The Inaugural Ceremony

Kharagpur saw the inauguration of the 9th Alumni Meet on 7th January at Kalidas Auditorium. The function drew together over a hundred alumni, from colonels to entrepreneurs and professors. Distinguished Service awards were presented to a few whose sparkling success carved a niche for them in the national and international arena. They attributed their success and profundity to their alma mater IIT, Kharagpur. To quote one of the awardees, Mr YPS Suri – “IIT is like a mother to me. My mother tells me that you are a good son. My life’s ambition has been fulfilled.” Mementos were presented to all the guests, who expressed their felicity of getting back to their roots by Kgp Tempo Shouts; proving that once a Kgpian, always a Kgpian.

The inauguration ceremony

The ceremony also witnessed the release of the much awaited book – The Game Changers. Written by Kgpians – Yuvnesh Modi, Rahul Kumar and Alok Kothari, the book presents 20 success stories of Kharagpur alumni who brought to life their big dreams of being entrepreneurs. A few alumni who featured in the book were present at the ceremony and shared their valuable experiences. One of them struck a different note when he elaborated how his personality had been liberated and shaped by ragging. He said, “Ragging deprives you of ego, instills a set of values which makes you a true IITian. I’m happy and proud that I was ragged.” Needless to say, this met with a huge round of applause from the audience.

Hasya Kavi Sammelan

The Hasya Kavi Sammelan held as a part of the meet of IIT Kharagpur was a supremely enjoyable and refreshing programme for all those who attended. The poets, Mr. Surendra Dubey, Dr. Arun Gemini and Mr. Vineet Chauhan, were very well received by the audience, which consisted of students and alumni alike. As expected, the performances had the audience in splits. A dash of patriotism, provided mainly by Mr.Chauhan, added a whole new dimension to the event. Notwithstanding the fact that the language used might have been a tad too difficult for people not too proficient in Hindi, the night on a whole was a memorable one, especially for the alumni who presumably do not get the opportunity to attend such events and let their hair down every once in a while.

Making Kgpians laugh

Art Corner

A Fine Arts and Photography Sale was also organized during the meet. The stall, splashed with colours of Illu and moods of the various halls, immensely appealed to all the nostalgic alumni present. In all, there were about 5 mind-blowing sketches and paintings, and about 150 vivid photographs, some of which sold like hot cakes. The exhibits were the best-of-the-lot chosen from a competition held previously. The exhibition-cum-sale, widely applauded by the alumni, lent a vibrant touch to the meet.

Of Raagas and Riffs

In addition, our alumni were greeted with a splendid, musical performance by our very own ETMS and WTMS. An impressive fusion of the East and the West filled the atmosphere of the Netaji Auditorium, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all in attendance.

While the show started with a fashionable 30-minute delay, the next one and a half hours kept the audience glued to their seats. ETMS took to the stage first, with a sequence of 5 popular songs. While some of them were exact renditions of the originals, others were made even better with modulations and instrumental add-ons. The performance started off with Baba Haji Ali, from Fiza, followed by the heart-wrenching Tanhayee from Dil Chahta Hai. Perhaps to calm the hearts that were upsurged with the pangs of love following the previous romantic song, ETMS presented three purely breathtaking instrumentals: a beautiful Carnatic classical piece, Pal Pal Bhari from Swades and the soft and moving Lukachupi from Rang de Basanti. Finally, ETMS ended with a jaunty number: Mera naam chin chin choo, which excited the audience into a frenzy. Exiting to a rapturous applause, ETMS cleared the stage, which was then set to be taken over by WTMS.

While the WTMS coordinator first promised to start off with a rendition of the legendary rock band Pink Floyd’s Coming back to life (very apropos for the alumni meet), due to an internal situation, they started off with Highway Star by Deep Purple. A wondrous two and a half minutes guitar solo embellished the song. The delirium that it created can be aptly described by a comment from one alumni in the audience: “Man! The guitarist has gone mad!” Right after this energy-packed performance was a cover of The Beatles, Let it be, sung by two female lead singers. And after this was yet another great song, a piece by Porcupine Tree. Finally, to an appreciative, boisterous audience, WTMS performed their promised Coming back to life.

But the show turned out to be still full of pleasant surprises, as the alumni were invited to take the stage. While hesitant at first, the KGP spirit in them took over as one of the alumni, Mr. Rajesh, did a marvelous job on the drums with Smoke on the Water and one of his friends followed with a beautiful cover of Suno Na Suno Na. Then happened a most auspicious and appropriate ending to the evening: a classic presentation of Vishnu Stuthi “Venkatachala Hridayam” by Mr.Tarun Kumar and Mr.T.K.Ramachandram.

