How 'engineers' get to screw the nation and notes on IIT degree as an 'investment'

It is 3:15 AM. I just got back from an energetic and engaging discussion with a bunch of friends. That discussion has prompted me to write about the most-favourite topic of mine. The IITs. The discussion was more general in nature, talking about the education system as a whole.

Let me start with a brief incident that I encountered on a Sleeper Class coach when I was travelling from Pune to Bangalore.

Two railway employees were talking about their kids. One of them mentioned that both his sons got into IITs this year. The younger one ("woh bade wale se zyada hoshiyaar tha") joined IIT Bombay and the elder one joined IIT BHU (sic). (The whole discussion on whether BHU is an IIT at all, is something I have already ranted about here). He went on to explain how much he spent on the studies of the two kids and it obviously ran into lakhs.

He seemed to extremely pleased with his 'investment'. Paraphrasing that gentleman's comment, the gist of what he said is this - "If I had invested the same amount of money in a plot of land, it would have given me certain returns after a few years. Instead of that, I have invested that in my kids and since they have gotten into IITs, my investment is worth every penny and the returns that I expect are much more than the returns I'd have gotten on the plot of land."

This gentleman had just put words to the feelings of lakhs of middleclass Indians. Thinking about it, it makes perfect business sense. For a middle-class Indian, it is a gamble. 'Invest' in your kid's JEE coaching and hope to reap benefits of the investment. It is, without doubt, a high-risk-high-return game. 2% of investors get the desired returns. 98% are forced to write-off the investment as non-performing asset(s).

Well, strictly speaking, of the 2% who ultimately make it to the IITs, a considerable fraction don't end up being 'high performing assets'. Indeed, of the 98% too, a considerable fraction turn out to be 'high performing assets'. That's their good fortune and hard work. But what irks me is the fact that an entire generation of 'Engineers' are being misled into Engineering and Technology courses, primarily driven by peer pressure and false information. The premier newspapers of the nation leave no stone unturned in this regard. The much-hyped, but utterly sub-standard Times of India comes out with articles that are factually incorrect and ones that are meant purely to capture the imagination of the populace. Many a articles distort the information in a manner that will ensure that the copies sell, compromising heavily on the fundamental spirit of journalism. This article in the Economic Times is a stand-out example. An IIM degree might fetch you a 1.5 crore job. But is that the point of the MBA degree?

To the Indian middle-class bystander, such articles fuel his desires to be rich. They force him to rethink the path that he had set out for himself. In that article, he sees himself as the protagonist. He'd do a quick cost-benefit analysis - If I spend a year preparing for CAT and then another two years at IIM, at the end of it, I'll be earning 1.5 crores an annum. Tax deducted, I will still be able to earn about 8-9 Lakhs a month. Oh, that is sweet. Let me chuck whatever I am doing, let me prepare for CAT!

There! thanks to some masala-journalism, you have a miserable victim. Now, multiply that by about 3 Lakh people, and you have the state of today's management aspirants. Please be careful to note that nowhere in his thought process did the bystander include anything about becoming a good manager, which is what the MBA is supposed to do, I think.

As it turns out, that front-page news article on ET was false as per this blog post by IIM Ahmedabad.

Pan across to the undergraduate engineering scenario: You have 9 Lakh such engineering-aspirants, who are being misled into pursuing engineering degrees (as opposed to becoming 'Engineers') simply because at the end of the dark tunnel, after enduring 4 years of whatever they throw at you, you will land a job in an MNC. Oh, and congratulations, you are an engineer too!

When I take a step back, I realise that an entire generation of people has no idea of why they are doing what they are doing. 9 Lakh people X 4 years = 36 Lakh man years. Discount that by about 10% - I'd like to believe that atleast 10% of the people are doing what they are doing because they WANT to do it - you still have about 32 Lakh man years being utilised sub-optimally, that translates to 8 Lakh man years being utilised sub-optimally every year in a country like India, that prides itself on being young and resourceful. You do not need to be Paul Krugman to identify that should these 8 Lakh man years be put to 'better' use, the overall efficiency would drastically increase and the country can actually benefit immensely from being 'young'.

The media has a major role to play in how a country shapes up. Everybody joins the IITs assuming they have hit a jackpot. At the end of four years, irrespective of what you are and what you do, you'll have a heavy wallet. If you are lucky, you will end up with that 1-crore job, about which your news daily had reported just days back. Is this not what they think?

And that has as much basis in reality as Avatar! Reality is vastly different. But reality is boring. And hence, reality doesn't sell. Consequently, reality is hard to find. As long as the Indian thought process and decision making is based on fables and wishful thinking, our populace will never take a moment to THINK. They will instead race with the other rats of their generation towards the jackpot which, I suspect, is just an illusion. Twenty five years hence, when we realise this, I can only wish it would not be too late.

The 9th Sem and the protests

It's been quite a while since the last update. It is possibly because of the "9th semester syndrome."

Perhaps, it is that time of life when you reimburse your time and energy spent in the IIT system. Those who think IIT is a "necessarily evil between JEE and GRE" have started being nice to their profs to ensure a couple more adjectives in their reco letters. While the ones who use their IIT-degree as an envelope to mail their cover letter in to a company have started reading The Economist and the Economic Times. Then there is the parallel race for the IIT-IIM tag which involves sitting in a classroom and learning basics of grammar. There is also the segment which values the IIT degree at 15 crore during dowry negotiations who are beaming with a million-dollar-smile. Three million, to be precise. True or not - it makes for good blog content!

