BHU Kulgeet

मधुर मनोहर अतीव सुन्दर, यह सर्वविद्या की राजधानी ।
यह तीन लोकों से न्यारी काशी ।
सुज्ञान धर्म और सत्यराशी ।।
बसी है गंगा के रम्य तट पर, यह सर्वविद्या की राजधानी ।
मधुर मनोहर अतीव सुन्दर, यह सर्वविद्या की राजधानी ।।
नये नहीं हैं यह ईंट पत्थर ।
है विश्वकर्मा का कार्य सुन्दर ।।
रचे हैं विद्या के भव्य मन्दिर, यह सर्वस्रष्टि की राजधानी ।
मधुर मनोहर अतीव सुन्दर, यह सर्वविद्या की राजधानी ।।
यहाँ की है यह पवित्र शिक्षा ।
कि सत्य पहले फिर आत्मरक्षा ।।
बिके हरिश्चन्द्र थे यहीं पर, यह सत्यशिक्षा की राजधानी ।
मधुर मनोहर अतीव सुन्दर, यह सर्वविद्या की राजधानी ।।
यह वेद ईश्वर की सत्यवानी ।
बने जिन्हें पढ के ब्रह्यज्ञानी ।।
थे व्यास जी ने रचे यहीं पर, यह ब्रह्यविद्या की राजधानी ।
मधुर मनोहर अतीव सुन्दर, यह सर्वविद्या की राजधानी ।।
यह मुक्तिपद को दिलाने वाले ।
सुधर्म पथ पर चलाने वाले ।।
यहीं फले फूले बुद्ध शंकर, यह राजॠषियों की राजधानी ।
मधुर मनोहर अतीव सुन्दर, यह सर्वविद्या की राजधानी ।।
सुरम्य धारायें वरुणा अस्सी ।
नहायें जिनमें कबीर तुलसी ।।
भला हो कविता का क्यों न आकर, यह वाक्विद्या की राजधानी ।
मधुर मनोहर अतीव सुन्दर, यह सर्वविद्या की राजधानी ।।
विविध कला अर्थशास्त्र गायन ।
गणित खनिज औषधि रसायन ।।
प्रतीचि-प्राची का मेल सुन्दर, यह विश्वविद्या की राजधानी ।
मधुर मनोहर अतीव सुन्दर, यह सर्वविद्या की राजधानी ।।
यह मालवीय जी की देशभक्ति ।
यह उनका साहस यह उनकी शक्ति ।।
प्रकट हुई है नवीन होकर, यह कर्मवीरों की राजधानी ।
मधुर मनोहर अतीव सुन्दर, यह सर्वविद्या की राजधानी ।।

---By Dr S.S.Bhatnagar
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To read the interpretation of this kulgeet, click on Kulgeet (English).
To listen to this kulgeet, click on BHU Kulgeet. (This broken link has been recently fixed)
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Literal meanings:
विश्वकर्मा - Lord of architecture
सर्वस्रष्टि - All creation of nature
बिके हरिश्चन्द्र थे यहीं पर - Once King Harishchandra even sold himself to keep up the truth of his words, providing a glorious example of his morals on this land of Kashi. Read full story of him by clicking here.
थे व्यास जी ने रचे यहीं पर - Maharishi Ved Vyas ji wrote sacred books, including Mahabharat, in Kashi.
मुक्तिपद - Steps of freedom
यहीं फले फूले बुद्ध शंकर - Kashi is the place of first sermon Lord Buddha (in Sarnath) and land of Lord Shankar (Kashi Vishwanath Bhagwan)
वरुणा, अस्सी - The two tributaries of River Ganga; Varanasi name comes from Varuna + Assi.
नहायें जिनमें कबीर तुलसी - Kabirdas was born in Kashi and Tulsidas ji was born on the ganga shore
वाक्विद्या - Study of voice (Speech and Poetry)
प्रतीचि-प्राची का मेल सुन्दर - Beautiful mix of east (prachi) and west (pratichi)
विविध कला अर्थशास्त्र गायन गणित खनिज औषधि रसायन - Multiple Arts, Economics, Music, Mathematics, Mining, Medicine and Chemical Science
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Thanks to Puneet Pandey for the post.

IITBHU : Such a long journey

Vide Notification no. F.No.8-5/2008-TS.I (Vol.-IV) from Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India, the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 2012 (No.34 of 2012) has come into force on 29th day of June 2012 and consequently, the erstwhile Institute of Technology, BHU has become Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi w.e.f. June 29, 2012.

IT-BHU had always trait of becoming independent and autonomous. Now, that goal had been achieved. Speech given by Jawaharlal Nehru on 15th August 1947 : 'Tryst with Destiny' is coming in back of my mind. In 2009, IT-BHU was slated for conversion into an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) by amending the Institutes of Technology Act 1961 through The Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 2011 which was passed by the Lok Sabha on 24 March 2011 and by the Rajya Sabha on April 30, 2012. The institute is now officially known as IIT-BHU.

To once visit in Varanasi is a very desirable fate and one accepts the fact that nothing is outside the realm of possibility in India. Irrespective of this, I don't know why I despise Varanasi while loving the college in equal proportion. The river Ganga that flows through Varanasi is a reservoir of filth, chaos and poverty, but also a meeting place for memories and belonging. I had expressed much anger in Banaras: A Bitter Memoir. Holy City of Kashi is the most sacred place for millions but mine love is limited to my college only.

An average ITian is a self contained creature and sometime desiring for an extra 'I'. However, an ITian richly deserve more than the quasi-IIT status. It is true that we all have walked on the roads of IT-BHU with a question in our hearts. Why is there so much bureaucratic and political hurdles in one small conversion ? May be Indian state can bear anything from corruption to nepotism, but an 'autonomy' to make its own decision is blasphemous !

There is always a pivotal moment of self awareness in a society that is held together for so long by the belief of superiority. We all know thoroughly about rise of new IITs and the gradual fall of ITBHU from its peak position. The fall was initiated long ago with internal politics, low funding and shoddy appointments. Even ITBHU introduced entrance pattern of IIT-JEE in 1971 only, it could not update itself with the changing times so quickly. However, much deserved yet over-hyped IIT brand continues to elude the institute. Administration, Faculty and Students of IITBHU need more interaction with the honest, progressive, modern and reasonable world outside of its own citadel.

Imminent effect of IIT Status is already visible through an upward movement in JEE ranks for IIT BHU. [Quick Analysis Here]. It appears to be name change for many but the first step towards great change has already been taken. There were few questions raised previously about future of ITBHU. See the winds of change has already started flowing among the faculty, alumnus, students and administration. After IIT, What Next?

'The Old order changeth, yielding place to New'

I cherish 'IIT tag' for ITBHU not because of the 'brand value' but because of the wide spectrum of 'autonomy' enjoyed by them. The tag will naturally attract higher ranked JEE candidates and procure high funding levels for faculty. I dreamed of college who should be identified with the liberty and opportunity. I dreamt once ITBHU such a place for me. I no longer cherish the dream and am driven by different ideology. Yet, this was a cause close to my heart. Opening of new IITs and up-gradation of old Institutions is a slow step towards reform in the higher technical education. I was personaly much against people who were opposing opening of new IITs as this may dilute the 'IIT' brand. This is much shameful that our best minds were more concerned about brand than scarcity of good institutions. Only under umbrella of IIT, the autonomy could have been achieved and now had been achieved.

