Mukesh Ambani announces 151cr endowment to his alma mater ICT
Mumbai: When
Mukesh Ambani
— India's richest man and chairman of
Reliance Industries
— returned to his alma mater, the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), he didn't just bring memories and his speech. He brought a tribute.
A Rs 151-crore endowment, the largest in the institute's history, was announced on Friday.
The occasion was the launch of Anita Patil's 'The Divine Scientist', a biography of Padma Vibhushan professor Man Mohan Sharma, described by many as the towering intellect who shaped Indian chemical engineering talent. When speaking of Guru Dakshina, Ambani announced the grant of Rs 151 crore to ICT, as per Sharma's instructions.
"When he tells us something, we just listen...He told me, 'Mukesh, you have to do something big for ICT', and I am pleased to announce that for Prof Sharma," Ambani said, referring to the grant.
"Most respected Prof Sharma," he addressed everyone, "my fellow Udcitians, coming to UDCT campus, I still call it that, has always felt like coming to a sacred temple. Prof Sharma, my warm respects to you as my most respected guru, my mentor, and my enduring source of inspiration."
Praising Patil, he said: "It is a Herculean task to chronicle the life of a legend like Sharma."
"I chose UDCT over IIT-Bombay," Ambani said, recalling the conviction of youth. That conviction was sealed when he attended Sharma's very first lecture. "I realised he is an alchemist, not of metals, but minds: he has the power to transform curiosity into knowledge, knowledge into commercial value, and both knowledge and commercial value into everlasting wisdom."
Crediting the rise of the Indian chemical industry to Sharma's efforts, Ambani referred to him as a 'Rashtra Guru — a Guru of Bharat'.
"He is our Yugpurush," said prof J B Joshi, former head of ICT. Not with reverence alone, but with the clarity of someone who saw how Sharma's life was distilled into a single principle: "Be a good teacher, do research at the frontier of knowledge, and use that for industry and society."
Prof G D Yadav, former head at ICT, offered a staggering number — 1,300 PhDs trace their academic lineage to Sharma, directly or through those he mentored. "He is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent," said Yadav, invoking a title rarely uttered outside epics: "Bhramarishi."
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