The musical night

All in all, the show was a splendid success, surely a loss to those who missed it. ETMS and WTMS surely deserve a hearty congratulation on pulling off such a wonderful, fun performance.

Talent in our Institute is tremendous, but there exists a dearth of cognizance. Unlike other IITs, a channelized system of disseminating information on avenues for global exposure and networking is non-existent in KGP. ‘Appstore’ is the brainchild of a group of super-final year students with a vision to inspire fellow KGPians to prove their mettle on a global level. The purpose is to bridge the gap by introducing a sustainable forum where the enthused meet the experienced and acquire knowledge for their personal growth.

Aided by Communiqué, the workshop was organised, laying emphasis on the significance of networking through a diverse set of conferences worldwide. The session was interactive with a fair participation by UG, PG and PhD students of the Institute. The speakers discussed the details of upcoming conferences, along with the various funding opportunities available for each, while the pictorial illustrations of the revelry that accompanied served as added incentives!

The speakers and the various conferences they covered are as listed:-

Paras Khaitan – StartingBloc Fellowship

Shirish Subramaniam – World Business Dialogue, Entrepreneurial Impact International Summer School

Shailesh Gupta – Business Masters International Case Challenge

Ashutosh Mishra – International Youth Forum, Tata Jagriti Yatra

Chandrashekhar Iyer – The Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations, CDIO Academy

Varun Singh – MITACS Globalink, Oxford International Youth Business Development Competition

Ankit DP – Al Gore Sustainable Technology Venture Competition, NYC Next Idea Competition

The date for the workshop was so chosen such that interested candidates do not miss out on the application deadlines in November and December, primarily for World Business Dialogue (Munich, Germany) and Tata Jagriti Yatra(India), both of which have their deadlines on 15th of November, 2011. The details of the various conferences and the presentation slides are available on the Communiqué portal at www.communiqueiitkgp.in and shall be regularly updated.

With end-semesters banging the door hard, many interested students could not attend the session. For the benefit of those who missed it, the organisers hope to conduct a follow-up session this Spring semester, covering a renewed list of conferences. The Scholars’ Avenue congratulates the team for their noble and unprecedented initiative and wishes them success in their future endeavours!

The  mentorship programme fosters a healthy interaction between an interested mentor and an eager protege. This programme matches the profiles of the applicant and the alumni based on common goals and career interest.The mentors would advice the protege on any sort of problems faced by them and provide information related to professional and career development. Issues related to career path, resumes, course selection, international perspectives and work/family may be discussed with the mentors.The students have the opportunity to remain in contact with their mentors even after graduating.

On being asked about the workshop, the Periwals spoke about how the art of living involves focussing on the present, ignoring past failures or future apprehensions. It teaches a person to reach out and recognise the present surroundings and break the ice by interacting with the people around. The basic aim is to train people to act and think freely in the present, without being unnecessarily bogged down by thinking about embarrassments or problems that may have occurred sometime back. Focus also lies in not brooding over what the future holds and extricating oneself from the burden of heavily-imposed expectations from everyone around. People are encouraged to look at the present with a positive attitude and not confine themselves within imaginary walls which prevent them from developing freshness in their personality. The workshop participants spoke about how these goals were realised through games and interactive sessions where practical techniques were implemented for building concentration, confidence and overcoming stage fear.

This was the third YES+ workshop organised this year in IIT Kharagpur. The first one had been organised in April and about 40 people had participated, a number which had risen to 60 for the second workshop in September. The one just concluded saw a footfall of about 110, who all will be treated to a follow-up session on the 3^rd of November when Amit and Ritika Periwal visit IIT KGP again. As part of the Diamond Jubilee lecture series, the institute will play host to none other than Sri Sri Ravishankar himself who will come to deliver a lecture at Netaji Auditorium on the morning of Saturday, the 5^th. The YES+ workshops are coordinated by the honourable Dean of Students’ Affairs, Professor Shouvik Bhattacharya, and are open to all students of the institute. Professor Bhattacharya is also trying to organise a workshop for the faculty in due course. For a programme which is just half a dozen years old, YES+ has gone a long way in reaching out to different educational institutions across the country and the effectiveness and enjoyment present in their workshop was amply evident from the smiling faces of the hundred odd participants who were brimming with enthusiasm while recounting their experiences over the last four days. Oh yes!!

