General Secretary’s Address - Welcome to 1st Year Students of MSc, MBA, MTech, MS and PhD Programme

Good morning to all. I am Prasad Dudhgaonkar, the General Secretary of student body of IIT Madras. On behalf of all students, I welcome all new students of MSc, MBA, MTech, MS and PhD.

I will briefly tell about myself. I’ve done Bachelor of Engineering from Shivaji Vidyapeeth Kolhapur in Maharastra, then Masters from IIT Bombay, then have worked in engines R&D of an automotive manufacturing company. And in last three years I am persuing here at IIT Madras, my doctorate in the area of spray atomization and its application in the aviation gas turbine engines.

Having said that I would like to mention one thing, which is like any other world class institution IIT Madras also demands academic excellence. At the same time we should take enough care of ourselves so that we stay fit, both physically and mentally. To help us do that life in IIT Madras has a lot to offer you. Here I will mention briefly a few things in the student life at this campus.
We will have extramural lectures by eminent personalities from all corners of the world, encompassing various aspects of life, which include science and technology, sports, social work, politics, business and entrepreneurship, culture and entertainment. These lectures provide us excellent opportunities to interact with great persons and to draw inspiration to become one like them. We will also have intra-hostel and inter-hostel events, departmental technical festivals, national level annual technical festival, which is popularly known as Shaastra, annual cultural festival - Saarang, many exhibitions, seminars, conferences and what not!

I should not forget to mention the Hobby Club and its activities. Here you get opportunity not only to pursue your current hobby but also to develop interest in new hobbies. We have here a photography club, robotics club, astronomy club, aero-modeling and some more clubs. You may also come with suggestions of other hobbies. Your suggestions will be certainly appreciated. Being a member of Hobby Club will not cost you a single rupee.

It is essential here to mention that all these activities are conducted by students, under able guidance of honorable Director, Dean of Student Activities and faculty advisers for sports, co-curricular and cultural activities. I look forward for your enthusiastic participation in these activities.

Another information… sports talent search will begin immediately. So start practicing your favorite games. In our campus, you can practically play every game except golf and formula one racing… Don’t forget this is only university campus which is situated in a beautiful reserved area of a national park. So please appreciate this identity. You can do it by participating in various activities of Prakriti. Prakriti is and organization for conservation of environment in our campus. Dr Manu Santhanam will talk in detail about Prakriti at a later stage.

I would like to conclude by wishing you a very pleasant, healthy and a successful stay at IIT Madras.

Thank you.