blog@Yantrajaal

Thanks to 50+ batches of B.Tech engineers who have passed out through its portals -- and have subsequently percolated into every kind of business on the planet -- IIT Kharagpur is a fairly well known name in the literate parts of the world. Riding on the back of this illustrious tenant, the sleepy railway junction of Kharagpur has emerged from the obscurity of being another town in Midnapore and has also achieved the status of place that people actually go to, not just merely come from ! Those of us who have been to Kharagpur or  arestill there are also aware that the institute premises  include the famous Hijli Jail and is adjacent to the Salua Airforce base which was the home of the Very Heavy Bomber Squadron of the RAF during the Second World War. But what is origin of the name Kharagpur ? A quick search through Google reveals that there are quite a few stories about the place but the consensus is that it is named after the Khargeshwar Shiva temple that is located in the ...

Just 20 kms from IIT Kharagpur, on the banks of the Kangshabati River ( aka Kansai, Cossye ) are the 300 year old ruins of some beautiful terracotta temples that were built by Bidyananda Ghoshal, the revenue collector of Ratnachowk Pargana appointed by Alivardi Khan, one of the notorious Nawabs of Bengal [ The Telegraph ] People have known about the ruins for quite some time and they do get a small but steady stream of visitors but it is the untiring work of Mohammad Yeasin Pathan, a resident of a nearby village , that has really helped preserve what was left of a unique slice of the heritage of South Bengal.         The following pictures are of a second series of ruins that are located a little away from the main road. These temples are better preserved and have intact Shivalinga idols that are still worshipped by the locals. To reach Pathra, one goes North from the National Highway 6 [ Bombay Road ] towards Midnapore. At the Kangsaba...

Ever since I have had a chance to read the series of books on the Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov I have had a great curiosity about and fascination for the imaginary science of psychohistory . But is psychohistory really imaginary ? Can we not use statistical simulation tools to model the behaviour of large human populations. Having toyed with this idea for a while, I thought of publishing it here [ since no journal will ever accept such heresy ]. Take a look  If anyone has an interest in this "science" let us collaborate !

Distance learning is a topic that excites all but remains a model that is yet to be cracked with any great degree of success. Mr Deepak Parekh, in his inaugural address at the CSI National Convention states that this market will be worth Rs 11 billion in 2012 but as of today will any company actually hire someone who has an MBA degree from an online program ? It is true that we have had correspondence courses from various open universities and of late many reputed universities like MIT and even our own IITs have come out with presentations and recorded videos that seek to distribute the wisdom of good teachers among students not enrolled with them. Video conferencing has also been tried but again, the fact that they are nowhere as popular as regular class room sessions means that there is something missing somewhere. But the fact remains that hunger for education – especially the kind of professional education that helps people get jobs – is immense. That is why private engineerin...

In an earlier post I had spoken about the nexus between college rankings and placement records and why this is not desirable but unfortunately inevitable. Here is a video where I reiterate the same.

The Kurumbhera Fort in West Midnapur, West Bengal -- that we had 'discovered' in my previous post -- holds interesting possibilities for the economic and cultural life of South Bengal. We are aware of the dance festivals at Konarak and Khajuraho so why can we not conceive of a similar cultural festival at Keshiary with the Kurumbhera Fort as the venue ? Located on almost one acre of enclosed space and with a ready made stage already built in -- as is evident in the picture of the North West corner shown above -- the fort will lend itself very readily to any kind of dance or dramatic performance with room to spare. Keshiary is located 30 km south of Kharagpur on perfectly motorable roads and there are enough bus routes that connect it not only to Kharagpur but also to traditional tourist spots like Digha in East Midnapur. However hotels or other forms of accomodation are hard to come by in this corner of the state that has missed the economic opportunities that have become a...

If you are not a student then the campus of IIT Kharagpur is a rather boring place on weekends. To pass the time and find something worthwhile to do, Indira googled for places of interest in the neighbourhood and located the page for tourist places in West Midnapore  . This pointed us to Kurumbhera Durgo ( or Fort Kurumbhera ) located near Keshiary, a little town located 22 km to the south of the campus. Today, morning we visited the place and you can see the pictures here. This so-called Fort is actually a temple that was demolished and converted into a simple mosque. Read this piece of history at Live History India . How to reach this place ? Take the road from IIT Kharagpur that goes southward towards Salua, Keshiary and Bhosraghat. Keshiary is 23 kms from the IIT gate. At Keshiary, take the left on the road to Belda. Go for about 2 kms until you reach the village of Kukai. Take the morram (kutcha, ...