I, Suresh Chandra Bhargava) was born on 28 December, 1941 (recall that the II World War was at its peak by then) at Kota, a state in the famous Hadoti region of Rajasthan, a beautiful city on the bank of the river Chambal (actual Charmanwati river), with beautiful gardens and a natural widely-spread lake in the heart of the city, ruled by Maharaj Ummed Singh Ji, a just ruler and a visionary who did so much for the State and the city remembered and well- known for many legendary remembrances.

I did my primary and high school education at Kota, interestingly starting first lesson in English in VI standard, but English being the medium of education from IX standard onwards esp. for science stream.

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The intermediate course (I Sc.) was completed at the well-established Herbert College, named after the last Political Agent of Kota, to be named as Govt. College. The college was very well planned in terms of provision of lecture halls (having 3-tear sliding blackboards that could be pulled up or down to facilitate the lecturer to keep writing whilst the students taking notes at their ease), the benches arranged on the steps, the back bench being the most elevated (to really classify back benchers). There was an attractively architectured clock tower at the front and an auditorium for holding seminars, invited talks 􏰖 or even poetry recitation by invited national poets and (annual) cultural programmes of highest quality. The premises had excellent games facilities having enclosed badminton courts, a football and hockey field and acres of free space all around. The college had its own plant to generate its own requirement of methane gas for Bunsen burners, connecting to various chemistry labs. And indeed the campus was quite green offering a pleasant ambience.

Having passed I Sc. in 1959 in first division with a percentage of over 73% in the aggregate of physics, chemistry and mathematics, I easily secured admission in MBM Engineering College where admissions were offered purely based on merit on all-India basis.

I completed my B.E. (Bachelor of Engineering) in electrical engineering in 1963 (a four-year degree course) with Honours (over 70% aggregate marks from all the marks of the four years of study).

After a brief stint of about an year, teaching diploma course in electrical engineering that proved a unique, enjoyable experience of teaching some of the students senior to me in age (there being no age bar for Diploma courses), I secured admission at the University of Roorkee in 1964, once again purely based on merit, to carry out a course of Master of Engineering (M.E.) in power system engineering, a specialisation most in demand, esp. in teaching profession.

Although I was selected for a course at I I Sc. (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore), I chose to spend the two years at Roorkee, having heard about much about it and which happened to be an engineering institute over 100 years old, established in 1847 as Thomson College of Engineering acquiring the status of a university in 1947.

The campus was excellently planned and organised with great emphasis on student discipline and sports and games facilities the like of which I had never witnessed in other institutions, including an Olympic size swimming pool that, I was informed, was designed and built by the university students themselves. There was also a full-fledged Gym for the students to spend some time and tone up!

The two-years stay at Roorkee turned out to be a remarkable, unforgettable experience in that in 1965 happened the war with Pakistan and with Roorkee being at target owing the location of a cantonment, we witnessed a bit of the war activities, including frequent blackouts

and an occasional Pakistani plane being chase away by our famous gnats of the IAF. We were also lucky to listen to Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Ji who delivered the 1965 Convocation address of the University; his last, too, since he breathed his last on 11 January 1966 whilst at Tashkent, USSR.

Whilst preparing to write the ME dissertation, I attended an interview at Malaviya Regional Engineering College, Jaipur, where I had earlier applied for a post of Lecturer in Elect. Eng. Department. Whit Prof V G Garde heading the Board, it was a cake walk to be appointed for the post at very favourable terms.

I joined the college in July 1966 where apart from teaching the electrical engineering to the first batches of electrical and mechanical branches, I was busy setting up various labs in the department. I t was a unique opportunity to work with Prof Garde who was our Principal of MBM Eng. College at Jodhpur. Prof Garde took retirement in 1967 and left after having been associated with engineering profession for decades.

Ph D at the University of Aston in Birmingham, UK

After a successful career at the college (in short to be identified MREC), I got a chance opportunity to proceed to the UK for Ph D at the Aston University on financial support from the University. As I remember, I left for Birmingham on 5 October 1969, on 3 years extraordinary leave (that is, leave without pay) from the college, en-route Moscow and London and reported to the Head of EE Dept., Prof E J Davies, and my supervisor for doctorate, Dr M J Jevons, both the gentlemen, Ex Royal Air Force, turned out to be typical British in all respects.

The three years spent in UK proved a tremendous learning platform to experience the true British culture and traits, apart from completing my Ph D in October 1972 and all set to return to India, and resume the job at MREC, in November 1972. Whilst at Birmingham, I availed the opportunity, snatching a week now and then from the extremely taxing schedule of research work, to travel parts of the UK (from north to south and east to west), esp. the visits to the World-famous Universities of Cambridge and Oxford revealing experience of how universities should be planned and functioned and even a few countries of the Continent as well as Moscow.

On return from the UK, I was once again at MREC till August 1973 and then moved on to BITS (Birla Institute of Science and Technology) on invitation from the institute where I continued till May 1974, the main attraction of joining BITS was to teach postgraduate course in power systems.