Lately, we have been in the news for reasons not particularly pleasant. Why'd you want to get up in the morning to the news of your teachers fasting in protest? On the other hand, it is pleasurable to wake up to news of mass-casual-leave protests. It is not often that your professor mails you saying "tomorrow's class stands cancelled" and wears a black band as a mark of protest. As a sidenote, the day the 9-to-9 fasting was held, the running joke in the insti was: "Aaj main apne do profs se milne gaya, dono ne bola ki lunch ke liye jaa rahe hain, baad mein aao.. ha ha".

The protesters argue that without quality pay, it is difficult to attract quality talent that is crucial for the IITs to sustain their edge. I find it a rather hollow argument because academia will never be able to match the salaries of the corporate world. Clearly, non-monetary incentives are what are needed.

A start would be to attract quality masters and doctorate students. It doesn't give me much hope when I see a PhD student googling for "how to find centre of mass of a thin plate" or when a faculty member tells me, what translates to: "In India, if you have a masters and you can write well, you are God". So, Mr. Sibal and the faculty association might want to try and address more fundamental issues than pay-hike. The faculty is also involved a plethora of consultancy projects, which from whatever little I know about consultancy, should be paying them in multiples of their salary.

Somehow, the administration (be it at the national level or the institute level) always tries to get rid of the syptoms than the disease itself. Why? Because it is far more easier: It is easier for the institute to kick people out of hostels for "ragging" than make a conscious effort to talk to the senior students, year after year. Because it is easier for the institute to increase minimum attendance requirement to 85% (which I must tell you is ridiculous and almost statistically impossible to adhere to - definitely not in the final year) than make the whole teaching experience in class better by investing in faculty training. Because it is easier to blame the poor communication skills of students than introducing compulsory "pesonality development" courses in the curriculum. Because, the administration has no freaking clue of what to do when the water reaches their nose.

What we really is need is a bunch of dedicated staff who can disentangle the threads and repair the system, which reminds me of the McKinsey partner who (in the pre-placement talk) said that they are working with IITB to improve the management of the institution. THAT is a good start. Late, yet, good.

Dangerous political fantasies, and the whore called education

I can't help but cry foul over the setting up of so many new IITs. Yes, again.

Check out what today's edition of Economic Times has to say under the title "Losing sheen: Over 500 students say no to IIT"

Very recently, IT-BHU was in the fray to be an IIT. If you are a supporter of that move, you would not want to check this. A few days back, I read about a new IITB that is coming up! Hold your breath, it is not an abroad campus of IIT Bombay (which could be reality in a few years time), but a new proposal for an IIT at Belgaum, Karnataka.

What could be the reason? Karnataka, as opposed to many other states in the country has no IITs. Hence, setup an IIT there! Then, there is a demand from Kerala also to setup an IIT there for a similar reason. A very deplorable situation - the fundamentals of the education system of a country are compromised for mere political mileage. I suspect, Arjun Singh can take the entire blame and Kapil Sibal can consider himself equally guilty.

So, what does the ET article say?

As many as 505 students, who got an opportunity to study in these premier technological institutes, did the unthinkable this year; they refused to study in an IIT.

The reasons varied from ‘‘not having confidence in the new IITs’ ’ to ‘‘ getting allotments in not-so-popular streams’’, IIT officials said, adding that this experience might force HRD minister Kapil Sibal to do a rethink on his expansion plans for the IITs.

Does it take anything more than common sense to foresee this situation? I will not involve myself in the same old conversation again. The most frequently used rebuttal for the argument against, and quoted by ET in the article, is:

‘‘There were several parents who were not comfortable sending their kids to an IIT without a campus currently; few realised that all the old IITs, too, started from temporary campuses,’’ the head of one of the new IITs said.

In 1950s when the IITs were setup in temporary campuses, there were hardly ANY engineering institutions in India and there definitely were not 400,000 people taking the JEE. Now, there are. In India, "engineering" has ceased to be a discipline, it has become an obsession with students and parents alike. The reason - IITs. In such a sensitive scenario, screwing around with the system will leave irrepairable scars in the fabric of education.

Two decades hence, when the "engineers" - thousands from the IITs and lakhs from other engineering institutions - take up the mantle of powering the economy, the repercussions might be severe. For, we will have a whole generation that had forayed into a career, just to live someone else's dreams and follow someone else's footsteps.

The parliament of India, meanwhile is busy creating an uproar over the body-frisking of a former President. The power of democracy. The voice of the people. Whatever.

How stoichiometry problems expose the Indian education system:

The past couple of days I've been at home and have been teaching my sister some of her class XI science and mathematics. So, while I juggle among molarity, molality, dimensional analysis, significant figures (?!) and the likes, she keeps barraging me with random questions - most of which I could answer thanks to my JEE preparation. Whether she does this out of curiosity OR whether to verify my JEE rank credentials - I don't know.

Anyway, at one point, she asked me a seemingly trivial question in chemistry and she was surprised at the ease of the solution. She later told me that her teacher told her that this is "high-level" and she cannot solve it. I am surprised because all that the question demanded was an understanding of the mole concept. A few other anecdotes from her and my own experience of the Indian education system lead me to a disturbing conclusion: The system is decaying, and it is decaying fast, and we are running out of time, and it won't fix itself, and they are not really bothered!

My sister has a good theory about why the senior secondary teachers suck at their job. Let me paraphrase her:

Most of the class XI/XII syllabus is "irritating" and requires sound fundamentals to grasp the subject. Most teachers prefer to teach class X-and-below because it is "very easy" in comparison to senior classes and students hardly ask (or are encouraged to ask) "difficult" questions.

The few who actually manage to master the syllabus never return to teaching because there are greener pastures for such people. So, there is a void created and this void gets filled with sub-standard (or, as she said, "bekar") teachers.

To think of it, she makes perfect sense.

