by Prof. S.L.N. Murthy _______________________________________________________________

Let me, at the outset, emphasize that this small piece has a broader canvass than financial contributions/donations !

On September 26th we had an alumni gathering in the city (at the Institution of Engineers' building at Haji Ali) at which Prof. Isaac (now adviser to NIIT whose shares are becoming a part of the Bombay Stock Exchange Index) spoke to the Alumni. Prof. Isaac, talked formally about some facets of IT in the Indian educational and training context. Inevitably, Prof. Isaac turned to his first love - student activity at IIT Bombay. What ensued was a bit of nostalgia, specifically concerning student initiatives in the sixties, seventies and possibly a part of the eighties - be it staging of plays in the city (and the pranks which followed) or the sense of entrepreneurship shown (Prof. Isaac shared the secret that his by-now- famous-car was sold to him by an IIT student!). The old timers among the faculty and the alumni feel that life on campus has become somewhat prosaic. May be this is one facet the alumni of yesteryears' can address - by finding sometime to come down to IIT, and share with the current students their secret recipes which permitted all the fun, enterprise and enjoyment, amidst academics.

For those of you who are academically inclined, and willing to venture into a career in teaching and research, opportunities will be plenty! Your Institute is embarking on a move to provide the benefit of IIT Bombay education to a larger number (we are targeting a total student population of around 4700 in four years' time as against the current 3500 or so) and faculty requirements could go up to 575 - from the current 375 or so. The first and second generation IIT Bombay faculty (many of whom were also IITB alumni - M.Techs and Ph.Ds) are fast disappearing (age catches up even in the ever-green IIT B environment!), and surely you don't want it that IIT B alumni amongst the faculty of the Institute, should get included in the endangered species list!

The work is challenging (including getting the B.Techs, to attend lectures - especially in the 8th semester - without having to invite their attention to the rules governing the award of XX grades!), the ambience free and friendly, the opportunities numerous, and the pay package not all that unfriendly if you consider the consultancy opportunities. Most importantly you don't have to commute to work - something which has become an invaluable plus point when you consider the current status of urban transportation in Mumbai. Add to this an opportunity to participate in building the IIT B of your dreams. This apart, I am sure that departments would be delighted to have our alumni assist in the form of visiting faculty, and share with the current students their professional experiences, expertise and perceptions, and, if alumni are so inclined, they could even do some serious teaching in practice-oriented courses.

The Institute will soon have a full fledged alumni cell - the establishment of which is our priority. We hope to network our alumni spread across the globe - and this needs inputs from alumni about current activities, interests and mailing addresses. Considering the status of the database with which we started a few years ago, we have made reasonable progress, but this will have to take on the shape of a movement - with each alumnus taking on the task of locating at least another five who may have lost touch with the Institute. We wish to keep you informed about the happenings in the Institute and equally importantly, take pride in your successes and achievements. There are also numerous efforts at networking in various parts of the world - thanks to our active alumni.

There are also plans on for generating systems for greater involvement of Alumni in shaping IIT B of the next millenium and this makes it all the more essential to network effectively. All that we need are inputs for networking.!

I guess I should stop here. A formal report on Alumni Contributions of the other kind is being sent separately and may be found elsewhere in Y-point.

Sd/- (S.L. Narayana Murthy)

M.Tech IIT B, 1964 (Chem. Engg.)

October 30, 1998

Professor of Chemical Engineering & Dean (Resource Development) IITBombay,Powai,Mumbai-400 076.

Email : slnm[!]cupid.che.iitb.ac.in or deanrd[!]ganga.admin.iitb.ac.in