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Computing in Kolkata : Strolling Down Memory Lane

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Cover Dr. Debasish Jana
Chairman, CSI Kolkata Chapter; Editor, CSI Communications

Story
Computing in Kolkata - Strolling Down
Memory Lane
The memories of punch card puts me in the history lane, although history as a subject was too
repelling for me in school days, and used to drag my marks down in schools. As time passes by,
memories of the past as well as knowing the history of things, places, events become so sweet, so
pounding, motions get dragged by emotions. In Rabindranath Tagore’s words, Purano shei diner kotha,
bhulbi ki re, haay o shei, chokher dekha, Praner kotha, shei ki bhola jaay? aay aar ek ti baar aay re shokha,
praner maajhe aay mora, shukher dukher kotha kobo, praan judabe taai (The memories of the good old
days, can you ever forget them? They were witnessed by our eyes, were the voice of our life, Can they
ever be forgotten? Come back once more, my friend, come and be a part of my life. We will talk of
smiles and tears, and will feel very good about it).
Last June, I completed 25 years (silver jubilee) since graduating in Computer Science from
Jadavpur University. We were the third batch of undergraduate Engineering in Computer Science
Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India visited ISI in Machine from this University. Unbelievable! So many years have passed by. We had One Regional Computer
Tabulation Unit P C Mahalanobis, Pandit Jwaharlal Nehru
& K C Poddar on 1954 (Photo courtesy: Reprography and Centre (RCC) that used to meet the computing need of the University as well as for the local
Photography Unit, ISI Kolkata)
industries and corporates because almost none had an in-house infrastructure back in mid-80s. In
the RCC, we had two windows, one labeled as "Input" and other labeled as "Output". In Input window, we used to submit our deck of punch cards
containing program in Fortran or Cobol or Algol or PDP-11 Assembly. I was an expert in reading punch card holes to decipher the character punched
in a column. And I remember, when we were not allowed to punch ourselves, the punch card operator who was familiar with COBOL syntax used
to correct our assembly statement written as MOV command by MOVE, thinking it was a spelling mistake. And, we had to re-punch those cards.
Later, we were allowed to punch ourselves. After submitting the deck of cards to Input, we had to wait at least 3-4 hours (sometimes more) to get
the output (in 132 column line printer sheets) from the Output window. Since so much waiting time to see the output coming in, we had hardly any
option to write incorrect programs. So, automatically, our programming skills were forced to be better, one mistake (syntax or logical) could lose
so much time that we couldn’t afford.
In Hindu mythology, it is believed that Goddess Durga was created from collective energies of all the Gods. She got her weapons from various
Gods: trident from Rudra, discus from Vishnu, thunderbolt from Indra, kamandalu from Brahma, ratnahar from Kuber etc. Computer Science course
and syllabus were designed from collective synergy of several different fields, electronics, mathematics, physics, mechanics, and many others.
While trying to collate memories from several thought leaders, pioneers, sweet and sour old recollections churned down memory lane, we
present here their personal reminiscences that had captured the emotions and of course historical footprints for computing in Kolkata, some told and
some untold earlier. Let’s get straight from the mouth of the horse, the Gurus and disciples of computing in Eastern India: “I'll tell you a tale strange but
true, Sir, And you can believe it or not, But I swear every word, Sir, is Gospel, A liar is one thing I'm not! I'll relate the events as they 'appened, A singular tale you'll
agree...” (from The Fisherman's Tale by Paul Wilkinson)

Glimpsing through Early Days of Computers in Kolkata

Devaprasanna Sinha
Fellow, Computer Society of India; Formerly, Director, Cad Cam Consultants Pvt Ltd and Former Chairman, Computer Society of India, Kolkata Chapter

Kolkata (the then Calcutta), being the capital of British India,
can boast not merely of few firsts in India, like trams, metros
but is well-known for its pioneering roles and innovative
projects in arts, sciences, social work, and politics. Pursuits
in Kolkata in Computer Science and technology may well
claim for such an enviable status. It is, however, not too
well-known that computer age dawned in Kolkata when
the first analog computer was fabricated out of surplus-
materials at the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata in 1950 with
its early use primarily with solution of simultaneous linear equations.
Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanabis, the architect of
ISI, could realize in those days the tremendous potentials of the
fast and massive computational capabilities that would open up
the electronic era. As early as in 1953, the ISI had mounted its
own models on research efforts in this direction. But technology
overseas moved faster and ISI went for a purchase as well. British
Tabulating Machines (BTM) agreed to sell their machine, called
HEC-2M (Hollerith Electronic Computer model 2M) to ISI but
would not undertake either to install or commission it or to maintain
it in India. Two engineers, Mr Mohi Mukherji and Mr Amaresh
Roy were recruited for this purpose. HEC-2M became operational
by end August 1955. By the end of 1959, the URAL-1, the
second such machine from USSR was in operation. Prior
to HEC-2M and URAL-1, there were large number of
electromechanical DP machines from IBM, Hollerith (UK)
and Powersemes (UK). These have been largely used in
statistical work and government work in National Sample
Survey Organization (NSSO).
