The BITSian

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EDITORIAL Wish you a very Happy BITSians’ Day! It gives us immense pleasure to present the very first edition of “The BITSian”-the annual roundup magazine of BITSAA International. In its previous avatar which was last published in 2009 the magazine was named ‘Sandpaper 2.0’. Since then, the sands of time have moved from the Oasis of Pilani to the Waves of Goa, the Pearl of Hyderabad and the Jashn of Dubai While we have made our best efforts to maintain the legacy of ‘Sandpaper 2.0’, we have also tried to address the diversity across the four BITS campuses and hence, felt the need to change a few things, the name being just one of them.

The theme of this edition is BITS - Then and Now! Yes, there are several visible changes in the way BITS operates now. You can capture these changes in the set of articles we have curated for you. We have an article from the very first batch of BITS Pilani (then called Birla College of Engineering) way back from 1946. Similarly, there is an article from the second batch of Hyderabad campus from 2009. These two BITSians have never met; they attended two different campuses and lived in two completely different eras. But you can feel the same BITSian zeal in their words, the same pride of being one of the founding batches and a hint as to how it must have all begun. The magic remains timeless, the pride pristine!

A lot of effort has been put by the entire team in coming up with this issue after a gap of eight long years. We are fortunate to work with the BITSAA Marketing and Communications team who provided full support to us all this while. But the biggest credit goes out to the numerous BITSians, faculty members and the Directors of the four campuses who have shared their experiences, stories and wisdom with us. We sincerely thank every one of you for contributing to the process of creating this issue of the magazine. Though we would have loved to include all the entries that we received for this issue, the limited space made it impossible for us, and we will surely be using them in the future.

Working across geographies, age groups and time zones we feel satisfied with our efforts in what we had set out to achieve. In our countless brainstorming sessions over the last eight months, we have relived our BITSian lives once again. We hope that this issue will evoke the same nostalgic, funny, proud and cherished memories in all our readers as well. We eagerly await your comments, critique and feedback. Feel free to write back to us at writeforbitsian@bitsaa.org Ritesh Nagpal,2002A3PS416 Anshul Mittal, 2010A2PS488P Aparajita Roy, 2007A8PS421P

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CONTENTS Editorial ............................................................................................................................................. 1 From Sandpaper 2.0 to The BITSian ....................................................................................... 3 Directors’ Speak .............................................................................................................................. 5 SJR 2016 – BITS Then and Now - Memories Galore ...................................................... 12 My story 1946 - 1950 .................................................................................................................... 16 The Saga of BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus (BPHC) ..................................................... 17 Both Sides of Classroom – An Interview with Dr. Sangeeta Sharma ............... 19 Picture Gallery – Goa Campus .............................................................................................. 22 DATRI: The Gift Of Life ............................................................................................................... 23 A journey of a BITSIAN to define his 'Goal'... .................................................................. 26 Stepping in for a New World Order? ............................................................................... 27 Convocation: The (Re)Birth of a Tradition .................................................................. 30 BITSian life without Mobile Phone .................................................................................... 32 Food At BITS ................................................................................................................................... 33 Bindaas BITSians: A new musical initiative....................................................................... 35 A 66er reminisces about “growing up” in Pilani…and pays tribute to his classmates. ....................................................................................................................................... 37 Once a BITSian, always a BITSian .......................................................................................... 40 An Ode to Wingies ...................................................................................................................... 40 A Terror Named Jaggi ................................................................................................................ 41 Silver Jubilee Reunion................................................................................................................ 44 Expressions of India ................................................................................................................... 46

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FROM SANDPAPER 2.0 TO THE BITSIAN A note from the first Sandpaper 2.0 Editor In 1991, after a particularly aggressive article by the then Chief Editor, our campus publication was dissolved by the Students Union. It was a saddening end to a campus magazine that, once you excluded the “masala”, provided a valuable service to students.

Venu Palaparthi and Vikas Chandra who helped create our publications.

Ten years later, we announced the launch of BITSAA International in October 2001 at a fundraiser to honor our dear friend SS Seshadri (1987 batch), and Vamsikrishna 'Vamsi' Pendyala (1988 batch), who died in one of the planes in the 9/11 attacks. Over the next year, as the BITSAA network expanded, I decided to resurrect Sandpaper as Sandpaper 2.0.

In Spring 2003, in the editorial, I wrote: “Naming this magazine Sandpaper made sense to my team. In management-speak, “SandP” had unparalleled brand recognition. It conjured up images and passions for most of us like no other name. I was reluctant to grab the name from BITS, but my teammates were convinced. So Sandpaper [2.0], or Sandpaper, the BITSAA edition, was born.”

Working on Sandpaper for two years was a privilege. Our team included Sandeep Mukherjee and Ashish Garg (who both later became Chief Editors), senior writers Anuradha Gupta (who brought out the All Women’s publication) and Dilip D'Souza (well-known author and columnist), and many writers, cartoonists, contributors and BITSAA volunteers including Aanand Krishnan, Antara Bhattacharya, Devesh Satyavolu, Emani Satya Swaroop, Laxman Mohanty, Mukul Chawla, Pirasanna Venugopal, Pushkala Venkatraman, Sabya Kar, Sagarika Jaganathan, Suraj Srinivasan,

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When I stepped down as Chief Editor, I put Sandpaper into excellent hands. The magazines continued to come in. Then as technology changed, our magazine evolved from a twice-a-year to an online only version, and then from articles to news.

People read less but were more up to date.

But I missed the old magazine.

BITSAA is indeed unique. As we have expanded from Pilani to Hyderabad, Goa and Dubai, we are a seamless, integrated alumni network. Yet within BITSAA, we make no distinctions. Our CEOs and management team come from different campuses, yet you would never know it till you ask.

Together, we are all simply BITSians.

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So it gives me great joy to see that we are resurrecting our publication with a new, more accurate name.

Sandpaper was intended to inspire BITSians with not just the achievements of our alumni, but to show everyone what was possible, while providing regular doses of nostalgia. As our network has also become a platform to raise awareness or money for alumni in need, BITS, start-ups, and to help those less fortunate, I am sure The BITSian will serve as the mouthpiece to inform and educate us on what is possible simply because we are BITSians.

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Congratulations on the first edition. I am sure the first edition of The BITSian will be as exciting for the new team, as Sandpaper was for all of us.

With best wishes Anupendra Sharma Founding Chief Editor (2003-2004) On behalf of the Sandpaper 2.0 team

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DIRECTORS’ SPEAK BITS Pilani has undergone many changes over time, but in the recent past our Almamater has started on a path of planned and progressive change. The directors of all the four campuses of BITS have led these important changes over the last few years, and will continue to do so in future. To understand the major changes, challenges and the way forward for BITS, we have included a short interview with each of the directors

Dr. A.K.Sarkar, Director(BITS Pilani-Pilani Campus) Dr. A.K.Sarkar is presently Senior Professor in the Civil Engineering Department and Director of BITS Pilani-Pilani Campus. He completed his PhD(Civil Engineering) from IIT Kharagpur and joined BITS Pilani in 1999. He has held positions of the Dean, Instruction division and Academic Registration and Counselling Division during his tenure at BITS. He has assumed charge as the Director of BITS Pilani-Pilani Campus since April 2015

In keeping with the theme, what changes do you see in BITS between Then and Now?

There have been many changes in BITS over the past few years. One of the major changes, especially in Pilani campus is the infrastructure. The New Academic Block has been constructed with state-of-the-art

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facilities. It has become a tourist attraction, with people posing for selfies around it.

Many of the hostels have undergone a makeover, while keeping the exterior intact.

There has been a lot of improvement in labs and research facilities. We are also spending a significant amount on our central instrumentation facilities over all the four campuses. The second major change is the renewed focus on research. Previously, the focus was only on teaching. Since 2009-10, we have actively started promoting research and we are also offering a lot of incentives to the faculty members to encourage research.

The institute has developed mechanism to provide funding for initiating research for faculty members who have joined recently.

BITS provides all faculty members with a contingency fund every year that helps them attend international conferences in their area of research. We are also encouraging faculty members to gain exposure to international universities and reputed industries during summer vacations by providing them financial support.

What drives change at BITS Pilani Campus over the years-Govt. regulations, industry changes if any?

I think that in BITS, the desire to change comes from within. Government regulations have not been so much of an issue on academic structure. For instance, in 2013-14, we brought in external experts to evaluate each department of all campuses in terms of quality of teaching, research and infrastructure facilities and are gradually making some changes based on the recommendations. We had a separate review for curriculum of all the departments by teams with two academic experts and at least one industry expert and the process is going

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to be over shortly. But no one forced us to do it. Through our PS and WILP, we are having constant interaction with industry as well and we keep getting inputs about industry changes. This helps us to initiate changes.

What would you say has been the biggest change in the past 5 years and what were the challenges in managing them?

As I have already said, the biggest changes in BITS have been in infrastructure and research focus. The huge infrastructural project that we have undertaken posed some major challenges. It takes up a lot of our time. We don’t have any previous experience in managing such projects. It is a huge investment, with almost Rs. 650 Cr to be spent in Pilani itself. There are issues that come up on a regular basis and we need to interface with local and state administrations at times. But by-and- large, everyone around us has been supportive and it has been a learning process for all of us.

As far as research is concerned, we would ideally like to see most of our faculty engaging in research. However, that is not possible, and many faculty members are contributing actively in the development of the institute in different ways. We need to develop mechanism for them to grow professionally. Being a private institution, we face challenges for getting research funding from some funding agencies, but our faculty is now actively competing for research grants from other government agencies and industry and the total funding has grown tremendously in the last few years. However we are continuously trying to explore other national, bilateral and international funding sources.

What is the one thing that you miss about BITS Pilani that has now changed?

I personally don’t feel it so much, but there is a perception that the close bonding which the teachers and students shared, say 10-15 years back is not so strong anymore. Perhaps

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it is because of the way mobiles and smartphones have penetrated our lives. This is a national phenomenon as people are more self-involved now.

What can we expect going ahead? What is the one biggest change that we are working on for the near future?

For the future, we have brought out a vision document and are working in mission mode to achieve the vision. The first mission was between 2009-12. The second mission was undertaken between 2012-15. Now we are identifying 5 areas to work upon: Research and Innovation- I have already talked at length about our focus on becoming a research driven university.

Program curriculum, pedagogy and qualityThe teaching methods are going to change in future. We have established a teaching learning centre and we conduct research in teaching methods, which has got excellent response in Pilani.

Faculty- There is a severe crunch of good faculty, not just in BITS but everywhere. I think the alumni can really help us in this area, especially in engineering and management related courses, by visiting the campus for a short period, even a day, and delivering lectures on their own expertise.

Industry Connect- We need to leverage on our PSII and WILP programs. They have been in place for a long time, but now we really need to evaluate what we want from it.

Alumni Relations-This is an area where we have a lot of catching up to do. We have instituted a position of Dean Alumni Relations, and all of us have a lot of hopes going forward. We have seen batch after batch coming back here, spending time with students and faculty, but we have failed to really build on those sentiments. I personally feel that the present students can make excellent connection with their seniors and this phenomenon needs to be exploited positively. I would like all the students to be constructively engaged, to get some good advice from their alumni which would help

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them in making the right choices, and I think that BITSAA and all alumni can help the current students, by visiting the campuses whenever possible and engaging with the students.

