My Days in B E College – a Memoir*

Title photo: I am receiving Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) degree from the President of India in the Annual Convocation of Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), my own Alma Mater, “in recognition of his outstanding contribution in engineering and his dedicated service to the nation.” (Jan. 19, 2013)

It was the ambition of my life to become an engineer. After independence of India in 1947, engineering became a very prestigious profession. In those days, Shibpur BE College was a highly prestigious institution in India. Of course, Roorkee Engineering College (now Roorkee University) was established earlier and was also very famous. I studied I. Sc. in Asutosh College during 1950-1952 with free tuition and lived in Asutosh College Hostel in Kalighat Road with free board and lodging because I received Calcutta University scholarship in my Matriculation examination. Dr. Kajal Gupta (1956 CE), the NASA Scientist, was my colleague at Asutosh College.

Although engineering was a very prestigious profession, our study in residential BE College was very expensive, and you have to sit in a highly competitive entrance examination. I studied very hard and attained the second position. I was accepted as a student in Electrical Engineering, I was eligible for Maintenance Scholarship (75 rupees per month in 9 installments and also free tuition) for my study, although the expenses were much higher. I became so excited that one day I came to see the BE College campus on a bicycle from my Tollygunge residence. After admission, I was allotted in a military-style barrack, where eight students were placed in one room. In fact, that was really a military barrack during the World War, when Prof. Pandey joined as a Principal.

The environment was very noisy and was extremely difficult to concentrate on studies. Most of the students started studying after our dinner at 8 PM. I remember that one night, we were ragged by the final year students. They invaded the barracks in the middle of the night, raised us from the beds and threatened to kill us. They also mixed purgative with the food that caused long queue in the latrines in the following morning.  In the reception ceremony on the following day, I raised my voice against this type of ragging.

In the later part of first year, I was allotted in Slatar Hall, the second year in Heaton Hall, and the third and final years in McDonald Hostel. While staying in Heaton, I read a book “Going to USA” which I will never forget. This essentially triggered my ambition for a study in USA. All these hostels accommodated eight students in one room, except McDonald which had single rooms. Barrack employees used to serve us breakfast and afternoon snack. The breakfast was normally toast with jam/jelly, egg, tea, etc., and afternoon snack was singara, rosogolla. etc., as you wish. Evening was the time to fill the accounts by the students. Lunch and dinner were very standard and stereotyped food. Lunch started at 11 AM after the morning classes, and dinner bell rang punctually at 8 PM, I still remember that at dinner time, the students climbed down the stairs wearing lungi and unified sound of “Kharam” on foot. Foudi, our barrack employee in Slater Hall, will dangle one roti at a time for dinner. He will tend to bypass you if you are asking too many. Group latrines for the Slater hall (along with Baby Slater) was also shared by Class 4 workers. Heaton Hall was essentially for non-Bengali students coming from outside Bengal. I shared a room in Heaton with seven other Kashmere students. On April-Fools day, the hostel served us vegetable chop with cow-dung. There was 9-O’ clock hostel return policy in the night, but hardly anybody obeyed the rule. If you return late at night, you could have all the surplus food you want.

Being a residential college, almost all the faculty staffs also lived in the same campus. The classes used to start at 7 AM, continued until 11 AM, and with a lunch gap of one and half hours, used to end at 3:30 PM. Most of the lectures were in the morning. Of course, Saturday had half-day classes. There were three terminal examinations, one Test examination, and then the Final one. BE Part-1 at the end of second year was extremely important, and then there was Part-2 in the final. If you do not clear Part-1 in time, you will have to sit in Part-2 in November with phase difference of six months (regular students clear Part-2 in May). If the results are unsatisfactory at the end of first year, you are expelled from college (CNR, meaning can not rejoin). I was in sick bed for third year final exam.

We did not have any text book for any course, and had to depend on the class notes only. Of course, there was a large furnished library, where you could study quietly with the help of books. Since the Periodical and Test examinations had no bearing for the final grade, most students did not care much for these. Only serious study begins after the Test. Then, most of the students would study until midnight for the Final examination. Again, as I said earlier, serious study for most of the students will usually start only after our dinner. Being a serious student, I got the title of “Gere” (গেঁড়ে) from my colleagues.

