PAUL JOSEPH – 70151 / ME PAWAN GOENKA – 70205 / ME

PAUL JOSEPH – 70151 / ME
After Retiring:
I am involved with several endeavours, mostly focused
on “giving back”. A business partner and I have created
a high-end real estate business in Chicago. We donate
the profits from this business to various charities in the
US and India. I serve on the board of a few non-profits
organisations. I am actively involved in a management
consulting firm founded by an IIT/K alumnus.
Family:
I married Pushpa in 1980. She is a Physician working as
a Professor of Pathology at the University of Illinois,
College of Medicine. We have lived in Peoria, a small
town in Illinois, for the past 33 years.
Education:
B.Tech. - IIT Kanpur
M. S. - George Washington University, Washington, DC
M. Eng. – Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Executive M.B.A. – University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign, IL
Our son, Arun, is a Physician who practices as an
Anesthesiologist specialized in Pain Management. Arun
is married to Rathi who is also a Physician who
practices Sports Medicine. They have two children,
Anya and Rayan. Our daughter, Lisa, is an Attorney who
practices Real Estate Law. She is married to Shekar,
who is a control systems engineer at Caterpillar.
Career:
Memories:
General Electric: Designed jet engines for military and
civilian aircraft in Cincinnati, OH.
While I have many fond memories of our years at IIT,
the one that has left an indelible memory is riding bikes
from the campus to Lucknow with Arghya Mukerjee and
Amarnath “Radio” Rajgopalan. I continue to be amazed
that we survived hours on the Kanpur to Lucknow
highway filled with overloaded trucks, overcrowded
buses and speeding cars. That night we slept on the
lawn of Lucknow's bus depot. After a sightseeing trip
around Lucknow, the next morning, we took the bus
back to Kanpur.
Caterpillar Inc.:
I worked at Caterpillar for 33 years in a number of roles
including CIO. I retired in the year 2011 as President of
Caterpillar Logistics for the Americas and Asia Pacific.
Traveled to over 50 countries and lived in China for a
few years. I visited Angshu every time I passed through
Delhi. I Met “Mac” Pillai several times while travelling to
Singapore on business. I ran into Amit “Mop” Srivastava
in Tokyo.
PAWAN GOENKA – 70205 / ME
Pawan Goenka
B.Tech. from IIT Kanpur,
Ph.D. from Cornell
University and graduate
of Harvard Business
School Advanced
Management Program –
no wonder Pawan has
responsibility today for
diverse businesses at
Mahindra and Mahindra
L t d . i n c l u d i n g
Automobiles, trucks, twowheelers, tractors and
implements, construction
equipment, grapes,
seeds, micro-irrigation, etc.
The song Chitthi Aayi Hai from the film Naam has a
Pawan, Pooja (Daughter), Puneet (Son),
Shyamal (Son-in-law), Mamta (wife)
special place in Pawan Goenka's heart. In 1992, when
Pawan and his wife Mamta were flipping through the
weekly newspaper India Abroad in Detroit, US, Pawan
( 77 )
chanced upon a full-page advertisement by an Indian
company that invited auto professionals settled abroad to
come back home. “Somehow, that just touched the right
chord. It was also the time when this ghazal was still
popular,” says Pawan. Having lived abroad for 18 years,
Mamta was longing to come back. Pawan wasn't too
willing initially, but gave in. He wrote to several companies
and got a few responses. One of them was from Mahindra
and Mahindra -- and the rest, as they say, is history.
After 14 years with General Motors in Detroit, the world
capital of automobiles, Pawan moved to Nashik to join
M&M, as their General Manager R&D. Among the
pioneering design work that he did at General Motors
was developing methods for analysis of engine bearings
and engine friction, which are still in use after 20 years. At
M&M he is widely acknowledged to be the man
responsible for Scorpio which gave a complete makeover
to the Company's image. Post launch of Scorpio he was
given the charge of the entire auto operations. He has a
major contribution in the meteoric growth of M&M's autobusiness from ? 400 cr to over 40,000 cr. Currently
Pawan is the Executive Director and President Automotive, Farm Equipment and Two-Wheelers,
accepted as the most important businesses of the Group.
Among the accolades he has earned are Man of the
Year, 2007 and 2011 by Autocar Professional (India's
leading auto magazine) and the Automotive Man of the
Year 2011 by NDTV Car & Bike. He is a fellow of SAE
International and the Indian National Academy of
Engineers and a Distinguished Alumnus of IIT-Kanpur.
He is the past President of Society of Automotive
Engineers (SIAM) India, and ARAI Governing Council.
He has been on the Board of National Skills
Development Corporation (NSDC) and on BOG of IIITHyderabad. He is also a National Council member of
CII. He was recently appointed as the Chairman of
Board of Governors of IIT, Madras.
When not thinking about automobiles, Pawan can be
found watching Bollywood movies or playing Bridge or
Scrabble. He lives in Mumbai with his wife Mamta, who
volunteers her time to counsel cancer patients and help
them receive proper treatment and postoperative care.
They have two children. Daughter Pooja is married and
lives in Mumbai. Son Puneet is pursuing his MBA at
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.
PAWAN GIRDHARILAL GUPTA - 70204 / ME
Most people can identify
turning points in their lives.
Coming to IIT was one for me
where I was honored to be
amongst the best minds. I am
grateful to my batchmates for
keeping me in the family even
though I transferred to UCLA
after the third year at IIT.
I was very happy at IIT;
however, by the third year my
family had started prompting
Pawan
me to go to the US to complete
my studies. Naturally, I denied
all such requests saying that it didn't get better than IIT
and frankly I had never had any desire to go abroad. But
the pressure continued. My brother had gone to US few
months earlier and my parents were worried about him.
They felt that if I went and joined him, they wouldn't be
worried etc. Well, once more, I learned that parents can
be quite persuasive.
I had joined IIT to major in Metallurgy, but the first class
in logic at UCLA convinced me I should be in the field of
computers. After graduating from UCLA, I worked at
Perkin-Elmer and Citicorp leading Engineering teams.
Then I joined a startup company where my role
morphed into Product Planning and Marketing, and later
into Business Development. Since then I have worked
at Microsoft, Toshiba, and four startup companies. Along
the way I managed to get an MBA.
Gautam, Navin, Nisha
For the past seven years, I have been an independent
consultant helping companies with their business and
product strategy. About four-plus years ago, I started
teaching a two-day workshop on presentation skills
which I love doing. The reception has been so great that
I am just finishing up a book on it that I hope to publish
this year.
The journey is never complete without the family: I
married Nisha in 1981. She works at Silicon Valley Bank
that caters to startup businesses. My son Navin worked
for Proctor and Gamble for several years and started a
company, PeerWell, this year. My son Gautam worked
for a few years at General Catalyst, a VC firm, and then
started Nature Box about three years ago.
( 78 )
PRABHAT SUR (ROBERT) - 70210 / EE
I have been married for 27 years to Sonali, and we have
been blessed with two daughters, one is in Princeton
University and the other at Johns Hopkins University.
I have wonderful and cherished memories of my IIT
days and am very proud to be a part of this great
Institution!
Inputs by Hemant Gokhale:
Son of Brilliant Doctors, he was very sharp, and topped
the ISc examination along with Sagun and Ranavir
Bose.
He was my neighbour in Hall II. Here too he was
brilliant, and whimsical, but he helped me a lot in the
initial years when I was struggling with Computers.
I graduated from IIT, Kanpur, with a B.Tech. degree in
Electrical Engineering and then did my Masters in
Computer Science from Texas A&M University.
I started working at a Super Computer Company, called
ETA Systems, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I have since
been leading various projects in software and services,
working for IBM for the last 25 years, in the Software
and Services divisions.
Besides work, I have been heavily involved with
Amnesty International and with Pratham, India, and
serve on the board of directors of the Austin Chapter.
For my leisure, my family and I have enjoyed hiking and
travelling the world extensively and have visited several
countries and enjoyed their culture.
His pranks along with Chopi (Arun Chopra) were to
really bully Bhatta (Pradeep Bhattacharya), Sharad
Bansal and Pankaj Chaturvedi, who were called Larry,
Moe and Curly Joe (yes Pankaj really had curly hair,
would u believe it !) by lighting crackers under their
doors with perfumed sticks and then watching the fun
when the crackers burst and out came the three to catch
the culprits, who were nowhere to be seen. The talk next
day at the breakfast table was who was the bxxxxxd
who had developed a new cracker which gave out a
lovely smell that permeated in the room, and then there
was loud bang ....!
PRADEEP KUMAR BHATTACHARYA - 70213 / CE
Pradeep and wife Dipti
Pradeep and Dipti
With constant follow-ups from Swami Baldevji and
telephonic advice from Sudhir Nanda for a profile of a
low-profile person like me for our e-book, I am
reluctantly trying to pen down on whatever I know on a
person named Pradeep Kumar Bhattacharya, the self. I
admire Baldev's ability to constantly persuade for the
write-ups. Three cheers for him.
It is now nearly a sixty-three-years-old physique which
( 79 )
four years back Mohan Shetye could recognize in one
go in a shop outside Niagara Falls. What a joyful
evening me along with my wife had with a surprised
item of home-made Shreekhand during the dinner in his
home in Buffalo along with mouth-watering Indian items
cooked by Diane, his charming better half.
If I recollect well there was a minimum age limit of 16
years when I passed I.Sc. I was falling short of 2 years
to appear for JEE and was thus compelled to do B.Sc.
from Kanpur University. I did it from Christ Church
College, and then joined IIT-K in 1970 and choose Civil
to remain in Kanpur to be near my parents. Alas, inbetween the lower limit was withdrawn but I thought to
complete B.Sc. It was a very tough decision to join IIT
on expenditure-wise though I got MCM and free-ship. It
was my mother, a primary school teacher, and father, an
LDC in Defense laboratory, who wished that I become
an Engineer from IIT and did their best to sustain all
through the years. I could partly cover by working in our
Library and
also in Civil Lab
Projects. The
m a j o r
expenditure I
remember was
mess bills, in
particular after
Bangladesh
Wa r. I w a s
lucky to have
Sushil Biyani as
Son Pradeepto and DIL- Mousumi
my roommate
all through
three years. Memories of Hall 2 for first three years and
Hall 1 for next two years are still fresh. Recollect well
the Gaali competitions between Hall 2 and Hall 3,
chasing ghost (our Sudhir Vyas) near the nalla between
Hall 3 and GH, Mess workers' strike and taking
procession to Dr. Shukla's house, our protest hunger
strike in front of Library for the removal of Dir.
Dr.Muthanna / Dr. Nurul Hasan, Chairman BOG, Rock
Festival, becoming caretaker for girl students coming to
attend our Cultural Festivals etc.
Because of financial reasons I had to opt for joining job
immediately after completion of B.Tech. I joined a
construction firm, M/s Construction Corporation in the
then Calcutta. There was compelling reason to take up
work in Kolkata as during summer vacation-training in
Kolkata after fourth year I came across a very charming
girl named Dipti amongst our relatives, in particular for
her dance. I was told my mother few years back had
also expressed her liking for her. Decided for no more
further looking around and straightaway started dating
with her culminating in our wedding on 27th July, 1977.
Dipti had continued to perform in many public and
private programs even after our marriage for many
years. After about a year's stay in Kolkata I joined a
consultancy organization, M/s Kunjbihari and Sen and
Dipti
performing
in a dance
program.
got posted at Bhubaneswar in 1976. I started my family
life in Bhubaneswar. It was a thrilling feel to meet our
Rahul Asthana and then Gautam Datta (Goldie) in one
hotel named Rajmahal. Rahul/Goldie may recollect
those moments. And then was a great surprise waiting
for me when I saw our D. D. Karopadi opening the lock
of the room adjacent to mine in the hotel where I was
staying before my marriage. These were in 76-77.
I then joined TISCO (Collieries) in 1979 at Jamdoba in
Dhanbad Dist. Funny thing happened when I went to
join their open coal mines at place called West Bokaro
near Hazaribag, no connection with Bokaro. I was told
our Veeresh Mathur had left few days back.
I was blessed with, as a joining gift in TISCO, a son in
1980. Named him Pradeepto. He is settled now in Pune
and works in software linage. Google says he is a
Software Enthusiast, Free Software contributor. KDE
Daughter Paromita, SIL- Abhijit with grand daughter Aarohi
e.V. Board of Director, Founder of KDE India etc. He got
married to a charming doll in 2007 named Mousumi
from Kharagpur. Baldev, Pawan, Angshu, Chow,
Phadya, Bond and all the way from US Rahul
Mukherjee graced the occasion in Panvel, New Mumbai.
I left TISCO and joined EIL in end October 1983 at place
called Damanjodi. Again as a joining gift I was blessed
with a charming daughter Paromita on 30th December of
the same year, 1983. As per the advise of our Joe she
pursued in Microbiology and did M.Sc. She is married to
Abhijit Apte and a home-builder now. I was lucky to get
( 80 )
Shekhar Murthy, Bond and all the way from UAE, Hari
Pady on the occasion. They are blessed with a
daughter, Aarohi. They are also now settled in Pune
after a six years stay in US. Abhijit is also into software.
I superannuated from EIL on 30th June 2012. All through
my service career I had been in Construction
Management field and for last 20 year of my service life
had been staying alone on project needs and my wife
was taking care of my parents and our children staying
in Panvel, New Mumbai. So on superannuation did not
take up any full-time assignment except some freelance
ventures and spending the valuable balance life full-time
with my better half, Dipti. Wish to spend at least next 20
year in this way and then retire from -----.
During my field life handled the operations of scheduling
and budget oversight, efficiency at project management,
planning the construction process of designated projects
to accomplish the targets in accordance with outlined
priorities, time limitations, and funding conditions.
Analyzed results of the operations for substantial gains,
executing optimum utilization of resources with a
cost\benefit analysis and coordinated the successful
simultaneous development of several projects. Skilled at
negotiating and firming up the resources with ensured
quality, meeting organizational norms. Evaluated the
rationale for setback in the process of project
construction and resolve curative actions as such to
achieve progress of the project taken up within the
period that has been fixed.
I was lucky to be involved with many landmark projects
in India. Few of them are as follows:
(1)
India's first 80 Mts deep and 5 Mts Dia concrete
silos to store coal about 400 Mts below ground.
(2)
Asia's largest Alumina Plant of NALCO at
Damanjodi.
(3)
India's first Gas-Cracker complex of (then) IPCL at
Nagothane, Maharashtra.
(4)
First Multi Product Cross-country Pipeline from
Cochin, Kerala, to Karur, in Tamilnadu for Petronet.
(5)
IOCL's first Gas Cracker for a Petrochemical
Complex at Panipat.
Accomplishments:
As head of construction sites in the role of Resident
Construction Manager I had following achievements
which I feel to share with my pals.
* Successfully reached the MOU targets with GOI
whenever required.
* Accomplished the projects as Construction Head with
Zero Accidents. In particular as Resident
Construction Manager, achieved a global record of
LTA-free (Loss Time Accident) 80 Million Man Hours
for IOCL's Naphtha Cracker Project at Panipat. The
project had a workforce of about 40 thousand during
peak construction period. The total project cost was
about INR 14000 ( Fourteen Thousand) Crores,
largest amongst Indian Public Sectors in that period.
* Proficiently met the Time bound Schedule. Set a
global record in constructions to commissioning of
Panipat Gas Cracker Complex for 800 MMTPA
Ethylene production in similar capacity along with
downstream petrochemicals.
* Held De-Addiction camps for workers and staff at site
regularly as well in workers camps on each Sunday
at most of the sites.
I feel honored to be batchmate of globally famed
stalwarts viz. Ashok Jhun, Joey, Pawan Goenka,
Arindam Bose, Dhari, Rakesh Gangwal, Deepak
Mohoni, Sudhir Vyas, to name a few.
PRADEEP DAYARAM OZARDE - 70217 / CHE
Present Address : 1801 C1 Sunflower Runwal Garden
City, Balkum Thane, Maharashtra 400608
Contact Nos: 91-22-25333020; Mobile 07208246024
Email ID ozardepd@rediffmail.com
Professional Career:
Immediately after passing out of IITK, I joined Bhabha
Atomic Research Centre, Trombay and was with the
centre till retirement in 2011. My field of work was
Design, Installation, Commissioning and Operation of
Radioactive Waste Management Plants for Treatment,
Conditioning, Long Term Storage and Disposal of
different categories of Radioactive Waste.
Post Retirement:
1- Working as House husband as my wife is still
teaching in Engg. College
2- Watching TV channels (cricket, tennis, Marathi
serials, news , movies, Discovery etc)
3- Just venturing in Stock Market as beginner
4- Studying whether Astrology has any Scientific Basis
5- Exploring various parts of our Great Country
Family Details:
Wife's name was Rajashree before marriage but
changed to Priya after marriage. Because of these two
names and her two birth dates, actual and as per school
leaving certificate, lot of discrepancies in different
documents.
Luckily this keeps me occupied for
considerable amount of time.
2 Sons - Elder Satyajit 28 years Happy- Go- Lucky not
so good in academics.
