IIT-BHU (MET) REUNION-90: A BRIEF NOTE

The double sapphire jubilee of the Department of Metallurgical Engineering of Indian Institute of Technology

(formerly Institute of Technology), Banaras Hindu University, held on the 15th

and 16th

November, 2013 was a

magnificent function and etched many memorable moments in the minds of each and every participant – the

students, alumni, faculty and the well wishers of the department.

The event was conducted in two parts.

In the first part of 90-minute informal session, all the 60 participating

alumni of the department have introduced themselves and briefly

mentioned about their achievements and also, the years they spent

in the university. The speakers spoke in the order of seniority,

senior-most being Professors GS Upadhyay and V Ramaswamy

(Distinguished Alumni of 1960 batch), who started the REUNION-90

proceedings with their memorable chair-person speeches. Professor

GVS Sastry, Head, BHU(MET) had presided over the function and

Professor TR Mankhand, Principal Coordinator of REUNION-90,

conducted the proceedings. Professor Upadhyay felt it would have

been wonderful had all the present students of the department also were present on the occasion. Professor

Ramaswamy in his emotional closing speech talked about the unprecedented high quality of teaching of the

BHU(MET) faculty, nature of memorable interactions of some of the finest batches of Indian metallurgical

engineering students (who according to him have gone on to hone many national responsibilities) with the

revered professors of the department and most importantly, the contributions of BHU(MET) department to the

Indian Metallurgical Research under the magnificent direction of Professor TR Anantharaman. The informal meet

ended on a classical note with each of the participating alumni were awarded with a medallion (having the

prestigious BHU (MET) emblem on one side and the Honourable Pandit Mahamana Madan Mohan Malavya’s

sketch on the other side) and a memento. Most heartening feature of this part of the reunion had been the whole

hearted participation of the alumni; most of them were accompanied by their spouses and a few of them with

their family members.

In the second part of 120-minute formal session, 9 out of the 15 selected outstanding students of BHU(MET) of

1971-1992 were present:

Dr. G.K. Dey, BARC (1979), Dr. K. Narasimhan, IIT-B. (1982),

Mr. Debashish De, GM-Sukhoi, HAL (1983), Dr. K. Muraleedharan, DRDO (1983),

Dr. Rajesh Prasad, IIT-D (1984), Dr. N Eswara Prasad, CEMILAC, DRDO (1985),

Dr. Ravi Shankar, IISc. (1991), Mr. Bhavook Tripathi, CEO, SanSu (1992),

Dr. A.K. Singh, DMRL, DRDO (1991);

[Those 6 who could not be present on the occasion were Dr. Anil Sachdeva, GM, USA (1971), Dr. RDK Misra, UL,

USA ( 1980), Dr. Sanjay Chandra, Tata Steel, (1983), Dr. Pradeep Haldar, NY, USA (1984), Dr. F.H. Samuel, UQ,

Canada (1980) and Dr. Jogender Singh, ARL, Penn. State, USA (1980)].

All these 9 were felicitated with the DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARD

Sangal, Director, IIT-BHU. Brief biodata and major contributions made by these distinguished alumni f

advancement of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering in India and abroad were presented by Professors SN Ojha

and TR Mankhand. All the 9 distinguished alumni spoke emotionally and Professor Srikant Lele summed up their

feelings as: “All the distinguished alumni spoke the same, expressing profound gratitude for the love, affection

and knowledge and skills of metallurgical engineering, magnanimously imparted by their beloved teachers; but

spoken in different words”. Dr. Rajesh Prasad spoke in beautiful Hindi, most alumni received the plaque with

their spouses, Dr. Ravi and Mr. Bhavook with their family members. The alumni dedicated this most memorable

award to their parents and BHU(MET) teachers.

All these 9 were felicitated with the DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARD (DAA) and a PLAQUE by Professor Rajeev

BHU. Brief biodata and major contributions made by these distinguished alumni f

advancement of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering in India and abroad were presented by Professors SN Ojha

and TR Mankhand. All the 9 distinguished alumni spoke emotionally and Professor Srikant Lele summed up their

shed alumni spoke the same, expressing profound gratitude for the love, affection

and knowledge and skills of metallurgical engineering, magnanimously imparted by their beloved teachers; but

. Dr. Rajesh Prasad spoke in beautiful Hindi, most alumni received the plaque with

their spouses, Dr. Ravi and Mr. Bhavook with their family members. The alumni dedicated this most memorable

award to their parents and BHU(MET) teachers.

and a PLAQUE by Professor Rajeev

BHU. Brief biodata and major contributions made by these distinguished alumni for the

advancement of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering in India and abroad were presented by Professors SN Ojha

and TR Mankhand. All the 9 distinguished alumni spoke emotionally and Professor Srikant Lele summed up their

shed alumni spoke the same, expressing profound gratitude for the love, affection

and knowledge and skills of metallurgical engineering, magnanimously imparted by their beloved teachers; but

. Dr. Rajesh Prasad spoke in beautiful Hindi, most alumni received the plaque with

their spouses, Dr. Ravi and Mr. Bhavook with their family members. The alumni dedicated this most memorable

The above main event was preceded by reading out a message from Professor S Ranganathan and an appeal by

Dr. P Rama Rao for donations to TR Anantharaman Education and Research Foundation (TRAERF) to advance the

foundation activities, particularly the TRAERF-Sir Dorabji Tata Trust Faculty Fellowship Programme. Both the

message and the appeal were heard spellbound and also they were

very well received. Professor Rama Rao and Professor Ranganathan,

on behalf of TR Anantharaman Education and Research Foundation

(TRA-ERF) and its trustees, have also heartily congratulated all the 15

Distinguished Alumnus Award winners and wished them for further

success in their academic and professional careers. A book on

“Metal Science: Past, Present and Future”, authored by Professor GS

Upadhyay for Trans-Tech Publications, USA, was also released on the

occasion.

In his presidential address of the REUNION-90, Professor Sangal

highly appreciated the important contributions made by the

previous 130 and the present 15 distinguished alumni of

BHU(MET) and urged all of them to serve the nation with more

fervor and dedication. All he wanted from them for the IIT was

their support in the form of love, affection and more importantly

“DONATION OF THEIR VALUABLE TIME” for the benefit of the

present and future generations of students of the institute. Several

informal discussions and reminisces of the participating alumni became integral and memorable part of the night

and the dinner that followed.

Many of the alumni had also participated whole heartedly in the follow-up programme on 16th

by visiting the

BHU(MET) department and enthused the metallurgy students with their past experiences, advices on the present

opportunities and promising them to stay in touch in the future.

I, along with most of my fellow alumni and alma mater, had one of the best weeks of my life during the

NMD/ATM-2013 of IIM and REUNION-90 of IIT-BHU(MET) at Varanasi – each day etching memorable moments

we had at BHU in our minds by visiting all the buildings, laboratories, and lecture halls - where we had best part of

teaching; a number of play grounds - where the university conducted several national sports/games events which

we witnessed and participated; finance sections - where we paid our first fees; my first bank - where I received

my scholarship; enjoying the Banarasi pan, lassi, lavanglata and heer kadam, and finally, the 2 hour walk in the IIT-

BHU premises on the November 13th

afternoon with my fellow classmates, Professor PM Ajayan of Rice

University, USA and Professor Ujjwal Prakash of IIT-Roorke.

N Eswara Prasad (IIT-BHU (MET); B.Tech.: 1980-1985; Ph.D.: 1989-1993)

Presently, Scientist G and Regional Director, RCMA (Materials), CEMILAC, DRDO, HYDERABAD.