“The job of the university is to not give society what it wants, but what it needs.”

A good way of spreading brand awareness and also making the best out of the time in the institute is to try to do something out of the box such as travel abroad for internships, leverage the IT-BHU network in securing jobs etc. The journey to this red letter day for IT BHU fraternity has been long and full of roadblocks. This could not have been possible without countless& well-wishers, proud alumnus, ITBHU administration, esteemed Professors and current students. They protested, lobbied and even gone public with their demand of the conversion. Kudos to all of them. There were opposition and blocks from the section inside BHU that were seeing threat to the heritage of Madan Mohan Malviya. With persistence, the milestone for upcoming glorious years had been achieved.

I am not yet convinced about how this move will benefit thousands of poor students. To be poor is to be without any entrance exam coaching or good schools. Already, there is a huge information gap between middle class and lowers class. People with good information and money set are less dependent on government spending and public goods. They are in much better situation to get an admission in any IITs at the end of school education. I hope that IITs should make reservation of seats for a youth from BPL card holder family. That will be a good initiative from such an old and prestigious Institute.

Changes are slow but inevitable. As time passes either we adapt or get left behind. The widespread serenity of VT has taught us to endure and have a patience for the cherished moment. I am happy to be a tiny part of heritage of both BHU and IIT system. Yet a question remains unanswered in my mind at this happy hour. Do the best students need the IIM or IIT stamp to be seen as special ?

The Chronicles of Wasted Time

“We do not remember days, we remember moments” – Cesare Pavese

Carefree days are most productive of our life. They may not seem apparent at first view but the reflection on your life will prove it. Traveling down the memory lane, one gets a vivid glimpse of the time enjoyed is not time wasted overall. Old ways die hard and even now in the fast-changing corporate words, some old ways die harder than others. Killing time is one of them.

It was not a time to be killed but intentionally I annihilated it. To rephrase the undertone its the look on "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love doing nothing in ITBHU ". And any resemblance to real events, to persons living or dead, is not accidental. It is intentional.

1- Lanketing : (spending time at Lanka crossing) outside the main gate of the university was the favorite pastime in the night. Bun-butter, Lassi & Pan will be taken as starters  and then enjoying the world famous ghats on the banks. If anyone has ever spend a night-out at assi ghat, the early morning view, the sunrise, you will wish to spend every night there..

2-  Food Corner: One famous heritage of BHU, VT and other landmark of our gatherings, LC. The chai samosa with remarks @limbdi corner , unforgettable. People spent their four year of life on the benches only. That is breathe of its magic affair. It was the milkshake and the peace inside temple that attracted us most at VT while an adapted post about Limbdi Corner @IT BHU written by Pablo will explain my feelings better on LC. And I am not mentioning about DG corner, Chaube Ji's Juice Shop and IT cafeteria.

3-  BC (Baat Cheet or Bakchodi) : We all debate with certain immaturity but with certain passion. Our Bakchodi starts through lengthy discussions on pending state of ITBHU conversion to IIT. Add to that the amazing series of sessions, we went through about Share Market, Cinema and Cricket with ripping apart both fiction and non fiction literature. I was growing in the mind and soul while speculating the future. Mess with parathas was one such public place of  leg pulling session . Anyways, I loved the food over there and especially zeera fried daal and rasana.

4- Party Time : Alcohol provides a slight buzz of inspiration as LSD, a psychedelic drug has provided this world with the great music, art and literature of a generation. I was not involved much but few shots and their hangover were worth remembering. To defy the parental ban on drinking, I tasted the alcohol. And suddenly know that these small revolution affirm the human nature of disobedience and protest.Thanks IT for this liberty.

5- Extra Curricular Activities : That was much dominated by LAN Games compromising of Unreal Tournament, Counter Strike, AOE and Quake . One more way of enjoying time. I never participated in music, theater and games. So mostly cut off to explain about minds of individual involved in this. I can surely say that only the time that went asleep in Varanasi was time wasted.

There was also a MBA cult where huge time was spent for preparing CAT entrance. Guys dreaming for MS were little less and mainly engaged in their affair with Baron GRE guide. So many memories of obsessive affair of ours with cricket match. The devoted crowd at the common hall in the front of 19 Inch TV set was amazing. I was a alone creature but there were many with the experience of  encounter and affairs with girls and boys (So called bluff claim or designation of gay ). There is so much to tell about ITBHU and so much vanishing memories with each day !

It was just not me who wasted time but many guys with exclusivity in a certain area. There were many ITians with there own stories and gossips. One question comes before writing all this : Do I really need to record my experiences of ITBHU here ? It may be a mediocre writing in the eyes of most people and in the realm of world blogging. Still, a fact remains. If we don’t tell our stories, then who will?

Sine die at BHU

How many of you have heard this Latin word sine die (which means without a day or postponement for an indefinite time)? Well, it was a buzzword around BHU three decades ago during our time. Between 1967 and 1975, there was a period of violent demonstrations, resulting in closure of entire university for about 2-3 weeks every year. Till 1967, our university was known as internationally reputed central university. Students flocked to the university from all over India as well as from abroad. The political trouble started when Vice Chancellors were political appointees by ruling (Congress) party. To challenge the government,opposition Bharatiya Jan Sangh/RSS) party started violent demonstration.

A typical sine die ran like this: Just after Diwali vacation was over, there was daily political speech given by a local street leader. Sponsored by the opposition, he stood just outside university’s main gate and delivered profane against, govt., VC and university administration. A small passerby crowd collected at the scene, while others sensed the upcoming sine die in the air. After few weeks, sensing trouble, the administration called in Provincial Armed Constabulary to patrol the campus area. This was enough to provoke the militant students, who were usually from other (arts, science and agricultural) faculties. Although small in number, they had strong backing from local opposition leaders. Soon there was heavy brickbating between police and students around arts and science faculties. The part of the campus was littered with bricks & small bush fires. No one could venture out of his hostel, and everyone listened to news mixed with rumours. Sometimes police chased miscreants to their hostel rooms and beat them up. Fearing loss of student life, proctor decided to declare sine die, or indefinite closure of the university till further notice. Everyone glued to radio and waited for news.

In the early morning, BBC broke the news that authorities have declared sine die and all students are asked to leave the campus immediately. Students packed their luggage and boarded buses to railway station for onward journey. Families and neighbours were surprised to see us again immediately after Diwali vacation. National newspapers came out with screaming headlines such as “sine die declared at BHU; violence mars BHU campus”, etc. After about 2 to 3 weeks, we got letter from university that now the sine die is over and it is safe to return to campus for study. The classes started normally as if nothing had happened.

In 1974, we witnessed one of the most shocking and gruesome incidents outside Morvi hostel. As the violence continued between students and police in other parts of the campus, we saw two unarmed policemen traveling in a rickshaw in front of our hostel. Some of the troublemakers had blocked the road with cement pipes. Others lay hiding with bricks in hand. As the rickshaw stopped near the roadblock, miscreants came out and hit the policemen on their heads with bricks. Needless to say, they died on the spot and attackers ran away. Within minutes, a PAC truck arrived and they cordoned off our hostel. Using presence of mind, the hostel warden closed all the gates and denied entry to policemen.

