IIChE Students` Chapter Newsletter

Volume 1, Issue 2
Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers,
Students’ Chapter, IIT Guwahati
December, 2008
Specials:
•
Are you the white
cow?
•
Placement report
•
Survey
IIChE Students’ Chapter
Newsletter
From the desk of the Coordinator, IIChE-SC, IIT Guwahati
Editorial Team
Dear Friends,
Bikrom
It gives me immense pleasure in announcing the second issue of our newsletter.
Kunal Prakash Mishra
Though we are a bit late to bring this issue, I hope all of you will enjoy reading this
newsletter. There are certain new features this time like face-to-face with our passed
out students as well as articles from allied discipline students, which is a very welcome
Inside this
issue:
move. I am once again happy to let you know that this newsletter is completely designed, edited, contributed and maintained by our students. We are in the process of
publishing the hard copy version of this newsletter. The website of the IIChE-SC has
Ionic Liquids as
2
green solvent for the
must praise the efforts of Bikrom and Kunal for bringing out this issue.
future!!!
First Generation
also been redesigned. I would request all of you to visit the website also. At last I
4
Entrepreneur– Keki
Gharda
GET IT FINER: When
Dr. Kaustubha Mohanty
6
size matters
Are you the white
7
cow?
Foreign Internship
10
Letter from the Editor
Dear Faculty members and friends,
In continuation of our endeavors to inform, educate as well as provide an opportunity
to deserving people we are out with the second edition after the success of first edition.
Face to Face
12
This edition of newsletter embodies myriad of articles not just from one department
In the real world
13
but also other departments. Newsletter through this edition attempts to diversify itself
by dealing with various debatable questions relating to academics, politics in the form
Placement Report
14
Survey
15
of surveys which point to the general perception of people regarding these matters.
Besides that it doesn’t forget it’s primary objective that is to promote chemical engineering from it’s grass root levels.
IIChE-SC activities
17
We hope that this edition would be enjoyable as well as informative.
Bikrom & Kunal Prakash Mishra
Editors
IIChE Students’ Chapter Newsletter
GREEN CORNER
Page 2
Ionic liquids as green solvent for the future!!!
“The potential to
reduce pollution in
industrial
processes have led
to investigation of
ionic liquids as
alternative green
solvent”
Recently, ionic liquids have re-
and novel opportunities for catalytic reac-
ceived worldwide academic and industrial
tions, separations electrochemistry, and
attention as replacements for organic sol-
combined reaction/separation processes.
vents in liquid-liquid extraction and vapour-
An ionic liquid generally consists of a large
liquid extraction process. Attractive features
nitrogen-containing organic cation and a
of ionic liquids for green solvent and cataly-
smaller inorganic anion. The asymmetry
sis include: the ionic liquid can act as both
reduces the lattice energy of the crystalline
green solvent and catalyst; solvation, sol-
structure and results in a low melting point
volysis, reaction rates, and selectivity can
salt.
be increased; and side reactions can be
These simple liquid salts (single
reduced. The potential to reduce pollution
anion and cation) can be mixed with other
in industrial processes have led to investi-
salts (including inorganic salts) to form multi
gation of ionic liquids as alternative green
-component ionic liquids. There are esti-
solvent for a variety of application that con-
mated to be hundreds of thousands of sim-
ventionally uses organic solvents.
ple ion combinations to make ionic liquids,
room-
and a near endless (1018) number of poten-
temperature salts composed entirely of ions
tial ionic liquid mixtures. This implies that it
and are liquid in a wide temperature range.
should be possible to design an ionic liquid
They have application in a variety of cataly-
with the desired properties to suit a particu-
sis, separations, and electrochemical proc-
lar application by selecting anions, cations,
esses. These solvents are composed en-
and mixture concentrations. Ionic liquids
tirely of ions, and strongly resemble ionic
can be adjusted or tuned to provide a spe-
melts that may be produced by heating in-
cific melting point, viscosity, density, hydro-
organic salts to high temperatures (800°C).
phobicity, miscibility, etc. for specific chemi-
Many ionic liquids are highly polar and non-
cal systems. The components of ionic liq-
coordinating – ideal for catalytic reactions.
uids (ions) are constrained by high coulomb
Many are immiscible with water, saturated
forces, and thus exert practically no vapour
hydrocarbons, dialkyl ethers, and a number
pressure above the liquid surface. Impor-
of common organic solvents – providing
tantly, the near-zero vapour pressure (non-
flexibility
separation
volatile) property of ionic liquids means they
schemes – and they are non-volatile even
do not emit the potentially hazardous vola-
at elevated temperatures. Since both the
tile organic compounds (VOC) associated
thermodynamics and kinetics of reactions
with many industrial solvents during their
carried out in ionic liquids are different from
transportation, handling, and use. (It should
those in conventional media, they offer new
be noted, however, that the decomposition
Ionic
for
liquids
reaction
(IL)
and
are
Volume 1, Issue 2
Page 3
products of ionic liquids at excessive temperatures can
The first “Conference on Ionic Liquids”(COIL-I)
have measurable vapour pressures.) In addition, they are took place in Salzburg in 2005, the second one “COIL-2”
non-explosive and non-oxidizing (non-flammable). These in Germany in 2007 and the third to slated to be held in
characterizations could contribute to the development of Australia(COIL-3) in 2009.
new reactions and processes that provide significant envi-
Some prominent groups working on Ionic liquids
ronmental safety and health benefits compared to the ex- are listed below:
isting chemical systems.
