gN Ypoint - Greater New York Chapter, IIT Bombay Alumni … · 2014-12-30 · Sanjay Daswani,...

Nthe annual reunion magazine of iit-bombay greater NYchapter alumni vol. 2014

g pointYAnnual Reunion

Saturday October 11, 2014

The Princeton Club

15 West 43rd

Street, New York

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the annual reunion magazine of iit-bombay greater NYchapter alumni vol. 2014Ng pointY

Welcome Messages

Dr. Sivaram (Ram) Chelluri

President, IITBAA-GNY

3

Prof. Devang Khakhar

Director, IIT Bombay

4

Sandeep Pandya

President, IIT Bombay Heritage Fund

5

Reunion Banquet Program

Saturday, October 11th

2014

7

Acknowledgements 7

Brief Biographies

Dr. Robert Hariri

Chairman, Celgene Cellular Therapeutics

8

Dr. Subhash Khot

Professor, NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences

8

News & Happenings

Research & Development at IIT Bombay

Prof. Prasanna M. Mujumdar

Dean R&D, IIT Bombay

9

IIT-LI Chapter Formation & Picnic

Jude Netto ‘66

16

WHEELS. A Triveni Sangam: Water, HealthCare, Lifestyles

Sanjay Daswani, Habitat for Humanity (India) et al

18

The GNY Summer Picnic − A Photo Essay

Eagle Rock Reservation, West Orange, New Jersey

Photo credits Subodh Batra ‘72

23

Milestones in The Spoken Tutorials Project

Prof. Kannan Moudgalya, IIT Bombay (ChemE)

28

Features

My Trip to India

Sidhant Srivastava

24

Emotions vs. Reason. A Speck of Wisdom from the Bhagwat Gita

Sushil Bhatia ‘66

25

Trading Places

Akshay Joshi, IIT-B Class of 2015

27

1

In T

his

Issue

The IIT Bombay Alumni

Association

Greater New York

Chapter

President

Sivaram (Ram) Chelluri ‘74

Vice President

Sushil Bhatia ‘66

Treasurer

Subodh Batra ‘72

Trustees

Gaurang Master ‘66

Ruyintan (Ron) Mehta ‘70

Ex-Officio Directors

Vinay Karle ‘96

Kumar Shah ‘70

Other

Active Volunteers

Brijesh Agarwal ‘85

Kicha Ganapathy ‘67

Annina John ‘97

Sreedhar Kona ‘97

Shirish Nadkarni ‘83

Uday Nadkarni ‘78

Jude Netto ‘66

Jignesh Patel ‘92

Vikas Tipnis ’74

Designated Editor

& Layouts

Vikas Tipnis ‘74

Actual Editing

A Team Effort

Cover Photo

Unnamed Current Student

at IIT Bombay

Ng pointY

The IIT Bombay Alumni Association − Greater New York (IITBAA-GNY) is a not-for-profit 501c(7) tax-exempt entity,

incorporated in the State of New Jersey, on July 19th

2000, under New Jersey's Nonprofit Corporation Act (Title

15A).

Our Mission: To help promote the personal development and professional advancement of its members; to

contribute to the growth and development of IIT Bombay; and to facilitate community service and philanthropy by

its members.

Officers of IITBAA-GNY are elected to 2-year posts by a ballot open to graduates of the Indian Institute of

Technology Bombay (IIT-B) registered at iitbombay.org, and whose profile is associated with the NY Chapter. All

work performed by officers and volunteers for the benefit of IITBAA-GNY is pro bono.

Contact us at [email protected]

the annual reunion magazine of iit-bombay greater NYchapter alumni vol. 2014Ng pointY 2


RECONNECT, REMINISCE, RELIVE. HONORING OUR PAST, SHAPING OUR FUTURE

On behalf of the IITBAA-GNY Executive Committee (EC) team and the entire alumni group, I am

pleased and honored to welcome you to the 2014 Reunion. I hope that you and your guests will

take advantage of this opportunity to reconnect with your friends and fellow alumni.

How time flies. it seems like just yesterday that the EC took office, in January 2013. We have had

two exciting years. As with any volunteer organization, we have had our share of hurdles and

challenges juggling priorities, schedules and time. I must therefore congratulate our EC team and

active volunteers on their dedication and perseverance at arranging outstanding programs and

keeping the IITBAA-GNY Chapter dynamic and vibrant.

Here is a list of our well-attended professional and social events since January 2014:

Professional & Networking Events

Energy Finance, February 20th

, Bombay Palace, New York

Aakash Tablet & Distance Learning. Prof. Kannan Moudgalya, June 30th

, Bombay Palace NY

Partnering Sponsor, PM Narendra Modi’s Public Reception, Sep 28th

, Madison Square Garden

Social Events

A Summer Picnic, June 21st, Eagle Rock Reservation, West Orange, NJ

Happy Hours & Monthly Meetings, 2nd

Thursdays, alternately in NJ and NYC

Upcoming Marquee Events

A Career Fair, Sponsored by Forrest Solutions Group – November 2014

A Families & Friends Holiday Party – December 2014

At last count we have in excess of 800 active e-mail addresses of Bombay-IITians in the greater

New York area. Despite this number, we can claim a steadfast group of mere 10 to 15 active

volunteers! Surely there are more of us with talent, enthusiasm and a love for our beloved IIT

Bombay in the area?! I urge you to come forward and lend us a hand, share with us your ideas for,

and your interest in, our local Chapter and the alma mater.

An important question that begs asking is, “what do we alumni want?” That is, besides catching up

with our classmates and coequals, trading stories of our successes and failures, and making new

acquaintances. Above all, we should revel in that IIT Bombay is an acclaimed educational

institution not only in India, but is also renowned internationally. A claim buttressed, for instance,

by the IMU’s recent award of its prestigious Nevanlinna Prize to alumnus Subhash Khot ‘99, now a

decorated professor at NYU. Let’s join hands to ensure that the world-class professionals and

resources at IIT Bombay that nurtured intellects the likes of Dr. Khot’s, are not only sustained, but

further improved. Our alumni Chapter strives to better understand and prioritize the wants and

needs of its members. I invite you to connect with us, give us your input, and guide us in serving

our collective interests better.

This reunion is our opportunity to reconnect with classmates, reminisce with our campus

contemporaries, and start forging new partnerships. Let us relive the IIT Bombay experience in the

company of our esteemed visiting faculty members.

Best regards,

Sivaram (Ram) Chelluri, MTech (ME) ’69, PhD (ME) ’74

President, IIT Bombay Alumni Association − Greater New York Chapter

IITBAA - GNY Chapter President’s Message

Welc

om

e M

essage


IIT Bombay Director’s Message

Welc

om

e M

essage


Greetings from the IIT Bombay Heritage Foundation as you host your 15th

annual reunion

event. IIT Bombay Alumni Association Greater New York Chapter (IITBAA-GNY) has a long

and distinguished history of being among the most active chapters in the US. The chapter has

hosted large conferences, happy hours, professional events, summer picnics and of course the

annual banquet.

For IITBHF, the year 2014 was marked by growth and elevated activity levels of chapters,

continued contributions by alumni to IIT Bombay, and increased engagement with US

universities and industry, in research collaborations and exchange programs. Over 1,100 alumni

around the US have participated in a chapter activity this year, reaching a new high! Uniquely,

we had 2 events focused primarily on women alumni. By this year’s end we are on target to

host over 60 events in 11 cities.

A team of 15 IIT faculty members including Director Devang Khakhar, Deputy Director Hari

Pandalai, Dean ACR Ravi Sinha, Dean R&D Prasanna Mujumdar, Dean IR Rajiv Dusane will

visit 6 cities in the US, meeting alumni, potential faculty candidates, US universities leadership

and US corporate CXOs.

Our collaboration with Applied Materials is flourishing. Applied Materials has over 30

employees stationed at IIT Bombay doing joint research in various areas of electronics,

materials and chemistry. They have also contributed over $10 million worth of cutting edge

equipment, and are helping IIT Bombay build a world class nano-manufacturing center.