Another reason for yearly violence by students was to cancel exams and receive mass promotions in arts and other faculties. Although IT was not involved in any way, its image suffered due to constant negative publicity. The degrading quality of students prompted IT director Dr. S.S. Saluja to take students from JEE pool from 1972. The sine die occurrence stopped in 1975, when ruling government cracked down on mischiefmakers during emergency rule. It is a great relief that the dark age of sine die is behind us.

---Yogesh Upadhyaya
Chemical Engineering 1977
First Published in Annual Issue 2004 – 2005 of REVERBERATIONS: The IT-BHU Magazine.

Thanks to Shashank Jain (Mech 08) for mailing this issue to our mech08 group.

English and ITBHU

The campus is completely alien to the freshers both in terms of the place and its people. All freshers can experience a very different and real world and hence have the opportunity to learn about everything once again from its beginning in its true nature.

The first and foremost problem faced by students is to get the grasp the good English needed for communication and writing skills. 3 out of 60 people have given JEE in Hindi but almost the majority used to struggle to cope with the professional use of language. General exceptions are always there (Varun Murali, Kapil & Kunal in my batch) who helped the rest a lot in their pursuit of improvement. I observed that the ones who did cope happened to come from ICSE or CBSE schools whereas students with the state board school background had to push lot more harder than their fellow batch mates. Most of the students coming from state board schools are worst affected as boards provide specialist in field (PCM) but the versatility was lacking. Here in the college, the reading is not taken for the pleasure or learning new language but for acquiring the crux of GD and interviews with minimum work on grammar.

We started regular newspaper reading in the first year of college, out of compulsion to improve my English and vocabulary. It was more of a burden rather a hobby or interest for anybody. Few took the flight to financial times for the sake of improving his understanding of finance. TOI is suggested for primary level of & The Hindu for the next level. My interest in sports particularly cricket given a good reason to go through the each word printed in the sports section of the paper, but the road to editorial column remains at-least 1 year ahead in TOI section. We are enamored by news column writing and develop their views as our own for GD sessions.

The magazines and novels are the next target of masses for continual improvement program. Outlook, India Today and a hell lot of Business magazines are circulated in the whole college. Novels are highly popular with Dan Brown & Chetan Bhagat as the popular authors. This is the first time when most of students read for pleasure of it.

With the internet sources are considered new information and the books as old information, Library is not used by students despite of few brave reforms by IT administration. The Curriculum for learning English is most frustrating part in the academic help for raising the threshold level of English in the campus. The Professional Communication course is taught in the 1st semester and then there is sudden gap of six semesters for next course. Seminar and Group Discussion came in the 8th semester when people had already got the job and enthusiasm for learning has been at minimum level. This curriculum completely baffles me as the major problems faced by students are inability to express themselves in writing, public speaking and even listening to prolonged lectures.

Don't get me started over the language programme offered for learning 'English' by University. It was good for other foreign languages but the experience of my friends in their futile attempt to learn English from academia is horrible. One good thing is that event like JAM in college has really helped lot of people.

I will just say that we should encourage reading and application learning to our friends & juniors. We have to make them understand why reading the prescribed course isn't enough, why did they have to read 10 other books, blogs and several reading materials to make an informed opinion. The more we grow in the life, the bonding with technology is lessened and networking with the people increases.

*I may be seeing only minor part of a process but readers will give their discrete view on this topic.

Caste and Education

Caste is so complex matter that it is constantly changing and adjusting to new circumstances. This poses a great challenge for all of us because it is deeply embedded in the mind of India and caste attitudes are not fading away even after so much education. Today, Indian society still retains part of the age old caste system and that Dalits still face social stigma even in urban circles. The manners and food habits of those from the lower section of the social ladder are still laughed at by the so-called upper class who are unwilling to let them enter their world unless it is for their benefit.

1- 26th January is approaching near, still a question arises in my mind. Why eminent persons like Dr. Ambedkar, Sardar Patel and Ram Manohar Lohia are reduced and viewed as caste representative leaders in political circles ? 'Blowin' in the Hind' is an article exploring about Dr. Ambedkar on the eve of the Great Indian Republic day.

2- A special report from the 2nd day of Jaipur Literature Festival :

The session on Dalit literature, titled, Outcaste: The Search for Public Conscience was the most provocative of the festival so far, with the panel of Dalit writers, Kancha Illaiah, OP Valmiki and P Sivakami making a passionate case for why the caste system will not go unless Hinduism goes.

“The reason most Hindus don't get worked up enough about atrocities against Dalits is that their conscience is not a public conscience but a caste conscience, imbued with values derived from caste,” said P Sivakami, the Tamil novelist.

Kancha Illaiah, author of Why I am Not A Hindu, turned up the heat further, by stating, “Hinduism is spiritual fascism.”

3- I love my Alma mater very much. But, often it comes in negative light unconsciously.
Now , Banaras Hindu University has picked K.P. Singh as director of its engineering wing. He is accused by the Uttar Pradesh government in a 2007 state medical examination scam , which is set to become India’s newest IIT. As this archival news item show:

Bahujan Samaj Party Government on Thursday recommended the dismissal of the Vice Chancellor of Vir Bahadur Singh Poorvanchal University, Jaunpur, K.P. Singh. The examinations were conducted by Poorvanchal University and Prof. Singh was the Chairman of UPCPMT, 2007.

The Government’s decision to sack Prof. Singh was based on the findings of the nine-member high-power committee. The panel was constituted by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, on June 15 following large-scale violence by students in the aftermath of the results announced on June 14.

Few days ago, The Telegraph breaks out the news that caste is given priority over merit in the picking of the director of IT-BHU.

BHU vice-chancellor D.P. Singh insisted that all norms had been followed in the selection. He told The Telegraph: “The executive council has picked K.P. Singh on my recommendation because he presents us with the best balance between seniority and time left before retirement. I don’t pick people on the basis of their caste.”

Traditionally, BHU picks the senior-most available faculty member to head its institutes. Critics of K.P. Singh’s selection say civil engineer and dean Virendra Singh, senior-most after outgoing IT-BHU director Upadhyay, was ignored.

K.P. Singh and D.P. Singh are both Thakurs, as are six of the 10 BHU executive council members, the critics said. Upadhyay, who has a year before retirement, is a Brahmin.

Still, I have doubt on Mayawati's honest stance of sacking K. P. Singh in 2007 due to her sheer corruption prone nature and dictator style governance. Charu Sudan Kasturi has covered this story in an honest way. But, we are at the peak moment of conversion of ITBHU to IIT. I don't know the truth but caste, corruption and education are intermingled with each other to deepest fathom in our Indian society.

Footnotes: Subhas Chandra Bose, only leader hailed as 'Netaji' (no other leader was called with respect by this title in our Indian history) born today on 23rd Jan; was a leader in the Indian independence movement. Its sad but ours has great history of forgotten heroes...

