31.Research in I.I.T. Delhi

 As discussed in the previous few episodes, REC Calicut was nearly burning with problems faced by students, teaching and nonteaching staff. It was then the advertisement for admission for PhD under Quality Improvement Programme(QIP) came up for the  current  year. The newly instituted one-sixth rule restricting the number  of staff members  that can be sponsored for higher studies under QIP  was  fully functional and  my  chances  of getting deputed  for higher studies was bleak. There was only one vacancy in Electrical Engineering department and my dearest  friend Y Venkataramani (YV) was applying and naturally he was the most deserving. I was not interested in competing with him as he was so close to me. But YV had other ideas, he insisted that I also should apply as  I was next in line. He  said as the competition for selection  is stiff, there is no guarantee  that any one will get  selected. Let  us both apply and if   either  of us get selected , whoever  is selected will go. If both are selected, we will see later.  Under his pressure, I also decided to apply for admission. Both of us completed the application form and submitted to the department sufficiently early.

But suddenly a third competitor also came up on the scene. One senior  Assistant professor of our department who was on  deputation to  different departments of Kerala also decided to   apply for admission for PhD. The  new  AICTE  /UGC  pay scale  had insisted that  the  minimum qualification  for  a professor’s post  is PhD and those  without PhD  may  not be able  to get a  higher post in the future. Probably this must have encouraged him for applying for research. If I remember  correct, during the previous  five years, this  senior was away from the college for more than 4 years. He was one among the few who could get leave or deputation whenever he wanted.  With this addition, the number of suitors for one bride (vacancy) became three.

When    teachers are deputed for higher studies under QIP, the resulting vacancy cannot be filled as the   teacher will be drawing his full salary and two persons cannot draw salary against one vacancy. The classwork for the teachers on QIP was to be shared by others in the department. Therefore, as  is the practice  in our department,  decision  on  whose applications  are to be forwarded was  to be decided in the departmental meeting. The general consensus was to forward two applications, that of YV and me, who were  present. It was decided that the application from the senior need be considered only after his re-joining the department. The reason obviously was that he was not present in the department for the previous few years to share the work load of those who were already on deputation.

Both YV and myself attended the interviews at I.I.T. Kanpur and I.I.T. Delhi which were our first two choices for the institution. I did not go to my third-choice institute I.I.Sc as unofficially we came to know that both of us are in the selection list at both institutions. I had put I.I.T Delhi as my first choice where I was selected and YV was selected at I.I.T Kanpur as his this was first choice. But as per the 1/6 rule, only one from the department can be relieved. But YV   did  not  leave   it at that  and  on my behalf, he  requested   our  Prof. Charlu  and Prof.P.S.Srinivasan  to allow  me also to go as  selection is not easy. Fortunately for me, no one was selected for QIP from Mechanical Department. After a few trips to the Principal’s office and our department, somehow, Prof.Charlu and Prof. Srinivasan could get the green signal  for me also  borrowing a vacancy from the  overall 1/6 th staff  strength.

Two of our families, YV, his wife and son and my wife, two children and me together started by Mangalore Delhi Jayanthi Janata Express in the same sleeper compartment. YV and family got down at Jhansi for onward travel to Kanpur and we proceeded to Delhi. I must place on record my sincere thanks to YV who  forced  me to apply and when selected impressed upon the Head of the department and Prof.Srinivasan to relieve me also for higher  studies. With  the blessings   from them, I joined I.I.T  Delhi as research student in July 1978.

At  I.I.T Delhi, our colleague  from  the department of physics  Sri. C. Kolappan Pillai  and his family were very helpful to us right from the beginning and  until they returned to REC after two years.  In fact,  he had arranged a  single room kitchen  house  in a village Jia Sarai  next to the IIT campus and admission for  our children  in a school run by some teachers from Tamil Nadu in Munirka. We also had the company of our colleagues M/s.J.Vaidyanatha Iyer (Physics), R.Ravindran Nair, Robert Samuel(both Mechanical Engineering), M.R.Madhavan Namibar (Civil) and E.Gopinathan(ECE)   while  we were in I.I.T Delhi during few of the overlapping  years. Even though our stay in the village was a bit difficult, we could get accommodation in the campus after two years in the Nalanda house for research scholars. As I was totally busy in the research work which involved several trips to the Institute of  Petroleum Exploration(IPE) Dehra Dun, three  years went off quickly.  

Even though my subject area of specialization, Control Systems is highly mathematical and abstract, I could work on a  project useful to an industry, Oil Exploration ( Seismic Data  Processing ). Further I had  the  privilege  of working  under the guidance  of the great Professor A.K.Mahalanabis and his  student  Dr.Surendra Prasad for three  years  in I.I.T Delhi. We had together developed  some  new  methods for processing of data  collected   from seismic  survey for identifying the  underground / off shore  structures that can trap oil or natural gas. Towards the end of my research work, my two guides and myself were  invited to IPE for a few  days to give a few lectures and familiarize them to make use of  the  methods  we developed   for better data processing at their centre in IPE. I could complete my PhD thesis work in the available 3 years and join REC in July 1981.