Generous grassroots support from alumni like you has helped important initiatives at IIT

Bombay: named-Student Scholarships, Research & Teaching excellence awards, Hostel Alumni

Team Stewardships (HATS), and Young Faculty Awards, to mention a few. The profile of

students entering the IITs has changed in recent years. Over half the students come from

economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This coupled with the increase in tuition fees (Rs.

90,000 per year) has led to an urgent and critical need for scholarships at IIT Bombay. We

need nearly 1200 scholarships today. Our endeavor is to ensure that no student is denied an

IIT education for lack of financial resources. I encourage you to do your bit to help fund these

endeavors.

IIT Bombay continues to strive to maintain ever higher standards of excellence while more than

doubling student enrollments. New infrastructure and faculty members are needed to support

this rapid pace of growth, while staking our place in global standings. Our alma mater needs

our support in all the ways that we can manage – through monetary contributions, with our

time, helping with collaborations with industry and universities, and so on.

Please join your fellow alumni in building a global network of IIT Bombay alumni, students

and faculty by participating regularly in your local Chapter and IITBHF activities. In doing so

you will not only help IIT Bombay, but you will also help your own career and business

prospects, renew old friendships, and make new ones.

Visit www.iitbombay.org for more information and news from IIT Bombay, IITBAA, and the

IIT Bombay Heritage Foundation.

Sandeep Pandya, BTech (ME) ‘86

President, IIT Bombay Heritage Foundation

5

IIT Bombay Heritage Fund President’s Message

Welc

om

e M

essage


Check-in

NETWORKING 11:30 am

Opening Remarks

Ambassador Dnyaneshwar M. Mulay, CONSUL GENERAL OF INDIA, NEW YORK 12:00 pm

IITBAA-GNY Update

Dr. Sivaram (Ram) Chelluri PRESIDENT, IITBAA-GNY 12:10pm

Recognize IIT-B Exchange Students at The Cooper Union New York

Anita Raja Associate Dean, The Cooper Union 12:20 pm

Felicitate Dr. Subhash Khot

IMU’s 2014 Rolf Nevanlinna Award Winner

PROF. RAVI SINHA DEAN (ACR), IIT BOMBAY 12:45 pm

Lunch

NETWORKING

CASH BAR OPEN 01:00 pm

Keynote Address

DR. ROBERT J. HARIRI CHAIRMAN, CELGENE CELLULAR THERAPEUTICS

Q&A

02:00 pm

02:45 pm

Call for Volunteers for IITBAA-GNY

JUDE NETTO ‘66 EX-PRESIDENT, IITBAA-GNY 03:00 pm

IIT Bombay News & Update

PROF. DEVANG KHAKHAR DIRECTOR, IIT BOMBAY

Q&A

03:10 pm

03:40 pm

Wrap-up

VIKAS TIPNIS ‘74 EX-PRESIDENT, IITBAA-GNY 04:00 pm

7

To

day’s Pro

gram

It takes a village …

Running an organization is no single-handed endeavor. Organizing and operating a volunteer alumni

Chapter in fact takes, as the saying goes, a village worth of dedicated, hard-working and persevering

individuals. The now 15-year old community of IIT-B alums & spouses, their children, friends, colleagues

and co-workers have earned our gratitude. Kudos, and thanks!

Ackno

wle

dgem

ents

Brijesh Agarwal ‘85

Subodh Batra ‘72

Sushil Bhatia ‘66

Ram Chelluri ’74

Kicha Ganapathy ’67

Shirish Nadkarni ‘83

Uday Nadkarni ’78

Jignesh Patel ‘92

Kumar Shah ‘70

Vikas Tipnis ’74

Noorali Sonawalla ’77

Azmina Sonawalla

Sunrise Systems Inc., 16 Pearl St., Metuchen, NJ

Jamshed Bharucha, President

Teresa Dahlberg, Dean (Engg), Chief Academic Officer

Anita Raja, Associate Dean

David Greenstein, Director of Programs

The Cooper Union, 41 Cooper Square, New York

Annina John ‘97

Vinay Karle ‘96

Sreedhar Kona ‘97

Gaurang Master ‘66

Ron Mehta ’70

Jude Netto ‘66

A SPECIAL THANK YOU FOR HOSTING OUR BUSINESS MEETINGS:


Robert J. Hariri, MD, PhD

Chairman, Founder & Chief Scientific Officer

Celgene Cellular Therapeutics

Brie

f Bio

graphie

s Dr. Hariri is considered a visionary serial entrepreneur in biomedicine. The

Chairman, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of one of the world’s

largest human cellular therapeutics companies, Dr. Hariri has pioneered

the use of stem cells and biomaterials to treat a range of life threatening

diseases. His activities and experience includes academic neurosurgeon at

Cornell, executive, military and defense scientist and surgeon and aviator

and aerospace innovator. Dr. Hariri has 100 issued and pending patents,

has authored over 100 published chapters, articles and abstracts and is

most recognized for his discovery of pluripotent stem cells from the

placenta and as a member of the team which discovered the activity of

TNF (tumor necrosis factor). Dr. Hariri was recipient of the Thomas Alva

Edison Award in 2007 and 2011, and has received numerous other honors

for his many contributions to biomedicine and aviation.

Dr. Hariri is also the Founder and Chairman of Myos Corporation, a bionutrition and biotherapeutics

company and the Vice-chairman and Co-founder of Human Longevity, Inc., a genomics and cell-therapy

company.

Dr. Hariri serves on numerous Boards of Directors including Myos Corporation, Provista Diagnostics and

Bionik and is a member of the Board of Visitors of the Columbia University School of Engineering &

Applied Sciences and the Science & Technology Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons; as

well as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, which is

awarded by the X Prize Foundation. Dr. Hariri is also a Trustee of the J. Craig Venter Institute and the

Liberty Science Center and has been appointed Commissioner of Cancer Research by New Jersey

Governor, Chris Christie. Dr. Hariri received his undergraduate training at Columbia College and

Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and was awarded his M.D. and PhD

degrees from Cornell University Medical College. Dr. Hariri received his surgical training at The New

York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center where he also directed the Aitken Neurosurgery Laboratory and

the Center for Trauma Research.

Subhash Khot completed his BTech from IIT Bombay in 1999, and a PhD

from Princeton University in 2003. He is currently a professor in the

computer science department of the Courant Institute of Mathematical

Sciences at New York University. His prior appointments were at the

Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton; the Georgia Institute of

Technology; and the University of Chicago.

Dr. Khot is engaged in research on the theoretical and mathematical

aspects of computer science. Earlier this year, the International

Mathematical Union awarded Dr. Khot their prestigious annual Rolf

Nevanlinna prize. He is also the recipient of a Young Alumni Achiever

Subhash Khot, PhD

Professor, Courant Institute of Mathematical Science

New York University

Award from IIT Bombay in 2011, the Alan T. Waterman Award by the National Science

Foundation in 2010, the Microsoft New Faculty Fellowship in 2005, and the Sloan Fellowship

2005.


New

s &

H

appenin

gs“I dream of an IIT that never forgets it has a

tryst with excellence” − Prof S P Sukhatme in

Y-Point, The Alumni Magazine of IIT

Bombay, Summer/Fall 1999

R&D at IIT Bombay has evolved and

flourished over the decades since the

Institute’s inception in 1958. True to its vision

and mission, the synergy of academics and

research across all departments, centres and

interdisciplinary groups has catapulted the

Institute into the illustrious circle of world-

class institutions. Apart from offering sound

science and technology solutions to various

government sectors, industry and to society,

IIT Bombay pursues basic research leading to

knowledge generation that lays the

foundation for empowering us as a nation to

be technologically confident and self-reliant.

