Memoirs      
1970s America – An Indian student’s journey
by Dr. Anil K. Rajvanshi

I went to US for higher education in 1974 and came back to rural India in 1981. This is the story of my experiences in America in 1970s both as a graduate student and as a faculty.

America in 1970s was a very nice, open and courteous society and I really enjoyed the graduate student experience. I have tried to capture it as best as possible based upon my 30 year old memories. If an event or names of people and places have been wrongly depicted then I apologize for the mistakes and blame it on my failing memory rather than any intentional misrepresentation.

As one grows older there is an urge to pen down the experiences that have shaped ones life. My stay in US was one such experience.

It has been little more than 25 years since I came back. In late 1981 when I returned, rarely any Indian with an IIT degree came back. Even the few who did come back went to big cities like Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore etc. I went straight to rural Maharashtra which was as alien to me as any foreign country since I hardly knew the local language or the milieu! More so since I had mostly spent my life staying in cities in Northern India.

Why did I do it and was it worth it? This is the story which I have tried narrating in the epilogue.

This is also the story of my self-discovery and I have always thanked the higher forces for giving me a place in rural Maharashtra - no matter how small - where I could think deeply on different issues, reflect on them and write about them.

I really thank my wife Nandini and my younger daughter Madhura who went through the narrative with a fine tooth comb. Many thanks are due to Mr. Sanjay Aherrao for typing innumerable versions of the draft.

Chapter 1 : Government Scholarship

The desire to go to US was kindled in me in my 9th standard. St. Francis High School in Lucknow where I studied from 3rd standard to Indian School Certificate, used to show regular documentary films from various consulates every month. Occasionally they would get a film from Lucknow United States Information Service (USIS). I remember very vividly that once a USIS film on 1964 New York International Fair was shown. I was dazzled by what I saw in the film since it was a show case of all the latest gadgets of modern life. Similarly another USIS film was about a train journey from New York to San Francisco as it went through the breathtakingly beautiful landscape of US. Both these films made a tremendous impression on my young mind.

Similarly when I was in IIT Kanpur (IITK) I used to regularly see films at USIS whenever I came home to Lucknow for vacation. Quite a few of these films were about rockets and US space program of 1960s. All these films created a desire to go and visit this great country. Besides I always wanted to be a teacher and knew that without getting a Ph.D. good teaching position will not be available.

In 1972 during my last semester in B.Tech in IIT Kanpur I had applied to quite a number of universities in US for graduate studies. I forget the exact number, but it was about 10 or so. I got admission in a few of them (without aid) including University of Florida, Ohio State University and a promise of aid from Marquette University. However, nothing substantial materialized so I decided to take admission in M.Tech at IITK only.

In those days (1972) going to US was not easy, since IIT was still not a brand name and American Universities had not opened up to a large scale influx of India students as they did later on. Even though some of my seniors from IITK were in good schools like MIT, University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University etc., getting into them was not very easy. Besides in 1972 it was very difficult to get any information regarding schools and colleges in US since it took about 2-3 months to get a reply to ones queries from US universities.

In our IITK library there was only one book on graduate studies in US universities and colleges and it was continuously checked out. Even if you got it after great difficulty, there were quite a number of pages torn out of it and so one never knew which colleges or universities were missing from it.

Applying to US universities was not cheap. The application fee for every College or University was about US $ 10. So when we applied we gave all sorts of excuses for not paying this fee. Some of the clever students wrote beautiful essays detailing the poverty in India and how with tremendous shortage of foreign exchange they were unable to pay the fees. Nonetheless all of us used to write that if selected we would send the fees. Most of the universities bought into this story. Later on when such essays started pouring into the US university system on a large scale they got wiser and stopped accepting applications without fees.

In such a scenario I therefore decided that I will do my M.Tech in IITK and then apply to the US universities.

In June 1974 I was in the final stages of finishing my M.Tech in Mechanical Engineering and even then there was no hope of getting into US though I had received a few admissions without aid. Meanwhile I had befriended two American professors, one from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the other from University of California, Berkeley. Both of them were visiting IITK for varying lengths of time and thus I came to know them well. They both agreed to take me as a graduate student if I applied. In any case such an event never happened since a golden opportunity of getting Government of India national scholarship for study abroad appeared.

One of my senior colleagues in Mechanical Engineering had received the national scholarship. These scholarships were introduced by the Ministry of Education, Government of India to help needy students to go to U.K. or US for their Ph.D. in cutting edge areas of engineering and other sciences. These were very handsome fellowships which gave to and fro airfare plus a princely monthly stipend of US $ 250/month plus the entire course fees.

I applied for the fellowship and lo and behold got a call for interview sometime in July. The experience of my seniors suggested that getting it will be a breeze because the largest numbers of students chosen were from IITs.

However, I had not yet finished my M.Tech and the call letter clearly stated that the M.Tech certificate has to be presented at the time of the interview. In any case I took a chance and went for the interview.

During my M.Tech I had become extremely interested in Solar Energy utilization. My M.Tech thesis was on development of a novel solar collector. With the OPEC crisis of 1973, solar energy had become a hot topic in the west specially US. I read almost everything on it from the material available at IIT Kanpur library. Based upon my readings I wrote my first editorial article in 1973 on latest developments in Solar Energy in Hindustan - a daily Hindi newspaper published from New Delhi. This timely article was published immediately and brought in good amount of fan mail.