CATIONS
R1
N
R5
R2
N R3
R4
ANIONS
R5
R4
NO3-,SO3-
R1
R2
Pyridinium
N
N
R2
R3
quaternary ammonium
Cl-,Br-,I-
N
R3
Imidazolium
R1
R4
Cl-/AlCl3
R6
R2
R3
P
R4
R1
Phosphonium
R1 R2
[CF3COO]-, [ CF3SO2 ]
-
[BF4] [PF6]
-
[(CF3SO2)2N]-
pyrrolidinium
Typical anions and cations in ionic liquids
The scientific literature reports numerous chemical
reactions in which ionic liquids are the media in which the
reaction occurs. These include cracking, dissolution, hydrogenation, dimerization, isomerization, oligomerization,
Pictorial depiction of ionic liquids
1.Physical and Mixture Properties (Queen’s University
Ionic Liquid Laboratory, Belfast, Ireland)
2.Solubility (Prof. Urszula Domanska, Zelazna Technical University of Warsaw ,Poland)
and other reactions. The ionic liquids used in a reaction
3.Activity coefficients at infinite dilution and Enthal-
or in catalytic systems are reported to show better activ-
pies of mixing (Prof. Peter Heintz, University of
ity, selectivity, and stability than traditional systems. They
Rostock, Germany)
provide better yields, better and more controllable distribution of reaction products, and in some cases faster
kinetics. Reactions in ionic liquids also occur at significantly lower temperatures and pressures than conven-
4.Gas solubilities (Professor J. F. Brennecke, University of Notre Dame, USA)
5.Peter Wassercheid, (RWTH Aachen, University of
Erlangen, Germany)
tional reactions, resulting in lower energy costs and capi-
6.Ternary systems (A. W. Meinderma, Department of
tal equipment costs. Ionic liquids can act as both catalyst
Separation Technology, University of Twente, Fac-
and solvent. In many systems, the reaction products can
ulty of Science and Technology, In Netherlands)
be separated by simple liquid-liquid extraction, avoiding
7.Supercritical Applications of Ionic Liquids (Cors. J.
energy-intensive and costly distillation. Some of the
Peters , Technische University Delft, Netherlands)
cations and anions are listed above.
—Anantharaj R. (Research Scholar)
IIChE Students’ Chapter Newsletter
Page 4
First generation Entrepreneur Keki Gharda
& Present Day Outlook of the Indian Chemical Industry
Prior to 1947, India had hardly any
Dr. Gharda acquired a Bachelor
chemical industry except the small explo-
of Science degree from Mumbai Univer-
sives factory (at Kirkee) and small single
sity's Department of Chemical Technol-
superphosphate plants. Attached sulphuric
ogy. He then obtained a Master's degree
acid plants were small units with limited pro-
in chemical engineering from the Univer-
duction. Bengal Chemicals in Kolkata was a
sity of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Following
pioneering group and had a nationalist aca-
the defence of a doctoral thesis, he re-
demic
ceived a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Uni-
entrepreneur
Acharya
Prafulla
Chandra Ray as the key person.
The first three refineries (two in
“Nobody in my
company, or even
nobody that I
know, remembers
as many melting
and boiling points
that I know”
Mumbai and one in Vishakhapatnam) came
up in early to mid 1950's and made a quantum change in the Indian scenario. Today
situation is quite different and the richest
chemical engineer, head of petrochemical
giant Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani
(alumni UDCT ,Mumbai) is from India.
Though Mukesh Ambani inherited
most of the fortune from his late father,
there are people who made it in the first
generation from chemical engineering field.
One such chemical tycoon is this young
man of 77 who made the first Blue Phthalcyamine Dye which was superior to the best
available in the world. Dr. Keki Hormusji
Gharda is a prominent Indian chemical
engineer, chemist and entrepreneur. He is
the founder, chairman and managing director of Gharda Chemicals Limited, an R&Dbased company with business interests in
versity of Oklahoma.
Upon his return to India, he
started his company in a small rented
shed with a drum as a table and a carboy
for a chair, which is today one of the largest agrochemical companies in India. In
2004, Gharda became not only the first
Indian but also the first Asian to win the
prestigious Chemical Pioneer Award from
the American Institute of Chemists for his
extraordinary achievements in the chemical industry. He is a knowledge seeker
and reads books that range from Game
Theory to the history of the Roman Empire to polymer science. The remarkable
thing about him is that he is bestowed by
tremendous memory power from his childhood. He confidently declares, "Nobody in
my company, or even nobody that I know,
remembers as many melting and boiling
points that I know".
agrochemicals, polymers and is actively
On his return to India, he took a
pursuing an entry in the market for high per-
teaching job at the UDCT. Small scale
formance pigments.
sectors recognised his talent and used to
Volume 1, Issue 2
Page 5
approach him to get the compounds manufactured that made a public statement that Gharda Chemicals is cawere not available, or short In supply. He thought of making pable of doing it, and he offered to deliver it within a
Phthalogen brilliant blue, which is a dye pioneered by year’s time and at 60 per cent of the price the MNCs
Bayer and this marked his beginning. He had to work 16 were offering. There was dead silence. It was the time
hour shifts as he was the procurement manager, sales for the MNC's (Sandoz, Hoechst etc.) to retire. He gave
manager as well as the production manager of the com- another impulsive blow to Sandoz by setting Gujrat inpany. He strongly believed that an unknown company secticide. They had to ultimately wind up their business.
manufacturing a high quality product and selling it at a com- Recently Dr. Gharda is working over setting up his
petitive price can compete effectively with a giant multina- dream project, a top-notch technical college a few hours’
tional company. His excellence in chemical industry can be drive from Mumbai.
best recognized by the fact that he is capable of manufac-
Many such technocrat entrepreneurs have
turing any chemical that only multinationals can dream of, made the Indian scene vibrant. Today Indian chemical
this gives him a competing edge over multinational giants. industry, 12th largest in production, is growing at an avYou will be surprised to know how he stunned the erage rate of 12.5%. In recent past, the world’s largest
multinational companies in the mid 1970s. India was just green field petroleum refining company have been esbeginning to use
tablished
more advanced
Jamnagar by
pesticides.