Saturday afternoon, after lunch was the time for going home. The students used to flock for bus no. 55 in Gate 1 and Gate 2. The bus fare was 17 paise for going to Howrah station. Again, Sunday afternoon, all will return to their hostels with a bag of food cooked by their mother. I did not have any relative in Calcutta, and so, I used to stay in hostel, or will possibly take a walk in the Botanical Garden or on the bank of river Ganges nearby. If any interesting event occurred in the Garden, such as Movie shooting or visit by Sarojini Naidu College lady students, the information was quickly relayed to others by the Downing hostel students nearby.

One important annual event in the college we can never forget. That was the Annual Reunion Festival. It was a big three-day all-night event for all the students, faculty, non-teaching staff and ex-students from Calcutta. Most of the renowned singer-artists from Calcutta like Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, Alpana Banerjee, Satinath Mukhopadhyay, Utpala Sen, and many such renowned artists used to entertain us with their golden voice and melodies. I remember, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay used to charge 1600 rupees for 16 songs. The last night was reserved for classical music. I was never a fond of classical music (may be, I did not understand them), and therefore, I used to avoid most of them. Their musical tunes used to reverberate in our minds for several days after the Reunion.

It is interesting to note that near the later period of my college-days, a stream of American university professors came to BE College under the USA-India Technical Cooperation Mission (TCM) scheme. Prof. Ralph Benedict from the University of Wisconsin was one of them. He taught us a course on Industrial Electronics in the pattern of the Wisconsin course. That triggered my ambition to study industrial electronics in USA.

The four years of engineering study gradually passed by. We developed our manhood, and our prestige in society grew gradually. As my knowledge matured, and as the technology of the outside world was exposed to me, I could develop my ambition for further graduate study in USA which was highly advanced in science and technology of that time.

During our four years of BE College days, we grew deep rooted friendships with our colleagues of Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, Architecture and Metallurgy streams. This friendship lasted forever in our life. In May 1956, I completed my study in with a first class degree. We were 16 final year students in Electrical stream. Hiralal Mukherjee stood first, Joydeb Nandi stood second, and I had the third position (no regret). Hiru’da had a B. Sc. (Hons.) degree from Presidency College, and he was our math-Guru in the class. I knew that getting a first class degree was extremely difficult. I could get an internship in Tata Hydro Electric Co. in Bombay for my post-graduate Government of India Training for 18 months with a monthly stipend of Rs. 200.

After completion of my training in Bombay, I was looking for an opportunity to go to USA, for my higher study, but unfortunately, I had no means. One fine morning, I came across an advertisement in The Statesman newspaper “Government of India wants to recruit 35 students for higher education in USA”. I applied immediately and appeared for an interview in New Delhi, where I was selected for M.S. degree in the University of Wisconsin, Madison, under the US-sponsored TCM scheme (now USAID). This was a very exciting and unexpected career opportunity for me. Of course, I had to sign a bond that after completion of my studies, I would have to return to India and serve in a university for three years. Obviously, I preferred BE College as the place for my new employment.

On my return in 1960, I joined BE College as a Lecturer with a total salary of Rs.350/month, and thus a new chapter of my life began. Prof. S. N. Ray was the Head of the Department. He assigned me to teach Hydro Electric Plant (elective) and Industrial Electronics in the final year, and Advanced Electro Technology in third year. A photo of my colleagues, Faculty of Electrical Engineering Department (1960) is given here.

The college Principal A. C. Roy assigned me a D-type quarter (residence), and I started my teaching career with full enthusiasm. This was possibly the best period of my professional career. BE College was at the peak of its glory in those days.

I could develop close friendships with my final year students, particularly those who took Hydro Electric Plant. The students used to come to my residence freely. The names of some of them are Manoj Ghosh, Narayan Choudhury, Madav Saha, Dilip Bhattacharyya, and few more, all the names I can not remember after so many years, (6 decades). I introduced a new Take-Home examination system in the final year in the pattern of Wisconsin University. We had to teach courses memorizing the whole lecture content (unlike a Western university), and this was not easy in a course which involved a lot of mathematics (like advanced ET). Soon, I was recognized as a good teacher, and the students liked me. I remember that often during rainy days, students used to come to my quarter in a group and ask “Ajke Cheredin Sir” (please no class today!), and I often used to comply with their request only to become popular.

