1st August 2014

On the very first day of the Foundation Program, Ms. Jasbirkaur Thadani and

Rahul Pardasani were invited to interact with the new batch in the forenoon.

Afternoon sessions were occupied with Paper Toys Workshop.

Ms. Jasbirkaur Thadani (Student Counsellor, IIT Gn)

Foundation Program at Institute of Infrastructure Technology Research And

Management began with the Counselling session by Jasbirkaur Thadani Student

Counsellor from IIT Gandhinagar. She began the session with refreshing and

enlightening activities. She asked the students to come out of the framed psyche

and also through self-learning exercise cum experiments gave them the idea of not

tagging the other in their surroundings. She had two sessions with the students

another on the last day of the Foundation Program which resulted into a wonderful

experience for the young students to learn about their own psychology and

behavior. The students learnt the things with enthusiasm and enjoyed the new way

of thinking.

Rahul Pardasani, a photographer, documentary film maker, media consultant

and social activist visited IITRAM and delivered lecture on 1st day of foundation

program on Media, Social Consciousness and Social Change. He explained how a

single picture or short film can transform a very strong message to the society.

Media has great impact on our life. A single story can bring huge change. He

explained that we must not be just educated but we should be a real human. When

one of us changes our behaviour, this has a ripple effect in our community,

encouraging others to do the same. In this way, we all have the power to build an

active civic society. It starts with the simple acts of standing up and doing the right

thing. In this informative era he gives one formula, “Create Good, Connect With

good and Share Good”."

Paper Toys Workshop made a fabulous recreational rejuvenation of students’

creativity. At the onset of the Foundation Program this workshop was organized by

a State awardee, Ms. Nilu Patel who is associated with an NGO. Her skillfulness

startled the students and inspired to use their creativity with eco-friendly approach.

Simple old newspapers got different shapes of useful articles to use in day to day

life like tea-coasters, night lamps, baskets, fruit containers, candle stands, table-

mats etc. The artful craft was embraced with great zest by the students as well as

faculties.

2nd August 2014

On the second day IITRAM had arranged Paper toys workshop, Diagonistic Test

for Physics and English along with the Theatre Workshop.

Vikram Academy of Performing Arts – Workshop on Theatre and Classical

Dance

A group of enthusiasts - a famous actor cum teacher, Dr. Vikram Panchal, Prof.

Rekha Mukherjee and Shaunak Vyas with their team – shook the students with

beats of music for different folk dances of Gujarat including Garba, Daangi, Raas

and theatrical activities like skit and mime. The 5 days’ workshop consisted of

great efforts from both the trainers and trainees alike.

Non-Gujarati students learned to match their steps for Garba, Daangi and Raas

forms of Gujarati folk dances. All the students were divided into three groups and

were trained with the tune of music. The trainers gave a basic knowledge about the

different dance styles and the areas they have originated in. The entire team put

their maximum energy and skills into teaching the dance steps.

The theatrical activities with utmost enthusiasm were done by the same group of

actors and dancers of Vikram Academy of Performing Arts. They taught the

students how one can increase the confidence level, voice clarity, stamina, eye-

contact, body language etc. through stage activities. The skit – 10 minute drama

with dialogues and Mime – the dialogue-less 5 minute act with facial and bodily

expressions were taught. Different groups all together worked hard to learn acting

and delivering dialogues. The trainers prepared students for different theatrical

activities – skit, mime in particular – with variety of themes. Patriotism,

corruption, independence and women empowerment were the basic motto of their

teaching acting.

On the last day of the workshop, the students were fully charged with confidence,

self-awareness and many skills. They were satisfactorily delighted with the

practice they gained through the team of Vikram Academy of Performing Arts.

4th August 2014

On the third day of the Foundation Program IITRAM had esteemed guest Dr.

Anandsen Gupta IIT Gn, Movie by Movie Club IITRAM and Cultural Dance

Workshop.

COSMOLOGY By: Prof. Anand Sengupta (IIT Gandhinagar)

We were honored to have Prof. Anand Sengupta with us during foundation

program. He is an esteemed academician at IIT Gandhinagar. His talk was based

on a very interesting topic of Cosmology. For a good part of his talk he educated

students about huge scope of Astrophysics and Cosmology in contemporary

technological world. He informed us that the researchers round the globe are

engaged in the analysis of developing and implementing search algorithms for

detection of astrophysical gravitational waves in data from advanced/future laser

interferometer gravitational wave detectors, general relativity, gravitational-wave

astronomy, and statistical signal processing.

Prof. Anand Sengupta also informed students about the IndIGO (Indian Initiative

in Gravitational-wave Observations) consortium and signatory to IndIGO’s

memorandum of understanding with the international LIGO Scientific

Collaboration (LSC). This educational and energetic talk inspired students and

created their interests for cosmology

Movie Club (IITRAM)

IITRAM runs few interesting clubs and one of them is Movie Club - to relax and

chillax during academic hullabaloo. The motive of this club is to get together and

enjoy watching quality movies. During foundation program, very interesting Will

Smith starring movie The Pursuit of Happiness was shown to the enthusiastic

audience. The Pursuit of Happiness is a 2006 American biographical drama film

based on Chris Gardner's nearly one-year struggle with homelessness. The students

joyfully enjoyed the screening of the movie.

