(April 2003)
It isn't just this article that is so long overdue. It is more fundamentally its mood and motivation - one which has spurred us into expressing the immense pride we feel as students of IIT Madras. It has been a sad tradition at The Fourth Estate, (and we won't be subtle enough to refrain from placing the blame squarely on Shravan!) that the editorial rants, raves, wails, and whines on and on about all that isn't right. And that is really quite sad, as it leaves us criminally ungrateful for how wonderful an institute IIT Madras is, and blind to all we have here that students in other IITs are much the poorer by. Even in our last editorial, the following lines somewhat hinted at this same attitude (though we unashamedly went on to crib anyway!):
... we students seldom tire of reflecting upon the how and why-on-earth of these changes. Some students among us make it their business to curse IIT Madras and the circumstances that brought them here. They now almost revel in the amount of slander that IITM is helping generate for itself, thereby grounding, and furthering all their freshman year theories about conservativeness as a function of latitude.All of us surely remember those freshie year Saturday nights. Twenty five people gathered (the other five typically didn't have opinions or didn't care to voice them) in a single room. About twenty four of them echoing sentiments set to the following syntax:
I would have been so much better off had I taken <immediately lower branch or dual degree in same branch> in < 'Bombay' / 'Delhi' / 'even Kharagpur!' > than <branch> here in the hell that is IIT Madras.
All three of us editors are proud to say that at some point of time in our stay here, we have been that odd one out - defending IIT Madras at risk of ridicule, and of excommunication from those circles for what they were then worth. And those twenty four people go on to live what they believe is a more mature life, choosing to adjust with the bane rather than learn to appreciate the gift. But occasionally we have come across people who are proud to be IITians of the M kind. May their tribe grow. We don't believe an organised set of arguments will help the cause too much, but here's to what little it can achieve.
They say the best thing about IIT is the sheer range of people you meet. A first observation would be that IIT Madras is a somewhat naturally more cosmopolitan campus than most others. As the number of students qualifying the JEE from the Madras zone gets progressively smaller, and given that they have always tended to prefer Madras, progressively more students from the rest of the country must now fill seats in IITM. Clearly, we are better exposed to people from all parts of the country. Even earlier, the absence of a single uniting language on our campus ensured that the average IITM student unquestionably speaks more (we hazard adding 'consequently better') English (even for the purpose of everyday conversation; we do not wish to speculate about in the classroom) than a counterpart in another IIT. This holds more so now. A downside to this is that linguistic groups, loyalties and sentiments have become dominating factors in our institute's reputed ugly student politics.
A trip to another IIT unfailingly gets our students thinking rather seriously about how it differs from our own. A lot of people (typically hailing from Bombay or Delhi) we know, after having grown in the IITM atmosphere for a year or two, return from their vacations at home and many trips to the local IIT, eternally grateful about the 'braindead' IITs they were fortunate not to land up in. While their choice of words is certainly stronger than befits an objective discussion, one fact seems inescapable - there is something which comes with the IITM experience, very often much more than we had bargained for, which many of us will unfortunately remain oblivious to while we're here.
The annual Inter IIT Championships also prove to be a lesson to most to 'love thy IIT'. Numerous contingent members return visibly affected by what they perceive as extremely boorish and unruly behaviour of the other IIT contingents. Girls return infinitely thankful for how those people make our own lechers seem like gentlemen. While the general IITian male still leaves a hell of a lot to be desired as regards his attitude towards girls, the girls will concede that our boys are extremely mild when compared to the others. Although some allowance must be made for the very charged atmosphere at the meets, and the higher-than-normal levels of testosterone, it cannot account for much.
Apart from a comparison of the group behaviours of visiting IITs in a strange land, Inter IITs or cultural festivals such as Mood Indigo also offer us a peek at hostel life in the host IIT. It must be remembered that this is typically during the vacation, which isn't exactly the most representative of an ordinary day. Even otherwise, some other events such as TechFest and the Inter IIT Aquatics Meet are held during the semester. From these (and even from chance casual trips during a semester or conversations with other IITians), it is evident that the levels of enthusiasm for sports and extra-curricular activities in the other IITs are quite a bit lower than our own. It isn't uncommon for hostel quadrangles in IITB to be empty and ridden with weeds, while Quake, UT and AOE tournaments rage on the intranet. Even the IITB students concede that they waste too much precious time sitting glued to their computers and the music and movies and porn and TV serials. And subsequently discussing them. In some other IITs, the extreme lack of recreation manifests itself as high levels of indulgence in, well, die-hard habits of the substance kind!
While we expect that we are scorned by the other IITs as Maddus, the uncool prisoners of the stereotypical sambar city, it turns out that we are actually quite respected for how much more constructively we spend our time. Some IITB students sought to confirm with us, "We've heard that junta in IITM have more enthu in life - sports or reading or general hobbies. And that the lit and cul standards are very high." This 'enthu in life' seems to be reflected in our performances in the Inter IIT Cultural Meet 2001, and the Sports Meet 2002, in which we steamrolled the opponents only to be edged out by the host teams under very dubitable circumstances. This is also reflected in the quality of our festivals - Saarang and Shaastra. Only IITB is in the same league in this respect. And it must be considered that a lot of it has to do with the 'size' and glamour value of Mood Indigo and TechFest. Their strengths are the amount of sponsorship and consequently prize money, which have more to do with the land of opportunity that is Mumbai city, than with any better effort. While a technical festival will have equal quality of participation in any IIT, Saarang is the undisputable winner among the cultural festivals for the same.
Inter IIT returns do also talk a great deal about the comparison of hostels and the food. Food isn't exactly our department, but our hostels (as in the buildings and facilities) rule! And so does our sense of responsibility with our rooms. The hostels in Kharagpur left us quite shocked at both the nature and the quantity of writing and drawings on the wall. This, however, was just a passing observation, and cannot mean too much. Perhaps if our campus was in a place less accessible to eager parents wishing to visit, we'd do the same!
That brings us to our campus being as accessible as it is - in the heart of a metropolis. Clearly, it is one of our greatest blessings, for our interaction with the city outside is several orders of magnitude more than that of any other IIT. Kharagpur is several hours away from Calcutta. Roorkee, Guwahati and Kanpur are not much more than little towns. Bombay is quite removed from the rest of the city, but may be said to belong to it nonetheless. Delhi is very much within the city too. But somehow, while IITD (and to a lesser extent, IITB) students may have the city's hangout joints, discotheques, theatres, restaurants, and rock festivals within their reach, their presence in the cities' college cultural and social circuits is nowhere near as large as that of IITM in Chennai. Neither relatively nor absolutely. We are respected in our city as more than just bright students.
We are at this stage tempted to ask questions, which once again do not befit a discussion that's struggling not to be chauvinistic in its tone - Is the average IITM student more intellectually inclined or at least exposed to more people who are? Is life in IITM a richer balance of academics, sports, social, and cultural activities than elsewhere? And finally, is the average IITM student more cultured or at least, once again, exposed to more people who are? And, curiously but very importantly, how much of this has to do with the distinctly milder ragging in IIT Madras?
The last question is especially of remarkable significance. But we'd like to leave the reader to mull over it without too many inputs from our side. Here's a starting point: we shed far fewer inhibitions as freshies than our counterparts in the other IITs. Just think of the numerous consequences of that one fact alone!
While it isn't possible to ever answer any of these questions objectively, we believe that to ponder over them will be an invaluable exercise towards appreciating what we have, and making the most of it before it's too late.
IIT Madras forever!