Alumni Experience, Inter IIT - 50 Years

1.                Practical lesson learnt - Bakul Desai

        In a way, this one incident prepared us to take on the big bad world outside when it came time.

        Gymkhana had invited tenders from all hostels to run a holiday mess for the athletes of inter IIT sports meet to be held in Delhi. Athletes would spend three weeks practising in IIT Bombay and spend one week in Delhi to lose matches. A mess was required to feed them for three weeks of the practice session. Hostel 5 quoted Rs. 21 per day per athlete. H8 quoted Rs. 24 and H4 quoted 27. We thought we had lost it and gave up bothering about it. During a Friday evening convo movie, the movie was interrupted with a slide which said: "G-Sec and Mess-Sec of H4. Please come to the gymkhana immediately." Now if someone interrupts a Friday evening movie, it better be serious. Fish reached the Gymkhana and met the new President Prof. BV Rao from EE. Gymkhana was called Students Gymkhana but the president was always a Prof. Apparently, both H5 and H8 had backed out on their offers and Prof. Rao wanted Fish to run the mess starting exactly 4 days away. He tried angling for a discount on the rates but Fish did not like the fact that he was hauled out of the convo just as Zeenat Aman was diving into the pool. No Zeenat, no reduction-Fish conveyed to Prof Rao who shrugged and said, "OK! You got a deal young man. Beggars can't be choosers. Twenty seven it is."

        This was a big gamble Fish had taken. To start something in four days. So, I decided to stay back as did Vasu and as did Waghmare to try and make the impossible happen. We roped in special cook Thapa, we upped the incentive to mess workers and got the mess cracking in time and barring a couple of early snafus, the mess did run well and what's more, made a mad profit of Rs. 31,000 in 1981. When it was our time to collect the loot, a gang of proud H4 junta went to the gymkhana to collect a letter from Prof. BV Rao authorizing the payment. From there, we would go to the Director's office, get his initials and then go the account office to collect our cheque. Mood was upbeat and buoyant and Fish was being celebrated as a hero in all wings and G-secs of all hostels were constantly pestering him to offer them advice for their own messy messes. What awaited us in the gymkhana was a terse note from Prof. Rao addressed to the director. " I think this price of 27 is astronomical. IIT Delhi ran their mess for just Rs. 16 last year (and managed well). Why is Bombay so special? I think we should settle at 18 and close the chapter."

        What followed cannot be described in words. Fish's face changed colours, some sixteen shades of red in less than three seconds and he stormed into DOSA Isaac's office and started thumping the table and showered choicest four-letter epithets on Prof. Rao, on the Director and on IIT in general. Issac was not able to restrain Fish. I tried to tell Isaac that he should not risk a lawsuit with us since he had no chance. The agreement was clear and unequivocal and Prof. Rao had signed it. Isaac said that if I did not control Fish, he would slap a lawsuit for this unruly behaviour. Back in the hostel, we shared this news with all hostelites who put up nasty notices running down Prof. Rao and people burnt mock effigies of him. Manu was visiting H4 for a day, but decided to stay back and fight with us till this matter was suitably disposed off. Strategizing went on till late at night. Finally, we roped in Prof. Suresh Dixit who was our Warden. He was a Prof and would have normally been expected to take IIT's side but he was young, an alumnus of H4 in his student days and had a "don’t give a shit to anyone" attitude. Dixit looked at the contract and remarked, "You jokers! It is signed by Prof Rao and by Fish. Where's my sign? They can use the lack of my sign as an excuse." Saying this, he quickly signed the document while teaching us his first gurumantra of the day. "Do your homework properly. I know Fish doesn’t do any homework from classes. But do this one at least." Next, he called for an urgent meeting with Prof. Rao and told us to sit with him and watch the fun.

        Fish, Vasu, Waghmare and I sat with Dixit waiting for Prof. Rao who breezed in ten minutes late in the gymkhana office. Prof. Rao was a multi-faceted man. He occasionally taught electrical engineering and at other times, he played the Hungarian Rhapsody on his violin. He spoke an English that was more commonly heard at Harrow and Eton. He was in a jovial mood and clearly had no idea of what awaited him. He was humming a waltz tune when he walked in, smiled with an "Apologies gentlemen! What can I do for you?".

        When it came to style, Dixit was no slouch either. He took off his goggles, placed them on the table and passed on Rao's note to Rao and said that we had come to talk to him about this. Dixit then added, "Prof Rao! You had invited offers from all hostels. Two hostels offered lower but backed out at the last minute. You pleaded with my boys to help you which they did in record time. You signed a contract with them for 27. My boys lived up their promise and performed well. Is this your way of rewarding them?" Prof. Rao was unfazed. "Mr. Dixit You are right that I signed this document. But nowhere does it say that it is a contract. Nowhere does it say that I am bound by whatever I have affixed my signature to. In any case, this is my private communication with the director. I have made my recommendations as falls on my duty to do so. Why should I answer your questions?" This was enough for Dixit. While we all looked at each other stupefied at this absurd logic, Dixit shot off with his trademark analogy. "Prof Rao! You are a senior, respected Prof of this institute and a responsible office-bearer. Younger faculty members like me look upon people like you to derive inspiration. You are like a person who goes to a restaurant, looks at the menu, looks at the prices, orders a dish and eats the dish which is served to you promptly and when the waiter brings the bill, you ask him why you should pay the agreed price when some restaurant in Delhi is selling the same dish at a cheaper price?".

