Experiments in Chemical Engineering

By Raj Gopal Katju

Raj Gopal Katju, scion of an Allahabad lawyer family is an age-old Chemical Engineer who after graduating from the IIT Kharagpur in 1963. surprisingly finds himself still in the regular service at the age of 70. He has over 45 years of industrial and. consultation experience with Indian Rayon Corporation, Veraval. Camphor & Allied Products Ltd. Bareilly, Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals Ltd., Baroda and Kumar Organic Products Ltd., Bangalore and Baroda. In between official work he has penned anecdotes, essays and short stories in Hindi and English, many of which have been published in newspapers and magazines. He has also authored 4 books each in the above languages. EXPERIMENTS IN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING IS AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF HIS SAILING THROUGH LIFE IN AND OUT OF FACTORIES.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diamond Books
• Release date: Oct 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9798128819062

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Chapter 1

Prologue

Prologue

Till now I have been writing anecdotes and short stories many in humorous vein completely sidelined from my professional life. The idea came suddenly that some true and pleasant events unaware to even closest colleagues, bosses and to the better half may be narrated. These form the seeds for Experiments in Chemical Engineering.

Grandfather the eminent jurist and later statesman wrote the account of many of his High Court battles in a very judicious manner in the book Experiments in Advocacy.So I decided to jot down some engineering incidents in simple laymen language. These form the subject of this book.

About three decades back I came across a very fascinating essay in the Time magazine. Titled Count Your Blessings. It was aimed at educated people like us who read Time. Summary of the essay was that most of us tend to forget the 90% blessings bestowed on us by God and crib about the 10% pin-pricks we suffer in everyday life. A good professional degree, safe job with enough avenues for advancement, happy balanced and well behaved family, a home which we can call our own etc are conveniently forgotten when we are faced with temporary setbacks-missing a bus, a harsh lecture from the boss, delay in promotion etc. By these cribbings we make our lives as well as those of our near and dear ones miserable. Petty comparisons bring out harmful and self inflicting jealousies-which ultimately have no long term consequences.

Medical science has recently proved conclusively that 100% of the diseases of mankind start from the mind. Negative traits release harmful hormones which then do their dirty work-may it be cancer or heart attack or brain haemorrhage or stomach ulcers.

Hence it is advisable to avoid traits such as depression, tension, worry, comparison, jealousy, anger, hatred, loneliness, sadness etc and think of the blessings gifted by God. Its easier said then done but one should try one's utmost

How do we know that the superior person we are comparing with is not suffering from some bad negative trait himself and not at all happy? History is full of stories of celebrities who took their own lives at the prime of their careers. Remember Ernst Papa Hemingway, Marilyn Monroe, many Rock Stars? Reason—depression or boundless ambition or some other life draining trait.

So when working in the factory I tell my colleague or subordinate Look old boy, we are in this factory-say prison from 9.30am to 5.30pm whether we like it or not. This stay is permanent. Now its up to us to remain either smiling or tense. So why not smile? Also the 8 hours have to be passed. So why not happily take up as much responsibility as given and work on them. In this way we won’t even know when the 8 hours are over till somebody shakes our shoulder and says Come friend, its time to go home.On the other hand if you shirk responsibility your boss will be annoyed, yau will remain tense throughout the day and glance at the watch every half hour waiting for it to come to 5.30 pm. So what do you prefer?

By and large they see reason.

Regarding depression I philosophise to friends as follows, "If anytime I start feeling a temporary attack of depression coming I will plan a trip to the railway station in the evening. Do you know why? Because I will find hundreds of people preparing to bed for the night under the open sky; for no fault of theirs, just bad luck. If God would have wanted He could have had me born to a beggar woman. At age 1 my hands would have been broken and I would have been begging throughout my life. But no, in his infinite wisdom He allowed me to come in this world through the Katju family and that too in Allahabad So there was no lacking in upbringing and Sanskars. Credit also goes to Him for getting me through the LLT, good jobs and I am still working full-time at 70. What more can I ask? Minor pin-pricks such as delays in promotion can be and should be tolerated. So that's the philosophy I employ.

Let me admit it. I have had a fairy tale childhood. Though not exactly born with the proverbial golden spoon or for that matter silver spoon it was however quite a smooth sailing since Independence of the country.- 1947. In Jan 1948 got promoted within half hour from 1st to 2nd Standard because of proficiency in Arithmetic. Later when I asked mother how this proficiency came about she replied In the latter half of 1945 you were laid down for 5 months with Typhoid. There was no cure then for this dreaded disease other then total bed rest. The disease had taken toll of a distant relative also 5 a few months back hence I kept extra vigil for you. Praying, spending quality time with you, teaching you Arithmetic tables, sums etc and reading tales of Ramayan and Mahabharat while you were bed-ridden.

Thus the mystery was solved.

Summer vacations during May and June each year from 1948 to 52 were spent at the Govt House Calcutta thanks to the express instructions of Grandfather the Governor of West Bengal. He loved his grand-children very much and I being the eldest son of the eldest son was the favourite. Alternate years we used to take off for Darjeeling the summer capital. Flying from Calcutta to Bagdogra was an experience by itself as flying was in its infancy in India and the old Fokkers used to roll and sway a lot causing vomiting to 30% of the travellers. No wonder vomit bags were provided behind each seat. Govt House also provided facilities of swimming, table-tennis and billiards besides Royal English feasts during breakfast, lunch and dinner hence all in all those were wonderful times.