Going through her NCERT books, I realised that class XI/XII is indeed demanding (and rightly so!). To teach the thousands of these students, we need teachers of the very best calibre and it seems not forthcoming. You know that the system is rotting when your teachers advise the parents to arrange for "coaching", even for basic school syllabi; when the school lets a professional coaching institute "counsel" the students and for all their queries, there seems to only one answer - Jay E Eee. (After the counselling session, the coaching institute offered the students a discount on their JEE-coaching program.)

While Pranab Mukherjee is busy alloting thousands of crores towards education, I hope he realises that there are serious problems with the Indian education system that cannot be solved by pumping-in cash. Perhaps, we need a revamped pedagogy - one which understands the changing needs of the students while still able to deliver quality input.

The IITs face a somewhat similar crunch - 20-30% shortage of faculty. But thankfully, they are not appointing bekar professors (or so I'd like to believe). There was/is an attempt, though, to bring in reservations in the faculty, which would undoubtedly lead to a compromise of merit. Last I heard, the IITs managed to deflect the issue for the time being but Sibal was vociferous in claiming that "IITs should learn to live with faculty reservation". Pure bullshit.

So, Pranab dada giving the IITs 2000-odd crores is great news but it will hardly solve any of the fundamental problems that plague the IITs - and there are enough and more. (If you a new joinee to IIT - too bad I am squashing your dreams so soon :-) some of my other posts might offer solace!)

I leave you with a question that often bewilders me:

Why does India not have a network of world-class government high schools which attract and train the best minds in the country? And how come we have the world-class IITs and IIMs without a sound higher-edu foundation in the system?

Of the woods and deer and why monkeys don't feature

I am not a nature guy. Neither am I a photography guy. But, this post _might_ smell of those elements. Ignore such thoughts.

Of the many things that contribute in making IIT Madras "IIT Madras", one big factor is the deers deer and one relatively lesser but more prestigious is the blackbucks.

When I came here four years ago, I remember someone with the mike saying that there are 11 blackbucks on campus: 7 male and 4 female. I remember thinking then, that it pays more to be a male blackbuck in the insti than a male student. Damn you JEE! Anyway, the count of the deers deer, if I remember right was put at 40.

One fact that was said then but somehow gets lost in the woods often is that IIT Madras is the only university in the world to be in a reserved forest. (No, this post is not about IIT Madras and it's glory. Patience.)

Past month, staying here, I noticed there were many more blackbucks (and one whitebuck - too :P ) and deers deer than I had ever seen. It was a comforting sight because these animals were said to be on the brink on extinction and that insti is not a viable enough eco-sytstem for them. Armed with my phone - I did snap a few pictures. There is only as much you can shoot with a 2 MP camera embedded in your SMS-device! And while I was capturing the pictures, my friends found it to be 'amusing' and 'gay' that I, after staying here for four years, was taking pics of deers deer.

The following are the different pics I took at different times on different days. FYI, deers deer are the ones with the spots. Blackbucks are the ones without. Unfortunately, my photography has lead to spots on both.


IIT Madras has often benefitted from the legacy of the forest:

All our Shaastra, Saarang articles begin with "It is that time of the year when the woods are buzzing with [Insert Shaastra-ish or Saarang-ish word]". Most of our brochures, howsoever small the number may be, would mention "sprawling 650-acre campus set in the forests". The Director could make jokes about the monkeys - the ones living inside the room and ones on the trees. Our nature-conscious GATE-clearing students get to complain of dogs attacking deers deer in a mail addressed to all the 5000-odd people on campus.

Monkeys are not featured in this article. I am thoroughly pissed with them because they broke a wash-basin in the bog. It is a totally different issue that there has hardly been any water in the one that has managed to survive:

Guns N' Cigars at Insti!

Two photographs.

One. I was walking from SAC to ICSR after attending some counselling intro talk for JEE. There was this dude (to be on the safer side, let me call him uncle) who was showing off a *pistol* tucked in his trouser. You don't see such things often in the insti. I don't think you are meant to.
I reckon he was a parent who had come down for counselling of his ward. But, it was evident that he had no intentions of hiding his little equipment. Anyway, after a momentary shock, I thought I should take a pic and upload it here! :-) And so I did.

Two. No prizes for guessing where this second pic is from. Though, you may warrant a guess as to whose hand it is in the picture. And which new brand of cigarette has just entered the market. Looking at the pic, I could have written another article titled 'How cigarette is clogging our system', but I think I am about 40 years away from that. For now, it just amused me!


I think it is an amazing marketing strategy to sell black-coloured cigarettes. It is an instant differentiator. Perhaps, if it was not black - I would not have remembered it and the guy/girl in the pic who bought it would not have bought it in the first place. Will we soon see pink and yellow coloured cigarettes also? Or do we already have them in circulation?

PS: I am also wondering if I will be getting anonymous commenters giving me gyaan on how IITians are addicted to cigarettes and all that. And how we are plundering tax-payers' money. And how we are a burden on the nation. :-P

Ok, anonymous, CHILL. I am just kidding. .And no, ofcourse not, we are not arrogant and pompous. :-)

JEE 2009 Counselling - I

Of the few things that IIT Madras did not let me do in the past four years here, one was to let me interact with prospective students. But life came a full circle today. I am part of the JEE 2009 counselling here at the campus as a student counsellor - it is a true honour. And what an experience it has been!

So, there they were - hoardes of anxious students with the JEE counselling brochure.

What really struck me today was a fact that I had always known - the Indian higher education system, though extremely competitive and rigorous, does not equip you with decision-making tools. I could identify two very clear reasons. Firstly, parents are too protective of their children and essentially take all the decisions for their 'kids' even when they are 16, including important decisions pertaining to their careers. Secondly, the education environment does not encourage risk-taking, which implies that I would hesitate to take up an unchartered path.

