Since my childhood telecommunication technologies have fascinated me. I always wanted to be an engineer, specifically a Telecommunications engineer.My parents wanted me to be a doctor, and I did my best to ensure that I score passing marks in biology in 12th, after which, I was allocated a seat in Civil engineering and was quite depressed till I got a seat into E&C. After B.E, I came to IITM to do my M.Tech in Digitial Communications. After M.Tech , I worked with many compa

“Passion is the genesis of genius”. This beautiful and motivational line seemed very true as soon as we started our talk with Dr. Ramani Ramakrishnan, a man of immense talent and experience in his field of expertise. A member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario (1984), he is an amazing person to talk to. Very humble and self-effacing, he finished his pre university from Loyola College and B. Tech in Civil Engineering from IIT Madras in 1970. He is currently a full profes

Prof R Nagarajan (1981/ B.Tech/ Chemical) is currently a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Dean, International and Alumni Relations. Below is an excerpt of his interaction with the Chennai36 team. Sir, what is you first memory of the institute? My initial memory was the counselling session that lasted 10 seconds. They simply asked me whether I would prefer to study at Madras. I nodded. I had no clue which branch I wanted and picking out Chemical Enginee

Umesh Malhotra (BTech, MM/1990) is the founder of Hippocampus which is a network of libraries and schools that is attempting to change the face of rural education in India. He is an entrepreneur, a philanthropist and a Godavite at heart. Read on to know more about his vision behind Hippocampus, on occupying the all-powerful post of Quark Manager and the eternal feud between Saras and Godav. Q.1 After 4 years in IIT, you took up a managerial position at Infosys. How did this d

Dr Arumugam Manthiram is one of the Distinguished Alumnus Awardees of the year 2015. He earned his PhD in Chemistry from IIT Madras in 1981, and currently directs one of the largest and most productive research groups at the University of Texas at Austin. We ask about Dr Arumugam’s path from Madurai to Austin. How did it happen? Dr Arumugam explains that his path was not a straight line, and that he had no idea what his future would hold. He tells us that he didn’t plan or wo

“The best period of my life, in a sense” , says Prof Suraishkumar GK (name changed from Suresh to Suraish, credits going to mailing issues in IIT Bombay) while taking a bite of his Chilli Cheese Sandwich (which didn’t turn out to be as expected, CCD’s absence clearly felt) when asked about his stay in IIT Madras. GK( that was how people referred to him in insti, sadly no interesting funda, just initials) a man of great simplicity and clear thoughts is an Alumnus of IIT Madras

The Classical Music club  has been one of earliest and longest standing club at IIT Madras. One of the pillars and a mainstay in this club that has churned out some great musicians and attracts the top performers, is Professor T.T. Narendran. In a candid interview with the Professor who’ll never turn down an opportunity to interact with a student, Prasanna Venkatesh, an editor of Chennai36, attempts to trace the history of the illustrious club. How active was the classical mu