Dr. R.N.Saha, Director(BITS Pilani- Dubai Campus) Dr. Ranendra Narayan Saha is Shri B K Birla & Shrimati Sarala Birla Chair Professor (Senior Professor of Pharmacy) and Director of BITS Pilani Dubai Campus. He joined BITS Pilani in 1986 and has more than 33 years of teaching, research and administrative experience. He has assumed charge as Director of BITS Dubai Campus since Mar 2014.

In keeping with the theme, what changes do you see in BITS between Then and Now?

I joined BITS Pilani in 1986. At that time, it was a single campus focused only on undergraduate programs. There were no postgraduate programs, very little PhD or research. Since then, I have seen BITS Pilani transform into a full-fledged university offering undergraduate as well as postgraduate courses and PhD with emphasis on research. There has been a shift in focus from teaching only to teaching and research, with stress on sponsored and industry oriented research. There has been growth from single to multiple campuses, and the establishment of an international campus at Dubai in 2000 was the first step in this direction. Thus, a lot of changes have taken place in BITS from Then to Now.

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What drives change at BITS Dubai Campus over the years-Govt. regulations, industry changes if any?

I think more than external factors, it is the dedication of the faculty and staff and the involvement and participation of students which have driven change in BITS over the years. In recent times, Govt. regulations, in India, have become a stumbling block for the overall philosophy of the institute, and we need to comply with the regulations. In Dubai it is more aspiration of expatriate Indian children for BITS Brand value which moving BPDC forward

What would you say has been the biggest change in the past 5 years and what were the challenges in managing them?

We have widened our scope of activities from 1 campus to 5 campuses- I consider the WILP as a separate virtual campus. The number of people has grown tremendously, and so has the faculty. The focus in faculty recruitment is now on research as well as teaching, and BITS is also becoming industry oriented. In bringing about all these changes, we are facing certain challenges, both internal and external. External challenges are there in terms of Government regulations which pose hindrance to our activities today. This wasn’t so until 2010.

BITS was known for its innovative offerings.

Now there are questions about dual degree programs, and many such things. Thus, Government regulations, especially UGC, have become a stumbling block for us.

Internal challenges come with the extension of our programs over 4 campuses and 1 virtual WILP campus. The philosophy of education of BITS must spread to all the campuses. The administration of multiple campuses vis-Ă -vis a single campus is a huge challenge. Should the teaching pedagogy be same for all the campuses? Or should it be different, considering the local environment? How should the basic theme of BITS be propagated equally through the

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campuses? How to ensure the same quality of teaching, research and level of dedication of the faculty in all the campuses? Such questions pose a challenge for effective multi-campus administration.

What is the one thing that you miss about BITS Pilani that has now changed?

In my personal opinion, the dedication of people may not be as it was earlier.

Dedication sustains and improves the quality of teaching and research and the culture of BITS. Ultimately, I feel it is my responsibility as a director to inspire my people’s dedication.

What can we expect going ahead? What is the one biggest change that we are working on for the near future?

In future, we are all working for enhancing the level of performance of the institute, so that it becomes a high quality, high ranking institute in Asia and in the world. I want BITS to be a top university in Asia and highly ranked in the world, so that even International students should prefer BITS over other institutes. I want BITS to be the first choice in terms of both quantity (rankings) as well as quality, and that is the vision for the institute going forward.

Pilani Campus for five years from April 2010 to April 2015 and relocated to Goa campus in May 2015, serving as Senior Professor in the EEE department. He has assumed charge as the Director of BITS Goa Campus since November 2016.

In keeping with the theme, what changes do you see in BITS between Then and Now?

BITS has gained its reputation from the quality of education it imparts. However, in the last decade we have become more research focused. We now recruit faculty, not just based on their teaching prowess, but on their research capabilities as well. This is a major change in BITS. The second important change is upgrading the infrastructure. In recent years BITS Pilani as a whole has committed nearly Rs. 1400 Cr on hostels, faculty houses, academic buildings, research labs etc. to create world class infrastructure.

One more change that has come about is in the aspirations and ambitions of BITS. Previously we were focussed on incremental growth. We would benchmark ourselves against IIT’s and our budgets would have increments based on previous year's budget.

Now we are looking at breakthroughs rather than incremental improvements. We are no longer looking at ourselves merely as an Indian University, but more at the International level.

What drives change at BITS Goa Campus over the years-Govt. regulations, industry changes if any?

Dr. G. Raghurama, Director (BITS PilaniGoa Campus) Prof. Raghurama joined BITS Pilani in 1987.

He completed his M.Sc. from IIT Madras, and his Ph.D. in Physics from IISc Bangalore.

Prof Raghurama served as Director of the

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In Goa, we are looking at tremendous growth in the next 2-3 years. In terms of numbers, we plan to scale up from a level of about 2800 students at present to about 4800 students, mostly in masters and PhD programs, interdisciplinary courses, and streams like arts and humanities.

We are looking at greater funding from the industry for research projects. We are already executing projects with corporates like IOCL, GAIL, Aditya Birla Group etc.

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and we expect to increase the quantum of corporate sponsorship for projects.

We are also focussing on incubation for innovation and entrepreneurship. For instance, recently BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council) provided funding of nearly Rs. 4 Cr for biotechnology related incubation in BITS Goa. We are looking at more such avenues.

What would you say has been the biggest change in the past 5 years and what were the challenges in managing them?

The first major change as I said before is the upgradation in infrastructure of all the campuses. We are building new hostels, faculty houses, research labs and academic buildings, and it is a huge project with equal number of challenges- ensuring that buildings come up on time, required manpower is there, interface with contractors etc.

The second major change in BITS is its renewed focus on research. In shifting the focus, we have to recruit faculty who can impart high quality teaching as well as engage in high quality research. That is another huge challenge we are facing.

interdependence and teamwork, for the overall greater performance.

What can we expect going ahead? What is the one biggest change that we are working on for the near future?

In the last 10 years, we have seen how the existing and new faculty together can take us forward in making BITS both teaching and research based. We have seen the existing faculty adapt to the new regime and the new faculty bring in their own creative ideas, to achieve this objective. Going forward, there will be more investment in research, infrastructure, increase in publications and patents and new degree programs.

We are also undertaking a strategic exercise, wherein we are asking ourselves where we want to be. We have started a universitywide project to develop the BITS strategy for the next 5-15 years and I expect a clearer picture of the future course to emerge in the next 3-4 months.

What is the one thing that you miss about BITS Pilani that has now changed?

We have ourselves opted for the change. So, we can’t really complain about “missing the past”. I feel that nothing critical has changed.

The one difference that I observe is that there is more thrust on individual performances now. Previously, the institute had a goal and all the people, all the faculty used to work collectively to achieve the goal.

Individual performances did not matter so much, and every individual contributed to the best of his/her capability. Now, the thrust is on individual excellence, and because of brilliant individual performances the institute performs. What we need to manage is individualism along with

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Dr. G Sundar, Director(BITS PilaniHyderabad Campus) Dr. G Sundar joined the Chemistry Department at BITS Pilani in 1987, was designated Professor in 2000, and is now Senior Professor. As Director (Off Campus Programmes and Industry Engagement) since 2014, and earlier as Deputy Director, Prof. Sundar has been leading a comprehensive transformation of the Work Integrated Learning Programmes. He was also associated closely with helping direct and managing the expansion of the Practice School programme over the years He

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assumed charge as Director, Hyderabad Campus in July 2016

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with domains of expertise, and local opportunities providing the campus flavour.

In keeping with the theme, what changes do you see in BITS between Then & Now?

What would you say has been the biggest change in past 5 years and what were the challenges in managing them?

A little less than a decade ago, we brought out the Vision 2020 document, the outcome of a detailed process of discussion and consultation with all stakeholders. This document is the basis for the current journey towards research led education in the evolution of BITS Pilani as an Institution of Excellence in Research. In order to execute this transformation effectively, we have had to significantly reorganize ourselves in many ways and restructure various systems and processes. These include a multi-campus academic governance and administrative structure, induction of professional domain experts in various areas such as finance, human resources, technology, and operations, pervasive use of technology in education and administration, new and progressive processes and policies, and many more. But what has remained constant is the spirit of remaining entrepreneurial in how we think and act.

What drives change at BITS Hyderabad campus over the years - government regulations, industry changes, if any?

As in any progressive organization in a period of transformational growth, the drivers of change are the goals and aspirations, flexible but focused adherence to the roadmap that has been laid out, and the recognition that the journey is not going to be easy, and will require sustained effort to ensure success, that the student (at all levels) outcomes will have to remain the focus, and aligning these with the faculty aspirations.

Regulations and other environmental changes form the environment in which these changes have to be effected, and industry focus remains our competitive advantage. The drivers of change are largely uniform across campuses,

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The single biggest change has been the emphasis on outcome oriented research and innovation. The challenges have been in providing the necessary nurturing environment, recruiting faculty in adequate numbers and quality to meet the goals, raising the requisite financial resources to meet the infrastructural requirements, and setting expectations that are ambitious but reasonable given that we do not in any way wish to give up our position of pre-eminence as a teaching institution sending out the best all round graduates to serve industry, academia and society, as our largest population is, and will remain the undergraduate students.

What is the one thing that you miss about BITS that has now changed?

Change is an inevitable and essential part of life, and change is at least in part out of conscious choice. So, while I recall certain things as they were, with pleasure and even with nostalgia, one learns not to ‘miss’ them.

Also, in this specific context, twenty five years is a more appropriate time of reference. The difference in our own ages and stations in life as individuals play an important role in these memories, and it is also difficult to separate ourselves from the larger societal context in which we existed then.

So I recall, with immense pleasure, life and work in the Pilani campus, as they were 25 years ago, working closely with individuals almost all of whom one also knew personally, simplicity and ease of academic and other decision making and action, full immersion in the cultural life of the student community, students dropping in at home

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and carting away furniture, kitchenware, and other items for use in their stages for plays, Mithali in the FD II QT, chai at the bank canteen and Skylab, playing Holi with students in the C lawns, the electric atmosphere of Oasis in the mid-90s, the list is endless, I can’t pick one.

What can we expect going ahead? What is the one biggest change that we are working on for the near future?

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The present leg of the journey that we have undertaken is only partly complete. We are in the process of consolidation, recalibration and reassessment, so that we may continue on this journey, following a re-charted course with renewed vigour, enthusiasm, and confidence.

Interviewed by Aparajita Roy, 2007A8PS421P

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SJR 2016 – BITS THEN AND NOW - MEMORIES GALORE Yes, time flies. And even before we knew it, 25 years had flown by and it was time for our batch’s Silver Jubilee Reunion (SJR) at Pilani. Our super enthusiastic organizers left no stone unturned as they planned for the SJR. And as the quest began to trace our batchmates now spread across the world, we started rediscovering and reconnecting with each other through platforms like mobile networks, Facebook and WhatsApp – platforms that were non-existent for us when we had left BITS Pilani. And what an amazing virtual reconnect this proved to be – revisiting and reliving our moments together!

I share with you here some part of our digital connects which is a subset of the daily countdown which I posted on the WhatsApp BITS 87 Gurlz group, as the DDay for our SJR neared. This one began as an incidental one-off count down snippet which I had posted on my morning commute to office. This transformed into daily morning postings, what with friends urging Oye veena ... good morning đ&#x;˜‚đ&#x;˜‚ Chalo...aaj kuch aur yaad dilaao đ&#x;™? đ&#x;™?; or when a message came up late - Phew! Veena was just going to ping u...đ&#x;˜„. Each note would open a floodgate of exchanges and several walks down the memory lane.