IT Yeah hai IT - Vish Nite 1992

Info provided by User: This is the "IT Yeh hai IT" song..wrote and composed in 1989 ..but only sang first time to bunch of classmates in 1991..it became " IT anthem" in no time..and this is the last time we sang it together ...with last stanza written a few minutes before the VishNite ..sitting at Mochu's ...I hope junta at IT still know this song :)..if not here it is with a old recording...Have fun!!! Always!!! classmates in 1991..it became " IT anthem" in no time..and this is the last time we sang it together...

3 Idiots and ITBHU Days

The success of 3 idiots lies in reflecting its unusual and strong under layer of moral anger against educational system. I have so much anger or affection for ITBHU that it flows in my several writeups. 3 Idiots bring some fine memories back in my mind. No one in mech08 batch would ever forget the opening lecture given by B.N. Diwedi 'on IT-BHU' in one of the first sessions of Applied Physics Lab. Sripati Sah, Ankit Gopal Pandey, Vikramraj Naidu, Abhishek Khanna, Suryakant Gupta, Abhishek Arora, Shashank Jain are just few names of persons who were similar to character Rancho. The bondage of friends like Hathi, Srikant Bhaiya, Agp, Chandan, Bond, Chandu, Shukla & Chammo boosting each other even at the darkest hours is unforgettable. I missed my college days most in all of them...

Like other good Engineering College in India, I was surrounded by guys discussing Playboy, Deboniar and even Mallu cinema in classroom. Illegal download has flooded pornography, movies, documentaries, TV serials, cartoons, LAN games, software and even study material. That the world of college and sharing, basically was ours utopia.

Our Bakchodi starts through lengthy discussions on pending state of ITBHU conversion to IIT. Add to that the amazing series of sessions, we went through about Share Market, Cinema and Cricket with ripping apart both fiction and non fiction literature. Swades, Matrix Triology, change in Indian Cricket under Ganguly leadership,etc. Few even know about the foreign language movies, and lots of it.

The campus did give me a tremendous dose of education in each and every aspect of my life in every conceivable way. It taught me to respect, to fear, to understand, to empathize, to look up to not only to great but also too good students, alumnus and teachers. Few times, I feel guilty about me not being one of them.

I was a bad student in academics. Somewhat, I doubt that I did not deserve to be a part of that campus as I failed to grab spirit of engineering in me. I ended up in IT company with mechanical background and interest in development issues.

I began to wonder now on the laws designed by me years back for college days. Much has changed since college to corporate and I have to revise all of them to settle in corporate environment. Probably this is what they call change, the laws that were so instrumental years back then are obsolete now. Still, I have kept my passion alive for out of course studies and get me driven...

I hereby declare in full awareness that I detest my job from bottom of the heart. So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life. (rip off from a movie, but true !!!)

I am still in the process of figuring out what I want to do with career/ life etc. I always think on the humiliations of living a life you don’t want, regret for the unlived life, and the empowering potency of being shown you can choose otherwise. I guess that my friends who are in different parts of the world and each of them in a different phase of life can understand my feelings. I always assume that once you realise that it’s your job and happiness inherent is unleashed. If, it is your dream to be an actor, you automatically start performing with the best of your abilities, not really worrying about who you are working with. Currently, I am happy with my present transient state as I am also an Idiot; 'Idiot' really means 'I did it on my own terms'. Cheers for 3 Idiots!!!

LC Corner

An adapted post about Limbdi Corner @IT BHU written by Pablo (Source) :-

If you are coming to IT for the first 1 time and you venture along the hostel 1 road, at a certain intersection one is bound to notice a mass congregated in front of a small squarish building. And because that intersection leads to the girls hostel is not the chief reason why people tend to gather at that point. It's because that small squarish building is ITBHU's answer to any ridiculously overpriced fast food chain. That structure is Limbdi Corner, the chief hang-out spot for any ITian who cares to leave the confines of the hostel rooms and take a breath of fresh air. Located at one corner of the Rajputana football field, and surrounded by trees that drape their leaves providing a rather picturesque shade, it provides the perfect break while coming back from classes during the evening, and sometimes proves to be a better alternative than spending time in the classes, there are many who start from their hostels firmly determined to attend classes, but many decide to stay back and spend quality time at LC. There are always two kettles of tea boiling over the coal fire, a small one for ispeshul chai and a large kettle for regular chai. And the short and broad glasses getting filled, emptied, cleaned and filled again. Then of course there are the trademark servings of samosas and kachoris served in leaves with their own taste that is quite unique with LC.

The ultimate rendezvous point for any ITian, a random selection of text messages from cellphones is bound to reveal messages like 'I am at LC, where are you?' or 'Come ASAP to LC' or 'LC @ 5 PM' or words to the same effect. For us LC is the place to meet, mostly due to the sweet allure of the tea at LC.

There is this shade right across the road of LC, which perhaps was earlier used as a bus stop or for some similar purpose, however it is now the designated domain of LC squatters who use their lung power for shouting out orders of tea and for the ubiquitous laughter. It is quite a coveted for whatever group of four or more who wish to sit around and while away their time at LC. LC is the place where over steaming glasses of tea and endless servings of samosa and kachoris friends are made, relationships cemented, people meet, students revel in the present, alumni's rejoice the past and freshers stop worrying about the future. LC is the place where hearts meet, whole events are decided and convened, impromptu meetings take place, a hundred songs get written, a thousand theatrics are performed, where a few hearts get broken. A lot happens over tea, at LC.

#Photo is taken from google image.

My Graduation Years -2

You can get me out of ITBHU but not ITBHU out of me. (asliyat mein bahut muskil se pass hua hoon). Hence, few days of rehabilitation programme end today with this article.

Graduation Years:
Again, a look on events in near history. Probably history was after all, meant to be a study of human consciousness in guilt. Of course, there is always a need to realize something valuable out of the past, that a study about the past is after all a human being’s reverse-troubleshooting guide. Hence, I retrospect about my graduation days again and again. I may be cutting the branch which has helped me to reach this height. Still a flaw in the system can't be supported in the name of promoting few incompetent like me. When I was passing time casually in graduation years, rest of the world was moving with fast pace. I was provided with good teachers, infrastructure, 24 hours uninterrupted supply of Internet, water and electricity in college to support my study. I had misused them un-proportionally in playing LAN games and watching movies. I have taken cinema as a medium of study and academics as a funny event quite neglected one. It was not a mistake but college life doesn't ask for seriousness, it just asks for your little sincerity a week before exam.

There was a great movement of locals in Mehendigunj near Varanasi by people against Coca-Cola. I was not even aware of it at that point of time. There was life out there in university with people coming to study different subjects from all class. I was happy with my limited ecosystem of ITBHU. I had also missed many guest lectures of eminent speakers [ even like Professor Kevin Warwick ] due to lethargy, not mentioning here academic lectures. And I was even worst in academics. My only concern was why my college has not got deserved IIT tag. So, my world was revolving around me only. I was a product of environment or a selfish elite unaware of his responsibilities. I was having cocoon type of life style. I was eyeing on secured IT job depending blindly on the placement records of IT-BHU. If the recession has come 2 years back, I would be literally passing out without any job in hand. Such was my state of affairs. Few positives were there inside me but that are in traces in everyone. Today, I learnt a bitter lesson that immaturity and short sightedness is not dishonesty but not performing to your potential due to laziness is wrong act. In short, a worthless life on priceless freedom.

