Account of My First Phase Stay (2006-11) at the University of Hyderabad

Receiving Achievers Award from Dr. Y. V. Reddy, the Former RBI Governor in presence of Prof. Seyed E. Hasnain, Former VC, UoH and Prof. V. Kannan, Former Pro-VC, UoH

I’m from Rosera town in Bihar. My stay at the University of Hyderabad while pursuing my Integrated Masters Programme has been a journey to discover myself. By the time my name was shortlisted for admission interview for the Integrated Masters Programme at the UoH, I was already admitted to an engineering college at Kolkata in IT stream and my visit to Hyderabad was more to see the city than to attend my interview.

But, when I interacted with the interview board at the UoH, I got highly impressed by the infrastructure, teachers, and the course plan itself. Everyone falls in love with the natural beauty of the campus and I was no exception too. When I finally got admission in Integrated Masters Programme in Mathematical Sciences here, many people didn’t find it rational on my part to leave an engineering course in IT and join the first batch of 5-year Integrated Masters Programme in Basic Sciences at the UoH. Although, I was also not completely sure in the beginning if it was a wise decision but, very soon I was able to substantiate and justify my decision.

In initial first two years, we had courses from various streams of basic sciences, humanities and social sciences with good level of flexibility to choose courses of choice with excellent supporting infrastructure and faculty support. The course has the flexibility to completely shift to other discipline after 2 years, subject to fulfilment of curtain criteria and it’s very unique in the country. I did some courses in Economics and discovered my high interest in that discipline. After 2 years, I was allowed to shift from Mathematical Sciences to Economics; I got my final masters degree in Economics.

The course was planned in such a way that with basic training in all disciplines and further proper specialisation in a particular discipline in later years, a student could get proper foundation and training to contribute effectively as a researcher or take some leadership role in corporate world and other organisations.

During my stay at the UoH, I got selected to participate in following prestigious programmes:

• “2nd Mathematics Summer School through Instructional Workshop”, organised by Uttarakhand Council for Science & Technology (UCOST) at GBPEC, Pauri (Uttarakhand) in May 2007.
• “Mathematics Training and Talent Search Programme (MTTS)” organised by National Board of Higher Mathematics (NBHM), Dept. of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India) at RIE, Mysore in May 2008.
• “First Science Conclave-Interaction with Nobel Laureates” (organised by DST & MHRD, Govt. of India) at IIIT, Allahabad in December 2008.
• “IIT Madras Summer Fellowship Programme 2009” during May-July 2009.
• “First Parliament of Indian Students’ Council Leaders” organised by MIT School of Government, Min. of Higher & Technical Education (Govt. of Maharashtra) and UNESCO at Pune in January, 2011.

I did my academic project on my home state on issues related to economic development in Bihar. I was recipient of UoH Achievers Award during 2007-09. I must admit that UoH has one of the best culture of close and healthy interaction with faculty and administration and openness to support various initiatives to nurture other forms of learning for students.

Throughout my school and university education, I’ve been a keen participant in extra-curricular activities. I thoroughly enjoy the challenges that these activities have and this has helped me in developing my interpersonal and organisational skills with an increased sense of self-confidence. I’ve got a deep interest in working for social causes and was able to satisfy my activism at the UoH. I undertook various leadership roles at the university like Chairperson of Hostel Committee, Election Commission role, School Board Member in Students Union that gave me ample exposure to understand many real life situation in a practical way.

Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia at the UoH during a SPIC MACAY concert

I started University of Hyderabad Sub-Chapter of SPIC MACAY (a student participatory and non-political socio-cultural NGO working across educational campuses all over the world for enriching education through the vehicle of Indian Classical Music and Cultural Heritage) in 2007; in 5 years, we could organise more than 100 programmes and this placed the UoH as one of the most active centres for SPIC MACAY activities; about 200 students have volunteered for the SPIC MACAY-UoH Sub-Chapter. Some of the artists who have graced the SPIC MACAY- UoH Sub-Chapter are: Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia (Bansuri), Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Mohan Veena), Pt. Birju Maharaj (Kathak), Dr. Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana (Carnatic Vocal), Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant (Bharatnatyam), Prof. T. N. Krishnan (Carnatic Violin), Ustad R F Dagar (Dhrupad), Shri T. N. Sankarnarayanan (Carnatic Vocal), Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan (Hindustani Vocal), Dr. Teejan Bai (Pandavani), Legendary play ‘Charan Das Chor ‘directed by Janab Habib Tanveer, Dr. Ileana Citaristi (Odissi), Smt. Kavita Dwibedi (Odissi), Smt. Susmita Bannerjee (Kathak), Shri Margi Madhu (Koodiyattam), Shri Bhaskar Kogga Kamath (Yakshagana Gombeyatta), Shri J. Gurappa Chetty (Kalamkari) and many more. It’s always refreshing to remember the SPIC MACAY group that got immense love and support from all sections of the UoH community and people did find it as a voluntary forum where they can join irrespective of their all other backgrounds, get exposed to and contribute their bit towards experiencing the Indian culture and heritage and of course learn a lot in the process. In 2009, I got selected as the Secretary for SPIC MACAY- Hyderabad Chapter.

I volunteered for number of events organised by the UoH Event Management Team. I assisted the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) as Student Coordinator for “National Youth Convention on RTI and Southern Regional RTI Convention” held at Hyderabad in 2009. About 800 delegates from all over India participated in the convention.

In my final year at the UoH, I took charge of the Student Coordinator for the Economics Placement Cell. Planned effort, team work and commensurable support from the Placement Guidance and Advisory Bureau, resulted in about 25 students getting placed in different organisations like, Tata Motors, Union Bank of India, Andhra Bank, HSBC Analytics, Indian School of Business (ISB), TVS Motors etc. with an average salary of ₹ 5 lakh per annum.

With Prof. Naresh K. Sharma and Hemant Khachi during NSS Prize Distribution Ceremony

University of Hyderabad gave me excellent platform to explore my inner strengths, to do lots of experiments with real life situations, to learn new things and to unlearn many other things. I could successfully overcome my stammering problem and it could never be an obstacle for my active participation in academic and extra-curricular activities; and the UoH had a great role to play in this. I’ve got amazing lifetime friends and mentors during my stay at the UoH and feel very privileged about this.

Post my Integrated Masters degree, I worked as Research Associate at the Indian School of Business (ISB) for 2 years. I’ve initiated the UoH Economics alumni networking activities and have been working on the same for last 2 years. Presently, I serve SPIC MACAY as a National Executive member. I also interact with students from all over India and abroad to guide them on various career options after HSC.

Swami Vivekananda and Subhash Chandra Bose have been my ideals. I find my long term career plan aligned with goals that can have real positive impact upon society. “Keep Smiling” is my mantra and I firmly believe that bringing genuine “Smiles” on people’s faces can be one’s greatest support and contribution to the cause of humanity and everyone in this world has got some ability to do so. It doesn’t require a big sacrifice but only a small initiative at individual level. I complete my submission with the following quote from our beloved Gandhi Jee:

“There is Happiness when, what we think, what we say and what we do are in Harmony.”

Keep Smiling !!! J

I had prepared this article originally for the UoH Herald. It's posted here: http://uohherald.commuoh.in/i-discovered-myself-at-the-university-of-hyderabad/