Humans Of BPHC

Greetings from Humans of BPHC and the Journal Club! Checkout our interview with Prof. Chittaranjan Hota, a Senior Professor of Computer Science at BPHC. He talks about how he was led to this institute and his experience being with BITS for almost 20 years.

For the full story, click out the link below:
https://bitshyd.news.blog/2025/06/05/an-interview-with-prof-chittaranjan-hota/

Interview credits: Advait Gokhale, Abhinav Muley, Pratyush Nair
Design Credits: Arpita Patra

Greetings from Humans of BPHC and the Journal Club! We present to you the story of Dr. Yogeeswari Perumal, Dean of Administration, Senior Professor of the Pharmacy department and founder of Yogee's Bioinnovations Pvt Ltd.
She talks about her journey with academia in the Pharmaceutical field, and how it has shaped her.

For the full story, check out the link in the below:
https://bitshyd.news.blog/2025/04/19/sports-serendipity-and-the-science-i-once-avoided/

Greetings from the Journal Club! We recently got to have a chat with Team JANUS as they shared their stories and experiences. For the full interview, check out the link below!

"Team JANUS: Every year there is a ‘Roulette Round’. If there are more than twenty teams that applied for a category, they have to narrow it down, so they will just have a random selection before even the first round happens and they will choose some teams that can participate in the first round and then they will go on and select another two teams that can go further.
Because the odds were not on our side for seven continuous years, we weren't able to move to participate.

Umang: Throughout the competition, we were sleep deprived because of which we made many such small mistakes. Let me tell you about one such mistake.

I was supposed to put a reset pin in the flight computer. If you just touch the screwdriver, it should reset. For testing purposes it was there. So I was told to put it in, and I did. But in the main flight software, during the launch time, we had to somehow remove it, but we didn't. We felt like it shouldn't be an issue because no one will touch the screwdriver in the sky, right? But the issue was there were carbon rods and carbon rods are conductive. It's a very obvious thing, but we didn’t realise it then. The carbon rods are conductive and the reset pin will reset. We didn't think and now it's in the air and continuously resetting, the calibrations and everything. So now it’s not deploying anything.

Team JANUS: But we still got all the data on the ground and a lot of things still worked. Even though a lot of things didn't work, a lot of things still worked.

The things which were not dependent on altitude worked. The altitude was getting messed up and all the deployments were based on altitude. So, mechanisms didn’t deploy. We only got the temperature and other things.

Anmol: So it was basically an asteroid.

Rishi: Yeah, we made an asteroid.”

Link to read the full interview:

An Interview with JANUS An interview with Team JANUS, a part of SEDS that makes Cansats and represents our campus in the international Cansat competition every year. They team talks about their experience being a part of …

The Hostel Stories
#4 - Squash-astrophe

It was a day like no other. I’d just bought my first-ever tennis racket. Yes, you read that right: a tennis racket. Not because I wanted to play tennis, but because I had recently convinced myself that 'squash' was my new calling in life. You see, I’m what they call an “impulse buyer,” which is a polite way of saying I don't read labels.
So, armed with my Tennis racket, I went into the squash court for the very first time.
The court was occupied by a young dude, and I thought, 'Oh great, another fresher'. He looked friendly enough, so I joined him with a 'Hi'. We start playing, and let me tell you, I went all in on the trash talk. I hurled every abuse in my vocabulary - some that don’t even exist yet but will probably get added to the dictionary because of me.
At this point, I thought I was smashing it. Midway, I casually asked him, “So, bro, which hostel are you from? Gautam or Valmiki?” Because obviously, no one could be anything other than a fresher when I’m dominating so hard, right?
Wrong.
He just chuckled and replied, “Uh, I’m not a fresher, I’m actually faculty.” Faculty? FACULTY?!
I could feel my soul leave my body, take an Uber, and abandon me. I’m there with my tennis racket, playing squash with a guy, hurling abuses, and turns out he’s a professor. Fantastic.
We both burst into awkward laughter, mostly because if I didn’t laugh, I would’ve curled up into a ball and rolled out of the court.

I decided to show off my SKILL (this is the first time I'm playing this sport), so I aimed for a killer diagonal shot that would make him run around. But life, in all its cruel irony, had other plans. The ball, instead of bouncing off the wall, made a beeline for his… um… balls. Direct hit.
Bullseye.
He crumpled to the ground, knees buckling, and I stood there, paralyzed. In that moment, I could hear my academic future evaporating. There was no way I wasn’t getting suspended. I mean, I just whacked my professor in his family jewels. The universe had clearly decided to use me as its personal punchline today.
To my surprise, after a few groans and a lot of awkwardness, we finished the game. The fear was real. At the end of the match, he casually asked, “So, what’s your name? Where are you from?” I told him, hoping he didn’t have a hit-list.
Then I asked, “Which Department are you in, by the way?” And here comes the twist—the cherry on this nightmare
sundae.
He’s from the same branch as me. Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
I had just smashed the balls of a professor from my own department.
What are the odds, right?
l'll tell you—way too high when you're me.