The Institute places special emphasis on

research and development in all areas of

science and engineering. A major proportion

of R&D is undertaken through external

funding sponsored by various government

bodies, industry, research foundations and

multi-institutional consortia including

international partners. Increasingly, research

projects are becoming multi-disciplinary in

nature and several new research Centres have

been established in recent years with the

participation of large groups of faculty

members from several departments. Many

technologies have been developed that have

been transferred or licensed to external

agencies. Entrepreneurship is also actively

supported.

There is increasing awareness on campus

about intellectual property (IP) arising from

research and development efforts and related

issues. Well established policies and processes

are in now in place for IP ownership,

protection and deployment. All interactions

with external agencies are facilitated, guided

and supported by the Industrial Research and

Consultancy Centre (IRCC), which was

established in 1975 as the nodal unit

responsible for managing and coordinating all

activities relating to R&D at the Institute, on

behalf of all our internal stakeholders.

R&D Today at IIT Bombay

Prof. Prasanna Mujumdar

Dean R&D, IIT Bombay

IIT Bombay at a glance

Academic units: 15 Departments, 9

Centres, 3 Interdisciplinary Programmes

and 1 School

Faculty: 580 full time + 100 part time

Students: 9000 (55% PG ; 2500 PhD)

Number of postdoctoral scholars: 40

Degrees awarded in 2014: 2256

PhD degrees awarded in 2014: 216

Research publications in 2013: 1500

Research project staff: 750

R&D funding for FY 2013-14: 35 million

USD

Patents filed in 2014: 39 (till August)

Technology Transfers /Deployment: > 130

Total companies incubated: 55

Research Funding

IIT Bombay has significant growth in R&D

funding in the last decade. During the last five

years, R&D receipts grew at a compounded

annual growth rate of over 24%. Out of the

total 35 million USD received in the year

2013-14, 30 million was received for more

than 480 sponsored projects, about 5 million

USD were received for nearly 600

consultancy projects; and the rest came from

royalties and equipment usage.

R&D work continues to be supported mainly

by government bodies accounting for 78% of

receipts while industry accounts for 18% and

other agencies, 4% of the total. The Institute

provides internal funding for supporting

faculty research, student research and

competitive activities, research

internships/fellowships for PhD students,

upgrading of central and national research

facilities and information dissemination

activities amongst others. Additionally, the

Institute’s research is recognized by peers and


society at large, in the form of award grants

conferred upon faculty, students and groups;

for example, Innovation in Science Pursuit for

Inspired Research (INSPIRE) Grant by

Department of Science and Technology, the

IBM Award, the Microsoft Award; Gates

Foundation Award, the Swarnajayanti

Fellowship the Yahoo! Research Award and

the J C Bose Fellowship amongst others in

different departments.

The Research Community

“Science is People” ~ Prof Alan G

MacDiarmid, Nobel Laureate (Chemistry),

2000

Undoubtedly, IIT Bombay’s most valued asset

is its research community. Faculty members

at the Institute are well recognized around

the world for their achievements in research

and education. Their involvement in research

and their consulting activities, lead to a

number of research papers published in

leading national and international journals.

Several faculty members serve on selection

committees as reviewers on editorial boards

of leading journals and on the boards of

leading institutions and governmental

agencies. Many of them also serve as advisors

and members of Boards of Directors of

various companies. A number of faculty

members have been recipients of prestigious

national and international awards, fellowships

and other distinctions such the Padma Shri,

the Infosys Prize, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar

Prize, and the Vasvik Award, to name a few.

Over the years, IIT Bombay has witnessed a

steady increase in the number of students

choosing to do research and earn their

doctoral degrees.

Around 2500 students are currently working

on various topics across disciplines for their

PhD degree. Students have designed and

developed innovative products and processes

many of which have won coveted prizes at

various competitive events. A few of these are

highlighted later in this article.

Corresponding to the growing R&D output

by faculty and students, expectedly, there has

been a steady increase in IP protection. Over

the last seventeen years, 412 Indian patent

applications (75% of these in the last seven

years), 98 foreign patent applications (US,

EU, Japan, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong,

Brazil, Gulf) and 78 PCT applications have

been filed. Of these, 78 Indian and 34 foreign

patents have been granted so far.

0

100

200

300

2008 2009 20102011

20122013

72.8102.3

179.8 189.9

293.5

215.5

Year

Ru

pee

s (i

nC

rore

s)

R&D Funding

0

100

200

300

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

200179 179

173 180 175

216

Year

No

: of

Ph

Daw

ard

ed

PhD Graduation Statistics

Year

No

: of

Ph

Daw

ard

ed

PhD Graduation Statistics

0

20

40

60

80

2008 2009 20102011

20122013

2014

14 16

46

67 71

59

39 (till Aug)

0

No

.of

Ind

ian

pat

ents

fil

ed

Year

Growth of Indian Patent Applications

Research Facilities

IIT Bombay is well equipped with excellent

research laboratories and infrastructural

facilities including a voluminous Central

Library and an advanced Computer Centre.

Many of the advanced instruments and

computational facilities are national resources.

The Sophisticated Analytical Instruments

Facility (SAIF) caters to the instrumentation

needs of various educational

the annual reunion magazine of iit-bombay greater NYchapter alumni vol. 2014Ng pointY 1 1

institutions, R&D laboratories and the

industry. Apart from the National, Central

and Institute facilities which can be availed of

by any researcher in the Institute, every

department is also self-sufficient vis-à-vis

facilities specific to it. In a bid to continually

create and upgrade R&D infrastructure to

meet the ever-increasing demands, nearly fifty

new equipment worth about 19 million USD

were sanctioned during the past three years,

based on the recommendations of the

Institute Research Infrastructure Funding

Committee.

Glimpses of R&D

Far from having an exclusive sphere of

influence, the benefits of our research and

development activities have pervaded diverse

aspects of national life, the industry and

society, percolating all the way down to the

common person. Some examples are given

below, a few recent and others of enduring

value.

National R&D Programmes

IIT Bombay has contributed to several major

national research programmes in frontier

technology areas such as Energy, Information

and Communication Technology, Space and

Defence, Integrated Rural Development,

Healthcare and Urban Development.

Energy: Supported by the Ministry of New &

Renewable Energy (MNRE), The National

Centre for Photovoltaic Research and

Education (NCPRE) was set up in 2010 as part

NCPRE include characterization, modeling,

simulation, silicon solar cell fabrication,

energy storage and new materials.

Additionally, the One Million Solar Urja

Lamps (SOUL) Initiative has been mooted

under the National Clean Energy Fund along

with other funding sources to reach out to

students in remote rural areas and conduct

training workshops in assembly, usage and

strategies to reach target beneficiaries.

An important accomplishment in consortium

with a number of other organizations has

been the setting up of the National Solar

Thermal Power Testing, Research and

Simulation Facility. With a financial outlay of

8 million USD from the MNRE, a grid-

connected 1 MWe Solar Thermal Power plant

has been designed, installed and

commissioned at Gurgaon, New Delhi.

Additionally, an oil test rig for testing solar

concentrating collectors has been

commissioned and simulation software has

been developed for scale-up studies.

Consortium members in this project include

Tata Power, TCE, L&T, KIE Solartherm,

Clique, Solar Energy Centre and KGDS.

of the Jawaharlal Nehru

National Solar Mission

of the Government of

India.

The aim is to make solar

photovoltaics cost

effective so as to meet

the energy needs of the

country. Activities of the


Integrating new engine and renewable fuel

technologies, a unit was developed at the

Cummins Engine Research Facility at IIT

Bombay to support sustainable development

and electrify villages. This unit allows a diesel

engine to run smoothly on straight vegetable

oil while conforming to emission standards.

The project was awarded as ‘Most Innovative

Energy Saving Product’ under the ‘CII

National Awards for Excellence in Energy

Management’ in 2010.

Information & Communication Technologies:

The Ministry of Human Resource

Development, GOI has funded several ICT

projects including ‘Integration Tools for

Teacher-Student Empowerment’. Using ICT as

an enabler, the goal is to train ~150,000

teachers in various subjects through

workshops and projects. This is an inter-

disciplinary and inter-institutional project

including other IITs and academic institutes.

