Prof. O. Prabhakar in conversation with Prof. B.S. Murty
Good morning friends.
Welcome to this interaction session with Professor O. Prabhakar,
with the Heritage Centre.
Professor Prabhakar, thank you, sir,
thanks for coming
and to spare your valuable time with us.
You had a very distinguished,
I would say, honour
of becoming a faculty in the same place
where you had your graduate studies and also PhD studies.
Shall we go to your undergraduate studies level
and to know what motivated you to join IIT Madras?
What was the perception of students those days,
school students about IITs;
can we start with that?
Thank you, Professor Murty,
senior professors, Professor Swamy,
Professor Reddy, I am very happy they are here.
Yes, I have the distinction in some way,
of being associated with IIT for a very long time.
I joined here in 1960,
and probably went out in 1998,
and in fact, one of the directors called me
a good example of inbreeding.
But anyway, there stands the matter.
Yes, we all...that time, IIT was not very popular.
In fact, the there was no examination.
It was recruitment by our marks in
Plus 2. final plus 2 and...
Was plus 2 there, sir, those days? We were fortunate.
It was called plus 2, what was it?
Pre-University it was called. Pre-University, okay, sir.
And, we had one oral examination,
Okay. where all Germans were sitting and evaluating us.
And, there was no written exam, it started much later.
But, the oral was technical, about science? Purely technical,
all creative. In fact, very very creative. Very, very. Very good
Very good. It used to be demonstrative,
not even talking.
And, I like that. Oral exam was very good.
To know your interest in science particularly,
possibly, that was very good.
And, I came because, I came number 1 or 2,
I don't know exactly, in Madura college.
So, the principal, Prof. Totadri Iyengar,
he called me to his room and
said, "there is a very good institute in IIT,
called IIT in Chennai, why don't you apply?"
We all thought of only Guindy Engineering College,
that was our ultimate. True, true, true.
Incidentally, I got admitted there also. Okay.
And, he said, "why don't you go there?"
and that's the first time I heard.
My father was not impressed.
For him, it is Guindy College,
go to Guindy College.
but then, So, a whole decision on your part.
I took the lead,
Yeah. I convinced him that when my principal says,
Okay. there must be something very good.
Okay. But, I don't regret the decision.
Wonderful. Thank you sir. It was
a fantastic journey after we joined.
And, it was the very very
beginning period in IIT, that time.
Yeah, yeah, I know you were the second batch. Second batch.
And... You also said, I think, if I remember right,
first batch in the hostels, you said. Yeah. Correct!
It was Krishna hostel.
We had only one floor,
ground floor constructed,
with all brick and mortar scale. That was the only one hostel those days, possibly.
Yes, yes.
And 100 yards from my room,
I was in the last room - F12,
there was a burning ghat,
people used to be burning dead bodies..
and just about. On the campus?
On the campus, just about 100 metres.. Okay.
And later, the director intervened, banned and all that. Okay.
And, students used to be afraid of sleeping in their room.
I can understand. He was a very, very fine, Professor Chaudhri,
was our warden.
There were some of the students,
who were scared of ghosts and pisaasu,
and, all that,
they used to go to his room and sleep. Okay, okay.
And, in fact, one of the students was even termed as Ghost.
He is still popularly known as Ghost.
Because, he was so afraid of ghosts. So, Okay.
This is the thing. Okay.
And, this one I will come later, I will show you some...
First when we entered,
there was no dining table in the room.
In the dining hall. Okay.
We all sat on the floor and ate food. floor.
Maybe, they all thought that it's good
for your health, you know.
Nowadays, it's very difficult to find people
Yes. who can sit down and eat, right.
A burning ghat was there.
Okay. Believe me,
through the night they used to bring dead bodies and burn,
and used to be a heavy
But, I heard this was a jungle, right, sir? smell.
How people will... Well, for Velachery doors are open,
that time. Oh, Velachery
side was open. It is their regular burial ground.,
Okay, okay. Later, IIT, I think, took action to stop it
and it became part of our grounds.
Krishna was only on the ground floor.
We were the first batch to officially enter IIT.
That is why Professor Sengupto
had a very soft corner for us.
Okay. Because, we withstood a lot of difficulties.
We used to be taken like cattle,
like cattle in a truck
to college, to classrooms in CLRI,
there were no classroom here. Okay.
Like cattle, I am not joking at all.
We used to stand and
used to be taken literally, like cattle,
we used to be taken.
People will be falling
because, there were no good road, right...
used to be falling and...
So, there were no IIT buses those days?
Nothing. Only N. T. Rama Rao
will come in his chariot
and there will be cinema shooting taking place, Oh
In the campus? Oh, Okay. Campus.
because of forest atmosphere. Okay, okay.
And, this is the Krishna where we stayed first, this is Cauvery.
Later, I went on to become warden also there.
And, Professor Chaudhri was a
very kind man; he was just like a fatherly figure.
He took care of us. wWater flooding used to take place,
water will come into the room
in the monsoon time. It happens even now, sir, once a while.
Holi, was for me, it is a novel experience,
we were all ducked in...
our north Indian friends used to be very exuberant. Yeah.
So, when I am bit shy or withdrawing,
they will definitely chase me. Yeah, yeah, they will.
So, they have a...they have a prey there, Prey.
right? If you by yourself go to a water,
they are not so much, right. True, true, true.
Ragging was very minimal,
though some students
were I remember dismissed...our juniors,
three of them, for doing extremes of ragging.
Some four or 5five students were dismissed,
that I know very well.
Yeah, now we don't even hear about that. Even at my time,
that was...there was more friendliness rather than ragging. Yeah,
true, true. That is good. And,
these are the hostel.
4.5 years we stayed in Cauvery,
0.5 we stayed in Krishna.
And, we have to walk, there was no tarred road.
It was a kachha road there, will be full of thorns,
and imagine, your cycle gets punctured
and you have a bag, night, water,
no light, we have to walk through.
In the dark. dark.
That is why, Professor Sengupto
was really kind to us, whatever we ask, he will give.
Because, we did not complain.
We put up with the trouble,
I won't say trouble,
some inconveniences Inconveniences.
in a very gamely way; nobody used to complain, Correct, correct.
people used to be happy. Correct.
And, NTR movies used to be filmed,
I am not joking.
The fellow will go on a chariot,
and singing song, because of the forest atmosphere, right.
And, this is about general,
Okay, okay. our undergraduate
Good, good, good. beginning.
Anything about your academics? Full of...it was swarming with Germans.
Where there any Indian faculty
those days, in the department? Yes, yes we
were very fortunate because,
senior faculty used to take our classes.
They didn't have research. Okay.
Very, very senior - Professor Ramasastry,
Aravavamudhan.
Professor S. K. Srinivasan, of mathematics. You should be
very, very fortunate to hear their lectures.
We were very fortunate because
senior people were coming, E. G. Ramachandran,
where they didn't have much to do,
so, they took our classes.