Ofcourse, the students are not to be blamed. Atleast, not entirely. It has been going on for a good two decades that I have been orbitting the sun. Specifically, talking of the JEE - the system has been treated to be such a big monster to tame that once you clear JEE, most people think of it as an end. I did too, in all probability. Now here comes what I have believed to be the biggest drawback of the current JEE phenomenon:

The students slog their days away in their coaching institutes and burn the proverbial oil during the nights. For two long years. At 16, what you should really be doing is explore the world, meet new people, have newer experiences, learn the shortcuts of overcoming the vicissitudes, read books, play cricket, watch porn, ATTEND HIGH SCHOOL... these experiences equip you with tools to decide what your life holds out for you. They put you in a much better position to gauge yourself and take that extra step in the direction that your dad (and your neighbour and your distant cousin) would never approve of.

Unfortunately, we spend those precious two years - when our personalities shape up and our true character is formed - mugging derivations and solving the JEE 2001 10-mark questions. And that does manifest in rather unfortunate ways: your social behaviour patters tend to become obscure and in reality, you are ill-equipped to face the true world, outside IIT. (Ofcourse, the four years at IIT does offer umpteen opportunities to make amends).

Another striking realisation, rather re-realisation that happened today: there just is not enough information out there for people to take informed decisions. It is a very peculiar situation: you have to take probably the most important decision of your life and there just is not a guy you can speak to about it at length. Yes, the counselling is meant to dislodge this information asymmetry, but as a parent told me today "We have never heard of anything apart from Computer Science, Electrical and Mechanical, how can we then decide between Metallurgy and Naval Architecture." And ten minutes of talk with a prof or a student is just not enough! This leads to making the best of the situation - look at last year's rankings and decide. And because you hardly explore options, you fail to ask the right questions. Most questions tend to be: "Which is better, Mechanical or Electrical?" "What is the pay package?" and so on.

But. That is the stark reality. I do not see the status-quo changing any soon. So, while it is still possible, let me trip a little bit:

Highlights of the day:

• A parent hinting to me if it is possible to get a seat 'through other means' - on the day of admission, if someone does not join, can you help me to get that seat.
• A boy pops out from the blue with the Question of the Day: "Is Aerospace Nice?" Speechless at the amazing depth of the question, I stumble to my senses and ask "Nice? As in?".. then, he breaks all rules of logical argument and beats his own Question of the Day: "Is it easy?"
  
• "Is IIT safe.. I mean.. security is good?" This was the point when my heart said "Ofcourse not, there are landmines all over the place; I just saw three people dying when I was coming from the hostel. And Al-qaeda is recruiting from IITM this year." but I ended up saying "Ofcourse Sir, not to worry" with a polite, plastic smile.
• Most asked question of the day "New IITs or NITs?". Perhaps, the most difficult question to answer and I really do feel for the students - IT IS a tough one. I think they should give it as part of JEE. Too much choice has really spoilt the meal for these new guys. I posed the same question to a faculty member from IIT Madras who was representing IIT Hyderabad, his answer was "In four-five years, everything will become old".

In conclusion, (which is how GMAT expects you finish an essay) the experience was amazing - meeting new people, answering their queries and partaking in their decision-making process. But, saddened at the extremely passive behaviour of most students and because of which anxious parents take all the decisions for them - not a healthy sign. Nope.

PS: Saturday is the first day of counselling for General Category students and I am really looking forward to hard-sell IIT Madras! Will post soon.

Manmohan's team

The events unfolding in Delhi are very assuring. There is a lot of positivity emanating from this new government at the centre.

The biggest complaint that the Indian citizen had against national politics was that illiterate and corrupt people rule the roost whereas educated, honest and talented individuals are always biased against. The new cabinet, for starters, dispels this myth. I think there is a significantly high percentage of well educated ministers handling important portfolios. Let's have a quick look:

1. Manmohan Singh - The Man!

The highest educated PM of India ever. He has been the Finance Minister and Governor of RBI. He, along with Montek Singh (unfortunately missed out the Finance portfolio) is the one who initiated the '91 reforms under PVNR .

He holds a PhD from Oxford Univ, and is one of the most respected economists around the world.

2. P Chidambaram - Home. Harvard MBA.

3. Jairam Ramesh - MoEF. IIT Bombay Mech Engg, Carnegie Mellon, MIT.

4. S M Krishna - External Affairs, George Washington Univ, Fulbright Scholar.

5. Shashi Tharoor - MoS, EXt. Affairs. St. Stephen's, PhD from Tufts Univ.

Shatajit points out that he completed his PhD at the age of 22. It was unprecedented - a Fletcher record. He was also UN under-secretary general in 2002.

(Look at us, at 22.. struggling to get a B.Tech :-P )

6. Sachin Pilot - MoS, IT/Commn. Wharton MBA.

7. Jyotiraditya Scindia - MoS, Commerce/Industry. Stanford MBA.

8. Agatha Sangma - MoS, Rural Dev, Nottingham Univ MA. She's only 26!!!

I am sure this list is not exhaustive. The IITs could have done with a little more representation though.

Aside, Indian politicians on twitter: Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor), Rahul Gandhi (@RGAmethi) and SM Krishna (@SMKrishnaCong)

I am liking this!

PS: I would have loved to write a more detailed post on this topic, but am heavily cramped for time. Will try and post a more insightful and worthy article sometime soon.

PS2: Do let me know if I missed any more big names or any other folks on twitter.

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/vikas_shenoy

The new whiz-kid on the block! ISC Topper:

"City boy tops ISC with 99.25 %" screams a TOI article. It turns out the city is Kolkata.