It is to be mentioned that activity in the area of
electronic computer development started in India in 1954 at Tata
Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) where the design of
a pilot model general purpose computer became operational in
1956 and subsequently a fullscape version in 1960. This machine
named TIFRAC was in operation till 1964 and many early users of
the computer in the country had the opportunities of their initial
experiences on it. The TIFRAC project was carried out in the first
generation computer and was built with electronic hardware of the
time, namely, vacuum tubes, semiconductor bodies and ferrite core
memory. The first attempt in India for the development of a general
purpose second generation computer was undertaken jointly by
the Indian Statistical Institute and Jadavpur University in Kolkata
in 1963. This was a system that was cost limited but reasonably

CSI Communications | August 2012 | 5

 fast and versatile, incorporating features of the time. The system
became operational in 1966 and christened as ISIJU-1, after the
names of the two institutions. A number of graduate students
became involved in the project. ISIJU-1 has been used for a fairly
long period on teaching in programming, computer circuit design
as well as performing research problems of moderate size on the
limitations arising from limited memory size.
Upto the mid-60s, electronic computers were being used in India
only in a few educational institutions of advanced learning. They were
too complicated for use on a large scale in the Indian industrial and
commercial environment of those days. It was only after when IBM
marketed their highly successful second generation computer of the
1400 series in India, large business houses started using them for their
commercial data processing work.
Automation activities such as the large scale of computers in
business was initially routine clerical work - pay bill, accounts ledger,
issue of shares, inventory control, and accounting and the like. The
white collar employees felt threatened that computer would replace
them all. The management did nothing to allay the fears of workers
and politicians found an issue which was, rightly or wrongly, felt to
be a question of life and death day by many. Thus sprang up a very
strong anti-automation agitation of white-collar workers which was
partially successful in Kolkata, not allowing installation of electronic
computers anywhere for the purpose. One remembers the violent
opposition by the trade union leaders against the installation of
CESC computer in late 1960s. Indifferent attitude by the state
government over more than three decades undoubtedly made it
clear that Kolkata has apparently missed the bus.
Neverheless, in the education and training areas, posts were
advertised for trainees in 1953 at ISI. Those were the first computer
posts in India, apart from traditional disciplines like applied
mathematics or electrical engineering.
Mid-60s saw many IBM and ICL installations in companies
like Bata, Dunlop, Union Carbide, HMV, Hind Motor etc. and a large
number of applications written in Autocoder and Plan had been
developed.
The first organizational meeting was held at IBM Educational
Centre at Faridabad, Delhi where sixteen representatives from seven
computer establishments attended the meeting and the All India
Computer User’s Group (AICUG) was constituted. The AICUG held
its first meeting at IIT Kanpur on December 18, 1964. The Group
from ISI was also involved in the formation of Computer Users’
Group in this part o the country and met frequently in a number
of meetings at ISI and other organizations. On 18th December,
Reminiscences of Computing: Infrastructure and Practice
Nirajit Kanta Roy
Fellow, Computer Society of India; Formerly, EDP Manager, Bata India Limited; Former Chairman, Computer Society of India, Kolkata Chapter
Way back in 1953, I attended a course as a Trainee in Unit
Record Machines (URM) at ISI, Kolkata. And in course
of time, got acquainted myself with the panel wiring of
various applications. At that time, there was a system
called Powersemes. Many applications were done using
URM. We learnt that and spent almost 24 hours at ISI. I
still remember the 45 column card punch. I joined Union
Carbide caused by a vacancy there again on unit record systems. I
had a mastery over panel wiring at that time, and soon after, offered
a post in Bata India Limited. I still remember those old places and
offices and some names with whom I worked with in that period.
At Bata, with tabulator, collator, I did redesign our applications
and with the installation of IBM 1401, the most popular computer
in the commercial environment at that time, we developed many
CSI Communications | August 2012 | 6
1964, it was decided to rename AICUG as the Computer Society
of India to broaden the scope of the group. Kolkata hosted the first
Annual Convention (then called Meeting) of Computer Society of
India at Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata from 15-17 December,
1965 with the theme “An Ideal Computer Map in India”. Compared
to CSI Convention today, this was a rather tame affair, with hardly
fifty participants with representations from all corners of India
and from many areas of applications - scientific research, defense,
economic planning, education, business, and industry. Since 1982,
all the chapters of the Society are celebrating 15th December as the
Computer Day every year for promoting the computer awareness
amongst every citizen of the country. Kolkata Chapter also organized
the Silver Jubilee Convention in Kolkata in 1990. Professor Jogabrata
Roy, ISI, was the Chairman of CSI Kolkata Chapter. Past chairmen of
CSIKC till eighties include Prof J V Ranga Rao, Mr J S Kalotra, Dr C A
Verghese, Prof D Dutta Majumder, Mr A K Ghosh, Mr N K Roy, Mr
Amal Roy, Mr P B Ghosh and Prof A N Daw. Obviously, the names
listed here are not an exhaustive ones. There were many members
in different capacities who served the Society at all levels during
that time and later, as well.
It may not be out of place to mention that the Indian Society
for Automation & Information Sciences (ISAIS) was formed, way
back in 1962, after the Conference on Automation and Computer
Scientists of India in 1962 in BIT Sindri, possibly the first Conference
of computer scientists in India. ISAIS could carry out some activities
in the region among research groups but after the formation of CSI,
it did not pursue further activities.