Younger one Sumeet 27 years doing job after MMS in
Finance from Mumbai University.
( 81 )
PRAKASH PANANGADEN - 70221 / MSC5PHY
Computer Science, Queen's University 1990 (Jan-June).
Associate Professor in Computer Science McGill
University 1990-1996. Full Professor in Computer
Science McGill University 1996- present.
Leo Yaffe Award for Outstanding Teaching Faculty of
Science, McGill University 1999. Elected Fellow of the
Royal Society of Canada 2013.
Special 3 day
symposium PrakashFest held at Oxford University to
commemorate 60th birthday May 2014. Festschrift
book "Horizons of the Mind" published by SpringerVerlag 2014.
Born Pune, Maharashtra 11th March 1954. Attended
Calcutta Boys' School, Calcutta 1965-69. University: IIT
Kanpur 1970-75 MSc (Physics) integrated. University of
Chicago MS (Physics) 1978, University of WisconsinMilwaukee PhD (Physics) 1980.
Post-doctoral
researcher in physics, University of Utah 1980-82.
University of Utah MS (Computer Science) 1985.
Assistant Professor in Computer Science, Cornell
University, 1985-1990.
Associate Professor in
Prakash Panangaden is known for his contributions to
the expressive power of dataflow networks, the
semantics of concurrent constraint programming, the
early use of co-induction to define infinite objects in type
theory, and mainly for a number of investigations into
the theory of Markov processes. He has also published
papers on physics, pure mathematics, quantum
computation and the mathematical theory of relativity.
He is married with one child. His wife is also a Fellow of
the Royal Society of Canada.
PRAVEEN KHULLAR – 70225 / ME
Poonam and Praveen
Rohit with Vadin, Gaurav, Vandita,
Rohit, Poonam with Riya
I was born in Dehradun. I attended Loyola High School
in Jamshedpur and in 1975 graduated with a B.Tech. in
Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur before coming
to U.S.A. The summers in India were spent in family
reunions with cousins in Dehradun and later, during the
IITK days, with Yogesh Chandra, Sudarshan Bhutra,
Surinder Rawat and Alok Sinha as well. Hiking trip one
summer into a remote village accessible only by foot
and to Chakrata on top of a truck through unpaved,
steep hilly roadway with Yogesh and Surinder remain
permanently etched. At IITK, I was fortunate to room
with Angshu Das whose music with Vishwanath simply
carried us away, to partner with Rakesh Gangwal,
through whose genius we built a coin operated
automated coke dispenser which could work even with a
slight push, to play cricket with the likes of Ashok
Dandekar, Rahul Mukerjee, …, on couple of occasions
at Green Park and in Delhi University; and of course,
tennis ball cricket with Anil Deorukhkar. We had a great
team and played well without the benefit of a coach. I
( 82 )
am not sure why I was in such a hurry to leave the
campus. I went back in 1978 to meet my brother, but it
was not the same. They had started serving chow mein
in mess hall but it was not the same we used to have at
FuTu first thing every time we travelled back from
Jamshedpur.
I really did not know what awaited me in the U.S. I had
gone along with the flow. I wonder what life would have
been if I had taken up the job with L&T in Mumbai or at
ITC along with Yogesh in Kolkata. Somehow, these jobs
did not factor in once I got into Cornell University. As it
turned out, I had a phenomenal time at Cornell where I
completed my MS and PhD from Mechanical
Engineering Department in 1980. I had never intended
to work with computers, but for my thesis, what I did
was to build a system for computer aided design and
manufacturing of molds for injection molding of plastics
on a PDP 11/34 with 32 MB memory and hard drives 2
feet in diameter in an air conditioned room, working all
by myself on the time share computer through the
nights.
While doing my PhD at Cornell, I went to University of
Aachen with my thesis advisor where I met our IITK ME
Professor, Amitabha Ghosh and spent some quality time
with him during the six months that we were at Aachen.
Life at Cornell was also wonderful. It started out with
Pawan Goenka, Ram Upadhyay – also from IITK Classof-75 who has won accolades at GE, and Aspi Wadia, a
High School class-mate. We lived, cooked, worked
together … and had a ball. Never thought we would be
playing cricket in the US but we did – it was our
opportunity to travel and explore this new country.
Pawan, a cricket enthusiast, always accompanied us
and kept the scores. So here again we looked forward
for summers to roll around. I'm not sure why I was in
such a hurry to complete my time at Cornell, why I had
to rush in the middle of a winter storm to collect my
training visa from Buffalo at one end and then drive to
GE in Schenectady at the other end to start my first real
job – perhaps should have spent another summer out in
Ithaca.
The transition to professional life in a 9-to-5 job at GE,
was quite something. Before I could settle down to the
good life, they got me the Green Card and sent me from
the cold, the following winter, to sunny and picturesque
San Diego, to implement the plastics program on their
million dollar Calma systems which Jack Welch had just
purchased. Here again, in Schenectady, I found familiar
faces – Prof. Stokes and Prof. Kadambi from IITK ME
who were back in US working at GE, and perhaps
indirectly helped make my decision to stay back, maybe
rightly so. At GE, and later at Digital Equipment
Corporation, Wall Street firms, and now at AT&T, I have
repeatedly advanced the state of art on some fairly large
and complex strategic initiatives, integrated
technologies, people and teams to solve business
problems, in addition to managing mission critical
business systems. My latest work at AT&T over the last
six years has been towards LTE 4G technology
integration and deployment, the development of
adaptive management capabilities, and the migration of
hundreds of interconnected AT&T applications to the
cloud in a Lead PM, director role. Be it in area of design
and manufacturing, financial or telecommunications, or
sometimes teaching at NYIT, I have tried to make my
mark. I really enjoy my work as it becomes more intense
and dynamic with project teams from AT&T and various
vendor groups (IBM, CSC, M&M Tech, Accenture,
Infosys …) located across the globe. I continue to be
totally heads down, not interested in politics, which is
what I believe makes me cut to the chase and allows
me to deliver.
Family life has been great as well. The best thing that
happened was to marry Poonam, a graduate of
Christian Medical College Vellore in 1980 just before I
received my PhD. After she completed her Pathology at
UMDNJ and fellowship at Deaconess Hospital in
Boston, we eventually settled down on Long Island in
Sands Point in 1991. Apart from two and a half years in
San Diego, we have lived in the NY/NJ area. We have
three kids all of whom have graduated and started their
own lives. The great thing is that they are all located
nearby. Our daughter, Vandita is married to Rohit. They
are both investment bankers with leading Wall Street
firms in NY; Rohit is a Managing Director while Vandita
is a VP. And they are bringing up our adorable
grandkids, Riya and Vadin. Gaurav, our elder son, is a
physician doing a Pathology residency in Upstate NY.
Rohit, our younger one, just received his B.S. in
Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell
University, and is now working with a risk management
financial services company also in the NY area.
In short, this has been a good run so far. While I have
now lived two-thirds of my life in the U.S., my heart and
mind still belongs to a large extent in India, and wish I
am able to spend more time there.
( 83 )
PRIYA RANJAN SWARUP - 70229 / CE
High School from St. John's
School Agra.
Bachelor of Technology (Civil
Engineering) - Indian Institute
of
Technology Kanpur, 1975.
Ph.D degree from Rajiv
Gandhi Technical University,
Bhopal, India on evolving a
workable model for assessing
the business risks in
Construction operations.
Decorated with a D. Sc. (Honoris Causa) by Assam
Central University, India for his sterling constructions to
develop Scientific & Technological applications.
Served with several prestigious domestic & International
consultancy & construction companies for over two
decades, acquiring vast experience in engineering
designs, construction management project exports,
technology transfer & regulatory issues.
Joined Construction Industry Development Council
(CIDC), in the year 1996 as the first Director. CIDC was
formed by the Planning Commission, GOI to reform the
Construction Sector.
Presently working as Director General of CIDC.
As the first CEO of CIDC, he has been responsible for
conceptualizing & implementing several good practices
in Construction industry. Special Achievements at CIDC
are:
Rationalization of Contract Conditions for domestic
bidding construction contracts, and drawing up the text
of a model contract document by incorporating the
rationalized conditions, and getting the same approved
by the Government of India for implementation.
Development of Construction Cost Indices: The indices
are being published for 78 cities including six metro
cities of India.
Human Resource Development in Construction Industry
: Drawing up of National Vocational Qualification
Standards, for 47 construction trades, Development of
training modules based on OLDES pedagogy, and
establishing the trade training , testing and certification
program, throughout the country, in association with
three open learning and distance education providing
Universities. Establishing 13 Institutes for imparting
training, in association with the Industry.
Construction Equipment Bank: Conceptualizing, and
establishing Construction Equipment Banks, to facilitate
easy access of Construction Equipment for the
operators of construction sector.
Construction Financing: Interacted with Indian Banks
Association (IBA) to develop the lending norms for
Construction Industry. RBI issued a notification on
February 4, 2003, detailing Guidelines for Financing of
Infrastructure Projects.
Grading Of Construction Entities: Development of a
comprehensive and reliable system for assessing
performance potentials of all entities involved in a
project, viz., the contractor, the owner, the consultant
and the project itself. The system has been
implemented, and several construction entities have
already been graded.
Insurance & Non-Insurance Risks Mitigation Products
For Construction Industry:
Development of the non-insurance and insurance
products which aim at mitigating/ managing risks, which
are inherent to construction business.
Recognition of Construction Sector as an Industry.
Recipient of Golden Peacock National Training Award
(2007-08) for the initiative “Holistic Human Resource
Development (HHRD) for the Marginalized Segment of
Indian Society”.
Recipient of EPC World Awards 2012 for “Outstanding
Contribution in Skill Building in Construction Industry.”
(Visit web site http://www.cidc.in for more details).
Serving on various high powered Committees
constituted by Government of India including:
Steering Committee on Construction for the Tenth,
( 84 )
Eleventh & Twelfth Five Year Plan constituted by
Planning Commission as Convener.
1. Construction Industry Professional Training Council
(CIPTC)
As a member of working groups on Hydropower,
Surface Transport & housing, for development of 10th
As Convener on the Review Committee for Contracts
Management Systems by Ministry of Statistics, Planning
and Programme Implementation.
2. Construction Industry Vocational Training Council
(CIVTC)
As a member of UNCITRAL working groups.
As Secretary General (Designate) of UNECE-CIDC
CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR PUBLIC PRIVATE
PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS (UNECEP).
Responsible for establishing several Institutions to bring
about the improvements in the functioning of
Construction Industry, such as
3. Indian Society for Trenchless Technology (IndSTT)
4. Healthcare Infrastructure Development Centre (HIDC)
5. SAARC Construction Industry Chamber (SAARCCIC)
6. Construction Industry Arbitration Council (CIAC)
7. Council for Application of Actuarial Science in Risk
Management in Construction and Allied Industries
(CARM)
Initiatives planned for near future:
- National Academy of Construction, Hyderabad,
1. Expansion & Acceleration of job creation initiatives
- Chhattisgarh Nirman Academy, Raipur,
2. Initiative for massive induction of advanced
technologies for cost-effective modern construction
- Construction Industry Arbitration Council, &
- Asian Construction & Concrete Institute. , 11th & now
the 12th National Plans.
3. Initiation of R&D initiatives in Indian Construction
Sector
4. Initiatives to develop specific technologies & develop
financial models for Rural Construction
Membership of Professional Bodies
~Fellow of Institution of Surveyors
5. Initiatives for overcoming technological challenges to
provide cost-effective basic amenities at Rural & Urban
levels.
~Fellow of Institution of Engineers (India)
~Fellow of Institution of Civil Engineers, United Kingdom
~Fellow of Actuarial Society of India
Member of the Board of Governors of the following
organizations.
Sr. Vice President of International Council of
Consultants Secretary General of
6. Initiatives to improve Brand-Equity of the Construction
Industry to encourage more youth to enter into this
industry.
Author of numerous published original papers on
Construction Industry in several technical journals &
other media resources.
PULIN KINKHABWALA - 70230 / CHE
completed his Masters in Industrial Engineering and
Operation's Research. There, as a special project,
developing a simulation model for throughput rate where
multi-station, multiple work stations at each station and
random events were involved, that became a standard
part of Queuing Theory Curriculum at University of
Michigan.
Vishal – Pulin – Mona – Pooja
At IITK, Pulin was a team member of Hockey team and
also contributed in music playing “Tabla”.
Upon graduation from IITK, he went to USA and
Pulin's first job was in manufacturing environment, in
production planning and manufacturing engineering,
where his association with computers continued. He
evolved the company from Economic order point system
to a sophisticated ERP system. From there he moved to
the defense industry, where he was responsible for a
turnaround of a struggling project and received award
for raising the company status from last (11th) rated subcontractor to Top (number 1) subcontractor.
Pulin's next assignment, with “Can-do” attitude, moved
him to join AT&T Bell Labs' computer division. There he
( 85 )
spent 15 years and moved through ranks from
development to technical management. The equipment
arm of AT&T split off to Lucent Technologies. He did his
MBA from one of the top-rated business school in USA,
Kellogg Business School, Northwestern University
during his employment at Lucent and received top
student award and a membership at prestigious Beta
Gamma Sigma Honor Society. With that he moved over
to the business side of Lucent and rose through ranks
there also in the prime switching product line where he
moved around in international assignment as well as
US, Systems Engineering, Product management, M&A,
Business strategy etc. During these roles, he received a
US patent (Co-inventor) for application of a new
technology in business solutions. He was also member
of a key team that grew the business from $ 1.7B to
over $ 5B in a span of four years. When he left Lucent in
2001, he was holding a US product line responsibility
with $ 3.5B P/L.
In 2001 Pulin left Lucent and took on the role of
entrepreneurship, after a year of consulting in
Pharmaceutical and Healthcare industry and founded
his own company, Marvel Technologies Inc. They are
responsible for supporting software, hardware
technologies for Medical Practices. He joined a
nationwide association of independent software valueadded resellers (AIMSVAR), was President of the
association for two years and has been on Board of
Directors of AIMSVAR.
Pulin volunteered for organizations like Boy Scouts in
the role of treasurer and also Asian American
Leadership forums. He volunteers his services in
coaching and mentoring Asian American youth in
achieving career success and has started teaching
Healthcare Information Technology (healthcare IT)
course at University of Phoenix on a part time basis. He
has continued with his love for Music and plays Tabla in
Chicago in non-professional environment.
Pulin married Mona in 1981 and has settled in Chicago,
USA area since then. He has two children Pooja and
Vishal, both in Medical School.
RAGHAVENDRA MATHUR – 70233 / EE
Rajit, Neena, Ragini & Raghavendra
Education: B Tech,
Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur (1970-75)
Employment: I worked with Computronics India, New
Delhi from the year 1975 to 1978.
I was with Dunlop India, Management Services,
Sahaganj, West Bengal from 1978 to 1982. Then I
joined Tata Steel, Information Technology Services as
Computer Engineer in 1982. I superannuated from Tata
Steel in June 2013 as Head IT Infrastructure. I am
currently working as Consultant, IT, Automation &
Procurement from August 2013 in a Joint Venture
company of Tata Steel and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo
Metals Corporation at Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.
Community Services:
I have been a Rotarian from the year 1984 and have
been serving Rotary International since then in District
3250, Jharkhand & Bihar. I have been a Paul Harris
Fellow since 2012.
Professional Activities:
I was a member of Computer Society of India. I was
recipient of Chief Information Security Officer of the year
award in 2006.
Family:
I married Neena in 1978. We have two children. Our
daughter, Ragini, is married to Ashvin and they are
based in San Francisco. Our son, Rajit, is married to
Devika and they are based in Providence, USA.
Memories:
One thing which I can't forget is the aalu parathas on
Sunday mornings in Hall V mess. Those deep-fried crisp
parathas were unique in taste and I have not had such
parathas anywhere so far. I wonder if they serve these
now and if so, I would love to have one/two during our
next visit to IIT K.
And I still remember the movies which we used to see in
L7. If there was some good and popular scene, the
students would insist to rewind and replay the same
again and again. And this would be happily done. This
must have happened umpteen times during our stay in
Kanpur.
( 86 )
RAHUL ASTHANA - 70234 / AE
Rahul Asthana belongs to
the Indian Administrative
Service and served in the
Government of India and
Government of Maharashtra
for 35 years. He was largely
involved in the management
and implementation of
Infrastructure projects,
having worked as CEO of
the Bombay Electric Supply
and Transport (BEST), Chairman of the Mumbai Port
Trust, Financial Controller of the Department of Atomic
Energy, and Secretary, Energy, Govt of Maharashtra.
He was involved in the process to have CERN give
India Observer status when working in the Dept. of
Atomic Energy (which was the agency for India's
participation). He visited the LHC in CERN and went
down to the cavernous tunnel which housed the collider
and is spread across both Switzerland and France.
His last posting before he retired was as Metropolitan
Commissioner MMRDA where he was responsible for
the planning and execution of large transport projects in
Mumbai like the Metro and Monorail, Eastern Freeway,
Sahar elevated road, and improving connectivity in
Mumbai and the outlying areas.