Disclaimer: You may stop liking me if you are one of those people who don't think evil people should exist on this planet. On the other hand, if you are one of my ex-es or their friends, you anyway don't like me, this post will give you one more reason.

Excerpts from the post:

Subhajit had succeeded in beating over 50,000 students to the top spot. With cent per cent marks in maths and computer science, the St Joseph's College student notched up 99 in physics, 94 in chemistry and 97 in environmental studies. He scored 98% in English and 92% in Bengali.

Surprisingly, the first look at the marks he obtained don't suggest they'll result in 99.25%. Indeed, (100 +100+99+94+97+98+92)*100/700 = 97.14 %.

Now, I wonder what's wrong. Am I missing something? Is there another subject in which Subhajit scored 114 out of 100 (which probably is not a feat considered worthy of a mention by TOI) so that the percentage makes sense? OR is it another of those TOI articles where they fabricate details/title to sensationalise the article? If it is latter, TOI needs to fire their chief sensationaliser. Notwithstanding that fact, 97.14 (or 99.25 as the case may be) is an amazing feat.

Subhajit Ghosh isn't the average nerdish topper. "He paid a lot of attention to what he studied, rather than how much. He spent time on solving question papers and also went through the study material other than his prescribed books. He only took tuitions in English and Bengali, the rest he prepared by himself," said father Subhashis.

OK, let me be mean. (Yes, you are welcome to leave those anonymous comments! :-P ) No one would come on national newspaper and accept that he is a nerdish topper. I was not, and I am sure neither were you! AND we all paid a lot of attention to what we studied, rather than how much. We all spent time on solving question papers and also went through the study material other than our prescribed books.

Tuitions! HAH. I did not take any tuitions, not even for English and definitely not for Bangla. Did you?

But here is the clincher:

The Kolkata boy is now looking forward to testing his academic mettle at the finest engineering institutes in the country. "I am looking at either studying aerospace engineering at IIT-Kanpur or mechanical engineering at BITS, Pilani. I've given the competitive entrance exams and I'm expecting to rank between 500-600 in the IIT-JEE," said Subhajit confidently.

This, IMHO, is the cue when we should all pray "Bhagwan iss ladke ko satbuddhi dena." If some dude (with a 99.25 TOI %) is getting a rank between 500-600 in the JEE, WHY, in this whole white world would he take Aerospace engg. There are no god-damn jobs in that department. And no Subhajit, you will not be working on Airplanes and satellites and shit like that. You won't even be recruited by Boeing or Airbus. I know you want to join NASA and emulate Rakesh Sharma but I doubt even if ISRO trusts an Aero engineer from an IIT. Next, Mechanical engineering from BITS Pilani? - IMNSHO - It will be a disaster dear topper. I am told their dream job is with John Deere. I'll leave the smart readers to figure out the rest.

And I almost missed this point: How can he so confidently suggest that he is getting a rank between 500-600 in the JEE. I am sure the JEE chairman himself may not be in a position to make such comments. Anyone who has written JEE can vouch for this fact. I think this is a result of all the fake ranks that the FIITJEEs and likes dole out on their website. But then, this guy is a whiz-kid, with a 99.25 TOI %.

Here's the wicked part of my post: (skip it to spare yourself the BP rise. If you are a faculty member in the anti-ragging department of IITM, you are prohibited.)

Here's my wish: I hope this dude comes out with flying colors and joins IITM and he gets Alak and he is in 357, (which will be empty next semester; I'll stay in 358) so that I can send him to Minar at 1.30 in the night to fetch Egg Biriyani! And r@g him till he breaks down.
MUHAHAHAHA. Worst case, if he joins IITK, I'll hunt him down in December during the inter-IIT and send him to their Minar!

[I used r@g because I don't want to end up in jail 'chakki-peesing' for ragging. What if the goons at MHRD have a Google alert for 'rag'?]

IIT BHU... without a typo!

Just when I thought it can't possibly get worse - with more than half a dozen IITs springing up and the talks about space/faculty crunch - here's what a certain Rahul Gandhi is upto in life:

Rahul Gandhi assures BHU-IT students of early IIT status

What the fuck is wrong with these Gandhi-Nehru nutheads. Jawaharlal, Indira and Sanjay later, we have this thirty-something politician - a wannabe Obama - making random promises.

IT BHU to get IIT status. Good god! Mr. Gandhi, get a life. And here are a few suggestions:

• Your alma-mater St. Stephens, Delhi (Oh, I almost forgot you did not finish college there) - give it IIT status.
• All the existing IITs, the real ones (B,D,K,Kgp, M) give them Harvard/Stanford/MIT status. Anyfuckingway,evidently you thoroughly impressed by Shakesperian whats-in-a-name.
• Faculty.. I am sure you don't bother too much about it. So, get all your party workers to teach at each of the new IITs you are creating out of thin air.
• Get Italian nurturing support for IT BHU and name Ms. Sonia Gandhi as it's Director. It sure will be fun to see prof. Ananth trying to explain academics to an Italian library keeper.
• And whatever little votes you get by giving IT BHU this status, shove it up your ass. Whatever is left over, retain it for a rainy day.
  

According to SN Upadhyaya, director, IT-BHU, the institute can match any other IIT institution in the country in terms of infrastructure and academic environment, especially quality of research in engineering.

Oh yes, IITs themselves are struggling to keep up the infrastructure and academic environment. Add excess baggage of people who want to 'tag along'!

IT BHU??!! IIT status.. LOL.

