The last four and a half years of my life have been spent
institutionalized in a rather famous 340 acres land in the heart of
new Delhi, and to say it's been a phenomenal ride would be an
understatement. It's not hard to distinctly remember and identify with
the enigma of IITs for high school students in India, because the race
to get in is an incredibly high pressure game. So when the author of
this blog asked me about life at IIT, I hesitated for a minute, for
all I can provide in even the most thoughtfully carved answer to that
question would be a subjective view, but then I thought, maybe that
itself can suffice to provide a window into this weird, crazy world to
people like him and maybe that could turn some of your curiosity into
motivation. All the IITs are different in their "culture" but the
basics remain the same, and I could say with some confidence about
Delhi that it's a fair mix of ALL kinds of people, a little biased
towards high IQ and disciplined childhood stories, but basically, it
has everything the "real" world is made of.
Except...err...the sex ratio.

Let me start with trying to provide some semi-objective answers to
frequently asked questions. Do people in IIT study all the time? No, a
very few study a LOT n some do not study at all, everyone else lies
somehere in between, but most people are experts at studying (and
acing) courses from scratch to end the night before the exam (and
exams happen all the time). Our semesters are about 4.5 month long
with 14x5 days of classes, with two minors (=mid-terms, a month's
syllabus, usually something like 6 courses over 4 days) and one major
at the end(six courses, full syllabus, six days, or smthng like that).

Is getting through JEE the toughest thing for an IITian? No. In fact,
if you ask most people who have graduated from IITs, it is probably
one of the easiest things. Living here and learning what the
apparently "tough" system here is actually designed to teach (and not
wat it sometimes inadvertently teaches) is what makes you a fine
indiviual, a well-rounded and successful IITian. And that is a tough
thing. That means not only being sincere, quick learner, adaptable and
academically smart, that also includes learning to cope with high
pressure, managing time smartly enough to do practically everything
you want and doing it well, developing hidden talents and hobbies in
you, and people skills. Do people in IIT have fun? ALL the time. You
have freedom, and responsibility. Delhi is especially blessed with an
awesome location and not just because girls' colleges of DU and NIFT
are so near. There are LOADS of extra curricular activities and sports
to take up all your free time, and sometimes you'd be pushed to
participate in them because that hostel trophy is worth a lot of
bloodshed in here. There's also ample scope to lose track given the
independence and a certain percentage fall into the alcohol-low
grades-AOE on LAN temptation too. Everything's fine, and fun, unless
you forget to keep it in moderation.

Okay, this has started sounding like a lecture. Let me tell you some
other stuff. IITD has 11 hostels, 2 for girls among them. That should
give you some idea about the skewed ratio, but it's actually better
than most other IIT campuses :) And the girls aren't so bad as
"feared", most of them are actually a relief from 'outside' girls
because you have a saner conversation and they understand u better and
have less tantrums. That said, I'm not privy to all the boys-hostel
views on this, but have heard all kinds of things. :) Hostel life is
the most incredible thing that can ever happen to you. It is the place
where you make friends and learn lessons for life. There is no ragging
anymore, which if you ask me, is a slightly sad thing, but don't ask
me why- that's a very long story! Most activites, and there are many
of them, are student managed with faculty guidance at the top, so
students work in teams all the time to organize inter hostel
competitions, student welfare workshops, to take out campus magazines,
to organize the technical, sports, literary as well as Rendezvous -
the incredibly fun huge cultural festival. You work in teams, sometime
as large as 3-400 people, and do incredible stuff. Rendezvous is an
amazing time, the biggest cult festival in India after MOOD Indigo
(IIT-B) and especially great because all the hot crowd from Delhi
pours in here then. In addition, there are cool things like Robotics,
photogrpahy, adventure trips, car-design to do if you like them. The
professors are mostly smart, though sometimes very boring, and often
just old and cynical. Studies can be a pain if you're not regular, but
there's no real need to slog. People around are really nice and
friendly, smart, warm and easy to relate with.

Okay, I hope you got some idea. If you have questions or views, shoot
an email (apublicdiary@gmail.com) to me.