He was also
instrumental in initiating power generation projects in
2007-08 which have now resulted in Maharashtra
having a surplus generating capacity. He retired from
the IAS in 2013 and now works as an Independent
Consultant and Advisor in the Logistics and
Infrastructure space.
Rahul has been Chairman of Maharashtra Transco, and
has served on the Boards of Tata Power, Maharashtra
Distribution and Generation companies, Nuclear Power
Corporation, CIDCO, Uranium Corporation, Dabhol
Power and was on the Governing council of Tata
Memorial Hospital. He is currently on the Boards of
Aegis Logistics Ltd., Binani Industries Ltd., Binani Zinc
Ltd., and United Liner Agencies.
Rahul is married to Sujata, and their family consists of
their son Varun married to Menaka, granddaughter Ira in
Singapore, and Viven who is in Mumbai.
RAHUL MUKERJEE - 70237 / ME
After graduating, Rahul worked for a year in his father's
company in Kolkata and then moved to the University of
Cincinnati, Ohio to earn his Master's degree in
Mechanical Engineering. In 1978 he became a
Professional Enginer, State of Ohio while working in
Cincinnati for a lighting company. His career in plastics
started in earnest, when he joined Textron Automotive
Company in South Georgia. Simultaneously he attended
a night school to get a Master's degree in Business
Management from Georgia Southwestern College in
Americus, GA. Later he taught night classes at the
Business School while working during the day. He also
completed blue belt training in Tae Kwon Do and finally
had to give up Tae Kwon Do in favor of work and
Business School.
Rahul was with Textron Automotive for 17 years and
thereafter for 10 years with Visteon Corp (a spin-off from
Ford Motor Company). Currently, he is the Director of
Advanced Engineering at Wilbert Plastic Services. He had
the rare opportunity to study quality improvement methods
from Dr. Deming, Professor Box, Professor Hunter and
Shin Taguchi (Genichi Taguchi's son). Rahul also
completed Six Sigma Champions and Green Belt Training.
Among the various developments (most of them firsts)
he was involved in are: negative thermoformed
seamless passenger airbag instrument panels, hard
laser scored TPO molded-in-color seamless passenger
airbags, simultaneous two-shot IP for Ford Mustang,
composite reinforced thermoformed skin technology,
plastic composite to replace lead in a CT scan machine
etc. Rahul is currently working on fabric plastic
integration for interiors in the new Ford Lincoln MKC.
In 2002, Rahul was admitted as a Member of the Board
of Directors of SPE (Society of Plastics Engineers) in
Detroit Apart from Rahul's obvious interests in
innovation, he is passionate about technical analysis of
stocks as demonstrated by his blog on investing using
technical analysis to manage investments and trades
with stocks, bonds, options and futures.
http://rvalueinvestments.blogspot.com/2011/02/beginnings.html
Rahul is married to Indrani and they have two children,
Monica and Rahul Jr. (Dave), both of whom graduated
from Michigan State University. Monica received the
McNair, Truman and Marshall scholarships and did her
Master's at Oxford and King's College in the UK. She is
presently working at the Red Cross in Geneva. Dave is
studying for his Doctoral in Physical Therapy.
( 87 )
RAJEEV SANGAL - 70245 / EE
regular part of the academic curriculum at IIIT-H in
2005. It has played a major role in shaping the
atmosphere of the Institute, and drawing attention to
larger human and societal concerns. There is also an
attempt to run the Institution on these principles. Since
then the course has spread to several universities in
India and abroad including to IIT (BHU).
Professional Activities:
His research in Natural Language Processing led to the
development of Computational Paninian Grammar
(CPG) framework. It has been applied to parsing,
semantics and morphological analysis of Indian
languages etc. and forms the basis of several machine
translation (MT) systems among Indian languages as
well as English. He leads/mentors the multi-institutional
consortium that has developed MT systems for 18
Indian language pairs. He has authored 4 books and
many research papers.
Rajeev, elder daughter Sapna, younger
daughter Shefali, wife Nisha
Prof. Rajeev Sangal
Director, IIT(BHU)
Varanasi UP 221 005
India
director@iitbhu.ac.in, sangal@iiit.ac.in
He is a fellow of the Indian National Academy of
Engineering and of Computer Society of India. He was
given Vasvik Award in 2008.
Education:
1980
Ph.D.
University of Pennsylvania,
Computer & Info. Sc.
1978
M.S.
University of Pennsylvania,
Computer & Info. Sc.
1975
B.Tech.
Indian Institute of Technology,
Kanpur, Electrical Engg.
As the President of NLP Association, India from 2002
onwards he helped organize the community of NLP
researchers and started ICON, a high-quality annual
NLP conference. He referees for many major
conferences such as IJCNLP, ICON, COLING and ACL,
and has been on the editorial board of journals like
Computational Linguistics, Corpora, ACM Trans. of
Asian Language Processing, Machine Translation, NL
Engineering, Computer Sc. and Informatics, etc.
Employment:
2013 – Current
Director and Professor, IIT (BHU),
Varanasi
2002 – 2013
Director and Professor, IIIT
Hyderabad
1998 – 2002
Satyam Computers (at IIIT
Hyderabad like a Faculty Chair)
1987 – 1998
Professor, Computer Sc. and Engg.,
IIT Kanpur
1982 – 1987
Assistant Professor, Computer Sc.
and Engg., IIT Kanpur
1980 – 1982
Research Staff, Lab. for Computer
Science, MIT,Cambridge, USA
He led a newly established research University, namely
IIIT Hyderabad, for 11 years as its Director. In the new
University, he helped create an innovative academic
structure around research centres rather than
departments; a radical research-oriented undergraduate
curriculum; integrated transdisciplinary BTech-MS
programmes; research that tries to connect with society
& industry; and an environment of experimentation,
openness, and caring. He is now working on bringing
about a transition in Institute of Technology, BHU to
Indian Institute of Technology.
Family:
Nisha (wife): Active in working on value education and
living the values. Sapna (elder daughter): Architect,
works with eco-friendly housing using natural materials.
Also works on Human Values.Shefali (younger
daughter): Vaidya, committed to Ayurveda. Also works
on Human Values.
Important additional responsibilities held:
Sep - Nov 2014
Vice Chancellor, Banaras Hindu
University, Varanasi
Community Service
He designed and helped make human-values course a
( 88 )
RAJENDRA KRISHNARAO NAIK – 70248 / CHE
Present Address:
26, Jaladarshan Society, Valia road, G I D C
Ankleshwar Gujarat 393002 Mo: 9427110221
Education:
School: Till Matriculation or 11th: Pethe Highschool,
Nasik, Maharashtra
Pre Degree College: DAV college, Solapur, Maharashtra
Career:
1. 1975 to 79 (4 years): Worked in Hindustan Lever
Research Centre, Mumbai
2. From 1979 to 2002: Established
own company in Ankleshwar
Gujarat
Company Name “Ferrox
Pigments”
Product: Iron oxide pigments
used in paints, flooring tiles,
plastics etc.
3. From 2003 onwards, associated with SEWA
RURAL. It is an NGO in Jhagadia, Distt. Bharuch. It
is involved in health education and economic
welfare of poor and tribal or adivasi people in
Bharuch and adjoining Narmada districts. I am
giving service in their Vocational Training School,
namely Vivekananda Gramin Tekniki School.
We are imparting one year
vocational training to local tribal
and other poor children (mainly
school drop outs from 8th to 12th)
in various trades relevant to
l o c a l i n d u s t r i e s . We a r e
conducting courses in MS, SS
and other advanced Welding,
Machining, Turning, Electrical
Wiring and Maintenance in
Industries; Chemical Plant Production Operator,
Chemical Plant Maintenance Fitter in Chemical Industry;
and courses in Computer etc. Each year, we train more
than 200 students and are providing 100% jobs in
nearby industries.
Please visit: www.sewarural.org
Family:
Wife: Veena,
Children: 1. Manasi 33, stays in Hyderabad. Husband
Raghavendra works in Microsoft. She has two
daughters, Avani, 5 years and Sesha 1 year.
RAJESH KIKANI - 70255 / EE
Education: PGDBM from IIM
Ahmedabad – Passed in 1978.
Career: Worked as Junior
Development Engineer with M/s
Jyoti Limited for a year, left for
higher studies. After IIM, I joined
Alembic, then the fourth largest
pharmaceutical company in India
as Product Manager. I later had
opportunity to work in Projects
and as Executive Assistant to
MD. I changed my job after 11 years and joined Sun
Pharma as Vice President of Management Services. It
was quite an eventful part of my career where I learnt a
lot and had lots of opportunities to contribute to the
organization. I rejoined Alembic in 1995 as head of
Manufacturing and later got responsibility to look after
Quality Control and Marketing areas as well. I joined
Cadila Healthcare (Zydus) in 2004 as Head, Project
Management Office. I was designated as Chief Risk
Officer. I Retired in 2013. At present I am associated
with Institute of Management, Nirma University,
Ahmedabad.
Family: I married Darsha after she completed her MBA
from Gujarat University in 1979. Darsha was a National
Swimmer and Trained in playing Violin. She worked for
consulting vertical of Operations Research Group for a
few years till we had our son in 1981. Darsha left her job
to look after Parth for six years. During that period she
got her LLB and Became Company Secretary and set
up her own practice as Company Secretary. Major
change in family life occurred when our son, Parth, left
for Dubai to do his MBA from SP Jain Institute of
Management after qualifying as Chartered Accountant.
( 89 )
Parth currently works for Emirates NBD in Asset
Management function. Darsha could fulfill her desire of
doing PGPX from IIM Ahmedabad in 2007-08, and went
on to work with Reliance Industries (ADAG) in Mumbai
in Senior Management Position. She is currently
working with M/s Educational Initiatives Ltd, a company
developing educational products in assessment.
Memories: They are many, as the entire period of five
years was eventful. The way one Mr Sunil Bhosle (I
never met him after joining IITK) convinced me at IIT
Bombay where I had gone for my interview, that for
studying Electrical, IITK was the place…and I was lucky
to be there! Never pardoned myself for being ragged by
Chirayat on first day, first hour – only to find out later
that he was a fresher too! Lovely voice of KV (Vishu),
room-mate of Pulin Kinkhabwala, was always a great
stress reliever. I can never forget our adventure, when
Janak Vora and myself decided to travel to Shimla
without spending a pi (Desi version of the Europe
adventure by two of our privileged classmates)… and
actually made it! I also remember La Montage, cultural
festival and the Basketball Championships on campus. I
also remember having participated in hunger strike in
1975. Years spent with Bharat Parikh, Pulin
Kinkhabwala, Madhav & Mukund Mavalankar, Maulik
Radia, Janak Vora, Suren Shah, Rahul Thakkar, Sunil
Patel, Nainit Merchant, Rajesh Dalal, Vikram Kamdar,
Ronak Shodhan, Alok Ranjan, Samir Vora, Sudhir
Jhaveri and Rajiv Chopra have always remained fresh
in memories.
RAJIV KALRA - 70259 / MME
B. Tech. in Metallurgical
Engineering; member of
Institute of Engineers
Australia and member of
Australasian Institute of
Mining and Metallurgy
(AusIMM). Currently
Chief Executive
Officer/Director of CITIC
HIC Australia and Global
General Manager of
CITIC Heavy Industries
China since 2007.
Earlier, served over 17 years in Sydney, Australia with
Metso Minerals as the Regional Product Manager -
Grinding and Process - Asia Pacific.
I have travelled extensively throughout the world and
have developed immense, long-lasting relations with
customers, suppliers, and key players in various
organisations.
1990 – 2000 were spent with Svedala Australia Limited,
Allis Minerals Systems, Boliden Allis, Boliden AllisChalmers as Sales & Project/Procurement Manager,
Grinding Systems and Application/Design Engineer and
Procurement Manager.
Prior to this (1979 – 1990) I was with L&T in India while
the first assignment after IIT was Hindustan Copper
(1975 to 1979).
RAJIV SETH - 70262 / AE
He spent 27 years in the IAF, working on various types
of aircraft including MiG-21, MiG 25, and Boeing-737.
He has been involved in technical evaluation, field
testing and technology transfer. He has also done a stint
at DRDL, Hyderabad, working on the Prithvi missile.
During his tenure in the IAF, he did his M Tech from the
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
Rajiv Then …
And now
Dr. Rajiv Seth, Dean (Admin), Registrar &
Professor of Finance, TERI University.
Having done his B. Tech. in Aero Engg., he joined the
Indian Air Force in 1975 itself.
In the rank of Group Captain, and having spent 27 years
in the 'fauj', he decided to hang up his boots, and get
back to 'civilian' life.He joined a research organization –
TERI – in 2002, has been with the TERI University for
the last thirteen years and, as the Dean and Registrar of
the University, has been instrumental in the
establishment of the University and the post-graduate
( 90 )
programs it offers. He has been actively involved in the
curriculum development of the various courses. He is
responsible for the overall administration of the
University.
He has done his Ph D in Business Administration
(Finance) from the Aligarh Muslim University.
As a professor in the Department of Business
Sustainability, he teaches courses in Finance to
students of the MBA programs.His current research
interests are in the area of weather derivatives as a
hedging tool for weather related risks, and in green
aviation.
Has written a book – a work of fiction; in fact a romantic
tale – 'Never Say Goodbye' – available at bookstores
and online at Amazon, Flipkart.
His wife, Anu, is a teacher and an academic
administrator; now a homemaker. They have two
daughters – Divya, an MBA, working at Colliers
International in Mumbai; and Deepika, also an MBA,
working with Accenture in Gurgaon. From Divya, they
have a grand-daughter, Myra, who is now three years
old.
Rajiv Seth with wife Anu, daughters
Divya & Deepika & granddaughter Myra
Memories – tons of them; difficult to pen down in a
para, but here goes… Hall V .. Midnight aloo parathas in
the quadrangle, Trips to Bithoor, Endless hours in the
library, Swimming in the canal, Tempo rides to Kanpur,
Slide rules ruling us forever, Grades, SPI, CPI,
Karamchari strike – cooking in the hostel kitchens,
Zaheer, Muthana, Cultural fests, Contour, L7, more L7,
Editing Contour and 'This Bit of That India' – an
exhilarating experience, “those were the days, my
friends; we thought they'd never end …..”.
RAJIV SINHA - 70236 / EE
the tenure at RDSO, where I developed a software
package, at IRCON where I was exposed to commercial
outlook and International business, at Agra for complex
administrative experience.
Post retirement I am working with Delhi Metro
Corporation where I am looking after project execution.
Personal:
Got married to Rachna in 1981 and have two lovely
daughters. Elder one Soumya, is a dentist who with her
dentist husband Kiran and son Lakshya stays at
Vadodara. Younger one Kopal, an engineer, works with
Oracle and is based at San Francisco.We stay at
Gurgaon, where Rachna teaches children at home. We
love to see different places and have regular holidays.
Contact:
Professional:
After passing out from IIT Kanpur, joined Indian
Railways. Worked in various capacities including the inhouse research organization RDSO, it's construction
company IRCON and also headed newly created
railway division at Agra. Worked as Director/Projects in
Railways Telecom Company, Railtel, from where I
retired in Feb'14. The work was very satisfying specially
Rajiv Sinha
Flat 801, Tower 16,
Orchid Petals, Sohna Road,
Gurgaon 122018
Mob: 9818113399
Above photograph was taken during my daughter's
marriage where Rachna, both daughters Soumya, Kopal
and son-in-law Kiran are present.
( 91 )
RAJIV SARIN - 70261 / ME
Rajiv Sarin graduated
from IIT Kanpur with an
Honors in Mechanical
Engineering. Immediately
upon graduating, he
joined Larsen & Toubro to
earn enough money for a
ticket to the US where
admissions and
scholarships for an MS
degree awaited him.
However after a couple of
Rajiv Sarin now
days of suffering through
his desk job in materials
management (an utter waste after five years of
studying), he joined the Unilever Group as a
Management Trainee, ditching his original plan of
studying abroad. He was soon seconded to their
acquisition of Liptons in Calcutta to head their Machine
Manufacturing Division, honing every single one of his
skills earned through the engineering degree.
Aarti, Rajiv, Dhruv & Devika in 1992
Along the way, Rajiv undertook a Senior General
Management Programme at IIM Ahmedabad and taught
Operational Research to MBA students at the Institute.
He enjoys playing the stock market, golfing, gardening
and taking long roadtrips with his family.
Rajiv married Arti in 1984, who survived him and his
After six years of learning and training on turnaround
strategy under experts at Unilever, Rajiv
left to join Swedish Match (Wimco) in
Mumbai for the startup of their
Engineering Division. During the course
of the next twelve years, from managing
manufacturing for the Engineering
Division, he went on to oversee
Chemicals and Match Exports as well -which were as diverse as chalk and
cheese. He went on to join Mather and
Platt as Managing Director, where
working with the illustrious Jumbo Group
was enough to drive him away before he
And now: Arti (wife), Dhruv(son), Devika (daughter) & Rajiv
lost all his marbles and he moved to JK
Tyres as Chief Executive Officer in
fourteen homes over the course of their thirty years
Rajasthan. An unfortunate car crash forced him to
together. She is a Director in a Lifestyle and Fashion
change course and take up an assignment with the
publication with the Mahindra Group.
