A trip to IT BHU - Visit down the memory lane

I boarded Shiv Ganga Exp from New Delhi on Thursday evening. Train arrived on time at destination on Friday morning. I got down at Maduadeah Railway station (near DLW) and hired a cycle Richshaw for IT guest house.

The ride took about half an hour. I passed thro BHU Post office, Principal Colony. The IT guest house is behind De hostel. New IT girls’ hostel is across the road.

While filling register during check in, I realized that preceding entry was for same purpose. His room #1 was next to mine #2 & I introduced myself to him. He was Mr Chakraborty, an alumni of 1979 Batch from the department. He is now VP, R&D with Ace Refractories.

I told him that for this trip, I had taken personal leave from job. For him, it is considered official trip duly approved by his MD.

Whosoever visits department, can not be exactly happy with the situation prevailing in department. Many Labs are non functional as instruments are very old/dead. Part of Syllabus is probably out of sync with current requirement of Industry.

Bulk of the hiring across all branches is being done by software Industry. This is true of Ceramic as well. So every one said that students are not really focused on core subjects. Some of us may recall lament of Mr Muthuraman (of Tisco) in this regard about current students at IIT Chennai.

Lowest Salary this year (across) all branches is Rs 3 Lac per annum while maximum is Rs 15 Lac. Avg may be considered 4 Lac per annum. I have obtained a list showing placement of final year cera students.

Local Sight Seeing:

Even though 18 years have passed since we graduated, it may be apt to stay that Time Stood Still all these years. I visited 3 places, BHU Temple (Lot of graffiti on its walls), Sankat Mochan Temple (It was rocked by Bomb blasts couple of years back), and Assi Ghat (Width of the river appeared short due to hot season/less water.

Of course, I went to hostels – Limbadi, Vishwakarma and Vivekanand. I could recall my room in first and second year but could not recall my room of third and final year.

What one feels can not be always put into words..

Misc:

Some of the faculty /other staff had some difficulty in recalling my batch. Suchitra’ name came to my rescue instantly. Infact, I spoke to a girl (M.Tech III Cera) about her. She told me she is in touch with Suchitra.

Many of the boys wore (bathroom) chappals in the department.

With respect to Lab exam, I got a chance to meet students from 3 lots – B.Tech III Cera, M Tech III Cera, & M Tech III Material Science. Last group impressed me most.

2 students of B.Tech III year cera are going to Europe for summer training. I got a chance to discuss this with one of them. When she approached Company in Europe for this purpose, she was refused. However, her persistence paid off in the end. Infact she went to TRL for training after second year even when it was not required.

Hiring from IT-BHU

Most of the placement activity is over by Aug.

A boy said that every thing being same, a girl has better chance of being hired over a boy.

Return Journey:

All Hostels rooms have free internet connections and almost every student has desktop / laptop. At the time of departure, I asked a student to check final status of my wait listed ticket. She informed me that final status was Wait list #2. It was same pairing train Shiv Ganga Exp for return. I spent night sleeping on coach attendant’ berth. He charged me Rs two hundred for same. Train arrived 4 hrs late at destination on a Hot May afternoon.