As part of the National Mission on Education

through ICT (NME-ICT), several synchronous

and asynchronous modules have been

designed and developed that include the

“Teach 10,000 Teachers” program for

enhancing teaching skills of engineering

faculty, development of an interactive web

portal for open source e-content, ProxyMITY

– a multimedia lecture integration tool,

Clicker – a student response system for class

rooms, Aakash Tablet – a convenient

educational tool and Spoken Tutorials for IT

literacy and employment.

In the telecom sector, the TTSL-IITB Centre of

Excellence in Telecommunication (TICET) was

set up jointly with Tata TeleServices Ltd

(TTSL) and the Department of

Telecommunication with a sanctioned outlay

of 8 million USD. The key research areas

include broadband wireless access network,

rural-centric wireless communication systems

and applications and

multimedia

information processing.

Indian and

international patents

have been filed and the

technologies were successfully deployed by

Tata Technologies Ltd on a desired platform.

Similarly, low cost and power-efficient High

Speed Ethernet Switch Routers developed at

the Institute and manufactured by ECIL are

being successfully deployed / tested at

different sites by the Mahanagar Telephone

Nigam Ltd, RailTel and National Knowledge

Network.

Space & Defence: The ISRO-IITB Space

Technology Cell established in 1984 promotes

advanced research related to space

technology. About 100 projects have been

sanctioned till date on a wide spectrum of

areas including Satellite Control, Composite

Materials, Space Medicine Cryo-cooling,

Rocket Fuels, Satellite Communication,

Rocket Engines and Design of Sensors. The

National Centre for Aerospace Innovation

and Research (NCAIR) is a joint initiative of

IIT Bombay, Boeing, the Department of

Science and Technology, GoI and the

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd with a total

sanctioned outlay of 5.4 million USD.

Research at this Centre aims to provide

economically viable and sustainable solutions

to aerospace manufacturers.

IIT Bombay has developed a set of Cryo-

Cooler Technologies which have applications

in defence, space, surgical techniques, medical

imaging and MagLev trains. Another device

with defence and security applications

developed at the Institute is the Cantilever e-

Nose for Explosive Detection. This is a low

cost but extremely sensitive device made of

piezo-resistive polymer that can detect RDX

and TNT in parts per billion quantities and

has integrated wireless transmission capability.

Healthcare: A Healthcare Consortium has

been formed at IIT Bombay with multiple

partners including leading hospitals, cancer


research centres, medical technology

companies and NGOs to enhance

collaborative R&D in basic biology, drug

discovery, diagnostics, bio-nanotechnology,

materials and devices, biochemical

engineering and computational biology.

There are a number of on-going collaborative

projects among consortium members apart

from the hosting of seminars and workshops.

Some of the other healthcare related R&D

outputs include a Portable Polysensor Device

to monitor water quality; low cost, high

quality Knee Mega-Prosthesis to circumvent

amputations in bone tumor cases; and a

Carbogen Gas Inhaling Apparatus for stress

relief for people working in high-noise

environments such as aircraft hangars, ship

engine rooms, traffic islands, firing ranges,

factories etc.

Urban Development: The interdisciplinary

Centre for Urban Science and Engineering (C-

USE) was inaugurated in September 2013 with

a mandate to improve the quality of urban

life through research activities aimed at

management of cities. The Centre is a

member of the Centre for Urban Science and

Progress (CUSP), a New York based

international consortium.

Frontier Areas: The Centre of Excellence in

Nanoelectronics (CEN) was established in

2006 as a collaborative project between IIT

Bombay and the Indian Institute of Science

(IISc), Bangalore with a sanctioned outlay of

21 million USD. The objectives are to

undertake cutting-edge research in

nanoelectronics and create facilities that can

be used by researchers all over India, to

generate technically qualified human

resources and to develop commercially viable

technologies for the industry.

CEN has set up state-of-the-art

nanofabrication facilities, undertaken research

projects with social relevance leading to

prototype development, conducted successful

Indian National User Program (INUP) for

access to users across the country and

published more than 200 papers in high

impact journals and international conferences.

R&D for Society:

“Concern for man and his destiny must

always be the chief interest of all technical

efforts. Never forget it in your diagrams and

equations.” ~ Albert Einstein

The design and development of devices,

packages and strategies that directly relate to

the people has been an important R&D thrust

at IIT Bombay. There are a wide range of

products including tools and technologies for

the village industry and craft sector,

educational and communication aids,

products for alleviating problems of those

with disabilities, devices for extending the

benefits of computer technologies to rural

communities and other useful innovations for

the common person.

IIT Bombay and the Industry:

“Industry enriched with R&D is an important

index of national growth” ~ Dr. APJ Abdul

Kalam at the 34th Convocation Ceremony,

1996

The Institute interacts with industry through a

number of modes in the domains of both

research and education. The all-around benefits


of research associations formed with shared

goals cannot be overemphasized. Pooling of

talent, resources, funding and facilities has

resulted in a win-win situation for IIT Bombay

and its industry partners.

IIT Bombay engages with external agencies in

the following ways: Consultancy Projects

which are generally of short duration having

clear-cut deliverables and are aimed at solving

specific problems of the industry; Sponsored

and Collaborative Projects of longer duration

(2-5 years) for new knowledge generation in

emerging areas; industry sponsorship of PhD,

MTech and Dual Degree students to promote

research and develop human resource;

funding of Facilities and Labs to help build

infrastructure; instituting Chair Professorships

for faculty in recognition of their contribution

in research and teaching; conducting

continuing education programs in areas of

interest to the industry; licensing of

technologies for commercialization and other

modes for mutual benefit.

Close association with industry has resulted in

the formation of several Centres of Excellence

and Consortia to pool resources and enable

cutting edge research in emerging areas. A

few examples are highlighted.

The Applied Materials Manufacturing

Laboratory is a joint initiative of IIT

Bombay and Applied Materials Inc. under

an endowment of over 12 million USD to

promote research in nano-electronics,

nano-manufacturing and solar

photovoltaic technology. A state-of-the-art

Chemistry Lab for Energy and

Nanoelectronics (CLEAN) was set up in

2011 as part of this initiative.

The PowerAnswer Lab, a joint project of

IIT Bombay, Tata Consultancy Services and

Tata Consulting Engineers was established

to bring the benefits of IT, such as 24x7

availability, flexibility, modularity and

process efficiency to the power sector. The

lab successfully delivered the webSTLF

technology to Tata Power and

webNETUSE to Central Electricity

Regulatory Commission.

The Yahoo! Hadoop Cluster Lab provides

access to a cluster of servers running

Yahoo! open source Hadoop software and

web data to help conduct research on

search-based technologies.

The TCS-IITB Research Cell has been set up

as a natural consequence of long term

collaboration under multiple modes of

interaction. Nine projects have been

initiated in different areas of ICT, design

and electrical engineering.

SOME TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERS


Innovation by Students

The nurturing research culture at the Institute

has inspired and motivated its talented pool

of students to innovate, create new products,

processes and designs, and to come up with

creative and novel solutions to existing

challenges. The Institute facilitates such

activities and provides faculty mentor(s) and

financial support in addition to other

administrative help A few student initiatives

are mentioned here.

A first in India, Project Biosynth is a

student effort to install a self-sustained

biodiesel producing plant in which waste

vegetable oil is used to generate biodiesel.

This project won an award for

‘Outstanding research in the Field of Green

Chemistry and Engineering’ at the

Industrial Green Chemistry Workshop held

in Mumbai in 2009.

Matsya – an autonomous underwater

vehicle won the ‘Best Autonomous

machine and Most Innovative Design

Award’ in 2011 at ROBOCON, the Robotic

Contest.

As part of the Solar Decathlon, an

international competition, students of IIT

Bombay along with those from Rachna

Sansad’s Academy of Architecture, Mumbai

designed and constructed a 700 m2

house

powered entirely by solar energy. An

interdisciplinary research effort by a team

of 70 students from 13 different disciplines

including PhD, postgraduate and

undergraduate students participated in the

event held at Versailles, France in July

2014.