Mahindra and Mahindra Group as MD of a JV in
They have two children, both of whom not wanting to
Bangalore.
follow their father, majored in economics and
Building on his strength for turning around newly
finance from universities in the US and after working in
acquired companies, he spent the next sixteen years
New
York for two years, have returned to India. Their
with the Mahindra Group as MD of various subsidiaries,
daughter, Devika is the Director of Strategy with a global
ranging from automotive instrumentation to Tractors,
technology
social enterprise based in Delhi, while their
and CEO of the Telematics Division. He superannuated
son
Dhruv
is
Financial Analyst with Goldman Sachs in
to join an Anglo–Danish MNC with plants in Scotland,
Bangalore.
Denmark and India engaged in the business of Fibre
Optic Cable, Ducting, and Micro Irrigation as their MD
and CEO.
( 92 )
RAKESH AGARWAL - 70264 / CHE
Rakesh Agarwal, after graduating from IIT Kanpur in
Chemical Engineering in 1975, did his
MS in Chemical Engineering from the University of
Delaware (1977) and Sc.D. from MIT, (1980). He got
married to a wonderful partner Manju in 1980 and has
two sons Udit and Numit. Since fall of 2004, Rakesh is
Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Professor in the
School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University in
West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.
After completing his graduate studies in 1980 he joined
Air Products and Chemicals in Allentown,
Pennsylvania, where he rose to its highest technical
position of Fellow. He is inventor/co-inventor on one
hundred twenty U.S. patents and his ideas have been
applied in over one hundred plants with total
expenditures in multibillion dollars. He invented several
novel gas separation and liquefaction processes that
have been used to produce the world's largest natural
gas liquefaction plant, ultra high purity gases such as
nitrogen, oxygen, argon, ammonia, nitrogen trifluoride
(NF3) etc. for the electronic industry and several highly
energy efficient gas liquefaction plants. He has
published long-lasting fundamental concepts in
separations which are included in
Chemical Engineering textbooks and taught in various
classrooms.
At Purdue University, Rakesh's research has become
multifaceted as he is addressing the subject of energy.
Through novel energy systems modeling consisting of
basic human needs in terms of food, chemicals,
electricity, heat and transport, he is identifying unique
technical insights. His group is not only creating
solutions for a future based on solar energy but also
solutions for a transition from the current fossil resource
based economy. Another remarkable aspect of his
research is that at Purdue, he and his graduate students
prepare the entire thin film solar cell device from starting
chemicals and characterize them at every level for its
structural and optoelectronic properties. His team has
published highly-cited articles on the synthesis of
nanocrystals of compound semiconductors. The inks
made from these nanocrystals are then used to print
solar cells. While his lab currently holds among the
highest power conversion efficiencies in the world for
solar cells prepared by solution based routes, there is
still much progress to be made. Rakesh does hope to
make further progress that will eventually contribute
towards low cost printable solar cells and make them
feasible for a wide-scale manufacturing (and possibly
other electronic devices). The goal here is to make
photovoltaic modules affordable for almost all rooftops.
In a different research, he and his collaborators have
developed an efficient and simple two step route to
convert any given biomass in its entirety to liquid fuel in
high yields.
For his research on energy in general and a vision for a
solar economy, Rakesh has been invited to give plenary
and key-note addresses at a large number of National
and International conferences (188 in all). He delivered
AIChE's most prestigious Annual Institute Lecture on
“Energy Supply Challenges and Opportunities” in 2005.
His lecture on “Energy Systems Analysis” was voted
best presentation at the 2008 Pan American Institute
(PACI) workshop in Argentina. Rakesh has been invited
to present on his vision of energy at named lectureships
of several universities: Regent's lecturer at University of
California in Los Angeles (UCLA);
Distinguished Faculty Seminar: Advanced Power
Sources at University of Michigan; Founder's lecture at
University of Wisconsin, Tis Lahiri Lecture at Vanderbilt
University; Pirky Lecture at University of Texas in Austin;
Hugh M. Hulbert Memorial Lecture at Northwestern
University; Hess Lecture at University of Virginia; Ken
Nobe Founders Lecture at UCLA; Distinguished Lindsay
Lecture at Texas A&M University; Berkeley lectures at
University of California Berkeley, Schlumberger Lecture
at University of Alberta (Canada), Annual KAIST CBE
Global Distinguished Lecture in South Korea, and
Professor C. V. Seshadri Memorial Distinguished
Lecture at IIT Bombay, India. He was invited to give
prestigious Allan P. Colburn Honorary Lecture at E. I. du
Pont de Nemours and Company.
For his contributions to the energy efficiency of the large
train LNG processes, in 2009, he was an inaugural
winner of the Excellence in Gas Processing Award at
the Annual Gas Processing Symposium in Qatar. For
improving energy efficiency of the gas liquefaction and
cryogenic separation processes, he received the J&E
Hall Gold Medal from the Institute of Refrigeration, UK;
Achievement Award from the Industrial Research
( 93 )
Institute (IRI); and also became the youngest ever
recipient of the prestigious Chairman's Award at Air
Products. For his engineering contributions, Rakesh
was elected to the U.S. National Academy of
Engineering in 2002 and the Indian National Academy of
Engineering in 2011. He became AIChE Fellow in 2009
and was given its highest honor – the Founders Award
in 2011. For his research on energy, the National
University of Singapore appointed him to its prestigious
ExxonMobil Visiting Chair Professorship. For his
innovations in Renewable Energy, Rakesh was elected
a Fellow of the oldest and the most eclectic U.S.
Academy- American Academy of Arts and Sciences
(AAAS). Also, for his patents in solar cells and biofuels,
he has been honored by his election as a Fellow of the
U.S. National Academy of Inventors. This year, he was
appointed a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies
at Texas A & M University; and a distinguished member
of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS).
For his overall energy contributions, in 2011, Rakesh
received the National Medal of Technology and
Innovation from President Obama – the highest honor
bestowed by a US President to scientists, engineers
and inventors.
Rakesh was a member of the American Institute of
Chemical Engineers' (AIChE) Board of Directors and on
the Board of Energy and Environmental Sciences
(BEES) of the US National Research Council. He has
been on Technology Boards of several companies
including Dow Chemical, Genomatica, Aspen Tech,
Weyerhaeuser, ATMI, Air Products and Chemicals, and
Kyrogen (a subsidiary of Schlumberger).
Most importantly, Rakesh enjoys teaching. It is a joy to
teach and instill in students a lifelong passion for
learning. For teaching, he has been voted the best
teacher by the graduating Chemical Engineering class
at Purdue University (Shreve Award) and has received
Purdue's highest award for Teaching, Service and
Research (Morrill Award).
Rakesh has fond memories of the years at IIT Kanpur. It
was a formative period in his life – great teachers, class
fellows, a roommate and wing mates who have had
long-lasting influence. He considers himself very
fortunate for having a wonderful and loving family.
Teaching is his hobby and he enjoys it immensely
(although he gets paid for it) and developing solutions
for the grand challenge of Energy is his passion.
URL:
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ChE/People/ptProfile?id
=3942
RAKESH GANGWAL - 70267 / ME
September, 1980, when, as an associate of Booz Allen
& Hamilton Inc, he worked closely with United Airlines
and later joined them. He then had a stint as Executive
Vice President for Air France. He was the President and
Chief Executive Officer of US Airways Group from 1998
until he resigned three years later. From 2003 to 2007,
Rakesh was the Chairman, President, and Chief
Executive Officer of Worldspan Technologies Inc., a
provider of technology and information services to the
travel and transportation industry. Rakesh serves on the
boards of OfficeMax Incorporated and CarMax, Inc.
Rakesh Gangwal is the former CEO and Chairman of
US Airways Group and the co-founder of Indigo airline.
After his graduation in Mechanical Engineering, Rakesh
got his Master of Business Administration degree from
the Wharton School of Business of the University of
Pennsylvania.
Rakesh has been on the Board of Advisers of the
University of Colorado (Denver), the Board of Trustees
of Providence-St. Mel School (Chicago), the Board of
Directors of the Airline Tariff Publishing Co. and Board of
Trustees of the Alexian Brothers Medical Center (Elk
Grove, III, USA). He is also a recipient of the
Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Indian Institute of
Technology Kanpur.
His association with the airline industry began in
( 94 )
RANAVIR BOSE - 70276 / EE
in 2008 and after stints at Fujitsu and Cognizant,
decided to put his Ph.D. to work again and joined
University of Texas at Dallas in 2013. He is currently
Executive Director and Research Professor, Institute for
Data Analytics, Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and
Computer Science, University of Texas at Dallas.
After B.Tech., Ranavir (popularly known as Ron) got his
MS in Systems Engineering from Case Western
Reserve University, Cleveland in 1977 and then his PhD
in Operations Research from University of Texas at
Austin in 1982.
Ron started his career as an Assistant Professor at
Clemson University and a year later moved to AT&T Bell
Laboratories in New Jersey. At Bell Labs and AT&T, he
worked in increasingly responsible positions in network
planning and design, network operations, product
management and sales.
In 1998, he left AT&T and joined Arthur Andersen LLP
a s a p a r t n e r i n t h e i r Te l e c o m , M e d i a a n d
Communications Practice, where he was responsible for
major clients including Verizon, AT&T and GTE. After the
collapse of Arthur Andersen in 2002, he joined Siemens
Business Services, leading their Telecom and Media
practice for North and South America. He left Siemens
In his 33 year career, Ron has been involved in
technical and management roles in R&D, operations
and management consulting in the telecommunications
industry and academia. He is responsible for building an
industry-funded Institute for Data Analytics at the UT
Dallas, to train students, support faculty research and
execute industry-sponsored projects. Currently he is
working with clients in the telecom, financial services,
logistics and public-sector areas.
Ron is a Senior Member of IEEE and has served as an
Editor of the IEEE Communications Magazine and on
the Board of Governors, IEEE Communications Society.
Ron resides with his wife Sharmila in Plano, Texas.
Sharmila is a graduate of Calcutta University and
Rutgers University. She is a 25 year veteran of AT&T
and a winner of the prestigious AT&T Science and
Technology medal. Their son Rohan graduated in
Economics from UT Dallas and works in Dallas in the
area of business valuations and M&A for small/medium
companies. Their daughter Sneha is currently in the 3rd
year of a 5-year master's program in Accounting at UT
Dallas.
RAVI CHALLU - 70285 / EE
marketRx, Greenfield Online, Relsys India, Axis Global. In
2013 he took over as the CEO at Uberics Business
Solutions in Bengaluru, where he continues till date.
During his career spanning over three decades, Ravi
worked in quite a few companies, some of which he
envisioned and built, and some which he led, but in all he
made significant contribution – HCL, Uptron, NCL Infotech,
Apart from product development, Ravi has been
involved in managing service deliveries, and metrics
driven operations with focus on cost efficiency and
quality. He has handled huge global projects and is
thorough in marketing analytics, MR, survey
programming and hosting, enterprise solutions
implementation services. Ravi has successfully
restructured organizations and managed talent and
competencies development. He has also had hands-on
exposure to private funding and M&As.
Ravi has time and again proven his skills in building well
knit, highly motivated and technically capable teams for
both software product development and IT services.
( 95 )
RAVI DHAR - 70281 / ME
Ankushl with Saroj
Ravi with Saroj
Anchal with Saroj
Education:
High School –
K.L.D.A.V. Inter College, Roorkee – Graduated in 1968
Intermediate K.L.D.A.V. Inter College, Roorkee – Graduated in 1970
B.Tech (Mech.) I.I.T.Kanpur-Graduated in 1975
Professional:
(1) India (1975 to 1988)
- Larsen & Toubro, Bombay
- BHEL, Hardwar
- Shriram Refrigerations, Delhi
- Triveni Engineering Works, Allahabad
- NALCO, Angul, Orissa
(2) Saudi Arabia (1988 to 2000)
- SWCC, Jeddah
3) Canada (2000 to 2012)
-
Alstom Power
4) USA (2013 to ….)
-
Alstom Power
Family:
Wife – Saroj Dhar – M.Sc. (Zoology)
- Working in school in Canada
My grand daughter
on part-time basis. Daughter –
Anchal Bhat – Bachelor of Dental Surgery – Married in
Pennsylvania.
Son – Ankush Dhar - Electrical Engineer – Working in
Canada.
Address:
3221 Munson Crescent
Burlington, Ontario L7M 0C2
Canada.
Phone # 804 402 5003
RAVI DHARIWAL - 70286 / CHE
Ravi Dhariwal studied B.Tech. in
Chemical Engineering from the
Indian Institute of Technology,
Kanpur, and also holds a
Postgraduate Diploma in
Management from the Indian
Institute of Management,
Calcutta.
Ravi Dhariwal till recently was
the Chief Executive Officer of
Bennett Coleman & Co. Limited.
He served as a Vice President
of Franchise for SE Asia at PepsiCo International. He
has held various positions at companies like Hindustan
Lever Limited, Rexona Prop. Limited, Sydney, Pepsi
Foods Industries. He serves as an Executive Director of
Bennett Coleman & Co. Limited. He has been a Non-
Executive Director of Entertainment Network (India) Ltd.
since December 31, 2002. He serves as a Director of
Times Infotainment Media Ltd. and Times Journal India
Pvt. Ltd. He served as a Director of Sandesh Ltd. since
July 30, 2007 until April 2013.
Ravi, who introduced INMA (The International News
Media Association) to the South Asian continent and
later became president of the global non-profit
organization, was announced as the recipient of INMA's
highest honour for volunteer service to and lifetime
achievement in the media industry.The Silver Shovel
Award was presented in absentia to Ravi at the closing
dinner of the 84th Annual INMA World Congress at the
Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco before nearly 300
executives from around the world. The award represents
INMA's top honour for individual achievement.
( 96 )
RUPINDER S. PURI - 70289 / EE
Rupi Puri married Kusum in 1976.
Both he as well as his spouse (Kusum Gaind) spend
their professional life in Banking - Chase Manhattan
and Citibank.
They both retired about 10 years ago but each of them
does take up assignments on an individual deal basis,
which keeps them professionally occupied for about 4-6
months. Rupinder spends his time between New York
City, Upstate New York, and Knysna, South Africa where
they have homes.
RONAK HARIPRASAD SHODHAN - 70328 / CHE
of knowledge for everyone to cherish. How Blissful!
Soul mate:
One Beautiful Soul with a song of love, who joined me
with no worldly demands to make the journey of
knowledge magical and heavenly. The soul is not only
personified with a label called Namrata, but the soul is
the essence and spirit of the word Namrata - mother of
all virtues. Learning new lessons of life is a pleasure
every moment with this wonderful soul who just waltzed
in singing to make my journey of knowledge most
delightful and blissful.
Namrata & Ronak
Occupation:
Flowers:
I retired at the age of 36 (1989), from illusionary and
mostly life-eroding "Green Paper" chase and began
stress-free journey unto knowledge for true happiness,
love, enjoyment of life.
We have floated three beautiful flowers in the cosmos of
knowledge and happiness – Nikhila (31 yrs), Bhakti (30
yrs) and Aradhana (18 yrs) - with single aim to spread
JOY to all the souls around them and to enrich this
wonderful world with their positive contribution.
I try to do things that create a small pool of delight
around me. My passion is to create a platform to shape
and decorate lives of unknown souls. I live by principles
of simple living and high thinking. I learn from babies
and senior citizens, the obvious, but often overlooked
profound messages of life. Mother Nature is my real
source of inspiration and motivation!
My genuine rewards are Smiles, Joy and Positive
thoughts from souls who envelop my life.
Inspiration:
Tree - the selfless mentor of all virtues that is Giving
Everything and Expecting Nothing in Return!
Education:
I enrolled in the University of Life. It has no formal
classrooms, no appointed Professors, no fixed
curriculum and no formal degrees. But it has the most
amazing and infinite knowledge network that covers the
spectrum from Sanskar to Super high tech. It has no
deadlines, no homework & no exams, just a pure dose
Important Lessons Learnt:
In 1989, I retired at the age of 36 from Tech Center,
General Motors Corporation, and I realised satisfaction
is true Wealth and Positive Living is true Knowledge.
I did PhD in Robotics & Artificial Intelligence, Purdue
(1989).
I learnt that true Happiness is in giving without
expectation. I divorced from my college sweet-heart.
Ongoing projects taken up voluntarily at present:
I empower helpless and resource-less souls to be
mighty souls full of knowledge / virtues, share
knowledge, resources and worldly assets to plant seeds
of happiness and Joy. I spread Give-Give philosophy the simplest way to abolish all evils from the society. I
understand and untangle the amazingly complex
dynamics of life and death on earth and enjoy every
moment of life with Zero Stress Philosophy and 100%
Positive Living.
