from the team acknowledgements hat does it mean to be an NITKian? As our time here comes to a close, our senses are awash reating this magazine has been a Herculean task and it wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the efforts of the with heady nostalgia. Through this most curious of lenses, we see the all nighters and the days of slumber. We see the walks on the beach when sometimes dejection and sometimes euphoria was following students. You have been instrumental in binding the memories from the past year at NITK for all poured into the sea. These experiences are common to many, yet the meaning each of us derive of us, working through the day and night to help the Shoreline Team pull everything together. We, as well Cas the readers, are indebted to you for your work – for helping us edit, design, write and do everything in between. Wfrom them is unique. It is this uniqueness that we have sought to capture in this edition of Shoreline. When we sat down early in January to conceptualize what we thought Shoreline should be, we wanted it to be everything Shoreline wouldn’t be what it is without what you have contributed to it. Thank you! NITK was to everyone. NITK is home - a home we grew up in but will perhaps never grow out of. It is an im- mersion in human experiences that will forever leave us enriched and grateful. Editing We intend for Shoreline to be a depiction of the departments, clubs, teams and associations that exist here Abhilash Sanap, Almas Parveen, Ananya Sharda, Deepak Panchapakesan, Kishor Bhat, Krishna Kinnal, amalgamated into a single work of art. Each member on the team worked laboriously to sculpt this issue into Mathew Thomas, Mrinmayee Joshi, Narendra Shivaraman, Pratyush Kumar Giri, Sahana Roy, Salman Shah, everything that we would want to remember, even years after graduating. We hope that each of our readers feel Saurabh Yadav, Siddharth Dhananjay, Siddhartha Shandilya, Sonali Shetty, Yashaswini Karanth a personal connection to this tangible collection of reminiscences and enjoy it as much as we have. Departments This magazine would be incomplete without acknowledging the people who came together to aid in its creation. Ajay Krishnan, Chaitali Kulkarni, Chandana G., Mrinal Shivam, Parvathi M. H., Prakruthi Kashyap, Ramiz Hus- We thank the Director Professor Srinivasan Sundarrajan, for all the support he extended. Shoreline owes its ex- sain, Rishab Ketan Doshi, Samar Kenkre, Santosh Kodali, Shantanu Sampath, Shivani Parikh, Shreya Shetty istence to the Dean of Students’ Welfare, Professor Udayakumar Yaragatti, Dr. Hemprasad Nath and Dr. Manoj Shetty (SAS Officers), Mr. Kamlabh Singh (Assistant Registrar, Academic) and to Ms. Merlyn from the DSW of- Humans of NITK fice; for their immense support and guidance. We are thankful to Mudrikaa printers for materializing this maga- Haritha Naidu, Piyush Bansal, Rohan Prabhu, Stuti Kumar zine and to Sanil Studios (Surathkal) for their cooperation while chaos ensued during the group photo sessions. Incident/Engineer We hope that the two hundred odd pages you find ahead of you leave you feeling both nostalgic and exhilarated Krishna Harshith Dhulipati, Sirisha Reddy, Vinit Mandowara about the year that has passed. Our only wish is that the many hours we’ve spent over the last few months have coalesced into a magazine that truly depicts the times and tides of NITK. Photoshoot Aditya Kamath, Amit Patel, Anish Kulhar, Kevin Konnikara, Laxminarayan, Mayank Sitapara, Poojan Shah, Shishir Sheshadri, Tejas Rafaliya Chief Editor Prof. Udayakumar R. Y. Miscellaneous Anirudh Ganesh, Mayank Kedia, Ramesh, Vijay Chandra, Vinith Editorial Team Aditi Chalisgaonkar, Aparna Velampudi, Apoorv Oulkar, Bhargav Kale, Elisha George, Dakshesh Thacker, Divyasanu Pandey, Karan Narayan, Manish Kumar, Pranav M., Vaishnavi B. M., Vijaykrishna Naganoor, Vivek Krishnan, Vivek Sharma Design Team Arjun Sohanlal, Chintan Dhandha, Rohit M. A. From the From the Director’s Desk Dean’s Desk think Shoreline is a very thoughtful initiative; it not only brings out the creativity of the student body but is also a great t pleases me immensely to present the third edition of Shoreline. This college magazine is a compilation of the proud tool for improving the NITK brand. As a director of an NIT, my greatest pleasure is being with students who are techni- achievements and creative flair of NITKians. It is a reflection of the effort put in by the students, faculty and alumni in cally, socially and creatively talented. The campus is always vibrant due to the concoction of multi-cultural groups who a spectrum of fields. It has been my personal privilege and joy to mentor the Shoreline team. I feel particular pride at Icreate a delightful atmosphere to grow and live in. NITK exemplifies this with its beautiful campus