I did not expect writing this post would be so bittersweet. Last Teacher's Day, I decided I would use the occasion to highlight specific teachers, who have had an outsized impact on me.
Today, I am going to tell you about Kartic C. Khilar, or KCK as he was called at IIT Bombay. KCK was a central figure, and participant, as I navigated a period of multiple transitions.
Interestingly, I first "met" KCK even before I met him. The year I took the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) to apply for admission to IIT, he was the principal administrator. The only reason I remember is because he had a "killer" last name (so juvenile, I know!).
Like 200,000 other rats, I studied relentlessly for two years. JEE is like academic Olympics. We trained like mental athletes: cardio, weights, pilates, the whole nine yards. Then, the starting gun went off, and we scampered. The first two thousand got in.
Miraculously, I tumbled my way into IIT Bombay first, and then to the chemical engineering department. KCK was the head of the department, when my "batch" arrived.
He taught us fluid mechanics and solid-fluid operations. He was a fantastic teacher - one of the best I've had. His lectures were crisp. He was always cheerful. And he cared about all his students - not just toppers.
He had one striking attribute: no ego. No made up sense of self-importance, which is all the more remarkable given the power gap between teachers and students (especially in India). If you went to his office, he would listen, despite how busy he was, or how unimportant you were.
A highlight of the undergrad program at IIT is the B. Tech project (BTP), which is the undergrad equivalent of a PhD dissertation. Again, due to a random set of circumstances, he ended up being my BTP mentor. Over the course of the last year and half at IIT our interaction deepened, if only because we met one-on-one on a weekly basis to discuss research.
Research in the Fluid Mechanics lab was fun. I don't think I would have embarked on a research career, if I hadn't enjoyed this experience so much. This work on "colloid-facilitated contaminant transport" with KCK and his grad student at that time - Tushar Sen - would end up becoming my first peer-reviewed publication.
I ended up at the University of Michigan as a grad student, in no small part due to his kind word. Michigan was his alma mater too. He visited Ann Arbor twice, while I was there. Once, when I was a PhD student, and later just before I started my new academic job at Florida State. Each time I went to Bombay, I would meet him; usually over lunch or dinner.
Throughout this period, he selflessly offered his mind for me to pick, and his ocean of experience for me to draw from. At several points during this journey, I abandoned hopes of an academic career. Each time, he listened without judgment, and quietly held a mirror to my desire for autonomy and passion for teaching. For better or for worse, he was instrumental in me ending up on the trajectory I am currently on.
And I couldn't be more grateful! Sometimes you try to peek over the horizon, but you can't see what a taller person who has been to more places can (in my case, that is literally true too).
In 2009, I shut the door to my office and wept, when I learnt about his untimely passing. He was 57, in great mental and physical shape, and I always expected him to be around forever.
When I first encountered KCK in 1994, I knew him as an administrator. Later at IIT he became my chairman and teacher, before becoming my BTP supervisor.
Somewhere along the way, he became a mentor, and a close friend; emails that started with "Dear Prof. Khilar" eventually started with "Dear Kartic".
Today, even though I knew it would bounce, I nearly wrote (to his familiar email address), "Dear Kartic, you are sorely missed."
Today, I am going to tell you about Kartic C. Khilar, or KCK as he was called at IIT Bombay. KCK was a central figure, and participant, as I navigated a period of multiple transitions.
Interestingly, I first "met" KCK even before I met him. The year I took the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) to apply for admission to IIT, he was the principal administrator. The only reason I remember is because he had a "killer" last name (so juvenile, I know!).
Like 200,000 other rats, I studied relentlessly for two years. JEE is like academic Olympics. We trained like mental athletes: cardio, weights, pilates, the whole nine yards. Then, the starting gun went off, and we scampered. The first two thousand got in.
Miraculously, I tumbled my way into IIT Bombay first, and then to the chemical engineering department. KCK was the head of the department, when my "batch" arrived.
He taught us fluid mechanics and solid-fluid operations. He was a fantastic teacher - one of the best I've had. His lectures were crisp. He was always cheerful. And he cared about all his students - not just toppers.
He had one striking attribute: no ego. No made up sense of self-importance, which is all the more remarkable given the power gap between teachers and students (especially in India). If you went to his office, he would listen, despite how busy he was, or how unimportant you were.
A highlight of the undergrad program at IIT is the B. Tech project (BTP), which is the undergrad equivalent of a PhD dissertation. Again, due to a random set of circumstances, he ended up being my BTP mentor. Over the course of the last year and half at IIT our interaction deepened, if only because we met one-on-one on a weekly basis to discuss research.
Research in the Fluid Mechanics lab was fun. I don't think I would have embarked on a research career, if I hadn't enjoyed this experience so much. This work on "colloid-facilitated contaminant transport" with KCK and his grad student at that time - Tushar Sen - would end up becoming my first peer-reviewed publication.
I ended up at the University of Michigan as a grad student, in no small part due to his kind word. Michigan was his alma mater too. He visited Ann Arbor twice, while I was there. Once, when I was a PhD student, and later just before I started my new academic job at Florida State. Each time I went to Bombay, I would meet him; usually over lunch or dinner.
Throughout this period, he selflessly offered his mind for me to pick, and his ocean of experience for me to draw from. At several points during this journey, I abandoned hopes of an academic career. Each time, he listened without judgment, and quietly held a mirror to my desire for autonomy and passion for teaching. For better or for worse, he was instrumental in me ending up on the trajectory I am currently on.
And I couldn't be more grateful! Sometimes you try to peek over the horizon, but you can't see what a taller person who has been to more places can (in my case, that is literally true too).
In 2009, I shut the door to my office and wept, when I learnt about his untimely passing. He was 57, in great mental and physical shape, and I always expected him to be around forever.
When I first encountered KCK in 1994, I knew him as an administrator. Later at IIT he became my chairman and teacher, before becoming my BTP supervisor.
Somewhere along the way, he became a mentor, and a close friend; emails that started with "Dear Prof. Khilar" eventually started with "Dear Kartic".
Today, even though I knew it would bounce, I nearly wrote (to his familiar email address), "Dear Kartic, you are sorely missed."
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