Indeed, this entire exchange of nostalgic, personalized chatter could well read like a crowdsourced book if one decided to compile it all together!

So here I share just a few of these countdown notes (with minimal editing and not using our names). Perhaps they will rekindle for you your own memories of this amazing place which is our Alma mater!

64 days to go. My memories take me back to my maiden journey to Pilani. Mother

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bidding me farewell at home with a lingering tight hug, Father taking me through an assortment of trains and buses across the breadth of the country from rainy north east to excessively sunny Delhi and Pilani in 1987, end of July. It was with a mixture of excitement and apprehension that I as a not yet 17 year youngster first entered the Vidya Vihar Campus.

63 days to go. As we waited in M Block for

an interview with Prof. N during joining, Al was amongst the first few I met at Pilani. She was the one to tell me I have moved up to my first choice in the admission process; and she explained about the quintessential BITS lD which is the "Aadhar" of BITS.

62 days to go. MB, Meera Bhawan, that exclusive address for our stay at Pilani. AG and Ta were amongst my first friends at MB, as we shared the dorm, apparently converted from a cowshed is the story we heard! They sure did not anticipate the huge contingent of girls that year, perhaps double or more as compared to earlier years?

60 days to go. My ode today to the Saraswati temple.

Pristine.

Serene.

Peacocks meandering around. While being the abode of the Goddess of Learning, great thinkers and doers also find a pride of place there don't think I have seen something like this in any other temple.

57 days to go. By second year I had Sa joining

me as roomie in the back wing, and Pr, Ra, Cs, Pa all coming over as wingies. In the back wing one was subjected to hearing the BBV band practice virtually every day, and at times it could get to you if you know what I mean! That was then. Now, more often than not, I wait to hear the strains of Sare Jahaan se achha by the BBV contingent

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during the Republic day parade.

56 days to go. For many of us, it was a

morning rush to catch breakfast before the mess closing. Picking up a small round steel plate after a quick scan for an appropriately sized chunk of butter was a daily ritual and toasts to go with it. And a large steel glass of coffee. Like the blue moon fried Maggi, the taste of this morning coffee has been irreproducible!

55 days to go. Chowkey's nonchalant kamara

number PA announcements, the postman with the letters and sorting them into the slots for distribution, the single landline telephone tucked away in a room... they were then our lifeline to the world outside the high walled MB, and now, they may have become non-existent or almost certainly redundant at Pilani in this age of smartphones. We had left 25 years ago exchanging telephone numbers, home addresses, we are reconnecting thanks to the digital age.

48 days to go. Possibly one of the initial buys

at Pilani for most of us was the cycle. Be it the Insti or any other place, be it morning or evening, be it scorching summer or cold winter days, this 2 wheeler was our Transporter during our stay at Pilani.

47 days to go. And then there were those

times when parents came over, armed with lips smacking goodies. Suddenly rooms would get cleaned and clothes would get washed. Didn't matter whose Parents, a bunch of us would be there to take them around to the temple and ShivG, perhaps Sky and Museum, and maybe Panchavati too. And then of course, a Treat at C’Not.

45 days to go. There was this register kept at the MB gate, where we had to sign while going out in the evening. 11pm would often be a sight with guys bidding girls goodbye at the gate, girls queuing up to sign in the register, and at times the warden hovering

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around trying to wear a stern look while nudging the girls to get back into MB on time!

40 days to go. Sunrise sunset, Sunrise sunset, swiftly fly the days. One season following another, laden with happiness and tears. The play Fiddler on the Roof staged by the EDC in the Audi ranks amongst the best performances that I have ever watched. The sets, cast, music, just about everything about it was a simply stunning experience. Re's vanishing act remains evergreen in my memories.

37 days to go. Bdays at Pilani meant getting

woken up at midnight for wishes and b’day bumps and cards and gifts... and continuing the laccha sessions late into the night. Not to forget the treat at Blue moon with Fried Maggi at Rs.7.50, usually shared between two, and a glass of milkshake. Some b’days celebrated at Pilani and many more before and after - Today I feel grateful for getting to know wonderful people like you! Some close friendships which began then at Pilani have only strengthened over the years. And thanks to technology, reconnecting with so many of you after 25 years and deepening our bonds has been an unmatched experience.

Thanks and looking forward to great fun at the SJR.

35 days to go. The Audi was one happening

place. From orientation to plays to Music Nites to Oasis events, we saw it all there!

And of course the movies. Perhaps nowhere else have we watched movies sitting in the balcony on the theatre steps, amongst a vociferous crowd. And certainly nowhere else have I heard the iconic statement: movie is over please!

Just 28 days to go. Today's colour is yellow.

And yellow transports you to Pilani - that prominent shade in and around Pilani - the Insti, the Bhawans, the houses in the countryside, the façade of the forts, the

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stretches of sand... and you can add in to this the sights of the camels, the ghaghras and the dupattas..

Just 27 days to go. Many are surprised when

they hear that there were no norms around attendance at BITS. They are even more astounded to hear that despite this, there were folks who would attend more than 1 instructor for a subject! And then there were these packed and overflowing first and second year classes where people tended to reserve seats for their friends, and some attended sitting on window sills and on the floor...

Just 24 days to go. An integral part of BITS

were the large notice boards that were at the entrance of each of the blocks. One would find virtually everything of importance displayed on these boards. Are they still around?

Just 19 days to go. The legendary clock

tower... It stands tall indeed as if overseeing the activities of the generations of BITSians who came there and made Pilani their second home. Do the clocks still tick...?

Just 18 days to go. Peacocks leisurely

strolling around - a beautiful sight one could catch just about everywhere on the campus.

You could also hear them quite often, greeting you in a voice completely incongruous with their gorgeous looks. And then their "blessings" - well it was said if you were on campus; you cannot escape getting blessed at least once... I received mine midway in the last semester!!

Just 13 days to go - by this time next to next

Friday, our cavalry of buses will be on the way to Pilani, or if you are reading this later in the day, we would already be in Pilani! So often have we made that journey before but under different conditions - ISBT, crowded state transport buses, vast stretches of narrow roads punctuated by dusty country side villages, the bus stops in between what sometimes seemed like such a long unending

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bus ride - the sight of Loharu brought cheer for it meant Pilani was not far away... and finally getting into a Cycle Rick to reach MB ... in a sort of homecoming to be back amongst friends.

Just 10 days to go. Winter at Pilani meant...

the cool air against your face and your hands going numb as you cycled your way to Insti for early morning tutorials or tests, cold water and the preference for French baths, colourful sweaters, shawls and jackets, warming yourself up at the chowkey's inviting fireplace, not to forget the thick razais under which many of us snuggled together lacchaing away into the nights...

Just ONE day to go! I recall the countdowns

we did on the pillar in the MB back wing, counting down to when the vacation would start and we would leave for home, scratching off each passing day with a pencil.

Whoever knew that 25 years hence we would have the incredible irony of a WhatsApp digital and reverse countdown! Life indeed comes full circle as Pilani beckons. See you tomorrow!!!

The D Day is finally here! Wonderful to see the Pilgrims' Progress through the pictures and updates from all across the globe, faces aglow in eager anticipation for the convergence at Pilani. Signing off the final countdown as I wait to board my flight.

And so, we spent in each other’s company a few wonderful days during SJR 2016!

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For they were still swaying to the music and dance and joy of meeting again Oh I did not feel like keeping the red tee away For it still reverberated with the claps and boisterous yelling of the basketball court Oh I did not want to take out my binocs For I could still see through them the Winged Wonders and the rising sun over the Pilani landscape Oh I did not wish to keep my bandhni dupatta away For it was so very soaked with the colours of friendship, both old and new Oh I did not feel like keeping the rajasthani bangles away For they were still resonating to the rhythm of the soulful midnight music heard under the open sky Oh I did not want to dust out my chappals For stuck to them were the grains of sands from the land where we bonded together then and now The goodies though were easier to handle

Our much awaited SJR had to after all come to an end. We had to grow up once again and return to our families, now with renewed vigour and rediscovered friendships – but the return seemed to be only in body, for in spirit, we still remained at Pilani. The hangovers remained with us for several days and weeks to come! Unpacking was truly difficult!!

I started unpacking, and, Oh I did not wish to keep my black and silver away,

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For there was something for each member of the family and they laid claim to it making them too a part of our magical experience I started unpacking and I did not desire to unpack anything And yet unpack everything I did For I discovered that I had brought back with me neatly packaged beautiful eternal memories, memories that will last with me for a lifetime Veena (Joshi) Deshpande 87A7PS075

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MY STORY 1946 - 1950 It was the year 1946, July 15 my first day in the then named Birla College of Engineering, Pilani.

You may now call it the SEED day for what you are today as BITS, a great technology centre of which you all and me are proud. I will briefly narrate the circumstances we were in then.

We were 125 students. Some were enrolled in mechanical engineering including myself (roll number 34), while others joined Electrical engineering. What you see nowgreenery, flowers beautiful buildings attractive landscape, just about everything, instead close your eyes and visualise sand everywhere. When I say sand everywhere I mean in our cubicles, in classrooms in our meals. The only place where we could feel some solace was SHIV GANGA. The only consolation we felt was that one day we will walk out of this college as engineers. Oh no, cross your fingers! Our degree was not recognized and the college was affiliated to the University of Agra. Oh yes, the transportation from Loharu or Chirawa railway stations was a single bus ride to take us to Pilani and guess what! After we got out of the train there was no bus so we had a good camel ride to Pilani. But one hope which got us going was that one day we will be engineers. There were not enough classrooms for all classes with the result that we used to walk to Birla Arts College in the village of Pilani. In our drawing and design class rooms we had to watch the ceiling above because we had company of birds who had the liberty of easing out on our

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drawing sheets. We did not give up because the visits of Nehru ji, Gandhi ji, General Cariappa, Birla ji, granting authorities and other dignitaries gave us hope and we got going. We did not leave hope. I did not mention our dining room where we had company of stray dogs to take care of the leftovers.

Good thing we had a football team, a cricket team, ping pong, and we had a large radio in the common room where we could listen to the cricket commentary.

We did not have certainty of degree recognition. We still carried on with hope.

Finally we linked to Rajputana University.

Of course now you have your own University.

Our celebration started when in 4th year our degree was finally recognized. Here started the good days! After 3rd year arrangements were made for our apprenticeship at different places. Four of us were assigned to shipyard in Vizag.

Here comes the best part- each one of 65 students out of 125 who could survive to graduate were provided jobs at different places by Birlas. I was hired by Texmaco Birla Factory.

I don’t know about you, but I am proud to be the founder of where BITS is today.

This is a brief story of my BSC Engineering degree of 1950 from my admission to Birla Engineering College, in 1946.

Darshan Singh Teji

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THE SAGA OF BITS PILANI HYDERABAD CAMPUS (BPHC) Thinking of my days at BITS always brings up a sudden surge of memories and emotions. After all, it was the place that taught me “Life”. Being from the second batch (2009 – 13) of BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus, I am one among those very few people who has witnessed the campus grow since its inception. It was the early days of August 2009, the day of our registration, when the campus was flooded with 600 odd students fresh from school, eager to explore, apprehensive of the journey they were about to embark on, hardly knowing that this place they just arrived in was destined to become a cradle of some of the best technocrats of the country.