( 97 )
SALEEM MEHMOOD MOLEDINA- 70295
Salmaan and Faraaz. I hesitated to say wonderful family
because it is too clichéd; but in fact they are truly
wonderful
Somehow, while a large proportion of the 75 batch gave
up engineering and went on towards management and
other non engineering related careers, I stuck with hard
core engineering. Starting off with Consulting
Engineering firms in Delhi for 10 years, I moved to Pune
to work with a construction Company for a few years.
Did some interesting work including a project in the
Rajneesh Ashram. Leaving Pune in 1989 I joined
another consulting engineering company in Kuwait.
I have often thought about this, when did my life really
start? Leaving aside the factual physical aspects, when
did life start getting interesting enough to be worth a
mention?
I would say that event occurred when I was 17 years old
and stood with my parents at Mumbai VT station waiting
to board the Punjab Mail to IIT Kanpur. On board the
train, and with the first call of “FRESHER”, the whirlwind
of my life started churning.
The five years in IIT Kanpur became the most important
period of my life and defined who I am today. The
education system constantly challenged me in new
directions and developed a thirst of knowledge which I
find exhilarating even now. I think the humanities
courses did the trick for me. I hope they still have them.
The other major influences in my life were all the people
around me. They instilled in me the feeling that I
belonged to this community and the bonds that grew out
of this interaction are extraordinary. Even after 40 years
these bonds endure. Earlier this year, at the wedding of
one of our batch mates, I met quite a few of our
colleagues, some of whom I was meeting after several
years. The genuine warmth and fondness with which we
met is difficult to describe but wonderful to experience. I
learnt a lot from my fellow IITians. Some taught me the
power of positive thought; others taught me the art of
giving, both materially and emotionally; I learnt to play
bridge; and I can go on and on. These things have held
me in good stead so far as I reach the twilight of life. All I
can say to all of you - thank you!
I got married to Sajida in 1981 and have two children,
Kuwait was another defining period in my life. The work
was lucrative, comfortable and I was seeing visions of
working for a few more years and retiring in India. But
that was not to be. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait took
place in August 1990 and overnight I was left with no
access to my bank account and no source of funds in
the future. With a wife and two small children to take
care of, this turned into a fight for survival for the next
three months before we managed to get back to India.
That in itself is another story which I need to write at a
different time.
India was a different situation. I do not know how many
of you have been in a situation where you are obviously
in need of help. All I can say is that there were very few
who came to my aid. I did get help from the most
unlikely sources and did manage to turn my life around.
Eventually I made my way back to Kuwait and finally
immigrated to Canada in 1995.
Canada has been good for all of us. I continued my
career as an engineer and have settled down well in our
new home and country. I am blessed with a few batch
mates living nearby and we meet quite often for very
entertaining times. Our colleagues across the border in
the US, are not too far away and we try to meet some
times.
Saleem Mehmood Moledina
922 Applecroft Circle
Mississauga, ON
Canada L5V 2A6
905-568-1501 (H)
416-400-7546 (Cell)
( 98 )
SANJAY BANERJI - 70298 / CHE
Did M.B.A. from IIM Calcutta
immediately after IIT/K.
Married in 1981. Two sons, elder
married.
A granddaughter in
2011.
Been in Information Technology all
his career. Worked in ONGC,
Richardson Hindustan / Proctor &
Gamble India, Pfaudler India,
Origin / Philips India & Total
Technology Solutions Barbados / New York.
Joined the board of Direxions Marketing Solutions,
India's largest Direct Marketing agency. Started and
spun off IdentLogic Systems in Mumbai working in the
areas of customer loyalty program software, address
correction and validation, and, identity matching and
duplicate detection.
Developed the Information Systems business plans of
Philips India, Pfaudler India, Proctor & Gamble India
and Cement Corporation as a consultant / CIO.
While at P&G in the 1980's, envisioned, conceptualized,
designed, developed and implemented an application to
determine Share of Voice of television advertisements.
Incidentally this served as an indirect progenitor of the
Television Rating Points (TRP) method, so popular
today.
SANJAY MITTAL - 70297 / EE
Education:
After B.Tech. (EE) from IITK in
1975, I got my MS (Comp Sci)
degree in 1976 and
PhD (Comp Sci) in 1980, both
from Ohio State University.
Employment:
Dr. Sanjay Mittal
Elder daughter Smita, wife Priti,
Sanjay & Younger Daughter Shikha
I started my career as an
Assistant Professor at Ohio State
University till 1982.
Then changed and joined as a Senior Member
Research Staff at the Xerox Palo Alto
Research Center till 1990 before moving to Metaphor
Computer Systems for almost two years. Then I decided
to become an entrepreneur and founded Catalogics
Software which I managed till 1996 before co-founding
Selectica Inc. Selectica was highly successful and we
built it up from early venture to IPO stage and finally
exited in 2003. Later, in 2005, I became an Angel
Investor and Director of AccelTree Software. In 2010 I
co-founded, as Chairman and CTO, Spotzot. I am with
these two Companies till date. In between I co-founded
and was President and CEO of Kiffets Inc. till I exited in
2009.
LinkedIn profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjaymittal
Community Service:
Founding donor South Asian Heart Center, El Camino
Hosp, Mtn View, CA. The Center focuses on helping
South Asians with heart problems and has seen over
10,000 patients in the last 8 yrs.
Professional Activities:
a. Charter Member, The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE)
Silicon Valley. I served on the Board as Systems Chair
from 2011 to 2012.
b. Instituted "Sanjay Mittal Chair" at IIT Kanpur.
Family: My wife, Priti, is a Software Engineer and
Homemaker and we have 2 daughters.
The elder, Smita Mittal, is a Product Manager at Rocket
Fuel, and the younger, Shikha Mittal, is a California
corporate lawyer.
Memories:
Memories are many – some are the long bridge
sessions; the cool days spent in Computer Center
during hot Kanpur days. The midnight outings at Bithur.
Friday night dinner, drinks and movie in town. Most of
all, the bull sessions in Hall 5.
( 99 )
SANJAY NANDKUMAR TRIVEDI - 70299 / CHE
son-in-law Ashish Desai (BChem + MBA), grandson Aayan. Daughter (based in Mumbai)- Tanvi ( BCom+
MS) ; son-in-law Vinit Mehta BE+ MBA), granddaughter
- Aashna
Career:
1st generation entrepreneur. Set up first manufacturing
facility in 1975 for speciality chemicals. Expanded
activities and added 4 more companies making and
dealing in Surfactants. All now part of Trivedi Groupe
and based in India and Singapore. After a successful
business creation now planning for exit by handing over
to strategic buyer.
Vinit Mehta, Sanjay Trivedi , Ashish Desai,
Prachi Desai, Anjani Trivedi, Tanvi Mehta
Memories:
Partnerships with batch mates Sudhir Jhaveri and
R.K.Naik in 1978.
Education:
Appointment as Consultant to IFC (International Finance
Corporation, World Bank) from 1990-2003.
B.Tech. Chemical Engg. - IIT/Kanpur in 1975
Diploma in Business & Finance management
Family:
Wife -Anjani (Bcom), Business woman, Director BioTherapeutic Computers Pvt Ltd and Trivedi Groupe of
companies.
Daughter (based in Singapore)- Prachi ( BChem+MBA);
Founder Director of Indian Home and Personal Care
Industry Association.
Pioneer in launching Micro current technologies in India.
Holder of Indian Patent for control of Particulate
emission from Coal-based power plants.
SANJIV BHATLA - 70303 / EE
Having divorced my educational
moorings as early as 1985,
freelance copywriting became
my source of bread-and-butter.
It gave me plenty of freedom
too. It also became a source of
the proverbial rainy-day intrigue
-- both in its charm and
vagaries. Freedom allowed me
to pursue many interests for the
sheer joy they gave me. I was
the peon, publisher, and editor
of a poetry magazine for four years; wrote book reviews
for some national dailies and tabloids for precious little
monetary gains. Literary writing, however, was a source
of deeper satisfaction. This in fact was the reason to
abandon a full-time job and go in for freelancing.
My six books --two novels, two long poems, one of
shorter poems and another of Haikus were well received
in the Press. “Injustice” featured in the long-list of The
Man Asian Literary Prize 2007. All these books are
available online in both Physical and E-Book forms.
having strayed away -- one never retires from creative
writing! I intend to remain busy with writing more books,
and publishing them through Crabwise Press, my small
and independent publishing venture.
Family:
Married Asha, a charming Maharashtrian young lady in
1988. And five years into the relationship, hurrying the
"seven-year itch" by two years, filed for a divorce in
1993. We have one daughter named Nitipriya.
Note:
From a Technician / Engineer to a prolific writer, it is a
great achievement. Sanjiv's 6 books make immensely
interesting reading and can be obtained in e-book form
by visiting www.flipkart.com
They are also available in physical form at any of these
sites:
w w w. i n d i a p l a z a . c o m , w w w. b o o k a d d a . c o m ,
www.flipkart.com
Free delivery by courier anywhere in India. Payment
options include, “Cash on Delivery”.
It's only now that I am realizing the biggest benefit of
( 100 )
SATINDER SINGH SACHDEVA - 70306 / ME
Surpreet – Vidhya – Angad – Kanwal - Satinder
At Trincomalee, Sri Lanka
Life at IITK
Life was fun at IIT K. First three years roommate was
Bhupinder Pal Singh (Aeronautical) at Room
No. A 312 Hall V. Shifted to F Block ground floor Hall V
for next two years.
Initial three years used to hang out most of the time with
Vijay Singal, Vijay
Datta, Sidh Nath Singh, Avinash
Pandeya, Dhiraj Roy, and Late
Shishoo, Arun
Gyan Singh. Later on also with Naren Bhatia and Arvind
Gupta when they
moved to Hall V.
Jaffna, Sri Lanka / Ladakh (snow & snow)
Graduated at the end of summers 1975 when almost
everyone had left the
campus. Joined M.Tech. Aeronautical Engg at IIT K. Left
M.Tech. during second
semester to join a bank at Delhi.
Always had to depend on MCM scholarship to pay the
dues.
40 years since graduating from IIT Kanpur
1. 1976-1977 Banking.
Joined a bank in Delhi as officer. Soon got bored
with the dull routine. Left the bank in June 1977 and
joined the Army.
2. 1977-1997 Army (Corps of Engineers).
Took premature retirement after 20 years' service in
the rank of Lt. Col.
Few salient aspects of Army life are:
(a) “Best shot” medal at IMA, Dehradun.
Manali during 1983 from Upshi (Ladakh) side.
(d) Part of IPKF in Sri Lanka for two years. Were almost
among the first one to arrive and left in the last ship.
(e) Did lot of snow clearance operations during 1983.
Developed high sense
of anticipating snow
slides/avalanches. Once alerted the entire working
crew to take cover from impending snow slide.
Within seconds snow was everywhere. Complete
dozer was buried under snow. Only 3 inches of
silencer top could be seen. Dozer operator was
missing! We started digging all around searching for
him. Luckily he had jumped and took cover adjoining
to the dozer in a sitting position. Took some time in
locating him alive. Thank God there were no
casualties that day. Life carried on as usual.
(f) Taught Thermodynamics for one year during fag end
of the Army career at College of Military
Engineering, Pune.
3. 1998-2000 Entrepreneur
(b) Did two tenures at Ladakh (high altitude area).
(c) Completed first 14 Kms black topping of road Upshi( 101 )
Started my own factory of manufacturing “winding
wires for submersible pumps” under brand name
ULTRA Cables.
inspections and Water Quality investigations
efficiently. These databases are in use at the County
level since 2008. My young colleagues at work place
are so nice to me that they remind me of IIT K days.
4. 2000-2001 Global Risk Management Company
General Manager of the company – kind courtesy
our dear friend Priya Ranjan Swaroop. He and Sunil
Mahajan spoke to me at SJR 2000 about the difficult
time I was having and offered to help. Type of job
was new to me, and therefore, could not do much
for the Company. Had to leave after about one year
that was sufficient to put me back on my tracks.
Thanks P R Swaroop for the timely thought and
help.
5. 2001-2002 PBIL (Pearl Buildwell Infrastructure
Ltd.)
Senior Manager for eight road construction projects
in Punjab. In addition to that I was Project Manager
for Morinda Byepass (new road construction). It was
a very valuable experience. Had to leave within one
year as Green Card for USA was ready.
6. October 2002 Migrated to USA
Migration to USA was a good decision taken by us –
better job satisfaction, low stress, nice living
conditions, large community friends etc. Initial one
year was struggle (six months for my wife), but after
that life was cool, fun, and enjoyment. Since
December 2003, working at Storm Water
Management Division of Prince George's County
Government, MD. I have developed databases for
conducting Storm Water Management facilities
Memories of IITK
Used to play tennis ball cricket at small pitch between C
and D wings. Also played carrom with Arvind Gupta,
Vijay Singal, and Avinash Shishoo. Enjoyed playing
table tennis with Naren Bhatia, especially, just before he
had to compete at some tournament.
Played lot of badminton under floodlights at the court
between F and G wings.
Sometimes used to play volleyball at the court between
F wing and the dining hall.
Family
Kanwaljit– wife, teacher at high school. It's due to her
that we have such wide circle of friends. Singing and
dancing is her passion. Always keeps smiling and keeps
the environment happy. Angad - elder son, MS in
Electrical Engg. (Solar Engg.) from UVa and recently got
job at Boston. Earlier worked for four years with Tyco
Electronics and Harris Corporation.Vidhya – daughterin-law, Ph.D. in Bio-Sciences from University of
Maryland, Baltimore. Presently doing post doc research
work at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge.
Surpreet – younger son, BS in Psychology.
SHAM PAREKH - EE / MSC (PHYSICS)
Ever since I left IITK I have been a pen-pusher at
Bank of Baroda till my retirement in July 2012.
I always desired to be in nature - was fond of
trekking - mostly in Western Ghats- Sahyadri.
Did some Himalayan high altitude treks for 10
years before I met with an accident leading to hip
replacement of the right leg.
I am planning to visit Ladakh from August 7th to
21st 2015, with a couple of warm & caring guides.
Joined for Electrical Engineering but changed to
M.Sc. (Physics) after 3rd year from which I
dropped out. No idea about my roll no.
That's the uninspiring story of a "bank clerk" which
only my closest friends like you would have any
interest in.
( 102 )
SHARAD DALAL - 70315 / CHE
Indus Venture Management. Remained in VC/PE till the
financial meltdown in end 2008. Helped start a solar
energy IPP, Kiran Energy (which was incidentally funded
by a consortium of private equity funds) and was at
Kiran Energy till mid 2013.
Have scaled back my activity levels since then, and am
currently helping a much younger friend (also from
IIT/K) build up Integrum Consultants which provides
consulting and implementation services to companies
that are in turnaround situations or are experiencing
rapid growth and are stretched for management
bandwidth.
Wife Gira and Sharad
Education: IIT/K 1975 (Ch.E.), IIM Kolkatta (1977)
Family: Married to Gira. Our daughter Shibani is also
married and lives in Cleveland, USA.
Career: In FMCG marketing till end 1980 when I was
persuaded to join the family engineering business where
I had to quickly brush up my Ch.E. fundas. I was
delighted to find that we had actually learned quite a lot
of very useful stuff at IIT. Even managed to publish an
article on dryer selection in an Indian chemical engg.
magazine.
Joined the nascent venture capital sector in 1992 with
Highlights: A couple of 10x multibaggers, including one
in a software company run by another IIT/K graduate
Vivek Mannige (1974, Hall 3).
Memories: Gliding at the airstrip in IIT and getting my
first solo on my 21st birthday.
Swimming in our pool after an agonising wait when we
all felt the pool may not be operational before our
graduation.
Listening to music on the lawns in the lecture hall
complex thanks to speakers and other arrangements
made by Shreepal Nanavati (MG).
SHEKHAR MURTHY - 70319 / EE
Professional:
1. Instrumentation Limited Kota 1975-1981, at Kota and
Calcutta
2. Larsen & Toubro Limited 1981 – 2011 at Mumbai,
Chennai, Baroda , Kolkata and Back to Chennai
L to R –Elder Daughter Nitya, Younger Daughter
Radhika , Wife Geeta and Shekhar
Education:
1. Class X—St Francis Xavier High School Kanpur
2.. Class XII -- B.N.S.D Inter College Kanpur
3. B.Tech. IITK 1975 EE
30 years of work at L&T, Supperannuated as Head,
Business Unit, Instrumentation. Handled various types
of assignments, starting
from Power Plant
Instrumentation
Design, Sales and Marketing of
Instrumentation Systems, Large
Projects
Instrumentation, Automation & Controls, DCS, Scada
Systems, Communication Systems related to Process
and Power
Plants. In 2010, started in L&T
Instrumentation a Sub Business Unit of Integrated
Security Systems for Plants, Facility and City Security
and Surveillance Systems. This Business Sub Unit of
L&T has grown from Zero to currently approx.
? 1400 Crores per annum business in 4 years.
( 103 )
While in service, travelled extensively , Project Sites all
over India and abroad-- Dubai , Abu Dhabi, Sharjah,
Kuwait, Qatar , Egypt , Magadi Kenya , Melaka Island
Malaysia, Several Inspection visits at suppliers works
spread all over UK, Europe, Singapore , KL and the
USA /Canada.