On the Big IIT Family

“The student increase is undesirable,” is KL Chopra’s clear and consistent view. It is one that has been heard before from various quarters, but when it comes from someone with years of experience in education administration, you know it carries weight. He would’ve fought hard with the ministry against this move had it happened when he was in charge, but then, not all Directors can fight against a powerful ministry. There was a time when Directors could meet the Prime Minister to discuss matters, but these things have changed over the years, he says.

There are presently 3,500 private technical colleges and 350 private universities to do the job of producing over 93% of the engineering graduates in India. It is wiser then to concentrate on quality rather than increase the number and intake of IITs which will not significantly change the overall percentage of graduating engineering manpower for the country. The magnified numbers today have become a burden on the existing IITs. Just imagine herding 4 students in one room in the hostel.

As for educating a class full of two hundred students, even Feynman, the great physicist, the great actor, declared his efforts at Caltech a failure. “It is the inspiration from the teacher that makes you a scientist or an engineer,” and this, KL Chopra says, cannot happen unless there is an eye-to-eye contact and direct interaction between the teacher and the student. The IITs were supposed to be the think-tanks of the country, but he believes the kind of reforms being incorporated is converting them to regular universities.

The Decade as Director

KL Chopra says he was greeted by 3000 red flags when he arrived for the first time as Director. A physicist who knew little of Kharagpur, he had nevertheless accepted the challenge of making a difference for the better at a time when the presence of worker unions on campus was strong. They were against authority and had made the smooth functioning of the administration difficult.

Not one to back down, KL Chopra met these challenges head on. In the time when he was Director, roads were repaired,the state road separating the institute into two separate parts was diverted around the periphery, and the characteristic high boundary wall of the campus was built. Land was obtained for the setting up of STEP (the first of its kind in the country) and donations from the alumni were obtained to set up new schools. Often these projects met with official obstacles, objections from various levels of authority and conflicts due to ideology, so that their successful completion required efforts beyond what has gone down in official records.

We infer that KL Chopra would have been an active, lively figure on campus who set plans in motion and saw to their completion, standing by his ideas. As a Director who personally took to reclaiming land from encroachments and appointing faculty, Chopra believes the ten years he was here (as a result of a second term) was an exciting one where efforts resulted in converting a decaying institute into the top ranked one in India.

The Future of Education

The Inauguration was an excellent opportunity to discuss the far-from-perfect state of education with the gathered personalities. “The vision of education in IITs was to create knowledge, which is more important than dissemination. Also, the focus needs to be on translational research,” says KL Chopra. It isn’t that people in the IIT system aren’t competent, but there is nobody accounting for the deliverance of knowledge in a country whose economy is heavily dependent on science and technology. He believes this is a form of intellectual corruption: a condition where no questions are asked. “Fortunately the government did not know what was going on with the IT industry and thus it flourished very well.”

We learned that India is a signatory to the Washington Accord, a document with benchmarks for education quality. The IITs come under its purview and will have to be judged sometime, an evaluation KL Chopra says they will not necessarily pass. While IITans have hitherto enjoyed global mobility, foreign organizations now realize that given the bulk of students, a spectrum is bound to exist. While he believes a transition to a system involving thorough evaluation is going to be difficult for students as well as teachers, that is what the world today demands. It is not what is taught that is important, but whether and what students have learned, and whether they have learned to learn.

The serious talk apart, KL Chopra shared a few light anecdotes with us, making overall for a rare, interesting interaction with a Director of Kgp. The theme of education dominated the talk, and while it is clear that a substantial shift is in order, he hopes that it is the IITs from where that change will come about.

The Idea Conference was presented by Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kharagpur in association with National Social Entrepreneurship Forum. The main objective was to give the students a better understanding of social entrepreneurship as well as how to become a social entrepreneur. They had invited speakers from the same background to share their views and mentor the students.

The conference began with a presentation by Ms. Bhavna Toor, one of the Directors of NSEF. She gave an introduction on social entrepreneurship and explained the goals and working of NSEF. She spoke about her recent work in a village along with a social entrepreneur, which provided a simple and sustainable solution to the problem of access to clean water in that village. She mentioned how NSEF can help students to implement their ideas of this field.