PS: Read this trippy shit about how IIT Bihar (:P) campus has been waterlogged and encroached by policemen. A sample quote:

The registrar of the IIT, Subhash Pandey, was quoted in the Hindustan Times as saying: “our Students’ Activity Centre has been encroached by the cops of the Patliputra police station. They have been staying there since last monsoon.

The IITian! :-)

For the past three years here at IIT Madras, I have always had a nagging feeling of 'exploiting' the resources of the country. "The government spends a fortune on each IITian", "Brain Drain", "IITs are a social disaster" and the likes...

Infact, the best of them all is Prof. MS Ananth's oft-heard comment - "Nehru created the IITs as a step to build the nation, but he did not specify which nation." - with an obvious reference to Obama's country.

Pan-IIT 2008, the global IIT alumni conference that is going to be held in December at IIT Madras has come out with a fascinatng report on the contribution of IITs to India. The numbers and facts that they have managed to put together is amazing, to say the least. Quoting from a couple of news articles, this, here is a summary of their findings:

• Over the last 50 years, the IIT alumni have created over 2 crore jobs, which translates to 'Each IITian has created 100 jobs'
• One in 10 IIT alumni have started their own companies, with over 40% of them being serial entrepreneurs. Two-thirds of the companies founded are in India. In the last 15-20 years, most of them have preferred to start up in India
• Budgetary responsibility of IITians is over Rs 40 lakh crore ($885 bn)
  
• They are associated with incremental economic value creation of Rs 20 lakh crore ($450 bn)
• Every Rs 1 invested on an IITian has created an economic impact of Rs 50 at the global level. Of this, India’s share will be Rs 25, says Manu Santhanam.
• 54 pc of the top-500 Indian companies have atleast one IIT alumnus in their Board of Directors

I am eagerly waiting for the organsition to release the methodology and other findings of the report.

An important factor that should not be undermined is the numbers associated with the IITs. It is the largest organisation in India, by number, to churn out technocrats. Perhaps, no other institution/organisation has such a scale. Hence, these figures should not be taken at face value. That said, for the 3-odd lakhs of engineers that graduate every year, the three thousand of the IITians seem to make a distinct mark.

But, if you are in the limelight - bouquets and brickbats alike follow. I was going throughtthe comments section of one of these articles and here's what I stumbled upon. I would highly recommend you all to read the comments.

One thing is clear from the comments. Although the findings of the report purely talk about only the contribution of IITs and the their alumni and has not criticised any one, a lot of people seem to have been offended and have given baseless reasons to ridicule them. Comments like 'They are patting their own back' 'They should give credit to others' 'You find them selling soaps in FMCG and giving loans in the banking sector'.

(To be completed..)

IIT + IIM = ?

[Pardon the barrage of IIT-centric posts; with time, this too shall pass :-) ]

If IIT Gandhinagar takes off in a big way and in about 8-10 years manages to have the reputation of the present IITs, the fact that an IIM and an IIT are within a distance of 30 kms of each other might result in an unprecedented synergy.

In an ideal scenario, the best technologists of the country will be ably supported by the best managers in the county and vice versa. Imagine the situation where a path-breaking innovation at IIT Gandhinagar is nurtured by IIM Ahmedabad and taken to the market. OR a healthy interaction between them resulting in fostering ideas and aiding and accelerating innovation and invention.

Man, I can't wait to see that day become a reality!

PS: I fundamentally believe that we need managers to only 'manage' as such the world can survive without managers but might not survive without engineers/technologists. :-)

Will the new IITs do an IIMA?

Further to the diverse comments on the last post about the new IITs, here is a small follow-up.

I was roaming around the IIM Ahmedabad campus this afternoon with a friend of mine and we were discussing the architecture of the place - wonderfully thought-out and carefully crafted buildings which lend the institute its whole 'culture'. I was told by him that they roped in the world-famous architect Louis Kahn, who was a Prof. of architecture in UPenn (in the late 50s) to design the buildings along with NID, Ahmedabad.

The institute was a brain-child of some of the most respected brains of India, including Vikram Sarabhai - the man who spearheaded India's space missions, among many other things. Infact, the IIMA library is named after him.

I was browsing through the gallery to find out interesting tit-bits about the institute and I came across a very fascinating fact. Here I share it:
"The picture above is of 'Retreat', Vikram Sarabhai's residence in Shahibaug, which would house a fledging institution's office for more than a year beginning in June, 1961, until a proper campus for IIMA took shape. "The institute started functioning... under the auspices of a registered society and the general direction of a Board of Governors. It then had no buildings, no furniture, and only a skeletal staff and faculty. The vision of its early leaders was perhaps the only sustaining factor." (IIM Ahmedabad, The first Decade, 1973)"

It is just so fascinating! It just reminded me of the situation now, with respect to the new IITs and the comments from Jimmy on that. So! So! So!

• Are these IITs going to recreate what IIMA did?
• Are these IITs a brainchild of the best brains in the country?
• Is the vision of the early leaders of the institutes enough to sustain them?

I leave it for the reader to answer.
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PS: I was browsing the website of Indian School of Business, Hyderabad - another premium B-school in India. I quote "The foundation stone was laid in 1999 and the Post Graduate Programme was launched in 2001".

PS2: I am not sure if the title of the post is grammatically correct, but seems to convey the point.

un-IIT: Of real and virtual IITs

I was going through my mail-blog-wiki-news routine when I stumbled upon a link that had an old interview of Prof. MS Ananth, Director of IIT Madras . Fascinated by what he had to say on issues like setting up of new IITs, reservation for students, reservation for faculty, JEE etc, I thought I'll catch up on the latest buzz around IITs - the new IITs!!

I happened to visit the JEE website, which provides all the details regarding the admission. I also downloaded the counselling brochure which is an information guide for the prospective students. What I read was horrifying - a nightmare to say the least.