The IIT-B Racing Team participated in

three international competitions against

globally reputed universities in the design

and engineering of amateur high

performance race cars using the four race

cars developed by them.

In the electric cars category, IITB’s EVo 3.0

was one amongst only 9 cars (out of 27)

to finish the endurance run at Formula

Student UK’14. The team’s electric car EVo

3.0 was also judged as one of the best in

the design documentation segment of the

competition.

With a mission to acquire new knowledge

in satellite technology, IIT Bombay

students have designed and built Pratham,

a nano-satellite in the 10 kg class to

measure Total Electron Count (TEC) of the

ionosphere. They have worked to develop

skills and expertise through various phases

of the project including design, analysis,

fabrication, testing and launching the

satellite into orbit through ISRO.


Technology Business Incubation

“I strongly support SINE as entrepreneurship

is the root of economic development” ~ Mr.

Rahul Bajaj, former Chairman, Board of

Governors, IIT Bombay at the inauguration of

the Technology Business Incubator on April 28,

2005

IIT Bombay actively supports

entrepreneurship among faculty and students

through the Society for Innovation and

Entrepreneurship (SINE). SINE widens the

scope of the Institute’s research activities by

enabling commercialization of IP generated,

through entrepreneurial ventures. Out of a

total of 55 companies incubated in the

Technology Business Incubator till date, 29

companies have graduated from the

incubator, 17 are currently present in it and 9

have folded up. Based on information

gathered from the companies, about 1100 to

1200 jobs have been created till date through

entrepreneurship and/or start-ups. The

businesses of these companies cover a diverse

spectrum of technology areas including

Computational Fluid Dynamics, Artificial

Intelligence based consumer analytics,

Geographical Information Systems and image

processing, intelligent audio applications,

among many others.

The Road Ahead

To live up to the Institute’s motto of

Dnyanam Paramam Dhyeyam (Knowledge is

the Supreme Goal), IIT Bombay strives

continually to better its performance and

achieve excellence in every sphere of activity

to serve as role models worthy of emulation.

The Institute believes in diversifying and

moving beyond traditional models to do

research that makes a difference to the

stakeholders, to the industry, to the nation

and to the society in general.

Acknowledgement

The assistance of Ms. Prema

Prakash, freelance science writer

and editor, in writing this article

is sincerely appreciated.

This year we launched IIT Long Island (IIT-LI) an

all-IIT alumni chapter. It will be led by Paresh

Shah IIT-KGP ’91, Saurabh Bhargava IIT-B ’97,

with yours truly in a mentoring role. We

started the year with two luncheon meetings.

A novel feature of this chapter is the active

participation of the spouses of alums. Swati

Bhargava and Shimul Shah took charge and

organized a summer picnic, including the

planning, cooking, and the running of activities

for the day. We guys did some significant

“heavy lifting” of our own too. We brought in

the beer, then proceeded to guzzle copious

amounts of the brew while extolling the virtues

and privileges of an IIT heritage!

On September 27th

Vijay Alreja IIT-B ’80 hosted

us at his factory offices for our first business-

networking event on “Technologies of

Tomorrow”. Anurag Purwar IIT-K ’95 spoke

on Robotics and Narayan Menon IIT-D’83

presented his expertise on Wireless services.

Over 40 IITians, wives and children attended

this event. After lunch, Vijay conducted us on a

plant tour, describing the commercial X-ray

equipment developed for various clients, from

Con Edison to Homeland Security.

Our next event is a Diwali family dinner on

November 1st

at Cotillion restaurant, where we

are planning to give our children an

opportunity to showcase their talents.

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IIT-LI Chapter Formation & Picnic

Jude Netto, IIT-B ‘66


The IIT-LI Networking Event Sep 27th

at V J Technologies

We at IIT-LI would like to build our membership roster and need your assistance. If you know of alums

in the Long Island area, including from Queens and Brooklyn, please email Jude Netto at

[email protected], or visit us at https://sites.google.com/site/iitliny/home


In a series of workshops hosted by WHEELS, in

collaboration with AAPI and HFH, it was

evident that there is a close symbiotic

relationship between clean drinking water, rural

healthcare projects and sanitation. While IIT

alumni in Hyderabad, with support from WGF

had adopted Clean Drinking water projects,

AAPI had initiated their SEVAK project to

deliver affordable healthcare to villages in

Gujarat and HFH had designed and developed

plans for implementing inexpensive toilets in

rural areas. As the following report suggests,

there are considerable synergies in working

together to deliver technology driven solutions

for improving rural lifestyles and well-being.

These programs are in-line with the objective

for ‘giving back’ and meeting the challenge

offered by President Abdul Kalam at the PanIIT

event in 2006 when he asked IIT alumni to

demonstrate their ability to “solve problems by

doing things and improving living conditions in

India”. Shortly after this gauntlet was thrown at

IITians, a small group of IIT alumni zeroed in on

six areas that were crying out for global

solutions and formed WHEELS.

WATER and Healthcare including sanitation

are the first two spokes of WHEELS. A

sustained effort is needed to be able to

deliver technology based solutions to

problems associated with clean drinking

water and good healthcare. Supporting clean

sanitation projects will help to improve (L)

Lifestyles in rural parts of India. In our quest

to provide such assistance we intend to

continue our efforts to work collaboratively

with organizations like AAPI and Habitat for

Humanity India. We are looking forward to

the enthusiastic support of all the IITs and

their alumni in our pursuit for “technology

enabled philanthropy” and seeking

“common solutions to common problems”.

W for WATER: IIT Bombay alums in Hyderabad

and New York continued their efforts in the

past year. By funding through WHEELS, they

developed and started operations at Clean

Drinking Water Plant (CDWP) # 2 in

Nandikandi village in Telangana, India. Civil

works and equipment have been delivered to

two more locations, Eradindi and Dupally

villages in Telangana, for plant start ups in

November 2014. Conceptual planning has been

completed for a 5th

plant in Tungaturti,

Telangana to begin operations in mid-year

2015.

WHEELS has also authorized funding for a

CDWP project in an impoverished part of

Panchmahal district in Gujarat for start-up in 3rd

quarter of 2015. Overall, WHEELS intends to

fund 10 such clean drinking water plants in the

next two years. By fine tuning and developing a

repeatable CDWP model, using Reverse Osmosis

(RO) technology has been successfully

implemented at a very low initial cost while

delivering drinking water at an extremely low

cost of Rs. 2 per 20 litres to the villagers.

The financial model for the CDWPs works as

follows:

Erected Cost for 1,000 litres/hour CDWP:Rs.

400,000 - $6,700 at current US$/Rs rate.

WHEELS funded donation: Rs. 300,000;

India donors: Rs. 50,000; Local village: Rs.

50,000.

In Telangana, and hopefully in Gujarat, the

electricity to run the plant is free.

The operating cost for system, operator

salary and membrane

replacement/maintenance is less than Rs. 2

per 20 litres of drinking water.

The recommended charge to villagers is Rs.

2-3 per 20 litres

WHEELS. A Triveni Sangam: Water, Health, Lifestyles

Sanjay Daswani, Habitat for Humanity (India), Hiten Ghosh IIT-KGP ’58,

Vikas Khurana MD, SEVAK Project, Ruyintan Mehta IIT-B ’70,

Thakore G. Patel MD, SEVAK Project, Madhusudan Reddy IIT-B ’74,

Suresh Shenoy IIT-B ‘72

WHEELS is an acronym for Water, Healthcare, Energy, Education, Lifestyles (rural and urban) and

Sustainability. The WHEELS Global Foundation (WGF), incorporated in 2013 as a US non-profit

charitable foundation created by IIT alumni, welcomes collaboration with American Association of

Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) and the Habitat for Humanity (HFH)-India Builds program.

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To reach our goal of 10 CDWP projects by the

4th quarter 2016, a budgeted amount of

$61,000 is required. There is a $20,000

matching grant for the program, so for every $3

contribution there is $1 already pledged.