All this story, dates back to the time when there were just 2 student hostels, 2 admin blocks, a single mess, 2-3 stores carrying the necessary amenities in CP(Connaught Place) and a branch of SBH. The stories we heard from our seniors were even more extreme, where their admission got postponed by 20 days due to insufficient classrooms and hostels. We neither had the SAC till our 2nd year, nor any internet connectivity for our first 3 months. It literally seemed like we could get nothing we wished for.

It was my first visit to campus and what I saw over there was entirely opposite to my initial imagination of a university campus. When I first saw the campus, it was like a heated barren land, sparsely occupied by concrete buildings, with not a single tree visible on campus. The current football and cricket grounds surrendered themselves as parking lots to accommodate the hundreds of cars that entered the campus.

with our small little chats to pass our time.

Having nothing, gave us the opportunity to establish ourselves rather than to follow someone else. For example, the initial clubs of BPHC were majorly initiated by our batch and our seniors. These batches were the ones to name “Pearl” and organize the first large scale event of BPHC. We are also the ones to participate in the first Student Union elections of campus. With no initial guidelines at places, the two batches, sort of figured things on their own. Election Campaigns, “Who to target”, “How to target”, all these questions started to pop up around the campus. Probably, much of the Marketing MBA could be better learnt this way I guess. In a way, being in the initial batches of campus always has its ups and downs. If we considered the opportunity of ownership at various fronts to be one side of a coin, the lack of expertise flowing down from seniors had always been the other.

One might consider this a negative, but, on the contrary, I feel having no other way out helped us get more attached and bonded

Fast-forwarding 3 years down the lane, after my graduation, when I re-visited the campus in 2016, it no longer resembled the same.

Once a barren land, the campus had turned

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into a piece of absolute beauty. While the foundations of BPHC must have been laid down by the BITS administration and think tank, we laid the foundation of what BPHC stands for today and will stand for in the future. We put together the pieces carefully knitting the culture of camaraderie, excellence and “ob” taking it “lite”.

It’s not just the place; it’s the experience we cannot forget in our lifetime.

Sahitya Elluru 2009A3PS257H

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BOTH SIDES OF CLASSROOM – AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. SANGEETA SHARMA Dr. Sangeeta Sharma, currently serving as Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, BITS Pilani, Pilani is one of those faculty members who enjoy a cult student following at Pilani campus. A BITSian herself (Batch of 1984), she has a strong connect with the students on campus. Having significant experience of being on both sides of the classroom and being a witness to the growth of the institution for 33 years, we couldn’t think of another person, more suited, to take us through the journey of BITS between Then and Now. Following are the excerpts from a candid conversation with possibly the most charming BITSian on campus:

Curfew for girls are also a result of the advent and easy access of technology and social media, at least in parts. But the sad part is that the level of attendance in classes has plummeted to record lows. Students are becoming over dependent upon online learning tools, which in my opinion can never be a substitute for the classroom experiential learning. The much talked about policy of “0% mandatory attendance” is being misused by the students. The aim of the policy is to inculcate responsibility in students and not giving them a licence for not coming to classes for reasons such as Computer Gaming, Binge Watching, etc.

Laptops, smartphones, ATMs and internet are great enablers for any technologically inclined society, but only when used with prudence.

Between 1984 and now the change in technology is immense, to say the least.

While we had a few landline phone for the entire college, smartphones are a must-have today. What was once a challenge because of limited supply has turned into a challenge because of its excess. I hope the contrast is clear.

You have been on both sides of the class.

How is it different?

The biggest change that I see between BITS: Then and Now is the penetration of technology. Like all changes, this one too has its own set of merits and demerits. On one hand, our students are challenging new frontiers every day not just on the National but on the International stage, the latest example being the success of team Hyperloop India from BITS Pilani.

Initiatives such as the abolition of Night

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What is the one thing from your time at BITS as a student which you dearly miss now?

The passion and the pride of being a BITSian have always been immense. I vividly remember the pride with which my friends and I would roam about the campus when we first got admission to BITS. It was like a peacock strolling in all its glory with all its beauty on display. Somehow, today that pride has come down. We cannot figure out the factors but it is something that I dearly

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miss. Our belief of taking on any challenge and the sense of achievement in being a part of BITS have come down significantly.

Another significant thing that I miss is the Functional Birla Glider’s Club. All of us used to make our own gliders back in the day.

Many attempts at reopening the club have been made, but the capital requirements to maintain it are huge and somehow we haven’t been able to achieve success in making it functional

What would you say is the biggest change (positive) for a student at BITS since your time?

The infrastructure has seen a complete overhaul with Project Parivartan. State-ofthe-art Student Activity Centre, the sprawling Library, the Lecture Theatre Complex and the New Academic Block have all added on to the existing infrastructure on campus from time to time.

Apart from these, technical facilities like Internet, IPC Labs, Video Conferencing Facility (BITS Connect 2.0) and Research Labs have all been continually improved.

Apart from this the curriculum, the examination frequency and the grading system have also been changed to meet the industry requirements as communicated by our alumni. For e.g. the curriculum has been made more branch specific with a minimum requirement on the number of electives from the student’s branch. The concept of minor degree in Finance and Film Making has also been introduced which the students can avail by completing minimum requisite units. The grading has also been fine grained (to A, A-, B, B-,….) to sharpen differentiation amongst students and make sure that the broad bucket (A, B, C….) gradation does not affect the CGPA adversely.

How has the faculty at BITS evolved?

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Let me start by mentioning the enhanced rigour of the selection process for the faculty which ensures that only the best applicants make it to the position of faculty in the institute. The whole process has become much more complex and also involves the services of third party consultants to ensure quality.

The faculty today is driving research in the institute, which is unparalleled in quantum and magnitude as compared to any other point in our significant history. The methods of teaching are being reinvented to hold the attention of the current generation and the testing tools are also being experimented with. Overall, the quality of research is truly competing with international standards today, and it is evident with the number of international publications being churned out every year and the number of activities our students undertake on the international stage. Many new courses specially focussing on encouraging the entrepreneurial instinct amongst students have come up with the efforts of the current faculty and students.

What is your favourite place to hang-out on campus?

I love to hang-out at Student Activity Centre today. It is a lively place and there is always something going on there. I am also pretty regular to the gym and love the ambience of the place. Back when the SAC had not come up, I loved to be at the Sky lawns, which still holds a special place in my heart, and we regularly hold meetings for Project Peacock at the place.

Now that you have brought it up, could you tell us something about Project Peacock?

Project Peacock supported by the 1987 batch aims to thwart the falling population of the National Bird on campus by providing them a safe habitat on campus and protecting them from dogs and

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poachers. The project comprises of team of 10 students and faculties from various departments. It started with taking a count of the number of Peacocks on campus using scientific methods. We are hopeful of restoring the old glory of the peacock population on campus and we can use all the help that the alumni reading this can provide us. It does not have to be monetary; it can be advice and suggestions about implementation’s intricacies.

So last question, your favourite BITSian tale of all time?

So I get this question a lot, let us rule out the usual suspects and take a different tale this time. So there was this student who once came to me crying because he scored a ‘B’ in a course. He asked me how I could give

him a low grade. He said that grades are very important to him because he comes from a very humble background. So I asked him, “Do you need money?” He was speechless.

He then asked me,” Are you trying to mock me, ma’am?” I told him that, “I am serious, I can help you with money, but not with the grade”.

Actually, I was looking to find someone whom I can help financially for their education since a long time. And just like that this student came up to me, and I thought, “Why not?”

So, finally he agreed and I helped him. His grades improved significantly because he was not under the pressure of the threat of failure anymore. He went on to do very well for himself and got a job in one of the ecommerce giants. Now, every year, he gifts me something on my birthday. So, you see I get a gift, goodwill and most importantly satisfaction at the end of it all. Very high return on investment you’d say, isn’t it?

Interviewed by Anshul Mittal, 2010A2PS488P

Photo – Sriharsha Yayi 2012A7PS073P

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PICTURE GALLERY – GOA CAMPUS

Kamalesh Kohli, 2008A3PS207G

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DATRI: THE GIFT OF LIFE Meet Raghu Rajagopal: The man with a mission to save lives Haven’t you ever thought about the perfect gift for someone? How about the gift of life?

There are millions suffering around us struggling to add another minute, another second to their lives. And the best gift for them would be the gift of life! Most of us don’t consider it possible to give such a magnanimous gift to someone. But DATRI enables us to do just that.

For many suffering from fatal blood diseases like blood cancer (Leukaemia, Lymphoma etc.) and Thalassemia, a blood stem cell transplant is the last hope of survival. Such patients need a donor with a matching genetic type. Only 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 2 Million Indians find a genetic match. With such low probability, it is necessary to have a large database of willing blood stem cell donors.

DATRI is India’s largest adult unrelated blood stem cell donors’ registry. It was founded in 2009 by Raghu Rajagopal, a 1987 batch BITSian along with Dr. Nezih Cereb and Dr. Soo Young Yang. DATRI’s vision is to help every patient seeking a blood stem cell donor find a healthy, willing, genetically matched donor.

In our interview with Mr.Raghu, he shared his amazing journey with DATRI:

How did you start with DATRI and how has your journey been so far?

I lived in the US for more than 12 years, where I was an entrepreneur with 3 BITSian ventures, with my close friends. During that time, one of my friend’s brother’s fiancée was diagnosed with blood cancer. When he asked me if I could help, I jumped into the fray and contributed to the search to find a matching stem cell donor. At that time, we conducted many awareness campaigns and tried to get as many Indians registered in the US Donor registries as possible, in the

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hopes of finding a match. But we were unable to find a match in the US. Luckily, she found a match in London, and underwent the transplant in US. It was a story with a happy ending.

But it also made me realize that there is a great mismatch in the number of willing donors vis-à-vis the number of people in need of a transplant. I moved back to India in 2005. I wanted to make a difference to people’s lives and work in the philanthropic space and was also contemplating working in healthcare. At that time there was no organized registry of stem cell donors in India. Patients were dying due to lack of donors. This inspired me to form DATRI. As of now, DATRI has 2,19,000 donors. We have facilitated 260 transplants so far. About 35 of them have been abroad and the rest were in India. We have also expanded to Nepal and Dubai.

What are some of the unique challenges you faced in a not-for-profit organization like DATRI, and what are the ways in which you handled these challenges?

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The greatest bottleneck in creating a registry like DATRI is the HLA typing. To put that into perspective, I’ll explain the process. A prospective donor fills up a consent form for registration. Then we take a cheek swab sample from him/her and do the HLA typing for storing it in our database. Currently the procedure costs anywhere between Rs.10,000 to Rs. 25000 per person. In 2009 we started DATRI along with Dr. Nezi Cereb and Dr. Soo Young Yang who have extended support to the creation of the registry and in turn have helped many patients in need.

Another major roadblock is that Indians are not independent decision makers. There are family pressures and taboos. Whenever we approach any donor, they may think that we have some ulterior motive. It was very hard to convince the first donor, because I had no precedence to demonstrate. But we try to overcome these problems through community awareness drives. After a donor match, we extensively counsel the donor and their family. Even after the donor has agreed, our team stays with the donor all the time to ensure that the donor does not back out at the last moment, because that would have devastating consequences on the recipient’s life.

don’t have that course in BITS any more. I was very active in Engineering Technology Association and also played an active role during Oasis and Apogee as part of PCR. I think the best part of BITS is that we get to meet a lot of people from different parts of the country, make great friends and get exposed to multiple points of view and multiplicity of cultures.

Did life at BITS have any specific impact on the DATRI journey from concept to implementation?

