Chai with samosas in the afternoon was a wonderful break from the trials and tribulations of the morning classes, labs, tests, and exams. A time to relax and discuss weighty issues such as the latest movies, songs, and cricket matches.

While the following does not have anything to do with chai or samosas, I would like to tell you about an incident that the IITB alumni might be interested in.

So, there was a story in the papers that a gang of thieves in Pune had planned a midnight heist. They stripped and lathered themselves with oil in the expectation that the element of surprise would enable them to escape. Unfortunately, the guards weren’t surprised and they were apprehended. Balya, who was scanning the newspaper, looks up and proceeds to point out a major character flaw of the citizens of Pune to the Punekars at the table: “Kayre! Tumchya Punet nagde chor astat!” (What the …? There are nude thieves in your Pune!).

Another very memorable occasion was in our third year when all the engineering disciplines had to take a ghastly course: Fluid Mechanics, a mysterious subject with no discernible laws (at that time), just a bunch of empirical observations! Each department had its own instructor. For the final exam, Prof. Subir Kar (HoD), whose expertise was fluid mechanics but who had not taught the course that year, decided to set the exam which was held in the convocation hall so our entire class could fit in. After reading the paper I felt that I had read the wrong textbook. None of the questions made any sense! Everybody was looking around in shock and disbelief. One of my friends handed in a blank answer booklet and walked out, scarred for life. He passed the course based on his in-semester performance. The class average on the exam was 4/50.

H5 was my home on campus for 5 years. And I was the chairman of the Alumni Association at the time. The project was conceived, funded, and executed by H5 alumni. The eldest donor was from the class of 1964 and the youngest from 2019. 140-odd donors contributed a shade less than Rs. 6 Crores. The H5 alumni came together as a community to contribute in many ways and make this happen.

The Institute – after due consideration of what we were proposing – wholeheartedly supported the project. Then Dean ACR, Suhas Joshi, and I managed to put together an MoU that enshrined how the Institute, the AA, and the HF were going to work together.

The project has dramatically changed the way the Institute and the alumni community work together. The Institute thanked the project by conferring the Distinguished Service Awards to Ajit Jawle, Suhas Mehta, Nandkishore Nemade, and Nitin Doshi – all of whom spearheaded various aspects of the project design and implementation.

The ultimate compliment to the project was when Director Subhasis Chaudhuri approached the AA/HF to step up and help in hostel renovation and development which gave birth to Project Evergreen.

It was one of those things that just happened. I returned to India in 2000 and we decided to organize our SJRU in 2002. Being in Mumbai and having lived in America I became a bridge between the alumni in India and the US.

Our SJRU over three days was wildly successful and brought the whole class together. We gave everybody a replica of the Tree of Knowledge which even to this day prominently adorns homes and offices of C’77. We gave everybody a T-shirt with 77 emblazoned on the sleeve. A few days ago, about ten of us from H5 went on a hike and four of the guys wore those t-shirts having carefully preserved them for over 20 years!

Subsequent reunions have been a natural succession to our SJRU.

It gives you an enormous sense of purpose and accomplishment! The best analogy I can think of is India’s struggle for freedom – the people who took part in it created India. We, who are giving our time, talent, and/or treasure are helping create a great institution that will transform the lives of Indians and the world through STEM.

Lots of memories, let me share one.

A bunch of us decided to go on a trip to Devka, near Daman, after our final exams one year. Some of the guys decided to go see a movie in the city the evening before our trip and catch the train from Bombay Central. Kiran Roshania and I decided we were going to stay on campus and join the gang at Borivali.

The next morning we woke up bright and early and trudged to Y-point to catch the bus to Andheri. The bus started making weird noises and, finally, at Sakinaka gave up its struggles. The conductor and driver hailed down another bus and got all of us on board. Finally, we reached Andheri and hopped on to a fast train to Borivali. The train left Andheri and halfway to the next station – Jogeshwari – decided to take a nap. Time was ticking by and we were stuck with no way to get off. Finally, we reached Borivali. We sprinted for the train hoping it was delayed. But, of course, on that day it was on time, and as we were running down the steps to the platform we saw the train pulling out at the far end.

So, what to do next? We decided to hitchhike! We trotted over to the newly opened Western Express Highway and stuck our thumbs out. Soon a demon driver in an ambassador gave us a ride. We flew along the highway with the wheels of the car occasionally touching the road. After he dropped us we got back to trudging along the highway with our thumbs stuck out. A half hour later we found a dhaba by the side of the road and had some chai. We walked some more and finally sat down by the side of the road. A car passed us, went half a kilometre down the road, stopped, and reversed back to give us a ride up to the turn for Tarapore. At that point, we decided we would hop onto any vehicle willing to give us a ride. A truck stopped and offered us a ride to the Gujarat border but we were worried since back then the cops would hassle truck drivers if they tried to cross over the border with “passengers.” In any case, we stopped at a dhaba and we bought the lorry guys lunch. They were thrilled and said, “Don’t worry we’ll handle the cops and drop you at Vapi.” Which they did.

At Vapi, we hopped on a bus to Daman and got off when it turned towards Daman. We then had to walk along the beach to find the resort we were going to. It got dark and after trudging a couple of miles on the beach we decided to go to one of the houses along the beach to ask for directions. As we were trying to clamber over the wall we were charged by a Doberman and an irate homeowner. When we told him our story he let us through his bungalow where the resort was a short way down the road.

We finally reached our destination exhausted after about 14 hours from the time we started at the hostel. We were met with great excitement and people at the resort who wanted a blow-by-blow account of our hitchhiking experience. We had a total blast in Devka. Another friend Ravi and I continued north to Baroda and Ahmedabad respectively. We, of course, hitchhiked from Devka!

Photos taken by Mr. Saheba

I’ve been blessed in that my parents always encouraged me and supported my independence. I can’t think of a single thing that my parents told me I could not do! So I left home at 13 when I went to a public school in Gwalior. There I got an opportunity to try my hand at all kinds of things beyond just academics. Going to New York after IIT Bombay was an incredible experience. For me, it was the greatest city on earth. The most sublime things that man could do – art, theatre, cuisine, science, business – co-existed with some of the worst things that man could do!

After spending a lot of time in museums I figured out that I’m not great with my hands – cannot draw, paint, or sculpt but I have a good eye, and with a camera, I can capture some of the beauty around me. It gives me a great kick that some of my work still adorns the Director’s office, the AA office, as well as the study rooms in H5!

As far as performing goes, I had acted in school and when a classmate was producing a movie I petitioned him for a part. I made it clear that it had to be a speaking part! I refused to be a person in the background in a crowd. So I ended up as a village vaid in the movie. Since then I’ve done some ads. It’s been a lot of fun.

Creative pursuits add a wonderful dimension to one’s life.

There’s always time for passions. A colleague of mine had a great poster in his office that said: “Remember, nobody puts on his epitaph I wish I had spent more time at work.”

That it will produce great citizens of the world – great minds with good hearts!