After retirement:
After retirement from L&T, started Proprietorship
Company , engaged in PV Home /Office Solar Power
Systems Business .
Currently, on Sabbatical, Babysitting grandchildren and
assisting
Home Manager in Kitchen and other
household Chores.
Community Service:
involved in
neighbourhood welfare activities,
development of Park & school in our Colony, yearly tree
plantation activities in our Colony. Was a Rotarian for 10
years, member Rotary Club of Madras South .
Family:
Wife Geeta, B.Sc Nutrition & Dietetics, Homemaker and
Home Manager.
Elder Daughter Nitya BE Computer Science Son-inLaw Sundereswaran MBA XLRI Jamshedpur , Exec VP
Morgan Stanely Mumbai , Granddaughter Keyurra -Living in Mumbai. Younger Daughter Radhika B.Arch.
Son-in-Law Kartik MBA Narsee Monjee Mumbai ,
Project Leader Infosys Pune , grandson Nivan --Living
in Pune.
As President, CRR Puram L&T Colony Association,
SHIV KUMAR BALAKRISHNAN - 70320 / EE
Shiv (“SK”) Balakrishnan has more than 30 years of
experience in Digital Signal Processing. He has held
engineering and technical marketing positions in
startups as well as Fortune 500 companies like Philips,
Sun and TI. His consulting work spans the range from
signal processing system design to market research and
competitive analysis. His graduate work was at the
University of Florida, Gainesvillle and Purdue.
SK has developed world class electronic systems like
the TDS 500 Digitizing Oscilloscopes from Tektronix,
Sun Ray 1 Thin Client from Sun Microsystems and
many others. He is named co-inventor on fundamental
patents in Wireless "Converged Phones" and Test &
Measurement Instruments. He recruited and managed
the first Applications team for Philips TriMedia, including
a software development team in Bangalore in 1996. SK
has a deep understanding of Digital Signal Processing
(DSP) hardware and software and its applications to
video, audio graphics and communications, and has
published widely in the industry. Most recently his
writings can be found at DesignConCommunity.com and
ScopeJunction.com. SK has been a key contributor in
many startups in Silicon Valley including Pellucid/Media
Vision, HelloBrain and Mobility Semiconductors. He
moved to Silicon Valley in 1992 after 12 years in
Portland, Oregon. In 2010 he co-founded RiverSilica
Technologies which is a venture-backed company in
Bengaluru in the Video Transcoding space; SK
manages US operations.
Married in 1982 to Sandhya, who works in College
Counseling, he has two daughters, Swati and Shweta
who both live and work in New York for the Financial
Times and the Health Care practice of PwC respectively.
( 104 )
SHREEPAL NANAVATI (AKA MG) - 70322 / CHE
Education: Intermediate Science – Elphinstone
College, Mumbai in 1970.
B.Tech. Chemical Engineering - Indian Institute of
Technology, Kanpur in 1975
Career: MTZ Group, Mumbai, India – 1975 to 1999
Manufacturer of Inorganic Chemicals for industrial use.
Started as process engineer and ended as Managing
Director & Managing Partner of some group companies.
US Zinc, Houston, Texas, USA–1999 to Present:
Largest recycler of metallic Zinc materials producing
zinc products for industrial use
Started as Process Manager and currently Vice
President – Technical
Family: Wife –Shobha – MSc Biochemistry Univ. of
Bombay (sister of Sanjay Trivedi, class of 75)
Son – Shashank - EMBA Wharton, BS Chem. Eng.
Berkeley – working as manager with
Chevron – San Francisco, California, USA
Daughter-in-law – Nandini - MA Psychology NYU, New
York – working in HR Dept. of City of
San Francisco, California, USA
Son – Shaurya – CPA, MPA & BBA from Univ. of Texas
– independent international tax practitioner; musician
with own EP release – Austin, Texas, USA
Memories: Elphinstone College socials with more girls
than boys; daily disco sessions, long hair & rock music.
Playing soccer for Elphinstone College team.
Organizing the first (& probably last) Rock Concert at
IITK. Local paper headline read – “Pot
Culture Hits Town”! Memories of working more on audio
electronics instead of chemical studies. Old Hindi songs
at 3 am with roasted papads in Hall 1 quad. Parathas at
dhaba outside gate on winter mid-nights. Great mithai's
in Hall 2 canteen. Playing soccer for IITK team. Too
many great, non-study related memories!!
SOM PRAKASHA - 70329 / CE
Som Prakasha with wife Pankaj Bala
Colonel Som Prakasha
Is an expert in Project Management, Transportation &
Combat Engineering. Colonel Som earned a Master's
degree in Strategic Studies from the prestigious
Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, and a
Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from IIT, Kanpur.
A veteran of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Armed
Forces, he played a key role in the design and
implementation of the Logistics, Combat & Civil
Engineering Strategy of the forces during the
counterinsurgency operations in Kashmir & North East.
His experience in the same was again called upon
during the deployment of the armed forces on the
( 105 )
Armoured Engrs T-55 tanks lined up for move
Mrs. Som Prakasha
inaugarating event Bikaner
Pakistan Border, Post Parliament attack. After
retirement Colonel Som worked with the U.P. Govt. on
the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and was a
Road Maintenance & Management System Consultant
in
M/s Scott Wilson Pvt. Ltd.Currently, he is
channelizing his Project Management expertise in
helping Civil Engineering Construction Firms complete
their projects on time without compromising on quality.
Colonel Som is happily married to Mrs. Pankaj Bala
Prakash and they are blessed with a daughter Nidhi and
a son Rishi. Nidhi is a reputed interior designer and is
married to Captain Kumar Nishant who is a Merchant
A T-55 tank crossing a bridge (BLT) laid by Engrs
Marine Officer.
Rishi is a Senior
Executive in
Ta t a S t e e l
Limited and is
married to
Utkarsha, who
has majored in
Engineers tanks in action
Pharmacy and
is currently
pursuing her post-graduation in business administration.
SUDHIR J. JHAVERI - 70342 / CHE
Family Then:
Family Now:
Sitting L to R : Vishnu Agarwal, Rajesh Kikani, Samir Vohra,
Niranjan Godiwala
Standing L to R : Ulhas Ghare, Vikram Kamdar, Hargovind
Sharma, Rajendra Naik (my room-partner), Sanjay Trivedi, me,
Rahul Thakkar, Dilip Soni
A non-player like me was able to make it to the Institute
volley-ball team, largely because of the excellent
coaching, and the goading of many good friends.
Sweet Memories : I was fortunate to belong to a wing
of friends who neither smoked, nor imbibed alcohol. The
only vice was the after-exams stress-busters, skillfully
bargained off the Bara Chauraha pavements.
One particularly hot and sultry night, we descended on
our social networking site in the 70's, the nearest watercooler, where another group was already present. With
the generosity that comes from alcohol in the system,
they offered us a half-full bottle of booze. We graciously
declined--they were aghast! Which student in his right
mind does that?
The Future: The future is Hydroponics, and I'm
planning to work on natural alternatives to the chemicalbased macro (NPKCSMg) and Micro
(FeBMnZnMoCuCoClSeSi) nutrients.
Within a few days of joining IIT-K, my juvenile ego was
deflated to zero, and my 34-character name was pruned
to a single syllable (Su - which remains to this day). This
was my initiation into the binaries of campus life.
The academics at the campus were excellent :
Metallurgy in the core years helped shape my business
ventures, while Logic and Philosophy helped me
evasively handle the constant flow of government
officials who descended on our Organisation on every
occasion. Psychology helped me understand how my
twins (Nirav and Nikita) could be so different from each
other, although brought up in the same environment.
And so were the extra-curricular facilities :
( 106 )
SUDHIR NANDA - 70339 / ME
Education: I had completed 1st year B.Sc. from Christ
Church College, Kanpur before joining IIT/K.
discuss best practices like reducing power, fuel, spare
parts, down time etc.
Career: On graduating from IIT I joined the one year
training program at Bhabha Atomic Research Center
(BARC) and won the HOMI BHABHA PRIZE. After
working with BARC for four years I joined EMA India
Ltd., Kanpur as a marketing personnel. In 1984 I joined
JK Cement Ltd., Kanpur. At a time when cement
companies did not allow outsiders to visit their plants,
Mr Y.P.Singhania motivated me to form a club
“MEETING GROUND”, which brought almost all the
cement companies in India on a common platform to
Memory: I remember my room partner Gurudutt Borkar
and I used to invent abuse (Galis) and instigate Gali
competition between Hall II & Hall III.
Family: My wife Renu is working with Times of India.
My Son Saurabh & Daughter in Law Rati studied at my
own alma mater IIT, Kanpur. He is in Goa developing
software for travel companies. They have a daughter
Trisha and a son Abir.
My second son Rohit is CA & MBA, working with Kotak
Mahindra Bank.
SUDHIR VYAS - 70341 / EE
Arguably the genius of the batch,
Sudhir was much sought after for
his exhaustive notes and 'tips
and tricks'. His wing mates in Hall
2, would bear testimony to the
fact that he was rather generous
with both. His most prominent
interest in the campus was in
birds (the winged variety), and he
even managed to invite Salim Ali,
the outstanding researcher,
author, conservationist and world
famous expert in the field to speak at IIT Kanpur.
Passing out with the President's Gold Medal, Sudhir was
among the first few IITians to move to an altogether
different professional stream. His demonstrated his
brilliance once again, when he topped the IAS in 1977,
even though in those days, the style and substance of the
written and oral tests of the Civil Services entrance
examinations would have been so alien to an IIT
engineering syllabus. He joined the Indian Foreign
Service.
In the course of his long diplomatic career, both overseas
and in the Foreign Ministry in Delhi, Sudhir has spent
almost a third of the time dealing with our neighbours
where our foreign policy faces some of its severest
challenges. For example in Nepal, when democracy was
being introduced; in Bhutan, when it was moving to
constitutional democracy; and in Pakistan, at the
particularly difficult period in our bilateral relations that
witnessed General Musharraf's military coup, the IC 814
airplane hijacking, the Agra Summit and the operation
Parakram following the terrorist attack on our Parliament.
Another area of Sudhir's specialisation has been in the
Arab world, where he served as India's Ambassador to
the UAE and earlier in Egypt and Algeria. True to his
meticulousness, he even learnt Arabic, so that he could
perform better.
Sudhir also has considerable experience of multilateral
diplomacy at the UN in New York, where he served as a
part of India's delegation to the UN Security Council in
1991 when India was a member of that body, just when
the former Soviet Union collapsed and the balance of
power in the world began to change with the first Gulf
war. After a successful stint as India's Ambassador to
Germany, Sudhir is back in Ministry of External Affairs at
New Delhi.
All through his diplomatic career that has take him to so
many different parts of the world, Sudhir has kept up his
keen interest in wildlife in particular, and conservation
issues in general. He is a recipient of the Distinguished
Alumnus Award of the Indian Institute of Technology
Kanpur for his outstanding achievements in managing
the diplomatic relations of India with several countries.
( 107 )
SUMITRO SAHA - 70346 / CHE
Sudipto Then and now
Indrani and Sumitro
Almost 45 years have gone by since I first entered IIT
Kanpur on a very hot summer day in 1970. Memories
keep flashing back as if it were just the other day. The
first few days at Hall-III were spent unlearning whatever
I had learnt at St. Xavier's School, Calcutta, followed by
memorising “modified versions” of Newton's Laws,
Young's Modulus, unravelling the mystery of the formula
D3DT (written on the Water Tank of Hall-III), etc, etc, etc.
I still have vivid memories of many of my batch mates.
Just to name a few - Dinesh Suri, my roommate in HallIII, who later went on became our Cultural Secretary.
The imposing yet ever so gentle and devout Malayaj
Garga, who has recently published a voluminous and
erudite book titled, The Holy Gita - The Discourse
Nonpareil. Rahul Mukherjee whose collection of LP
records inducted me into rock and psychedelic music
(LedZep, CSNY, The Who, Carol King…). Kunal Ghosh,
who motivated me to learn tennis with regular practise
sessions at the Tennis Wall. Arindam Bose (Alu), a true
genius who helped me understand and solve many
problems in Chemical Engineering. Gautam Dutta
(Goldie), the only batchmate I remember who had a
motorbike on the campus. And there are memories of
Rakesh Gangwal, Sumit Ray, Shashi Ranjan Prasad,
Rahul Asthana, Somenath Ghosh, Ranavir Bose, Ashok
Dandekar and so many others….…..that it would be
impossible to cover in a couple of pages………so
excuse me if your name is not in this brief write-up.
Shifted to Hall-I, Room 141A / 312B, for the 4th and 5th
years respectively. Still remember the great time we
had at the week-long annual cultural festivals. The trip to
Khajuraho. The Dhaba just outside the campus gate,
where we sometimes used to go late at night for the
amazing Anda Parathas. And talking about parathas I
still remember the delightful, thick Aloo Parathas served
for Sunday breakfast at the Hostel Mess. The “Red
Rose” restaurant inside the campus, where we
occasionally went to escape the tasteless Tinda curry
and the “horror” dal served in the Mess. The long hours
spent at the Library to escape the oppressive summer
heat. Sample of the Moon Rock displayed in our Library;
the tiresome and often frustrating FORTRAN
Daughter Sukanya
& Son Sudipto
programming using Hollerith Cards for the IBM
mainframe. The visits of Pandit Ravishankar and Indira
Gandhi to our Campus. And, of course, great teachers
like Dr CNR Rao, Dr MV George, Dr Deshpande, Mrs
Takru to name a few.
After 5 years of toil and fun (more toil than fun, I would
say) at IIT, I did my Post-Graduation in Business
Management from XLRI Jamshedpur. Worked at AF
Ferguson & Co and DCPL (worked in the area of
Management Consultancy, and handled project
assignments in India as well as overseas in Tanzania,
Syria and Dubai). Later shifted to Balmer Lawrie & Co
Ltd, a highly diversified company in the area of
manufacturing and services, where I worked in Strategic
Planning and also looked after the coordination of the
seven Joint Venture companies of Balmer Lawrie. Took
early retirement to take up a career in teaching as
Associate Dean & Professor in Business Management
at ICFAI Business School. Teaching MBA students
turned out to be a wonderful experience, and my near
three decades of diverse corporate exposure enabled
me to relate theory with actual working of industry, which
students really appreciated. I was not a bad teacher,
considering that the Alumni of ICFAI Business School
conferred me with The Best Teacher Award in the year
2009.
My wife, Indrani, is a Chartered Accountant and now
working as a full-time Professor and HOD at Shri
Shikshayatan College, Kolkata. My Son, Sudipto, who
did his B.Tech. in Computer Science from WBUT and
recently completed has MBA from NMIMS Mumbai, is
now a Consultant at Infosys, Pune. My daughter,
Sukanya is in her final Semester of the B.Com.
(Honours) course at St. Xavier's College, Kolkata and
simultaneously pursuing the CA programme.
In the 1970's, owning a Camera was a luxury. I have not
been able to locate any campus or batchmates' pictures
taken during my stay there. During my search of old
documents I came across an Identity Card issued for
our 4th and 5th year studies at IITK. I have included a
scanned image of my photo as appearing on the ID
Card hoping that this may help you to recognise me.
( 108 )
SUNIL BHUPENDRA PATEL - 70348 / ME
(written by Alok Ranjan)
of us, he also planned after every mid-sems to follow a
very strict study time table, but again, like a whole lot of
us, he got sucked into playing games and bullying etc.
He was a keen volleyball player and spent a lot of time
on the court. But he always had very decent grades. I
suspect that Rajesh Dalal influenced Sunil a lot. They
had numerous solid discussions, with some of us
around. Like the TA 101, Sunil was able to comprehend
Rajesh a lot better too.
Education:
After completing his B.Tech, Sunil joined the National
Institute of Design, Ahmedabad for a course in Industrial
Design. (Makes eminent sense. He was one of the rare
few who got an A in TA 101 without a sweat).
Career:
Started work with Philips in their Industrial Design
department in Bombay. After a few years he started his
own consultancy service. I have seen his numerous
designs and models for radios, appliances, luggage etc.
He had converted one full room as his studio at his
home on the Oval Maidan in south Mumbai, one of the
costliest real estates in the city. That room was probably
as large as a one bedroom flat. There used to be racks
and racks of designs there. Very impressive work
indeed.
Later on he moved to US to take on some family
responsibilities. He became the Dean of ITT Tech, but
due to health reasons, decided to step down, and is
currently working as the Chair of Drafting and Design
program.
Memories:
In the very first year, while all of us were trying to
understand what on earth was TA 101 all about, Sunil
could not only understand lines and planes, as well as
isometrics and perspectives, but was maxing the tests.
His was a runaway A, much to the envy of us. Like a lot
One of the best friends that one could have, he would
support you to the fullest extent he could. My first job
was in Bombay (now Mumbai, as we now know it) and I
had no clue as to where I would live in that city. Sunil
offered to house me in his Rajjab Mahal flat on the Oval.