Yes of course! I always wanted to do something for the community, right from the time I was in school. At BITS, I was a part of Vivekananda Seva Samiti and got involved in a lot of community related work. I have always wanted to change lives of people and make a lasting impact. I feel happy that 260 people, whose transplants DATRI has facilitated, got a chance to live!

How do you generate awareness about this program? Can the BITSian community help in generating awareness about DATRI?

We are working with doctors, corporates, colleges, community centres etc. to generate awareness about this program. BITSians can definitely help, by contacting us, arranging awareness drives and donor registration drives in their workplaces or communities.

Tell us about your BITSian Life, your favourite stories, your time spent with your friends

My BITSian life was great. I was in C5MSc(Tech) Engineering Technology. They

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Where do you see DATRI in the short and long run? What are your plans from here?

Our vision for DATRI is that every patient of Indian origin, anywhere in the world, should find a healthy, willing and genetically matched donor. That is our long term plan.

However, we find that for a population of more than 1.2 billion in India, we have a mere 2,19,000 registered stem cell donors, which is miniscule. Currently, our plan is to reach a million registered donors in the next 5 years.

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What will be your advice to the modern day entrepreneurs and socially sensitized individuals?

I think that in the current generation attention to detail is missing. People have to understand the details when they are engaged in any project.

People are too distracted. They have lesser and lesser friends in person, and more on social media. What is the point of having hundreds of friends on Facebook when you don’t have anyone by your side? So they need to make more friends.

The second piece of advice is Find the Right Time for entrepreneurship. Don’t jump into it. Just because you have an idea doesn’t mean you have to leave everything and jump right into it. Work on your idea, validate it, look for customers and see how they respond to your idea. Talk to a lot of experts who will give you valuable insights. Work in an organization for some time and take the best from it. It will also help pay your bills.

Registration Process

Donation Process

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So far, all you have done is for yourself. It’s time to think what you can do for the society, what you can give back. How many lives have you changed? That will give you the ultimate satisfaction. These are the questions, which prompted me to start another non-profit venture: Punarjanmam, to help children affected by the Chennai floods. We have 75 beneficiaries from that program, and currently I am trying to get people to adopt some of the children to sponsor their education.

What will be your message to BITSians around the globe reading this?

To BITSians I’d like to say that please introduce us to people who can help register more and more donors. If you have some contacts in your company or community or colleges, please do reach out to us and help us spread the word about DATRI. To know more about DATRI, or contribute please visit www.datriworld.org Interviewed by Aparajita Roy, 2007A8PS421P

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A JOURNEY OF A BITSIAN TO DEFINE HIS 'GOAL'...

A little teen sat in front of a computer, Gave a test to write his future.

Delighted with his marks, he came out a happy man, Time came to pack his bags and sit in the van.

With his parents he reached the beautiful Goa, He was mesmerized his new campus's aura.

Still he was unsure and scared, as he asked himself, is this what I want?

He left a more glamorous career behind, and he was still in two minds.

He asked God what should he do when his mind was in a rift, He chose engineering because it was "BITS".

The semester-1 was difficult with injuries and 5 CGPA, He learnt determination and zeal to strive to do his best, Semester passed, he improved his grades, With time he picked up new hobbies and spent days to introspect.

Be it spending time alone or with friends, He still was unsure of his life's passion and aim,

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Came the final mark sheet and finally he became an engineer, Landed in a corporate career, where post friday work was just beer.

Some time passed, when work did not give him even time to breathe, He took a Flight to Hyderabad to attend the BITS global meet, It changed him as a person, seeing alumni setting an example in every field, He knew it was time to focus and define a goal as life will always not act as a shield, He broadened his horizons and started to have a purpose of each day, Started working on himself and things he lacked.

Today he sits to write this, with life's goal in mind, The tedious journey has just started and he hopes that God would be kind, BITS gave him a power to think and dream, He hopes to reach his goal one day and say it was no longer a 'dream' A BITSian of 2007 Batch, Goa Campus.

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STEPPING IN FOR A NEW WORLD ORDER? Around the World: Latest Headlines

As the cool November breeze was stirring a cliff-edge Brexit chaos up North; the ferocious waves of fascism and populism were opening shores to Le Penn’s French revolution; and while the Iraqi forces marched for the emancipation of Mosul, a Republican dark horse could be seen riding his way to glory but his nation into troubled waters.

And suddenly, the November winds didn’t seem so calm anymore and history not so right anymore! As the world challenged norms and witnessed turning points, somewhere far away in our Pilani, a BITSian spring had also blossomed…

Her First Nights of Freedom It’s half past midnight and darkness blankets over them. He moves closer towards her and presses something into her hands. She quickly slides it into her satchel and smiles.

And then, the two exchange goodbyes. She is riding past Patel chowk where she sees someone who is shining a torch in her direction. She is almost past Shishu Vihar when she hears a sudden swift movement above her. She speeds up and finally reaches Meera Bhawan. Don't worry, she was safe!

Well, she didn’t become safe when she was confined within the cocoon of Meera, she was safe when many like her where out there on every street as lights glowed upon them for there was no place to call ‘dark’.

Because democracy dies in darkness!

From The Capital: Pinjra Tod When her Delhi friends earlier poured indignation on the streets with their ‘Pinjra

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Tod’ movements in the fight against discriminatory cultural codes, the Woman Minister’s remark about girls being ‘immature’, ‘hormonally susceptible’ and the need to draw a ‘lakshman rekha’ sparked nationwide outrage. As her friends stormed the Minister’s gates, India wondered if its curfews meant that it only cared for the safety of its women and not its men. Many questioned if they had really progressed from the era of female feticides and child marriages to one where women were breaking glass ceilings, yet only to be caged behind iron gates. And if these roads were dangerous for one gender and the danger was the other half, then shouldn’t evil be caged and not innocence? And does fleeing away to an illusionary safe haven really resolve this war against perils of society forever?

Her Eternal Nights of Silence In a culture where a girl’s clothing bears more guilt than the atrocities against her, many have succumbed to silence as demanding voices are often met with sardonic words by college authorities who question her character and even tarnish her parents’ upbringing. Moreover, in many professional courses, as the ratio of female to male students is blown out of proportion, the chances of being marginalised are high. And if she does speak out, there is always this threat of being labelled ‘rebellious’ with a suspension notice suddenly knocking upon her door.

It’s not the uneducated conservative background which is to be blamed for our regressive regime of hostel curfews, since

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many liberal and progressive minds do believe that it should prevail to protect the honor of their girls, with some being just in suggesting curfews for both genders. While it is undeniable that incidences against women are far more likely than men in our nation, digging deep into this issue to understand how such a restriction is a major obstacle for holistic development, academic success and an intrusion of privacy and a restriction on mobility is crucial. Jailing girls bars their participation in inter and intra university competitions which means their knowledge is withheld by the boundaries of classrooms.

Further, organizing cultural and technical fests require women to take up leadership positions so they need to be out there on the frontline. And how do we convince ourselves that while the boys have the liberty to take up internships or carry out part-time jobs, the girls cannot? The question that we should really be asking ourselves is whether the youth of today can really succeed when half of us are held back. Have we really changed because few decades down history, we were sceptical of educating our girls beyond high school and aren’t we doing the same when we allow the boys to discover their library and the not the girls? Moreover, with rules in girls’ hostels on female visitors, night-outs and ludicrous moral policing, should we be afraid of widening the gender divide in our culture?

Change begins with a whisper As candlelight vigils marched throughout the country, the aura of the BITS Pilani campus, on the contrary, was very tranquil.

So, did a 40-year old law get abolished without any rallies, nukkad nataks and slogan chants, but really just a whisper? One of the trailblazers of this silent movement, Sibesh Kar, member of the Election Committee explains how the theory of Nash equilibrium applies here: equal participation by not just female but even male students,

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parents and college authorities.

This problem was addressed when Kar realised how boys outnumbered most technical teams while establishing his globally renowned Hyperloop India.

Most teams were reluctant to recruit girls, fearing their lack of commitment which was hindered by curfews. Surprisingly, many girls had developed a compliant and resilient nature, but the Student Union was determined to challenge this subservience.

Nothing describes this situation more profoundly than Ernst Morgenstern, “It’s

likely meant to make us think we are not caged. But, we cannot feel the bars, unless we push against them.”

By using an unconventional approach, volunteers had a one-on-one interaction with the hostellers, where they were asked: “Should the girls’ in-time restriction be removed?” and “Has the restriction hampered productivity and performance?” with only two choices, so no Goldilocks to the rescue! Numbers often speak better than heated debates: from the 581 students surveyed, 477 responded, and about 95.8% believed that it should be abandoned, whereas, 89.7% considered it to be an obstacle. Contrary to popular belief, curfews have proved that they do not enhance academic performance but hamper it. After mutual dialogues and discussions, signatures on a “Letter of Intent” were obtained from all the parents concerned. When the notice of removal of this archaic law was sent, this signalled a domino effect across the country, as BITS Goa lifted the rule just a week later.

Well, the actions are not just contagious within the BITS family, as even IIT-Roorkee decided to break the rule and strengthened security on-campus with patrolling vans to prevent any mishap, only to be followed by Mumbai University.

We, as BITSians, are proud to be the torchbearers where we are creating a community where discrimination against any gender, caste, religion, ethnicity or

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colour ceases to exist. In Frost’s words, ‘And

we have miles to go before we sleep and miles to go before we sleep.’

She is out Tonight. But Why? Doesn’t the nation want to know?

Those of us with cynical preconceived notions about the break of hostel curfews must have been furtively trying to discern since the first para about why this girl was wandering so late at night with her friend.

So, allow me to divulge the secret. If you thought, that ‘it’ was something illegal, then it was just a pen drive and the man with the torchlight wasn’t chasing her, he was only a security personnel. But if you had a foreboding about the swift movement of some predator, then it was the flutter of the wings of the beautiful Rajasthani peacocks.

If I tell you, that this girl was with some boys to work on the ingenious idea of India’s first and only Hyperloop which will

be competing against designs from around the world in an open challenge by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, would you still judge her the same way?

With my hands growing weary of writing this article, I take a moment to watch how these flags embellish the campus; myriad colours merging with another in a kaleidoscope, and suddenly, these hues of red, blue and yellow mean more than the heat of passion, the tranquillity of adversity and the hope of another BITSian spring blooming with full vivacity and radiance.

Slowly, I gaze upon the Clock tower, standing tall with splendour and magnificence just like the golden luminescence of a sun rising out and against the blueness of the sky, almost speaking a unique language of allegory,

“Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage,rage against the dying of the light.”

Rage,rage against the dying of the light.’’

Sidra Raihan BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus

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CONVOCATION: THE (RE)BIRTH OF A TRADITION The word “graduation” had always conjured up an image of a graduation robe, of academic caps flying in the air and a solemn promise to uphold the name of the institution I had made my home and learnt my greatest lessons from. It was a bit of an anti-climax when we came to know in our first year that there was no formal convocation ceremony held and our coveted degree would arrive just like any other letter….the deliverer unaware of the years of expectations and hard work he held in his hand. What made it harder to digest was that BITS, Pilani had once hosted convocations, but nearly forty years ago, they had been discontinued! Of course, the new campuses had not known this tradition at all!

All through the four years that I spent on campus, there was much speculation on whether the tradition would be revived. We knew that efforts were on and discussions ongoing, so we hoped. And one fine day, in July 2011, when we had already bid adieu to our beloved Alma mater with a rather heavy heart, we received the news that Convocation (for Pilani and Hyderabad campuses) was going to be held on 28th August 2011. This was the mail we received:

Dear XXX,

Congratulations on your graduation from BITS Pilani.

