As Prof. Vishal Garg moves on to newer opportunities, the institute’s faculty and staff recently took a moment to recognise his intellectual contributions, and revolutionary actions while basking in the professor’s own reflections of “the royal infant who has become a prince”.

It is said that the success of a startup depends on its first key hires, particularly those who can be ‘generalists’. Going by this, IIITH’s (often likened to a startup in the past) founding fathers definitely lucked out. Their first faculty hire was in the form of a newly-minted PhD in Energy Studies who would go on to don many a varied hat during his impactful association at the upcoming institute. From interviewing and hiring a large chunk of the early faculty to being the official escort for all visitors to the campus, from helming or being a part of the various committees that were set up, to taking bold decisions and spearheading many firsts, Prof. Vishal Garg has been there and done it all. And yet in 1999, when he visited the campus for the first time, he didn’t have a clue as to what he was signing up for. “I think it speaks highly of the power of the narrative,” he muses. “Would anyone today send their wards to an institute without a status, with no official degree, no permanent faculty, located nearly 12 kms away from the nearest market? The vision and passion of the ‘can do’ attitude was mesmerising. You can always join an established 100+ year-old institution but when do you ever get a chance to join one that thinks radically? I took that chance,” he professes. 

MTech In Building Science
A recipient of the inaugural Dr. Arthur H Rosenfeld Urban Cooling Achievement Award in 2018, Prof. Vishal Garg is synonymous with building energy efficiency and cool roofs in India. When he embarked upon his career at IIITH, among many other things, he was tasked with heading the Center for IT in Building Science and also kicking off a novel MTech program in Building Sciences. “That program was much ahead of its time when it started,” recalls Prof. Pradeep Kumar Ramancharla. “It (the course) had a mix of students – 50% from the civil engineering background and the other 50% from architecture, because if you want to do Building Science, you need both,” remarks Prof. PJ Narayanan, Director, IIITH. The construction industry was however not ready for something like this yet and it reflected in the placements prompting Prof. Garg to officially shut it down after a run of 4 years. “From the point of view of the curriculum and the fact that the alumni are currently doing exceptionally well in the domain of designing buildings, it gives me confidence that we taught them well,” reasons Prof. Garg, adding that perhaps the time is now ripe for such a program. 

An Adept All-rounder
If there are some phrases that Prof. Vishal Garg is unanimously associated with, they have to be “Chilled out”, “Gadget guru”, “Inspirational”, “Boundless enthusiasm”, “Very supportive”, “A leader who knows how to delegate”,“Multi tasker”, “Multi-faceted”, to name just a few. An example of Prof. Garg’s multi-dimensional traits came to the fore when he was asked to teach Programming (Perl) in the initial years, much to his horror. Coincidentally, it was also the time when the idea of conducting an IT workshop was floated. “It stemmed from the fact that there were some students who came in with a little background on Computers and there were some others to whom the concept of a computer itself was alien,” explains Prof. Garg, who revealed his love for all things gizmo by teaching them about the hardware first. “I thought I’ll open up the computer and show them all the parts. I really loved the mouse and often used to wonder myself how it works. Then I taught them typing because unless you know typing, how will you do good programming? And finally I taught MATLAB because Maths and MATLAB are closer than any other programming language,” he recollects. As a faculty member with a background in civil engineering entrusted with imparting training in Programming, there were obvious concerns from the students. “But he taught it like he was born to teach that course! There was absolutely no trace of hesitation whatsoever and if he ever made a mistake, he committed it very confidently,” chuckles Prof. Ravikiran Sarvadevabhatla, Assistant Professor at the Centre for Visual Information Technology (CVIT) and former student of IIITH’s second batch. 

