Edu-leaders

I joined the Government Intermediate College, Allahabad, in Class XI. It was considered to be one of the good colleges under the UP government . The entrance to the institution was lined with Gulmohur and Neem trees, and it had a grand gate. The grounds were reasonably big. Inside, the red and white building was bare and in constant need of maintenance. The academic environment was nonchalant and casual. Few students were interested in studies, and even fewer teachers interested in teaching. The gates would be closed in the morning and no one was allowed to leave until recess. But, just metres away from the gate, the boundary wall had appropriately dislocated bricks that enabled students to escape. It was perfect for a teenager.

Every morning, I would leave my house in Khuldabad (old Allahabad) on my cycle, and rush to college. I would attend the chemistry class—our chemistry teacher was surprisingly good—and escape to the town with friends. At the end of two years, I had seen almost all films that were released. Of course, I became very good at chemistry, and very bad at all the other subjects.

Manindra ignored subjects that did not interest him. Thankfully, he says, he had an excellent short-term memory. Maths was his favourite and physics came a close second. Incidentally, his father, Surendra Prasad, was a professor of maths at Allahabad Agricultural Institute, while mother Himanshu Bala was a professor of education at a degree college in Allahabad.

Though we had an academic atmosphere at home, we never felt pressurised to “perform”. Appearing for IIT was not a big deal. My elder brother, Shachindra, heard of IIT from someone and suggested that I should take the test. I got a rather good rank, and opted for computer science at IIT Kanpur. Believe it or not, IIT Kanpur turned out to be more fun than the Intercollege. In the first semester, I was a bit intimidated by the gravity of being in a “serious institution” and attended almost all classes. But I soon discovered ways to relapse into my old habit of attending only those lectures that were interesting. After all, there were more exciting ways to spend your time at the IIT, like the nightly ritual of going to the rooftop of our hostel Hall II and hurling innovative expletives at our rivals in Hall III. In the third year at IIT, I went for an internship at a software company, where I had to develop and write a software. While I enjoyed the process, I also realised that I could not do it for the rest of my life. I also did not want to do management, so a corporate career was ruled out. Academics was a natural choice. I decided to stay on at IIT for a PhD.

For Manindra, IIT Kanpur is synonymous with freedom. It is perhaps one of the reasons that has held him there. Even as a professor, Manindra has not relinquished his relaxed attitude. When students demanded a feast after he returned from Boston with the Clay Award, he took his entire class out.

It was only after I took up academics as a career that I truly started enjoying the process. I was always attracted to maths, because my brain is wired in a way that makes me look for certainty. This is the only science where I can be absolutely sure of the truth. While I spend a lot of time teaching, I have never ignored research. Research and teaching go hand in hand. You cannot teach advanced-level courses unless you understand, and have thought deeply, about that subject.

On the other hand, often you cannot do good research if you are not involved in teaching. Research can sometimes get very depressing, because it involves a large number of failures. It can drag you down and make you disinterested. There is a certain joy in teaching. And you also get to learn a lot from students. The easiest way to learn more about an unknown field is to offer a course in that field.

Unfortunately in India universities and research centres do not coexist. It has become fashionable for star researchers to start their own research centres, which remain tiny and focused on one area. We have not been able to develop and exploit multi-disciplinary research. Most researchers at these specialised centres consider teaching undergraduate students hindrance to their research. But, the fact is that all publicly funded top research institutions in the world, including Harvard and MIT, offer undergraduate studies.

Our poor performance in research is because of this divide. All research institutions should be merged into universities if we want this situation to improve.

While he might think that research is ailing in India, the angst has not prompted him to settle overseas. He went to the University of Ulm in Germany as a Humblodt Fellow, but came back to India. He says, “Maybe, I am too much of a UP-wallah.” He has a unique way of teaching. He refrains from preparing for his classes, and gets stuck while looking for solutions. That often starts an interesting discussion, and forces students to think along. Mostly it works well. It was with two undergraduate students in IIT, Neeraj Kayal and Nitin Saxena, that he published the paper “PRIMES Is In P” which described a deterministic polynomial time algorithm for deciding primality of numbers of very large digits, now known as AKS algorithm.

It was not really a conscious decision to work on this algorithm. In 1998, my colleague, Somenath Biswas, and I were discussing the work of some other researchers. We found the method applied by these researchers interesting. We realised that we could use this technique and develop our own algorithm. Since it was similar to algorithms developed earlier, it had the same problem—it was not always correct. I was annoyed with this situation.

Sometime after that, Neeraj and Nitin turned up at my office looking for a BTech project, I decided to revisit the problem with them. They were a unique pair of students. They became so engrossed with the project, that they almost exclusively worked on it for a year. In April 2002, they graduated. By then they had both decided to go for a PhD. Neeraj decided to study in India, while Nitin wanted to try overseas. All the universities Nitin had applied to, rejected his application. In May, he decided to join me for a PhD. When Neeraj heard that Nitin was staying back, he, too, decided to abandon his plans. Instead of going for an interview at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, he turned up at IIT Kanpur. That summer, we decided to work on the problem. It was an exciting time. For three years I had struggled, and failed, but enjoyed it so much that I would look forward to it. That summer was no different. It seemed like an impossible task, until at the last moment. On a hot July day it all fit!

For the work on the AKS algorithm, Manindra got The Clay Research Award from the Clay Mathematics Institute, Boston. Neeraj and Nitin were also invited for the ceremony, but could not get their visas, because the consular officer suspected that they might not return to India.

It is the individual who drives research, but an institution has to support it. When compared to many other places, IIT Kanpur is less bureaucratic—a big reason why I have spent more than half of my life here. Research can take a back seat in institutions if administration does not show appreciation. In our system there is no incentive for research. Out of 100 faculty members, 10 will do research no matter what, because their drive comes from within. Twenty will not, because they are bored, or incapable. That leaves 70, and this 70 will not do research if they are not pushed. But, this pushing has to be done in a way that egos are not hurt. We are all prima donnas (laughs). The administration has to remember that.

A good researcher has to have the ability to absorb failures. She has to enjoy the process as much as obsessing over results. But, enjoying the process is not always easy, especially when you are paid peanuts. In India, we believe that Laxmi and Saraswati do not go together. We assume that committed people do not need money as the cause matters more. But, this is true for a very small minority. Academia loses really good talent to corporates, just because we do not pay enough. This has to change.

Algorithms to test primality are useful for validating internet based transactions like paying through credit card, where the codes are almost 100 digits long. The AKS Algorithm can test primality efficiently and is always correct, but it is slower than the other algorithms. The AKS algorithm is especially useful for defence and security applications. Attempts have been made to improve the speed of AKS Algorithm, but so far none has succeeded. About 12 years ago, Manindra was approached by the Indian Navy to design the encryption system, Trinetra, for securing the communication network. Later, he designed Indra to secure Indian Airforce communications. But Manindra, is reluctant to discuss his role in these projects.

I live on the IIT campus with my wife Rachna, who is a software engineer, and my daughters Isha 13, and Arushi 11. A touchy subject in the family is the fact that I don’t have free time. That’s because in my free time, I like to think! I don’t have a hobby.

Thinking is my favourite pastime. I want my daughters to pursue something that they are genuinely interested in, and I wish the same for my students. Tomorrow if one of my computer science students wishes to study philosophy, I would be happy for her. It is more important to love what you do, more than doing what is expected fromyou. I have always done that, from the time I first ran away from my Intermediate class.