5th August 2014

The fourth day consisted of a session with Vikaram Academy of Performing Arts,

Diagnostic Test in Mathematics, Poster Presentation by senior students and Sports

Activities.

Poster Presentation by Senior Students

Students of Semester III were sent to different academic and industrial places for

internship during their vacation after their second semester. They were assigned

many tasks and duties to get through in their respective places. The response was

overwhelming and encouraging. The senior students prepared Posters with their

inputs and outputs and whatever they experienced during their internships. They

were vocal enough to represent and describe the details to junior students with

utmost care and vigor. Judges were also called from different HR departments of

companies. They declared the best three students and the presentation was ended

up with high tea.

Sports Activities

Under the supervision of IITRAM coach and faculty, new students were made to

take part in different physical and mental exercises. Indoor games like Chess, one

minute games, flour games, ‘choose a right ball’, time trial games such as one-leg

race etc. were played among the students to increase their mental stamina and

sportsman spirit. The outdoor games were not possible due to rainy weather.

6th August, 2014 Wednesday

This day had a knowledge packed forenoon and a cultural-musical dancing practice

in afternoon. Dr. Ketan Kotecha and Dr. Aragam Prasanna were the key resource

persons to address our young minds. A session by Vikram Academy followed

them.

Dr. Ketan Kotecha, Director at Nirma University and the esteemed member of

Academic Council, IITRAM gave an enlightening and thought provoking lecture

on Critical and Creative Thinking. He opened up totally a new vision that one

should not rely on the ready-made, available knowledge from internet but try to

develop a new thinking with questions like why?, what?, when? and how? He cited

many examples from our day to day lives. He made students understand the

importance of creativity and critical thinking instead of spoon feeding from the

Internet.

Prof. A. R. Prasanna, a very renowned theoretical physicist (retired) from

Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, visited the institute and

delivered a lecture on ‘universe and cosmology’. He explained how our universe

came into existence, how stars born and their life cycles and also about our

planetary system. He also fascinated students by showing a contribution of Indian

scientists like Dr. Chandrashekhar into astrophysics. He fascinated students and

faculties alike by presenting the original pictures of several stars, galaxies and

constellations taken by different satellites. Students satisfied their curiosity by

asking questions regarding astronomy.

7th August, 2014

The sixth day was consisting many wonderful sessions including Personality

Development Program by Dr. Nita Khurana, a lecture on ‘Ethics in Engineering’

by Dr. R. Sharan followed by a Poetry Workshop by Prof. William Wolak and a

fabulous Musical evening with Dr. Srinivas Reddy.

Personality Development Program by Dr. Nita Khurana (PDPU)

The session began with introducing the speaker to the students, who were present

in large numbers. Dr. Nita Khurana started with greeting the students, and

mentioning that she has a lot of reading material in the form of word documents

and powerpoint presentations of which she would cover only a small part but

would leave us a copy to go through at leisure. She expressed her willingness to

stay in touch with the students over the course of their study at IITRAM and help

with resume critiques, mock interviews etc when needed.

Dr. Khurana asked the students to introduce themselves to her and then gave

constructive feedback on aspects such as body language and tone of voice, to the

students who volunteered. She asked the students to think about what is their

passion and what makes them unique. Next, she spoke at length on various aspects

such as writing a resume, how to behave in an interview, and the need to network,

make contacts and stay in touch. One important message she gave was the need to

keep professional and personal lives separate, especially on social media. She

regaled the audience with anecdotes about her experiences as an interviewer, and

also attempted to do a mock interview with one student who volunteered.

The speaker’s oration had to be cut short due to the arrival of the speakers for the

next session, but Dr. Khurana indicated her willingness to be in touch over phone

and email, since the topic is vast and never ending. The session ended with

thanking the speaker and presenting her with a memento of appreciation.

Dr. R. Sharan on Engineering and Ethics

Dr. R. Sharan is a vast experienced, knowledgeable visiting Professor at IIT

Gandhinagar in Electrical Engineering. His subjects of interest vary from his core-

engineering to ethics, teaching, education and ‘thinking on thinking’.

He talked on what is ethical in education, how to think in positive manner and how

to improve education system with ethical insights. He raised questions on what is

‘good’ and what is ‘bad’ while inserting everything is contextual. It depends on the

perceptions one carries. The examples from the movie Matrix were cited to

understand the perception and its intended meanings.

The session was enormously interactive as students were encouraged to question

and answer on different abstract thoughts. The lecture was full of current examples

and day to day life experiences.

Poetry Workshop by Prof. William Wolak

A renowned Poet and Professor in English Department at Paterson University,

New Jersey, USA – Prof. William Wolak discussed ‘how to write poetry’. He is a

Full-bright fellowship awardee to visit different countries to create awareness

about life through the medium of poetry. His love for Hafez and Rumi with Iran

makes his poetry super enchanting.

