An IIT At Every Bus Stop
Devan Harikumar is a fourth year CSE student at IIT Patna. This is a story that he feels touches on the failing brand value system of newly established IITs1.
Back in the good old days when someone asked you which college you were from, and you answered IIT, you could literally see them well up with admiration. They might even rub their eyes to make sure you’re real. You’d have to answer fifty questions after that -“What’s it like, son?”, “What are your placements like?”, “What is the pay package?” and the kind. People whom you were introduced to in family functions and the like would look at you as if you were from Mars.
Having an IITian in the family was something to boast of. “You’re an IITian? My uncle’s father-in-law’s son’s second cousin twice removed was an IITian too. What a coincidence!”. For all it mattered, that person might’ve been you, because back then there were very few IITians. At least, someone you’d see round the corner was unlikely to be one. Today, when they ask you “Which college are you from?”, and you answer “IIT”, they would ask again,somewhat wearily, “You too? Old or new?”. That aside, a sizeable fraction of people in given communities might be IITians. There will be no welling up with admiration and no introductions either.
Although there would now be one follow-up question: “You’re from a new IIT! Will you get placed?” And they might not even care what you say to that because the question was rhetorical. Gone are the times when ‘IIT’ meant ‘good jobs’!
There is something special about the people who pass through your life unnoticed. They strike up a trivial conversation with you and somehow make you realize something you have been unable to notice your entire life. You don’t remember them, just the conversation. There was this middle-aged man at the Ernakulam North railway station. I was waiting for my train to Patna when he asked me:
“Where are you off to?”
“College”
“Christmas vacation, huh?”
“Not exactly. We usually have December off.”
“Oh, which college NIT, IIT?
He spoke in a manner which was way too overqualified for the tobacco-chewing impression he created in the beginning.
“Uh… IIT”
“Oh! Madras?”
“No Pa-”
“Bombay?”
It was unlikely that he’d predict ‘IIT Patna’ anyhow. It is a curious habit for people who participate in these delightful guessing games that they only think of the seven well-established institutes.
“No.”
“Wait, I shall guess! After all, how many are there? Seven or eight?”
My heart sank lower.
“It’s Patna.”
He looked perplexed for a second or two, but then laughed patting my shoulder “Ha ha, good one. I know there is no IIT there.”
He might as well have stabbed me in the chest. Don’t tell me there is no IIT there, for God’s sake, I have been studying there for the past three years. But what is the point?
“All right, I was kidding. IIT Guwahati.”
“I knew it. I was just about to say that. You got me there for a second when you said Patna” He smiled at me. “Could you not have gone to Madras or Bombay?”
Madras and Bombay sounded like his first choice to everything.
“That’s not how it works. I needed a better rank in JEE for that. What’s wrong with Patna anyway? I mean, Guwahati?”
“Guwahati is a new one right? I mean it came like, what? 15 years back?”
“Yeah. So?”
“If an IIT had opened, say, last year, would you have gone there? Same reason why.”
I felt like the blood circulation inside me was ignoring my head. I felt giddy. From the distance 12696 crawled into the platform like a snail, its bright headlight piercing the December haze. Never before had a train arrived at a timelier instant. “There you go.”. It took a minute and forty five long seconds for the train to finally come to a halt. I lifted my luggage and entered into my coach. He beamed at me. The train was about to leave when I lifted the window shutter for some fresh air and met the same face I beamed at, a while ago.
“What would it be like if they founded say some six new IITs this year?” I asked at last, out of curiosity.
“Ha ha, you kidding me? That would be like having an IIT at every bus stop.”
‘No, I am not kidding you. I’m just speaking the truth.’ I said to myself.
Like I said, there wasn’t a thing worth noticing about that man, save the tobacco stained teeth. But what did remain of him in my memory is the remark he made – ‘an IIT at every bus stop’. The train left the station but my train of thought lingered around that last remark.
The reason why I came to IIT is not the ‘IIT life’ we often covet, it’s not in bunking classes or making friends, and it is not the campus (we don’t have one, incidentally). I came to IIT because of its placements. And when I reasoned to myself that way, I hadn’t even stopped to consider that there would be two kinds of IITs – the old and the new. I hadn’t realised that the location of the campus matters in placements. I hadn’t realised that the name of the city which follows the ‘IIT’ name matters so much in my future. And again, I had also not realised that the outside world would grow so blind to see we ever wrote the JEE.
That, to put a long story short, is the extent of discrimination faced among the institutes. Perhaps the most ironic bit would be that there is no one to blame. What did they really expect when they wanted to set up an IIT in every state? More opportunity, my foot.
Four to five years back, parents and the multitude of coaching centres had one thing to tell children – that if they tried really hard and cracked the JEE, their life would be so much easier for the following four years. That they would never have to worry about anything else for the rest of their lives. That was a time when getting into IIT meant good jobs at the conclusion of 4 years. Today? There are IITs and then there are more IITs. At the risk of being whimsical, it’s only a matter of time before we outnumber the NITs, or any colleges of a particular class. In few years, God forbid, there may be more IITs than there are bus stops.
1The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, The Fifth Estate or IIT Madras. For specific queries and feedback, leave a message or mail us at t5e.iitm[at]gmail.com.
More of Devan’s work can be found in his personal blog.
Even in this article I see the same sort of rationalizations I often hear from students just before they go off to join a new IIT.
“I hadn’t realised that the name of the city which follows the ‘IIT’ name matters so much in my future. And again, I had also not realised that the outside world would grow so blind to see we ever wrote the JEE.”
So you wrote the JEE. Who gives a flying ….?
So did a lot of the guys in BITS/IIIT-H/NIT-T/DCE etc, and many with better ranks than you. I see a lot of new IIT guys moaning about JEE and their IITian-ness not automatically opening all doors for them.