The days passed by. Prof. Makhan Dasgupta (1942) (in the picture, sitting third from left) became the department head, and then Dr. Sankar Sen (1948) (sitting at the left) became the HOD. At that time, in the Electrical Engineering department, only Dr. Sen had the Doctorate degree, and all others had master’s degree. In 1961, I became Associate Assistant Professor with a total monthly salary of Rs.550 and also got a B-Type quarter from the Principal.

Soon, the days of my misery started. One day, Principal Roy called me in his office and asked me to take NCC Officers’ training course (I completed B-Certificate and became Lans Corporal as undergraduate student). I was assigned for three months in Kamptee and two months in Secunderabad. This was a devastating blow in my career. Somehow, I completed my training and became a Second Lieutenant. But soon, I resigned from NCC because I did not like it.

I was very serious in my doctoral research in Magnetic Amplifiers under Dr. S.S. Baral (Head of Telecom Dept.) as my official adviser. For my research, I also got a lot of help from Dr. H. Storm of GE-CRD, Schenectady, and Prof. R.H. Englemann of Cincinnati University. Dr. Englemann came to BE College as a Visiting Professor. I developed a novel magnetic amplifier telemetry encoding circuit which was considered by NASA Langley Research Center for possible spacecraft application. In 1966, I submitted my doctoral thesis to Calcutta University in 1965 and got my Ph.D. degree.  Such a part-time doctoral study (in the pattern of UK) was possible in Calcutta University. Dr. Baral also helped me to get the PRS (Premchand Roychand Scholarship) from Calcutta University.

In the 1960’s, Government of India introduced the advanced teachers training scheme and identified BE College as one of the centers for this training. Streams of graduate students from other colleges across India came to our department for a Master’s degree under this scheme. It gave me an opportunity to do extensive research in magnetic amplifiers, transistors and thyristors, and publish many papers in Indian journals. Unfortunately foreign publications were always discouraged in BE College. So, we had to spend our own money for mailing manuscripts aboard. I had to appear for Public Service Commission interview for my promotion to Assistant Professorship.  Amitava Mustafi (1953) (standing next to me) was another candidate, (in fact my competitor). In spite of my doctorate degree, superiority in research and reputation in teaching, Amativa’da got this faculty position. Unfortunately, promotion in BE College did not always depend on the quality of the candidate. In 1968, I was promoted to Assistant Professor, and then Associate Professor in 1970 (by seniority) in the department.

Unfortunately, the downfall of BE College gradually started from the late 1960’s. It was essentially an undergraduate institution and hardly there was any research atmosphere. Most of the faculty members were Bengalee and were grown locally from BE College. In addition, being a residential college, it was a fertile ground for “narrow campus politics”. The political condition in West Bengal was also deteriorating at this time. From the beginning of 1970’s, our students became misguided victims of Naxal-CPM party rivalry. Along with the deterioration of faculty members, the student discipline tended to disappear from the college resulting our deep fear because of this. Because of my US education, I was identified as a “CIA agent” and got an anonymous life-threatening letter. I remember in one midnight some Naxal students knocked at the door of my quarter that caused a shivering fear. I opened the door. They came to me to collect money for the party. They happily went away when I gave them some money.

The college was fast deteriorating in academic standard because of these problems. Unfortunately, this downward spiral never recovered in the later years. On the other hand, the IITs were blossoming with high standard. BEC soon became a second grade institution. I had to take a difficult decision in my career. Should I stay here and rot my career, or try to go abroad for better opportunity?

Gradually, a better opportunity knocked my door. In 1968, Manoj Pal (1965), the Gold Medalist student of BE College, did his Master’s thesis with me in Magnetic Amplifiers. Dr. B.L. Dikshitulu, a renowned professor of IISc. Bangalore was the external examiner of his thesis. He was highly impressed with the quality of the research and invited me at Bangalore to present a seminar on magnetic amplifiers. They were highly impressed with my presentation.

