By Ashank Desai, M. Tech. Mech E, H1
There are a few items on the list of things that inspired me to give back to IIT Bombay!
I was doing a project in the Refrigeration and Heat Transfer area; I ended up completely redefining the scope thanks to Dr Narayankhedkar, my advisor, who gave me complete freedom to do whatever I wanted to do. That was my first taste of how freedom can help build confidence. That experience in turn took me into the Information Technology area which was quite new then. Taking up an ambitious project for simulating and optimising the design for refrigeration systems meant I could not use our own computer at IIT and had to travel to TIFR to use a more powerful computer . So, this mechanical engineer was converted to a computer buff, all because of IIT. My subsequent decision to found a Software company got inspired through my IIT project!
IIT instilled that professional and logical approach to solve any real-life problem. The hostel social life was an added benefit to building long-term friendships. Beyond this, the IIT connection opened the door to alumni from the entire IIT system across multiple countries. This proved to be an invaluable asset during the next four decades of my journey while building both the IT business and non-profit institutions. No wonder, all this inspired me to give back my time over last two decades to build SINE, the entrepreneurship institution of IIT Bombay, and, now, the corpus to expand the Public Policy centre at our alma mater.
IIT Bombay 1974 Reunion 