Here's a part of the brochure:

"IIT Hyderabad is one of the three new IITs proposed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. The academic session in IIT Hyderabad will commence from August 2008. IIT Madras has been identified as the mentor institution for IIT Hyderabad. To start with, B.Tech program in three branches will be offered, namely, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering with 40 students in each branch. During the first year of the program, classes will be conducted in a suitable campus located in the city of Hyderabad. Students will be provided with hostel and dining facilities within the campus. The curriculum, course structure and syllabus for various courses will be the same as in IIT Madras. The fee structure will also be the same as that of IIT Madras."

If you thought that was unimaginable, wait till you see this:

"IIT Patna is one of the new IITs proposed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India. Its location and academic calendar will be known in due course of time. To start with, 4-year B.Tech. programme will be offered in three branches, viz., Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering with 40 students in each branch. The curriculum, course structure and syllabus for the first year courses and the fee structure will be broadly same as in the mentor IIT. The first year classes may also be held at the mentor IIT campus after which they will be relocated to the place where the new IIT will be established and the students taking admission in the new IIT will be required to give an undertaking to this effect."

It is the same case with IIT Rajasthan.

As with most nightmares, this one too doesn't seem to end. Extremely unfortunate, but here is more. Further to the drama of overnight 'establishment' of more IITs, a circular was released which can be accessed here:

"The Government of India has announced setting up of 8 more new IITs in the 11th plan. Admissions in the following six new IITs, subjected to the approval@ of the competent authority of the Govt. of India, is likely to take place during the counselling session of JEE 2008."

@ If for any unforeseen reason the start of any new IIT is delayed, admission to that IIT will not be taken up during counseling session of JEE 2008.

To aid in my memorizing the names of the new IITs and for my future reference, here I list them:

• IIT Gandhinagar
  
• IIT Punjab
• IIT Patna
• IIT Hyderabad
• IIT Bhuvaneshwar
  
• IIT Rajasthan
  

Each with an intake of 120 each, i.e 120*6 = 720 additional seats for the geniuses in the parliament to barter for votes. Did I mention that exactly 49.5 percent of them would be the flagbearers of the nation who would be out there on the premise of 'Equal Opportunity'.

Interesting and extremely amusing points to note from each of them: (By now, the whole experience was turning to be funny)

IIT Rajasthan

The location of the new IIT in Rajasthan will be announced by the Government of India. In the meantime, IIT Kanpur would be acting as the mentor institute of IIT Rajasthan.. Till the required infrastructure comes up, the classes will be held at the IIT Kanpur campus, after which the students will be relocated to the place in Rajasthan where the new IIT gets established. The students taking admission to the new IIT Rajasthan, along with their parents, will be required to give an undertaking to this effect.

IIT Gandhinagar

...Till the campus of the new IIT in Gujarat gets established, the classes will be held within the premises of Vishwakarma Government Engineering College, Chandkheda, which is within the municipal limits of Gandhinagar. Students will be provided with residential and other facilities at a temporary location. The curriculum will be similar to that of IIT Bombay with some differences until the time the academic bodies of the new IIT is in place. Fee structure will be same as that of the mentoring Institute...

IIT Bhuvaneswar
...The location will be intimated in due course and the academic programme will start from 24 July 2008 in the IIT Kharagpur campus. After completion of first year in IIT Kharagpur, the students will be shifted to new location where IIT Bhuvaneswar will be established. The first year fee structure will be same as that of IIT Kharagpur.

Don't be mistaken, we are still talking about the famous Indian Institutes of Technology, which have made a mark for themselves all over the world as the strongest Indian brand. Fortune 500s, the Navratnas, the PSUs, the Scientists - you name it, they are there. And the government believes it can recreate the brand overnight, even without a single brick being laid? Without any external support? WITHOUT FACULTY? For the records, the Engineering Design department building at IIT Madras, only a building, was supposed to be completed by Dec 2005 and it is May of 2008 now - it is still only a civil-engineer's sight-visit place. Also, IIT Madras faces a acute shortage of faculty. [When IIT Madras was founded way back in 1958, it had funding from the GoI and support from the German Govt. and there was no dearth of quality faculty. More importantly, they were founded to build the country; unlike now, to win elections.]

Here's my take on the whole issue:

Having spent three years being part of the IIT system, I can safely say that the system teaches you much more outside the classroom than inside. So, all those dumbfucks in Delhi need to realise that just announcing the formation of IITs within their ignorant midst does not make the IITs, it merely creates another college. IITs are not colleges, they are IITs. For all that the IITian is valued, it is not his technical know-how, not his competency in academics; it is his sheer intelligence and analytical skills (which I am assuming the JEE still upholds).

But where I see the new IITs just being another college with bright kids is the fact that they'll miss out on the system; Being in the pioneer batch of a new department in an established IIT itself was tough enough for me, I can't shudder to think the plight of the students in departments of non-existent IITs.

Here's another perspective. Of the real IITs (the established seven), B-D-K-Kgp-M are doing very well according to the Indian standards (mind you, according to world standards, we are still lag grossly behind), while R and G are still second-rung IITs. Their placements are not as good, infrastructure not as good, faculty shortage blah blah and a thousand other blahs. Now with the virtual IITs also in the fray, it is but natural that these IITs will be third-rung. Perhaps, my prediction is they will be worse than even the NITs and quite a few private Engg. colleges in the country. Brand-IIT will cease to exist; individual brands will evolve - IIT Madras for example will be a much more formidable brand than IIT itself.

If you are a non-IITian who painstakingly read this long post, here's an insider's info: The placements in the real IITs itself is not the best and we ourselves are grappling with the poor response from the industry. The 1-crore job you read about in your favourite newspaper is a myth - no such thing exists. Think of the virtual IITs now!