You will be happy to note that Convocation ceremony for the graduating students who have completed the eligibility requirements in the second semester 2010-11 in First Degree, Higher Degree and Ph.D. Programmes from BITS Pilani shall be held at 11 AM on 28 August 2011 at Pilani Campus (for graduates of Pilani and Hyderabad Campuses). You are requested

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to register at the website created for registration providing all information, if interested in attending the convocation to receive degree personally. For any clarification you can write to convocation2011@bits-pilani.ac.in (for students of Pilani and Hyderabad Campus).

You are also requested to clear dues, if any, to receive the degree. One accompanying person will be allowed to attend the Convocation at Auditorium. However arrangements have been made to show convocation proceedings Live to other accompanying persons in the Lecture Theatre Complex. There will be registration process and registration charge. You must reach Pilani by 27 August 2011 morning to collect registration kit between 9:00 AM and 12:00 Noon to participate in the full dress rehearsal to be held at sharp 3:00 PM which is compulsory to attend. The last date for registration is 22nd August 7.00 PM. For detailed information, including registration fee please visit BITS, Pilani website.

Convocation Team BITS Pilani Our friends at Goa received a similar intimation, and the first ever convocation at Goa campus was scheduled on 21st August, 2011, a week before the one at Pilani. For the students of Hyderabad, it was the first ever convocation, though the first convocation at the Hyderabad campus would come later.

For the students of Pilani, it was the rebirth of a tradition discontinued 40 years ago. The ceremony at Dubai campus would be held a few weeks later in September 2011.

Most of us reached Pilani a day before for the rehearsal, as was instructed to us. The time was spent in meeting old friends, ‘lachha’

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sessions and catching up on all that we’d missed since leaving campus, and before we knew, the D-day had arrived!

We hardly noticed the sweltering heat, as we donned our black robes and caps and proceeded towards the audi. But nothing could have prepared us for the grandeur of the occasion.

Dr. Anil Kakodkar, an eminent nuclear scientist and former Chairperson of the Atomic Energy Commission had consented to be the Chief Guest, and his speech was quite enlightening. The Distinguished Alumni Awards were conferred on notable Alumni of the institute- Mr. Baba Kalyani for entrepreneurship, Prof Dorairajan Balasubramaian and Prof Govardhan Mehta for Teaching and Research, and Mr. Prithviraj Chavan, then Chief Minister of Maharashtra for contribution to public life in India.

Through all of this, we patiently waited for our few seconds of glory, when our hardearned degree(s) would be presented to us.

We took the oath, and one by one, each of our names were announced, to come to the stage and receive our honor. And then…..it was over. The need for solemnity gone….black caps filled the air, and that feeling of achievement bound us all…to each other and to BITS forever.

That year, over 2100 students graduated from BITS Pilani, across all the 4 campuses,

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all those who could attend, received their degrees in the formal convocation ceremonies organized across Pilani, Goa and Dubai.

Since then, the tradition has only grown stronger. In 2015-16, 3332 students graduated from BITS Pilani. International students are being admitted in Hyderabad and Goa. And many changes have been made to the BITS infrastructure and facilities as well. The Convocation ceremonies have also seen some eminent personalities being invited as Chief Guests. From Mr. Kapil Sibbal, then Minister for HRD gracing the first convocation at Hyderabad Campus in 2013, to Padma Bhushan Dr. K Srinath Reddy in 2013 at Pilani Campus to Mr. Manohar Parrikar, the Chief Minister of Goa in last year’s convocation at Goa campus, each address has been memorable. Perhaps one of the most popular dignitaries, which remains etched in people’s memories is Rahul Dravid, who consented to be the Chief Guest for BITS Goa Convocation in 2013.

For every graduating batch, the convocation is more than just a ceremony or a tradition.

It is a collection of glorious moments to be treasured forever. It is the essence of their years in BITS. It is what makes them close their eyes, feel their heart beating for their Alma-mater and say- BITS Pilani: It’s Magic!

Aparajita Roy, 2007A8PS421P

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BITSIAN LIFE WITHOUT MOBILE PHONE I happen to be the part of the generation who has seen BITSian life with and without mobile phones. I joined BITS in 2002 and by the last year, quite a few students had mobile phones. General communication, without a mobile phone, used to be quite a challenging task. Here are some scenarios.

Imagine a situation when your female classmate (or if you are lucky, your girlfriend) had to contact you to exchange lab readings or notes. Your room happened to be in the middle block, there is no way a human passing on the road could contact you without entering the hostel. The girl would patiently (and sometimes awkwardly) wait outside the hostel for any boy to enter/comeout of the hostel. She would tell the room number and the person’s name to be ‘Gate Called’. It would be obliged by some random boys and the person name would be shouted like, ‘Gate call for 211’.

Needless to say, these gate-calls were the only way to measure a boy’s popularity among girls. Often the farewell speeches would have mentions of high frequency of gate-calls received by a person.

Now imagine a similar situation when you have to call some girl from MB. The set-up was a bit formal in that case, as there would be a waiting area and the announcement would be made by security guard over a microphone.

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But the gist remained the same. You needed to Gate-call if you had to contact someone from a hostel where you couldn’t enter.

Other regular mode of such communication used to be phone calls from the family members. The family member would call on the landline number of the hostel. There was only one landline phone near the watercooler of the common room on the first floor.

When the phone was ringing, any passer-by would stop, attend the call and shout on top of his lungs to call the person from the distant part of the hostel. You can imagine the rest of the scene when the person is running towards the common room phone while the phone was still on hold.

You would need accurate planning skills if you were arranging for a get together that involved friends from across the hostels. You would leave email with exact time and location to meet and wait for email acknowledgement. Once acknowledged, you would only have to wait endlessly until everyone actually showed up. Any last minute change in the plan would leave at least couple of friends waiting for hours before they could realize that the plan had been cancelled.

Ritesh Nagpal, 2002A3PS416

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FOOD AT BITS “What do you miss the most about your home when you are in campus?”

This is perhaps one of the most frequently asked questions on campus. Rarely does someone answer parents, or siblings, or pets but 100% of BITSians (all college people for that matter) miss their home food. But that problem has been resolved a bit by the availability of food places in C’not place and others in all our campuses. Though not always affordable, these places have not only become a place to eat but to create memories- both good and bad. When you can’t go to the city and need a friend’s treat (we all know how important those are), where do we go? When our tests get over, where do we go? When we are hungry after 10PM, where do we go? What about the breaks between those hectic classes (assuming you are one of those people who attend every class)?

just the places where we fill our stomach, but where we fill our hearts and mind with memories and feelings (maybe the feeling is just that of being full). Throughout the passing graduates, these are probably the places that have remained the same and almost everyone can connect to these. These places are among the ones (except our classrooms and hostels) that have witnessed celebrations and remembrances year after year. From the GPL of the birthday guys to the end of semester party, or that treat from the CTs to that placement party of seniors, almost every event requires that not so tasty food from the campus.

Picture: Abhishek Sharma

Picture: Abhishek Sharma

Whether it is Sharma restaurant, Skylab (Pilani Campus) or Persian court, Ice and spice (Goa Campus) or Viceroy, Bits and Bytes (of Hyderabad Campus), most of them are our ideal places of hanging out after big reasons like ending of exams or to celebrate any little occasion like birthdays. They aren’t

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Furthermore, we, college people are always hungry. We never say no to treats. We never say no to free food. We find a reason to celebrate. Always! And these places have always been a saviour to us! A getaway from our daily mess food, which is horrible after the first week of the sem.

We had received stories from all round the world from every time period, telling us about their experiences, making these places importance come up as a whole different level.

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So, next time when you are in such a place in your campus, mark its importance. You will remember this not-so-tasty food after your college life for sure and if you are one who has passed out of here, you already know its importance. Some people eat to live while some live to eat, and I think some of us are mediocre who shuffle time to time between these two categories.

part in my life to be able to attain that shuffling expert as I am sure it would have played the same role in many of your lives! I know many of you wish to live through this college life again and I have stories where you all visit back your campus and go to that XYZ food outlet and automatically your made memories flash through your eyes like a movie! Now I am sure by this time most of you would want to just go back and have that taste in your mouth again. So, before you get too angry with the writer, I will take my leave with the following words“No matter where you are in this world, no matter what you are, no matter how much you are struggling, no matter if your heart is broken or recently found a soulmate or maybe just single- a break with the right company and food makes it all better!�

Picture: Abhishek Sharma

And these places have played a very crucial

Picture: Abhishek Sharma

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Shubhi Jain, 2016A3PS326H

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BINDAAS BITSIANS: A NEW MUSICAL INITIATIVE No memory of BITSian life is complete without the mention of awesome music nights. Auditorium filled with enthusiastic listeners as well as passionate singers. We all used to eagerly wait for the announcement of the music night. Alas! There were no such music nights after BITS. However, some BITSians have joined hands together to make an active group dedicated to music. Here is the shoutout from the team for all BITSians to reconnect for the magic called music.

Hello BITSians.

Many of you would have been to the third BITSAA Global Meet (BGM) at Dubai in January 2017. Over 500 BITSians gathered, and as always, had plenty of fun. A unique musical evening was organized separately, music led by the irrepressible Atul Mishra ('79-84 batch). Atul led from the front, and was joined by several others. The music was not restricted to one evening alone though. It continued off and on all though the BGM. The end of BGM led to a new experiment, that of creating a group of BITS music lovers of all generations. The WhatsApp group used for logistics coordination for BGM was renamed as BINDAAS BITSIANS (BB in short) and soon, a host of music lovers were added to the group. The music lovers were of two kinds: Taansens (the singers) and Kaansens (the listeners). The idea caught up and the group started building up quickly. Singers would post audio clips of songs recorded by them almost every day, and other group members would enjoy, comment, critique and suggest ways to make this better.

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A unique property of BB is that this is the first such group of BITSians that breaks the "batch barrier". The group has senior members such as Amresh Jalali, from batch of 1963, several others from 60s and 70s, stalwarts of BITS music golden era such as Pandit Dinesh Sharma, Azhar Kazmi, Sanjiv Takru, Ajit Sareen, Deepak Nopani, Orjun Mazumdar, Harsha Singh, Hari Menon, Sunil Nanda, Soumitro Ghosh, Vijay Nevrekar, Atul Mishra and many others.

We have not only broken the "batch barrier", we now have gone beyond and have exfaculty members of BITS also coming and joining us in this initiative. Dr. Ramesh Shishu, who once mentored many students at Nagda PS location, and was a faculty in Chemical Engineering at BITS, Pilani, has joined the group and is very active on it.

The daily digital fest of music led to the next idea - a BB musical bash at Lonavala, from June 16-18, 2017. A large group gathered at a holiday home, virtually took over the premises, and filled up the place with music, 24by7. It created new friends, strengthened old ones, and created an urge to spread wings farther and organize such events more often.

It is hard to describe the kind of fun and masti we all had at Lonavala. A few pictures here will give you an idea of what we were up to. To check out some of the music videos, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/MehfilMastee20 16/videos/ The BB bash at Lonavala has created an insatiable hunger to have more musical fun, and touch many more BITSian lives. So here

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we are, planning a much bigger event at Delhi, from February 23-25. Stay tuned for more news on upcoming events. If any music lover wants to join the group, feel free to reach out to:

Atul Mishra: atulmish@gmail.com Biren Shah: biren1960@gmail.com

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A 66ER REMINISCES ABOUT “GROWING UP” IN PILANI…AND PAYS TRIBUTE TO HIS CLASSMATES. “When I get older losing my hair, many years from now …Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m sixty-four” So goes the refrain from a popular Beatles song from the time I was in my second year at BITS. Sixty-four and retirement seemed such a distant thought to contemplate then and so the song was just that, a cute little ditty.