I wanted to do further research in Solar Energy. In this connection I had already corresponded with quite a number of major US universities which were doing R&D in Solar Energy and all of them had advised that I should work with one Dr. Erich Farber in University of Florida (UF), since he seemed to have done maximum work in developing useful and working devices running on solar energy. I already had an admission from UF but without aid. And so the National Scholarship interview letter was like a god sent opportunity to go to US.

So I arrived at the appointed time of 9 a.m. for interview in Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi where the Ministry of Education had its office.

The office clerk asked for my M.Tech certificate and when I told him that I will get it in a few days since I had already submitted my thesis but the date of defense had not yet been announced, he simply said that my application was rejected. Even my explanation that M.Tech defense in IITK is an internal matter and is done very rapidly, did not cut any ice, because he did not know anything about these matters.

Being young and impetuous I told him that he had no authority to reject my application and should consult the committee members regarding it. In fact I asked him who the committee members were and he refused to divulge their names. The only concession he made was to give me the name of the chairman of the committee.

I felt my explanations and sternness may have had some effect since he went to the committee with my application after underlining heavily by red pencil the clause that I did not have the M.Tech certificate.

After 10 minutes he came out of the meeting room and told me that the committee has rejected my application and what was more no traveling or daily allowance (TA/DA) for coming to attend the interview would be paid to me!

In this hour of crisis when my whole life seemed to go down the drain, getting TA/DA was the last thing on my mind. Yet I was amazed at the bureaucratic efficiency of that clerk who had thought of all issues including TA/DA!

I still remember those words clearly because they sounded a death knell to all my dreams of getting an American education. I felt extremely dejected. Nevertheless in such times the mind races very fast so I tried to find out whether anybody could influence the committee members to at least interview me. I was very sure that if I am allowed the opportunity to give the interview then I will be selected. I had tremendous faith in my ability to convince the committee of my candidature and was also prepared to give in writing that I will present my M.Tech certificate in 10 days time.

Suddenly I realized that one of my distant uncles Dr. Atma Ram, who was an ex-Director General of CSIR and a very well respected name in the scientific community, might know the committee chairman. Dr. Atma Ram used to live on Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road about half km from the Shastri Bhavan. So I rushed to his place (almost ran) and told him about the whole thing. He said that he would call the chairman since he knew him well and that I should go to the interview venue. I somehow felt that Dr. Atma Ram might not have the influence that he implied he had, so I should search for some other source.

Then I went to the house of my father’s friend Shri. Sunder Lall. Shri. Sunder Lall was a Senior Congress M.P. and used to live in Canning Lane – quite a distance from Shastri Bhavan.

Sunder Chachaji (uncle) as I used to call him listened to my predicament and thought for a few minutes. He then dialed a number and told me to go and see one Mrs. Rohan Lal Chaturvedi, the wife of another senior congress M.P. who was also a junior minister in Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s cabinet.

I immediately rushed to Mrs. Chaturvedi’s house and was met by her son Manoj Chaturvedi. He was quite a talkative person and started chatting with me. It was nearly 12:30 p.m. and I was getting nervous since the interview time was slipping. I kept on reminding Manoj that I had to meet his mother but he kept on bypassing the issue. Suddenly his mother appeared and asked me who I was. When I told her who I was she reprimanded me by saying what I was doing there when I should have been in Shastri Bhavan and told me to immediately see the Secretary education who was the member secretary of the interview committee.

I immediately rushed to Shastri Bhavan and waited till 2 p.m. outside the committee room when the lady secretary came out to meet me.

I narrated my whole story to her and told her that I was ready to give an undertaking in writing that I will present my M.Tech certificate in 10 days. I must have talked to her for about 45 minutes, but felt that it made an impact on her. She told me to wait in the lobby and that I will be called for the interview at 5 p.m. Many a times it has happened to me that when the chips are down, there is a tremendous reserve of energy which comes in the form of either actions or words and has the desired effect of getting the work done. My 45 minutes talk was one example of that. I had not eaten anything that day because in such times hunger etc. vanishes.

At 5.30 p.m. I was the last candidate to be called for the interview. The committee asked me some basic question on solar energy, but their tone suggested that I will be selected.

So around 6 p.m. I went to Sunder Chachaji’s house to tell him the day’s events and after he listened to the detailed account he told me that I will be selected. From his tone it appeared that he knew much more than I did. I have therefore always considered my going to US as an act of God mediated though Sunder Chachaji. I have always remained grateful to him for changing the course of my life. Even after my return from US he helped me but then I am getting ahead of my story.

That evening I took the night train (without reservation) to Kanpur. I have never worked so hard in my life as I did for the next 10 days and finally, I was able to clear my M.Tech defense.

Getting the M. Tech certificate was another tricky matter since the babus in the IIT admissions office were as bureaucratic as you could find anywhere. So a small treat of tea and samosas in the local canteen did the trick. Those were the happy days when a small bribe of tea and snacks was sufficient to get the work done. I got my M.Tech certificate at 5 p.m. exactly 10 days after my interview and boarded the train that night for Delhi. For almost half of the journey, I had to stand in the general compartment.

I reached Shastri Bhavan next morning and gave a copy of my certificate to the clerk reminding him how I was fulfilling my promise given in my written statement. He congratulated me to which I asked what was so great about the M.Tech degree. He said he was congratulating me on getting the scholarship!

I hugged him and thanked him profusely and told him that I would like to take him out to tea, to which he replied that during duty time he cannot go out for tea!

Continued

July 15, 2007

Government Scholarship | The Preparation | Landing in America 
Campus Life | Brush with Greatness | India Association | Marriage
Looking for Better School? | Exploring America | Graduate Studies
Teaching at UF | Decision to go back to India | Epilogue

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