So, I could develop stronger confidence in my career. And because of the deteriorating conditions of BEC, I wrote to Prof. Benedict (he was my M.S. thesis adviser) about my desire for a possible job opportunity in a US university. With his advice, I applied to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and surprisingly, got an offer as a Visiting Associate Professor for nine months. Because of the job offer, it was easy for me to get the immigration Visa with Green Card. I may mention here that in 1970-1971 period, many BEC graduates were emigrating to USA. I gave recommendations to many including Manoj Pal. Manoj and other students were persuading me all along to go to USA particularly for my US education.

However, I faced many problems. Prof. Durga Banerjee, the then Principal, refused to recommend my passport application. Fortunately, the Registrar approved it in his absence. I need to give six months advance notice to BE College for my resignation. There was no official offer yet from RPI. I gave back-dated resignation letter which was held in the office by Asu Babu until I got the formal offer from RPI. Also, I needed to get clearance from the Writers’ Building, Income Tax Office, and also from BE College. The tax office informed me that my record was missing. I searched for one whole day to find my tax record. Getting clearance from the Writers’ Building was also difficult because the staff who handles the files demanded bribe. Getting a clearance from BE College was also a difficult task. To get money from my Provident Fund account in AG Bengal to finance my US passage was also a formidable problem. For visa, I had to visit US Consulate office in Harrington St. (now Ho Chi Min Sarani) hiding my face in a taxi so that Naxals could not identify me. I solved all the problems one by one. Again, I had the fear whether I would survive in RPI (private university of high standard) after my BE College career for eleven years. I prepared myself for six long months for RPI career while in BE College. Then, one day, I finally arrived at the RPI campus in USA with my family. I could walk on the street safely in the evening. What a sigh of relief! A chapter of my life ended, and another chapter started with all the challenges ahead.

I was an Endowed Chair Professor (Condra Chair of Excellence in Power Electronics) at the University of Tennessee from 1987 until 2003, where I was responsible to introduce power electronics education and research program. Concurrently, I was the Distinguished Scientist (1990-1992) and the Chief Scientist (1987-1989) of EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) Power Electronics Applications Center (PEAC) in Knoxville, TN, USA. Prior to that, I was a Research Engineer in GE Corporate Research and Development (GE-CRD) (now GE Global Research Center), Schenectady, NY, USA for 11 years (1976-1987). From 1971 to 1976, I was an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA.

I received the B.E. degree (May 1956) from Shibpur, M.S. degree (1960) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Ph.D. degree (1966) from Calcutta University. I have contributed in research that include high-frequency-link power converters, advanced control techniques by microcomputers, invention of transistor ac power switch for matrix converters, adaptive hysteresis-band current control, AI applications in power electronics and drives, etc.

In addition, I have authored/edited eight books in Power Electronics: Power Electronics and Motor Drives -Advances and Trends (1st Edition (2006) and 2nd Edition (2020), Academic Press), Power Electronics in Renewable Energy Systems and Smart Grid (IEEE Press/Wiley, 2019, Ed.), Modern Power Electronics and AC Drives (Prentice Hall, 2001), Power Electronics and Variable Frequency Drives (IEEE Press/Wiley, 1997,Ed.), Modern Power Electronics (IEEE Press, 1992, Ed.), Microcomputer Control of Power Electronics and Drives (IEEE Press, 1987, Ed.), Power Electronics and AC Drives (Prentice Hall, 1986), and Adjustable Speed AC Drive Systems (IEEE Press, 1982, Ed.). I hold 21 US Patents.

I am an elected member (2017) of the US National Academy of Engineering. I became the IEEE Fellow in 1989 and Life Fellow in 1996. I received the IEEE Power Electronics Society Newell Award (2005), the IEEE Millennium Medal (2000), the Meritorious Achievement Award in Continuing Education (1997), the IEEE Lamme Gold Medal (1996), the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IES) Eugene Mittelmann Achievement Award (for lifetime achievement)(1994), the IEEE Region 3 Outstanding Engineer Award (1994), the Industry Applications Society Outstanding Achievement Award (1993), the GE Silver Patent Medal (1986), the GE Publication Award (1985), Calcutta University Mouat Gold Medal (1970) and Premchand Roychand Scholarship (PRS) (1968), Honorary Professorship of Shanghai University, China (1991 ), University of Mining and Technology, China (1995), X’an Mining Institute, China (1998), and Guest Professor of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China (2003).

