Mystory@Mohit Kohli: Why I chose to be a research associate at IIT-Delhi and how I gained from it

Getting admission at such prestigious institutes and then making a career out of it requires a sound academic background and special preparation for the entrance exams along with your regular preparation for the various senior secondary board exams; along with a very high IQ level. Well, this was mine and in general everybody’s opinion and I guess it still is a common currency among lay people about IITians and amongst students planning and preparing to join the IIT. Working with students pursuing BTech, Mtech and Doctoral degrees, carrying out their research work in the labs, the assistant professors, professors and the various HODs and last but not the least the lab assistants taking care of the equipment, and keeping an eye on new or strange faces in the lab was an experience, that I couldn’t put into words at that time. Otherwise, I might have beaten Pam Grout to E² by around 12 years (Nah: Just Kidding – as some wise man said – “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come”).

All right, I’ll try and narrate all the details in a chronological fashion, so that all of us can try and figure out that something special which all of us miss out--that one thing which makes all the difference from being a mediocre to a super achiever. And co-incidentally IIT is just an example, as the thing that we miss out on applies to every sphere of life. In terms of academics, it applies to whatever stream you are pursuing or planning to pursue, whether its arts, science, applied science, law, anthropology etcetera.

I had completed BE (Mechanical) degree from Bangalore University in 1994. After coming to Delhi and going through the usual job search grind, I ended up working as Engineer (QA) at Eastern Medikit Ltd. I was happy as there was plenty to implement from Statistical Quality Control (an elective I had opted for in final year) as the company was going in for ISO and CE certification. But after a couple of years I was bored of the job as we had already gotten certified and found nothing challenging in the job anymore (it’s called a character defect and comes under low threshold of boredom and impulsive nature). I was in touch with a few friends who had setup base in Bangalore and they were all talking about the Y2K bug and mainframe systems crashing as soon as the year changed to 2000. I was also surprised that even Civil, Mechanical and other engineers were now totally immersed in this mainframe wave. And here, I was in Delhi with most of the people blissfully unaware about the new revolution taking place in the field of IT. The only one subject that we were taught under computer science in college was Fortran 4 whereas the engineers were working on Fortran 77. I had elaborate chats with a few of my friends from the IT field. The general consensus was that after Y2K, mainframes won’t have that much prominence as mid-range (AS400) and the future was definitely going to be the client-server technology. So, I quit my job (I still remember the shock on the face of my VP, one of the nicest people I’ve ever come across) and joined a client server course at IBM ACE. After that short-duration course I can honestly say that whatever little I knew about IT was all picked up from there and I overcame my phobia of playing around with computer registries and tinkering with the hardware.

The IBM ACE center was in Malviya Nagar and I had to drive past IIT-Delhi every day, and a few of us used to hang around the SDA market occasionally. The main entrance to IIT Delhi was opposite the café we used to frequent, and most of the times I would be just gazing at the people coming in and out with a few security guards. One fine day I on the spur of the moment entered the IIT gate on my bike without wearing the helmet, as if the guards would be able to read on my face that I didn’t belong there and with no parking sticker or any other identification, would turn me back. But no such embarrassing situation took place, and they just took one look at me and continued with whatever they were doing. I drove around the campus for quite some time and was amazed to see that the campus was so huge that the boys’ hostels were more than a kilometer away from the main academic zone. I then parked outside the admin block and started going through the various printouts and gazettes posted on the notice board. I was a bit surprised to see that there was some course or the other running throughout the year for non IITians like ‘Catia’ etc. Besides these there were a number of internship type vacancies for in house students at various levels. There, partly hidden in the corner of the board was an opening for a Research Associate for a Govt. of India, MHRD and DoE sponsored project on SFC. The initial duration was a 3 months contract, with the contract being reviewed every month from there on. The people eligible were M.Tech students from within IIT and B.E. (Mech/IE) students from other universities as well. A stipend of Rs 10000 was to be paid per month to the eligible candidate. I was thinking about the pros and cons like only 3 months assured contract and would I be able to do the job and would the experience be of any value in the job market after that and so on and so forth when I saw a peon standing there. I went up to him and told him that I was not a student here and was just waiting for some friend. I just had a few minutes chat and then jumped straight to the point that was bothering me the most. I asked him in Hindi that if such important notices are not published in the newspapers’ job seekers section then how would the outsiders come to know of such good opportunities. He just looked at me and gave a wry smile. He then asked me if I read any national daily. I was a bit indignant and said sarcastically that my day starts after going through the newspaper and that I don’t read any vernaculars. He laughed out so loud that I sheepishly looked around to check if the people milling around were listening to our conversation. But, no one was interested in our boring conversation. This is another thing that I have noticed at IIT-Delhi. Everybody is moving around with a purpose with their attention focused at the job at hand and no one just loiters aimlessly (except the guards perhaps). He then beckoned to follow me into a nearby small office in the administrative wing. 3 or 4 people were engrossed in their work, with only their eyes moving from sheets of paper to the computer screen and back again with an occasional editing (I guess) on the system or writing a remark on the papers in front of them. They just gave me a cursory look and went back to work at hand. The peon then picked up a national daily (surprisingly the same that I read) and handed it to me. He asked me to check for the MHRD advertisement. I was running a bit short of patience and told him that I had today gone through the entire newspaper with no such openings advertised anywhere. He just gave an understanding smile, and opened the page where all government tenders and contracts are listed. He then circled a very small section and handed me the newspaper again. I took it grudgingly and checked out the portion he had marked. Voila! The same ad from IIT-Delhi and MHRD was staring at me. The guy said, “Son, if you are searching or looking for something, then you should at least be aware about where to carry out your search”. With these words he just turned around and disappeared somewhere in the administrative block. I was staring at him with my jaw open in awe. What he had said was something very profound. I won’t talk about that right now, because I don’t want to digress further. But as an advice please try and remember these words, because they’ll guide you like a light house in most of your endeavors later on in life.

