It is a great joy and pride for us to witness the nationwide recognition of India’s
historic performance at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) 2024; and for the
students to interact with the Hon’ble Prime Minister, the President, and other dignitaries. This
is also a great honour for the parents and teachers of the students; and we take this
opportunity to write a letter on behalf of a few of these teachers.


We represent the team of teachers led by Prof M Prakash in Pune; who have
mentored Adhitya, Siddharth and many others for achieving success at IMO. Out of approx
160 medals won by India at IMO till date, nearly 40 of these are won by the students of M
Prakash sir. Many of these students have continued to lead successful careers in various
fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).


Under Prakash sir’s leadership, we will continue our journey of helping students
succeed at IMO every year. However, our goals are much broader: We would like India to
be recognized as a global leader in the STEM fields. And to help achieve this, our vision
is to build the next generation of Indian scientists and researchers. It is clear to us that
our Government also shares this vision, through initiatives such as the Atal Tinkering Labs,
the continued success of ISRO, and the broader Digital India movement. We hereby seek
the endorsement and support of the Indian Government for our plans, as described below:


1. Our first step is to launch an accelerated learning program for the talented students
of Pune: Each year, through a selection process we will identify the highly talented
students in Pune, who are in Std 6. We will enrol these students in our program,
wherein we will nurture the students to achieve their full potential.


2. However, we want to ensure that our students can dedicate their full time and energy
to our program. So, our next step is to partner with the schools of our students, by
introducing a new attendance model, called a “duty leave” for our students.


What will not change for the students enrolled in “duty leave”:


● They will continue to be enrolled in school, and pay their regular admission fees, just
like all other students.


● They will appear for the school exams of all the subjects; and their promotion to the
next standard will continue to be based upon their adequate performance each year.


What will change for the students enrolled in “duty leave”:


● They are not required to maintain classroom attendance; or to participate in any
other school activities.


● We take the responsibility for ensuring that, despite not attending the school lectures,
these students maintain a good performance in the exams of all the subjects.


● We like to call this a “duty leave”, because the students are not missing school for a
vacation. Rather, while on “duty leave”, the students are fully engaging their time and
energy in our accelerated learning program.


How the participating schools will benefit from the “duty leave” model:


● The students of our accelerated learning program will continue to excel at Olympiads,
IIT JEE and other well-known exams; and the schools will get nationwide recognition
for supporting the success stories of such students.


● More talented students will prefer to seek admissions in such schools; which
will further boost the recognition and potential achievements of these schools


How the Indian Government will benefit from our programs:


● The students in our accelerated will of course, continue to bring laurels for our nation,
through international contests such as Olympiads. But more broadly, our long-term
vision of contributing scientists and researchers, will pave the way for India to be
recognized as a global leader in STEM fields.


● All the training material from our accelerated learning program will be provided
completely open-source and free of cost, including all lectures notes, video
recordings, and so on. We hope that this material will be used by other teachers to
start similar programs in more cities around India. And we will be happy to contribute
towards helping these models get started.


Our appeal to the Indian Government, to support our “accelerated learning
program” and our “duty leave” partnership with schools:


● Upon our request, please furnish letters of recommendation to the
respective school authorities, to permit our selected students a “duty leave”
under the above mentioned conditions.


● Please help to make our training materials widely accessible to the entire
education community; and thereby help the growth of similar programs in
multiple locations.


There can be many more ideas possible, to realize our vision for India as soon as possible.
And we will always be available to engage in a deeper conversation about these topics. But
for now, we believe that our suggested ideas are the bare minimum steps in the right
direction.