Okay. And, that way we were extremely benefited.
Many of our classes were taken by Germans. Okay.
For example, physics, Professor Koch took it.
Yeah, professor was eventually, Professor Reddy was... Maths, Professor Hahn, took math.
He used to give grade like d to the power of minus 6 tending to 0,
limit tending to 0, right.
Okay. It was very unique experience.
next, go ahead. You had this common courses
only for 1 year or extending into the 2nd and
3rd years? Up to two and half years.
Up to two and half We had a 5 year course.
Okay. So, up to two and half every student of every branch, Yes.
goes through the same curriculum. Same.
eEngineering background. So, two
and half years is what you would study
your departmental subjects, is it like that? Oh, yeah.
More or less. Even in the other two and half,
some parts we study, professors from
chemical engineering took our classes, Okay, okay.
electrical engineering took our classes. Classes.
and Good, good, good, good.
some common classes were there. Oh, okay, sir.
Much more of, I think, general engineering. We did physics,
Professor Ramasastry told me in person,
"I have taught whatever that could be
taught for an MSc Physics,
I do not know what else to teach you people."
Is exactly what he told.
He was also a very good teacher. Things have significantly
changed in all, sir. Things.
If you look at the current curriculum,
we recently, about 3 - 4 years back we changed,
where we see that, only 15 percent is basic sciences,
15 percent is basic engineering,
then about 45 percent is your departmental,
professional courses,
which includes your projects,
which includes electives and core everything,
and then, about 18 percent free electives now. Okay,
so, the students have a freedom to choose
anything from other departments;
that's more nowadays.
So, because they want to give the
freedom to students to see that. But,
I have a strong opinion
that, without good physics,
without good chemistry,
without good mathematics,
you cannot do good engineering. Correct.
True, you are right, you are right. You will be a messed up in
engineering. I completely agree with you, sir.
You want to do good engineering,
your Pphysics has to be sound,
your chemistry has to be good, Correct.
and, your maths, reasonably
at least, Fortran analysis, you should be able to handle.
True, true. If you can't do that,
Now there is no Fortran you will not be a good engineer.
anymore. Whatever you try.,
you can become a village blacksmith,
but, not a good engineer. True, true, true.
What about your Metallurgy department faculty? Yes,
this is the faculty. Over all faculty.
Professor E. G. Ramachandran is the senior most man.
Very early he got his PhD from Sheffield.
And, they all have... I
heard that he had a record of having
a PhD, when he was 22 years old. 22.
That's amazing. They could have gone to any
place in the world and settled down,
they all came here,
and worked here. And we are all fortunate.
Really, yeah. That's the wonderful thing.
He also worked with a Nobel laureate
Sir C. V. Raman, I think, for 2 years.
And, he is a very,
what the best unique thing about E. G. is that,
its not about engineering and all that,
he wired our brain for more good thinking,
lofty thinking, higher things, Skinner's.
All his classes used to be fantastic;
he took us to a different level, but with one zone;
not mundane, foundry, ramming the sand,
and all that. It is very important
that the students' brain is wired for lofty thinking.
And, that's what he achieved, not the details.
Yeah, I heard that when he teaches physics of materials, Details is not important.
Yes. I... It's amazing, people say.
I only feel that it is not been recorded. Every day,
end of it, it will be like a detective story.
In fact, the NPTEL lectures that we have now,
if they were there those days,
I mean, the students would really... I tried to record,
I called them, but such facilities
Correct. were not there.
Now, now. The day will end
like a detective story. He will say,
"tomorrow we will see how Skinner solve the problem."
You know, So, you will wait for the next day.
whole of Schrodinger's equation,
still is etched in my mind. Wow!
wow, wow. He got up only once.
To take the wave equation and
put down the potential function.
He just said, "this is Schrodinger."
Amazing. Still it is there in my mind. I am a foundry man,
I know. I have nothing to do with physics,
but it is etched in the mind, So, good.
you know, etched in the mind. Good teachers are like that.
So, other than Professor E. G. R., who were the others, sir? He
started industrial metallurgy, very unique thing,
because Chennai is having lot of auto industries,
and that time, auto parts.
So, he formulated industrial metallurgy,
putting, not going into too much theoretical metallurgy,
and all that, in NDT, heat treatment and all that,
it was a great success.
Just to ask there sir... Vasudevan.
you knowm now, recently our department
has started a new programme,
an MTech in industrial metallurgy through e-learning mode.
So, that anyone who is in industry,
who has some BTech or a MSc background
can sit in their industry,
and listen to lectures which
our faculty give in the evening hours,
Excellent idea. 4 to 7,
so that, they don't need to come out of their industry,
and get an MTech degree.
Excellent idea. So, they just come here only for the
convocation, nothing else. See,
So, all the 10 courses, You see,
they sit there and learn.
last 13 years, I have been doing consultancy. Yeah.
I take classes, half of the classes I teach in Tamil,
because the local students don't follow. Ok. Yeah, yeah. I understand, I understand.
But, I tell you, there is an enormous desire
for them to understand the metallurgy True, true.
of the processes they are doing,
they want to know that. Good.
And, IIT faculty and students are in a very unique
and I would say very very fortunate position,
you are all exposed to the very latest.
True sir.
You really don't understand how I know, I know.
fortunate you are; only when you go out,
True, true. I mean going there,
and they want to learn thing.
Particularly with the recent facilities, sir, Yes.
you will be amazed. Yes
Whenever somebody comes from overseas,
they say, "wow, what kind of facilities that you have."
For example, our Metallurgy department right now, has
a Titan, the highest end electronamicroscope with 1 angstrom,
in fact, its 0.6 angstrom resolution;
and, we have got another machine which
is an atom probe, local electrode atom probe,
with about 32 crores we bought it,
which is again first of its kind because,
I know, you are doing very good work, yeah. it can be remotely operated. So, the
whole world, I mean, it's very rare to see a
titan and a leap in the same building in the world,
very few institutions have this.
It's a very, very fortunate You don't even have it
in chemistry. position that people are here in.
Good sir, you were talking about Professor Vasudevan.
Professor Vasudevan, he was a very friendly person.
Within very few minutes, he will give you the feeling
that he, of his scholarship, of his gentlemanliness.
Very sound, his lecture. He got
first teacher award for more than
8 or 10 times in the... Wow, wow.
In IIT, it is tough. I got, maximum I got was 8th rank,
Hhe got first some 6 or 7 times, he got.
Okay. And, the best thing is,
But, you were also known to be an excellent teacher, sir;
many students tell me.
But they were giants.
Ahead of me, there were giants, literally giants. Okay.
Okay, okay. Right. When compared to them, I think, I dwarf myself.
Sreenivasa Raghavan, a man of very high integrity, a no nonsense man.
When I was the head of the department,
I will definitely, I will take his help,
whenever moral, ethical, integrity issues are involved,
I will send him, "sir, it is your field."