General Life at ITBHU:
The quality of a university is measured more by the kind of student it turns out than the kind it takes in. An average ITian becomes too casual and consider ITBHU as break of his life. There is lack of seriousness in the atmosphere. Lots of us would have better careers than what we are left standing with today. I think this under utilization of the potential within and resources given is felt somewhere by each of us.

How ITBHU Administration works? :
Our administrative work in IT-BHU or any government college is mostly run by the bureaucratic way, hence its tough to have progress in them. Decisions are taken from the top and imposed on the students. Their is no official platform to raise voice of students except itbhuglobal.org for big issues. Also, dissent is neglected and often taken as indiscipline and disloyalty. Bureaucracy liked things to be frozen. That can show their power & pomp, that can show their status quo. Best example to support this is of Ambassador car. Indians inherited the Ambassador model, decided not to change an iota of the design. Till late 80's, Ambassador was the least innovative company and was much prized possession used by our government.

Hence, you will find government offices to be always either ruled by the books or moulded in favour of corrupt and powerful. The fact is government institutions work on directives from the top. It does not matter, whether they like your idea or not, see merit or not. There is no incentive for them to take risks and improve efficiency. The trick is to lobby at the highest level for reforms. Because if one person at the very top accepts your suggestions it will be accepted and implemented at the way down. No doubt this requires a lot of patience and persuasion, but the effort is well worth it.

Academics:
We have a typical system of studying the subjects which are given by the university and not selected by the students which they like. For an instance the recent Nobel Price winner De. Venkat is a PhD in Physics and got Nobel in Chemistry, can it be possible with our education system in engineering college. The course structure is killing human potential to learn something new and of their choice. IT-BHU has very rigid academic course structure. It needs to rearrange something like IITD undergraduate mechanical engineering programme. Check the number of compulsory core and elective subjects for learning. And now look at academic course structure of ITBHU undergraduate mechanical engineering programme.

We still follow the traditional methodology of teaching. Very few in India have implemented the Case Study, Role Play, Skits, Management games way of teaching. We are here running fully on [lecture] model, not on as proposed [lecture+ tutorial] model. Atanu Dey's article on IIT shocked me and helped me to change my stance on IIT system of education. Our fancy education is funded by denying a very large number of the really poor the opportunity to even get a basic education. Our fees have been a small fraction of the true cost of education. This self-absorbed and delusional state is harmful for the us and the country.

Blast from Past:
On higher education, Banaras Hindu University enquiry committee report 1957 ; Page 325- 348
Committees and commissions in India 1947-1973, Volume II , 1955-1957 By Virendra Kumar.

Visionary Talks about IT-BHU from the past

I have read and heard many on the issue of the conversion of IT-BHU Varanasi to IIT. I am reproducing here the lectures and views given by Prof Gopal Tripathi way back 40 years. I call these views as an acute vision and analysis of future. Read it and retrospect where IT-BHU stand now as technical college today. In 1968 the three colleges were merged into an Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi with Prof Gopal Tripathi as its first Director. Later Prof. Gopal Tripathi served as Vice Chancellor, Lucknow University.

Various Disabilities And Disparities Between The IIT's And IT-BHU : The Handicaps Facing The IT-BHU

(Edited portion of the Lecture delivered on March 9, 1968, on the occasion of Annual Function, College of Technology, BHU, by Late Prof. Gopal Tripathi , the Principal- College of Technology from 1950, and Director- I.T , BHU from 1968)

In this era of technological revolutions and scientific break-throughs, technical education is fast changing its pattern and offering more challenges than ever. For the last several years I have been trying to draw attention to the various handicaps which the technical colleges of our University have to face, vis-a-vis, the IIT's set-up by the Govt. of India. As you are aware the Banaras Hindu University has been the pioneer in the field of technical education in this country and has played a leading role in the training of graduates who could take-up positions of responsibility in industry and education. With the setting-up of the Indian Institutes of Technology which have been declared by the Govt. of India, an institution of national importance and the attention and finances are given to them as leading institutions in the field of technical education, the Banaras Hindu University began to loss its preeminent position for several reasons. I have repeatedly drawn attention to the various disabilities and disparities that exist between the IIT's and the technical Institutions of the Universities regarding the facilities available, namely capital and recurring grant, the flexible nature of the cadres of staff,the high percentage of free-ships and studentships that obtains in the IIT's and the denial of the same to us etc. and I have been pressing for an early removal of such discrimination. Just to quote a few figures, on an average, on every one of the IIT's about 8.3 crores of rupees have been spent with regard to building and equipment. The cost of engineering education per student in the three types of institutions according to the official figures of the U.G.C. are given as follows: IIT's- Rs. 16,886/-, Regional Engg. Colleges-Rs 6468/-, and Technical Colleges of the Universities-Rs. 3,013/-. Realising the disparities of expenditure between IIT's on one hand and the technical colleges of the universities on the other, the U.G.C appointed a Committee consisting of Dr. T. Sen, Union Minister of Education, Dr. P.K.Kelkar, Director IIT, Kanpur, Dr. Gopal Tripathi, Principal- College of Technology, BHU, and Shri K.L. Joshi, Secretary,U.G.C. to examine the disparities and suggest remedies. The Committee observed that the objectives of technical education are the same in all institutions in the country including the IIT's and University technical colleges; the students after completing the courses take the same types of jobs, and they have to appear for the same competitive examinations and tests conducted by the Govt., and Industry for recruitment to different posts. It would, therefore, be reasonable to support the technical institutions for teaching and research work on an equitable basis and so a certain minimum quantum of grants is essential for every institution for equipment, staff, scholarship, etc. At present differences exist in the assistance being given for this purpose to the IIT's on the one hand and University institutions on the other. The Committee recommended certain measures which are yet to be implemented.

Tortuous Procedure :

(BHU Gazett, March, 23,1968)
I have already mentioned the tortuous procedure for the receipt of grants from the U.G.C. for the technical institutions in our Universities. The IIT's on other hand, have supreme advantage of receiving their grants directly from the Central Govt. There is no appreciable time lag between the assessment of their needs and the receipts of the grants from the Central Govt. The Technical Colleges of the University have no direct dealing with the Govt., although their needs have still to be scrutinized by the All India Council for Technical Education. But since they form a part of the Banaras Hindu University Complex their grant is controlled by the U.G.C. which is not always alive to the needs of the technical Colleges, nor to the prompt release of funds. Further, whatever financial and other advantages are given to the IIT's. by way of increased emoluments, better grade of salary and huge numbers of scholarships and stipends, cannot be easily given to the technical Colleges of the University because of the fear of introducing discrimination between these technical Colleges and the other constituent Colleges of the University. Another supreme advantage enjoyed by the IIT's is the one of foreign collaboration. Each of the IIT's has a foreign partner who is prepared to flood the IIT's with equipments and participation in the adventure of setting up new laboratories. The University institutions are practically starved out in this respect. To import any equipment is like chasing the will-of-the-wisp. One's energy is all spent up in inviting quotations, struggling for import licence, justifying the demands for additional grants, etc. All this in addition to lack of adequate teaching staff is truly frustrating.