The students were taught about the different genres of poetry like epic, ballad,

sonnet and elegy while the main form to learn was ‘Haiku’ – an ancient form of

Japanese poetry! The style, form and structure as well as useful tips on writing

were discussed in details. He instructed students how to use different words as

bricks to build a poem, how to use details of surroundings, how to use images,

metaphors, onomatopoeia, similes and personifications etc. He talked on different

seasons and its impacts on human psyche.

Prof. Wolak seemed to be in love with India and its culture. His vast knowledge

derived from his visits to Japan, China, Nepal, Thailand, Tibet etc. enriched his

talk about different weather, culture and their people.

Finally, Prof. Wolak made all the students write Haiku and other simple poems

wherein the efforts of students were immensely admired. The future engineers

came up with different themes with varieties of images and words. Students’

imagination was at work which made Prof. Wolak surprised with pleasure.

Music by Dr. Srinivas Reddy (IITGN)

The session was shifted to the open-air theatre impromptu, on Dr. Reddy’s

expressing interest in holding it outdoor. This was done after a quick check of the

weather. Dr. Reddy sat on the stage on a sheet of cloth and opened his sitar to play.

The students and faculty attendees followed suit by taking off their footwear and

sitting on the ground.

After Dr. Reddy was briefly introduced, he spoke on the problems plaguing India,

viz. lack of basic amenities such as water and electricity to many. He urged the

students to be thankful for what they have. He lamented about the declining

interest in the country’s traditions, arts and crafts and asked the students to be

aware and respectful of our fine arts such as music and dance, which are steeped in

tradition and have come down to us from the Vedas. Dr. Reddy also talked about

the gurukul tradition and said that student and teacher are equals, and the teacher

is happiest when a student exceeds the teacher in competence.

Dr. Reddy then played a Hindustani raga on the sitar for about 15 to 20 minutes

and everyone was in raptures. When one of the students asked for a raga in

Carnatic music Dr. Reddy hummed a few starting notes and made everyone hum

along with him, while praising the students for doing well in matching the tone of

voice. Dr. Reddy ended the session by wishing the students all the best and he was

thanked with a thunderous applause.

8th August, 2014

The last but not the least day of the Foundation Program had various important

people to get benefitted from. Ms. Jasbir Kaur Thadani again had a session with

the students to conclude her teachings with which they started their journey of

Foundation Program. Prof. Sharma and Mr. Girish Gupta were there to address the

students with their respective topics.

C. S. Sharma, Coordinator, Communication & Life Skills Programme (Student

Affairs Team) from IIT Gandhinagar, Visited the institute and delivered a lecture

on Communication and Personality Development. He interacted with the students

about how to aim their life and what should be their reaction to different situation

faced in their life time. His gave an inspirational talk to the students, so that they

get motivated to be an optimist. He himself was charged with extreme optimism

and vigor to generate the same in the students. Moreover in his talk he included

some great personalities like Charlie Chaplin, Adolf Hitler, Dhirubhai Ambani, and

some others. Students had a great time interacting with him.

Mr. Girish Gupta

A volunteer in Heritage Walk, energetic and enthusiastic gentleman, Mr. Girish

Gupta made a presentation on the history of Ahmedabad and its heritage. From the

beginning of the establishment of Ahmedabad to the recent developments going on

here were covered up in his wonderful presentation. How the saga of bravery seen

by Ahmed Badshaah was illustrated well. The first ever picture of ancient

Ahmedabad, structural and architectural beauty of ‘poles’, different gates of

Ahmedabad and many important sites were shown by him. The importance of

preserving the heritage was also a keen note of his address. Non-Ahmedabadis as

well as Ahmedabadis also got stuck with the rare information about the city and its

valued heritage. He concluded his presentation with the instructions for the next

day’s visit.

9th August, 2014

Heritage Walk

Early in the morning at 7.30 am, the students of IITRAM along with a team

of faculty members were ready to march in the city. The journey began from

IITRAM campus in two different buses and reached at Relief Road at

Swaminarayan Temple to accomplish the journey from ‘Mandir to Madjid’. Mr.

Girish Gupta with two other experienced volunteers cum guides made the students

and faculty aware about the historical significance of the temple and made them

walk through narrow lanes and streets of old ‘poles’ covering the Jama Masjid till

Sidi Saiyed Mosque by walk till 10.30 am. Then the buses took the direction

towards Hathisingh Derasar, ancient Jain Temple, nearby old gate of Delhi

Darwaja.

The next destination of the journey was very well known place – Sabarmati

Ashram - where the father of the Nation, M. K. Gandhi resided. The history was

lived here by the students and the faculty members alike in peaceful environment.

The lunch was arranged there only. After the lunch and historical knowledge, all

were taken to ‘Adalaj ni Vaav’ - Step Well, an architectural ancient beauty with

scientific approach to water harvesting. The students were fascinated by the

location and the ancient engineering. The last spot was Sarkhej Roza, an ancient

Mosque with extraordinary carvings and location. The journey ended with a vote

of thanks to the guides at around 6.00 PM happily and satisfactorily.