IITs started Computer Science departments way back in
the 1960s. In Kolkata, One–year Diploma Full Computer Course
in two different streams, namely, Hardware and Software was
started in ISI and JU in 1968. Jadavpur University would become
the first University to start Computer Science as a subject in the
undergraduate course. School of Computer Research was formed
under the able guidance of distinguished professors at ISI, JU,
CU, IIT Kharagpur, IIM Kolkata, B E College on different areas of
specialization not only in theoretical aspects but also on applied
research and projects also undertaken by RCC, Kolkata.
Regional Computer Centre (RCC), Kolkata was set up in 1976
with the installation of Burroughs 6738 computer system to provide
the high-end computing facilities in the Eastern Region.
One can also mention in this connection that Concordance
works on the literary works of Rabindranath were started way back in
early 1970s, possibly the first in India, before similar works undertaken
elsewhere and the Multimedia Rabindranath project in mid-90s.
application systems using Autocoder. We did install the
computer in the EDP department as a separate unit at
Kolkata and not in the factory for obvious reasons prevailing
at that time. In those days, we made a direct changeover
of our systems, not even a pilot run. We implemented the
systems and then ultimately accepted by the trade unions.
Applications like invoicing was taken earlier, then payroll,
and we went to use IBM 1401 system at ISI to test the programs, as
our installation was not ready at that time. It took huge time to build
the conversion/migration work with accuracy and human effort,
as well. During eighties, I was responsible for implementation and
installation of many application systems all over India like Faridabad
using yesteryears’ computers TDC-316, HCL Horizon and other
systems.
www.csi-india.org
Reminiscences of Computing: Education, Teaching, and Practice
Debabrata Ghosh Dastidar
Fellow, Computer Society of India; Formerly, Professor, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
I was in IIT Kanpur from 1965 to 1967. Prior to that, I was
doing my PhD in a branch of applied mechanics. I became
interested in computers and attended a computer course
there in 1964 which lasted for two weeks. This was attended
by 40 participants from different parts of India. Five IBM
1620 computer systems were installed at that time at
IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur and other places. Prof Harry D
Huskey, who formed the Computer Users’ Group with Mr
Bijay Kumar Chatterjee later, was one of the visiting professors at
IIT Kanpur. Professors from American universities and institutes
used to come at IIT Kanpur at that time. I remember Prof. Kesavan
and Prof. Rajaraman were there in the Computer Centre. We
were taught FORGO and FORTRAN II to help research workers
to solve their problems, I took tutorial class in the course for the
research workers in the centre. I still remember the machine was
so hardy that it worked for 24 hours. We had to work at nights on
Reminiscences of Computing: Education, Infrastructure,
Teaching, and Practice
Mohit Kumar Roy
Formerly, Professor, Jadavpur University, Kolkata; Former Chairman, Computer Society of India, Kolkata Chapter
After obtaining my MSc degree in Applied Mathematics
from the University of Calcutta, I agreed to join to do
computational work at ISI, Kolkata at the request of our
teacher Professor Parimal Kanti Ghosh. I learnt machine
language programming on HEC-2M and URAL machines.
That’s my initial exposure and computational experience. I
remember that I was initially assigned the work to calculate
the trajectories of ballistic missile using computer. At that time, Prof.
Samrendra Kumar Mitra, Prof. Prabhat Kumar Mitra, Prof. Biswajit
Nag, amongst others, were there. Project ISIJU-1 was mooted at that
time, the first second generation indigenous computer. In 1963-64,
courses on computers were organized at IIT Kanpur under the Indo-
American program. I, from ISI, along with others, was in the second
course. Prof. Harry D Huskey, Prof. Acton and Prof. Rabinowiecz taught
us on different aspects of computer and related areas like numerical
analysis and methods. There I heard the word assembly language for
the first time and later, high level language. Programs were written
by us in assembly language to solve the computational problems for
a host of research workers in different disciplines. I remember that
IT Scenario in Seventies and Early Eighties, Contribution of RCC
Aditya Bagchi
Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
During the 70s of the last millennium, computing facilities
available in Kolkata hardly matched with the growing
demands in commercial, industrial, government, and
academic sectors. Most of the commercial applications
were running in old IBM 1401 systems using assembly
language like AUTOCODER. There were very few
computers even for running applications developed using
COBOL. Situation in academic sectors was no better. Only
facility available in Kolkata was an IBM 1130 system at the University
of Calcutta. On the other hand, demands for good computing
facility were steadily increasing. Even political apathy towards
computerization was gradually waning since both central and state
governments started realizing that processing huge data generated
in different areas of government activities can hardly be handled
several occasions. The machine was shut only because
of weekly maintenance of air-conditioner system. IBM
7044, a powerful computer at that time, was installed
later at IIT Kanpur. After a brief period in Department
of Mathematics at Jadavpur University, I joined in the
Electronics & Telecommunication Department of Jadavpur
University. At that time, in the Compute Centre under the
Department, Post Graduate Diploma of Computer Science
was stared in 1968 in two groups - hardware and software. We had
to send our students to IIT Kharagpur and University of Calcutta to
test their programs on IBM 1620 and IBM 1130 respectively. Students
after obtaining their diploma joined in different companies. We also
visited other computer installations in Kolkata like Union Carbide,
Kulgian, Indian Oxygen to test ALGOL, COBOL, and other programs.