Following her was Mr. Santanu Bhattacharjee, Founder-Director of Technable Solutions Pvt. Ltd., which is an acclaimed social enterprise in the field of education. He gave a brief talk on how he got involved in social entrepreneurship and the idea behind his venture. He gave an insight into what inspires a social entrepreneur.

The second speaker was Mr. Kaushlendra, Founder of Kaushalya Foundation, which focuses on mobilizing and organizing the informal, fragmented vegetable sector. He spoke about the opportunities available at grass root level and how to go about a Start-Up. He explained why social entrepreneurship is necessary in India and gave tips on how to create a viable and sustainable market unit. He also revealed the details of Bihar Entrepreneurship Association, a entrepreneurship ecosystem enabler. He mentioned the potential of the large number of problems as well as population, which indicate the large number of opportunities. As a conclusion, he told the qualities one must develop to become an entrepreneur.

The final speakers were Mr. Manish Kumar (IIT-KGP Alumnus) and Mr. Shashank Kumar (IIT-D Alumnus), Founders of Farms n Farmers, which aims at providing end to end solutions (right from field to market) to farmers. Both of them spoke about their venture and the experience so far. They extrapolated on the points mentioned by the previous speakers and added that one must have a right mind-set and a good team to become a successful social entrepreneur.

Overall, the conference was inspiring and informative. It revealed the prospects of social entrepreneurship and encouraged students to come up with innovative solutions to the existing socio-economic problems.

Email Ids of Speakers -

Santanu Bhattacharjee: sunny@technable.com

Kaushlendra: kaushal.indra@gmail.com

Shashank Kumar: shashank.kumar@farmsnfarmers.org

Manish Kumar: manish.kumar@farmsnfarmers.org

Yes, Yahoo’s famed university event – HackU was in KGP after a tremendous response at our sister institutes at Madras and Bombay last semester. As with all HackU events around the globe, two nights before the weekend were spent in bringing KGPians up to speed on the latest technology trends. To facilitate this, about 15 Yahoo techies (fondly called Yahoos) had flown down from Bangalore, and were welcomed by an expectant crowd at the opening session in Vikramshila complex. The 300 strong participants were then given an opportunity to individaully interact with the tech crew and finalise what they were going to build in the next 2 days. The 24-hour Hackathon began on Saturday and was very well received by KGPians, who were kept in good stead with some groovy music and timely refreshments. At the end of the hack-off, the organisers were full of praise for KGPians, who showcased 30 creative hacks. Here’s a round up of a few interesting ones.

Rail Mapia: A cool visualisation tool for all your rail journeys, Rail Mapia overlays train routes and timings on a google map. You can search by train number or name and plan your travel intuitively by selecting points on a map. This team, comprising four final year students – Shubham Agrawal, Rishav Agarwal, Ashish Yadav and Naveen Sharma of the CSE department, walked away with the first prize.

Stock Network: While rest of the world is hooked to various social networks, here’s a new one where you can use to actually make money. Here in this secure environment, your followers will be able to see what stocks you trade in and hold discussions regarding the same. An exciting concept and a legitimate reason to squander your time online!

ssh-SMS: This walked away with the third prize thanks to numerous real world use cases. When everyone has a cellphone and when you can interact with a computer through SMS, you open up a lot of possibilities.

Question.me and Question recommendations: While semantic search is yet to take off in a big way, these two simple hacks try to give a taste of what it would be like using our current keyword-based technology. While Question.me gives answerers a reputation rating based on their answers in Quora, Yahoo Answers and the like, the latter brings in ranked similar-query results for the question you want to ask on answer sites.

HackTheTag: This innovative hack uses reverse image search techniques, to tag photos on photo sharing sites. With images being a staple part of our media consumption, HackTheTag would help in better structuring of the web’s pictorial data.

NotifySS: Probably the simplest and the most useful of all the hacks presented at HackU. While notifications form a vital cog of Facebook, its functionality leaves a lot to be desired, especially for administrators of large groups. Notifyss gives you a slideshow of your notifications, all the while letting you take appropriate action on them.

For the complete list of the hacks compiled, click here.

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Note:

The Scholars’ Avenue is making this video available only through this source. We do not take responsibility for videos shared on other avenues.

This video is viewable via intranet only. Please ensure that proxies are disabled for local IPs, or add an exception for 10.0.0.0/8

Note:

The Scholars’ Avenue is making this video available only through this source. We do not take responsibility for videos shared on other avenues.

This video is viewable via intranet only. Please ensure that proxies are disabled for local IPs, or add an exception for 10.0.0.0/8