Whenever there is something wrong done,
he will make sure that things are done properly and correctly.
He set very high ethical standards,
out of the way, because, you know, outside it is,
the whole thing is rubbish.
But, here, he is setting about very high ethical standards.
Surrealistic. Absolutely surrealistic
and he will set impossible standards.
Anyway, that is K. S. R. for you.
But, very fine gentlemen.
They all added a touch of class to the department.
If they were not there, I would not have joined.
I would not have joined.
They all gave you a feeling
that this is the sophisticated department,
it is a high class department.
I am not going to do anything wrong in being here.
right that is. But, those days, I think,
typically after BTech, people must be joining
some industry and things like that,
what has made you come and do PhD? I went for
post graduation. So, you went for a post graduation outside?
Institute of Science. I did mechanical engineering. Institute of Science.
Okay. Mechanical in the foundry? Then, I went and worked a couple....
Wonderful place, sir, I mean.
I then, went and worked a couple of months
in Coimbatore in foundry.
Okay. And, that was an Alfresco toilet,
so, I just couldn't stay there.
So, came back, E. G. said, "join up."
I had admission in University of Michigan,
to go. In the meantime, Professor E. G. said,
"you may like to stay back."
Kind of indirectly. Didn't tell me...no, not that way,
indirectly encouraged, "you may like to stay here."
I continued, they sent me to DAAD scholarship
and all that, I continued.
So, you joined as a faculty and then did your PhD.
Yes, in those days, at, believe me,
After master's, I think. At 24, I became a lecturer.
Wow. 24. It's impossible now.
With an MTech.
With an M. Tech. Not even a PhD.
Because not many. Now, PhD is a must.
Not only a PhD, PhD with 3 years Postdoc is a must,
according to the new MHRD rules. The things were lenient, they were
lenient that time and continued.
Only, I was doing foundry. Foundry.
It is Professor E. G. who fixed up
one Professor Eberhard Mundry in Germany.
And, he said, "you go and get trained with him
in non destructive testing, it will be very useful for us," and I went.
That's how you have interacted with many... And, Eberhard Mundry was
extraordinarily sincere and good man.
I was fortunate to have good teachers.
Okay. And, he trained he took it upon
himself, as a personal responsibility, to train me up,
I don't regret it.
I make a decent money. Yeah, I heard,
everybody tells that you have started NDT
Yes, yes. in our department.
Not only that,
I have also started American Society of
NDT Examinations - level 1 and level 2 and level 3... Okay, okay.
to help those BScs and MScs,
ordinary BEs, who could not get a good career,
they could do this and even go abroad
this thing, and earn very good lot of money.
Certification done...American certification done in India,
I was one of the first person to start it.
And 100s of them are
now employed throughout Middle East,
Ok. Singapore, Malaysia and all that;
that is one good thing, I suppose, I participated in.
So, when was your date of joining, sir, do you remember?
1968, March.
Here as a faculty?
3rd March or so. And... 3rd March.
3rd March is a very important day, sir,
3rd March is when IISC started.
Okay! J. R. D. Tata's birthday,
here we celebrate. August they promoted me
as lecturer. Both of us have that connection,
I was also a student of IISC.
But those days, for faculty, were there
any advertisements like the current days?
It will come. So, they they were all selected through advertisements?
Professor can... They used to advertise for a specific areas
or not like that, generally? No, metallurgy, that's what I saw,
but I was admitted temporarily as an associate professor first.
And then, they have, thing was regularized
in the lecturer advertisement. So, what were the
hierarchy those days? Associate lecturer,
and then lecturer, Lecturer.
assistant professor, associate and...
So, there was associate professor also, those days?
Yeah. No. Except for some period, there was assistant professor
there. And there was one And, directly professor.
unique category of senior professors.
Only Professor E. G. Ramachandran occupied that post,
nobody else. Okay, now, they call it as a HAG possibly,
something of that nature, okay.
And then, there was Thambiran Ramachandran,
and he later became the principal of Surathkal.
Okay. Beautifully taught you the latest,
very latest that time, dislocations, ternary diagrams.
And, he is also a man of very high integrity.
Uncomfortably, very man of high integrity,.
He taught us things way ahead of other colleges.
Even way ahead of Germany.
I went there. Wow.
Even they didn't have dislocation courses. Wow.
And, he taught us. And, there was one Muthiah,
geology teacher. I specially mention him because,
very boring subject. Exceedingly boring subject, Yeah.
all minerals and... Correct.
But, he used to make it very interesting,
in a very jovial way. Correct.
He was in Civil Engineering department.
Very affectionate, uncomfortably affectionate one.
There was one Dasgupta.
He was a very young man, but bald;
for him the baldness suited very well.
He taught us mechanical metallurgy.
And, he had a unique way of teaching,
he will close his eyes during teaching. Oh.
Even if you want to get out, you can get out.
And, he was quite a, quite a person.
And we have of course,
as a colleague K. A. Padmanabhan came in.
He was...came in like a,
what shall I say, the...
I should have told,
he came in like I wouldn't say china and a bull shop,
but he brought in a lot of expertise.
He opened our eyes to what we can do,
as young teachers and researchers,
he really opened it out.
I think, his coming
showed many of us what can be achieved,
you know, sitting here. True.
And, he showed new horizons. He was very well known for research,
he was very well known for research, I think. Yeah.
Not only that, he literally, see, he
he demoed what is possible.
Wonderful. He was a good addition.
Though, some of his expressions
can be quite uncomfortable.
I said, Churchillian humour with roughage,
but if you ignore it,
he was a tremendous addition to the department. Till then, Yes sir.
That is the. it was slumbering, floundering.
Okay. And then, he just kicked everybody in the rear,
and said, "get going!"
Wonderful. He shook everybody, you know.
And then, just one or two more. Sure, sure, sir.
I out of thing, I appreciate Aravavamudhan,
he took my inorganic chemistry classes.
And, whenever we solve the problem...
supposing, I solve it in a different way,
some radiation, I don't remember,
and he will appreciate it,
he will say, you know, "look at the creativity of this fellow."
And, he will tell in the open class,
"see, you all have done this way, this guy have done this way."
Quiet man, exceedingly quiet man,
but he had that academic deepness.
Fair enough. I appreciated it.
Veluswami, he took our dynamics classes.
Very affectionate guy, person, I shouldn't say guy.
He was our warden also for some time,
he took dynamics classes
and he was also a very friendly person.
Professor Ramanujam, I cannot forget mentioning his name.
There are two Ramanujams,
I am talking about the ore dressing man,
senior man, who is no more now.
And, the best thing is, he showed how physics,
how equations, for example, Stokes law,
they can be very well combined with engineering.
It used to be absolute enlightenment,
how engineering can be done with good physics,
and good mathematics, good understanding.
I think, it's a good example for all.
