nsmohanram
Joined May 2021
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Alma Matters-Documentary on IIT Kharagpur- A review
I could relate to the documentary as an Alumnus of the IIT and due to my long association with the Institute after graduation. I belong to the third batch of India's first IIT at Kharagpur, set up in 1951. I joined the Institute when it was still operating from the old Hijli jail building and there were less than five hundred students. There were just two hostels- Patel Hall and Nehru Hall. A third one, Azad Hall was under construction. By the time I passed out, IIT KGP had nearly two thousand students and six functioning hostels. There was no system of campus placement when I graduated. India's second IIT at Powai, Bombay became operational from 1956.
Things are very different now. IITs are now a globally recognized brand and flag-bearers of India's technological prowess. The Joint Entrance examination is one of the toughest tests in the world, admitting just one percent of the lakhs of candidates. Cram schools, including the notorious coaching factories at Kota and Hyderabad have become big businesses.
I have been visiting IIT Kharagpur almost continuously from 1958, till 2018, attending conferences, for campus interviews, as a visiting professor from INAE and as TVS Motor representative for a chair professorship endowed for ten years from 2010. The institute honored me as a distinguished Alumus in 2012 Diamond Jubliee convocation with Dr. Manmohan Singh, PM as the chief guest. I have seen the institute grow and change over the years. I have interacted with many Directors, some of whom were born after I had graduated!
Small wonder, I was intrigued by and interested in the documentary on IIT Kharagpur.
Kharagpur differs from other IITs in many ways. It is the oldest institute, with the largest campus, widest coverage of subjects and maximum number of students. It is located in the wilderness, miles away from any metro or large city. Kharagpur town has hardly changed over the years and offers little in way of entertainment to the students, who have perforce find avenues within the campus to amuse and occupy themselves.
Surprisingly, there has never been much interaction with the Air Force Base at Kalaikunda nearby. This has led to a closed hothouse atmosphere in the campus with plusses and minuses.
In my time, sadly there were no lady students. There was no pecking order among courses as everyone felt he had a reasonable chance for a meaningful career in the discipline of his choice. I chose naval architecture over mechanical and electrical engineering as I felt it had good prospects in a newly independent India and the subject looked interesting. There was no system of campus placements. Ragging was permitted within limits.
The staff and students were noticeably less affluent. There was not a single motorcycle or scooter with the students. There were just four cars with the faculty other than staff cars and the Director's vehicle. Thanks to a large Anglo Indian Railway population, the Railway (South) Institute screened English films and provided entertainment.
The IIT of today as portrayed in the documentary is not really very different in essence. It is still a highly closed system, which has to generate its own amusements and pastimes. In my time, there was no internet, laptops and Wi-Fi. The hostels were still central to our identities then also. The inter hall competitions were fiercely fought. Diwali Illumination contests started in 1955 and were spectacular. The student's Gymkhana elections were keenly fought, with the Vice President's position being the big prize. (I played spoilsport in 1957-58, being elected unopposed as VP of the Gymkhana).
The documentary portrays a frenetic competitive spirit in the midst of comradeship, almost functioning as an apprenticeship for the corporate jungle outside. In my time, there were no eight or seven figure salaries, there was no heartburn. Life was more innocent and simple. This spirit, chase of GPAs and the rat race element was absent.
The documentary is well made, though disjointed at times. T has been criticized as inadequate and amateurish by some but I feel it has done reasonable justice to a complex topic.
The comradeship in the middle of fierce competition, the overt sexism which prevents women contesting for important positions in the Gymkhana (with the brave exception of one young lady, Spandana), the tragic suicides of students who could not cope with the hothouse atmosphere, the rush of adrenaline and tension during campus placements and the summing up of what IIT did to its students who came in as boys and grew up to be young men, is brought out adequately.
To sum up it is not a great documentary, certainly not an award winning kind. But it is a modest effort which tries to portray the complexity of the IIT and the beehive existence of the students.
The documentary is honest, informative and truthful. I liked it.
Things are very different now. IITs are now a globally recognized brand and flag-bearers of India's technological prowess. The Joint Entrance examination is one of the toughest tests in the world, admitting just one percent of the lakhs of candidates. Cram schools, including the notorious coaching factories at Kota and Hyderabad have become big businesses.
I have been visiting IIT Kharagpur almost continuously from 1958, till 2018, attending conferences, for campus interviews, as a visiting professor from INAE and as TVS Motor representative for a chair professorship endowed for ten years from 2010. The institute honored me as a distinguished Alumus in 2012 Diamond Jubliee convocation with Dr. Manmohan Singh, PM as the chief guest. I have seen the institute grow and change over the years. I have interacted with many Directors, some of whom were born after I had graduated!
Small wonder, I was intrigued by and interested in the documentary on IIT Kharagpur.
