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Y-Point, the IIT Bombay webZINE : Interview

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Pretend you are in the hostel mess at 4:20 pm on a Friday. Chai ... the weekend ahead. As you read these words, let this story grow on you ... hear the echoes of your own memories rhyme in with Kanwal Rekhi's impressions of a time... See more » Pretend you are in the hostel mess at 4:20 pm on a Friday. Chai ... the weekend ahead. As you read these words, let this story grow on you ... hear the echoes of your own memories rhyme in with Kanwal Rekhi's impressions of a time gone by. 1963 : The nation is seized by political fervor after the Indo-China war in 1962. All vestiges of free enterprise are giving way to the "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" socialist slogans. The campus is alive with political discussions. Russian faculty is still on campus, and the HSS courses in Economics assure that capitalism cannot work. Long walks is the norm, bicycles is for the fortunate few. Powai is free of water hyacinth, and about five structures exist at Y.P. Kanwal Rekhi, who at two had embarked on his first long journey to India as a refugee, now sets course from a sleepy Kanpur to Johnny Walker's "Ai Dil haih mushkil haih jeena yahaan" Bombay. Kanwal endures the ragging - and in hindsight as he speaks about it - has a faint smile on his face as he mentions the experience. Like most 17 year-olds that have been filtered out by the JEE, Kanwal is strong in his analytical skills, and leans towards Mathematics in particular. 1965 : The Indo-Pak war. Shastry wins the war for India, but succumbs to a massive stroke in Tashkent. Indira Gandhi goes on to use her position as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting to work the media. She quells the caucus to become the P.M. These events deeply affect the campus community. Nationalization of industries becomes the norm. India refuses the US overtures and remains neutral (much to Johnson's chagrin). The Russian faculty diminishes in numbers, but the Russian motors and mainframes rumble on to ensure their presence on campus. Inter-hostel events pick up and rock-n-roll comes to town. Like many others, Kanwal is nationally seen as one of the Engineering elites,the creme de la creme. Meanwhile in the US, the media and the president are captivated by Khruschev's bold move into Space with the Sputnik launch. The nation demands a domination of the space-race, and huge investments are made into improving education in the Sciences and Mathematics. A law from the 20's limits the number of immigrants per nation as a percentage of the current ethnic population. So, for example, if the census found 8% of the population to be Irish, 8% of the immigrants were allowed to be Irish. That limits the Indian and Taiwanese immigrants but not the inflow of students. Like his peers, Kanwal really believes in what he tells the VISA officials "I wish to go to the USA to study for my MS". He does intend to return, or settle in an European country. Since the standard of living in Europe is on-par with the US, few Europeans do what the Indians, Iranians, and Taiwanese (amongst others) begin to do in larger numbers. Upon graduation, these early few begin to sink roots in the US. 1967 : Kanwal at Michigan Tech follows the trend to repatriate some money. Amongst a handful of Indians in a 1000-mile radius,there are no precedents. These few are trailblazers of sorts and work hard to figure out the system in the US. Kanwal has always been physically weaker. He tends to wake up each morning weary and fatigued, and all for no apparently good reason. At class, he tends to fall asleep with his listening faculties "on". One particular "EE-machines"-like class, the instructor jokes aloud about the sleeping student and goes on to impart his esoteric fundaes. Kanwal pops awake just in time to be handed a surprise quiz on the contents just imparted. He does his thing, and the professor is astounded to see Kanwal ace the quiz ! Kanwal cannot explain it either. It seems like he had "crashed out" except for his on-line listening faculties. (Author's note: We thank folks like Kanwal for establishing the myth that all IITians have this special ability. It saved many a later IITian from being administered a surprise quiz in a post-crashed-out situation) Post-MS, jobs galore in the US. A $10,000/pa salary launched the early ones into upper-middle-class status. The X+1 syndrome hadn't been See less »

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Y-Point, the IIT Bombay webZINE : Interview

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