted upon that. It feels good when people recognize you for what you have done,” he replied, brimming with joy and excitement at achieving a score – half of which most participants fail to reach.