Mot much relevance to my metallurgy, not much,
but, I used to enjoy his classes
because he used to tie up physics
so, beautifully...it will dance,
physics will dance in his class.
And, at the end of it, you will appreciate the engineering idea.
Wonderful, wonderful. Right, that should be the way.
Wonderful. I really admired him.
S. K. Srinivasan took our maths classes.
A very low tone voice,
but, if you listen carefully, you will be benefited.
I distinctly remember C. R. Muthukrishnan asking him,
"sir, Fourier analysis assumes,
it's only a periodic function from
minus infinity to plus infinity,
then how can you apply it to a impulse pulse?
The explanation, transformation he showed
in the integration is still, it is there in my mind.
A brilliant student with a brilliant teacher,
the effect is IIT.
S. K. Srinivasan, later he took some classes on number theory,
evening classes, I especially went and attended it.
This gentleman is the one who introduced
me to NDT, Professor Eberhard Mundry.
And, he came here for 6 weeks,
we conducted NDT classes and all that, it was full.
At the end of it, he commented,
"all the German professors are having it light,
visiting professors, but you made me work," he said.
He introduced NDT as an academic course,
academic programme in IIT
and you know, how it has taken off,
many of the CDs I have made are based on his...
Their English was not very difficult for you to follow, sir?
Or, you learnt German from him? I know German,
bit, enough for koffeeklatch, I can't boast much,
I attended his classes in Germany. But, they their classes
were all in English?
He is quite good in English,
and whenever he has problem in the class, he will ask me
for the thing. That time, you must realize, how Germany was
in 1971, '72, '73, it was a beaten country
and they were very friendly,
they wanted to be appreciated by the whole world. Okay, okay, okay.
And, they were taking the extraordinary step
to be nice to us, to teach us.
He took it really as his responsibility
Wonderful, wonderful. to put the thing together,
we made very good notes.
Right. Professor Koch was our German professor.
He came to the first class, I remember,
he said 'zat plane,' okay.
Germans, they are talking about jet plane,
we all wrote down 'jet planes.'
Then finally, we found 'that plane' he was pronouncing 'zat plane.'
He, no derivations, concepts.
He will make a wheel rotate and jump on it to show,
we all used to be afraid, the old man should not get injured.
The precision, gyration he used to explain,
he had lot of demo things brought from Germany.
He used whole focus used to be on concept.
Concept. E. G., they, they are the ones who wire the
brains of the students,
Not the boring teachers. I mean, how to say?
They are the ones who wire your brain for better things
True, true, true. in the career.
Scheer, I can't, but mention him.
He took over drawing classes
and later, he was a turbo machines man.
3 semesters he took drawing for us.
Even today, I can tell you,
I can read a drawing happily without problem due to his training.
He used to insist that my letterings,
number should be at 70 degrees.
Thorough Germanness; if you want to see German genius in action,
he was the one.
He he really taught what
what is the difference between Germans and others.
How beautifully they do things so carefully,
so punctiliously. No class is simple class for him,
no lab class is simple for him; full zeal,
Full energy he will put in, even for a simple
45 minute lecture on bolds, not coming, no.
great sir. Great They all really impressive.
great teachers those days they are. Scheer,
if that doesn't teach you about German thoroughness, nothing will.
Klein, he was a kind of a jolly good person,
he taught us German, he used to come well dressed,
gold rimmed glasses on those days,
quite a handsome guy.
But, he was great very popular with the students.
Ebert associated with the workshop,
he used to be a terror,
we lost some good students
because of the toughness in the thing,
quite a good, I remember, I don't want to name them.
They were very good, Andhra University first and all that,
but just because they have failed in workshop,
they were asked to leave, that was somewhat sad,
because, they would have made an electronics engineer,
everybody need not use hacksaw blade and
we all felt bad when that thing.
But, then, he was strict,
you got to do, you have to chip,
you have to machine, no question, he will walk around.
Professor Anantharaman, you have to mention him.
He took us industrial economics;
full of jokes, students loved him
and all the programmes, your
all culture, he used to be the main figure.
He was a great hit,
and he used to crack jokes in the class
bit on the other side,
but, people used to love it,
people used to love his class.
There was one Dr. D. V. Reddy, he left subsequently.
He took applied mechanics
and he was great hit with the students.
Students will shout, "joke sir, joke sir" and
he will crack a joke; he was good and he left.
There was one Gangadharan, a very diminutive figure.
I mentioned him because, he took applied mechanics.
Again, a brilliant teacher,
I still remember his Taylor series expansion,
McClaren series expansion, right;
uniquely excellent teacher.
Later, he went to Thailand
and I heard that he settled down there.
Dr. Swaminathan, he was my great friend.
Physics teacher he came with the bow
bow tie and black coat to the first class,
taught us diffraction, you know him well.
And, diffraction, interference and all that.
Later, subsequently, he became, he left all this thing.
He used to be very friendly to me,
and particularly to me,
and we have spent many evenings in Bangalore together.
He was a bachelor till he died.
And, a fantastic fellow to know, unlike any professor.
There was one Professor Varma in chemical engineering.
Very methodical person, I used to admire his very
beautiful way to present things, very systematic
and I also liked him, chemical engineering.
There was one Seshadri who left, he was in chemical.
Very flamboyant figure, he will come to our hostel
and demonstrate Colorado movie and all that.
There was one Professor K. I. Vasu in metallurgy.
He was also in IISC, no, sir? IISC later.
He became director of CECRI.
Affection incarnate right, he is such a friendly guy. Yeah,
he left by the time I joined.
Yes. He will, if I have a problem, So, I have not...
he will make sure that he can,
he will extend some help to the extent he can.
Very nice person.
Among the directors, I admire this man, A. Ramachandran. Why?
The reason is, he set the tone for research in IIT.
Before that, it was purely an undergraduate institute,
he set this direction for IIT to go towards the research.
And. I think, I think, all that beginning is what
now paying us, we got, last 2 years, a number 1 rank
which is majority basically for... He used to encourage
young people. He will walk around research.
and whenever a young person is working,
he will go near him and encourage him.
"Is there any problem for you
to get stores?" He will go and ask.
Very good, wonderful, wonderful. Right.
Very rare person. Because of his personality,
academic personality, many people have left their jobs
from abroad and joined here.
Sheer personality, force of personality, I mean.
I used to admire him, he doesn't know me much.
I know. When I mention these people, as a student, I admired.
True, true. Do they know me? I was a small fellow.
True, true. After all the BTech, you know,
what made you choose teaching as a profession?
Are there any people or some Well,
my experience in. that you want to share with us?
foundry was not a good one on the health front.
As I said, professionally, I was happy.
There was one Belgian expert,
he was designing the things and he didn't know mathematics,
he didn't know how to use slide rule,
and so, I was helping him.
So, it was a good interaction.
I was doing the gating design and all that;
every night we used to sit and calculate.