The
the Reliance
multinationals
Industry-
wanted
ONGC
manu-
f ac t u r i n g
and
li-
in
(Oil
Natural
the
Gas Corpora-
control raj. So
tion Limited) ,
the government
India's
censes
had
a
hearing,
in
public
chaired
SHG Gas compression Platform
(ONGC, India)
Reliance Petroleum Refinery,
Jamnagar
lead-
ing oil & gas
exploration
c o m p a n y
by a judge. The
MNCs made a big hue and cry about how difficult and dan- leads the list of Indian companies listed in Forbes 400
gerous it was and how these cannot possibly be manufac- Global Corporates and Financial Times Global 500 by
tured by an Indian company and so they should be given Market Capitalization. Along with many reputed Indian
an exclusive license. Justice Rangarajan called him and companies, India’s largest oil refining company, Indian
gave him some papers to study. The products were Isopro- Oil Corporation, Ltd now have created the place for R&D
turon and synthetic pyrethroid. The judge personally in- Director on board. The large domestic market opportuvited him to the hearing at Delhi. For the first day, lawyers nity, strong intellectual capital, access to global financial
after lawyers, representing the MNCs, made presentations. markets and strength in software engineering provide us
On the second day, the hearing ended and the summing up this great opportunity to make India a global force in the
started. The Judge finally invited Dr. Gharda to speak. He chemical industry.
—Akshat Jain (B. Tech. 2nd year)
IIChE Students’ Chapter Newsletter
Page 6
GET IT FINER: When Size Matters
In the face of terrible economic predicament that entire globe is hustling through,
why should the Chemical Engineering Industry escape unscathed?? With dipping
demand for petrochemical commodities,
down spiralling Automobiles market, with
FMCG groups sensing the chill of plummeting per-capita incomes, apparently, the industry is in pain.
But as the history stands testimony, man
has deftly adopted the art of surviving
through these marauding tides, so have the
Chemical Engineers across the meridians.
Combating the ferocious dragons of recession, is an idea, ‘Particle Sizing’.
“In one of the
ways of
downsizing the
losses, Particle
sizing is capturing
the crux in
processing
industry”
In one of the ways of downsizing the
losses, Particle sizing is capturing the crux
in processing industry, as it deeply impacts
the reaction rates and productivity. With the
wants of chemical-process-industries (CPI)
customers in perspective, manufacturers of
a variety of particle sizing equipment —
from classifiers to hammer mills to grinders
— are enabling their products to create
smaller and smaller particle sizes, enhance
quality, reduce waste and boost throughput.
The idea has well been extended to creation of nano-sized particles.
According to almost every particle-sizing
equipment manufacturer, there is a definite
trend toward finer particle sizes, the reason
being, as the particle becomes smaller,
more surface area is exposed, which can
result in higher reaction rates, more potent
product or higher productivity. For example,
Modern Process Equipment (Chicago) has
updated its Gran-U-Lizer line, which has
traditionally featured pairs of corrugated
rollers through which material passes, to
accommodate finer particle sizes via the
use of a variety of roll surfaces. Also candidly discussing about the emerging trend is
Mr. Bill Brown, division manager, chemical/
minerals at Hosokawa Micron Powder Systems (Summit, N.J.). He says, his firm also
hears customers asking for finer particle
sizes, as well as energy efficiency, and is
responding by modifying existing equipment
offerings. One example of Hosokawa’s response can be seen in the remake of the
Mikro ACM air classifying mill, which is a
high-speed impact mill that offers grinding
and classifying in a single machine.
Yes we agree that this is indeed a fantastic
idea, but don’t the finer particles mean
more losses in form of dust and consumption of more energy. Whatsoever the problems, our men of wisdom have tackled
them with silken ease . For instance, Hosokawa Micron Powder Systems (New Jersey) retuned its Acucut High Energy air
classifier. With the updates, the unit uses
dual-stage operating controls to ensure
sharp cuts and narrow-band, particle-size
distributions typically below the 10 micron
range. Options are available for control of
product contamination, protection against
corrosion and classifying adhesive powders. An extremely high dispersive energy
applied to the process material ensures
high yields, even with sticky and difficult to
disperse products.
With the advent of this breakthrough idea ,
losses would be curbed, many might -havebe-pink-slipped would breathe in relief,
many economies round the world would be
less damaged, many families would enjoy
as ever, many wouldn’t become homeless,
many might not lose their marriages
….Truly size matters..!!!
—Siddharth Gaur(B. Tech. 3rd year)
Volume 1, Issue 2
Page 7
Are you the white cow?
No? Are you sure you are not the white cow? 99 out of
100 people in this world are. Well, look again, go check
yourself in the mirror. Are you still sure? Looks can be
deceptive.