The suggested model for future CDWP projects

is as follows:

a. Select a recipient village with severe

contamination of its drinking water source.

But the village must have at the very

minimum a steady supply of water. Ideal

village size to be 2,000 to 3,000 inhabitants,

but not greater than 10,000.

b. A steady supply of electricity is required for

at least 6 to 8 hours per day. Extremely

remote villages not connected to a

powergrid would require solar energy at a

higher installation cost.

c. As part of the site location survey, first

locate and convince a respected and

educated local village leader, who is willing

to sponsor the project and act as its

“Godfather”.

d. For financial modelling, make the village a

stakeholder with the local villagers funding

10 to 12% of the total project cost. The

balance to be funded by socially conscious

individuals in the US and India, and,

donations channelled through WHEELS.

e. Water, Health and Sanitation are

interrelated. WHEELS intends to incorporate

the SEVAK project along with clean,

inexpensive toilets program teaming up

with Habitat for Humanity.

THE NANDIKANDI PLANT THE HAVELI GHANPUR PLANT

o FLUOROSIS IS AN ENDEMIC DISEASE PREVALENT IN

20 STATES OUT OF 35, PUTTING NEARLY 66

MILLION PEOPLE AT RISK.

o PER AN AIF STUDY, NEARLY 50% OF VILLAGES

DON’T HAVE A SOURCE OF CLEAN DRINKING

WATER

o 70-100% DISTRICTS ARE AFFECTED IN ANDHRA

PRADESH, GUJARAT AND RAJASTHAN.

o 40-70% DISTRICTS ARE AFFECTED IN BIHAR,

NATIONAL CAPITAL TERRITORY OF DELHI,

HARYANA, JHARKHAND, KARNATAKA,

MAHARASHTRA, MADHYA PRADESH, ODISHA,

TAMIL NADU AND UTTAR PRADESH

o 10-40% DISTRICTS ARE AFFECTED IN ASSAM,

JAMMU & KASHMIR, KERALA, CHHATTISGARH

AND WEST BENGAL, WHILE THE ENDEMICITY FOR

THE REST OF THE STATES IS NOT KNOWN.

SAFE DRINKING WATER ISSUES IN INDIA


One village of around 2,000 people in each of

the 26 districts in Gujarat was selected. A SEVAK

with an average education of 12th

grade and

above was identified in each of these villages for

training and education.

Gujarat state was divided into 4 regions and a

coordinator with graduate level education was

appointed for each of the regions.

All SEVAKs were brought to Vadodara –

Gujarat’s 2nd

largest city and were provided

with lodging, boarding, training and other

support including teaching assistance from the

Government Medical College, Vadodara. The

training program was for 10 weeks including

one week in Ahmedabad for environment,

sanitation and leadership education. Sevaks

were given competency tests in health

education, glucometers, BP and training the

trainer.

SEVAK Project training is also supported by the

former Queen of the Princely State of Baroda,

who is the Chancellor of M.S. University in

Gujarat.

Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, who

was previously the Chief Minister of Gujarat

State, has also approved this project.

Workings of SEVAK Project: SEVAKs screen

villagers their respective 26 villages, for diabetes

and hypertension and record other health issues.

They educate the villagers about the merits of

having a house toilet and smokeless stoves

ventilated to the outside.

A SEVAK EDUCATION SESSION

A SEVAK SURVEY & DATA GATHERINGH for Health: India is undergoing an

epidemiological transition with both non-

communicable and chronic diseases becoming

the leading causes of death. Four studies in

Tamil Nadu and Gujarat showed marginal

access to health care. 70% of India lives in the

villages with over 750 million people and the

importance of educating and delivery of

healthcare to this large Indian base in its

resource-poor settings is an urgent and also a

viable issue.

The SEVAK Project is a model for access to Care

in Rural India using local resources. SEVAK

envisions training one person per village of

around 2,000 in healthcare, sanitation and

lifestyle modification education. This individual

screens the village population including

pregnant women for diabetes, hypertension,

chronic diseases, and immunization and provide

lifestyle modification education.

The individual named SEVAK becomes the single

point of contact for all healthcare of the

villagers by forming a liaison with the

community health clinic, district hospital and the

private practitioner. A local person who lives in

the village and does the SEVAK work has an

immediate buy-in from the villagers. Another

objective is to identify, encourage and train

retired army personnel from the village who

have the basic training for a disciplined

approach to delivering healthcare.

The SEVAK Project is based on Dr. Thakor

Patel’s vast experience as a retired US Navy

Captain and on the U.S. Navy model of

Independent Duty Corpsman.


SEVAK coordinators meet in Vadodara once a

month and visit the villages they are responsible

for once every two weeks. Sevaks meet in

Vadodara quarterly and brainstorm ideas and

lessons learned in the field. They are also given

refresher training by the medical college faculty.

In the future, video teleconferencing and

education at the village level for healthcare and

sanitation is also planned.

SEVAKs are paid Rs. 2,500 per month and the

SEVAK coordinators Rs. 5,000 monthly.

The SEVAK Project is a 3 year pilot to

demonstrate that preventive health works in

villages by identifying those with diabetes and

hypertension at an early stage. Such a model has

NOT been tried as a system.

Currently a SEVAK project has been

implemented in Guyana, South America.

For more information visit www.sevakproject.org

A TRAINED SEVAK CHECKING FBS

The SANITATION CRISIS IN INDIA: India tops

the global list, with 597 million people resorting

to open defecation.

Here are sobering statistics according to

WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme

for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP), 2014:

1 billion people in the world practiced open

defecation in 2012.

1.5 billion did not have access to improved

sanitation in 2012. 82% live in just 10

countries.

Open defecation numbers by country (millions):

1. India: 597

2. Indonesia: 54

3. Pakistan: 41

4. Nigeria: 39

5. Ethiopia: 34

6. Sudan: 17

7. Niger: 13

8. Nepal: 11

9. China: 10

10. Mozambique: 10

11. Rest of the World: 182

Habitat for Humanity India. HFH India has

been operating in India for over 30 years

serving over 54,400 families through FY14.

HFH India has pledged to build 100,000 toilets

by Gandhi Jayanti, October 2nd

2015. Since

sanitation is an integral part of healthcare,

WHEELS is contemplating providing support for

building up to 100 toilets in each of the

locations where a Clean Drinking Water plant is

erected.

(contd.)

http://www.sevakproject.org/


The total cost of constructing a sanitation unit

(toilet), plus the most essential Behaviour

Change Campaign (BCC) is, on average, Rs.

22,000 ($354).

The Behaviour Change Campaign (BCC) is a

critical component of helping rural communities

understand the need for toilets and the huge

health impact of the sanitation unit (toilet) on

the family and the immediate environment. Just

installing the hardware toilet, without a

ssimultaneous campaign of BCC, is futile.

Teaming up with Habitat for Humanity India

greatly enhances the success for these projects as

their BCC campaign has demonstrated that it

can capture the “heartware and mindware” of

the communities where these toilets are erected.

Good sanitation provided by clean toilets has

multiple benefits in the rural Indian context.

First, it helps overcome waterborne diseases

such as diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid. Second,

a well constructed, clean, enclosed toilet

provides privacy and safety for women, when

they don’t have to defecate in the open.

In one study, it was determined that women

starve and do not consume liquids during day

light hours because they are unable to defecate

in the open and must wait till it is dark! This has

a direct adverse impact on women’s health in

rural areas. Finally, a toilet helps create a clean

environment. It helps mitigate ground water

pollution and contamination of agricultural

produce.

The Indian Government has provided a goal of

providing total sanitation to every household by

2019 through the “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”

initiative In his 2014 Independence Day speech,

PM Narendra Modi emphasized ‘dignity for

women’, and asked everyone to help build

separate toilets for girls in schools across the

country by next year. The Government aims to

build 800 million toilets and an appropriate

network of sewage systems across the country.