Credits: Shubham Sagar (24 batch)

If you also want to share your college experiences on this platform, do fill out our google form and we will get in contact with you:

Google Forms: Sign-in Access Google Forms with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).

Greetings! We at Humans of BPHC are back with Hostel Stories, sharing glimpses into the everyday lives of the students of BPHC.

This time we share the story of three students talking about the plight of Hyderabad summers this year and how everyone dealt with it. Read the full story from the link below!

Anyone interested in sharing their experiences can fill out the form provided below :)

#3: Scorched and Stressed

"The summer of 2024 has brought record high temperatures to Hyderabad, and for people like Kalash, a second-year student in BITS Pilani Hyderabad, the sweltering heat has turned daily routines into grueling ordeals.

As Kalash, an Electronics and Electrical Engineering (EEE) student, trudged to class, he couldn’t help but feel like he was in an old energy drink commercial, where the sun was cartoonishly hot, relentlessly sapping his energy. The journey from his stifling hostel room to the mess hall for lunch was particularly agonizing, as the packed dining area only aggravated the oppressive heat. Kalash had developed a slow, deliberate tread to conserve energy during this unbearable season.

Oddly enough, his only respite came in the form of attending classes, where the air conditioning provided a rare relief. Even the library, with its minimal cooling, offered some comfort compared to the other common areas. The hostel common rooms were overcrowded, their air conditioning rendered ineffective by the sheer number of students seeking refuge there. The stench of so many people’s sweat in one place only added to the discomfort, and finding a suitable place to sleep had become a near-impossible task, particularly with comprehensive exams looming.”

Link for full article:
https://bitshyd.news.blog/2024/10/28/scorched-and-stressed-exam-heat-intensified-by-cooler-ban/

Form to share your experiences:
https://forms.gle/wQrK5WK8qtptXAaE8

#84
Prof. Maya Vinai
Associate Professor,
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.

#83
Mr. Ananth
Owner, Sandwich Shop, Cafeteria

Hello everyone. I was the eldest child in my family. Gaining education was a real struggle right from the get go. We used to live in a small village, which only had schooling till the 7th grade. So I had to go to another nearby village to complete my 8th to 10th-grade schooling. But going to school everyday proved to be a hassle because of undeveloped roads and bad infrastructure. I couldn’t get a cycle either, because we couldn’t afford it. After passing my 10th, I moved to another city to complete my 11th and 12th and had to manage living alone in a single room. I took up jobs whenever I was free and used that money for my living expenses.

Once I was done with my schooling, I immediately started searching for jobs. At home, my sister was getting married as well. One of our relatives had a canteen at Ballari, Karnataka, so I moved there to work in 2006. Around six years ago, I moved to Vikarabad, Hyderabad, to open Bits and Bytes at the BPHC cafeteria. Every morning, at 9 o'clock, we start making the puffs and cakes that the students seemed to like a lot. It took us a couple of hours to make them. The students also seemed to love the momos, chaats, and masala maggi we made here. In all my six years working here, the best part has to be the students. I have seldom experienced such kindness in interactions. They are all very friendly and decent.

During lockdown, I used to manage the whole cafeteria. The messes were closed and only this cafeteria used to remain open. Most of the workers left for their hometowns, far from campus. So I would take a metro every day and manage the area, manage the cash registers as well. A year ago, I became a partnering vendor with the Isthara group. While we hope to continue working at BPHC, an increase in commission demand and competition post covid has been tough on the shop.

#83
'The man, the myth, the legend'
HoBPHC brings to you the story of crowd favorite, Dr Prasant Samantray!!.

#82
Subrata Chakraborty
Manager, Yummpys

I was born into a Bengali family with five siblings. I was brought up in a big joint family where everyone supported each other through thick and thin. Unfortunately, my father passed away in the 1980s, which was a turning point in my life. I had to drop out of college as I had to take responsibility for my family, which included managing my sister's wedding and supporting my siblings.

With a heavy heart and determination to improve my family's life, I moved to Surat, Gujarat, where I started working in a finance company. I worked tirelessly and saved every penny I could to send back to my family. After several years of hard work, I moved to Hyderabad in 2000, searching for better opportunities with just 10,000 rupees in my pocket.

I worked in a real estate business in Hyderabad. I also found the love of my life here, who happened to be from a Telugu background. Although my family initially objected to our relationship, I did not waver in my commitment to her and eventually married her.

In 2017, I stumbled upon a food truck opportunity at BITS Pilani Hyderabad, where I joined BITS Yummpys as its manager. I decided to take a risk and make a career in the food industry, and thankfully, it’s been a success. By the grace of God and the hard work that I have put into my life, I have managed to have my own home with a car. Even during covid, I managed to provide food to all our workers and showed my gratitude to them.

