Tag: RK Hall

The Fallen Star…

What’s with a fallen star?
Blazing past where loved ones are
Close to earth, searching far…

Closing eyes in heavenly prayer
For flames burn out in the shallow air
God lights the way where angels glow
With streaking stars of love that flow
Loved ones who completed your life
Reminiscence your memories to survive
God sends this message from a far
Down to earth, close to where you are
Worthy Warrior, fighting the battle for life
Praise the fortitude with every extra mile
Night stars will shine high
Bright streak will stream through the night sky
Good awaits you, for you said the toughest adieu
You bid him hello and the world a good bye.

– Poulami Mondal

Bidding adieu to Mr. Rajiv Sinha (ECE/69-74), an Alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, who left his heavenly abode on 28th August 2022. A B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur in Electronics & Electrical Communication Engineering from the batch of 1969, he completed his MS in Computer Science from Columbia University, New York.

Mr. Rajiv Sinha
1974/BTech/ECE/NH

Mr. Sinha endorsed specialized skills in the domain of Cloud Computing, Enterprise Software, Distributed Systems, SAAS, Virtualization, LINUX, Scalability, Product Management, Application Security, Network Security, Agile Methodologies etc.  He worked in both large corporations and in startups  across United States of America. In 2004, he became the Vice President of Engineering, Networking and Analytics at Citrix Systems and along the way, he co-authored and published numerous patents which are testaments of his professional excellence in engineering. Before joining Citrix, he was Vice President of Engineering at Netli, Inc. in 2003 and NetScaler Inc from 1998-2002.  Prior to this, he was also Director, Software at Unisys for 6 years and Harris Computer Systems for 7 years respectively.

Mr. Rajiv Sinha has filed many patents including patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Using service graphics to compare performance of a plurality of versions of a microservice; System and methods for managing client requests to access services provided by a data center; Systems and methods for providing a single click access to enterprise, SaaS and cloud hosted application; systems and methods for providing a multi-core architecture for an acceleration appliance; Apparatus, method and computer program product for efficiently pooling connections between clients and servers; System and methods for accelerating delivery of a computing environment to a remote user; System and method for performing flash caching of dynamically generated objects in a data communication network; Systems and methods for application fluency policies etc. were some of his filed patents (see Rajiv Sinha Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications – Justia Patents Search)

Rajiv with his group in 2003

IN MEMORIAM

Looking back to the days they spent in IIT Kharagpur, Mr. Roy Da Silva (EE/74/RK) wrote – “Rajiv Sinha was my batch mate. We met as freshmen in IIT Kharagpur in 1969 and we graduated in 1974. Rajiv grew up in Rourkela and around other steel cities in India. He went to St. Xavier’s High School in Hazaribagh after which he joined IIT KGP in the ECE Department and was a resident of Nehru Hall. I grew up in Bombay and was in the EE Department and an RK-ite. We had a common friend Ravindra Nair, also in the ECE dept and an RK-ite who went to the same school as I did in Bombay . He was the one who was responsible for connecting us.

Ravi and I stayed in the same wing of the RK Hall (C-West Ground) during our freshmen year. Rajiv was Ravi’s lab partner who stopped by his room occasionally to “compare notes” (topo-ing describes it more precisely), and it was at one of these visits that I met Rajiv. This was the start of a friendship that lasts for more than 50 years and counting, between the 3 R’s… Ravi, Raji, & Roy. Ravi was awarded the Presidents Gold Medal and came to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for his Master’s. He then went to work for IBM and I did my Master’s in Business from Bombay and worked in India. Then I migrated to Silicon Valley in 1984. Rajiv had come to Columbia University and then started his first job at Harris in Florida. We had not been, in touch with each other during that time. I again reconnected with Rajiv in 2000. He had come to Silicon Valley from the east coast in 1990 and we quite accidentally discovered that we were neighbors, living just a mile away from each other. We met on a number of happy occasions; the most memorable being at a “Reunion of 1974 RK Hall Wing mates”, that took place at my house in 2003. Neither Rajiv nor Ravi was told that the other would be present at the same reunion and when they did meet face to face, it was totally an electrifying experience. Both were ecstatic to reconnect as they had not seen each other since 1974. We connected years later in Silicon Valley. All was well till about a year ago, when Rajiv was diagnosed with colon cancer which had already spread to his liver. Three different regimens of chemo that did not work led to him being placed on experimental drug treatments which was being administered in San Diego. I and Rajiv along with our spouses Viola and Savita, were supposed to have tea together in early September. But that was not to be. He took a turn for the worse and was admitted to the hospital and on August 28, 2022 Rajiv lost his battle with cancer and passed away.

Rajiv & Ravi in 2003

Arjun Malhotra and I have known each other since I was a freshman at IIT Kharagpur. Kiran, Arjun’s wife and Arjun are also friends with Rajiv and Savita. He encouraged me to write Rajiv’s obituary for publication in The KGPian. I felt that this tribute to Rajiv would be so much more meaningful if I could get some of his closest friends to say a few words, so I reached out to them to say a few words in his remembrance. On behalf of the entire KGP family, I take this opportunity to convey our deepest condolences and empathy to Rajiv’s mother, mother-in-law, his wife Savita and children Viraj and Nikita.

