IIT Kharagpur
Foundation
IITKGP ka tempo high hai!

IIT Kharagpur Foundation (USA)

The Life of Ranbir Singh Gupta –
A Triumph of IIT Meritocracy

(By BB Gupta, Partha Vora, Sumeru Roychoudhury – scribe Sukhminder Grewal)

Before we knew that we had to take preparatory classes for the legendary “IIT Joint Entrance Examination” a young boy from Chulkana Village in Panipat District, then Punjab and now Haryana State, took the exam, got selected among the top 2,000, and came down to IIT Delhi for his interview. Offered Civil Engineering at Delhi, he demurred as all he knew about Civil was drawings, which he did not want. Figuring any other field would have less drawing, driven by spirit of adventure and the allure of Kharagpur, Ranbir selected Architecture. Too late as he found out that Architecture was yet more drawings! Be that as it may, on June 30th 1965, Ranbir joined Sumeru, Ati, and Chinu in Room 202 in A Block of Nehru Hall along with sixty of us freshers. For the next five (add a half more for Architecture) we woke up, and biked along scholar’s avenue to our classes, ate breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner together and formed the bonds that are as strong today as they were 55 years ago. Five years later we left the gladdest years of our lives on the rickshaws with our belongings in one big “trunk” and wandered into a world we never imagined.

Ranbir began his education in a Hindi medium school in his village. There had been a long tradition in the Punjab where teachers prided themselves on sending brilliant students on to places where their talents could be nurtured – Nobelists Khorana and Abdus Salalm came from similar situations in Punjab villages. His teachers recognized Ranbir’s extraordinary talent and moved him to an English medium high school in 9th grade to put him on the road to great things. Switching to English was hard especially in the humanities and later at IIT meeting colleagues who had gone to English medium schools and even counted in English – no ik do teen for them. But nothing stopped Ranbir, each year he became more talkative in English and by the time he graduated, he was ready for America.

At IIT, Ranbir was the pure desi ghee on a wonderful chapati that was IIT. He came as a strict vegetarian and left not so strict after mistaking an egg omlette for fried besan pakora (chickpea flour fritters). IIT was an incredible diversity of cultures and origins but also a pure meritocracy. Ranbir found himself surrounded by talent and he took every advantage of it, growing by leaps in bounds in his outlook and awareness of the wide world beyond Panipat. Learning and teaching, he was the exemplary IITan.

While many of us were late risers and found alternative distractions, Ranbir was the disciplined one attending classes, taking notes, and the rock of the ’70 batch architecture group. The night before exams, Ranbir would run his classes for the rest of us – unlike that for regular classes, attendance for Ranbir’s tutorial was 100%. So many were able to sleep late and miss the lectures and also pass the exams with one long night of Ranbir.

Not just Architecture, Ranbir would even coach Civil engineering students on structures and other mathematical concepts. Generous with his time, and right there when toughassignment came, Ranbir reduced student anxiety like no drug could; no worry, lets walk over to A Block. No surprise, Ranbir graduated with high honors at the top of his class.

Fortunately, after 1965, a few IITans had made their way to US universities and opened the window. As with many of us, with few prospects of jobs, Ranbir applied to US Universities for grad school. His talent and recognition by his professors came through and he began a graduate assistantship and Carnegie Mellon University. Again, he excelled. After graduation he joined the prestigious Architecture/Engineering firm in Miami, Wolfberg-Alvarez. In the bustling building boom of the 1980s in Miami, Ranbir found his niche. He led teams for various housing projects. Designed the Metrorail station for Miami. As computers came along, Ranbir was a pioneer in the use of computers in architecture and structural engineering. He began with punch cards – before you could edit your program on a screen. It took real talent and many nights to be a computer programmer. Ranbir punched thousands of cards to make his programs run!

In 1982 he founded Singh Associates, his own company for structural design at a time when Computer Aided Design was barely a discipline. His focus on mission critical buildings was a novel concept at the time; the hardening of existing buildings and constructing ultra-secure data centers. His ideas gained even more impetus after 9/11, and his ideas are now the norm.

Clearly, most of us at IITKGP were Nerds. Ranbir was one of us – there was no question about it. As Nerds, our relationships with women were mostly in our dreams. Ranbir made us proud when fifty years ago, in June of 1975 he returned with a bride from Meerut. Meerut is famous for its gold market and the Sepoy Mutiny that began India’s freedom movement and for us now home of Ranbir’s bride Chitra. Ranbir did not stop there; he went on to establish two accomplished children Avni and Neil.

After all his professional accomplishments Ranbir turned his attention to his alma mater. At some point, probably while arguing with his good friend and classmate Vijay Varki, came the idea of an “ADDA” – a casual gathering. The design evolved, a restful space with words ADDA in large concrete colored red with one D in grey that looks like it is about to fall. Earlier this year as we walked past the ADDA, it had clearly accomplished its purpose. Families, students, lovers, dogs, an occasional cow, sitting and chatting. Ranbir brought us, the Incredible Batch of 1970 together to create this remarkable space. While relaxing at the ADDA, students can look across the road to a clock tower that helps them never be late for class – another of Ranbir’s initiatives. That brings us to perhaps one reason Ranbir evoked love and inspiration in those who met him: Generosity. The breadth of his generous spirit stretched across his younger brothers and sisters, his parents, his village and for so many that he helped quietly and without attribution. The same spirit that led Ranbir to excel also powered his generosity; even small things like quietly funding a local Washington DC IIT gathering. One project close to his heart was the renovation of Nehru Hall. He convinced and cajoled a whole team that is now doing the impossible and miraculously convinced the IIT administration to direct the funds we raised go directly to the vendors. Their renovated room, 202A, has a plaque honoring 1965-1966 Residents (Ron) Singh Gupta, Sumeru Roy Choudhury, Ramamurthy Rao Ati and Kothanda (Chinu) Srinivasan.

Ranbir was the polar opposite of self-centered. He constantly thought of the people around him and looked to enrich their lives. Early on, he purchased a house in Miami with a tennis court – and that became catalyst for games and much more – parties, friendships and a larger circle of friends. With email and the internet, he reconnected with us after we had been isolated for decades. 

We missed him and Chitra at our 55th reunion in January. We understood that it was not good news. A month earlier he made the effort to organize all us at Christmas ’24 for a Nehru Hall meet. He was not well, and we had to admit him to a hospital in Kolkata. We left for Kharagpur without him but imagine our shock to see Ranbir show up after he had got himself discharged from the hospital.

We have shared many a happy time with Ranbir and Chitra. One highlight was when, at Ranbir’s suggestion, BB arranged for 15 of us for a safari in east Africa. It was nostalgic as well because Nehru Hall was on the edge of the campus with just fields and forest beyond. Animal sounds were also not unusual considering our hall mates. And we were with friends we had known for sixty years. Two big differences – we had our spouses with us and the food was much better.

As we look back on a life well lived while shortened by a tragic disease, we will miss our monthly Sunday 8pm EST video chats that he began and hosted on his Zoom account. As the months went by Ranbir would occasionally miss the calls and we would worry. Despite the weekly sessions at Johns Hopkins, Ranbir joined us even when speech had become difficult. We were grateful that he continued to be Ranbir – with fortitude, getting us together from around the world for an hour of catching up.

Indian scriptures tell us that we are guests in God’s world. We ought to behave like guests – perhaps leave the place better than we found it. Most of all, we miss those who have been good guests. Ranbir was a good guest. 

“Jo Aaeiaa So Chalasee, Sabh Koee Aaee Vaareeai." Whoever has come, shall depart; all shall have their turn.

So long Ranbir.