For more information visit www.habitatindia.in


ChickenBurgers

23

A Photo Essay

photo credits Subodh Batra ‘72

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EAGLE.ROCK

RESERVATION

We

stO

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eN

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June21st

2014

Ha

mbu

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Volleyball

Cack!

BINGO!BINGO!

Cack!

HotdogsHotdogs

Treasure

Hunt

Cricket

VeggieBurgersVeggieBurgers

kielbasa


Features

I was born in the US and have lived here all

along but all my relatives are in India and going

there is always special. This time I went to India

for the fourth time and it was great − from

going to the Taj Mahal, to the Qutub Minar, to

seeing my extended family. I had so much fun. I

am writing about when I got to India and what

I did and learned there.

Arriving in New Delhi. My mom, my little

brother and I went there in August. My Dad

followed us about two weeks later. When we

got out of Delhi airport, it was like a sauna! It

was so burning hot that I thought I was going to

melt. My uncle, my mom’s brother, was to pick

us up but unfortunately he was late. When he

eventually arrived, seeing him I felt elated and

thought, “finally!” Arriving at my uncle’s place it

was much better. There I played with my two

cousins, one of whom is only four months old

and very cute.

Visiting the Taj Mahal. We took a newly built

freeway to go to see the Taj Mahal from Delhi.

My uncle told me that before the freeway was

built, going to Agra used to take more than half

a day, but we got there in just one and a half

hours. The road was like the best road I had

seen, even in the US. And the Taj Mahal was

magnificent – actually I thought it defined

magnificent! At the Taj Mahal I learned many

things, such as why was it built, how long it

took to build it and what was it made of. The

day we went there it was blazing hot again

(making the airport situation feel mild and

“cold”). Still I wanted to see it. We went inside

the building and I was amazed – I mean the

walls weren’t painted white, they were carved

from marble stones. I was so impressed, I will

never forget visiting one of the seven wonders

of the world, the Taj Mahal.

Going to Lucknow: When we, along with my

Dad, arrived in Lucknow, I was very excited to

meet his side of the family. After all, he has two

brothers and three sisters – and between them I

have eight cousins! At my uncle’s house many of

them came to meet us. All of them are older

than my brother and me. To be specific, the

youngest one is 17 years old (yeah, you can

imagine!). Both me and my brother were so

pampered there. I was on my cousin’s PSP

game system all the time. We also went to

Kukrail, home of a type of alligator called the

ghariyaal, my younger brother loves all types of

animals and he had wanted to go to Kukrail

ever since he saw ghariyaals at the Bronx zoo

when he was a toddler. Ghariyaals are from

North India and are called as such because of a

thing on their beak that looks like a pot.

In Lucknow I also went around on a bike. Yes,

my cousin-brother has a really cool bike, and

my parents let me go on it as long as we were

careful; I held on to my cousin tightly. I was

very sad to leave Lucknow because everyone

was so nice to us.

(continued on page 26)

My Trip to India

Sidhanta Srivastava, 10 years old

L to R: Cousin Ishan, our peripatetic author Sidhant Srivastava, and his younger brother Anirudh


The Background. Some time ago, I worked at

a large corporation. One day, over lunch

with some friends and colleagues, somehow

the conversation turned to the Bhagwat Gita.

One of them, a very good friend, mentioned

that he spends at least half an hour everyday

reading a couple of pages from the Gita; and

that he had been doing this since he was

about 10 years old. Now this guy was a PhD

in pure mathematics from a prestigious

university, working in a Fortune 100

corporation. This piqued my curiosity as I had

not been brought up in a religious

environment. On the other hand I had

observed over the years that religion had

caused divisions among communities in South

Asia; the partition of India being the most

glaring example of it. I expected that with his

reading of the Gita over such a prolonged

period of time, surely he had finished reading

it. Why then, I asked him, did he persist in

reading it over again.

His answer was an eye opener. He said he

had indeed read it several times over.

However, he claimed, every time he reads it,

he gets new insights! I had never heard of

such a phenomenon before. So I decided to

read the Gita and assess for myself what he

was talking about. If a person with a science

background vouched for it thusly, there must

be something in it for him to spend his

valuable time on it every day.

The Next Step. Although I was skeptical I

bought myself a copy of the Gita and started

reading it. I was expecting it to be full of

sermons: Krishna claiming Godhood, advising

on right from wrong, and how people ought

to run their lives. To my utter surprise I found

it to be very logical, and something that I

could relate to. As I read on, perhaps no

more than a page at a time, I found it to be a

consistently logical treatise, with clarifications

of life’s situations, without the sermons I had

been expecting. In a matter of weeks I was so

impressed that my own analytical mind took

over. In addition to the reading, I began to

ponder why I was being so impressed.

The Insight. It was not long before I had my

first insight. I realized that even though the

Gita was reportedly written nearly 3,000

years ago, human nature described in it still

holds true. We have our emotional moments,

and we have our logical analytical moments.

When we are under the influence of strong

emotions, our reasoning goes out the

window. For instance, how often we act out

of anger and take an action only to later

regret it when we are sober? And then comes

the inevitable reflection, “what in the world

was I thinking?”

Now, if someone made these observations

3,000 years back, and wanted others to

benefit from it, what were his options?

Writing instruments and media as we know

them now were not yet in existence. And a

lecture delivered to an audience would soon

be forgotten.

My Hypothesis. I believe that Vedvyasa

muni, the putative author and composer of

the Bhagwat Gita, had the foresight to present

and deliver the message via an allegory as the

medium. People were more likely to listen

and pay attention to a story. Parents and

grandparents are known to enjoy telling

inspiring stories to their children and

grandchildren; even teachers use narratives in

teaching. Every effective public speaker starts

their presentation with a story.

As wars between kingdoms were fairly

common and citizens held their kings in high

regard, this was chosen as a backdrop for the

allegories. The epic story in the Gita, of the

Kauravas and the Pandavas – culminating in

Arjun finding himself in the battlefield unable

to lift his bow to wound or kill his own kith

and kin, of whom he held fond memories

since childhood -- is but a means to portray a

man overcome by deep conflict, doubt and

emotions, unable to make rational decisions.

(continued on page 26)

Emotions vs. Reason: A Speck of Wisdom from the Gita

Sushil Bhatia, IIT-B ‘66

Features


Back to Delhi. After Lucknow we came back to

Delhi, where we had a lot of fun again. My

uncle lives in an apartment complex and all the

kids from the buildings used to come down in

the evenings to play soccer or cricket. My

brother and I both bought a bat, balls and

wickets to bring back to the US. We also went

to the Qutub Minar and Rashtrapati Bhawan

(President’s house), which was so grand.

Leaving India. Of course I knew we had to

leave, though I didn’t want to. After we said

good bye to everyone and when we got on the

plane I thought of something: even though US is

much cleaner than India, it feels very lonely

compared to how I felt in India. In India we

had a lot of family, whereas in the US we don’t

get to meet so many close relatives. I really miss

all the people I met in India and who were so

nice to us.

And finally I felt bad because in India we were

on vacation, we went out a lot. But the week

we came back to the US our schools were going

to start.

In conclusion. India was a great place, from

everywhere we went to every one we met, it

was full of joy. I will surely miss India.

Sidhant Srivastava is 10 years old, in fifth grade at Livingston NJ elementary school. He is a black belt in

Taekwondo, with several medals in tri-state Taekwondo competitions to his credit. He enjoys all sports, and

avidly follows the NFL games with his dad Sharad Srivastava MTech (ME) ‘97. His most recent acquisition,

during this India trip, was a cricket kit. He was introduced to the sport at the GNY picnic last year, and playing

with his own well-oiled bat, he is looking forward to taking on the GNY-eleven at our next outdoor event.

Features

My Trip to India

(continued from page 24)

In Arjun admitting to Krishna that he was

unable to take on the fight, is the message that

the first step in addressing emotional strife is to

admit this to ourselves, then seek good counsel.