Good morning friends! It might interest you to know that I am familiar with at least 20 different languages! However, most of them are in fact, computer programming languages, such as C++, Java, etc! My first language at the age of six was called LOGO; it had just one triangle running around on the screen, drawing simple shapes, like a square or a house. In those days, I also used to enjoy playing games like Tetris, on those pocket devices you used to get back in the 90s. Well, as it so happens, many of these things I’m mentioning are relevant to the work that I’m doing even now! I’ll tell you more about it, shortly…


But before that, just to mention a few more things about my childhood: Both of my parents are teachers; they would encourage me to appreciate each subject in great depth. They spotted my interest in maths at an early age; and thanks to their efforts, I had the great fortune of meeting Prof M Prakash, who founded the very institute where we are (most probably) meeting right now! Prakash sir guided me and helped to develop my interest in maths. Even today, along with my other hobbies such as music, I enjoy solving problems, and I also train students for exams such as the Maths Olympiads. I think I might have drawn thousands of triangles over the last 15-odd years!


My job at NVIDIA gives me the chance to work right at the intersection of several interests that I’ve mentioned so far; such as maths, programming, graphics, and of course gaming! One way to describe my work is that I help computers to learn things like: how to draw graphics (which contain millions of triangles!) recognize images; and solve various other problems, much like a human would. Or in other words, it’s all about Artificial Intelligence! And if there’s one thing I would like you to remember from my speech; it is that we shouldn’t underestimate the potential of AI to radically change our entire world; and some of these changes are happening faster than you might anticipate!


Anyway, there’s a lot more I could elaborate on this; but to conclude, let me just say that the subject of AI is closely tied to my ambitions, both for myself as well as our entire species! I would like to see a future where everyone gets the chance to do the work that they’re really interested in; and in many ways, enjoy an even better life than today. I would be happy to share more ideas about this vision; and how we can get there as quickly as possible.
But for now; that’s all from me. Thank you all for your time, and have a good day!

Good morning friends! Here’s a 2000-rupee note that we are all familiar with. But how many of us noticed that on the back of the note, there’s an image of our Mangalyaan mission that successfully reached Mars around three years ago? These missions are the result of many years and even decades of research and planning done by the scientists at space agencies such as ISRO and NASA. Naturally, one may wonder, what is the purpose of investing so much money, resources and human effort into space exploration? What are its benefits to the average person? And what are its implications for our future? Today, I would like to share my own understanding on these questions.


First let us consider the benefits of space exploration. Any machine that is sent outside Earth’s atmosphere, needs to survive in extremely harsh conditions. New technology is constantly being developed for such requirements; but over time, the same ideas get used in the more conventional applications that we all depend upon. For example, one of the critical stages for a space shuttle is its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere: All the systems should keep working flawlessly under extremely high heat and pressure. Specific materials have been developed with just the right properties to achieve this. But the same requirement is shared by the machines in domains such as healthcare, construction, aeronautics, deep ocean navigation, and many others. Thus, by improving our space navigation capability, we are also inventing the technology that improves our lives that in many direct and indirect ways.


Apart from the technological benefits, there are economic benefits as well. Space agencies often launch satellites on behalf of private companies as well as foreign governments; which generates a lot of revenue. In fact, it may surprise you to know that ISRO generates a net profit; and returns even more revenue back to the government, than what it takes from our taxes! For example, in 2016, ISRO famously launched 104 satellites in a single mission. What is less known about that record-breaking mission, is that it provided ISRO with a net revenue of over 300 million US dollars! Countless other companies are involved in the design and manufacturing of the equipment needed for ground control as well as the actual spacecraft. They all gain employment and funds for research, due to such economic activities.


Last but not the least, I feel that the most important aspect of space exploration is the human curiosity it represents, which is a natural part of all of us. The more answers we get about the mysteries of the Universe, the more questions it leads to! It is a truly humbling experience to think of the vastness of the Universe. And this curiosity also leads to fundamental breakthroughs in pure sciences, such as the nature of sub-atomic particles; and the basic meaning of length, mass and time itself. These ideas are the seeds of many breakthroughs in technology that we would discover in the coming years and decades.