Well, our beloved ‘white cow’ is the average man, common man, aam aadmi, call him what you may. Suppose
you’re driving down a highway .You see a cow grazing by
the field. Nobody stops and looks at a cow and says “Hey
look, a cow! “. That’s the truth, cows are everywhere, and
hence they’re invisible. Likewise,
average man is invisible. Average man is boring. Average man
is well, average! Our average
man does not like to take risks,
he likes to play it ‘safe’. He likes
to go with the flow. He thinks that
by doing what everybody else
does, supposedly one day he’ll
become better off at doing them
than others. He thinks if he can’t
do anything, nobody can, especially you. YOU, the reader of
this article, you are a future Ambani, Mittal, Gates, Buffet. You
are a shining star of India. You are the next big thing. He
will think anybody taking a risk is the biggest fool he’s
ever met and will smirk, laugh and criticize your ideas.
That’s the average man. He can come in many forms,
maybe your teachers, friends or even parents. But ‘You’
should not care about the world, rise over all this and
move on.
Well, in today’s world, ‘being safe’ is the riskiest thing to
do with your career. Among other things, this is one of
the biggest lessons the recent hush-hush in the financial
world has taught us. According to thousands of people
who lost their jobs, they had one of the safest, best jobs
in the world. Who wouldn’t kill for a job at the Wall Street
at a top-notch firm where billions move from one place to
another everyday! But we all know the consequences.
To be successful, one has to learn to take risks early in
life. Risk taking capability reduces with age, hence the
earlier the better. You win some, you lose some. But
here is the deal. The more risks you take, the better you
learn how to manage them. That’s what entrepreneurs
do; they take risks and manage them. India, and the
world, in general needs more entrepreneurs. We don’t
need more average men. There are already a lot of
them. About 6 billion to be precise. Well then, do I mean
we don’t need scientists, artists, rock stars, politicians,
lawyers? We need them alright. In fact, I say ALL successful people are entrepreneurs. Don’t believe me? Let
me explain.
Entrepreneurs are people who
do what they love, they break
new grounds by being innovative, they live by their own rules
and they do something that is
useful to this world and do it to
perfection. For example, Great
scientists are just like business
people who build great products
in the form of their theories that
have a profound effect on our
knowledge of the world. Likewise, other successful people.
Take another example of Mahatma Gandhi; he was an
entrepreneur according to me. He had a great idea to
change the world (freedom of India) for millions of Indians (customers). He went against the market forces
(British) and built great tools (like Quit India Movement,
Non-Obedience, Non-violence, Non-cooperation) which
he advertised (through local newspapers started by
revolutionaries, by holding seminars and conferences).
He built a great team (Pt Nehru, Subhash Chandra
Bose, Sardar Patel, Gopal Krishna Gokhale etc.).With
such a business strategy, people of India finally bought
his products (yes, they bought his ideas, which means
ideas are saleable), which led to the greatest victory
ever in the history of India.
Let’s talk about this concept in the context of creating
great companies that change the world we live in. So the
first big question comes, why this?
IIChE Students’ Chapter Newsletter
Page 8
Well, like I said being risky is the new safe today. Furthermore, it’s a lot more than that. You set out to create a
change in this world, a positive change. You will be known
by that, years after you are gone. Entrepreneurship is the
tool with which you can create this change. You see a problem that’s bothering people or you see an area where you
can improve the life of people around you. That, my friend,
is the Holy Grail of entrepreneurship. That is the golden
goose, the opportunity! You can either kill it by ignoring it,
or use it to make billions! Let’s not forget, it’s not about the
money. This is a trillion dollar advice I am about to give
you. You make money-making your prime
motive and you dig your own grave with your
own two hands. Great companies are built to
make meaning, they make our lives better
and that’s exactly what you should look out
for. As simple as it may sound, many people
forget this basic principle. You make something that is of great value to people and they
will be more than happy to pull out their wallets and pay you! Make meaning, Money follows!
When is the right time to do it? Now is the
right time to do it. Well, you say you are
young, just a recent graduate, you don’t have
an experience in the industry, you don’t have
the money, oh, and you forgot, the best of all,
you don’t have an MBA. How can you even
think of doing a business? Right?
Not a problem! Recent graduates make the best breed of
entrepreneurs, speaking statistically and generally. You’re
well networked, you’re young, you’re enthusiastic, you are
the only person you have to feed, there are no spouses and
thank God, no kids. Moreover, you live amongst technology. There’s no better place to find a team than here. And
frankly, once you get caught in the corporate web, you’ll
find that life is way too ‘safe’ to leave it and start anything
from scratch .Well then, do I mean everybody should leave
everything else including job at Schlumberger/MS or PhD
at MIT/your favorite MBA from IIM A? No, of course not,
that would be a sin by many peoples’ standards. But the
point here is, are you doing it for the money or do you really
love it? “Oh, I don’t care, all I care about is money!
Well, trust me, if you are not excited by the idea of working
in oilfields in the scorching heat in a no man’s land, or if
the prospect of working with cutting edge technology in
closed labs with weird LCD displays and a plethora of buttons around you, doesn’t excite you, don’t go for it. It’s not
that fun after all. ”And money? How am I supposed to buy
a Lexus before my classmate does?” Well, just look
around. More people have gotten rich otherwise. Money is
everywhere. Chances are that if you do something you
like, and you do it repeatedly to perfection, you’ll have
more Lexuses than your classmates.
