A visit to your alma mater, 23 years after you've passed out of those hallowed portals, can bring back a gush of emotions & memories. So it was for me this past week, as I took a trip down memory lane at my beloved bitspilaniofficial . Among all my numerous identities, I look back at this institution as something that made a mentally & emotionally sturdy man out of a timid teenager. In the 5 years that i spent there from 1998 to 2003, the life lessons gleaned from there have been nothing short of life transforming. Hence, with a heart filled with gratitude, upon the institute offering to me a position of Distinguished Adjunct Professor in the Humanities & Social Sciences Department, I visited Pilani, remembering all my batchmates, friends (and foes) & professors. So much has changed, but so much has remained untouched. It was such a delight to meet the only professor from my times, Dr Sangeeta Sharma, the ever-warm & kind academic I've known, holding fort still with aplomb. BITS has al...