I have seen how BITS has evolved since 2017, the culture and diversity I see here are amazing, and I love to interact with the students coming to me. I have been fortunate to have found such a welcoming, friendly and respectful community at BITS Hyderabad. It’s very heartening and invigorating to have the privilege to be even a small part of the students’ college journey, witnessing their highs and lows. I always try to help them in any way I can, as I’ll forever be indebted to the love and support I have received from the BITS family.

The Hostel Stories
#1
Till Chem Quiz do us apart:
Amidst the blistering Hyderabad heat and with compres just around the corner, my friends and I were exhausted by the thought of studying. Despite rising frustration and close to no concentration, we needed to put in effort for our first offline chem quiz. My friends and I hilariously thought one quiz would drastically improve our grades, so we were determined to ace it. Our brilliant minds decided to pile our mattresses in the common room and pull an all-nighter. The common room had coolers so it was a perfect atmosphere, barring the constant buzzing flies. Adamant to continue, we got our material and sat down to devour it all. As problem-solving went on, we realized having three people question every step in every question only led to continuous laughter, not productivity. We lasted till 3 am before calling it a night. Now, I’d like to say the quiz went well, but that would be a lie. It was quite a night and it taught us a lesson. We continued studying in the common room but learnt to avoid looking at or asking each other questions.

#81
Santosh Mahapatra
I never aspired to be an English teacher; why would I? I was terrified of English! Until 12th grade, my English scores were worth hiding and I had survived English as an academic course by mugging up before exams. However, for college- since I wasn’t an academically gifted student as such- there was only a vacant slot in the English department for me, so I took it. Funny story- it took me an entire month to read five pages of a history of literature book since I had to look up every single word in the dictionary to understand it was a struggle, indeed! My English continued to be my Achilles heel even after my post-graduation. Later, I worked as a teacher in DAV Bhubaneswar for a short period and managed to work on my English as I taught it. I wasn’t a bad teacher I guess, but I would have changed my teaching style if I had a chance.
But when I came to Hyderabad to pursue my B. Ed. degree at the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), I met with a lot of culture shocks. The general body was dominated by a female majority, and the campus was quite liberal, inclusive, and tolerant, which broadened my outlook. For an institution in early 2000s India, it was highly progressive regarding awareness and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. The people there had the liberty to identify and express themselves in any way they found comfortable. Even our academics were only assignment-based, examinations were considered an unnecessary source of stress for the students. This system is quite unique and effective and should be normalized in other educational institutions.
Regardless, I was unable to talk to anyone- partly because of the conversations in English- partly because of the “elite interest” of my peers in writing, cinema and painting I did not have, but soon picked up hurriedly to fit in with them.
Back in Odisha, I didn’t really have much access to the world cinema, and all I could do was watch a movie on HBO every night before bed. I tried to initiate conversations about movies, but I did not have the slightest idea of what kind of movies they spoke about. Names like Tarkovsky, Bergman, Coppola, and Antonioni would get thrown around. I had no clue about these great filmmakers and, of course, Indian filmmakers like Satyajit Ray, Girish Kasaravalli, and several others. I wanted to watch their movies for the sake of gathering conversational content as well as other English movies for improving my poor spoken English.
As I gained more and more exposure, I developed a genuine interest in cinema. Cinema not only improved my English but also broadened my horizons. It made me less judgemental of people and their livelihoods. I felt drawn toward art films, which pushed me to think creatively in a non-traditional, non-orthodox manner. I learned about the existence of genders that didn’t conform to the norm of the binary and became accepting and comfortable with them. I developed an appreciation for other Indian cultures; sometimes, I’d hum Tamil, Telugu, or Malayali songs. Making other people and their cultures your own became increasingly common, and that helped me connect with people despite our differences in language, culture, or caste. When pursuing my M.Phil., I started teaching English- yes, you heard it right- in non-formal courses offered by EFLU.
After completing my M.Phil. in English language education at EFLU, I did my Ph.D. on a topic related to improving teachers’ ability to carry out assessments, at University of Hyderabad. I still work in that area and some day, I hope to have a say in the national educational assessment system. It was fast and only took me three years to complete. My English had become quite refined by then. Interestingly, I submitted my Ph.D. thesis and joined BITS on the same day!
I started off teaching courses like Advanced Communicative English and Technical Report Writing, but after 4-5 years, I started taking courses like Effective Public Speaking. I also introduced a course called “Introduction to Critical Pedagogy,” which talks about aspects of teaching related to class, caste, sexuality, disability, how things are taught, how teachers feel, and what science says about teaching and learning. It is a fun course. This semester, I taught a new course, Computer Mediated Communication in which we discuss issues related to gaming, addiction, social media, po*******hy, streaming behaviour, online cheating and harrassment, etc. We are having a good time.
My love for movies, languages and people has been growing. Our connection with multiple languages, people from different cultures and movies from various parts of the country and the world has the potential to make this world a beautiful place.