Second obstacle that comes is the experience in general and experience of your industry. One thing, EXPERIENCE IS OVERRATED! You are going to learn more by
trying to setup a new business from scratch
than your counterparts sitting in cubicles
writing codes. You call that experience? It’s
adding no real value to you. You don’t learn
by typing, you learn by going to the streets,
talking to real customers, who are going to
pay you for your cutting edge software or
your next big product or your new life-saving
drug. That is where you learn the nitty-gritty
of the trade. Business is largely about people. When you learn how to deal with people, half the battle is won. It can’t be done in
cubicles. That is what is called experience.
You have a clean board, you can see for yourself what
works for you and what doesn’t. Sure, you can and should
take advise, but that should be it. When you make a mistake, it’s your neck on the line, not your employer’s. You
learn faster when it’s your business. Ask yourself, where
will you learn more?
As far as MBA is concerned, what a person learns in 2
months while “trying” to setup a business is far more valuable than the 2 years spent in classrooms. That is the
whole point of it, when you do everything yourself, you
learn accountability, responsibility and best of all leadership, the three most important pillars of your professional
integrity. There just isn’t a better way to learn these skills.
Education is not a bad thing, not at all. But one should
know when to get it, how to get it. Brushing up your skills
Volume 1, Issue 2
Page 9
with an MBA after you have some real world experience
and networking will go a long way in making your case
stronger than sitting in MBA classrooms right after your
graduation, where you don’t know the basics of how a
business is done.
Oh well, that reminds me of a funny incident two months
back. I asked a freshman what he wanted to become,
what his goal in life was. To which he said, “ Bhaiya, I
want to do an MBA in Finance from IIM Ahmedabad”. I
nearly burst in laughter after hearing this, “WOW! You
must be some hardcore planner. You have barely entered your 1st yr at IIT and you’ve even finalised the specialisation of your MBA degree. You sure are going a
long way.”
from their own pockets (called bootstrapping) and are
currently looking for venture capital to scale up. People
often use a mix of various paths to raise capital.
Now that being young, inexperienced (with no MBA in
Finance) and penniless are no longer a problem, we can
move on to how to go about doing this ! I’m going to try
to sum it all up in a few lines here:
1) Find the problem, it’s the golden goose.
2) Conceptualize a product/service around your target
customer that will solve the problem.
Well, I hope he’s reading this article.
3) Go to the market experts, concerned professors, potential customers to fine tune it and know if people really
want it. If yes, in what quantity, how much are they willing to pay for it?
MBA is not there to teach you how to do business, it
won’t, it can make a good business person better. That’s
it.
4) Build prototypes, give them away for free and let people test them and let you know how good or bad a job
have you done.
The last and often the most daunting problem that you
might face if you take this route is raising capital for your
venture. Where do you get the money from? Is it really
that tough? “I’ve heard a majority of start-ups die before
their second year and that’s mostly due to lack of funds!”
Well, I’m afraid to say it is the fact. A majority of people
who start out, forget the other principles I discussed before, some die off simply due to bad decision-making and
other due to lack of funds. But that should not deter our
vision. People who set out to make money leave all hope
at this stage, but people who set out to do a right thing,
continue.
5) Appoint a advisory board comprising of people who
know how to do the business: technical, legal and operational aspects. Ask them nicely to be your mentors.
Give them a share of your profits. Good Samaritans are
not a minority in India!
There are a lot of good opportunities to raise capital.
Govt. of India provides funds to young entrepreneurs with
promising ideas. One of our alumni, Natasha Sodhi, founder of Yellow Fourier Technologies, is one such person.
Other than that, various banks throughout the nation are
increasingly making investments in the sunshine sectors
of our country. Apart from that there are our good old
venture capitalists and angel investors or private equity
routes. One of our alumni, Raghu Khanna, founder of
www.cashurdrive.com was one such person. Apart from
that, one of our alumni, Sachin Bhatia, along with a few
others, opened Drishti Soft Solutions with an initial capital
6) Use the satisfaction reports, advisors and prototypes
to finalize contracts with dealers, suppliers, customers
and raise capital to scale up.
Following these steps should help one take off! But then,
easier said than done. There can be no guarantees to
avoiding failures. They will happen. But one should learn
and move on and never stop. That’s the biggest lesson.
There’s a joke which goes like:
“One entrepreneur is explaining to another how he got
into business. “I was afraid to go out on my own, but my
former boss gave me a jump start by telling me the most
encouraging two words in my life. One day he came into
my office and said “You’re fired.” ”
Well, one shouldn’t wait for that day. Should
one?
—Aniruddha Jain (B. Tech. 4th year)
IIChE Students’ Chapter Newsletter
Page 10
Foreign Internship
Foreign Internship. It’s one of the best things,
probably one of the only good things about coming to IITs
for people like me. Let’s just skip the tough part, how I and
5 more of my friends flooded the mail boxes of professors
from bioinformatics to agriculture to chemical engineering
to wild life to mechanical engineering field with 1400 odd
mails, sometimes even literally begging to call us for an all
paid foreign trip.
The much awaited mail finally came. It was Italy! I
applied for VISA at
the kolkata office with
the usual goof ups;
the photo is not of the
right size… the background should be
SKY blue not just any
blue… You idiot! fill
the form with a
BLACK ball pen… no
not on Fridays… no not here the form dropping counter is
half the city around… loose your shoes before entering the
office… and if that was not enough they interrogated me
like a terrorist. “Why do you want to go there, do your internship in India only”, “where will you stay there?”, “Do you
have money to survive there?”, “Bioinformatics, what is
that?” but somehow the form got accepted. While surfing
the net for places to visit in Italy, the end-sems got over.
hell is calling you there, you cheap rat!”
