Who is the Pookie Professor? IIT Ropar Director goes viral at convocation

A convocation moment turned viral sensation — and introduced us to the now-famous “Pookie Professor.”

Transcript

00:00He asked me, sir, can I wear my black glass?

00:04That's Professor Rajiv Ahuja, and internet users called him.

00:08The boogie professor, so my daughter said, this is a good word, don't worry.

00:11At IIT Ropar's 14th convocation, a student named Karthik walked in.

00:16He took the degree first and then he asked me, and then he put another hand in the other pocket,

00:20he said, I have one glass for you also, can you wear also?

00:24I said, I can wear, it's okay, no problem.

00:26The convocation recently held in Punjab has taken over our feeds and for good reason.

00:31One did a Rohit Sharma style victory walk, another stopped for a quick selfie.

00:35There were Korean hearts, pushpap poses, victory signs, and even a bit of muscle flexing.

00:40Before coming to IIT Ropar, Professor Ahuja had taught for over three decades at Uppsala University in Sweden,

00:59a long academic journey that surely began with a convocation of his own.

01:03I studied in IIT Ropar. I don't remember when convocation happened, how I got the degree also.

01:09When I started the convocation, I told the first thing to the convocation that you don't have to be very serious.

01:15He said he gave out more than 700 degrees that day, including to PhD and Mtech students.

01:21But when it came to flair and fun, the B-tech crowd stole the show.

01:24If you have no student, there will be no IIT.

01:28I don't know when the next time they will come to the campus, but this memory they will remember.

01:34And whenever we will interact, whenever we meet, they will remember this.