( P.S.: My reader's I present you my first guest writer -Taru Kapoor a.k.a Phoenix, author of "Public Diary" , who writes on her life in IIT- DELHI)

Labels: Guest Writer

DISCLAIMER: This is a recreation of the events that may or may not have happened. Any resemblance of a character to any person dead or alive is purely unintentional and coincidental.


I am not Shakespeare. But then i dont need to be one to write this post. Normally, I am the kind of guy who would sit through a important lecture in rapt attention. But this one day, i was really tired. It was the last period and we had just come back from games and to make matters worst it was sucking biology. With nothing better to do i decided to look around and check what other students were up to when the atmosphere was so soporific.


As soon as we arrived back from games some guys and some girls made a dash for the last benches. The fight was over in a jiffy and the losers retreated to find the next best thing to last benches. The lecture began and the last-benchers had already dozed off. Shockingly this list included Aradhana - a very keen bio student and one of the toppers.


Five minutes into the class and a war had already started. The two armies were located at the left and right flanks of the class. The Maratha regiment was led by Albert and the Gorkha tigresses by Rajkumari. The weapons used were paper bombs and planes. Because of their limited stocks, chalks were sparingly used but they inflicted maximum damage on the opposition.


Hiding their Barron's and flash-cards under their notebooks were a group of wannabe toppers.
It included Sharma - The broken hearted phoenix and Saurav sen - the Jadoo.(remember that hrithik film on alien)
Behind them sat Jayanta- the complete muggu and Vineet - the so called maths genius.
and behind them sat a group of hardcore oglers , BND and Y.S. ,currently preoccupied in ogling at a (pun intended )supermodel, and a silent baruah. (Vineet was shuttling between pleasing(let your imagination run wild) Jayanta and engaging with this duo.)

Occupying the first bench was a Baniya who tried to show how great she was but actually making us vomit.
Behind her sat the parrot, Banu (doubtanu) - whose doubts never ceased such that she herself was a doubt. :P
At the extreme right sat Wahid and his gang. (the RAW has an easy way to prevent any terror attacks by contacting him straight away. He is the bomb maker who uses chalk powder to deliver a powerful concoction of deadly bombs)

At the last Myself and Bitopan who were engrossed in dissecting the latest news in town and movie world while engaging in the ongoing fight by providing valuable strategical outputs.

Till then even R. Tiger the teacher hadnt lasted. She was already showing her skills in teaching by sleeping and giving the lecture at the same time.(I say no one can match her)

Labels: humour

So yesterday i caught the roadies again.

And i must say it really was "HELL DOWN UNDER" , literally for the boys.

Hey guys, i think we should personally go and meet raghu why he is so interested in our "modesty"...last time he made the "strip sms"( though i remember an interesting incident in this case that happened in the T.T court, we called it "strip T.T"...JK do u remember how we thwarted RD in his attempt to ...i should not say more as it may hurt *ahem* someone's modesty. but yeah we made RD eat his own *ahem*..)

whatever the question is what has raghu got against our modesty? see this time he designed even the evil plan to contribute to impotency(in this days of burgeoning population its good idea...but this is evil)
whatever when i saw those guys yesterday doing the tasks i felt the pain myslef(ouch!!)....and i am sure the other guys agree.
and another question why are only the girls made to decide our fate. Its unfair , of them to laugh when we are in dire pain...i protest against such discrimination. But they should also know that getting "Hell Down Under" is nothing short of a bomb sharpnel passing through your ass. The moment of intense pain, blackness, numbness, and what not is a feeling which only a boy can describe.
Anyways...That Phalak is a street-fighter...i thought girls were the quiet type...but aha! this is a revealation.
Varisha should not have been "voted out" .It should have been Paulomi who in my opinion belongs to lab testing for how a human being can go horribly weird.
At last i would like to add the new gang vs gang concept is not so good...in roadies its individuality. this will foster more unity. and roadies is how u succeed when odds are against you.
But i must add this that Yesterday Roadies was exciting (and excruitatingly painful), waiting for the next adventure
heres me signing off...
goodnight

Labels: My diaries