I also received the IIEST Shibpur Alumni Association “Lifetime Achievement Award (2018)”, the IIEST Distinguished Alumnus Award (2006), the D, Sc. Degree (Honoris Causa) (2013), Distinguished Lecturer of IAS and IES, and a number of prize paper awards. The IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine published a special issue (June 2009) “Honoring Bimal Bose and celebrating His Contributions in Power Electronics”. The IES Bimal Bose Energy Systems Award was established in 2014 which was funded by the IEEE Foundation and the IEEE IE Society. And I also donated 2.5 lakh rupees to IIEST Shibpur in 2010 to introduce the yearly B. K. Bose Distinguished Lecture Program

File photo: Dr. Ajit Chattopadhyay (1958 EE) is inaugurating the B. K. Bose Distinguished Lecture Program 2010. Sitting from left: Prof. Ajoy Ray (Director), Prof. V. Ramnarayan (Lecturer), Prof. Ajit Das and Prof. Srikumar Mallick. 

I had the unique privilege to be a BE C0ollege student for four years as well as a faculty member for eleven years. I decided to add my Curriculum Vitae for completeness of my challenging career. Finally, before concluding, I would like to share the following lessons which I learned in my life:

• Need to have the basic ingredients for success: Self -Discipline, Ambition, Diligence, Honesty

• Should have long-term as well as short-term career goals – climb one step at a time solving all the obstacles – never give-up obstacles until overcome

• A simple and unsophisticated life- style with some spiritual bend

• Have a Guru in life whom you can emulate

• Maintain a private diary – describing all your aspirations, problems and progresses in life

• If you have a problem to solve, analyze it from all the angles – never take impulsive decision

• At the end of a day, analyze what you accomplished and then plan for next day

• In a new environment, talk a little but listen a lot to learn

• 2018: Lifetime Achievement Award by IIEST Alumni Association of North America

• 2017: Elected Member of National Academy of Engineering “for contributions to advancing power electronics technology and power conversion and education”

• 2015: Dr. Bimal Bose Energy Systems Award established by IEEE Industrial Electronics Society and funded by IES and IEEE Foundation

• 2013: Bengal Engineering and Science University Doctor of Science Degree (Honoris Causa) from the President of India “in recognition of Outstanding Contribution in Engineering and Dedicated Service to The Nation”

• 2006: Bengal Engineering and Science University Distinguished Alumnus Award  “for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession and the Alma Mater”

• 2005: IEEE* Power Electronics Society William W. Newell Award “for Outstanding Achievements in the Interdisciplinary Field of Power Electronics”

• 2003: Guest Professor of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China

• 2000: IEEE* Millennium Medal “for Outstanding Contributions in Power Electronics”

• 1998: Honorary Professor (and Honorary Director of Elec. Eng. Inst.) of Xi’an Mining Institute, China

• 1997: IEEE* Meritorious Achievement Award in Continuing Education  “for Exemplary and Sustained Contributions to Continuing Education”

• 1996: IEEE* Lamme Gold Medal (1996) “for Contributions to the advancement of Power Electronics and Electrical Machine Drives”

• 1996: IEEE* Life Fellow (1996) (Fellow in 1989) “for Contributions in Power Electronics and Drives Technology”

• 1996: Honorary Professor of China University of Mining and Technology, China (1996)

• 1994: IEEE* Industrial Electronics Society  Dr. Eugene Mittelmann Award “in Recognition of Outstanding Contributions to Research and Development in the Field of Power Electronics and Life Time Achievement in the Area of Motor Drives”

• 1994: IEEE* Region 3 Outstanding Engineer Award “for Outstanding Achievements in Power Electronics and Drives Technology “

• 1993: IEEE* Industry Applications Society Outstanding Achievement Award “for Outstanding Contributions in the Applications of Electricity to Industry”

• 1991: Honorary Professor of Shanghai University, China

• 1986: GE Silver Patent Medal

• 1985: GE Publications Award

• 1970: Calcutta University Mouat Gold Medal and Premchand Roychand Scholar “for Research Contribution in Magnetic Amplifiers and Industrial Electronics”

• Distinguished Lecturer of IEEE*– Industry Applications Society

• Distinguished Lecturer of IEEE* – Industrial Electronics Society

• Four – Prize paper awards

* The IEEE is the largest international professional organization in the world.