Future Plans : New Departments

(Prof. Gopal Tripathi, 17.5.1969, BHU-NEWS )
In the interest of technical education and industrial development of the nation some new types of departments viz. Industrial Engineering and Management, Materials Science and Materials Technology, Nuclear Engineering,Instrumentation Engineering, Applied Geology, Computer Centre, Aeronautical and Space Engineering, and Architecture & Town Planning Engineering may be also established under the auspices of the Institute of Technology so that our nation may not lag behind the other developed countries in the race of technological and scientific development.

*Taken without permission. Source

ITBHU Bloggers

[CSE03 - Animesh Pathak] Animesh Pathak's Online Journal
[CSE06 - Rahul Hari] Hari's Paradise
[CSE06 - Monalisa Gupta] Wandering Reflections....
[CSE11 - Saket Saurabh] Account of all time that I waste at college
[CSE10 - Kinshuk Chandra] just for a change
[CSE08 - Charitha Reddy] charitha
[CSE05 - Manu Awasthi] Random Rants from a Grad Student
[CSE02 - Anup Mayank] Little Bit of Nonsense
[CSE07 - Shashank Tyagi] Anti Boredom
[CSE09 - Kumar Abhinav] Reinventing Myself
[CSE06 - Arun Tangri] Rendezvous with Arun
[CSE05 - Neeraj Jadaun] He said Seeketh Findeth
[CSE00 - Tarun Matta] Livemint Journal
[CSE08- Ashish Kumar Jain] Ashish Kumar Jain's Blog
[CSE - Ajay Kr Saxena] Yaatri

[EcE 05 - Ravish Sunny] Blog Profile
[EcE07 - Anurag Singh] Blog Profile
[EcE08 - Rahul Singh] Scratchpad.
[EcE77 - Vikram Karve] Profile on Sulekha
[EcE07 - Shilpi Prasad] Its me..
[EcE08 - Ashim Dutta] The Mirror 99
[EcE09 - Shantanu Singh] slapdash
[EcE05 - Anirudh Dhurka] Anirudh Dhurka's Website
[ECE10 - Praharsh Sharma] Either Eulogy, Else Euphemism...
[EcE07 - Richa Dixit] Some thoughts to think.
[EcE08 - Vijay Singh] Knowledge Hunter
[EcE09 - Alok Singh] Blog Profile
[EcE08 - Vaibhav] My Private Hell

[EEE06 - Kapil Malik] Thoughts and Words..
[EEE06 - Rajat Kashyap] Happenings
[EEE06 - Siva kumar Sudani] musings
[EEE07 - Nitin Jain] World in My View
[EEE06 - Ritu Bajpai] Contemplations
[EEE04 - Ravish Mishra] Learning to Fly
[EEE05 - Shailendra Gupta] I Me & Myself
[EEE98 - Anuraag Dubey] Awadhi Bhasha Prem
[EEE03 - Nitin Pulyani] Progress in Life
[EEE08 - Sulab Jain] Entrance to some Remarkable Rooms
[EEE09 - Amit Singh] My voice through my words
[EEE08 - Ankit Sisodia] T
[EEE10 - Umesh Ram] Umesh
[EEE - Abhijit Shukla] Reflections

[MEC93 - Manu Goyal] Random Thoughts
[MEC07 - Saurab Mangal] Don't Drink & Write
[MEC08 - Rajneesh Tiwari] Madman
[MEC93 - Atul Rai] Thoughts on KM, Business,Life in general, Society, of course... food
[MEC05 - Abhinav Pancholi] Heartships
[MEC04 - Prasoon Agarwal] Pages of my Diary
[MEC07 - Abhishek khanna] The Furobiker
[MEC08 - Himanshu Rai] Sparsh
[MEC07 - Anand Kashyap] The bicycle diaries
[MEC06 - Vibhav Agrawal] Vibhav Agrawal
[MEC07 - Ish Awasthi] Side Kick-Ish
[MEC08 - Varun Murali] prodigal musings of a spoilt brat
[MEC08 - Kapil Bhushan Srivastava] Following My Heart...
[MEC07 - Vivek Srivastava] Vivek Srivastava
[MEC08 - Abhishek Shukla] Carnival of Rust
[MEC08 - Neerav Kumar] experiences of life
[MEC08 - Vikramraj Naidu] Chronicles of the Dark Knight
[MEC09 - S J Mayank] Sound Of Music by S J Mayank Srivastav
[MEC08 - Rahul Priyedarshi] so said the bed potato
[MEC08 - Abhishek Kumar] Blue-Eyed Boy
[MEC08 - Kunal Sharma] evenescene- blog in a minor!
[MEC08 - Vijay Pratap Singh] Thinking... is not a big deal..
[MEC08 - Puneet Jain] Rehgujar
[MEC08 - Vivek Tripathi] Vivek Tripathi
[MEC08 - Abhishek Arora] Its Not Rocket Science !!!
[MEC09 - Sridhar] Certainly Doubtful

[CIV05 - Sharad Oberoi] Lair of the Loquacious Loon!
[CIV11 - Maghesh Kumar Singh] Adwait Khandwal speaks
[CIV06- Shailja Agrawal] unveil
[CIV08 - Ravi Bansal] Treasures and Travails on an earthly life
[CIV07 - Nilesh Kumar] Shell
[CIV09 - Chandra] apni baat
[CIV03 - Varun Grover] The Daily Tamasha
[CIV08 - Vikalp Agarwal] Passing Thoughts
[CIV07 - Abhijit Raja] My world
[CIV07 - Kirti Mishra] dreams and a dreamer

[CHE08 - Aditya Goyal] The Lost Soul
[CHE05 - Himanshu Gupta] Half Rebel
[CHE08 - Prabhakar Kumar] Kuch Thande Baste Se
[CHE00 - Kaustubh Raghuvansh Shukla] My Ishtory

[CER96 - Mohit] Unjustly
[CER06 - Ankita Mukherjee] Silence
[CER08 - Gaurav Jain] oh-musings
[CER07 - Divya Bhadani] soup rocks

[MIN05 - Amit Srivastava] Trying to make sense!- iLog
[MIN02 - Puneet Bindlish] View Point
[MIN06 - Sumit Saxena] Half-Hearted Funny

[MET85 - T. A. Abinandanan] Nanopolitan
[MET85 - Santosh Ojha] Santosh Ojha's weblog
[MET08 - Rahul Raj] Doper's Diary
[MET03 - Anshul Sushil] Being Insouciant...
[MET01 - Vibhash Awasthi] Fultoo Bakar
[MET07 - Akshay Rajagopalan] Alter Ego
[MET08 - Nitin Agarwal] Scribbler's Den
[MET - Praveen] from PKG

[PHM06 - Priti Arora] Priti Arora : Sweet n Sour Memories

[BioChe(PHD) - Sourish Karmakar] The lake of my dreams

[Unknown - Abhilasha Purwar] Abhilasha
[Unknown - Sudipta Mukherjee] in pursuit of happyness
[Unknown - Rakesh] Maverick's haven
[Unknown - M S Ramkrishnan] Lord Grindelwad
[Unknown - Anshuman Singh] Blog Profile
[Unknown - Unknown] Blog Profile
I am gathering the data of ITBHU bloggers. If you know more blogs , then please forward their weblink to me.