I planned to locate a good PG accomodation and move
out soon. However, my office was just a 10 minutes'
walk. I didn't have much incentive to do any serious
house hunting. I ended up staying in his home for the
full 15 months duration that I was in Bombay and never
moved out. A lot of our batch mates would also land up
in his home when in the city. It was our official Adda
there. Later on, even my other non IIT friends made it
their haunt. Sunil is such a good person that he will not
have it any other way. Such wonderful memories are
associated with his home.
I also know that when Sunil's elder brother Girish got
married in Ahmedabad during the summer that we
graduated, it was in that wedding that Janak Vora met
his future wife Vandana. I think the whole gang from IIT
was present during all the ceremonies. I somehow
missed out all the fun.
Family:
Sunil is married to Jagruti, who has been a pillar of
support in all that Sunil has decided to do. Jagruti is so
well suited to Sunil. I remember that once we landed up
at their home late in the evening, after they had had
their dinner. Without grumbling she made food for us as
the perfect hostess. Their daughter Alpi is a CA and
lives in Toronto with her husband Urjit, a dentist. Their
son Shamik works for Samsung in South Korea and he
recently got married to Ruehanee.
( 109 )
SUNIL GULATI - 70350 / ME
Son Romit, granddaughter Celia, daughter-in-law
Jharna, wife Neelam and Sunil.
Who am I ?
For some reason we are defined by the “work” we do,
the employment we hold, so let's start trying to define
me in this manner:
1. Taylor Instruments Company (India) Ltd. — my only
Mechanical Engineering job, installed the process
control instrumentation at IPCL Baroda. Of course,
now there is no IPCL (Reliance), and no Baroda
(Vadodara).
2. Switched to “Financial Engineering” — spent 18
years with State Bank of India, then moved 3
banks in the following 19 years to end up as India
CEO of Emirates NBD Bank.
3. Post superannuation from ENBD, moved full time
(and professionally - never stop valuing your
services!) into commercial photography,
established (establishing) a large studio facility and
a decent practice.
Another thing that defines us is where we live:
After an itinerant profession with SBI covering
Moradabad, Chandausi, Sambhal, Kanpur, Etah, Agra,
Delhi and finally Mumbai, I stayed on in Mumbai after
SBI and have lived there since.
And what about family, another important definer?
I married Neelam in 1979, we have a son Romit, he has
a wife Jharna, and they have presented us with a
gorgeous granddaughter Celia. Neelam is a
Cosmetologist, she has her own clinic across the street
from my studio in Mumbai. Romit, Jharna and now Celia
live in the Los Angeles metropolitan area — Romit (MS,
MBA) is a Product Manager in the tech industry while
Jharna (MA, FSA) is an Actuary in the insurance
industry.
Still trying to figure out Who am I. Perhaps my current
read, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, will point
me in a direction and push me along a path where I can
try and find some answers….
SUNIL MAHAJAN - 70351 / ME
DESIGNATIONS:
Addl. Director General, Construction Industry
Development Council (CIDC)
Certified Sujok Healer
EDUCATION:
High School from Springdales School, New Delhi.
B. Tech – IIT, Kanpur, ME, 1970-75 batch, graduated in
1977.
MBA – Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University
– 1988
FAMILY:
Wife: Dr. Anupam, Professor (former Dean and Head),
Department of Music, Delhi Univ.
Daughter: Bhavna, 27, Certified Healer. Married to
Gaurav Jain. One Grandson - Kabir
Son: Devung, 25, Senior Analyst with Aon Hewitt, Dubai.
PROFESSIONAL STATUS:
Foundation laid by mates and Faculty of Springdales
School and IIT, Kanpur
23 years in Industry with leading Corporates including
self-business, prior to joining CIDC.
A: Engineering
1977 – 2000. Worked in Corporates. Ten years of selfbusiness – Design, Development and manufacturing of
new electronic products.
Joined CIDC in Nov, 2000. CIDC was formed by
Planning Commission to reform the Construction Sector.
Presently Addl. Director General in CIDC.
Member of World Bank Consultative Group on Indian
Infrastructure in 2003. Member of National Committees
of various bodies/organizations related to the
Construction Industry including the BIS Committee on
National Building Code Revision, Ministry of
Commerce's Core Group on Engineering aspects of
( 110 )
WTO/GATS issues & various others. Instrumental in
setting up the first Construction Equipment Bank in
India, now known as QUIPPO.
Member of NBA (National Board of Accreditation formed
by AICTE) Committee for Washington Accord.
Certified Arbitrator with Singapore International
Arbitration Centre & later in their Indian arm
Construction Industry Arbitration Council, set up jointly
with CIDC.
Convener of the 6 Working Groups formed by Planning
Commission for the Chapter on Construction for 12th
Plan. Also involved similarly for Xth and XIth Plans.
a)Regulatory Framework, self regulation and issues
leading to time & cost overruns.
b)Procurement Systems and Dispute Resolution
Systems
c) Human Resources Development
d)Institutional Financing
e)Quality, Standards and Environmental issues.
f) Research & Development
In Mar. 2014, invited by United Nations (UNCITRAL) as
“Observer” and attended the 5 day, 29th Session of
Negotiations for Draft Law & Guidelines for On-linedispute resolution.
Member of the Board of Governors of the following
organizations.
1. UN Economic Commission for Europe – CIDC CoE
on PPP on Roads and Highways,
2. ITI Palwal Institute Management Committee, CoChairman
3. Healthcare Infrastructure Development Centre
(HIDC), Treasurer
4. SAARC Construction Industry Chamber (SAARCCIC)
5. Construction Industry Arbitration Council (CIAC)
6. International Council of Consultants (ICC)
7. Council for Application of Actuarial Science in Risk
Management in Construction
8. CIDC Employees Welfare Organisation (CEWO),
President
Honorary Professor, Assam University.
Author of numerous published papers on Construction
Industry, Disaster Management, WTO / GATS,
International Trade Law & related fields.
For more details pl google “sunil mahajan + cidc”
B. Healing:
2010 onwards: Professional Sujok Healer and Lecturer.
For details see web: http://www.indiasujok.com ; fb :
www.facebook.com/SjTSunilMahajan ,
www.facebook.com/sujok.heal , email: indiasujok@gmail.com
COMMUNITY SERVICE:
Conducted and/or participated as a Healer in numerous
free Sujok Healing Camps for Chronic diseases.
CONTACTS:
Cell : +91 97111 06001, email : sunilmahajan@gmail.com
SURENDRA HALGERI - MTEE - 310427 / EE
I joined the MTech - EE program at IIT Kanpur after BE
from COEP, Pune.
After my MTech, I worked with DCM DP and HCL,
designing Mini-computer (Galaxy 11) and Microcomputers (HCL 8/C, HCL 8/S). Later I joined CMC R&D
in Hyderabad and worked on on Systems Integration. I
then moved to Singapore, worked in IT Industry for
sometime before becoming an IT Contractor in Oil & Gas
field.
I do often recall those lovely days at IIT – the EE
department corridors where we used to hang around
and see likes of Dr K R Sharma (in slippers!), TRV, TLV,
RNB, SV rushing around for their classes, playing tennis
ball cricket with guys like Bhagwat, Thuggersay,
Deorukhkar and others, Ashok Jhun and Pondy
addressing informal gatherings in Hall V quadrangle, the
Sunday Alu paratha and pickle, the holi bhang drinking,
working with PN Arya in dark-room, developing and
printing photos!. And the wonderful neighbours I had Ulhas Pradhan and Ravi Venkatesh. Incidentally, some
of the undergrads may remember me as KRS's
assistant for EE421 course in 1974-75.
My family and I are now settled in Singapore. My wife
Vijaya retired after working for 25 years in TV media
companies like Doordarshan and EMRC in Hyderabad
and then CNBC and ESPN in Singapore. Our daughter
Arpita, a science graduate from NUS, did INSEAD MBA
and now works for Johnson & Johnson in Surgical
Division. She got married last year to Jonathan Kolb,
her INSEAD colleague from Chicago. Our son Ashwin
completed his Chemical Engineering from NUS in June
2013 and is now with the Boston Consulting Group.
( 111 )
SURENDRA MULJI SHAH - 70354 / ME
NOW :
THEN**
Surendra and Saroj
Work: Worked at Jyoti Limited at Vadodara from 1975
December to June 2000, mainly in Manufacturing. I was
involved in Manufacturing of Pumps, Electric Motors and
Generators till 1995. For the next 5 years I was Plant-inC h a r g e o f B L F u s e g e a r, a s i s t e r c o m p a n y
manufacturing HRC fuses.
Retired from Jyoti in 2000 and joined Unifab Engineers
as General Manager of the unit manufacturing metallic
packaging drums at Vadodara.
In 2007 I moved to the valves manufacturing unit of JVS
Engineers at Vadodara. This company supplies to Oil
Industry projects all over the world
Family : Retired from active work in 2009 April to
spend time with my family -- my wife Saroj had missed
my family touch for 34 years!
**Sitting L to R : Vikram Kamdar, Rajesh Kikani, Samir
Vohra, Surendra Shah, Vishnu Agarwal.
Standing L to R : Ulhas Ghare, Rajendra Naik, Sanjay
Trivedi, Sudhir Jhaveri, Niranjan Godiwala, Dilip Soni,
Hargovind Sharma.
My son Jeetal is a software engineer. He did Master's
from University of Buffalo and settled in Los Angeles,
USA. His wife Manjari was his classmate at at Buffalo
and is working for Broadcom at Irvine, USA. They have
a 1 year old son Vyan.
My daughter Sneha and her husband Keyur are at
Vadodara. He has a business of servicing and repairing
Mobiles. They have a 4 year old daughter Mahi.
I stay active and busy by engaging in social activities at
Vadodara.
surendra.m.shah@gmail.com
SURESH CHOWDHARY - 70358 / CHE
Ceremonial Guard of Honour for South African President
(Rashtrapati Bhavan Forecourt - March 27, 1997)
After his B.Tech in 1975 and PGDM from IIM Calcutta in
1977, Suresh opted for civil service and joined the
Indian Police Service in 1979. During a police career of
34 years, he served in Rajasthan Police, Intelligence
Bureau, Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of
Commerce and Industry.
In Rajasthan Police (home cadre), where he spent over
Suresh and Neelima
Jaipur
Republic Day Parade 2011
16 years, Suresh provided on-ground leadership to field
units, carried out intensive campaigns against criminal
gangs operating in the Chambal ravines, apprehended
listed outlaws wanted for crimes of dacoity, armed
robbery, extortion, abduction and kidnapping for ransom,
amicably resolved serious social and caste tensions,
and brought about public confidence and sense of
( 112 )
security through restoration of peace and order in
disturbed times and areas. He retired from the force in
December 2013 as Director General of Police assigned
to the Rajasthan Home Guards and Civil Defence
department.
During his 8 year tenure with the Intelligence Bureau,
Suresh was involved in monitoring the sensitive states
of the North-East which were in turmoil, and later
Punjab which was facing terrorist violence.
Subsequently, he shouldered responsibilities in the area
of national security, including several sensitive counterintelligence and anti-terrorist operations, apart from
ensuring security for high dignitaries, visiting heads of
state and various protectees under threat from different
hostile groups and organizations.
In his stint with the Ministry of External Affairs for over 4
years, he worked as the First Secretary (Personnel) in
the Embassy of India, Bonn, looking after Mission
security and liaison with German government agencies.
In the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, he was the
Chief Vigilance Officer in the State Trading Corporation
of India for five years. During this period, he
successfully uncovered and painstakingly investigated
several multi-crore scams that led to number of system
improvements in the working and procedures of PSUs
apart from registration of several CBI cases against
corrupt elements at high echelons.
He was awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious
Services in 1997 and the President's Police Medal for
Distinguished Services in 2010.
He and his wife Neelima are now settled in Jaipur.
Suresh is currently Director (Administration) at the
Vivekananda Group of Institutions and also teaches
Corporate Governance and Research Methodology to
MBA students at the JK Lakshmipat University, Jaipur.
SUSHIL KUMAR BIYANI - 70360 / CHE
After graduating from IIT Kanpur in 1975, Sushil initiated
his entrepreneurship journey with export-import of
chemicals. In the late 1990's he started the business of
manufacturing precast concrete items for U.P
Government. Using WHO approved designs, he build
the prototype of precast concrete platforms with drains,
standposts etc and showcased it to various departments
in U.P Government like Jal Nigam, PWD etc. and got
their approvals. He grew that business from scratch to
100+ people company. With the urge to start something
new he started a new venture of trading of plastic films
in 2005 and is currently involved in that.
Sushil lives in Kanpur along with his wife and has three
daughters. In his free time he loves to travel with his
family.
( 113 )
TIMILA YAMI THAPA - 70367 / EE
I have worked for three years on a research project
under Department of Electronics, Government of India,
at IIT Kanpur.
I have had the honor of serving as the Chairman of
Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited, Kathmandu
(KUKL - supplying Kathmandu with Drinking Water;
http://www.kathmanduwater.org). I am also serving or
have served as:
●
Governing
Board Member, Nepal Engineering
Council (ttp://www.nec.gov.np.
●
Senate
M e m b e r, P o k h a r a U n i v e r s i t y
(ttp://www.pu.edu.np/university 2008-till date).
●
Member,
University Grant Commission
(ttp://www.ugcnepal.edu.np.
Name: Prof. Timila Yami Thapa
Nationality: Nepalese
●
Member,
Public Private Partnership (PPP) Unit
at FNCCI (ttp://www.fncci.org.
Postal Address: Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal
Email: yamitimila@yahoo.com,
timilayamithapa@iitkalumni.org
●
Assistant
Dean, Institute of Engineering
(ww.ioe.edu.np.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timila.yami
Cell No: 977 9841298009.
I consider myself fortunate to be associated with the
“Yami” family. “Yami”, in Kathmandu local language,
means a "family from Kathmandu valley". Not only am I
fortunate that my father, Late Dharma Ratna Yami
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma_Ratna_Yami),
authored twenty five books (two books were banned),
fought from the front lines to overthrow the tyrant Rana
Regime in the 1940s (he was given an eighteen years
jail sentence); but also because of the fact that my
younger sister Hisila Yami (ex-minister) along with her
husband Dr. Baburam Bhattarai (former prime minister
of Nepal) led a 10 year people's revolution against the
autocratic Shah Dynasty from 1995 to 2005.
I also consider myself lucky because I was the first
woman in Nepal to acquire a graduate degree in
Electronics and a Master's degree in IT. Even more so
lucky because I had the opportunity to enhance my
knowledge at a top-tier Institution IIT-K of India and
Masters degree from De Montfort University
(https://www.facebook.com/dmuleicester?fref=photo),
UK. I also did specialized training programs in Japan,
the Netherlands and Hong Kong. As a woman I was a
pioneer in the IT scenario when I started my own
software company in 1991. Today I am associated with
several successful IT ventures including a state of the
art animation studio in Kathmandu.
I am an avid writer and my articles have appeared in
scores of esteemed journals & magazines. My views
and recommendations have influenced policy makers
and have help shape the IT landscape of my country.
My education and experience have been instrumental in
the establishment and successful running of the IT
department at Nepal' first and premier Institutionin
Engineering - nstitute of Engineering Pulchowk Campus
I recently ended my tenure there after serving for 35
years. I am the owner of a magazine "ATHMARCH".
My Husband Rajesh is an Architect. I have two
wonderful daughters Srishti and Shreya and a son
Siddharth. Srishti Thapa Allay is working in Sydney
after her Master' Degree from Macquarie University,
Australia, married and settled there. Shreya is a Docr
with MBBS degree from CMC Vellore, India, and is
currently in the final year of MD program at BHU
Varanasi, India. My son Siddharth is in the final
semester of MBA program at Corvinus University
Budapest, Hungary.
I am also interested on gender issue.
I am now looking forward to collaborating with my fellow
alumni of this esteem Institution in exploiting
opportunities available in my country through my
experience and networks built over last 35 years. My
focus currently is on following areas:
●
e-leaning
and distance education.
●
Multimedia
application and content development.
●
ICT enabled
services for good governance.
●
Outsourcing
of IT services.
●
Supply
of IT talents.
●
Local Representation.
( 114 )
TOM JOY - 70366 / EE
various aspects of making CMOS wafers, as an actual
fab person. From 2000 onwards I was part of the Agilent
Technologies spin-off from HP.
2006 – present: I have been part of various small
companies, mostly in the CMOS image sensor (camera
chip) area. I am currently at SiOnyx, a small startup
company.
Family:
My wife Molly is a software engineering director at HP in
Palo Alto CA. Our son Rohit and daughter Anjali are
both economics and business majors from UC Berkeley,
and live and work close by.
Molly, Tom, Rohit, Anjali
Further education:
Other Interests:
MS Solid State (Syracuse University), PhD EE (Univ. of
Notre Dame)
Aside from the usual things (hiking, reading), my main
passion is flying. Some of you might remember that I
used to spend an unhealthy amount of time at the IITK
gliding center. After a thirty-year gap, my wife let me
start flying again. She and I are both private pilots and
we enjoy flying in the beautiful local area when we can.
