A Journey Down the Memory Lane

Visiting one's alma mater is always very nostalgic. It is like a journey down the memory lane. During the last week of February 2024, I got the opportunity to visit my Alma mater BITS Pilani after so many years. Campus is much more beautiful and vibrant than it was during our days in early eighties. Road from Delhi to Pilani is also very good and quite scenic all along. It was very nostalgic as I spent 5 years in this campus during 1980-85. Now campus has many new structures like new library, student activity center, lecture hall complex, guest house, innovation center and a beautiful academic building underground in front of our good old Audi where we used to play BITS style cricket. It has many large lecture halls with all latest presentation facilities. All new additions merge perfectly with the old structures. Thanks to Shamsher Bahadur Singh for inviting me to BITS to deliver a keynote lecture during an international conference organized by Civil engineering Department of BITS Pilani. I got the opportunity to interact with all civil engineering faculty members and many students and research scholars. I also recorded one episode of my Podcast Samवाद with a third-year Civil engineering student Amrit Bahl. It is available here.

During my stay at campus, I visited hostels looking for my room at Budh, Ram & Bhagirath Bhawan. Budh Bhawan has been converted to Girls Hostel for the time being so could not enter there. Hostels have changed a bit. All open corridors have steel fence for safety but merge well with the architecture of the hostel buildings. Toilets now have solar geysers. In our time we used to depend on immersion rods for warming water for bath although it was not permitted. Of course, all rooms have internet connection. Sad part is now students have to share rooms as single seated option is not available to them which we enjoyed from first year itself. Birla Balika Vidyapeeth (Girls School near Budh Bhawan) is still there, and one can see their band during republic parade at Rajpath. Hostel mess have modern equipment and system of self-service. Dining chairs have replaced wooden benches of our time. Seems the food menu is generally same as we got चने की दाल and Paratha on Saturday lunch.

रेडीस् are mostly gone but now you have kiosks near Mess where you can get tea, Samosa and other usual stuff of those days रेडीस्. Look these Kiosks have been allotted to those रेडी people. I visited one such kiosks at RBM mess and enjoyed tea and Samosas as my wife insisted for that. I had a very good chat with Mahender

( रेडी वाला ). On learning that I used to stay in Budh & Ram Bhawan, he refused to take money. He was very happy when I took a photograph with him. The emotional connect at BITS Pilani is unparallel. People at VFAST (new guest house near old gym) took particular care of us knowing that I am a Bitsian. It is a good place to stay within campus with reasonably good amenities. Connaught was buzzing with lot of activities however it looked a little old and crowded.

Saraswati Temple was as magnificent as it used to be. Statues at all road crossings in the campus are still standing tall. There is a newly built student activity center behind Budh Bhawan which remains alive with students’ activities till late at night. Newly built library adjoining old C block has very different but pleasing architecture with very well naturally lit spaces. It is a perfect quite place to dive deep in to learning zone. I took round of all academic blocks previously called S-Block, M-Block & C-Block. I had a cup of tea over informal discission with HOD Civil Department Dr. Anupam Singhal. I was happy to see that department has grown many folds since our time. Old Workshop building is lying vacant now as new modern workshop has been built behind M-block on way to CEERI. New Rakesh Kapoor Innovation center has been built and is in operation since quite some time. It is a quite impressive building to promote innovation. Skylab on museum lawns still look as beautiful as it used to be earlier.  I took round of the whole campus on my car with the memory that I used to walk on these vary roads around 40 years back.

Students still make timetable themselves as we used to do but now it is totally through online mode rather than manual one. They still get priority numbers at the beginning of each semester. Most of the academic system & procedures are more or less same. Many new programs have been started, some closed and some modified. There is no MMS program, Economics department is now called Economics & Finance. Outside Nutan market, Bus Stand etc. are still same and recognizable even after 40 years. OASIS a very popular cultural festival of BITS is still very popular and gets participation from all major colleges & universities. APOGEE which was started in our time has grown a lot with many new & innovative academic & technical activities. I was very fortunate to interact with students who provided me all the valuable information to satisfy my curiosity.

I was very pleased to visit BITS and see that how beautifully it has grown over time. Roads to reach Pilani are much better now, and I was told that New Railway line is being planned from Loharu to Pilani.

Looking forward to many such occasions at BITS Pilani.

[MANOJ MITTAL June 3, 2024, USA]