Earlier days of Benaras Engineering College, Banaras Hindu University

Earlier days of Benaras Engineering College, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

(Photographs-courtesy of Mahamana Malaviya Foundation Newsletter)

The Engineering College BHU started in one single shed in January, 1919. Its Power House was built, and a 20 KW Set (200 Volt DC) was installed in1921, which was augmented by a 100 KW Set in 1923. The Boiler House was erected in 1922.

Engineering College Drawing Class. The First Principal Prof. C.A. King Instructing a Student (on second table of right hand row)

The first Workshop (Carpentry Section) of the Engineering College started with Artisan-Carpentry Course in Feb. 1919

Source : ITBHU Chronicle April 2009.

Yeh Degree agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai...

Another good for nothing engineer awarded degree by our universities...


I missed the convocation ceremony,the black coat and college.I don't have any regrets and give damn to them. I missed a chance of reunion with friends that is quite sad incident personally. No charm of degree as it is just symbolic price given by university of my success in passing 8 semester course of mechanical engineering.

Indian Ocean and Euphoria

Snaps from the Kashi Yatra-2005:Most memorable music festival of my life...

G 9 at ITBHU

This work is an art of pure imagination and any relation to dead or alive individual is purely coincidental. Any similarity with real human can be considered as pure coincidence.This jingo is so common in bollywood unlike hollywood movies but it can work here very well for my protection. I have pulverized the facts with fiction but this story can be confirmed unofficially from any alumnus of our esteemed college.

This is not an urban legend traveling in the lanes of ITBHU. G9 is not any mythical term coined by me. It consist of 9 distinguished teachers grouped together for greater good of majority. G9 had been constituted by 9 people who are still living legends in their own backyard of BHU. But, it is a taboo to speak about them in the department. I was astonished by the fact that even blogs and social networking websites (orkut, facebook or Linkedin) do not have any mention of them. It was their charm or horrifying Deja-vu.

I am not mocking at them through public blog. They are well respected gentle and elder men. I RESPECT them for their concerns about degrading morals and academically uninterested students. I just want to give "Jhaadu ke Jhappe" to group G9. They really need a big hug from all of the IT students. I am not sure of the instant reaction but they will behave different after 1000 hugs. There is a dashing line in the movie 'The Dark Knight': You die as a hero or live long to see yourself becoming villain. It can be molded for them as : You live at a place for short time like a hero or live long there to see yourself becoming villain in the eyes of the coming generation. Cafeteria table reserved in student section by a privileged group of teacher is living example of this quotation.

PCU is (now retired) the prominent name in this pseudo group. Either, I do not know the names of other persons or (even if know) I will not reveal in the blog land. Discipline is their weapon of mass destruction of moral of uneducated (non learning technical engineering student). Solution to the problem of unwillingness of students to study as geek was devised by screwing them with grades and compulsory attendance. Fakka is also used by them for breaking heart of a rebel student. This solution can achieve short term focus on study with uni focal on theoretical (no tutorials) subject. But long term loss is immense. With that mode of teaching, student moves away from the learning and shifted its focus on shortcut route of success. He/she consider these well wishers as their enemy.

An environment of fear clumping discipline is made in the department. Lack of conversation and feedback from each other creates a communication gap between student and teachers. Knowledge can only pass through bridge between them; Questioning of authority by students is taken as negative perceptive in this group. For your update, Disciplinary committee (DISCO) constitute of majority of members from this G9.

Point to Note: Discipline cannot be imposed on anyone against his/her will, especially on adults. Discipline is a self applied phenomenon. Disraeli had quoted ''You cannot make men virtuous by acts of parliaments''. A student should fear from administration only on violation of rules. Nothing less than this should be accepted. Respecting teachers is important virtue of the student. Few teachers tend to demand it from students. Respect can only be earned by command not demand. Command comes from knowledge and compassion, not from the whip.

An Engineering student tends to enjoy the personal life and do not pay attention to the academics. A sincere student spoiled his one year in the rough IT culture. He meets several asshole suggesting minimum studies and maximum enjoyment is mantra for success. The seniors (in majority) misguide the fresher about relation in academics and extra curricular activities. But, it is also necessary for nerds to learn few tricks for development in personality (mainly presentation and communication skills).

In second year, some unfortunates enter into mechanical department. Wase bhi, Mechanical department is more cussed fore lesser grades and strict professors than any other department irrespective of engineering college. It is really hard now on to move with shrewdness in studies. Wisdom and Silence hatches more grades in department. The wit and smartness will gain unnecessary attention and doom you into on 3 year (for lucky ones) of failures and frustration.

"People related to Education often complain - at least, professors do -- that young people do not read anymore. But that is not true. They read all the time but they do not read books or long texts. For the most part, presses and journals as they now exist do not serve the interests of intellectual or cultural development. To the contrary, their proliferation is symptomatic of increasing hyper-specialization in which there is more and more about less and less."

My wish: We really need role models and guidance by lenient means for career growth in engineering days. Enter into the Mechanical engineering department and name of heroes like Ravi Kalsaria and Sripati Sah must spring in the young minds. Only those can give more inspiration and push students to dream and achieve big in their life and career.

This line is written on the old Identity card of BHU;Dedicated by me for those teachers who impose discipline rather than guiding young souls for self discipline.- "The most reliant and self governing person is always under discipline:and the more perfect the discipline,the higher will be his/her moral conditions.-M.M.M."

No hard feelings....

Brutual Murder of Mr.M K Gupta

This year ends with a sad note about one of our alumni being killed by political mafia. Mr. Manoj Gupta (Civil 1979) was Class I executive engineer of PWD dept. in UP, near Kanpur. He was killed by local mafia and BSP MLA for refusing to donate Rs. 50 lakhs for celebration of birthday on 15 Jan for chief minister, Mayawati. Due to political fallout, the birthday party (for which Rs.1,000 crores were collected) has been canceled. It is a great loss to our IT-BHU community. We are planning to take action on legal, political and media front. An information page is posted on our website by Pramod Joshi, 1979 batch.

http://www.itbhuglobal.org/chapters/geo/delhi/archives/2008/12/manoj_gupta_79.php

Additional links:

1) Mayaʼs claim falls flat: no engineer behind killing

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mayas-claim-falls-flat-no-engineer-behind-k.../403547/

2) Mayawati cancels birthday celebrations

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1216934

3) Slain engineerʼs son declines Maya's compensation

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1216935

4) 32 torture marks on murdered UP engineer

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1216620&pageid=0

5) Rattled Maya reads out riot act to partymen

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Rattled_Maya_reads_out_riot_act_to_partymen/articleshow/3897843.cms

6) Rahul plea on engineer at odds with ally

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081227/jsp/nation/story_10307906.jsp

Please flash this news to all our Alumni and appeal them for a protest. The form of protest could be signature campaign to the Honorable Governor of UP and The Honorable President of India. Please do the needful at the earliest. looking forward to your kind reply and help.

