Q: How long have you been in the teaching profession and what have your assignments been before coming to BITS Pilani?

A: Formally, I have been in the teaching profession for a little over two years. I say “formally” because that is how long I have been officially holding the position of the academic professor. But I have been involved in teaching since much earlier. Starting in the year 1989, when I was working in CEERI, we had, jointly with BITS, initiated the M.E programme in microelectronics which was the first such programme in the country. I had been involved in teaching different courses under that programme. So, one can say that my association with teaching goes back to 1989. But back then, I was formally a scientist at CEERI. So my full-fledged teaching assignment began a little over two years ago.

Q: How long have you been a professor in BITS Pilani and what have your academic assignments here been?

A: I joined BITS Pilani in December 2015, after my retirement from CEERI. My assignments involve teaching courses, primarily for postgraduate programmes. I teach courses on VLSI architecture, advanced VLSI architecture, and radiofrequency microelectronics. Two of these courses – advanced VLSI architecture, and radiofrequency microelectronics – have been redeveloped. Besides teaching, I mentor research students, support younger faculty, and guide Masters and Undergraduate Thesis, Design Oriented Projects, and Laboratory Oriented Projects.

Q: You have been a part of CEERI which is quite closely associated with BITS Pilani since its inception. How have you seen the campus, the quality of students and faculty, and the relationship with CEERI change over time?

A:  I must say that I was a student at BITS too. I was a student from 1969 – 1971 doing my Masters in Physics and I continued further here to do my Ph.D. in the area of semiconductor electronics. So, I was at the institute from 1969 – 1975. There was always a lot of collaboration between the two institutes. There is still a lot of faculty-scientist interaction. Students also go to CEERI, utilise the facilities there and work on the technologies and experimental facilities available at CEERI. Several CEERI faculty come and teach courses here. The microelectronics postgraduate programme that I mentioned earlier started as a collaborative effort between the two institutions.

Q: You were a student of BITS Pilani a long time ago when entrances were based on marks in board exams. How do you see the introduction of BITSAT and its effect on the quality of students joining BITS?

A: As far as quality of students coming in is concerned, I have always believed that India has a huge pool of talented students after Class 12. So there is really no dearth of high-quality students. The test that we conduct, BITSAT, it sort of normalizes the standard of students coming in. It was earlier felt that there was some skewness in the board marks which could not be overcome by normalization – an effort to correct the skew due to some boards awarding more marks, some boards having an easier syllabus, and so on needed to be present. So, a test of our own definitely helps that way. In terms of student quality, BITS has always attracted some of the very best students and it continues to do so.

Q: How do you see the international exchange programmes that BITS has brought in? How do you think it will contribute to making BITS a better university?

A: As the economy progresses and our country becomes more integrated into the global architecture, our students need to get more exposure from international institutions, their processes, methods, quality of education, and so on. It is an experience which supplements them for global positioning – something that they require in times to come. And it won’t be a one-way process. Students from other countries would equally like to come to India and many of them would like to come to BITS and gain some experience. This is a direct consequence of the integration of India into the world economy. It is from this point of view that these efforts are welcome because they give a wider exposure to our students as well as our faculty. It is and it will continue to be a two-way exchange programme which benefits us and our foreign partners alike.

Today, our students can afford these exchange programmes thanks to the Indian economy becoming better, affordability of travel, stay, and so on. These programmes used to happen when I was a student of BITS too. But during those days, one had to completely depend on the scholarship provided by the receiving country. The interaction with MIT was active then, and some students used to go to MIT. Faculty exchange programme between MIT and BITS was also taking place. For a short period after the MIT collaboration expired, the exchange programme wasn’t very active. But it was revived and is successful today because in a globalized world, it is very welcome and it should be strengthened.

Q: Pilani is cut-off from any major city. While some students view this as a disadvantage since disconnects them from major hubs, others view this as an opportunity to lead a peaceful, hassle-free, and serene life. What is your take on the location of BITS Pilani?

A: I have stayed in Pilani for almost 50 years now. I would say calling it an isolated place is only partly correct. Today, information connectivity is not an issue at all. Thanks to the internet, information connectivity is as good as anywhere else in the world. With respect to physical connectivity, yes, there are some issues. But I believe if you are not distracted by the humdrum of the city life, you can concentrate better, and build better friendships. I have seen that the campus life in Pilani is — in my opinion at least — qualitatively superior to the kind of campus life I have seen in several of the equivalent institutions located in bigger cities. I find that the students there have less time to interact with each other as a lot of their time goes in traveling and other activities that you might term as distractions. From that point of view, I do believe, that the location of Pilani, at least for students, certainly does not bring any negative factors.

Q: You stated that you have been here at Pilani for 50 years now. Are there any interesting anecdotes or incidents that you would like to share?

A: A lot of them – a lot of memories. When I was doing my Ph.D. in Pilani, the Ph.D. students were lodged at Malviya Bhawan. In summers, as the institute would close down, no undergraduate or postgraduate students would be around. Typically, messes would be closed down too. So, one had to sort of hunt for food. The scorching heat made it not very conducive to walk for around 2-3 km to Nutan Market to eat something at lunchtime. Hence, it was a common joke that only unfortunate research students and crows stay in Pilani during summers.  Research scholars have no vacations, but the summers are the most productive time that they can get.

The other kind of change that I notice is we used to have very dark storms that would hit Pilani back then. They were called Peeli Aandhi (Yellow) and Kaali Aandhi (Black). Kaali aandhi would be so dark that you could not even see the edge of the road you were walking on and had to freeze yourself wherever you were until the storm passed away. Yellow aandhi would turn the sky yellow – sort of orangish yellow. It was lighter than the kaali aandhi, but the sand would come rolling like clouds do, and these were some very very interesting scenes of those days.

The other thing I remember from my student days is that Dr. G.D.Birla used to visit the campus typically twice in a year. Whenever he used to come, he was kind enough to offer a trip to Delhi in his private airplane to the students. So, students used to run to the airstrip to be able to get a seat on his plane. The more interesting part is that they would simply take the flight to Delhi, just for the sake of flying, and return to Pilani on the next available train.

I remember that the cultural fest, Oasis, started in the year 1971 and its transformation into a very successful fest countrywide still fascinates me. I also recall how our college had high-quality music troupes that used to win prizes in different cultural festivals all over the country.

Q: Any piece of advice for the students?

A: Look deeply at what matters to you. Work in that area. What matters to you is something that you ought to be asking yourself. It is not a superficial look at what one wants but is a deep insight into what is it that excites you and ignites a spark inside you. So, work in that area, build your capabilities, work extremely well, be imaginative, and while implementing them, be disciplined.

Pursue your dreams. Pursue your dreams irrespective of what others feel or say. It does not mean that we don’t listen to anyone. But the point is, to listen to everyone but take our own judgment. This includes listening to ourselves deeply. Do that, pursue excellence and go after what matters to you, then you would really live a happy life. You may feel getting a good package on completion of your degree is what is a successful life, but this success is much less consequential. The satisfaction of doing what matters to you, and being able to contribute to society is a tremendous satisfaction.