There were many colleagues in these days. I may recall Asish Sen,
Prabhat Kumar Mitra, Bimal Chanda and Ajay Kumar Majhi.
one-year diploma course on computers were introduced
in 1965 that lasted for one year only. I taught in that
course. Along with computational experience, I started
to acquire teaching experience there. After a brief stint at
ICL Limited, I joined the newly formed Computer Centre
of the Department of Electronics & Telecommunication
Engineering at Jadavpur University in 1968 to teach PG
Diploma course in Computer Science. At the All India level, every
year 10 students from software and 10 from hardware joined this
one-year program. Many students passed from this course before
the degree course was instituted in the university in early 1980s.
Prof. J S Chatterjee, the then Head of the Department, told me to
pursue research in computer science. I got my PhD in 1978 on data
structures. I read a paper in the First CSI Convention held at Kolkata
in 1965. On deputation, I spent a few years at the Regional Computer
Centre, Kolkata in the early days of Burroughs 6738 system, involved
myself not only in various teaching assignments but also in many
government and commercial projects with my co-workers, before
my joining as Professor of Computer Science at Jadavpur University.
manually. On the other hand, there was no computer
manufacturing facility available in the country. Only resort
was to import computers from Europe or USA, which was
very expensive for most of the academic and commercial
organizations. Realizing this growing need and consequent
market pressure, Dept. of Electronics (now, Dept. of IT),
Govt. of India decided to open Regional Computer Centres
in collaboration with the state governments as well as
commercial sectors. First Regional Computer Centre (RCC) started
functioning in Kolkata in January 1977 with a Burrows 6700 system
installed at the Jadavpur University campus. Later another RCC was
also established in Chandigarh. RCC in Kolkata was established as a
joint effort of Dept. of Electronics, Govt. of India, Govt. of West Bengal,
and UGC. Vice-Chancellor of Jadavpur University was the Chairman
CSI Communications | August 2012 | 7
 of the council of RCC as UGC representative. Establishment of this
Regional Computer Centre had far reaching consequences.
1. It was the first multiprogramming facility available in the eastern
region of the country. So, it started catering as a computing
facility to many users concurrently. The demand grew so fast,
that RCC authority soon had to start operating round the clock.
2. A relatively lower rate of charging for academic users, encouraged
researchers to use the RCC facilities rather than going to TIFR
or IIT, Chennai. They even started procuring special purpose
packages from abroad and donating them to RCC for installation.
3. Users from commercial and industrial sectors found it a very
useful facility and started developing new applications which
were not possible in the AUTOCODER environment. Large-scale
simulation and different optimization oriented applications
became possible.
4. A very important impact of RCC is in establishing online computational
facility through terminals. An experimental link was provided at
Mecon, Ranchi. The connection was a combination of ordinary
telephone line, coaxial cables, and microwave link. Link failure was
Foundation of Information and Computing Technology (ICT)
in India and role of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI)
Dwijesh Dutta Majumder
Professor Emeritus, Electronics and Communication Sciences Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
Emeritus Scientist, CSIR and Director, Institute of Cybernetics Systems and Information Technology
The first Electronic Digital Computer HEC-2M was
installed in 1956 in the Indian Statistical Institute
(ISI), and the subsequent one Russian Machine
URAL-1 in 1958. I joined the skeleton of an Electronics
Laboratory in ISI after my MSc (Tech) Exam in the
then newly started Radio-Physics Electronics in
1955 (practical exam was yet to take place). After
seeing a news item in a Calcutta newspaper in
which Prof. P C Mahalanobis (PCM) was showing
an incomplete Analog Computer to the then
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. I met Professor
Mahalanobis who gave me a detailed lecture on
the importance of computer for developmental
planning in India, and asked me to join the computer laboratory
yet to be formed. ISI did develop one small ten by ten matrix solver,
not fully complete though, in 1954. After my joining in 1955 we
started R&D in Digital Computers about which we knew very little
except a few reports received from abroad.
After an intensive successful R&D in 50s & 60s on magnetic
drum memory and tiny toroidal core memories, we in collaboration
with Jadavpur University developed the first solid state Computer
ISIJU-I, and TIFR in the same period developed TIFRAC-I with
vacuum tubes - which were the first two digital computers in
India. TIFR transferred its computer technology and ISI transferred
its memory technology to ECIL that started developing TDC-
12, 16 etc. But both ISI and TIFR stopped hardware research and
concentrated on advanced level applications with nonnumerical
information processing namely pattern recognition (speech,
speaker, and pictures), image processing, computer vision, and
artificial intelligence. ISI developed internationally recognized Soft-
Computing R&D groups, (Fuzzy Logic, ANN, Genetic Algorithms
etc.). TIFR concentrated on Theoretical Computer Science. In late
1970s, ISI developed some very significant theoretical and applied
research program on Cybernetics & Systems theory. The decade
of 80s was very significant both from National & International
developments in the fields of ICT.
In 1980 at the 8th World Computer congress in Tokyo, Japanese
CSI Communications | August 2012 | 8
quite frequent. Bit dropping was very high. Reliable communication
could be made only at around 300 bps. However, users started
believing that computer can be used even without punching cards.