        This one was direct and hit hard. Prof Rao half got up from his chair and tried to speak but words eluded him for a minute. Finally, he shot back, "Mr. Dixit! Firstly, I am not paying the money. Director has to pay you. My sanction limits are Rs. 750 only. Director asked for my opinion. I gave it to him. What's wrong with that. I do not take kindly to your ridiculous analogy of comparing this episode with dining at a restaurant." I wanted to butt in at this stage but Dixit quickly silenced me with a raise of his hand. "Prof. Rao! You are right. My analogy is ridiculous. I am sorry." This was a strange one from Dixit and just as Prof. Rao started smiling, Dixit delivered his death blow. "Prof. BVRao. Let me improve the analogy. You are a starving man who is going to die from hunger. All restaurants shut their door on you. This one restaurant agrees to serve you but shows you the price-list and you promise to pay and sign to that effect. After consuming the tasty dish and also after consuming some delicious dessert, you ask for the bill. The waiter brings you the bill. Instaed of saying thank you, you tell the waiter that you don’t have the money and you will go and ask your boss for the money to pay for your food. You then go out and tell your boss that last year, a Delhi restaurant served the food much cheaper and that he should pay those rates to this restaurant."

        Prof Rao was already shaking like a leaf while Dixit was speaking and by the end, he had started weeping. Dixit got up and told us, "Come on boys! No point in speaking to this man whose authority is limited to 750 rupees. Let us go the director and let us give him our opinion." He then turned to Rao again and said, "I thought you were an exponent of English. And you are saying that this is not a contract. Either my English is bad or your mind is crooked."

        We all congratulated Dixit after coming out. Dixit signed off with this message, "Go to the Diro tomorrow and collect the cheque." What made him think that Diro would give us the cheque, particularly after this nasty showdown? Dixit smiled and answered that the Diro would give the cheque without even meeting us if he didn’t want the prospect of Dixit visiting him. Sure enough, the cheque was waiting for us next day. Prof BV Rao had tendered his resignation but it was not accepted. There was jubilation in H4 and Dixit was in demand as a warden for every hostel.

Fish adds

        Wow Bakul!! I had completely forgotten about this incident. I would like to think that I was statesmanlike, calm and assertive with the DOSA, but you are probably right - I must have thrown a God awful tantrum.

        I also remember that we had a real tough time negotiating with the mess workers and they knew they had us at their mercy when they threatened to back out at the last minute before the Civil Engg. Conference. If I remember right, we even scurried around town trying to find back-up caterers in case we could not get the issue resolved.

        Re Dikshit, he was awesome and very courageous taking a stand like that. Isaac was a bundle of contradictions - he was so open and approachable but he would rarely back us when we really needed it. He was stubborn as hell and would find some reason or the other to postpone things. I once got so frustrated with him that I flung a heavy binder at him and narrowly missed hitting him. I am amazed I did not get chucked out of IIT for that alone!

        B.V. Rao, as you portrayed was a jovial sort of guy, and being in Electrical Engg, he could have made my life more miserable than it already was, but to his credit, when I came up before him later on in a course, he bore me no grudge about the incident. I think at some point, he realized and even appreciated that we were not fighting for personal gain - we were fighting for the collective good of the Hostel.

At 18, we would have made a loss and I remember him cynically refusing to believe it and being sarcastic about it.

        I am glad we did not budge. Btw, a similar thing happened in the Civil Engineering Symposium. We were told to provide for a certain number of people. We took a calcualted risk that they had overestimated the count and provided food for less than that amount. We were right and the head count was far less than what we were told and we had the satisfaction of not only makimg an extra profit but of also seeing that no food was wasted. Imagine our shock later, when R.S. Ayyar coolly tried to pay us based on actual attendance and not on the numbers we were told. I don't remember the details, but I remember Pai was instrumental in preparing our defence and we went and fought it out and won.

        With the money we made, we bought a Sony Trinitron at about Rs. 17,000 and a new sound system at about Rs.5,000.  The Trinitron was very much appreciated during the 83 World Cup.

        Later when I was running for the GSSA, the Inter-IIT sports meet mess came back to haunt me and not without justification. At one point, in my zeal to make money for the hostel, I looked at the menu and it called for toast and did not specify butter. So, I made the mistake of having the toast served at breakfast without butter. That caused a lynch ob to come after me and again not without justification. I was told that these were sportsmen preparing for an inter-IIT sports meet and it was shameful I was denying them proper nutrition. I quickly saw the error of my ways and capitulated and after that tried no such stunts. But the image stuck that I had tried to cut corners and was so much of a partisan that I sacrificed the larger interests of the institute. So the issue came up at my H-9 public speech and my answer was something like "When I was G. Sec of H-4, I had H-4's interests foremost in my mind because that is who I was representing. When I will be the GSSA, I will be upholding the interests of the whole student body of IIT. I fight for who I represent." Today, I can't see myself making the mistake I had made or offering the explanation I did, but this was almost 30 years ago. It is poetic justice as well as ironical that in my work career, I have always been criticized for not being loyal to whatever department or group I am working for and often doing things for other departments and groups :) -

With the exception of a few, my managers have never been happy that they don't own me exclusively.

But external criticism is any day preferable to inner criticism :)

        I mention this to add to your point about some of these incidents served to shape us in later life. Looking back at the way I handled that difficult question however, I had could have done much better. I could have reminded them about the Gas strike when I organized cylinders for all the hostels and not just Hostel 4. I could have reminded them about the Maintenance Committee I was chairing that consolidated requests across hostels, prioritized it and presented it to the Institute. What that did was to ensure that even hostels with lazy student representatives would be taken care of.

Sorry for rambling - this is just self-therapy :)