The Mind of an Engineer Purnendu Ghosh • Baldev Raj Editors The Mind of an Engineer 123 Editors Purnendu Ghosh Baldev Raj Birla Institute of Scientific Research National Institute of Advanced Studies Jaipur, Rajasthan Bangalore, Karnataka India India ISBN 978-981-10-0118-5 ISBN 978-981-10-0119-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0119-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015955356 Springer Singapore Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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Printed on acid-free paper Springer Science+Business Media Singapore Pte Ltd. is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Preface The Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) advocates, encourages and practices excellence in all endeavours in engineering, technology and related sci- ences to meet the challenges and find solution to the problems of national impor- tance. INAE provides an active and interactive eminent forum to augment and expedite developmental activities in India, especially those related to engineering and technology. Its activities include formulation of technology policies, promotion of quality engineering education and R&D. The INAE represents India at the International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences (CAETS), and currently the INAE leads the Council. The initiative, the first of its kind, taken by the INAE to publish this book—The Mind of an Engineer—is an attempt to reflect the personal experiences of some of its Fellows in the fields of science, technology and engineering. The book deals with the reminiscences, eureka moments, inspirations, challenges and opportunities in the journey of the professionals towards achievements and self-realisation. The book contains 58 chapters on diverse subjects that depict the beauty and diversity of the mind. It truly reflects the way the mind of an engineer works. Engineers have meaningful and constructive minds. The meaning of the mind is understood in the context of the basic needs, orientations, experiences, emotions and consciousness of an individual. Meaning is interactive, selective and value-driven. It is said that meaning is like a large map or Web, gradually filled in by the cooperative work of countless generations. The world is changing, and to keep pace with the new world, new creative minds are evolving. Some new realities are arising. Some old issues shall remain and some old ones will be forgotten. Truly as the Millennium Project of the UN says “Some future issues are further in the future than others”. One of the future issues of engineering relates to how technology would influence a growing mind, and what would be the consequential ethical obligations of engineers to the society. We thank Dr. B.N. Suresh, President of the INAE, the Editorial Board of the INAE, and our Fellow colleagues of the INAE for their valuable contributions in publishing this compendium. Their expertise, views and perspectives, we hope, will v vi Preface be meaningful for the engineers, particularly the young professionals. This book would not have been possible without the generous support of the officials of INAE, ably led by the Executive Director Brig. Rajan Minocha and the former Executive Director, Brig. S.C. Marwaha. We thank all of them most sincerely. We gratefully acknowledge the editorial help and support of Dr. Subimal Sinha Roy, Mr. Aninda Bose, Ms. Kamiya Khatter, and Mr. P.K. Manoharan. Seeing the response of our colleagues, we hope to develop a sequel of the book. We keenly look forward to receiving your impressions and response to enrich the future volumes of The Mind of an Engineer. Purnendu Ghosh Baldev Raj Contents The Mind of an Engineer .................................. 1 Purnendu Ghosh Directed and Systematic Approaches Towards Sustainability in the Twenty-first Century ................................. 11 Baldev Raj Treating Challenges as Opportunities.......................... 19 B.N. Suresh Mind to Chemical Markets: Engineering and Managing the Complex Journey ..................................... 29 K.V. Raghavan The Search for Meaningful Purpose: Reminiscences of an Indian Engineer ..................................... 37 Sanak Mishra An Engineer or a Scientist—A Perpetual Dilemma ................ 43 Indranil Manna Is an Engineer’s Mind Different?............................. 53 P.S. Goel Technology and the Global Community ........................ 57 N.R. Narayana Murthy The Anatomy of Change ................................... 63 Tarun K. Ghose India’s Tryst with Destiny Establishment of the Highest Level of Engineering and Technology .............................. 71 Mahesh C. Chaturvedi Glimpses from a Lifetime in Teaching and Research .............. 79 S.C. Dutta Roy vii viii Contents My Four Decades in BARC................................. 95 A.K. Anand Think to Do Something .................................... 101 Anil Kumar Sinha The Milestones of My Professional Life ........................ 107 Arun Kumar De Reminiscing My Days at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Trivandrum...................................... 111 Dhruba Basu Chasing a Dream ........................................ 123 Dipak Mazumdar My Eureka Moment ...................................... 129 N.S. Mohan Ram My Reminiscences........................................ 135 Ahindra Ghosh From ‘Nowhere to Somewhere’ .............................. 143 D.N. Singh My Life in an Encouraging Educational and Professional Environment............................................ 149 Ganti Prasada Rao The Journey from a Village as a Farmer’s Son to Fashion World as a Scientist in Leather ................................... 161 J. Raghava Rao Forty Years of Academics and Administration: Experiences and Lessons ............................................ 167 K.G. Ranga Raju Creativity—A Personal Challenge ............................ 171 M.L. Munjal Life—A Journey of Learning................................ 175 N. Raghavan Some Views and Experience on the Mind of an Engineer ........... 185 C.G. Krishnadas Nair A Tribute to Some of My “Teachers” Who Mattered the Most ....... 195 Nikhil R. Pal A Journey of Self-realization ................................ 201 Rajaram Bojji Contents ix A Sketch of My Life ...................................... 211 Rabindranath Ghosh A Humble Journey ....................................... 225 Soumitro Banerjee My Experiences ......................................... 231 S. Kalyanaraman My Experiences in Creating Indigenous Technology Enterprise in India ............................................... 237 P.S. Deodhar My Journey as a Materials Engineer .......................... 245 Samir V. Kamat My Experiences at IIT Kanpur .............................. 251 Sanjay Mittal Journey I Enjoyed Amidst Challenges ......................... 257 S.C. Chetal Reminisces from the Past .................................. 261 Sushmita Mitra Engineering Challenges—A Personal Account ................... 267 Vasant Manohar From Academia, with Love ................................. 273 Ashutosh Sharma The House of Education ................................... 279 M.S. Ananth Need of Promotion of Innovation in Indian Engineering Institutes..... 287 V.G. Gaikar From Physics to Engineering Physics .......................... 297 K.L. Chopra Physicist or Metallurgist ................................... 309 R. Krishnan Commercialization of Indigenously Developed Technologies ......... 317 M.O. Garg Hydrodynamic Cavitation Technology: Industrial Applications ....... 329 A.B. Pandit R&D—Another Oxymoron? ................................ 341 Raja Manuri Venkata Gopala Krishna Rao x Contents Ten Levers of Smart Engineering ............................ 355 Aloknath De Life with Experiments ..................................... 359 K. Muralidhar Playing with Fuzziness and Ambiguity in Patterns—Challenges and Achievements ........................................ 363 Sankar Kumar Pal A View of India Through Kolam Patterns and Their Grammatical Representation .......................................... 375 Kamala Krithivasan A Logical Perspective of Formal Verification: A Narrative on the Genesis and Evolution of the Formal Verification Group at IIT Kharagpur................................... 385 Pallab Dasgupta Engineering and Innovation in Manufacturing and Production of Akash Missile System ................................... 391 Prahlada The First Steps Toward Self-reliance