Rajiv with his family

“Rajiv, we will miss your intellect, humility, mischievous smile, and sense of humor that made you such great company. RIP my friend.”

  • From his lab partner and President’s Gold Medal recipient, Mr. Ravindra Nair (ECE/74/RK)

“Rajiv, a partner in most of my labs at IIT, will be remembered as an extremely intelligent person, articulate with his words, yet humble in his demeanor, generous with his ideas, and encouraging in his friendship. Oh! And I can’t forget that occasional mischievous humor that he often used to defuse a tense lab situation. Labs at IIT were notorious for being complex, but Rajiv made them fun!”

  • From the Nehru Hall Reporter which was made available by Mr. Manojit Sinha (CHE/74/NH)

“Rajiv was a fellow who helped in all literary activities without reservation, who was cool and unbiased in all his views, who stretched out a helping hand whenever the hall was in need, who kept his cool when others blew their tops, who felt the hall was his and he was part of the hall – what talent he has shown and may he put it to good use in his life.…….” 

  • From Venugopal, Rajiv’s wing mate (Che/74/NH)

    “Rajiv was one of the brightest guys I have met. Even at a young age he had a laser like focus. He was ever ready to give gyaan to anyone that wanted/needed it. Wise beyond his years, he had everybody’s respect.” 

  • From his Friend and Neighbor, Mr. Madhukar Jalan, IIT Bombay (CHE)

“I will remember Rajiv for his vast knowledge on multiple subjects, as a voracious reader, an absorbing storyteller, and a good listener. Above all he came across as a total gentleman and was a very caring friend. He will be sorely missed.”

Rajiv with Madhukar Jalan

In remembrance of the “Unforgettable Soul”, his Alma Mater mourns in sadness after hearing the news of his demise. Our sincere condolences to his bereaved family. May almighty give enough strength to his family to bear this irreplaceable loss. We pray for eternal peace of his departed soul. He will always be remembered in our thoughts, prayers and action.

Written by : Mr. Roy D. (da Silva), Alumnus, IIT Kharagpur (EE/74/RK)
Email: roydasilvaiit@yahoo.com

Edited by : Poulami Mondal, Digital & Creative Media Executive (Creative Writer)
Email: poulami.mondal@iitkgp.ac.in, media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282007

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Intern Hiring Startup ‘Cuvette Tech’ raised $180, 000 in seed funding round

Intern hiring startup, Cuvette Tech, founded by Atul Singhal (2020 graduate, Electrical Department, IIT KGP) and Sudhanshu Singh (2019 graduate, Electrical Department, IIT KGP) has raised $180, 000 in a seed round of funding. The investment is led by Titan Capital, Varun Alagh, co-founder and chief executive officer, Mamaearth; Harish Daiya, co-founder Lumenci and other marquee angel investors.

“A feather added to their cap! The students have proved their mettle and made us proud with their incredible performance and achievements. It has been manifested that consistent dedicated hard work, perseverance and self-belief are the key mantras for success in any walk of life”, said Prof Virendra Kumar Tewari, the Director of IIT Kharagpur. 

The Bengaluru based startup, Cuvette Tech (https://cuvette.tech/) is a platform to connect student software developers with companies on a full- time and part-time internship basis. Atul & Sudhanshu started their company right from their dorm room at RK Hall (Radha Krishnan Hall of Residence, IIT KGP).

Atul Singhal said, “First of all, we would like to extend our deep gratitude to Prof Bhaskar Bhowmick from Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering Entrepreneurship (RMSoEE) for supporting and mentoring us since our stay at campus. Additionally, we are sincerely thankful to IIT Kharagpur for providing us with the opportunities, that we would have never found anywhere else as well as for motivating us in order to understand the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation effectively. We believe that internships are the best way to connect a company and a student. Through our platform, students can do multiple internships and can get a chance to work with various companies all around the world. The learnings & exposures which a student can get through our platform are unparalleled”.  

Within 10 months of its inception, Cuvette Tech has managed to engage more than 600 companies from India, Singapore, Dubai and the USA. It has students from more than 150 engineering colleges pan India.

“We would use the funds to build our core team and develop the product. We will be working on creating an awareness about the importance of software development skills among the students and help them connect with multiple startups around the globe to get good industry exposure”, added Sudhanshu Singh.

(Inputs from Ms. Rituparna Chakraborty, Branding Executive)

Contact: Paramita Dey, Junior Assistant

Email: media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282004

 

 

 

Different strokes

These are difficult times. Here’s now IIT Kharagpur’s students inside the campus are braving the odds

“No two days are alike, nor even two hours, neither were there ever two leaves of a tree alike…”

Sometimes, like times such as these, when the hours seem to collapse into one another and the days just roll on, the profound wisdom contained in the words of the famous British painter, John Constable, have trouble seeping in.

But we are all bravehearts in our own ways, or so say the students of IIT Kharagpur, many of whom are residing within the campus and are finding their own ways to beat the gloom.