I was learning a lot,
but, as I said, it was in Karamadai. Okay.
And, it was Alfresco toilet, there was no decent toilet.
Oh. You know animals will be around.
So, I told them, "I need a decent toilet,"
they said, "we give only to foreigners, not to Indians." Oh.
Then, I said, "okay," and came back
and asked Professor E. G. R., E. G. R., E. G. R.
Okay. "can I join?" He said, "you're most welcome."
Professor M. R. Seshadri. It's a boon,
boon to our in in department, I think.
Indians Any a discomfort for you
in Coimbatore became a boon to IIT Madras. Professor
M. R. Seshadri of Indian Institute of Science,
whom again, I admire a lot. He taught me,
ferrous metallurgy, ferrous foundry. He called me,
and said, "if you are going to join as a teacher
why don't you come here?
We have a foundry section,
and I know, you can do a decent job of teaching.
Why don't you come and join us?"
But my family situation is around Chennai.
So, I told him, "I would rather be here."
And, that is how, one toilet changed my career.
You wanted to talk about your friends? But,
I liked my stay in the industry. Good.
It was steel industry.
And, you know, metallurgy is And, you are still
full of metallurgy. connected with the industry, yeah, I am aware of that.
Every day, I used to go home only at 11 o' clock in the night,
see the last pouring
You are a rare academician, see it is defect free and then go home.
who is always connected with the industry. I love this.
I love to do. Friends, C. R. M.
He was our deputy director here,
he was a star in our department, you know?
He was a teacher for all of us,
I am very shamelessly telling you.
Right, if I have any doubt,
we won't even go into his room,
there is a window, we will all sit there,
from inside he will say charge is there,
this calculate that...Very generous fellow,
We all admired him for his scholarship
and brilliant mind. I have seen,
when all of us are struggling to get pass mark,
he will come out with a distinction
or near 100 percent, right?
When you are beaten in a straight competition,
it is very easy to admire a man.
There is no second thoughts on his brilliance.
Kripanarayan, he was in civil engineering first,
he is in a big time fellow now.
He designs all seismic...his only complaint is,
that lot of IITians in US
are doing very well in other fields other than IT and teaching;
"why you are not giving Distinguished Alumnus Award,
even though they are applying?"
The one complaint he had when I met him last time in California,
and I am just telling, just a thought.
He feel there are some...only there you are looking
at IT or teaching profession,
you are not looking at any other.
He has developed earthquake free buildings,
and they are all, their software's are very popular.
He says, people are not looking at those contributions.
And, I said, "did you apply?"
He said, "yes, we do apply,
but we are simply pushed aside."
Mahesh, he is a close friend of mine,
he belongs to the TVS family.
His Go-Kart was very uniquely popular on the campus,
he designed a Go-Kart by himself.
And, we used to go, I used to go on his Go-Kart,
he is a close friend of mine.
We also made a semi
semi-working a blast furnace for the department, in those days.
And, it was there for a long time, till they threw it out.
He is an engineering genius.
Three process control - pressure diecasting,
brake lining, gravity diecasting he has introduced,
and all of them are working exceptionally well. Alright.
K. Narayanan, also known as Ghost.
He is the binding force for 1965 batch.
I can't think of 1965 batch without Ghost, alright.
And, he is keeping all, the whole flock together.
Even now, we get in...
"oh, Amitabha died," I get information immediately,
Patnaik died, I will get the information.
Is he the same person...chemical engineering?
Yeah, yeah, very good, okay.
He is a very nice fellow,
no caste feeling, no religious,
no, no silly things, he will hug everybody; a beautiful fellow.
He is my friend J. Vivekanandan.
A unique story, we both studied in Ambasamudram
together in school,
and when I joined IIT, he was standing there,
I said "what are you doing here?"
He said, "what are you doing here?"
So, he did his thing, he is right now
fabricating very good systems
for food processing and so on, and brilliant fellow.
Kapoor, I don't know this man personally,
he was my classmate in 1965 batch,
but, I really appreciated him because, he started the film club.
He will go all the way to Mount Road,
bring that 60 mm thing on his bicycle.
He used to sit in the veranda of Building Sciences,
civil engineering and he will yank it up,
it won't work. And, then, we were always seeing the movie,
that's all the entertainment we had,
that is how our movie club started
and... OAT was there those days?
No. It started only in '64. No OAT. Okay.
Okay. And, it used to be the only entertainment for us.
I know, I know. Games or wait for Saturday evening Kapoor's movie.
Okay. He will bring some movie.
Good. Yeah. We all used to look forward to it.
So, you so, that tradition is still continuing. What.
Even now, it is Saturday evening movie for us.
See, what an enterprise,
for a young man.
When we were all struggling for my cycle,
for my education thing,
this guy goes on a bike, brings the movie,
shows it to all of for nothing,
not even an applause,
right? That, I call it the spirit of doing things.
That's true. Right? That is about IIT.
You cannot, but admire him.
I don't know the man,
probably, he also doesn't know.
That is about the thing.
Good good sir. Sorry, I am talking too much.
No, no sir its. Lot of interesting things. These topics are too close to me.
What were the major facilities, those days,
you know, in the department?
Not much, not much. When you look at it,
not much. Not much.
And, the projects, do you have a lot of industry projects?
Industry used to put in money?
When I was a student, there was practically no facility.
But, when I came as a faculty, there was quite a few Okay.
facilities were available,
but, not research category.
Okay, you left in '98, you know, sir or?
'98 I left. Yeah.
July 29th, my birthday, I left. '98, 29th.
Okay, okay. 60 years.
60 years, okay. So, so, those days,
basically, the major facility, electron microscope...
these things were there, those days?
Were there. Were there.
SCM was not there. SCM...
Professor Gokulrathnam, we used to hear a lot about him.
And then we had facilities.
Okay. The problem with a Metallurgy Department is, it was
too much fragmented. Yeah, even now,
So. That didn't...that we are in five different buildings.
didn't help us to have a synergy.
Correct, correct. We are trying to move into a new building, sir. So...
that, you told me that. That would be of great help. Very soon, very soon.
That's true. The synergy, that you meet your colleague...
like, when I worked in Singapore,
some quantum mechanics guy will ask me,
"can you melt this alloy?"
That synergy was absent to work together.
Lot of sponsored projects used to be there, those days?
DST? Where, which were the sponsoring agencies those days?
DST used to give DST used to give.
a major portion. Major portion.
UGC used to give something like grants,
they never used to bother about our report. Now, UGC doesn't give
to IIT because, IIT is under MHRD
it is not under UGC, so.
And Germans used to have a collaborative agreement
for some sort... So, all of you used to
go to Germany often, faculty? No, I went twice.
My problem with Germany is...
See, all my friends who went to US,
have developed very good professional contacts,
excellent professional contacts.
US, you are able to put yourself in an equal position.
In Germany, you are always patronized.