No one else may take initiative on behalf of the

pained, for surely that will backfire. We have

seen evidence of this in modern times. People

joining Alcoholic Anonymous are required to

own up to being an alcoholic at their very first

meeting, and that they are seeking help to rid

themselves of the addiction. Alcoholic

Anonymous however may not recruit them

proactively or against their will.

Next we note Krishna and Arjun in a dialog.

Krishna neither instructs nor orders Arjun to

fight. He engages Arjun in measured, deliberate

steps, to each of which Arjun can relate, and

agree. In our modern world we see this tactic

used by good salesmen at their practiced

process. They break it down into palatable,

consumable steps, and get prospects to agree

along the way before continuing on to the next.

In conclusion. Awareness of just these two

principles has significantly changed my life. I

have a much better sense of my emotions. And

I now have fewer occasions to act unreasonably

or less than rationally.

I have also noted that the message of the Gita

has potentially universal appeal. Every human

being can benefit from it, irrespective of

religious belief, race, color, age, gender,

national origin or sexual preference (trust I

haven’t left out any diversity?). The word

‘Hindu’ did not exist at the time of Vyasa’s

writing of the original Gita. As a story, Vyasaji

made it simple enough for children and

laypersons to relate to. As a religious book, it

may have, on the one hand, spread the word to

some, but it would surely have proved limiting

in reaching people of different faiths and beliefs.

Lastly, by regarding the Gita merely as a story

or as a recounting of historical events, we miss

the underlying messages from which our daily

lives stand to benefit.

Author’s Expiation: The views expressed in this feature are strictly my own. I do not wish to offend

anyone, or challenge anyone’s faith or beliefs. My sincere apologies if I have inadvertently done so.

Emotions vs. Reason: A Speck of Wisdom from the Gita

(continued from page 25)

Features


Features… And then I was no longer a student merely at

the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

(IIT-B), but an international student at a world-

renowned school in America!

I was at my desk during my summer internship

when they called about my selection for the

exchange program. It didn’t quite hit me until

the last day − when I was supposed to catch the

flight to New York − what it really meant. I did

not want to leave my parents, my friends, her

− how could I? They were my life. I wanted to

explore the world, sure, experience cultural

diversity and most of all study abroad. But then

perhaps I wasn’t ready for this. Afraid of leaving

those threads and relationships, I came here,

still!

So one day, settled in our (two fellow exchange

students) little apartment (well, our beds and

tables, some space to walk by, and the kitchen)

I was having this conversation with my Dad

over Skype, about my experiences to-date,

about classes, about life here in New York, and

before long, it turned into one of the most

expensive calls I’ve ever made. Here's how it

went ...

“Liked any girl yet?!” My mouth agape, head

bowed, I blurted, “No!” I’ve been living away

from home for nearly 5 years now, and was

expecting my stay abroad to be no big deal for

my parents. A Girl?! This was one of the most

important questions they had about this visit.

They inevitably have this mental picture of me,

when I return, emerging from Terminal 3 in

Mumbai, holding hands with a strange

American girl. I gently reassured them, then

quickly changed the subject.

“So, how are the classes?” I told him that the

classes here are much the same as at IIT-B in

terms of the hours spent on lectures; but here

there usually are only about 10-20 students in a

class, depending on the course. Classes here are

3 hours long and are scheduled once a week for

a 3-credit course compared to a 1 hour class

thrice a week at IIT. “And the assignments?” I

told him that I was doing okay and that they

aren’t very hard, which is true. To assess the

progress of students and set a target for the

course, the faculty here give assignments bi-

weekly, or if you’re unfortunate,

weekly assignments per course. This was a bit

of a shock. At IIT we got assignments quite

infrequently.

Then came, “the students, the faculty. How

are they?” I was expecting this one, and I

had an answer ready. “Astonishingly

incredible!” I said. I told them that the

students here aren’t as intimidating as those

back at IIT, (mostly as cover for my low

grades) but they are more organized and

attentive to homework assignments. And they

are as competitive as we used to be during

our JEE preparation days. Even though IIT has

one of the best faculties I have seen, the

faculty here is just as good as at IIT. The big

difference is the smaller class size, which

provides for more personal attention, more

openness and less strictness and formality. I

told him that I was welcomed by every

faculty member for the courses I was taking

and that they respected the institute I came

from. I’m the “IIT-bro” here!

The Cooper Union in New York is housed in

a very modern building that contains all the

labs, classrooms and auditoriums − all

equipped with the best possible equipment.

However, I don't think any place could ever

beat the serene, scenic beauty − and the

heritage − of my IIT Bombay campus.

He asked me, “any difficulty interacting with

students, the staff, or in general?” What he

really wanted to know was whether I was

able to speak proper English, or not? Duh!

I told him that everyone here is so nice to

each other and everyone smells good. I told

him after a pause, that I did take a bath every

day! Since everyone knew I was a foreign

student, all of them were especially nice to

me and Cooper students assisted us in case of

any difficulty, whether in academics or

extracurricular. I told him stories about some

of my outings with friends and how friendly

everyone is here. Ordinary NYers are nice

too. They will help you with directions on the

street and will greet you and treat you well.

Just like our Mumbai! You get accustomed to

this after a while.

Trading Places

Akshay Joshi, IIT Bombay, BTech Class of 2015


I’m currently taking 5 courses in the Electrical

department here at The Cooper Union. Since

this is an undergraduate school with only a few

Masters Programs, almost all of my courses are

at the graduate level − meaning with more

complexities. Well, IIT has prepared us to face

whatever comes our way.

“And,” he asked me, “New York! How is it?

Are you liking it?” Yes, I am! Its vibrant,

insomniac nature reminds me a lot of Mumbai.

It is probably one of the most expensive cities in

the world. But the views, the city infrastructure,

roads, public transport, all-night food joints and

the splendor of Wall Street and Park Avenue

justifies it all, I think. I still haven’t gotten a

chance to roam around much, thanks to the

over-friendly professors with an assignment

ready every week, but I do hope to explore

every chance I get, at least until I go

bankrupt. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity

any student could get!

One thing I didn’t expect though was such a

low M/F gender ratio in the classes. It’s

almost the same as we have at IIT-B! Maybe

even less. Cooper is one of the elite schools in

this engineering, and perhaps that explains it.

But there are girls outside classes! In the

elevators, the hallways, roads, shops, offices

and driving cars -- practically everywhere but

in the classrooms! (So, is my parents’ prime

anxiety justified then?!)

There has been a lot of alumni involvement

in making this exchange program possible,

and I’d like to thank them all for their

kindness and generosity.

So there’s my story. I hope it never ends!

Akshay Joshi is a fourth year undergraduate student in Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay; he is

one of four IIT-B exchange students this Fall semester, at The Cooper Union, New York. He likes to

write his heart out about everything that affects him deeply. The mysteries of love and its aspect,

particularly interest him. Besides writing, he enjoys playing table tennis and trying out new foods.

With a developing interest in photography and writing better, he hopes to publish his works some

day.

New

s &

H

appenin

gs

Milestones in the Spoken Tutorials Project

Prof. Kannan Moudgalya, IIT-B (ChemE)

Total number of page-views since we launched the webpage has exceeded 4 million.

Total number of page-views since Jan 1st

2014 has crossed 2 million. We estimate close to 3

million page-views by this calendar year-end.

The average time spent on our page is up, and close to 15 minutes.

The bounce rate from our webpage has dropped below 20%.

Finally, since the start of this calendar year, i.e. in under 9 months, we have trained 2.37

lakh students, thereby surpassing our original projection of 2 lakh trainings in all of 2014! I

now expect we will reach 3 lakh student trainings by this year-end.

Congratulations!


“Bespoke Wealth Management”

website: www.kubairwealthadvisors.com

Registered Rep, Securities offered through Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a Broker/ Dealer, Member FINRA/SIPC

Investment Advisor Representative, Cambridge InvestmentResearch Advisors, Inc. A registered Investment Advisor.Cambridge and Kubair Wealth Advisors are not affiliated.

Queens Office:

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Tel: 718-849-5777

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