5. The greatest impact of RCC was possibly in generating general
computer and computational awareness. It started offering courses
at different levels, participated by college students to retired
professionals. It even arranged visits by school students to see and
experience a real-life computational facility. RCC even arranged
courses at different locations in the eastern region. Ultimately, RCC
started a one-year diploma course in Computer Science.
In short, RCC, Kolkata made a significant contribution in developing
future professionals, encouraged different user communities to
try and accept new and challenging areas of applications hitherto
unexplored and above all, had a very positive impact in developing
computer awareness in the society. From mid-80s onward,
microprocessor-based systems started entering the market and
computational facility became inexpensive. PCs first entered the
offices and then to drawing rooms and establishment like RCC lost
its demand.
scientists presented a Fifth Generation knowledge-
based Computing (FGCS/KBCS) Program indicating
that up to 4th Generation both PCs and large-scale
computers were number-crunching machines, but
for human decision-making process in the society,
science, health care and industry - what is needed
is about 70% nonnumerical information processing
(pictures images, speech, language etc.), and 30%
number-crunching problems. Coming back to India,
some of us tried our best to convince the then
Government Departments DOE & DST, about the
need for taking national-level KBCS/FGCS projects.
The other important event that occurred in India
was that in 1984. Shri. Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister
with an ambition to make India a powerful computerized modern
nation. The new computer policy of 1984 was announced within
19 days of Shri. Gandhi’s assumption of Prime-Minister’s office
liberating the shackled potential of Indian IT. Shri. Rajiv Gandhi also
believed effectiveness of the power of R&D in shaping the destiny
of a nation.
In 1985, DOE launched the famous KBCS/FGCS project
following the style of Japan’s and UK’s ELVY projects, involving
ISI, TIFR, IISc & IIT (Madras). ISI became the Centre of Excellence
with myself as the national coordinator in the areas of Pattern
Recognition, Image Processing, Computer vision, & AI; TIFR with
Prof. P V S Rao as the national coordinator started research work
in the areas of speech & language processing; IISc (Bangalore) with
Prof. Raja Raman as the national coordinator concentrated in the
areas of parallel processing. Prof H.N. Malabala of IIT (Madras) was
the national coordinator in the areas of Expert System Development.
There was an apex committee with all these national coordinators
as members and Dr. N Seshagiri was the Chairman of the Apex
committee. The project had substantial amount of foreign exchange
for the travel & training of the young scientists learning in each of
the national centers to different International centers of excellence
like MIT, Stanford, Maryland, Oxford, Cambridge, Michigan etc. in
respective areas, and about 50 young scientists were trained.
www.csi-india.org
 In collaboration with the FGCS/KBCS program, the Centre for
Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) was established
for the development of parallel and Supercomputing facilities, and
the Centre for Development of Telecommunications (C-DOT) was
established for the modernization of Telecommunications with Mr.
Sam Pitroda as in-charge. It may be mentioned here that, though the
UK’s ELVY project and Japan’s FGCS/KBCS program continued for
15 years, India’s FGCS/KBCS was stopped only after five years - may
be because the emphasis did change from R&D and advanced-level
teaching & training to market forces after the untimely demise of
About A Forgotten Pioneer: Prof. Arun Kumar Chaudhuri
Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology Mesra, Kolkata Campus
Prof. Chaudhuri did his BE in Electrical
Engineering at University of Calcutta, ME in
Electronics & Telecommunication Engg., with
specialization in Computer Engineering at
Jadavpur University. He has over 25 years of
teaching experience in the areas of Computer
Architecture & Organization, Operating Systems, Digital Logic,
Compiler Design, Computer Graphics
The scientific history of India is replete with names who have not
been given their due recognition and honor - mainly because of
negligence and apathy. One name that immediately comes to
mind is the multifaceted persona of the late Prof. Arun Kumar
Chaudhuri (DSc). He was one of the founder teachers of the Indian
Institute of Technology, Kharagpur when it was set up in 1951. At
that time he was instrumental in designing and implementing
the first analogue computer in India, which was at that time the
Russian Hollerith Company: Punch card machine installed by
Russians engineers in ISI on, 20.07.1956
(Photo courtesy: Reprography and Photography Unit, ISI Kolkata)
It was a second generation advanced machine that was transistor-
driven, at Jadavpur by Chagla and others, on 18.03.1966
(Photo courtesy: Reprography and Photography Unit, ISI Kolkata)
Rajiv Gandhi.
It may be mentioned that Dr. N. Seshagiri played a crucial role
in shaping India’s IT policy for about 50 years. Two other names
that must be mentioned in connection with India’s phenomenal
growth of Software Industry are Wipro’s Azim Premji and TCS’s
F C Kohli. I have come across in the recent past that Fakirchand
Kohli is campaigning for hardware and microelectronics. In
this connection I may mention that I shall not be surprised if
nanoelectronics becomes the driving force in the Web-based ICT
Industry of the world.
Subho Chaudhuri
state-of-the-art. His name unfortunately now is a forgotten one,
even at IIT (KGP). He was also an important member of the team
under late Prof. Meghnad Saha, which designed the electron
microscope at Rajabazar Science College, probably the first in
India. He retired from Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata. His
research interests are represented through publications scattered
over a large number of international journals on subjects ranging
from analog computation, control theory, to applied & pure
mathematics, to physics, to mechanical engineering, to electrical
engineering, and of course in the areas of management. In fact
being the first to theorize and solve the mathematical intricacies
of third-order servomechanism, he came to be known as Third-
Order Chaudhuri in the Control Theory community. He had told this
correspondent a few years before his death that he could visualize
a solution to Fermat’s Last Theorem, which alas was not to be.