Okay. And, it is very difficult to get, you are always a newcomer,
and, you don't build.
I told this even to some German officials.
I have been there 2 years, totally, together I spent,
but what is the professional contact I have? Nil.
Even now, I am treated as a foreigner.
Whereas, I worked 2 years in US,
I have much better professional contact there.
True, true. Sir.
See...yes? Hello. Mr. Muthuraman Tata,
was he your classmate? No, no,
he was junior. Junior.
I see. He was a good cricketer.
And, even I am...
I recommended his name for Distinguished Alumnus Award,
even before he became all that famous. Correct,
correct. And, he is, you know, the vice president of
TISCO and all that. Yeah, he was a gem.
He is now settled in Bangalore.
He retired from Tata Steel. sir.
Yeah. I recommended.
Correct. In fact,
even Dr. Krishna's Das Nair was the first batch, I think, sir? He is
senior to me. 1 year senior to you, first batch.
I heard. But, we were all in the same hostel.
Oh Yeah. Okay. Nair, me.
Santhanam, Natarajan, all were in the same hostel.
You also had other roles, some administrative roles?
You were a head of the department for some period right? So, I was head for 3, one.
Warden I was there. You were a warden.
I... '87 to '90, I think, you are head of the department?
Any of those days, do you remember,
any major changes? Well, I would...
tried to bring. Okay. brought in a lot, lot of money I brought in.
Okay. Because I had a very good stores officer Chari.
We used to get all the papers ready.
In February, there will be a rush
because, there will be lot of money,
no effective programme to spend it.
Okay. So, the director will be asking in the senate, "do you have any plan?"
We will go and give it and
get. What was the level of funding you used to get
for the department? Can you tell me some number? Very low, very low.
3 lakhs per year for 25 faculty members. 3 lakhs per year.
For 25. So, there were about 25 faculty. 3 lakhs. 25, 27...
3 lakhs. So, just to tell you now,
it's about close to 2 crores.
1.6 to 1.7 crores, is what we get per year.
Then. I mean, that includes what we call it as,
you know, recurring, non recurring put together.
So, that's about one point for our department.
So, significant improvement and we are about 31 faculty now.
Okay. We... So, number of faculty did not increased much.
Never. Many of us But, the amount of funding has significantly.
never used to depend on department money,
Yeah. we used to give it off
True, true. to the head to spend it.
True. And, that money you used We used to depend on.
to distribute to all the faculty? Those 3 lakhs? Yeah, each will get
some 15000 or something.
So, their spare parts and all they can buy. Now, each
faculty gets almost close to about 1.5 lakhs.
Oh, that's a decent money. 1.5, that's the department...
in addition, of course, people have their own projects,
many of them. But, the end of the audit year money,
I got close to 2 crores to the department. Okay.
In fact, Professor Srinath told me,
"you are walking in with papers and
going away with money, what's happening?"
We were perfect. I knew the system.
We were perfectly ready with the papers,
quotations, everything; Chari was an excellent stores officer.
Right. We got, put the paper, get the funding,
because, nobody was ready.
What...all good equipment, we got SCM like that.
Yeah, yeah good. Good, good. All good equipment we got.
We got, we got that instronic,
instron machine we got it under that.
I myself bought a computer system for myself,
DOS based, 2 and half lakhs at that time, I bought it.
Any important experiences as a faculty you want to share?
Important experience. It was a good run. During your period?
The students were simply brilliant.
I have taught in Singapore for nearly 8 years,
no comparison. How were the PhD students?
You used to have a lot of PhD students, those days?
Good students. I mean, they were given scholarships and....
I think, all of them are now in US. So, so they...
Chinnathambi is in US.
Madhusudhana is in US.
Venkataraman is working in air force base in Hampton.
All have done very well.
Krishna Kumar is the present head of CAD centre,
he was my PhD scholar.
All have done exceptionally well.
Prasanna Kumar became a professor here,
T. S. Prasanna Kumar. Then later, he went, Yeah, yeah, he retired recently.
he became the head of the department. Institute of Science, he was also my student.
He was also with Tata Steel for sometime, I think,
what are the. Yeah he, He was brilliant, no doubt about that.
I mean, see one German professor told me, is brilliant.
"there are brilliant people all around India;
we have no doubt about it,
but when we take an IIT student,
we are assured of the quality, nothing more."
"See, I get from all backgrounds, Yeah.
but, we have to select. Yeah true.
He is good, though I select."
"There are brilliant people everywhere, True.
but," he said, "when you take an IIT student,
the average is assured to me."
That's all he said,
"the average competence is assured."
What are the major changes do you see over the years?
You left the institute '98,
its close to about 20 years now.
So, when you come to the institute and department
do you see things are changing for good? Yes.
Yes, I feel that the orientation is going from
the conventional industrial metallurgy, that is the thing because,
all the young people want to be in the main flow of research
that is taking place in the world,
they want to be in nanomaterials, tuff ceramics and all that.
In addition, we are doing a lot of work on steel, sir, for example,
just for your information, recently ministry of steel gave
I saw that, I saw that. 35 crores to us,
Centre of Excellence in Steel tTechnology. That's a very good development.
Particularly, as you rightly said, because auto industry is here.
So, this is A very good development.
a very good development.
Very good development, excellent development. Okay.
Ultimately, our country needs very good
old fashioned metallurgists. I go around,
True, true. we don't get many.
Many, all kind of charlatans and fakes are there, right.
We don't have a good seasoned metallurgist, we don't find.
There are few, they are all my own students or friends,
they are all there, not many, less than 5.
Any other memories you want to share with us?
Let me see whether I have any, my memory is not good.
Right and...IT, AI and robotics, 00:51:4,140 --> 00:51:15,720 everywhere they are introducing.
A time was there, when we were going towards computer department.
Now, they are coming to us.
True. This is the change.
And, all the IT, they are looking for application fields,
they are coming towards us. Earlier we used to go
to Muthukrishnan and all, now they are coming to us.
I think, department may like to think of,
say, artificial intelligence, IT, automation robotics
in NDT, all coming in a big way.
I think, you may like to position yourself. Sure
sir, sure sir. So, that our students also feel
True, true. good,
not conventional metallurgy. Sir, just to tell you, sir,
for quite some time, till now, I would say, till the last year,
we have what is called dual degree programme.
For example, if somebody joins in metallurgy, he goes
out with a BTech in metallurgical materials
engineering and MTech in metallurgical materials engineering.
We are starting a number of interdisciplinary MTech programmes. Excellent,
excellent. Okay, where somebody joins in metallurgy, let's say,
goes out with robotics as MTech. Excellent.
It is needed. He has BTech metallurgy, MTech robotics.
So, similarly, automation, data mining, okay,
I mean, big data is one and AI.
So, these are all the areas where we are starting. Correct, true. See, they are coming to us.