Kharagpur differs from other IITs in many ways. It is the oldest institute, with the largest campus, widest coverage of subjects and maximum number of students. It is located in the wilderness, miles away from any metro or large city. Kharagpur town has hardly changed over the years and offers little in way of entertainment to the students, who have perforce find avenues within the campus to amuse and occupy themselves.
Surprisingly, there has never been much interaction with the Air Force Base at Kalaikunda nearby. This has led to a closed hothouse atmosphere in the campus with plusses and minuses.
In my time, sadly there were no lady students. There was no pecking order among courses as everyone felt he had a reasonable chance for a meaningful career in the discipline of his choice. I chose naval architecture over mechanical and electrical engineering as I felt it had good prospects in a newly independent India and the subject looked interesting. There was no system of campus placements. Ragging was permitted within limits.
The staff and students were noticeably less affluent. There was not a single motorcycle or scooter with the students. There were just four cars with the faculty other than staff cars and the Director's vehicle. Thanks to a large Anglo Indian Railway population, the Railway (South) Institute screened English films and provided entertainment.
The IIT of today as portrayed in the documentary is not really very different in essence. It is still a highly closed system, which has to generate its own amusements and pastimes. In my time, there was no internet, laptops and Wi-Fi. The hostels were still central to our identities then also. The inter hall competitions were fiercely fought. Diwali Illumination contests started in 1955 and were spectacular. The student's Gymkhana elections were keenly fought, with the Vice President's position being the big prize. (I played spoilsport in 1957-58, being elected unopposed as VP of the Gymkhana).
The documentary portrays a frenetic competitive spirit in the midst of comradeship, almost functioning as an apprenticeship for the corporate jungle outside. In my time, there were no eight or seven figure salaries, there was no heartburn. Life was more innocent and simple. This spirit, chase of GPAs and the rat race element was absent.
The documentary is well made, though disjointed at times. T has been criticized as inadequate and amateurish by some but I feel it has done reasonable justice to a complex topic.
The comradeship in the middle of fierce competition, the overt sexism which prevents women contesting for important positions in the Gymkhana (with the brave exception of one young lady, Spandana), the tragic suicides of students who could not cope with the hothouse atmosphere, the rush of adrenaline and tension during campus placements and the summing up of what IIT did to its students who came in as boys and grew up to be young men, is brought out adequately.
To sum up it is not a great documentary, certainly not an award winning kind. But it is a modest effort which tries to portray the complexity of the IIT and the beehive existence of the students.
The documentary is honest, informative and truthful. I liked it.
Dharma Kshetra, in Hindi (with English subtitles) is a brilliant adapatation of the Mahabharat. The events take place after the war after all the protagonists (except /Ashvattama) had died. It is set in the court of the divine arbiter Chitragupta.
One by one, the charcters of the epic; Bhishma, Drona, Vidura, Dhritarashtra, Sakuni, Dharmaraj, Bhim, Arjun, Nakul, Sahadev, Draupadi, Kunti, Gandhari, Duryodhan, Karn, Dushasan, Ashvattama and even Vedavyas are put in the dock to answer accusations levelled against them. The twenty-six episode serial ends with Bhagwan Shri Krishna himself explaining his actions, which some times looked dowright unethical.
No character in Mahabharat was perfect. Each one was a fallible being combating his or her personal demons and was a complex amalgam of nobility and meanness, forgiveness and vengefulness, love and rancor and sacrifice and greed.
The epic is a macrocosm of our own lives- layered with contradictions and conflicts. The writing and acting were uniformly good, occassionally even brilliant- Duryodhan and Karn were outstanding.
Dharma Kshetra is a tour-de-force, a really great small screen production.
It reinforced my belief that Mahabharat in sheer sweep and grandeur eclipses Homer's Iliad and Odysseus. I was also exposed to nuances in the epic, which I had not been aware off earlier.
One by one, the charcters of the epic; Bhishma, Drona, Vidura, Dhritarashtra, Sakuni, Dharmaraj, Bhim, Arjun, Nakul, Sahadev, Draupadi, Kunti, Gandhari, Duryodhan, Karn, Dushasan, Ashvattama and even Vedavyas are put in the dock to answer accusations levelled against them. The twenty-six episode serial ends with Bhagwan Shri Krishna himself explaining his actions, which some times looked dowright unethical.
No character in Mahabharat was perfect. Each one was a fallible being combating his or her personal demons and was a complex amalgam of nobility and meanness, forgiveness and vengefulness, love and rancor and sacrifice and greed.
The epic is a macrocosm of our own lives- layered with contradictions and conflicts. The writing and acting were uniformly good, occassionally even brilliant- Duryodhan and Karn were outstanding.
Dharma Kshetra is a tour-de-force, a really great small screen production.
It reinforced my belief that Mahabharat in sheer sweep and grandeur eclipses Homer's Iliad and Odysseus. I was also exposed to nuances in the epic, which I had not been aware off earlier.