located on the coast of Ihaving witnessed the college magazine transform as it was, in turn, the Karnatakian, the Vitruvian, and now, the Shoreline. the Arabian Sea. I see the potential in the students here to excel in many areas, especially with regard to innovation and Of particular satisfaction to me is the evolution of the content of the magazine, for which I afforded the student team a free entrepreneurship. hand. I can say that it is even more representational of the diverse population which makes NITK such a vibrant environ- As some parting advice, I’d like to say that NITK is a very academically sound institute. With no doubt, all of you will go ment for learning and interaction. This past year the institute has grown leaps and bounds in a wide array of fields, with a through your programme and get your degrees. But your life will depend upon your ability to communicate and work in particular focus on entrepreneurship, mirroring the call of our Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi. The institute a team. Innovation and entrepreneurship will be vital to achieve your goals because the future is about interdisciplinary has also taken the ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign to heart with numerous cleanliness drives I would like to applaud the Shoreline collaboration. While you may have a strong foundation in your core area, it will be imperative to understand and appreciate team for putting together a magazine that will appeal to one and all in myriad respects, and hope that the bar continues to other disciplines. Technical, cultural and sports activities are a stepping stone to your future. I hope that all of you take full be set higher every year. advantage of the opportunities that this campus offers and I wish you all the best in your life, professionally and personally. About the Director I’ve been at NIT Tiruchirappalli for the past five years. Before this, I worked for the Indian Missile Programme for over three decades. I started my career as an R&D scientist, dealing with the design and development of components and systems and soon moved to technology and product development. Based on the experience I gained, I set up a number of production centres all over the country. I then moved on to the project and programme management of critical missile projects like Prithvi, Agni and Akash. Subsequently, I headed a programme on the Indo-Russian joint venture project Brahmos. Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam was my mentor throughout my career. On his advice, I moved to NITT on a mission to transform higher education, especially with respect to the areas of academics, R&D, industry interactions, student and faculty development and alumni connections. I have followed disruption techniques to change the system and have been successful in doing so. I have derived more satisfaction during my stay at NIT Tiruchirappalli even in comparison to the decades of professional achievements and recognition at DRDO. Prof. Udayakumar R. Y. Prof. Srinivasan Sundarrajan Dean of Students’ Welfare administration Dr. T.P. Ashok Babu Dean of Faculty Welfare contents ENGLISH Prof. Katta Venkatrama 01 Dean, Academic KANNADA Prof. K. Chandrasekaran 36 Dean, Research and Consultancy HINDI Prof. M.B. Saidutta 57 Dean, Alumni Affairs and Institutional Relations MARATHI Prof. A.U. Ravi Shankar 65 Dean, Planning and Development MALAYALAM K Ravindranath 71 Registrar PHOTO GALLERY Y RamMohan Deputy Registrar Accounts 73 Reminiscence K. V. Kamath, Batch of '69, Chief of the New Development Bank of BRICS countries I joined KREC in 1964, making the choice between It was in the library that I read some magazines joining BHU and KREC. I chose it simply because it which had results of Formula 1 races. This created a was near Mangalore, my home town. long-lasting impression and a liking for the sport. The campus was a quiet place, with just a few build- Very early on, I decided to commute from Mangalore ings. Initially there were only two hostel blocks and to college. My parents got me a motorcycle and I was a students were housed in Lecturers Quarters, so I was day scholar thereafter. The distance to Mangalore was in one of these. An amusing incident comes to mind. 16 km and I would endeavour to cover it in about 12 I had a Gujarati and a local Tulu speaking classmate minutes. Looking back, I took risks I would not take living there. The first day we met, the Gujarati friend today! wanted to know how to say good morning in Tulu and My family had a tile factory near Mulki and I would was instead told something which was a nasty 'gali'. ride to the factory daily to oversee operations during The next morning we were up and as soon as the Gu- our lunch break, which was from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.