Born in Kolkata on the 23rd of June, 1924, he breathed his last, an
unsung pioneer, on 12th of May, 2002.
Russian Delegation at ISI, in 1956 Dr. S Bhagavartan, scientific advisor of defense minister in ISI on 22.01.1966
(Photo courtesy: Reprography and Photography Unit, ISI Kolkata) (Photo courtesy: Reprography and Photography Unit, ISI Kolkata)
CSI Annual Convention Committee in CSI-1994: Standing (from left) :
First CSI Convention 1965, Kolkata, Dr. Dwijesh Dutta Majumder Mr. D Roy, Mr. R Datta Gupta, Mr. D P Sinha, Mr. S Bandyopadhayay,
explaining to the delegates Mr. D Sinha, Mr. A Mukherjee and Sitting (from left): Mr. M K Roy,
Mr. N K Roy, Mr. S Chatterjee, Mr. A Deb, Mr. D Ghoshdastidar
(Source: Inside Back Page of CSI 94 Commemorative Volume)
CSI Communications | August 2012 | 9
 Mr. J Roy, ISI seen with Mr. Michael Lackner during First CSI Convention
1965, Calcutta
Views from Disciples made in Jadavpur University
Views from Ramanuj Bhattacharya, first Batch
in BE (Computer Science), Jadavpur University
Ramanuj Bhattacharya did BE and ME in Computer Science and
Engg (1985 and 1987), MBA from Univ. of Chicago (1999), PMP
from PMI. He started his professional career in 1987 in India
and moved to the US in 1991. He has worked for several large
US companies including CSC, Sears, PWC, and IBM. Few critical
projects include - PMO manager for Sears/Kmart merger ($55
Billion), Strategic transformation of $2 Billion Sears Home Services
Business, IT Strategy and Procurement transformation for Blue
chip Canadian and US clients with significant bottom line impact.
In 1981, I joined 21 other students to start my journey into the 4-year
BE course in Computer Science and Engineering at Jadavpur University.
It was a brand-new course at the University and in the region in 1981.
Additionally, everything was also new for me - the city of Kolkata, the
Kolkatans, the University, engineering curriculum, and most importantly
the magical world of Computer Science. I joined the course because the
name sounded very interesting and appeared to be shrouded in untold
mysteries. When I started, I got tons of free and friendly advice about
computers in general and a long scary list of do’s and don’ts. Everybody
I knew was very knowledgeable about computers (except me) even
though they had never seen one in their lives. So, most of the advisers
had pity on me. Keep in mind that personal computers had not reached
India at that time as it was being launched in US in 1981. Anyway, I am
glad to say that none of their advice was useful and their predictions
never became a reality.
We had the opportunity to learn from a fantastic group of Computer
Science Professors at the Jadavpur University and it was definitely one
of the best programs in the country at that time. These professors
were very experienced and knowledgeable. They also exhibited sincere
devotion to teaching and genuine care for the students. The quality
of the students was also very high in our class. The curriculum was
brand-new with ambitious goals and there was equal emphasis on both
hardware and software. Although the field of computers is much more
varied and advanced today, the concepts I learnt there are still valid and
useful and make me stand tall even today. Although a lot of institutions
are teaching computers in India today, we must recognize the fact
that Jadavpur University was a pioneer in spreading the knowledge of
computers and its practical use at that early age in India.
When I look back today, I get amused with the then state of
technology. We learnt programming by submitting programs in punch
cards at the Regional Computer Center (on Burroughs 6700) which was
situated within the University campus. What a pain it was to replace a
wrongly punched card from a deck of cards when the program didn’t
run after waiting for several hours. In friendly fights, a big punishment
was to mix-up the deck of opponent’s punch cards. Later on we got
access to monochrome terminals which were a big relief. I saw the first
PC with dual floppy disk in 1984-85 which made life much easier and a
new era of video games started. We also learnt about basic electronic
circuits, computer hardware, and Intel 8085 microprocessors. It really
amazes me when I think about the changes in technology, the overall
transformation, and the impact of technology in our daily lives. I am not
CSI Communications | August 2012 | 10
Exhibition of books at First CSI Convention 1965, Kolkata Transistor-driven computer. In collaboration with the Indian Statistical
Institute, the university developed the ISIJU, India s first indigenously made
it. 1966 (Photo courtesy: Reprography and Photography Unit, ISI Kolkata)
embarrassed to admit today that my
110-year-old son knows more about
computers and other gadgets (like iPhone, IPad etc.)
than I do and often he teaches me new tricks.
I should also mention that a lot of private
concerns were coming up in the early 1980s in
order to teach basic computer skills to the young
generation who were looking for a job. It was a
common joke that time that if one failed to get a
job in other areas after best attempt, one started
learning computers as the last resort. Some people
viewed me as unsuccessful in finding a good job
and had pity on me that I was studying computers. Common people
didn’t understand the difference between the graduates in Computer
Science and somebody who took a data entry class for 3-6 months. I am
mentioning this just to make the reader familiar of the state of computer
awareness in Kolkata and other parts of India.