Nothing Short Of Excellence
It is Prof. Garg’s perennial ‘Can-Do’ attitude that sees him tiding over crises and achieving anything he sets his mind on. “With him, it’s not just the energy but the ability to connect the dots, and also the courage to go and get things done, talk to anybody required to “get the damn thing done”- that is his unique feature, Many of us fail to do that, we may have lots of ideas and thoughts but don’t end up getting things done,” elaborates Prof. Vasudeva Varma, Head, Language Technologies Research Centre. It was the same vigour and enthusiasm that Prof. Garg carried with him as the chair of the Placements Committee for the inaugural BTech batch of IIITH. Tasked with creating a Placements brochure, he describes the hard work that went into carefully designing one which was then presented to Mr. Ajay Sawhney, the then IT Secretary to the state government and the Special Officer appointed for IIITH. “He took one look at it and threw it into the dustbin!”, exclaims Prof. Garg. Of course, a detailed feedback followed. “I realised that the brochure I created was just a collage of photographs and text. What I learned was that there was a clear cut requirement of excellence – not just in teaching or research but in all aspects, including a simple brochure.”

Where No Institute Had Gone Before
One of the controversial decisions that Prof. Garg is credited with is the shifting of Placement season from June of BTech third year to December instead. “Imagine if someone is placed in June one year before the person graduates? What is the motivation to continue studying and learning?,” he asks. With the December shift, there were understandable misgivings. “Everyone was worried that no one would come to IIIT because all the companies would have completed their hiring process in June and so on. But it was this bold move that prompted a paradigm shift even in the IITs to conduct placements in December!”. Yet another conspicuous action that Prof. Garg is credited with is the charging of recruitment fees from companies coming for placements. “It was something unheard of because until then only B- schools were doing it. But we said, those who come in Phase 1 of placements will have to pay a one-month equivalent salary as fee. These were insane and tough decisions but nevertheless they were taken and it worked,” says Prof. Garg with a laugh. 

On Some Epic Fails
For someone who has been such a vital part of the institute, Prof. Garg’s account of how he nearly lost his job during President Kalam’s visit sounds incredulous. “Because I’m from Building Science, I was given the responsibility of all the audio, video and the lighting for the event which was to take place in the Gachibowli stadium,” he narrates. “It was a complete disaster”. The event took place in the middle of the field with the audience all around (on field). “The acoustics are not designed for that. With speakers facing the chairs, the sound kept ricocheting off them. I failed the acoustics test. Next came the lighting. The Electricity Board had provided generators as the main source for the lights which were supposed to switch from the main supply to the generator the minute the helicopter carrying the President landed. Stadiums are equipped with metal halide lamps possessing a 20 minute restrike time which meant that if they were switched off, they needed to cool down for a good 20 minutes before turning on again!,” exclaims Prof. Garg. Imagine a grand entry of a dignitary in pitch darkness. “There was a third thing too, but I can’t remember now. Fortunately, I survived.”  

Let Me Count The Ways
“A lot of people have come to IIITH, tried to understand it and gone back to recreate it but failed. Why? Because they try to run it and manage it which is a recipe for disaster. They do what they think is right which may not be the right thing to do,” reflects Prof. Garg. Ask him what makes IIITH unique and the answer is quick. “There is 100% flexibility here. Nobody ever asked me, ‘What is your research area or what do you want to do? Here, there’s no pressure to do something in a particular area or a particular aspect. I used to say then that I’m just following my hobby and getting paid for it. Involving undergraduates in research was another big success. Some of the CSE toppers worked with me and were brilliant. I gave them the toughest of problems and they had very interesting approaches. We even applied for patents,” he says. 

Organically Growing Up
Reiterating that IIITH’s people-first approach is what makes it stand out, Prof. Garg says that there is no bureaucracy here. “It’s a people-centric, trust-based value system that makes this place thrive. It grew organically and just like growing organic food is painfully slow but in the end, it gives you a sense of pride and creates independence, similar is the feeling with the institute. It is thanks to the bottom up governance and a sense of collective ownership that makes this place work.” As he sums up his final thoughts on an official goodbye, Mr. Ajay Sawhney’s oft-repeated phrase comes to Prof. Garg’s mind. “He used to say that we may be an infant but we are a ‘royal infant’, because a royal infant has privileges. A royal infant can have dreams and aspirations and the sort of backing that not every infant will have. I think we have definitely seen the royal infant becoming prince”.