After sitting there for another 4 embarrassing
hours, he called me and said “Usually this takes two days
but I think if you miss this chance, you won’t be getting
another one for the rest of your life.” Although kind of true,
it wasn’t exactly heart-warming. But at this time it was way
down my priority list, first I needed to catch my flight to
Delhi.
With no food and no water offered in the flight I
reached Delhi airport. Well my travel agent warned me
when I went to him with the plea of minimum, that this
cheap plan would offer you a break journey, from Delhi to
Helsinki, then to Rome and then finally to the destination
Cagliari, including Guwahati to Kolkata and then to Delhi.
That was as confusing as it is to you. It meant that I’ll have
to pass through the security of SIX airports. No, don’t
worry my baggage is all clean the problem is with my face.
I still don’t know what made it so suspicious that I was
stopped everywhere I went. At
the immigration
counter Delhi,
“So, you are
from IIT… Guwahati!!? There
is an IIT in Guwahati??!” I felt the slap on my face but without loosing my
temper I managed to say “Yes!” Till here it was fine then
he flooded me with questions “What does your father do?
You have brothers? What’s your birth place? Where did
you take JEE coaching? Are you carrying anything with
you that you should not be? So, you are a Brahmin, are
you 100% vegetarian?” And if this was not enough he
started asking questions like, “Do you think India is a good
country? What will happen to lakhs of engineers passing
out every year?” I mean c’mon!!! I know I am flying abroad
for the first time but these questions cannot be the part of
his usual job. Finally he stamped my form and let me go.
So, the plan was to go to Kolkata to collect my
VISA, the very next day after end-sems ended, then go to
Delhi and catch the cheapest flight route to Italy and thus
started two of the most horribly adventurous days of my
intern. It was 10AM when I reached the embassy, “Ma’am, I
am Aditya, I applied last week. Here is my token number.”
She looked in some sort of list and without even looking up
said, “Come again on Monday. Next please!” and before I
could say anything, uncle next in the queue pushed me out
of the queue. After almost an hour when I found someone
who would listen to me I explained him the situation that my
flight is on Sunday so I can’t wait till Monday or I’ll lose
With number of goras (white people) increasinga40000 bucks (The no-refund policy of cheap airlines). He
round me as I moved towards the gate, I was becoming a
gave me a look that was screaming on my face “who the
Volume 1, Issue 2
Page 11
little nervous. You know I had hardly seen 10 white men
in my whole 22 yrs of life, and to add to that, the flight
was 3 hrs late. Somehow I managed, with a little shyness
and nervousness, to reach Helsinki. Because the flight
was late and it didn’t gain any ground , as is the case with
most of our trains once they enter Bihar, one of the plane
crew for my next flight was already looking for me. They
probably
also
announced
my
name but in finesse so no use.
Although
he
saved my time by
looking up the
gate number 13
and directed me
to it, only after a
few minutes I
was lost, c’mon
it’s not a big deal
to get lost at an
airport that has
49 take-off gates
and has served 13090744 passengers last year. I
stopped and asked for directions, the only mistake I did
was that I chose a security officer to do so. He immediately grabbed his chance to spice up his day and started
interrogating me from top to bottom, checked my passport front and backs a several times and with his little
English knowledge asked me everything he could.
Ripped open my hand-bag, demanded for a copy of the
offer letter, which luckily I had with me and in the process, cost me 20 precious minutes.
When I finally struggled to gate number 13 it was
closed, I asked the airline receptionist there “The flight to
Rome…?” she smiled and said ever so sweetly, “It will
take-off in a few moments” I showed her the ticket and
said “Here… may I proceed?” again she smiled which
now seemed very ridiculous and delivered the good
news, “Sorry sir the gates are closed we cannot allow
you.”
So, there I was in the middle of no where with my
passport, 300 Euros and a hand bag that has just a
scarf, a jacket and surprisingly an underwear! Rest of my
luggage sent to Rome and probably then to Cagliari with
me having no way to reunite with it. After a few minutes
when I came to my senses I consulted the airline office
and was informed that there was only one way for me to
reach Rome just in time to catch my next flight to Cagliari
and that was I had to go to Prague! Till that day, I had
hardly heard of that place and for a guy like me, who is
not a master of European geography, only this much was
scary like death. Still I thought “Prague, here I come.”
I reached Prague and then Rome and kept looking for my luggage but no clue. I filed a complain and did
everything I could but I didn’t find it. Finally I left all hope
of finding it and reached Cagliari 32 hrs later since I had
left Kolkata with
only one flight
meal and no
sleep.
There
was
a
guy
around 25-years
of age, standing
with
a
sign
board
saying
“ADITA UPDY”.
I guessed he
had tried to spell
my name. I told
him the shortest
possible version
of my tragedy and he registered it to the lost and found
section of the Cagliari airport that hardly had a staff of
total 12-14 people. Just to start the conversation he
asked me “So, Adita…” I interrupted and said “Just Adi
would be fine.” He smiled and continued “So, Adi why did
you choose this place for your internship?” and then in
the warmth of the moment, I let slip the truth that how I
had not chosen the place and in fact the place had chosen me and how I was less of a student and more of a
tourist. That didn’t help my cause at all. Later on I found
out that he was actually my PhD Guide and he did his
best in embarrassing me for the next two and a half
months. Eventually 3 days later I found my luggage but
this was just the beginning. You can imagine if only
reaching there was this much scary what would my stay
and my tourist Euro-trip would have been like.