So... what’s the next chapter in our space exploration efforts? As an avid fan of science fiction, I can get easily carried away by the thoughts and images of interstellar colonization, and who knows, someday even meeting aliens! But… coming back to the Earth for now, haha! Even on a more immediate basis, NASA, ISRO and others have a quite detailed roadmap for colonization on relatively closer bodies such as the moon and Mars, within the next 10 to 20 years. And all of it is directly connected to the points I previously mentioned, in terms of the benefits to technology, economics, and research in pure sciences.


To briefly conclude, I can’t wait to keep learning more about the exciting new things yet to come, in the domain of space exploration. But you can keep learning too! So, the next time you want to plan an outing with friends or family, head to a planetarium instead of the movie theater! Who knows... instead of the Hollywood version of “Interstellar”, you might discover the true meaning of that word!
Thank you all, have a good day!

Good morning friends! My speech is called “The one where I failed in college”, just like how the sitcom Friends used to name all its episodes. I now find humour in what seemed a very sad event in my third year at IIT Bombay. This story of realizing and overcoming the failure has some funny moments, and insightful ones too. I think it’s worth sharing with all of you; so, here goes…


It starts on a sunny afternoon in February 2011. I was in my Electrical Engineering department; writing the mid-semester exam of a 3rd-year course called “Power electronics”. The subject is all about the technology that generates and distributes electricity, from the power stations to our homes. In other words, it was a very important course! And very fascinating too, now that I think about it. But that day in the exam, I wasn’t thinking about all of this! I was just unprepared, anxious and frustrated that after almost 2 hours into the 3-hour exam, I had barely attempted half the paper; not sure if my solutions were even right.


I had even started using this strategy: For each question, just multiply all the given numbers, and hope you get the correct answer! The trick works for simple formulae such as “Distance = speed x time”, or “F = ma”. It’s a useful tip for you as well, to guess an answer to any school math question! Anyway, so yeah… that’s how desperate I was in the exam. After the paper, I realized from my friends’ discussions, that I had done very poorly indeed. Still trying to stay positive, I resolved to study harder next time...


But, the only thing I remember from the next few months is that, I kept scoring poorly in all the remaining exams for that course, including the finals in April. After that last paper, these were my thoughts while talking to friends: “I think I definitely did better than this guy! Oops, looks like I didn’t. Okay, what about that other guy!” and so on, down the list of our ‘class ranks’, until I ended up with marks even lower than those who were experts at failing courses!
In IIT marksheets, a fail grade is written as “FR”, meaning ‘Failure and Repeat’. But it’s pronounced “farra” in the campus slang! So, another useful tip for you: Try asking any IIT alumnus, “Kitne farre khaye?” Word of caution: The question could make them angry at you!


Seeing the farra on my marksheet, I had such a mixed bag of emotions: Sorrow, regret and shame, but also some positive ones, such as comic relief! We used to joke as friends, how cool it would be to score every grade, from an A-plus to a farra. Now that joke had become my reality! The good news was I had one year available to repeat the course. The bad news: I didn’t know how to pass the course!


Hanging out with the other classmates who failed the course, was quite an experience! I was so nervous during the reapplication formalities, while they were so calm and casual; since this was their usual routine! Despite their poor academic record, we had many interesting conversations. I realized that nobody should be judged on merely their marks. Many students join engineering due to pressure from their families; but their true interests are in other fields, where they often become successful.


Fast forwarding a bit: I repeated the course next year. Instead of just preparing to score marks, I now developed a genuine appreciation for the subject. Studying it became an enjoyable activity for me, and to my relief, I did pass the course in time to get my degree!


To conclude, I would like to say: Some people get the false impression from my Maths Olympiad achievements, that I was perhaps lucky to avoid failure and rejection. But the moral of my story is: Everybody fails! But we should see failures as opportunities to improve, and as stepping stones to the next success. Inculcating this thought process is itself an accomplishment we can all strive for, right from this workshop.


Thank you all; and have a great day!