Work:
1977-2006: I worked at Hewlett Packard in Corvallis
Oregon and in Singapore for the first 26 years of my
working life. Essentially all of it was connected to
UDAY CHANDRA – 70368 / ME
EDUCATION:
Ph.D., Accounting, Purdue University, 1992.
M.B.A., Industrial Mgmt., University of Cincinnati, 1976.
B.Tech., Mechanical Engg., IIT Kanpur, 1975.
I.S.C., La Martiniere College, Lucknow, 1969.
EMPLOYMENT:
Scooters India Limited, Lucknow (1977–85).
University of Oklahoma (1992–2000).
University of Kentucky (2000–2005).
State University of New York, Albany (2005–present).
–Currently, Associate Professor of Accounting.
FAMILY:
Niti (wife), Neha (daughter), Anupam (son-in-law), and
Radhika (granddaughter). Neha accepted a position in
financial services and Anupam in private equity after
both received their MBAs from Harvard Business
School.
( 115 )
ULHAS GHARE - 70371 / CHE
UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, balance Indian
experience. At present working as a consultant with
clients in and outside India. Extensive travelling involved
- 15 days a month, minimum 4 days in Middle East.
Had a career break due to hospital stay of 1.5 years
(paralytic attack) - recovered by 2012.
Family:
Wife Medha is a housewife. Son Abhijit is mentally
challenged, in residential care at Adhar, Badlapur.
Daughter Gauri is Visiting Faculty of German language
at Symbiosis Institute of Foreign and Indian Languages,
and Dept. of Foreign Languages University of Pune.
Memories:
Education:
Too many fond memories of nice time spent at IIT/K.
B.Tech. Chem. Engg, IIT Kanpur
Have occasional contact with— R.K. Naik, P.D.Ozarde,
Sham Parekh,
Hall 2 - 4yrs. Hall 1 - 1 yr.
Career:
In the field of glass fibre composites like—gfrc
(concrete), grg (gypsum)
and grp (plastics) since 1976. Experience
—20yrs — Oman,
abroad
Sudhir Jhaveri, Ratan Mohan, Rakesh Agarwal,
K.V.Madhusudan.
Vividly remember time spent with Vivek Srivastava,
Priyaranjan, R.K.Dhar, S.K.Mitra, Arun Naik,
Madhusudan Dara, and many others.
VEERESH KUMAR MATHUR - 70378 / CE
08 February 1979 and continued working with NTPC till
superannuation on 31 March 2013. Besides
construction, I also worked as Head of HR department
at Kahalgaon project. In NTPC, there was lot of stress
on employee's training. In middle Management training
programmes, we were introduced to Yoga in July 1993. I
found Yoga very interesting and useful to keep fit. I
adopted it from then on and continue doing this
regularly. I have in fact cured myself of severe Thyroid
(TSH 105).
Ritika, Veeresh, (Late) Suman, Varun
After completing B.Tech (Civil), I joined M.Tech (Soil) at
IIT Kanpur. However, I left the M.Tech after completing
1st Semester and joined Gammon India Ltd at Patna on
02 December 1975. In Gammon India Ltd, I worked at
“Gandhi Setu” at Patna and Buxar Bridge. The job at
Gammon India was very challenging and interesting.
There was lot to learn from the field staff. I then joined
TISCO at West Bokaro Colliery on 02 December 1977
where I was associated with setting up of Coal Washery.
Subsequently, I joined NTPC Ltd at Badarpur-Delhi on
In my last posting in NTPC, I was Head of Fly Ash
Division. As there is still lack of awareness about Fly
Ash, I conducted number of workshops and made
presentations including all IITs. I have also made eight
Technical documentary films on various uses of Fly Ash.
Presently, I am working with National Council of Cement
& Building Materials, Ballabgarh as consultant.
I got married to Suman Mathur in 1982 and blessed with
one daughter – Ritika and one son –Varun. Ritika is
happily married and working with IBM at Pune and her
husband, Ankur, is in Infosys. Varun is B. E. (Electronics
& Communications). My wife passed away on 29th May
2004 due to Cancer.
( 116 )
VIJAY SINGAL - 70385 / CHE
Education:
B. Tech (Chemical, IITK, 1975)
c
PGDM (Finance, IIMC, 1977)
PhD (Finance, U Michigan, 1992)
Employment:
1977-1987: ONGC
1992-2014: Virginia Tech
2011-2012: New York University
Professional:
Akshay Singal, Mr. Vijay Singal,
Mrs.Manisha Singal & Ashish Singal
Professor of Finance
Family:
Manisha (wife); Ashish (elder son); Akshay (younger
son)
VIKRAM KAMDAR - 70388 / ME
1975-1977 : Joined Bharat Bijlee (Associate of
Siemens) as Industrial Engr. Ended in Purchase Dept.
1977-1981 : Joined Carbon Corp as Purchase and
Project Engineer.
1981-1982 : Joined Tata Consulting Engineers.
1982-1996 ; Started 100 % Export Unit manufacturing
Self-Seal Envelopes with biggest envelope
manufacturer and biggest wholesaler. Had very rough
times due to fraud committed by German supplier. Saw
days when daily interest cost was Rs. 3,500 and annual
turnover was Rs. 2,500. Finally had to sell the unit and
buyer's condition was I need to stay and run unit as my
own. As luck would have it, unit started minting. 2nd
year turnover 7 million and net non-taxable profit of 3.3
million (buyers' luck!).
1996-1999 : Joined Urisan and exported toothpaste to
Russia and other countries.
1999-2015 ; Game
c h a n g i n g y e a r.
Came to USA for
d a u g h t e r ' s
wedding. She
wanted us to move
to USA. Had come
on visitor visa.
Stayed back found
cash paying job at
$ 4.50 (less than
min wages) doing
data entry with 1718 year old girls.
Created work at
that job with my
excel skills. Got my
first H1 with a
relative, while
working different
jobs (sometimes 3
on same day). But
as I say hard work never killed anyone and I will not be
first.
Simultaneously took tax preparation classes and started
working. Around Nov 2002 got a job with Chevy car
dealership where owner told me he did not have
particular work for me but will hire me. Since then have
been working with Dalip Singh and have reached no 3
position in the company.
( 117 )
Started working with small franchisee of Jackson Hewitt.
Did maximum returns number-wise and fee wise for 3
years in row. Started own practice in 2003 with 2 clients
and have reached peak of 470 clients today.
I do not think I would have been able to achieve in India
what I achieved here in USA, land of opportunities.
Family:
One of the first ones to get married in March of 1976.
Married to Ila who was born and brought up in Malaysia.
Got a daughter Payal who has her own software
company with her husband Ashish, employing about
200 people. She got 2 awards as minority entrepreneur
in White House. Son Anand working for Leica systems
as Product Development Manager. Trying to find a girl
for him.
Am a parent who is proud that both children did better
than what I did or anticipated.Two beautiful
granddaughters Anushka (10) and Anya (9) …Photo
IIT Days:
Booked tickets with some friends who were seniors
(1969 batch). In hindsight not very
good decision as our ragging started in the train at
Thane station. We had to make chook-chook train at
Jhansi station, where other passengers were thinking
we had gone bonkers... It did give us some advantage
as we, even though being freshers, ragged some of our
batch mates.
Realized in second year that my aptitude is for business
and not engineering. Somehow managed to complete
engineering with first class as promised to my parents.
Being in IIT developed some life lasting bonds. Meet
someone after 25-30 years and continue as if you had
conversed yesterday. It also imparts training to stand on
your
VIKRAM MURTHY - 70389 / EE
with wife Anjali
Anjali & daughter Gayatri
My days at IIT Kanpur were life-shaping. I learnt the art
of analysis and assimilation of knowledge. Our
Professors - Deshpande, CNR Rao, Biswas,
Balasubramaniam , Suzi Tharu, Mohini Mullick to name
some, knew to impart -- the Art and the Technique .
Air-conditioning services Company. Simultaneously we
have a Training Trust - Tropical Air-conditioning &
Refrigeration Institute. I am active Member of the
American & Indian Societies of Air-conditioning
Engineers, ASHRAE & ISHRAE. I have contributed to
several International Standards and authored two
Technical Books and regularly attend or Chair
committee meetings of these Societies in India and
America.
I learnt skills outside Electrical Engineering some of
which are my hobbies today and above all I acquired
many gems - my dear friends forever.
On Graduation I took up management training with
Shriram Industries at Delhi and later at Hyderabad, my
ancestral home. They were the years I learnt mass
manufacturing which later enabled me to open a
business to manufacture Air Handling Systems.
I came to Bombay, as it was known then, in 1977 to join
Voltas Limited a multi- disciplinary Company. I worked in
the Electrical Switchgear Division and was later
transferred to HVAC which became my profession of
passion.Since 1999 I've been joint owner of Univac
Environment Systems Pvt Ltd, an Applied and Unitary
My wife Anjali is General Manager of Eureka Forbes
Limited, a durables company. Our Daughter Gayatri
works as Research Manager for InterMedia, a Global
Media & Research Company in Washington DC and
alternates between there and Delhi on assignments for
the Gates Foundation.
My life is a mixture now of professional and voluntary
work and I look forward to expanding the courses
offered by our Training Trust.
( 118 )
VINOD GUPTA - 70393 / EE
In 1992, the Indian Stock market was growing rapidly. It
was then I decided to become a stockbroker at U.P.
Stock Exchange, Kanpur (I had taken a membership in
1985). I was not able to adjust to the working of the
stock market & within 2 years I went into manufacturing
again, establishing a new manufacturing plant (1994) to
produce car components at Kanpur. And I am running
this unit till date at Kanpur
Vinod & Meenakshi Gupta
Family:
Career:
I started my career with M/s Larsen & Toubro Ltd.
(1975–77) in their Switchgear marketing Division.
During my association with the organisation, I worked at
various locations such as Mumbai, Rourkela & Calcutta.
I completed my MBA from IIM Ahmedabad (1977-79)
and then joined M/s. Perfect Circle Victor Ltd. (1979-82)
at the Nashik plant & looked after Marketing of Piston
Rings & Gaskets.
In 1982, I ventured into manufacturing and established
an ancillary unit to manufacture pressed components &
assemblies for M/s. Indian Telephone Industries Ltd. at
Raebareli (U.P.). I managed the unit successfully for 10
years till 1992.
I married Meenakshi (Sister of our batchmate, Vishnu
Agarwal of Chemical Engg.) in 1980. We have a son,
Rahul (born 1981) and a daughter, Ritika ( born 1985).
Rahul (B. Tech & MBA) is working as a Manager with
M/s. Cognizant Tech Solutions, Bangalore. He is
married to Vandita, (MS-Eco. from Ohio State Univ.)
working with M/s Tata Consultancy Services, Bangalore.
Ritika (B.E. & MBA (MICA, Ahmedabad)) is working as
a Manager - Programming with M/s Microsoft,
Hyderabad.
Community Service:
I am a member of Rotary Club since 1986 and actively
participate in social service through the Rotary Club.
Besides this, I am an active member of various
charitable organizations of Kanpur.
VIVEK SRIVASTAVA - 70400 / ME
Vivek,Pranjal (son), Neelima (Daughter-in-law),
Pratibha (My wife), Shambhavi (daughter standing)
After IIT, I joined BHEL Tiruchirapalli. My field was
Power Sector. I worked in the area of Project
Management and Marketing of Boiler and Auxiliaries of
Thermal Power Projects. During this time, I was also
associated in setting up an Incineration Plant in Delhi in
collaboration with Volund of Denmark. In this connection
I went to Denmark twice. In 1995 I came to the BHEL
Delhi office. Here I was instrumental in Marketing and
Project Management of Renovation and Modernization
of Thermal Power Projects. Later, I was deputed to
Ministry of Heavy Industries where I was sent to Libya
as the Managing Director of ECCO (a joint venture of
Govt. of India and Libya) for two years. Here, I went to
many countries, including Tunisia, Malta, Turkey, UK
and France. After returning, I came back to my parent
department and superannuated as GM/Project
Management in 2012. BHEL appointed me as an
Adviser for two years. After the completion of this
assignment, I joined WAPCOS a PSU in June 2014. In
my association with this organization,I was sent to
Rwanda for six months for 15 MW Peat to Power
Project.
( 119 )
YADUPATI SINGHANIA - 70401 / CE
Yadupati (Yadu or YP to his friends) is currently the MD
and CEO of J.K. Cement Ltd., Kanpur, part of the JK
Organization.
Under Yadu, JK Cement today has five plants across
Rajasthan and Karnataka and is present in both in grey
and white cement segments. It also has a
manufacturing facility in Fujairah (UAE) with capacity to
produce both grey and white cement.
Yadu was responsible for introducing several firsts in the
world – for example the white cement plant using
limestone by dry process and installing Fuzzy Logic
System to computerize kiln operations.
Born in a well known industrialists' family, Yadu believes
that human resources are more important than capital
assets. Standing testimony to this belief is the number
of prestigious schools and training centers he has set up
in all his manufacturing / administrative facilities in India.
To name a few - Lala Kamlapat Singhania Education
Centre, Gotan; Sir Padampat Singhania University,
Udaipur; Dr. Gaur Hari Singhania Institute of
Management & Research (GHS-IMR), Kanpur; J.K.
Centre for Technician Training, Kanpur; Regional
Training Centre, Nimbahera and JK Industrial Training
Centre, Kanpur.
Yadu is a much respected Director/ Partner in several
companies of the JK Organisations and Trustee in many
educational, sports and philanthropic bodies. He is a
Member of the Board of Governors of the National
Council for Cement and Building Material, Member
Jodhpur Chamber of Commerce, Member of the
Managing Committee of Cement
Manufacturers
Association. Yadu is deeply involved in social activities
and is an active Rotarian.
His passion for sports is evident from the fact that he is
Director of Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association, Kanpur
and he has generously sponsored numerous Vintage
Car Rallies, Tennis, Squash, Table Tennis, Cricket and
Billiards tournaments. In addition, YP is an ardent
reader, vintage car collector, flower and garden admirer,
sponsored royal dog shows and is a great listener. He is
a philanthropist.
IIT Kanpur has a very special place in Yadu's heart.
Since his passing out YP has lent support to all major
events conducted by the institute such as Antaragni
(annual cultural festival of the Institute), Udghosh
(annual sports festival) and Techkriti (annual technical &
entrepreneurship festival). His has instituted
scholarships in the name of his father Dr Gaur Hari
Singhania for PhD students in Civil Engineering.
As a foremost cement manufacturer in the country, Yadu
strongly feels that worthy contributions in the field of
architecture --town planning, infrastructure development
and affordable housing etc -- should be recognized to
encourage outstanding talent. The AYA introduced in
1990 and the State Architecture Awards from 1998
demonstrate his intent.
( 120 )
YOGESH CHANDRA - 70405 / ME
married and one of us had to leave the room. We had a
toss and I lost and had to move to Borivali. Commuting
for 3 hours every day in Mumbai was a quite a waste of
time and I accepted an assignment at Voltas to set up a
greenfield project to manufacture refrigerators near
Nagpur.
In 1984, I was blessed with a lovely daughter Nupur and
concern for her education brought us to Delhi in 1987. I
had to join Nestle but settled for a new start up company
Polyplex (Polyester film manufacturer) as Nestle meant
traveling to Moga in Punjab very often. The Punjab
problem was at its peak then.
Vidu, Bindu, Nupur, Nuvi and Yogesh
The best period of my life was the time spent at IIT/K.
Though the 5 years were very difficult and tough, they
transformed me completely. Rajiv Kalra, Alok Sinha,
DOSCO, Rakesh Agarwal, Rajiv Asthana, Milind,
Sudarshan Bhutra and many others travelled together
from Dehradun to Kanpur after vacations. Occasionally
some liquor bottles smuggled from Alok Sinha's house
was the treat on board the train. My first party in the true
sense was whilst working in Calcutta (1975-80). With
Goldie, Rajiv Kalra, Rajiv Sarin and others, I enjoyed my
stay there with weekends at the Tollygunge Club as this
was a must as per the Company culture. I was being
transferred to Bhadrachalam paper Boards (ITC) in A.P.
when I decided against it and moved to Mumbai to join
Voltas (1980-1987).
JHH (DOSCO) was my roommate and we stayed near
Churchgate opposite the Oval Maidan in Mumbai. We
had a great time together. In 1981, both of us got
Life moved on and I never worked very hard to go up
the ladder in the organization. I was happy with what I
had and enjoyed my family and friends. In 1997, I
moved to Indonesia with the objective of experiencing
an international assignment and visiting the adjoining
countries. I returned in 2004 after spending some time
in Bahrain. Since then I have been in India and have
worked with Garware, Uflex and now at Kent.
There is nothing much to write home on my
achievements professionally and have accepted
whatever has come my way. I had lost my sister,
brother and father and this was painful. My daughter
got married in 2009 to Vidhu Agarwal (IIML) and she
stays just next door. I do visit my mother in Dehradun
regularly as she needs me but refuses to stay with us in
Noida. Well, that is in short what I have been doing.
70405 (Mech. Engineering)
B-90, Sector 51, Noida.
M: 9818155064
( 121 )