Pilani
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Pilani is a town in the Jhunjhunu District in Rajasthan, India. The town Pilani derives its name from Jat fighter with Pilania gotra.He died protecting the fort and was honoured by the king for his courage and sacrifice by giving his name to location.Pilani is part of Shekhawati region.It is famous for shifting sand dunes of Thar Desert.In the winters it reaches sub-zero temperatures.The fresco paintings on grand Havelis are peculiarity of Shekhawati region.
The town is birth place of India's leading industrialist, GD Birla. It houses one of India's finest tech schools, BITS Pilani. IT also houses some good boarding schools like Birla Public School, Birla Senior Secondary School and Birla Balika Vidyapeeth.
According to P.V. Indiresan, Former Director of IIT-Madras, "Pilani town was transformed for sentimental reasons from an inhospitable village in the Rajasthan desert to a national intellectual centre. G.D. Birla introduced a couple of world-class scientific institutions in that remote desert village merely because it was his birthplace. Even though Birla would not allow Pilani full scope to expand (he would not allow any industry for fear of despoiling the habitat, and the nearest railway station is 25 km away), Pilani has now become a prosperous town. That is quite an achievement because Pilani has no natural advantages whatever. If Pilani could be transformed the way it has been, any other village can be. All that is required is a seed in the form of a world-class institution. However, in its formative years lasting a couple of decades, Pilani was sustained by the Birlas who had deep pockets and deeper sentiments for the village. Few entrepreneurs would be prepared to emulate them, and nurture a village for long years. That is why the Pilani experiment has not been repeated although quite a few other rich business families originate for remote villages."
Reference
Taknet, D.K.: Marwari Samaj Aur Brijmohan Birla, Indian Institute of Marwari Entrepreneurship, Jaipur,1993 (in Hindi) ISBN 81-85878-00-5sv:Pilani