—Aditya Upadhyay (B. Tech. 4th year)
IIChE Students’ Chapter Newsletter
Page 12
Face to Face with Amit Ahuja
We are presenting
here a short interview with our
senior “Amit Ahuja” (2008
batch pass out) who is currently working for PricewaterhouseCoopers which is one of
the big players in providing
Industry-focused
assurance,
tax and advisory services for public and private clients.
1) Will you throw some light on Enterprise resource management?
ERM (enterprise resource management) is a
configured and customized (as convenient to client, only
if necessary) system that lets an enterprise manage user
access to its network resources efficiently. ERM software
generally lets an employee from user layer to sign on to
different enterprise systems and applications using the
same entrance keys. Implementing ERP software is typically not an "in-house" skill, so even smaller projects are
more cost effective if specialist ERP implementation consultants are employed. Nowadays, implementation via
third-party consulting companies (e.g. PwC) is preferred
over seeking help from ERP vendors.
2) What have been your responsibilities as a fresh joiner?
Currently I have been working with Microsoft dynamics team as a consultant. Right now we are heading
towards implementation of finance, project and payroll
modules in EVS (Evalueserve) after signing off the FRD
(functional requirement diagram) which had been done
by consulting with various section of EVS team.
3) Do you have any tips for some of us who also want to
come up with something of their own regarding attitude,
mentality etc.?
Professions (be it anything) are always demanding ones, and you can't change that. But you can provide
more flexibility in both the individual careers and the personal lives of the people who make up your organization.
You should constantly try to improvise the way we work
and the things we do. Flexibility is becoming more and
more a part of our environment every day.
4) How has the recent global recession affected the financial companies like PWC?
Not really, as a major chunk of revenue comes
from auditing practice which to a great extent remains unaffected. There is an old saying, "a great economy needs
good accountants and a bad economy needs great accountants." With fair value accounting so heavily entrenched in what has happened recently, the convergence
to International Standards on the horizon, Sarbanes Oxley
still kicking around, FIN 48, etc. there are plenty of new
clients for auditors.
5) What about the recent Satyam fiasco in which PWC has
a stake?
Over the last few days, there have been media
reports with regard to alleged irregularities in the accounts
of Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (Satyam). Price Waterhouse is the statutory auditors of Satyam. The audits
were conducted by Price Waterhouse in accordance with
applicable auditing standards and were supported by appropriate audit evidence. Given our obligations for client
confidentiality, it is not possible for us to comment upon
the alleged irregularities. Price Waterhouse will fully meet
its obligations to cooperate with the regulators and others.
As the oldest accounting institutions in this country, I do
believe that we have the resilience to withstand the onslaught we are currently facing. As per the current modus
operandi we have commenced a comprehensive internal
review and seeking appropriate legal help to protect our
interests.
6) What message and advice will you give to your juniors
in the current placement scenario and generally as well?
The huge qualitative as well as quantitative decline in the placements this year is mostly due to part of
Indian IT institutions and financial KPO’ s which are being
flourished by US economy and related lending agencies.
In the wake of economic meltdown the lukewarm response
from the corporate arena is understandable. The best
strategy would be to look ahead for those sectors which
are right now unaffected or performing well as per the
market norms.
Volume 1, Issue 2
Page 13
In the real World
Hello everyone, first of all my
place, a small community. You had a
heartiest congratulations to all the people
who are passing out from IIT Guwahati this
name, a voice that was heard no matter
how weak it is. Personally I feel lost
year. I am sure you would make the institute proud.
sometimes now. Now I am a part of the
milling crowd that makes its way to the
I passed out in May 2008 and
joined my firm exactly five weeks later on
the 30th of June.
It was a very short transition period
if I might call it that. Transition from college
to industry, from a student to a working
professional and from an engineer to a
consultant/management trainee or whatsoever. To say that life changes would be an
understatement in itself. The greatest of
the changes is the carefree lifestyle that we
used to have when we were in college.
Trust me in between the assignments, projects and classes life was still pretty rosy if
you compare it to the grind of the real
world that awaits you when you begin your
professional sojourn. Worrying about exams, BTP and grades was much better
than worrying about appraisals, projects
deadlines, salaries and taxes.
Add to it the "sentiapa" that creeps
in every now and then when you realise
that it has been a long time since you had
those long "bakar" sessions with your
friends in one of the hostel rooms. The
weeks just pass by and the weekends too
are a blur. And all this while you have the
tremendous responsibility of standing up to
the IIT brand name. On one hand people
expect more from you because of the IIT
brand and on the other hand your opinions
and analysis are given more weight because of the same reason even though you
office daily to earn their bread and butter.
The identity has been lost in the crowd to
a certain extent, the individuality has lost
its sheen just a bit. One has to work
harder, much harder than in college and
trust me you cannot be known for the
wrong reasons, it hurts your career pretty
bad.
But one thing that will hold you in
good stead will be the four years that you
have spent here. It’s not as much about
the education, the technical knowledge
but more about the variety of experiences
that you have shared with your friends,
not so good friends, faculty members,
seniors and juniors alike. It teaches you a
lot. And you realize its worth only when
“To say that life
changes would be
an understatement
in itself”
you come out into this real world. Succeeding professionally is tougher than
academically and it is this challenge that
makes it all the more enjoyable, the challenge to be the best of what you are and
to make a name for yourself.