Now that I have covered the ground towards this magical milestone and then some, retirement is not as idyllic as it was cracked up to be. Doing the garden and digging the weeds is not an option in urban India, nor are there prospects of grandchildren on my knees any time soon, and so I must turn to reminiscing to occupy my days. Fortunately, there are some privileges that come with age.

Having experienced my share of joys and sorrows for the better part of my life, I don’t just reminisce but reminisce selectively. So, while for the most part my recollections of my Pilani days are cheerful and happy in a Pollyanna kind of way, there are moments when I look back at my five years at BITS to understand how they contributed to my personal growth.

My happiest recollections take me back to some of the memorable characters from my time on campus. These blokes were not only colourful in their unique ways but they contributed significantly to make me what I am. Looking back, I realize that what I learnt for the most part in the classrooms at BITS was to bank bits and pieces of information and make deposits of knowledge into a repository, not knowing entirely what I will do with them. But what really contributed to my personal growth were the critical life skills that I learnt outside the classroom from some of these folks. These guys were my pedagogues, the ancient Greek notion of a teacher who turned boys into men (the sexism is unfortunate but a reality in ancient Greece and 60s Pilani). I could fill an entire notebook with anecdotes about them but I will stick to just a handful for this narrative.

Curiously, some of the learning on my part happened years after I left BITS. Kumar was a very disciplined student. He had to be since he juggled the rigors of academics and sports activities quite successfully. He had spent the better part of his school days as a boarder and so discipline came naturally to him. Back in ’66 when we were freshers, BITS fielded a very strong hockey team which did creditably in intervarsity tournaments. And so, it was a mix of surprise and joy for us when Kumar started for the team at Center-Half just a couple of months into our first semester at BITS alongside such stars as the two Gills, Chaturvedi, Hazarika etc.

He and I lived as wingies in Pilani and he tried to instil some discipline into my recalcitrant ways and nearly succeeded but even he could not get me to wake up for the early morning classes. But I did learn an

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important lesson from him for life -- the notion of deferred gratification. The point that foregoing an extra hour of blissful sleep was necessary for my long-term well-being was not lost on me.

exceptional player when he entered BITS and breezed into the college team. Just seeing him on the court, effortlessly sending opponents packing was an inspiration for me.

Deepak, a gifted writer, made it to the editorial board of the campus rag, the BITS BEAT, perhaps as early as our first year in BITS. Deepak was the quintessential online communicator long before such a thing existed. We used to have some of our classes (we called them periods, an awkward term at best!) in our 4th and 5th years in room #52 in M-Block. Deepak, in his then avatar of Domé, crafted a broadsheet known as "52PERIODical" which was essentially a large newsprint-like sheet of paper where he scribed his commentaries live. He then circulated it amongst the class members, the few that chose to attend, for their written comments. All this was done unmindful of Prof. MMM as he went about describing flipflops in his impeccable English! I had preserved one of these but it fell victim to my itinerant lifestyle of the early 80s. This was probably an early precursor to today’s blog!

I learnt to listen to my body very closely and look for triggers that caused an attack of asthma. Gradually, I could lose the disease as a visible appendage. I picked up cricket again, playing the sport well into my late 40s in the unlikeliest of venues, along the Rocky Mountain front range of Colorado! I met Jayesh for the last time in Denver when he came visiting from India back in 2005.

Asthma sadly got the better of him.

From Deepak, I learnt the importance of communication that was both precise and elegant. Although I couldn’t dream of reaching his lofty standards, I was able to do well enough in this area in my professional life among native English speakers. Later in life, when I had overcome my reticence, I was able to start expressing myself with more confidence in the written form.

Jayesh and I had something in common. He was an asthmatic, so am I. The disease, to some extent, defined my childhood and adolescent years, so much so that some childhood friends still remember me as the kid who was never seen without a handkerchief! Consequently, I curbed my outdoor activities although I was very fond of sports. Jayesh on the other hand didn’t let his asthma get in the way of developing his badminton skills. He was already an

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There were many others in my class, too many to name here, from whom I learnt not to sweat the small stuff (like grades for example!) but instead to experience the “interval of freedom” that college afforded, a carefree time to throw myself with reckless abandon at fellow students and learn from them.

And finally, there was Srikant who distinguished himself academically but did so unobtrusively. If you didn’t get a peek into his grade cards, you wouldn’t know he pulled straight As. In fact, in our first ever semester at BITS, he missed classes every other Monday. He presumably had important business to take care of in Delhi (which consisted of getting a haircut. Yes, indeed, he got a regulation haircut every other week from a barber at the Indian Air Force camp in Dhaula Kuan). Even when he did make it to a class, he sat in the bleachers and snoozed and seldom troubled the professors. In fact, he was once woken up in class by Diro Laksminarayanan who just happened to be passing by!

He and I bonded over music. We would listen to programs from various radio stations in India and abroad – BBC, VOA, Radio Luxemburg and even Radio Pakistan.

At a time when overseas travel was rare,

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these programs served as a surrogate for physical travel. He continued to nurture this passion for travel in later years with frequent trips to exotic locations.

As I said, S’kant excelled in academics. I excelled in all round mediocrity.

Inexplicably, he came to me frequently to discuss concepts he didn’t quite grasp in class. He would exhort me to try and “figure out” stuff with him, which was just his way of forcing me to analyse and evaluate concepts rather than merely remember facts. Much later in life I realized that I had unwittingly encountered a higher form of learning, albeit purely in the cognitive domain, which was encapsulated in a pedagogic framework known as “Bloom’s Taxonomy”.

S’Kant and I remained very close friends.

Having him around in Bangalore was one of the reasons I felt I could handle relocation to the city after being away from India for close to 27 years. When I met him for the last time, cancer had ravaged his body and he didn’t entertain visitors but he was game for one last good ole-fashioned BITS-style lachha session and in the words of his wife and daughter, "it was magical". Literally the last words I heard him say were "it was a special place". Indeed, it was, in space and time.

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It was also perhaps the ultimate teachable moment. He bore the pain the disease inflicted on him with a saintly demeanour.

Just watching him deal with it made me a better person. Those last few days of his life were also, for me, a learning of a very profound kind; another reminder that life is transitory, something beautifully expressed in a song back from our final year at BITS:

“all things must pass, none of life’s strings can last so I must be on my way, to face another day darkness only stays at night time in the morning it will fade away daylight is good at arriving at the right time it is not always going to be this grey all things must pass, all things must pass away” VV Ramanan, 66E04032

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ONCE A BITSIAN, ALWAYS A BITSIAN Around a couple of months back, I attended a Purdue Alumni networking event in India.

I graduated from Purdue in 2009. I was not sure if I would meet any known person, but decided to attend it anyway. The event was just okay. Not much to network, as Purdue India community is a very small community.

I spoke to around a dozen Purdue Alumni. I was about to leave the event, when my Purdue class-mate introduced me to another Purdue alumni, who had attended BITS, Pilani. I happened to speak to him couple of minutes back before knowing that he is a BITSian too. After this introduction, our interaction changed to a completely new level. I graduated from BITS in 2006 and he joined

BITS in 2007. We both were from different branches; still there were so many common stories to share. We could feel the connection. BITSian bonds are truly bonds beyond time. If you happen to notice a person wearing BITSian t-shirt, you would feel an urge to speak to him about BITS, be it any campus. If you join any new organization, the first thing that you would find is the group of BITSians already working in that organization. BITSians’ day, is another such event when you will look-out for another lost soul from BITS. Moments like these make you realize that once you are a BITSian, you will always be a BITSian.

Ritesh Nagpal, 2002A3PS416

AN ODE TO WINGIES Junta, Together we went dubs to the Insti, to countless films in the Audi and music nights for everybody!

A good show was always fun BOSM nights, we cheered as one Oasis was an all-night run!

Together we cared when Our lacha sessions never had an end we always made time for a friend!

We discussed infinite probabilities, hopes and dreams and we stuck together as a team!

Similar grades in Mech & Ops tests!

Our night outs were not always in jest.

Special grub and C’not treats together we shared some psenti heartbreaks.

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Our Bitsian names were quirky and awkward.

Sometimes, it was just what mom and pop ordered.

Though at times we came to blows we were a generous lot when it came to clothes.

Our mantra was beg borrow or steal!

But whenever there was a need there was always someone to share a heart to heart over a fried Maggi meal!

Lavanya Devarajan, 92A2PS594

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A TERROR NAMED JAGGI In early August ’66, I was a wide-eyed fresher on Pilani campus and mortally afraid of all seniors, especially the second-year types.

There was one I had been told to avoid like the plague. The bloke’s name was Uban — Jagdip Singh Uban, aka Jaggi. He was a hot headed and well-built surd. I learnt to recognize his gait from a distance so I could evade him. This I did successfully for the entire month.

The ragging period slowly but reluctantly came to an end and only because a bunch of freshers tired of the ritual took out a procession and demanded that the freshers’ welcome be held pronto. Gradually we began to befriend the dreaded ’65 crowd and learnt to recognize faces and names among them.

A familiar name popped up a few times over the next year or so on the M-Block main notice board. Jaggi, who had a propensity to get into fights, got himself suspended a few times in my first year and a half. In the fashion of that era, a formal letter announcing the suspension would be put up on the notice board with a copy sent to the parents. The notice of Jaggi’s suspension would carry the name of a certain Major General S.S. Uban on the CC: list. The name is etched in my memory because, as I said before, it appeared a few times. It was also because the General carried a rather intriguing official title of Inspector General, which gave the impression that he was part of a police force. There were rumours that Uban senior was no ordinary Major General.

He apparently had direct access to the senior civilian leadership of the country.

I managed to have no truck with Jaggi over the next five years – Jaggi’s exploits on the “battlefields” of Pilani ensured that he took

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six years instead of the customary five to graduate.

In 1971, the year I graduated, India fought a war with Pakistan over what was then called East Pakistan. Having lived among families of Indian Air Force officers in South Delhi, I had heard stories of valour and heroism of IAF pilots and technical officers. One of my dearest friends from BITS was from an Air Force family and he had chosen a career in the IAF over multiple lucrative offers in the private sector. So, while working my first job as an audio design engineer I decided to fulfill my urge to become an IAF officer and attempt the Services Selection Board process.

The interview was in Dehradun. As I was waiting for my train to arrive at the Old Delhi railway station late one night, I saw a big surd with a familiar gait approach in my direction. Yes indeed, Jaggi Uban whom I had avoided for a full 5 years in Pilani was walking straight at me and there was little chance that he would walk past me. In the year and a half since we left Pilani, he appeared to have grown bigger, stronger and more menacing. What followed was quite unexpected. He addressed me in expletive laced terms of endearment Bitsians usually reserved for their closest friends, put his arm around me and asked where I was headed.

Told him I was off to D’Dun for the SSB. He shook my hand vigorously and said that was his mission as well. He said something about showing me a good time in the Doon valley and up in the hills in and around Mussoorie.