Its good time for us to position ourselves. True,
true. See, earlier, I had to go then, FORTRON
/400, I have to give the card, I have to be like standing in queue,
now, all those guys are around us.
"Right, do you have any good project to do?" That's true, sir, that's...sure.
Let us do. That Sure, sure.
puts in some sophistication to our field.
Physically fragmented department, I told you.
I think by next That is the main issue.
June we will be in our place. This is, this has...
otherwise Metallurgy department would have gone much farther.
Surprise...this is, just I put.
Peer group, this is a best thing I had in IIT,
the discussions I had in the bathroom,
in front of the bathroom, in the corridor, with my friends
they were the best discussions.
I had one friend Amitav Pattnaik,
he used to explain to me martensitic transformations,
both used to be in our lungis and towel.
Right, and the way he explained it is
far whatever was taught in the class.
Wonderful. True, true. The peer group is what makes the difference in IIT.
What teaches the IIT student -
Aim high, compete internationally,
give way to superior talent;
somebody superior comes, give way,
don't go stop him,
that's one thing we learn.
There are people who are above us. Correct.
So, when a superior guy comes
give a way and applaud him,
that's what I have learnt in IIT.
Because, we are all good,
and, even among the good, there were some better, right? True, true, true.
So, we have to applaud him. True.
There are no other way. True, true.
Do your job well. True.
So, the next man who comes to my job,
should know, he has to exceed that. Okay.
True, we have to set... Comments I receive when I go to industry,
they have they they always tell,
the undergraduates have a problem to work with others.
I received this comment not less than half a dozen of time,
they have some issue. They are willing to work IT,
but you put as a group and ask them to develop a design,
they don't do well, they have
some air and all that.
There are lot of IIT students who are not very good,
they suffer a lot by comparison,
there were guys who do very well in
California, make millions of dollars.
Let's not forget they are equally good number who have not done well. Okay.
And, many of the students are
off late, they are not interested in metallurgy, some students,
they come here just to get a seal, IIT Madras.
True sir. And, we are wasting a lot of money.
True, sir. This is a poor country
and... I will just share one experience of mine.
I used to teach these first year, we used to have
an introduction to metallurgy and materials engineering.
So, one of my goals in that class was, at the end of the class
to ensure that not many change their branch
and then they start liking metallurgy
to an extent. That they don't feel like changing That's a good.
the branch. So, metallurgy is exciting, sir, really. It's a good thing.
Exciting, but... Only thing is, people always
compare them... I can give you lot of instances
where students have made caustic remarks.
They would not like to do anything to do with
metallurgy in their life,
they will just go to business administration, or computers That's true.
"I am just here to get your certificate," they will tell to me. Correct.
Correct. I will give them a seal,
"you are a great guy, IIT product, you know."
Another thing I find is, you have got all bright students, nerdy students,
it may be good to get a Nobel Prize,
but, if in engineering we must go forward,
we should be like Cambridge.
We should admit some high level politicians
from various countries, their children,
some industrialists' children, because the combination will do very good.
I myself can tell from experience.
Supposing, imagine, a very big industrialists' son
is a friend of one very bright student,
they get together for 4 years;
the combination, just like Cambridge, Cambridge does it beautifully.
There are certain admissions they do
for people who are technically or scientifically or politically...
because, only study...he is a nerd.
You put all together, they go out and to life,
he can get a Nobel prize.
But, engineering needs some wealth. Correct.
It's wealth creation is engineering.
So, IIT should think...it is, there is nothing wrong
f a big industrialists' son is admitted
so, that he is put in touch with good bright student,
they become friends and that can be
an explosive growth for India...because this guy has the brain,
this fellow has the influence and money.
We should try to...Cambridge does it.
Cambridge does it, right?
How our all big politicians children go to Cambridge. We have to check.
Combination is good. Yeah. Whereas, here, everything is through JEE.
Through merit, merit, merit. That fellow may not.
Good. You can get a Nobel Prize, That's where the problem.
But engineering is not about that. That
businessman's son may not come to JEE. Finally, we have to create wealth in the society, right?
I understand. This, I am very clear
about it, because personally, I was benefited It's a good idea sir yeah.
by some of my friends who are well up in industry
Later, they used to call me, "why don't you solve the problem?"
It puts you in a very good position,
because, he appreciates you, you are with him as a student,
he has got a very high opinion about you,
he says, "come and do my job."
IIT Madras, very good peer group, I have told you;
staff and students are very fortunate,
unless you go out you will not realize it;
and can we do a cricket in research? This is my question.
If I look at our bright cricketer jumping around,
can we do a similar thing in research?
What...look at Kohli,
Jadeja flying. In my days,
the cricketer cannot even bend to pick up the ball,
they used to be fat, right? I don't want to name.
Pakistan versus India, 1965 I went and saw,
the opening batsman could not bend to pick up the ball.
Now, you can...look at, look at the way they are flying. Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Can we do a similar cricket in research?
I think, reasonably things are happening well, sir.
Well. But the, you know... We are well known...
uniform comment I receive when I go abroad,
from Japanese and all that,
"we are not able to use your data fully,
we are not, it is unreliable data,"
the one comment they make very often.
I say, "we are producing so much of data, why you are not...?"
The comment Japanese professors make very sharply
to me, "we like your ideas,
but we are not able to use your data."
But, we have to take it seriously. Seriously, sir.
So, we have to assure data integrity
when we do it.
There is no question of saying I am good, he is bad, no.
We have to assure it, because, there is a general feeling
and we are spending a lot of manpower, energy.
And, all our equipment have to be third party inspected,
I am very very clear of that. True, true, true.
They have...we have to bring in thing, check our
machines for their calibration,
sensitivity. No, we shouldn't do that,
we should bring...so, for example, Instron
it should be calibrated by outside parties Yeah.
and then, like NASA, where I worked
for 2 years as a contractor.
Then, that data becomes valid
and, lot of value is attached to the data...
two minor things.
Professor Nigam once told me, when I was here,
he was also my maths teacher, he said
"your job is at the table,
don't go around the conferences and jump"
he said; very good advice, at a very young age,
and I was only hardly 24, 25.
Just we were walking,
then I said, "I joined sir," he said, "very good,
remember one thing, your job is at the table,
don't go about attending conference and getting award,
that is not your job," he said,
struck me very well, right.
But, one thing you should appreciate,
I received good advice and tried to follow.
Alumni, I was thing...we did a few things in alumni.
Present, I am now a consultant to few...
I make multimedia educational DVDs. Yeah.
This, you're very famous with. Yes,
I also introduced level 1, level 2, level 3 for NDT - it's a great success.
All animated, all phase diagrams,
I have animated, they are selling very well.
Many DVDs I sell. I also make an equipment
called acoustic analyzer for testing components.
This also sells well and that's about it.
Just sorry, I... Mamata, you want to ask some things?
You didn't mentioned anything about the
Indo-German project with Padmanabhan,
what was it about?