The interview was two days later. There were no refined to the point search options/engines like Google search to look up the two essential requirements viz. Taguchi Methods and Neural Networks. SFC was not a problem, because working in a manufacturing unit efficient Shop Floor Control was the backbone; its aim being to reduce idle time of the machines and workers and keep the flow running smoothly without any breakdowns. In short, less time, targets met equals greater profitability. I mean, it’s quite vast but no point in going into all of that at the moment. Neural Networks, luckily I mapped the fictional book ‘Brain’ by Dr. Robin Cook and the answer I gave for Neural Networks to the Professor conducting the interview was, I guess, close to what they were working on. In short my answer was something like this but magnified by about a thousand times in terms of the elaborate time and jargon I used. So my answer in brief was something like this, “human brain is far more complicated than a computer, and engineers have been trying to model the computer along the lines of human brain. Computers can crunch unimaginable amount of data in micro seconds compared to the human brain. But if decision making, analysis of all data present in the system can be simulated as human brain, which is composed of millions of Neural Pathways, then the computers, would be capable of decision making with minimal human interference. For example Machine 1 is doing a particular job, and in the meanwhile Machine 2 is idle, till the time it gets the job from machine 1. So, to reduce this idle time Machine 2 can be entrusted with another component to be worked on in the meanwhile.

While working with the IIT students in the lab, I was amazed how clear and focused they were on achieving their passion, vision and professional career. If you get the right environment (IIT-Delhi, as in this case) to pursue academics for which you have aptitude and passion. These guys are born with that achiever attitude and single mindedly follow what they love and foresee themselves doing in their professional life. They rarely have any luxury of ifs and buts. This is exactly what people expounding Abundance and books like The Secret are trying to tell us. But I guess due to the evolutionary process these guys are born with these theories hard wired in their brains and don’t need to read Pam Grout, as its already in their brains. Normally we ordinary people think “Oh! I have to work on that assignment for at least a couple of hours”. The moment we use the word ‘work’ our brain reads it as something serious and not fun. The students from IIT would probably use words like,” Wow! I’ve got a couple of hours to sharpen my skills on that subject as well.” To put it very simply they don’t lay stress or in fact use the word work. For them it’s a part for the course. I’ve noticed that these guys have very high ethics, are grounded and very genial to get along with. Not once during my tenure at IIT-Delhi did I feel, that I was just a temporary employee or an outsider. They made me feel as if I was one of them, right from B.Tech students to the HOD. This is on top of the list of my favorites, if I chalk down jobs I loved most.

I could go on and on about various experiences, I’ve had as part of my contractual experience at IIT-Delhi. But I would like to share one last experience which highlights their success story. One day in the month of July, a couple of friends pursuing B.Tech asked me to join them for lunch at their hostel. So the four of us started from the main campus towards their hostel. Like I mentioned that’s a walk of more than a mile with not a single tree for shade on the way. It must have been 46 degrees in shade, so you can very well imagine the conditions. But it seemed that the heat and the distance was affecting only me. The other three were chatting merrily as if they were out on a morning stroll. The food at the hostel was better than what we had at our college. After lunch, I just went to check the accommodations with one of the guys staying on 2^nd floor. As soon as he opened the door to his room I felt like a blast of hot furnace air had scorched us. But my friend didn’t even seem to notice it. He just opened the windows, switched on the fan, took off his shirt and was then lost in his books. I quickly slunk away back to the AC Lab. He would be most probably a VC in Silicon Valley now. But they truly deserve the best that the Universe has to offer, because they have on their part given their best to the universe.

About the Author: Mohit Kohli is a qualified Mechanical Engineer and has worked as Quality Engineer at Eastern Medikit Ltd. and various ITES Companies, Research Associate at IIT-Delhi and as Associate Editor at Northern Escapes. He’s given up corporate life and has taken up freelance writing as it gives him time to update himself with latest technologies such as Cloud computing /architecture, deep/dark web and Quantum Physics to name a few. He’s also associated with Drug Free World to expose the malpractices of Pharmaceutical companies /Doctors. He’s also planning to write about Lifeskills Management Program and spread awareness among street children who don’t have the luxury to attend schools.