True to his word, Jaggi took me on several jaunts on a Vespa which had magically appeared just around the corner from the SSB camp. Jaggi the horror turned out to be

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the most warm and friendly human with a great sense of humour and an astonishing ability to negotiate sharp switchbacks on the mountain roads. The interview was a weeklong affair but the afternoons were free for us to do our own thing. There was much of the BITS bonhomie between us and I really got to know Jaggi well in that week. I must say I truly enjoyed his company. He felt comfortable enough with me to take me along on one final special trek.

Jaggi had warned me that we were going to venture well beyond Mussoorie on this trip and rode the poor Vespa hard as we veered off the main road heading to Chakrata north of Mussoorie on to trails in the dense forest.

He seemed very familiar with the trails. We drove and walked around for an hour or so. I was thirsty but we were in the middle of the forest. Jaggi knew exactly where to head to get us some water; this was really his neck of the woods. Soon we arrived at a small modest house in a clearing in the forest. He parked the Vespa, went into the house and came out accompanied by a gentleman who offered us glasses of water.

The man was very pleasant looking. He was impeccably dressed, remarkable considering the circumstances. I figured his origins were either in Nepal or the North East. Jaggi introduced him as Major somebody. We shook hands; the Major spoke to me briefly.

He was very mild mannered to the point of being diffident. Soon Jaggi and I were on our way back to D’Dun. I mentioned to Jaggi that the Major did not exactly have a military bearing. Jaggi responded that the Major could kill him with his bare hands in 10 seconds flat if he needed to! And Jaggi was no pushover. And oh, by the way, he is a Tibetan, Jaggi told me.

I was full of questions about the encounter with the mystery Major in the middle of the forest. But Jaggi would not entertain any more questions from me. Perhaps he realized

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that we had transgressed, gone where we should not have. Besides, we were hurtling down the mountain road towards D’Dun. And then a tire of the Vespa burst. Jaggi handled the vehicle expertly. There was a good chance we would have gone off the road and killed ourselves had he not done that.

The SSB interview was over very early the next day. To celebrate, Jaggi and I along with a couple of other candidates from our SSB group went up to Mussoorie for a few drinks and a bite to eat. The few drinks turned into a few too many and the bite turned into several plates of chole Bhature. There was a lot of silliness on display and much hurling as well. Jaggi while laughing with us was also laughing at us, watching us make fools of ourselves. He remained sober and made sure things did not get out of hand. Quite remarkable that this ruffian from college had seamlessly slid into his role as a big brother.

Jaggi and I later took a shared cab with a couple of others back to Delhi, chatting all the way back about BITS and Pilani. He had lots of stories about the great Khalsa officers of the Indian Armed Forces. We had to go our separate ways at Ajmeri Gate. We shook hands; there was a lot of warmth and camaraderie in that handshake. Jaggi mentioned something about staying in touch and how our paths will most certainly cross again.

For the next four decades, I often thought about the small house high up in the forest north of Mussoorie, the Tibetan Major and the rumours one heard on campus about Major General Uban. Little did I know then that a window was opened before me, for a fleeting moment, revealing the world of India’s phantom warriors, who had just played a key role in the liberation of Bangladesh.

It turned out that Jaggi breezed through the SSB interview and joined the IAF. He was

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now an officer and a gentleman. His goal was to be in a combat role even though he was picked to be in the Aeronautical Electronics branch. I flunked it, as expected. The SSB Squadron Leader assigned to me gave me a spiel about how I was not destined for the IAF but that I will have a great future nevertheless etc. etc. Yeah right, I remember thinking. Platitudes of this sort have a curious way of coming true, though.

Later I heard that Flight Lieutenant JS Uban died when a flight he was navigating crashed while taking off from the IAF airbase in Agra. He left behind his wife Amarjeet (Shammi) and a young son Kanwardip. RIP, my friend Jaggi.

VV Ramanan, 66E04032

Picture: Abhishek Sharma

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SILVER JUBILEE REUNION These two Facebook posts perfectly capture the excitement for Silver Jubilee Reunion.

BEFORE SILVER JUBILEE REUNION 25 years is such a long time, and yet, snap, it’s gone! Just like that!

The memories fade in and out. It’s an experiment in what we retain and what we blot out. Text books are a blank and yet I have a mark sheet and a half decent CGPA to show for it. Proof that some stuff went in and were spouted out.

What really stands out are the experiences, the smells, the sounds, the colours, people.

The chaotic ISBT to run around for tickets, the tin box of a Haryana State Transport bus, the local Rajasthani men and women with serpentine turbans or thick oxidized jewelry and the piercing light eyed stares. The hasty climb to the top of the bus to be able to stretch out. There were no phones or music to listen to, just each other as we sang along the dusty roads. And duck the overhead electric wires and branches.

A dusty descent at Nutan and then a rick through the hallowed gates to BITS Pilani.

Trees and low double storey buildings lined the avenues. Hostels, or as we called them, Bhavans. Rana Pratap, Vishvakarma, Ashok, Bhagirathi…under the thick foliage of trees and pigeon-dropping spotted roads, as we crossed the shining marble Saraswati temple to girls’ hostel, Meera Bhavan, the tuckedaway at the far end. Behind the high gates, she was as mysterious as the woman she was named after. We are visiting there tomorrow.

A Pandora’s box of memories await…

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AFTER SILVER JUBILEE REUNION Time sort of collapsed in reverse and once again, we were 18 and 19. The new had become old, and the old, new.

The sunken new academic blocks bordering a long and winding path between the clock tower and mandir, the new library with its hand painted murals, connected telepresence rooms, the immaculately manicured central lawns, the rotunda amphitheatre, the buzzing night canteen – all were of significant proportion, and impressive.

These lifted your spirits and made you proud.

But in stark contrast were the neglected and scrawny SkyLab lawns and pond, decrepit old academic wings and classrooms, the now old and tired “new” girls’ hostel, the recently grilled boys’ bhavans, the barricaded ShivGanga. Even the iconic clock tower bravely tried to keep time and jettisoned to action for a few hours before going back to a quarter to six. These were saddening.

Somewhere in between, there were the places where time stood completely still. Neither new, nor old - just forever. The white marbled Saraswati temple, home to a thousand pigeons and prayers, C’Not market place where not a single fast chain brand had managed a toehold, the Blue Moon fried Maggi which no one could replicate in 25 years, the auditorium with its 4 gorgeous ever changing graffiti walls, the exact same workshop with its smithy and lathes and tools, the signature mess food in the signature rectangular thaalis.

But most of all, it was the people which made

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this so special – Pappu, Chottu, batch mates and friends. In a strange time warp, some of the same friendships played out. Or same old resentments! The over currents and the undercurrents! Folks forgot they were parents and spouses, professors and heads of businesses. They were back in their groups and huddles, some discovering new sides to themselves and new courage to say things they never could, some discovering that they were still the same. It didn’t matter what we had achieved or who we had become. What only mattered was a re-enactment of a time lost.

Picture: Abhishek Sharma

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Many had left our midst and for them our hearts broke. Many hearts had been broken then and had given us the building blocks of who we are today. Here was a flashback that was so real and powerful, it knocked you in the solar plexus. And as each of us traces our way back home today, we will fast forward at the rate of a year per hour. And hopefully zoom back out to see how precious our families and lives are today, and how we all owe BITS Pilani forever.

87 Returned!

Nandini(Dutt)Chopra, 87A1PS151

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EXPRESSIONS OF INDIA There is a new kid on the block foraying into the Indian Handicrafts section in the ecommerce segment. The name of this brand new entry is “Expressions of India” which is a Bangalore based company. It was started by a couple- Lakshmi Devi Menon Chairmakani and Rajesh Chairmakani.

The concept hit the couple during their various travels and seeing creativity among friends and relatives. Travels brought them in touch with traditional artists, extremely creative but their crafts were barely unravelled to the world. These artists were very popular among the known networks yet a large part of the world remained unaware of these gems. This made them hit upon an idea of reaching out to the world and giving these talented people a window to showcase their creations and thus was born Expressions of India. They also had the support and efforts of friends and relatives who also have helped in this endeavour.

There are 2 distinct areas that are catered to: Traditional Handicrafts of India - India is a country with varied culture and each culture has its own form of expressions like handicrafts, songs, dance, food and lifestyle.

There are many villages with specialized handicrafts, some known some unknown.

The endeavour is to give them a window/ showcase.

Many such traditional arts are on the verge of extinction due to a lack of market and many artisans have moved to cities for a livelihood thus bringing an end to the rich traditions of rural India. The aim of this endeavour is to make these handicrafts available to the world without having to travel to India or these specialized places – accessible to anyone, anywhere and anytime and keeping the traditions alive.

Contemporary Art by Indians – This platform aims at giving a window to various artists and creative people – to showcase their arts. This platform will throw open the doors to the world. We deal exclusively with hand made products which could be modern or traditional.

The portal lets people view various flavours of India at one place, ONLINE. It gives the art lovers the flexibility to view each piece with minuteness, so what you see is what you get. Currently there are 6 states of India covered which will be expanded to cover almost all states of India. While art lovers prefer to touch and feel the pieces, this gives

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them an almost live experience. This shop is for the exclusive. No 2 pieces are the same, and since they are hand crafted, certain imperfections are what make them unique.

The art lovers can customise the piece however they want, they can also order the same piece, however, there may be minor variations.

Most of the artists come from rural India and this is their livelihood. The biggest threat they face today are digitising of their creative works. Most paintings are bought at cheap rates and photographed using high end cameras. These are then printed and sold at 1/4th the original price which affects the artists hugely. Another challenge they face is finding markets. Traditional artists or artists from Rural India face a communication problem as well wherein they are limited to their mother tongue and/ or Hindi or even barely understandable English. With this platform, they can create their wares in peace while the team at Expressions of India, works hard to find them markets. Global recognition is the goal - Indian handicrafts should reach far and wide.

The uniqueness of this platform is the way each piece is curated. The literature given for each piece describes the feelings of the artist, what he/ she was thinking when they created this unique piece. The descriptions also give the materials used, dimensions, weight, maintenance procedures etc. There is a lot of importance given to the artist’s

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efforts where most of the people underminethe hard work and hence that is the major input into the pricing as well.

While the artist creates, the presentation is designed by the company.

A very big challenge is to keep upgrading the portal with more and more pieces of art. The team hopes to bring at least 3 new areas every quarter so that coverage is more. Art lovers can get a flavour of other parts of India or other art forms from the same State. For e.g.

Pattachitras are unique to the state of Odisha and so is Saura Art which is widely prevalent.

However, Saura art can also be found in the neighbouring states of Jharkhand, West Bengal etc. There are many forms of art in the same State and bringing that to the world is the company’s Vision.

Can you imagine such a varied collection of Indian handicrafts at your fingertips? They are just a click away. Discover various art forms of each State; uncover the beauty of creations that master craftsmen carefully evolve. Today art collection is another form of investment, where these master pieces get passed on generations after generations. Gift one or adorn your abode with one today and that would go a long way in keeping the traditions alive, visit www.expressionsofindia.com, Expressions of India, a shop for the exclusive.

Rajesh Chairmakani, 1999HD021

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Feedback is welcome. Please send your comments to writeforbitsian@bitsaa.org

THE BITSIAN EDITORIAL TEAM Team Members: Ritesh Nagpal Anshul Mittal Aparajita Roy Himanshu Gupta (Cover Design & Graphics) Sahila Agarwal Rahul Priyadarshi Shubhi Jain Sahitya Elluru Vaibhav Gupta Tushar Gupta Yashaswy Akella

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