We, at Aryaans were graced by the presence of an extremely humble personality, Dr. K.N. Lokesh.
He began by telling us about his schooling in the village and how he performed well academically as well as in sports ( Kabaddi and Cricket). Then, he went to Bangalore and had difficulty in coping up with the English-medium but eventually he coped up. Then he advanced to College, there he did BSc and also played a lot of cricket and could’ve even been playing for the State. Then, he told us about his post-graduation where he topped the university but he had to tone the cricket down a little bit. He joined NIT Surathkal in 1986 and completed Ph.D. in Geology. He got a very early promotion to full professor. He is a man of many talents. He was a Teacher, Researcher, Consultant, hostel warden and so much more. After tons of experience in his pocket he became director of NIT. Yet, his intellect and achievements didn’t overpower his personality, an absolutely humble and down to earth person. Finally after such a long journey he retired and also told us the importance of taking time for yourself and your family.
Then, he talked about the geology side of things. He beautifully explained the science behind earthquakes and how important it is to understand them. He told us that all of the continents were just one solid landmass and billions of years later they separated into the separate continents that they are today. He then explained the Crucks of an earthquake and the Theory of Plate Tectonics in a way we all understood. Then he told us that 60 million years ago, the Himalayas didn’t even exist! He also told us that one can predict the damage zone if one predicts the epicentre. He also explained how exactly one can measure seismic waves by which one can predict earthquakes. Then he told us about how the intensity of an earthquake is measured. He wonderfully explained Earthquake-prone design and how much it matters in such situations. Then, he told us about the importance of water as a resource. We believe that water is available in abundance but usable water is pretty scarce. He put forth mind blowing numbers. Furthermore, he also gave us a solution to how we can tackle this problem of Groundwater! But it needs to be harnessed carefully. The inspiration we get from his story is that no matter what your circumstances are, you can achieve anything with handwork & determination.
He finally explained his cricketer son’s Rahul’s journey and stressed on the amount of hard work Rahul had to put in to make it to the Indian team and how he supported Rahul to take up cricket as a career, despite being a successful academician himself.
I would also like to express my gratitude to Sir VPD for always keeping us motivated and cheered up with exceptionally inspiring sessions with distinguished personalities at the peak of their careers.
Written by,
Shreyas Kamat
11th Reg