Final comment: If I were to advice my sister on joining IITs now, I would definitely ensure she does not take up the farce new IITs - those which exist only in Arjun Singh's letterhead. She would be much better off in an NIT or a good-enough private engineering college in Bangalore. Infact, I think I would encourage her to start-up after 12th! :-P But, thankfully there is a good three year period before I need to think about it.

I pity those 720 non-fellow IITians.

Inter-IIT Sports Meet: Quotable Quotes

My fascination with the Inter-IIT Meet continues..

Tit-Bits from my cricket team:

Quotable Quotes:

"Yaar, match jaldi khatam karo, khana khatam ho jayega" - Suri, invariably in all the matches.

"Yaar, meri ball middle stump pe daalu toh in-swing hoti hai... off-stump pe dalu toh swing hi nahi hoti" - Laddoo, since his first year.

"Bikash spoke abouse words" The (Bengali) umpire in the IITM vs IITG cricket match jotting down in his diary after Lays ( Vikas) cudnt hold back the joy of getting a batsman bowled.

"IITM cricket team is the most disciplined team" Umpires.

Day 3: 6.30 am. Gigolo: " Naib get up, aaj FOG ( more like 'FOAG') nahi hai..practice time pe shuru jar sakte hain"
Naib: " Shit Man!!! !@#!@"

"I am sorry, very sorry. I dont like to hurt anybody" DB, after hitting Naresh on his toe in practice.
"You bowl so wide down the leg side, the square leg ( not even fine-leg) fielder has to run to field the ball." - Karthik Naib.

"If team needs" - -Ayush, hiding all his joy after he was asked by the coach if he could open the innings for IITM. He still claims that he was all serious.

"Our real batting starts after nine-down"
-common joke/reality during inter-IIT, as the last wicket partnership was the largest in the first two matches against KGP and Bombay.

"Haven't you all had... what do you call it in hindi - 'maa ka doodh' ... " - Karthik Naib, giving an inspiring speech to players in the team meeting after the loss against KGP in the first match.

"It was a clean strategy... you should save experience for the end" - Laddoo, trying to justify the decision to send Dharik (one of the main batsmen) 9 down. Dharik and Teju ended up winning the do-or-die match against Bombay for Madras by scoring 26 in 2 overs with just one wicket left.

"Machcha, Saarang choreo nite in jan da... practicing" -Sudheer Raj (member of saarang choreo team too), explaining the bemused captain of why he was doing strange things standing at deep mid-wicket.

"When is the next train back home?"
- The most common answer when the team members were asked what they were thinking at 65/9 (chasing 103) against bombay?

QUOTABLE JEERING QUOTES:

"Laddoo piss gaya" - IITG chap when laddoo got hit for a four.

"He is Lays?? where is Kurkure?" PJ by opposite captain during a Practice match.

"Beta don't get bored out there!"
-the all so over-confident Delhi coach to the two batsmen after Delhi was 50/0 in 7 overs in the semis.
They ended up getting all out for 103.

"I was unlucky to get bowled" Delhi batsman.( As if we are all lucky to get bowled)

"Tailender batting pe aa gaya" Aimed at one of our top batsmen after looking at his batting by KGP guys.

"Khushu Sir, Aaram aaram se khelenge" Delhi spectators.


HILARIOUS INCIDENTS:

IITM bowling first. Four overs up. Bowler at fine leg asks for Water. The 12th man by now is pretty experienced, so he takes 2 bottles of water, 3 packets of glucose and 2 bottles of pain-relief (??!!) spray. The whole of the team converges in on the sprays.. and any fielder who has even touched the ball once is complaining of pain.

At the other end of the ground, the team's premier fast bowler has lowered ( yes, he has) his pants and the whole team is watching in disbelief the sight of the 12th man kneeling on the ground and spraying at the bowler's what-we-would-call 'Groin' for sake of decency.
The names of the bowler and the 12th man withheld on request....

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Ayush, batting against Delhi. The situation is tense. We need to hold our wickets. The Delhi fielders are trying to intimidate Ayush and Laddoo, the two batsmen in the middle by sledging.

Ayush plays a ball to a fielder and wanders out of his crease. The fielder warns " Saale, crease ke andar aaja varna maar dunga". This happens twice. Third time Ayush says, " Bhainchod, kya bolta rehta hai, maarta toh hai nahi".

Oops... Then the fielder catches hold of Ayush's collar on the field. And our man, Ayush is unnerved. Ayush still maintains he was not afraid of that chap...

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Practice Match, Chemplast. Dharik is wicket keeping in place of Naib. Lays is the bowler. Lays calls out dharik by his name ( which any sane keeper wud understand to be a signal that next ball is a slower ball.)

Dharik replies loudly: " Haan haan, samajh gaya". Batsman seemed to be amused. The next ball ( slower ball) was hit for a four.

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First match at Inter-IIT v/s KGP. Ayush is full enthu, he brings his Digicam to the field hoping to take pictures after the match. We lose pretty miserably. The team management blames it squarely on the presence of the cam and the bad-luck it brought. (Non-performing) cricketers are superstitious, you see. As a result of this, there was no cam in any of the matches ( all of which we subsequently won). So we end up with no photos of the matches. Btw, Just when we were almost ( almost) sure to win the finals, we sent our poor freshie, the Sardar to get the cam all the way from the hostel. So, we have something to cherish.

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In Shillong, Durgesh, the team's left arm spinner fell down into a Drainage ( while pissing) ... LOL!!! He came back stinking and wearing borrowed clothes.


*** Compiled with special inputs from Laddoo, the captain.