Nilotpal Mitra

I, along with my older brother, Parthasarathi, who some of you may remember, was admitted to HPS in 1963 or 64 – I can’t be quite sure. My father had been transferred to Hyderabad and we lived in Secunderabad, on Entrenchment Road. I remember Mr. Watsa on the first day telling a senior boy to “take me to the dungeons”, which were those set of rooms in the lower level at the back of the main building devoted to those classes just after primary school. I have only vague memories of those early years, except for one shameful episode which some of you may also dimly remember. You may recall that a couple of boys each day were assigned to chores during class hours – sort of like pages – and one of those tasks was to ring the bell at appropriate times to indicate the end of different class periods. I was too ashamed to let anyone know that I couldn’t read the clock and rang the bell much too early. I can still remember the teachers rushing out of the classrooms and Mr. Watsa shaking his head wondering about his judgement in admitting me. Even now that episode remains etched in my memory, and I thank digital clocks daily.

It was much better afterwards, and I recall many happy hours in the band (playing the baritone, simply because that was the only instrument not taken) and because that was the best way to avoid PT, being on the debating team – with Ravi Ramaswamy? – acting in several school plays (anybody remember my starring role 😉 in The Browning Version?), dropping out of Anthony and Cleopatra because of the incessant teasing about taking on the latter role, and other many memorable experiences. I really cannot think of a better time than those years.

I joined IIT Kanpur in 1972, initially as a potential engineer (what else?) but changed in my third year to Physics. (Raghav Reddy and I were roommates for the first three years.) I must have had some sort of a change, because until then I had always been rather afraid of maths. In any case, I did well enough to get into the PhD program at Columbia University in New York. I have been in New York City ever since I arrived in August 1977, moving slowly downtown as increasing upward mobility offered. (That mobility hasn’t taken me very far, though, as Columbia is at 116th Street and I am now only at 107th.) A permanent academic career as a theoretical physicist did not seem in the cards given my abilities; so, after graduation I joined that venerable graveyard of ex-physicists, Bell Laboratories, where I worked on various engineering projects in that then-vague area called “systems engineering”. The change wasn’t much fun in the beginning, but I “grew into the job” and ended up as a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff. After 15 years there, I was flattered enough be tempted by an offer from Ericsson, the Swedish company in mobile wireless communications. I worked there for 18 years in creating international standards for various software, Internet and video technologies. That involved a lot of travel worldwide and was an enjoyable and fulfilling experience, on the whole.