Quite early in life I found that I was a natural in Sports playing games such as cricket, badminton, table-tennis, athletics etc with a flair that surprised many including myself. Example in an inter-collegiate cricket final between M.I.C. and G.I.C the former were all out for 73 runs on a turning wicket. In our turn we fared no better and were tottering at 60 for 8 when I walked in.2 runs later the captain Ravindra Singh was bowled for 27 the highest individual score. Our supporters started weeping expecting the last rites any minute. In walked friend Bhaskar Mitra the last man. Somehow, I do not know how we both defied the fiery Masood Alam (who had captured 7 of the 9 wickets that had fallen) for over after over scoring a single here a two there with the ball missing our stumps by an inch or so many a times. Friend Masood used to look skywards imploring the Gods to oblige him. They did not. After it seemed an eternity in desperation I swiped at the ball, the bat connected and we ran three. The total reached 71. The crowd held their breath, Another heave and again the Almighty helped. Another three and we had crossed the hurdle. To confirm our victory we scored some more runs. The crowd went berserk lifting both of us on their shoulders parading us along the stands. My shirt got torn but who cared?

Next year the story was repeated when in the semi-final against C.A.V. College Bhaskar and I came together at 108 for 8 and took the score to 214 both scoring half centuries. We had become veterans—the khalifas. We won easily and then scraped through in the final by a solitary run-73 against 72. Details are recorded in the Appendix.

At the Allahabad University 2 years later the swimming brigade were stunned to see yours truly securing the silver medal in the 100 metres Back-stroke event It surprised me too. Another surprise was getting through B.Sc missing the 1st Division by 1%. Normally University students proficient in Sports used to fail in Science subjects because of not putting in enough hard work. Where was the time?

With these credits in mind and competing for a place I sailed into the I.I.T. Kharagpur in 1959 seeking the Chemical Engineering degree.

Coming to my working life after graduation in 1963 I did job hunting in Calcutta and then Bombay. Many of my batch mates as was the trend then used to join A.P.J. Company in Calcutta on a stipend of Rs 500 per month work there for 6 months or so while preparing papers such as Passport, visa and Appointment letter and take off for the U.S.A. As I had no intention or interest in going abroad I obtained an Appointment Letter for working in Indian Rayon Corporation Veraval Gujarat thanks to dear uncle Shammi Saheb Sopory (no relation via bloodline but a dear father figure and a close friend of father). Lasted in LR.C for a year and a half learning the tidbits of industrial life including working in shifts and then shifted to Camphor & Allied Products Ltd. Bareilly U.P.(CAP)

Initially I never thought that I could last more than a year or two at Clutterbuckganj (that's the place where the factory is located) but the trust and faith the boss Dr A.P. Singh had in me gave me ample opportunities to develop and hone my skills. As a Project Man I was the natural first choice to head to sister concerns such as Terpene Industries Ltd Mehatpur H.P, Meghalaya Essential Oils &Chemicals Ltd Shillong, Pine Chemicals Ltd Jammu, and Jayant Vitamins Ltd Ratlam when the projects needed setting up or when some major trouble shooting or fine tuning had to be done.

A shift to Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals Ltd Baroda a State PSU at the ripe young age of 46 was the next career shift. Retired from there at the super annuation age 60 in March 2000. Finally thanks to Dr Singh's faith in my abilities got absorbed in Kumar Organic Products Ltd Bangalore where I have served on and off for the last ten years Let us see when it is time to say adieu…

Chapter 2

Early Days

All in a Day’s Work

It was a cold January morning when 8 year old Gopal had his first view of St. Mary’s Convent and he was a bit apprehensive about the whole deal. He was being admitted in the 1st Standard of an English medium school and could hardly understand English leave alone speak it.

Sister Angela on her part was annoyed. She did’nt like children joining her class even a few days late. However, her maturity and experience of dealing with six to eight year olds stood her in good stead. At least this youngster was not crying or having a dumb glazed look.

Assigning him a desk and chair and handing him the writing paraphernalia viz pencil, rubber, copy etc she pointed at the black-board Do you see those sums written on the blackboard? There was a perceptive up and down shaking of the youngsters head-indicating that he understood her and had seen them. Do them.

The other children of the class were busy Doing them.

One boy was scratching his head with one hand while making circular and elliptical figures with the pencilled one. Another was chewing his pencil thoughtfully figuring out how to get about the process of doing the sums. A girl was playing tug of war with her pony tail ribbon and then repairing the damage done-again contemplating about the sums. Another was straightening the pleats of her skirt absently whilst mentally wrestling with the problem on the black-board. Finally Sister Angela was all the while keenly watching her young charges looking out for sparks of genius.

And what was the problem—the magic figures on the board?

Well they were 10 sums of addition and subtraction asking the children to add 15 and 18, 17 to 49, subtract 32 from 95, 57 from 79 and so on.

Gopal knew a few words of English but was a voracious reader of Hindi stories. He hardly knew anything about Moral Science and General Knowledge, Ethics and Transcription but one thing he excelled in and that was Arithmetic. Tables upto 10 he knew by heart and in addition had a liking for numbers and indulged in mentally playing with them many a times.

Noting the task spelled out before him he jotted down the figures in the copy provided and within two minutes the task had been completed. Not knowing what to do next he joined the band of stargazers.

Sister Angela had been encouraging her flock energetically and seeing Gopal idling she came to him. Have you written the sums in your copy? With a vigorous nod Gopal thrust his copy out at