NPTEL-STAR – NPTEL Stories

The Documentation She Was Missing: Pallavi Pendse’s NPTEL Story

by NPTEL TeamBlog, NPTEL-STAR October 11, 2026No Comments

Pallavi Pendse For more than fourteen years now, Pallavi Pendse has stood in front of classrooms teaching people how to communicate. She could deliver a session on professional excellence without batting an eye and could coach a room full of engineering students through difficult conversations, body language, and first impressions. What she couldn’t do, for …

From Dreams to Domain Scholar: Aradhya Joshi’s Inspiring NPTEL Journey

by NPTEL TeamBlog, NPTEL-STAR October 11, 2026No Comments

Aradhya Joshi In Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, continuous learning is essential to keeping pace with a rapidly changing field.For Aradhya Joshi, a recent Computer Science graduate, specializing in AI and ML, from Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya (RGPV), the quest for continuous learning led him to a transformative experience with NPTEL. Recently transitioning into a …

After The Bell Rings : The Quiet Accretion of Knowledge

by NPTEL TeamNPTEL-STAR October 11, 2026October 11, 2026No Comments

Ramrup Satpati “I was the forgotten one… & I am glad”. A classroom is full of minds of various kinds. Teachers tend to remember the toppers, the familiar faces at the front of the class. They also remember those who seem indifferent to all of it. Ramrup saw himself as neither. He was the quiet …

An Hour After Dark: Paragit Sarma Builds an NPTEL Family

by NPTEL TeamNPTEL-STAR October 6, 2026No Comments

Paragjit Sarma At the end of a long workday, when many professionals would close their laptops and call it a night, Paragit Sarma makes coffee and opens his course materials. The study window is modest – usually from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. – but the ambition behind it is anything but. For him, learning is …

Start Learning, See Where It Takes You: S Kishore

by NPTEL TeamNPTEL-STAR October 5, 2026No Comments

S Kishore Kishore did not know how far NPTEL would take him when he enrolled in his first course during the lockdown. At the time, he was an undergraduate Civil Engineering student exploring Environmental Engineering and looking for ways to deepen what he was learning in class. It began with a few online lectures, gradually …

The Five-Letter Suffix: Manasvi Raj’s Compass in an Ocean of Noise

by NPTEL TeamNPTEL-STAR September 29, 2026No Comments

Manasvi Raj The exam hall had barely emptied when Manasvi Raj and his friends spilled into the open air, still arguing about the answers. The ‘Electronic Systems Design: Hands-on Circuits and PCB Design with CAD Software’ exam had been tough, genuinely tough. Someone insisted one option was correct. Someone else was equally certain it was …

The Door That Stayed Open: How A. Mareeswari Found Her Research Voice Through NPTEL

by NPTEL TeamNPTEL-STAR September 28, 2026No Comments

A. Mareeswari There is one moment A. Mareeswari returns to whenever she thinks about NPTEL. It was the afternoon she walked through the gates of an IIT for the first time and simply stood there, looking. The coordinators were moving past her, while researchers headed somewhere with folders under their arms. She had come for …

Dr. Manik G. Deshmukh Had 35 Years of Experience. So Why Did He Feel Like a Beginner?

by NPTEL TeamNPTEL-STAR September 28, 2026September 28, 2026No Comments

Dr Manik G. Deshmukh Imagine writing so many exams in a single semester that the watchman at the exam centre starts recognising your face. Morning shift, afternoon shift, then back again the next morning. He finally stops you: why are you writing so many papers? What do you even get from this? For most people, …

“You Write and See”: The NPTEL Story of Dr. Tirumala Ramashri

by NPTEL TeamNPTEL-STAR September 28, 2026September 28, 2026No Comments

Dr Tirumala Ramashri By the time Dr. Tirumala Ramashri reaches home, it is past eight. She sets off for Sri Venkateswara University College of Engineering at seven-thirty in the morning and drives forty kilometres home. She sits down right away to revise. She had already taken eight NPTEL exams that semester, and between the commute, …

4,000 Pages and Counting: Dr. Naresh Babu’s Commitment to Learning

by NPTEL TeamNPTEL-STAR September 28, 2026No Comments

Dr Naresh Babu For many, becoming a teacher might mark the end of formal learning. For Dr. Naresh Babu, it became the beginning of a lifelong journey. With an MBA, an MSc in Mathematics, and a PhD in Management, he also gained professional experience in Global Treasury Operations before moving into academia. Today, as a …