When we passed out in 1985, there was immense demand for
the freshly minted graduates. I can remember I got offers from TIFR,
ISRO, and several private companies. However, I decided to continue my
master’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering at the University
(again the first batch at the Master’s level). This course required
undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Engineering. I was also
working as a research associate at the CAD project funded by UNDP
and teaching computer courses at a private institute during that time. In
1987, I took up a full-time job in Kolkata. Today, I am proud that I had the
opportunity to be a part of the first generation of IT revolution in India.
In 1987, three months after taking up a job, I was deputed to a
sister concern in Philadelphia. The concept of bringing in cheap Indian
labor force to US was new to many including me and I unknowingly
became part of the next revolution that was going to be an important
chapter of the Indian IT industry. My US coworkers were impressed
with my skills I learnt at the Jadavpur University and soon realized that
Indian programmers were no less qualified than their US counterparts if
not better. Gradually, many more Indians arrived in the US and quickly
won over the respect and trust from the US companies with their hard
work, commitment, and can-do attitude. I saw this massive, turbulent
revolution and its impact on the US socioeconomic fabric from the very
beginning and the slow ascendance of Indians from low-cost laborers to
board room consultants; but, it’s a different story for another day.
I have been in the US for the last 21 years. Today, I focus on
providing strategic, transformational services by synthesizing Business
and Technology Strategies to very large global companies in the US
and Canada. Although, I had to get an MBA from a top US University to
complement my technical skills, I still consider the education and learning
I had at Jadavpur University as the bedrock of my professional foundation.
The journey I started 31 years ago at Jadavpur is still going strong and I
hope this will continue into the future. I also would like to mention that
majority of my classmates and juniors have been more successful than
me and have helped tremendously behind the scene to bring on the IT
revolution in India in their own way as it stands today. I end my write up
with these final words - Thank you very much Jadavpur University and all
my professors, class mates, my juniors at Jadavpur and staff for making
me successful and proud. My heartfelt love and respect go out to you all.
www.csi-india.org
 Angshuman Guha,
Principal Engineer, Yandex Labs, California, USA
(Angshuman Guha did BE in CS from JU, 1983-1987. He
worked on handwriting recognition for 11 years at Microsoft
and then he was at Google for 5 years doing web search, book
search, and conversion prediction for ads.)
I wrote my first program in BASIC, punching it on a stack of cards using a Hollerith
puncher and submitting it for batch execution on a Burroughs 6700 mainframe.
The problem was to find each 3-digit integer that equals the sum of cubes of its
digits. My teacher, Mohit K Roy, had given us the first number, but how many such
numbers existed was an exciting unknown to me. His enthusiasm still infects me
after 25 years. He taught us two more programming languages that first year -
Fortran and COBOL. I spent long happy hours debugging my implementation
of the Towers of Hanoi (recursion!) with a pen on the back of dot-matrix
printouts of unsuccessful batch runs. Despite my hero Dikjstra’s warning
against anthropomorphization of programming, I have to admit that
pretending to be the computer was excellent training for a career
in computer science. I graduated without C and OOP, almost
without PCs, and with my usual Indian sense of inadequacy.
The first few weeks at my American university were
filled with a dread of being “found out” and
expelled, until I realized I had received a world-
class education that prepared me more than
adequately for tackling what lay ahead.
The price of that education was a
mere pittance, as my mother
Anindya Banerjee,
would point out: India
Professor, Madrid Institute for educated me, only to see
Advanced Studies, Spain me immediately leave
(Anindya Banerjee did BE in CS from JU,
on the brain drain
1983-1987, later earned his PhD from Kansas train.
State University and was a postdoctoral fellow
at the Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, and the University
of Aarhus, Denmark. Before Madrid Institute, he was
7, c
Professor of Computing and Information Sciences at Kansas
1 98
State University and Assistant Professor of Computer Science f themselves and those card punch machines seem so
so
Suprateek Sarker, Professor, Washington State University, USA
(Suprateek Sarker, BCSE ’87. MBA, MS, PhD is Philip Kays Distinguished Professor of
Information Systems at Washington State University, Pullman. He also concurrently
holds the University of London Chair of Technology and Information Management.
Suprateek researches managerial implications of IT and has published in many
leading journals and conferences. He is currently a Senior Editor of MIS Quarterly
(the top-ranked research journal in MIS), and serves on editorial boards of many
journals including Journal of MIS, Journal of the AIS, IEEE Transactions on Engineering
Management, and IT & People).