Training & Placement Cell, IT-BHU

After long time a great change has came taken place in TPO website of ITBHU.
http://www.itbhu.ac.in/tpo/index.html
This is really cool stuff from administration after long time of hibernation.

Saga of Mechanical Engineer from ITBHU

As stated before, I was great fan of opening scene of RHTDM. A firing dialogue was delivered -“Mechanical Engineer mein fire hone chahiye”. Then in next scene of the movie, R. Madhavan ignites a lighter for smoking cigarette. That snap makes mechanical engineering as a coolest and macho field of engineering. Mechanical department is more cussed fore lesser grades and strict professors than any other department irrespective of engineering college.

A really handy research predicts the stronger aptitude – between verbal and numerical – in children by the relative lengths of their fingers. Now, how cool is that? Apparently, if your index finger is shorter than your ring finger, then your numerical aptitude is expected to be stronger. And if the index is longer, then your verbal ability is stronger. Of course, my longer index finger explains – in hindsight – why I scraped through four years of Mechanical Engineering. And do not miss the use of middle finger used for sign language....

I walked into the massive building for the first time while a long guided tour of Department of Mechanical Engineering was given to us. It was a really long procession – as there were almost all 60 of us although Roll no. 42,'Sagar Singh' was missing.

Academically, it was probably the best decision of my life to study Engineering and I realized that after studying(just enjoying) 1st week in college. This decision also looks back firing when in the first thirty minutes of the first Engineering Drawing class. R S Singh and his company makes life more difficult than ED (Engineering Drawing). R S Singh is a good teacher, it was just that I was lacking imagination for 'plan' and 'elevation' with possessing scary drawing skill. One class was just not over when few of us were literally scolded for being 1 minute lab at Engineering mechanics lab.

The curriculum in the third semester in department, at its best, has the same level of complexity as the mandatory seat-belt instruction 'training' prior to takeoff. Every day we fled the department faster than a fire-alarm would evacuate Pentagon. We went to many more places than the first generation Aryans went to find newer pastures in gangetic planes. The lanes of BHU were well covered by our cycle trips and never to forget the nostalgia of Cafeteria in 15 minute break. However mass evacuation of mech students at 10:15 due to arrival of G-9 is also a scene to remember forever. However, the clear winner was an ambiguously named place called "Limbdi Corner". I know it is named after limbdi hostel but who the hell is limbdi? It was neither air-conditioned, nor really hygienic. But the taste of Samosa and Khasta is unforgettable.

When other departments finished the only mandatory "fitting" lab - where one has to build a T-joint with cheap wood pieces, we still had 13 more left where temperatures of burning metals could often exceed 500 degrees. And people call our sufferings at workshops as true and evergreen engineering. Only other 'labs' from rest of the departments had either chemicals or computers with as 128MB RAM. The main mechanical lab had, and still do, a Wesson lathe machines - always reverently garlanded on the day of "Viswakarma Puja". Try that with your jar of Sulphuric Acid, Chemical!

For those who came to ITBHU after 12 years of "boys only" schools, counting - or other related number crunching - would only involve girls. At least on that very first day, we had only one dream about gender ratio. But it was thrashed due to grass root realities of IIT JEE system. Mechanical Engineering was the hotbed (pun not intended) of activity, being the home base of a few thousand technically-inclined, hormonally-charged, muscular people. Most of them were totally unable to comprehend how girls fell for wimps who recited Pablo Neruda and had no time for macho men who thought nothing of hammering a cast iron flange for three hours straight. As I write these lines, I get a feeling that people must be wondering if Mechanical Engineers are a modern version of Spartans.

Before anybody tries to protest at what seems like an exaggeration, let me add that we never let anybody finish a match we had the remotest chance of losing. The constant boycott on losing the match was sight to watch again and again in memory lanes. So, every single Arena followed a predictable path for Mechanical. For these modern-day Spartans to flex their sporting muscles, there was an aptly named tournament called CS and AOE Arena.

For Chemical, it was time to show off that they had the maximum girls in the department. For Ceramic, it was time to show off that they had really good dancers. For Meta, it was time to show their bench strength in theater performance. And for Mechanical, it was a time to pulverize the rest of the Engineering faculty into dust, swallow them with a gulp of Thumbs Up and pee it out in the center of the pitch. We had shown it countless in time in cricket or CS and AOE match. The random and chaotic dance of our seniors at cult fest KY-07 was such memorable event. Also, KU & Technex were managed by our passionate batchmates despite of consistent sarkaari type hindrances from the administrative system.

We have done cuss word fights several times in CS match against final year Cera Branch (2006). Lot of words were exchanged between us but they never bothered us with their super senior attitude. 3rd Electrical Branch(2007) do not have courage to stand our outrage. The fight was much a scene and video recording by JD of pre-arguments before dispute between us and them was sensational. It was shared on LAN with more input of Student Language than English or Hindi. Even it was test of VKS next day, our batch of Mechanical Engineering attacked the Electrical Engineering Department with stumps over a small case of mess in hostel only. That day, even Warden watched from the sidelines!)

Socially, it was probably the best because in those four years. I had the privilege of knowing most intelligent and entertaining people. Even though it is a engineering college, there are bond guys in field of academics, music, sports, theater & technology. I was lucky to be part of such geniuses as college mates. This lengthy tour de force cannot end without paying tribute to Photocopy machine at which we have spent more time than Guttenberg has done at his inventory printing press.

However, graduating in Mechanical Engineering was like being perpetually in a place that's a homogeneous mix of a crowded men's locker room and a sports bar that does not allow females. Hell, we did not even have a "Ladies" toilet in the buildings that our department owned in our first year. I read the below lines in some one's blog about Mechanical Department,ITBHU-- "If You have passed your 4-5 years course here at IT-BHU,then you can survive yourself in any condition of your life". I am not saying these words but students of this department say together.........."

Eight Point Someone

Hi,I want you to take a look at: ITBHUGlobal.org: The Chronicle: Eight Point Someone (by Praharsh Sharma, B.Tech. Part-III Electronics Engineering student) .I am a 6 pointer but really admire this post for honest and hilarious opinion on serious matter of grades.

I was deeply influenced by paragraph below taken from the given article.These lines are gospel truth for me and hope it will be same for you.

In the course of our four years at IT BHU, we engineering undergraduates should be proud of one thing to which I am sure, all of us agree unanimously. The ability that gets perhaps, best incorporated in us during these quadruple of years, is to manage anything (that is desperately needed) out of nothing, as and when required. We all manage to learn and exercise this well in due course of our time and efforts here. In the sort of situation we are made to live, the most beautiful part is undoubtedly that, this life teaches us how to keep our cool on, when we are right about to fall into the middle of nowhere but hell. This is only because, just when we are living on the last edge and are about to be busted, life subjects us to an experience where in, a pseudo helping hand just saves us from falling into the hell. Thus, when we are in any situation of almost death, we always assume that there would be a way out and this illogical confidence is the best thing, which engineering undergraduates learn to have during their four years. We here call it the engineering preamble, truly stated by someone –

“We, the unwilling, lead by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much for so long, with so little knowledge that we will one day qualify to do anything with knowing nothing..."