Of course life moves on and this
is just another phase of life where you will
meet new friends will be entrusted with
new responsibilities and will learn new
things both on the personal as well as
professional front. You would often get
those bouts of nostalgia about college
days and the fun you used to have, but
trust me this phase of life too would be as
enjoyable if not more.
are a fresher. College was a very small
—Deepak Nanwani (2008 Pass-out)
IIChE Students’ Chapter Newsletter
Page 14
Placement Report
The situation as of now:
B. Tech.: 21 out of 25 placed. 1 out of 4 left had already M.S on his mind well before the placements. 10 out of
21 placed are placed in core companies, 5 in the financial sector and 6 in the IT field.
GAIL and ONGC in sight. Hoping for the best.
Our recruiters so far are:
“You have to have
the confidence to
back up your work
and say that what
you did mattered.”
Company
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.
Engineers India Ltd.
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
Reliance Industries Ltd.
SAIL
TCE Consulting Engineers Ltd.
Headstrong
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Tata Consultancy Services
Patni Computer Systems
John Deere
Sector
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core Consultancy
Financial Consultancy
Financial Consultancy
IT Consultancy
IT
IT
No. of offers
1
1
3
1(PPO)
2
2
4
1
2
3
1
Our point of view:
“Recession” did affect placements, but that wasn’t hard to forecast and up till now, we are in a better
situation than out counterparts at most of the other IITs. Most of the students have come to terms with the
situation in hand and the apprehensions that followed the withdrawals of most of the core companies.
Advice and Inferences: The scenario will again change next year with the recession factor diminishing
(hopefully) and the number of students increasing for the jobs. So the following inferences based on this year
and advices may help you to make the best decision possible
1. Most of the companies kept their CPI cutoff at 7.5, so no points for guessing, CPI has to be kept above
7.5 to be absolutely sure of getting a shot at that companies.
2. Extracurricular activities help a lot given the above CPI cutoff so it’s the balancing act you have to keep
in mind. Don’t flow away with either that your post would do everything or that academics is the only
criteria.
3. A usual and clichéd point, but keep your resume true, or else you could be in for a ride. This is the most
important of all. Don’t try to show off, the people on the other side of table are smart enough to catch
you.
4. Keep your options open to be in a comfortable position like going for higher studies, MBA or civil services etc.
5. Does industrial internship help for the placements? Or is it better to have an academic internship? The
answer will be, whatever you do, it should be fruitful. You have to have the confidence to back up
your work and say that what you did mattered. Do ask your seniors for advice.
6. Most of the non-core companies test you for aptitude and some even for your command on English or
programming languages. A preparation for that will be of immense help.
If the above subjective points are kept in mind, the sailing would be smooth. Rest you can always blame your
stars.
—Kunal Prakash Mishra (B. Tech. 4th year)
Volume 1, Issue 2
Page 15
Survey
We conducted an online survey among the IITG Students. The results are published below.
1. What do you see as a future career option as of now?
Others
8%
Can't say
16%
MS/PhD
24%
MS/PhD
MBA
JOB
Can't say
JOB
25%
MBA
27%
Others
2. If you are going for a job, which field do you prefer?
10%
Core Sector
12%
IT Sector
8%
Consultancy & Analytics
70%
Doesn't Matter as long as I am
Placed
3. Which do you think is the better solution to the "Elective" HS courses problem of highly uneven distribution of students in different courses?
16%
4%
Forcing equal no. of students to join
all electives
Ensuring uniform grading and similar
course loads in all the electives
Can't Say
80%
IIChE Students’ Chapter Newsletter
Page 16
4. Are you satisfied with the handling of the terrorism situation by the government especially after the Mumbai attacks?
Can't Say
12%
YES
20%
YES
NO
Can't Say
NO
68%
5. Arguably Pakistan has been called the epicenter of terrorism. What could be the probable solution to it?
11%
1%
5%
Peaceful Dialogues
38%
International Interference
Surgical strikes on terrorist camps
All Out War
45%
It has been a year since the sad
demise of our friend Nitin
Miglani. In his memory, we decided to make some donations to
the Shishu Sadan (orphanage)
located just outside the IIT Campus. Donations included fooding, clothes for the inmates and
some other gifts. We also spent
some time with the children. It
was a fulfilling experience and
we encourage and urge you to
do something similar too, to help
the needy.
Doesn't affect me
Volume 1, Issue 2
We drive the world
Page 17
Acknowledgement
We are thankful to all the people who helped us in bringing out the second issue of this newsletter. First of all
we would like to thank Dr. Kaustubha Mohanty for his continuous support and guidance. We would also like to
thank all the students who gave some time to contribute to the newsletter without which this would not have been
possible.
- Bikrom & Kunal
Activities of IIChE-SC, IIT Guwahati
July 2008-till date, IIChE-SC has organized a workshop on CFD (Fluent) by Dr. Anugrah Singh. Other workshops
for the students and by the students are being organized on various topics like MATLAB, LATEX and CFX.
A picnic was also organized in which students along with faculty member went to Tapotaly. Internship talk by final
year UG students was also organized.
In the near future we are going to have a Quiz for our students and also an industrial visit to a paper mill nearby.
Tapotaly Picnic
Contact address:
The IIChE Student Chapter
Department of Chemical Engineering,
IIT Guwahati, Guwahati— 781 039
Phone: +91-361-2582300
Fax: +91-361-2690762
Email [email protected]