I visited my Alma Mater

Several times we talk of helping our juniors; of keeping them involved in the right things; or of showing them the right track. I think it is one of our duties as seniors. As we are proud of our juniors at some point of the time or the other, it is important for us to help them whenever we can. And the best way to help them is to “inspire” them. Seeing is believing. And “inspiring” is the best “teaching”.

I don’t claim to have achieved 100% by what I did a few days back, but I made sure that I did my best.

NIT Durgapur chapter of ISTE (Indian Society for Technical Education), organized its 11th AISEC (All India Students’ Engineering Congress) on Jan 21-22, 2006. I delivered an ‘invited lecture’ there. The topic was “Changing face of Cement Industry”. It dealt with how once upon a time cement industry was considered a pollution creating industry, and now a days it is looked upon as a waste consuming industry (alternative raw materials, alternative fuels, additives). I met a number of young engineering students from across India. I was impressed by their presentations in the Technical Paper Presentation sessions. Two young guys from VIT-Vellore had developed an e-OPD s/w, which prescribes medicines once symptoms are entered on a computer program. The s/w has got a training phase, where it actually learns how to make a decision. They have created a website and are planning to put the s/w there for free, for medical students to study and help them update it! Several other papers were very good, and I went through them being in the panel of judges.

In between and after the sessions I interacted with students and helped them with their concerns. A lot of them were in confusion over joining “IT” or “Core tech” companies. They were as enthusiastic as we were in our college times.

And most importantly, I visited ‘my’ Alma Mater after 20 months. I passed though the same pavements and lived in the same hall-4. Visual looks have changed for a better. If you have not been there since long, learn from me that the mess and bathrooms are completely renovated; something we thought will never happen. The college has got a grant of 21 crores from World Bank, and a lot of things are benefiting. I met the child who used to sell ‘parathas’ in our hostels, the ‘dada’ who sells ‘misties’, the shop keepers in ‘techno stores’, and our loving ‘nadu da’ who served us with ‘roties’ in ‘jhups’. Of course I met some of our professors, who have not changed even a little in these years.

I suggest, go visit your alma mater once. Then you will know how good it feels.

- Rahul