The project was essentially to modernize the laboratory,
and he had one Instron machine.
And, essentially, to upgrade, but they call it as
upgrade the metal forming laboratory facilities.
So, it was not...
then, later, they took up one specific project,
initially, it was upgrading, the upgradation of the laboratory.
Sir, not for, I am sorry, metal testing or anything like that?
It was a metal testing. crepe and all that, the what is it?
Not crepe, metal forming.
I see, mainly metal forming? Metal forming.
Fine, sir, fine. Metal forming they did superplastic materials
and all that, that is his specialty,
super plastic material, they were doing all that.
Professor O. P. There are some photographs of your time,
Yes. we wanted you to just recognize them,
and maybe, you make a few comments about them. Yeah.
That is metal forming unit for extrusion.
another one. And, this is second one,
is in the metal forming lab.
This was set up by Professor P. Venugopal.
Yeah. Famous. And, he is a very well known
expert in metal forming.
Can you recognize the man who is doing the testing sir?
Not much. Not much. Not much. By any chance, no? Okay, okay.
But, the units are all Professor Wagener,
not the vibrations' Wagener, there
was another Wagener. Okay.
He was also a very...he developed the laboratory very sincerely.
Professor Venugopal was closely associated with him. Okay.
They set up all these facility. He is fashion about...
really. Yeah, extrusion and all that facility.
And, this is a unit that is Till there
This is still there. yeah, this also metal forming.
And, these are all old type...
nowadays, people have changed the electronics everything, considerably.
And, this is again, German equipment
for high temperature testing and so on.
Metal forming, deep drawing and so on...
they have so many areas.
And, these two, this is a contact pyrometer
developed by Professor H. Mohammed Roshan.
He was my very esteemed colleague. He...
He is coming next month, here. Yeah,
he comes every year. We both decided on fine morning that we will leave IIT.
He went to US and I went to Singapore.
Yeah, okay. Right and hard worker,
Yeah he is also a... beyond imagination.
see. And, this is again, forging facility.
See, that cup and all they do.
This is also, I think, some Metal farming facility. Yeah.
So, foundry someone doing there. Pyrometer This is again, the yeah, this is again, the pyrometer.
this is rather the same. Go to. Pyrometer.
Sir, right side.
No, not that, this is done. No, not that, not that,
below, below, here, yeah.
No, no, third one. Someone pouring that's...
Professor Roshan developed a unique process
called fluid sand process,
where the sand doesn't need ramming and so on.
Okay. And he did it, oh god.
and, he did this thing, he patented it.
And, they, I think, they made,
I mean, they sold it to foundry also.
Good. They are all similar.
They are all similar. Similar equipment, go down. They are all similar equipment.
Maybe, that one. So, this is possibly, This
is in the Mechanical Metallurgy department, shank Okay.
Okay. These are, you know, we do fatigue testing,
in a unidirectional... Okay.
These are all machines for bidirectional fatigue testing.
You can test the, an industrial component.
Okay. They had one smaller shank and bigger shank.
For a long time, we had difficulty in putting it into operation,
but finally, Germans as usual,
took it upon themselves and set it right
and made it functional. Very good.
This is an ordinary tensiometer. Yeah, tensiometer.
Tensile testing of a small sample.
Come down, there is a microscope.
This is the Zeiss microscope. Old. Zeiss
microscope. In fact, my old friend, he asked me
if this microscope is for sale, he will take it
as a museum piece for his factory. Yeah.
We all used to use it, it had projection facilities,
but later, I am told, it was refurbished
and it is working well. And now, we have very good ones.
Some meeting there?
That, I don't know.
That is E. G. Ramachandran.
See, how was young he is. The one is, in the centre, sir?
Centre, I do not know.
This is Srinivas Raghavan. That is Vasudevan, all young,
Very young. unbelievably young.
I would like to have this photo.
Okay. E. G. would love to have it.
Okay. Of course, too late in life.
This is again, this is an induction melting unit. Okay.
We had it, we used to melt a lot.
Professor Srikanta Kumarswami used to be in charge.
All kinds of alloys he used to,
he was specially brought in
for his practical knowledge for melting. Correct.
Melting, melting. Yeah. Even though, he is theoretically, he was, he had not studied.
People talk a lot about. E. G. R. specially brought him,
Steel making. Melting. so that melting can be done
for various researches.
He was working in Bhadravathi steel plant earlier.
Yeah. So, Chemistry lab. And, this is our Chemical Testing Laboratory.
We used to have a call, we used to
have a lab called Metallurgical Analysis Lab.
Maybe ore dressing. And, this is a regular microscope, Microscope.
they are counting.
That is Professor E. G. Ramachandran.
That is, I think, a politician.
Narasimharaya? No, no, no.
R. Natarajan you can see there, who passed away recently.
Convocation day. These are all various samples,
metal forming samples.
You can go to that one, this is... This is the convocation.
Who is the chief guest?
Chief guest, can you guess?
Sampath, Koch is there, Varghese, Sethunathan.
Professor Ramasastry. Yeah, if you tell me the chief guest,
I can tell you. Mr. Koch also is there in the...
Koch is there. You mentioned about Scheer.
Yeah, Scheer. Believe me, the whole Ebert, all those people seem to be there, sir.
campus was flooded with Germans.
yeah yeah yeah. We were fortunate.
N. V. C. Swamy is there, Professor Sastry is there.
As I said, Professor Sampath is there. Professor Sampath is there.
Really giants, I mean.
Incidentally, Professor Sampath's brother
was my guide, Professor Ranganathan.
Yes. I know very well, I know very well, I too know him quite well.
And, you mentioned about Professor C. V. Raman
teaching Professor E. G. R.
So, that way, you know, Professor E. G. R.
taught Professor Anantharaman,
Anantharaman taught Professor Ranganathan,
and he taught me.
And professor. Professor So, I am like a 5th generation connected.
Anantharaman also, I know very well.
Yeah, can you just go back,
he wanted to see one of them.
Sir, this one, yeah which is not so much here, no over.
The last one. Roshan, Roshan had some
Equipment. equipments
That was. This one. This is actually something which I share.
Okay, okay. We both took a patent on that.
Excellent. Okay.
Professor E. G. Ramachandran, Roshan and myself. Excellent.
This is actually some instrument I was using.
Ok. I wanted to use it further,
then, Professor Ramachandran said, "why not we patent it?
Collaborate and patent this. So, that is one of our
patents. We have a process called shell moulding.
And, the shell temperature has to be kept at
260 to 280 degree centigrade.
Okay. Otherwise, the moulds will be charred,
otherwise, it will be under baked.
For that, they, that time, we didn't have
IR cameras and all that.
So, this is contact eye. So, we used to use contact eye.
Roshan took a number of patents
and he was industrially very active.
Right. Yeah, This is the genesis of...
because general... Thank you, Professor
Professor Prabhakar. Wonderful. Thank you, thank you.
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