We were fortunate to study in our BCSE program with 29 other individuals, most
with superior intellectual capability by any standards. As I look back at those days,
I cannot help but think of the classmates who were gifted not only with brilliant
minds but also with hearts of gold - ones who would have mathematical and
technological insights beyond the grasp of most in the cohort around the
country, and at the same time, would stand out as being the most giving,
unselfish, and humble. Somehow, the JU BCSE culture attracted and
nurtured such individuals. Many years have passed since our
graduation, and in this period, I have met many successful
scholars and business leaders in disciplines related to
computing. I must say that my BCSE classmates,
especially those who, through their actions more Samik Gupta, Vice President
than 25 years ago, represented to me the best of Engineering, Converged
the intellectual and human qualities, remain Communication Processing, Mindspeed
Technologies, USA
my idols from whom I continue to draw
inspiration. One of these special (Samik Gupta did his BE in Computer Sc &
Engg from Jadavpur University, Kolkata in 1987,
individuals, Amitabha Dey is no
more with us, but his unique having a rich 25+ years of experience in several IT
industries)
contribution to our educational
experience at JU has not
been and will never be My earliest memory of the JU computer science department
was writing BASIC programs in our first semester. We punched
forgotten.
cards on a machine that never had an inked ribbon and the
line of code never printed at the top of the card. We held up
ompleting 25 years
the card to the light and visually decoded the Hollerith code.
a
Today we use IDEs that seem to almost write the code by

fte
at Stevens Institute of Technology, USA). archaic. Didn't seem that way back then - it felt like we
were doing something incredibly special and cool. We
s from Clas

Many fond memories of my time studying computer science rg were "programming" when most people had no idea
at Jadavpur University (1983-1987) relate to the high-quality raduation
what that was. That sense of wonder is what I remember
instruction imparted by Profs. Sukumar Ghosh, Debabrata most about my four years at JU. Our teachers had the
Ghosh Dastidar, Shyamal Majumdar, Debidas Mukherjee, foresight to develop a curriculum that covered all
and Mohit Roy. Looking back, it is fair to say that I wasn't aspects of what makes a computer - from transistors
drawn to computer science during the first couple of years to flip-flops to algorithms to communication theory.
ew

at Jadavpur. At the end of the second year, it never ceased to Each semester seemed to fit in one more piece to
Vi

surprise me how quickly the first two years had vanished and
how little problem-solving skills I had acquired. This was despite
the fact that we had encountered excellent teachers along the way.
(It was only years later I realized that "things take time".)
Things started changing with Prof. Roy's data structures course in the first semester
of the third year. That course convinced me that there was something very deep and
mathematical about computer science that went beyond simply making a program "work". Professor, Department
I suppose that semester was also the first time we heard of Dijkstra, Hoare, Wirth, and other
computer scientists. Amazingly, some of their books were also available in our departmental
library. A few of us learnt to bribe our librarian, the evergreen Mr. Nirmal Dey, with cigarettes, so
we could keep the books beyond the due date.
That I chose to pursue research as a vocation was certainly aided by many discussions with
the above core group of faculty, particularly Prof. Shyamal Majumder. I fondly recall the time when I
borrowed a book on Mathematical Logic by Stephen Kleene from the departmental library.
Prof. Majumder simply said that I had stumbled upon a "gold mine" and that I should "study the book".
He also made time every week to discuss the chapters of the book. At a certain point, he suggested that
I meet one of the senior PhD students, Debasish Banerjee. Debasish da introduced me to the magic of
programming language semantics and gave me a photocopy of one of the earliest books on the subject. I
have gone back to that book many a time in the intervening years and the photocopy still remains with me.
We were able to interact with Prof. Sukumar Ghosh only in the second semester of our final year. The
high quality of his operating systems lectures still remain a fond memory; that clarity and meticulousness
is something to which I still aspire. Debasish da was a student of Prof. Ghosh and had alerted me to the
scholarship of some of the faculty in our department. Despite the paucity of resources, Profs. Roy and
Ghosh Dastidar had published in the Communications of the ACM and The Computer Journal. Prof. Ghosh
had published in the Journal of the ACM. Moreover, we were very proud to discover that Prof. Ghosh had
communicated a theorem to Dijkstra which became the topic of one of Dijkstra's famous EWD notes.
Debasish da, himself, had published an article in the ACM TOPLAS; he had an uncanny ability to ask probing
questions, to most of which I had no answers.
Finally, it was a great pleasure to share in the process of learning with my classmates. Not only did
they unknot many of my complicated reasoning processes, but also they opened my eyes to the world
beyond computer science. I fondly remember our many discussions on theater, cinema, literature, politics,
love, and the meaning of life. By a great stroke of fortune I have been able to retain contacts with a few of
them over the past 25 years.
the puzzle and helped me understand this
thing called a computer (or "machine"
as we sometimescalled it).
Looking back after 25 years,
I'm grateful for that
Arobinda Gupta, education.
of Computer Science &
Engineering, IIT Kharagpur
(Arobinda Gupta did his Bachelors and Masters in
Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Jadavpur
University, Kolkata in the late 80s. He is currently a Professor in the
Department of Computer Science & Engineering at IIT Kharagpur)
It was the mid-80s when we first got the chance to program on a
computer. The Burroughs mainframe in the Regional Computer Center
(RCC) located in Jadavpur University, Kolkata used to be the pride
of Eastern India in those days, with many companies and other
institutions depending on it for their IT and other computational
needs. We being students were the less important users, and
our interface to the vaunted machine was limited to two
windows, an "Input" window to submit our programs on a
deck of punched cards, and an "Output" window to collect
the printouts with the result at the end of the day. Well,
that, and looking at the giant machine wishfully through
glass partitions, and just being jealous at the seemingly
superhuman CMC Engineers who got to walk around and
fiddle with the machines; more so in the hot summer
months as the RCC floor where the machine was
housed had the only air-conditioning around!

CSI Communications | August 2012 | 11

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