Great Professors from SASTRA University Who Shaped My Life
I studied in SASTRA University, Srinivasa Ramanujan Centre and graduated CSE in 2013.
This post is about some of the great professors from SASTRA who shaped my life – both during and beyond the university.
Prof. K. Manimozhi:
Without a doubt, Prof. K. Manimozhi tops my list of great professors from SASTRA. With her teaching algorithms for you, even a non-techie would really start loving algorithms and be motivated to work with them. She made even the seemingly complex algorithms look like a piece of cake.
Incidentally, she was also my guide for my final year project. I was over-ambitious with my project, took something that takes years to complete and tried to do it within a couple of months. Of course, I couldn’t do it the way it’s supposed to be done. But throughout all this, she stood as a pillar and never for once asked me to back down or try an easier project. She motivated me to try my best and taught me that I should Never give up on what I want to do. I’m still trying to follow that.
PROF. K. B. Eashwer:
When you talk about great professors from SASTRA, you just cannot miss this man. He handled Computer Graphics lab for us. The theory for CG was very boring and consequently most of us never really grasped what’s being taught in the theory classes. But almost all of us looked forward to the CG lab.
Eashwer sir used to act very strict during the class. Reality is, he’s the exact opposite of being strict. He appears to be strict, so that people listen to him. And once you start listening to him, you’ll never want to stop.
I think this is the only lab where we were freely allowed to experiment the concepts the way we wanted, to test our vague theories. And he was one of the select few professors who made us realize why we’re studying a particular concept in CG and where we can apply it. His policy is simple: Either learn to apply to what you learn in theory or don’t learn at all. I regret not taking CG seriously now.
Asst. Prof. Senthil Nathan:
He taught us Engineering Drawing/Engineering Graphics. A lot of my friends hate ED/EG. But this guy and another professor who’s about to follow next, made us love it.
We enjoyed fixing our scales and sheets and drawing the lines.
Yes, everything in ED is nothing but lines. It may appear complicated, but in reality, it’s nothing but a line. Anyone can draw a line. That’s what he taught us.
Because of the way he taught us, when the ED Semester exams came, I felt like I was going to just another ED class. There was no tension, no pressure, none at all. Walked in and out casually.
Asst. Prof. B. Velmurugan:
He taught us Basic Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Mechanics for us. BME is mainly a theoretical subject. Quite a few people feel bored.
BVM made it easy for us understand the subject and taught in a simple manner. Before telling about EM, let me tell you a small tidbit about myself. I suck at the textbook math. I’m good with numbers and statistics and all that, but when it comes to a test or a problem to be solved on paper, my brain stops working and I can’t do it. But this man made us understand and solve even the complex EM problems as though we’re just adding 1 + 1.
Prof. Dr. Seshadri:
Now we’re coming to fun part. He is the ‘father’ of all great professors from SASTRA for his quick wit and make-everyone-laugh remarks. He’s none other than our dear Prof. Dr. Seshadri, who took Basic Civil Engineering for us. Obviously, I never listened and caught on to that subject. But I liked this man for his witty remarks.
The way he mocks people casually and make them smile I do remember squirming when he made fun of me and Saravanan Salai when both of us were sleeping nicely and in a dreamy state (No pun intended, but that’s how he mocked us 😛 ) And he has the habit of writing witty comments in the test papers if the person has written unnecessary stories for the answer.
Why, he even made some of my friends understand that we cannot drive trains on roads but we can drive cars on railways and thus railways > roadways . This was one of the answers my friend Saravanan Salai wrote for a test, out of desperation, because he couldn’t think of anything else to write 😛
Dr. Seshadri passed away recently, a great loss to the students. May his soul rest in peace.
All in all, the 4 years at my college was the best time of my life, with so many ups and downs. A lot of people made it great for us. Among them, these 5 people top the list.