Some of them have not been able to go back home. Others have stayed back to keep near and dear ones at home safe. The way back, after all, would have not only exposed them to the Covid-19 virus but also made them unwitting carriers of the disease home, where some have aged parents and grandparents. Others stayed back in the fond hope of being able to tie up loose ends in their academic work.

The best thing that can happen to anyone during a trying time is to have friends around. That alone has made the biggest difference to the more than five thousand students who are braving the lockdown in their respective Halls. They are not allowed to freely move within the campus, and even in the Halls, there are restrictions in place.

So how are they spending their time? “Since the lockdown and the restriction of movement came about, we have been reading books and binge-watching TV shows, also attending classes which are being conducted online. The assignments and projects keep us busy most of the days here,” says Snigdha Pathak, final year UG student in the Department of Chemistry.

And yet, they have been doing amazing things. Snigdha herself, together with her batchmate and wingmate, Ritika Agarwal, at the SN/IG Hall have been participants in the PanIIT WINIndia Challenge (Wellness Indoors Now) and have managed to bring a lot of creativity in the way they have tackled the fitness challenges. In the first challenge – leg raises over an obstacle – it was Ritika’s idea to feature one of the participants as the plank, while the other did the leg raises.

Aditya Singhania, General Secretary Sports and Games, Technology Students’ Gymkhana, says that 800-850 students from IIT KGP have participated in the challenge either from their hostels and homes. Shivam Gupta, 3rd year student of Industrial and System Engineering and a regular participant in the Inter-IIT athletics, too participated in WINIndia together with fellow athletes in RP Hall. “When the challenge started, we used to ping everyone, telling each other ‘let’s do it’. But it really felt good when everyone started taking part,” says Shivam. He believes that girls have been more creative than the boys and is happy to see an overwhelming number of 1st year students participate in WINIndia, where IIT Kharagpur made it to the 2nd runners-up position.

Much like Shivam, for Aman Damara, who was captain of IIT KGP’s cricket team last year, fitness has been and remains a part of the daily routine. He exercises for 1-1.5 hours every day in the terrace of LBS Hall. A 2nd year MTech student, Aman even welcomes the respite from the regular routine. “It has given us time to think about ourselves, something we could not do earlier. So I am using the time to read up things that will help me in the future.” Aman is mostly reading books on entrepreneurship, and of course academic papers now that he knows he has to submit his research paper by May 25, a month earlier than scheduled.

Picking-up-that-long-forgotten-book-lying-under-a-pile-of-other-reading-material is something that appears to run on loop in every conversation on the daily routine during lockdown. Many like Rana Madhvendra, who is Editor, Technology Students’ Gymkhana, have revived their childhood reading habit. Rana has already finished reading three books – Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike, Bloomberg by Bloomberg and When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics. Ninaad Lohakare, Vice President at Technology Students’ Gymkhana, IIT Kharagpur, is reading India after Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha. Even Bhaskar Basak, member of the Branding and Relations Cell of IIT Kharagpur, who is juggling several equally enticing activities – binge watching films with friends, playing cards, or doing some assigned work for BARC, has picked up an odd Murakami or two.

Bhaskar, in fact, has gone back to another activity he had done in school – sketching. Some like Ayush Kumar, a 3rd year student of Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture are trying something completely different. Ayush is learning to play the guitar through an app and believes he is only a week away from being able to play a song. “It’s just that my fingers have to move a lot faster,” says a determined Ayush.

Almost all of them are listening to music of some kind. “I am listening to hip-hop, classic rock, alt-rock, etc. We have also been learning to cook a bit since all the outlets are closed and we have a fixed time for availing mess facilities,” says Rana. Bhaskar has mastered making the omelette and his now trying his hand at frying potatoes.

But there are some who have taken up gardening. At SN/IN Hall, Atanuka Pal, a 5th year student of the Department of Chemistry, is tending to the 30 plants that she has started caring for. She has also been painting, on and off. But what sees her throughout the day is that game of badminton with her friends in the evening.

Still others like research scholars Biswarup Mondal and Pragnaditya Malakar of the Department of Geology and Geophysics, are keeping themselves busy with their green initiative, Vision Prabaho, that recently conducted the Green Indoor, 50th Earth Day online competition for students and children of the campus. They are working on Vision Prabaho’s awareness campaign on Covid-19, which has seen them translate the MHA’s directives into regional languages and come up with a cartoon strip for wider dissemination of the information.

Classes, friends, and a bit of coding, is how Chinmay Singh, a 3rd year Chemical Engineering student sums up his day. He is reading novels and also doing his remote internship with IBM Research. “A lot of my batchmates have also taken up remote internship as this is a two credit course in the third year and industry experience is very valuable.”

Chinmay’s response shows how IIT Kharagpur’s students are braving the odds. Many of their plans, industry internships, internships abroad, research partnerships, even job appointments hang in balance owing to the situation forced down on an unsuspecting, unprepared humankind by Covid-19.

And yet they keep their chin up – working in isolation, or following a long forgotten passion that once brought them joy, taking up new hobbies and seeking out the comfort of their friends’ company to steer them through these difficult times.