SRIJAN 2002-2003(1st Edition)

♦ INTERVIEW/Director
"I used to read Gorky and see good movies"
-reveals Dr. S. K. Bhowmik, Director NIT Hamirpur in an intimate interview with 'SRIJAN'.
Among his students, Dr. S. K. Bhowmik, Director NIT Hamirpur is widely perceived as a grim faced man
in his mid fiftiesdelivering lectures incessantly on fluid mechanics or gas dynamics.
To get an insight into his genius life and not so highlighted side, theinterviewing committee of 'SRIJAN'
decided to have a rendezvous with him.
A teacher at core; an administrator by instinct and a perfect gentleman by birth aptly describes him. The
moments of the interview brought before the editorial board a humble man in spite of all his achievements.
He is surely a man of firm determination and grit who inspires students to pursue knowledge rather than
information. A gentle smile on his face encouraged the 'SRIJAN' team to start with a volley of questions:
Excerpts:
SRIJAN: With an extremely busy life and
working as an administrator as well as a
teacher, how do you keep a balance
between both?
Dr. S.K. Bhowmik: For this I have to work
extra hard. Normally I come by 8 a.m. and
leave by 5:30 p.m. On Saturdays and
Holidays I work half day, except on for
Sundays. Therefore i work for almost 60
hours a week. Basically i am interested in
teaching, but if I have to compromise on
any one of them then I will surely choose
administration and not teaching.
SRIJAN: How do you keep yourself fit?
S.K.B.: Diet has to be balanced; almost
everyday I walk for an hour or so in the
evenings.
SRIJAN: Yoga?
S.K.B.: No, Not yoga!!! Walking in the
evening keeps me fit and fine.
SRIJAN: What changes do you find
comparing your own student life and that
of your present students?
S.K.B: Impression is that students are
more informed (Thinks for sometime),
busy about their career, less interested in
their learning and more interested in
getting a high salary job.
SRIJAN: Does it affect their
intelligentsia?
S. K. B. : . Basically we cannot compare
them at all. Every generation always has a
gap with its predecessor. Everyone gains
more & more information. Intelligence, to
be defined is how to synthesize
information & how quickly you use that
information. So if you have got more
information and you have to quickly
synthesize that information.
SRIJAN: Would you please elaborate on
what grounds our college may benefit on
its recent transition to NIT?
S.K.B: One of the greatest benefits that we
have got immediately is the journal. Many
of the faculty members and students used
to say, "We don't have the journal", but
now almost all of the journals nearly 75-
80% of their necessity is available
through internet. In that respect we are
equivalent to IlTs, IISc and even other
NITs and deemed universities. (Coughs)
We are expecting more funds from central
government to modernize the labs and see
that those funds are used appropriately.
Second benefit we have is that this is a
deemed university. We can orient our
course any time we want. We can also
start some certified courses that will prove
beneficial to our students .We are thinking
to organize some courses like advanced
programming skills by the computer
science & engineering department; the
workshops can offer programs on
advanced machineries as well as welding
technology.
SRIJAN: When may our college may
expect to start post graduate and
doctorate courses? Is any proposal for the
same in the pipeline?
S.K.B.: We are planning to start courses
and for that we have written to the Central
Government, as its approval is necessary.
We have already got approvals from
AICTE for four postgraduate courses.
This year I will try to start postgraduate
courses and also we are planning for PhD.
Courses.
SRIJAN: Our College has not witnessed
convocation ceremonies for such a long
time. What are the reasons for its
postponements and when should we
expect the next convocation? In this case
may we please request you for the
convocation this year, if possible?
S.K.B.: Unless we have a permanent
Director it's not possible to pursue the
convocations. Without a regular Director
an institute must not be run for a long
time. For this you need a lot of initiative,
a lot of drive and extra hard work. If I
have to continue, I will try that from the
next year convocations are started again. I
will only try. I cannot promise.
SRIJAN: In your opinion, what are the
pointers for healthy faculty- students'
relations and in case of deterioration,
what steps must be taken to improve
them?
S.K.B.: It is only through interaction. It
cannot be done immediately, at least those
people who are responsible must
apologize immediately, either through
press or personally. Then things could
have changed immediately. So in such
conditions the situation may not change
immediately. (Thinking for sometime
with conviction) But that must come from
the student's side immediately if they have
done something wrong. Even if some
faculty could have done wrong they
should have come to me. They should
have given me some time so that I could
have taken some action. I was unaware of
the fact at all. Else I would have settled
the matter.
SRIJAN: Compared to other peer
002-("t
Research is to see what everybody else has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.