Sixth Issue

Vox Populi

In an exclusive Vox Populi Sathyaraj V. talks to 2006 GE Scholar, N. Senthil Kumar about GE Scholarship.

"It is a nice feeling to be part of a global conglomerate"

VOX POPULI (VP): Introduce yourself.
Senthil Kumar (SK): I am N. Senthil Kumar. I graduated from College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University (Chennai) in 2003. After a brief stint at L&T Powai campus, I joined M.Tech programme in the Department of Fluid & Thermal Sciences at IIT Kanpur in 2005.

VP: What is GE Scholarship?
SK: The GE Scholarship is precisely called “GE Foundation Scholar-Leaders Program.” The USA chapter of the GE Foundation has selected the Institute of International Education (IIE), New York to administer this scholarship globally. IIE in collaboration with the host institute will identify academically bright and socially motivated students from all over the world. Based on some corporate policies they decide a scholarship amount to cover one’s expenses.
The idea behind this scholarship is to identify bright young minds and bring best out of them. The GE Indian Scholars are expected to attend a workshop to be held at GE’s R&D Centre – the John F. Welch Technology Centre - in Bangalore in May. Besides, there is a community development programme for 50 hours.

VP: What should one do to be a GE Scholar?
SK: The GE India Scholarship is based on the following criteria:
-- The applicant should be a citizen of India
-- Consistent academic record including performance in the first semester
(70% weightage)
-- Demonstrated Leadership qualities (15% weightage)
-- Demonstrated Citizenship qualities as inferred from social work and
other forms of commitment to society (15% weightage)

VP: How do you feel being a GE Scholar?
SK: It’s a great pleasure and a matter of pride to be a GE scholar. At the same time, the exacting nature of the scholarship makes me nervous. Nonetheless, it is a nice feeling to be part of a global conglomerate.

VP: Now that you are a GE Scholar, what are you planning to do?
SK: In general, GE India Scholars are wholly oriented towards the following goals:
-- To carry out exemplary community development programme.
-- To learn how to be a successful engineer in a CORPORATE WORLD.
But definitive plan of action for 2006, I hope, will be informed soon.

VP: All the best.
SK: Thanks.

Sathyaraj.V. , sathya@
N. Senthil Kumar, nsenthil@

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Our Heritage

Issue: 4

Many have hobbies but some have strange hobbies. Abir Bandyopadhyaya (Ph.D. Physics: 1992 – 1997) belonged to the latter.

Abir was fond of wine. But, sometimes, wine was difficult to procure and unaffordable too. To counter this, Abir himself learnt to prepare wine! He setup a lab in his room with funnels, beakers and other necessary apparatus and started preparing different kinds of wine. Some fellow students were even anxious to know the method of preparation but Abir never disclosed the secret. At desperate times (winter nights, when the liquor-shop is closed or out of stock) fellow students (who had the information about his wine-making) used to go to Abir's room for wine. Eventually, many residents became fond of Abir's wine and some even developed a liking for specific variety of wine. Abir was a perfect businessman as far as wine was concerned. He had different measures and rates for his wines and sold them to his fellow mates!

Interestingly, Abir was even curious to know the effect of different drugs not only on human beings but also on animals. He used to feed the puppies and kittens with alcohol, bhang, marijuana and wine and followed them to monitor their behaviour under the influence of drugs.

After passing out from IITK, Abir joined PRL at Ahmedabad. Once a junior friend was visiting him when the train got delayed. Reaching Abir's house at night his friend said: “Abir-da, I am dying of hunger, give me some food immediately, whatever you have.“ Abir directed him to the refrigerator. He entertainingly found variety of wine and alcoholic drinks (what else could you expect?)! Even then Gujarat was a “dry state“ so what!!

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Coming up next…
Fellow who returned music room audio cassette after 20 years…
The 29-page PhD thesis…

And lots more…

C.S. Bhuiyan, Bhuiyan@

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Quote of the Week:

When our memories outweigh our dreams, we have grown old.

Bill Clinton

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Humor Section
Originally published in IITK Comics
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