As soon as you join college, that slate is wiped clean. It’s what you do in those 4 years that follow that defines you. Society is not bound to respect you just because your college’s name.
When kids come to me for college advice, I tell them about the entrepreneurialism, academic flexibility and alumni networks in BITS, the awesome coding culture and research work at IIIT, and how some colleges are great in specific areas- such as UDCT Mumbai and ISM Dhanbad.
Then I hear some of these guys ignore everything I’ve said and say ‘No, I want IIT’. Everyone wants that ‘brand’, but nobody has the balls to admit how shallow their decision making process was- 4 years later when they realize that ‘brand’ is just a meaningless social construct.
At first I felt bad about these people. Really bad, because they didn’t know what they were signing up for- for how their placements were going to suck without long-standing linkages between their placement unit and industry, because industry isn’t quite as myopic or desperate as them about the IIT-tag.
Then my sister (who went on to study at IIT-D) told me something simple:
Intelligence isn’t just about scoring high on the JEE. It’s also about making a good decision based on the information that is available in front of you. You gave those people plenty of facts and rational arguments on the pros and cons of their choice- they chose to ignore them.
They deserve what they are going to get.
Sorry you don’t get to blame other people for ‘misguiding’ you, you still had your ‘JEE-cracking’ brain back then, nobody stopped you from finding out the bigger picture from people in other colleges or Alumni- all that information was out there.
Well we all know that the “new” IITs will catch up with the “old” ones in brand value, placements and other standards[given Sibal or some other vote-hungry lunatic doesn't go on opening 10 IITs a year], but as others have pointed out the original IITs have 50 years(give or take) of head-start. So, it’ll take some time.. a decade or a decade and a half may be. So I say chill. Don’t underestimate your “IITs”(what’s in the name, eh?) or your IITian-ness(pardon me if the term’s too far-fetched)!
I think the bigger issue that no one seems to be worried here about is that the overall glory of IITs is dying. I mean would it have been as spectecular had there been ‘3000′ or ‘300000′ in place of ‘300′. Plus, god(coming from an atheist) save the JEE. I’d miss it like I miss IITK.
P.S. I hate modern day CAPTCHAs.
Instead of going by the name, go by the quality of faculty, peer group and infrastructure. And these are and will be the best in the IITs, including the new ones. The new IITs have profs from the old ones and the level of peers and infrastructure is maintained.
Remember! The old IITs have got their so-called “brand” and “name” simply because of the alumni who impacted the society. Since you have everything in hand to make your IIT proud, go ahead and make it proud. It will be a brand name for future students. Your grandfathers needn’t have joined the IITs in the 1960s. They could have gone to older colleges like University of Madras, University of Hyderabad or something like that. But they chose IIT right? It wasn’t because of the name, was it?
A place is as good as it can make you a fine graduate with clear ideas and bubbling enthusiasm.
@Dicemeister: I totally agree with you, i just meant that fight over IIT tag is senseless. IIT is not what it is because of its name.
@disclaimer: I totally agree with you, i just meant that fight over IIT tag is senseless. IIT is not what it is because of its name.
Aragorn,
Fundamental assumptions that your argument is based on.
“better facilities and faculties not just name the institute “IIT”. Really?
The new IITs have faculty from the old IITs, with systems created by the heads of the original systems. The ONLY issue is that these systems take time to mature. Give it 2-3 years, they’ll gain the same standing.
@Senti: Yeah. I accept the fact that we are still toddlers and have a long long way to go before we have the new IITs up to the level of older IITs. What I wanted to say was if you it is not fair when guys in old IITs feel that we don’t deserve to have the tag of an IIT. That’s completely unfair. Hope we ditch our differences from here onwards. Thanks.
@Anon,
I feel that old NITs are still way better than new IITs.
The old IITs have the so called brand value and fame because of the students and culture conceived by them during last 50 years not because of the name “IIT”.Even IIT Roorkee was as prestigious as it is now before it became an IIT.
If the concept behind opening new IITs was to provide opportunities for better education then provide institutes with better facilities and faculties not just name the institute “IIT”.
Not that I am against opening new IITs but whoever did this, did it for getting votes and students who are getting into new IITs are losing more than they are gaining anything out of opening of new IITs.
And whatever has been going around these days, stuff like including board scores as a criteria and scraping JEE to “reduce the load” off students is just an example how the students are being fooled on the name of betterment.
the level of iit will decrease even more after 2013 because kapil sibal is introducing iseet( jee+aieee)
^ Completely agree. You’re as much a part of the ‘IIT family’ as Madras and Bombay are. Look at it this way. You’re a toddler, they just turned 50. Hit puberty and everyone will start taking you seriously.
What is indeed sad to see that the people in older IITs do not consider us as part of the IIT family. Please don’t forget that we were also the ones who cleared the JEE. I could have well got marine engg in Madras or some other branches in Roorkee and Guwahati as well, but I chose to go to a new IIT. I know there would be differences in the quality of students that come out of newer IITs due to lack of proper campuses but that is no way a reason to ignore us. I am sorry to say this but such articles only creates more differences between the students in older and newer IITs. Lets be part of one IIT family. No offence meant.
NewIIT guys,
It’s not a personal insult. Let’s be realistic – the brand we’ve all heard about is _currently_ only about the old IITs. Inevitably so. In America too, you have diff campuses of the same University with diff brands. UT Austin > UT Dallas. UC Berkeley > UCSF.
The old IITs have a 50 year head start in culture, funds, alumni, brand (consequence of alumni). It’s going to be a while before the new ones reach the same level. Wasn’t this something you guys took for granted?
IIT Madras alumnus.
@Devan: Your comment brings out another aspect of discrimination among the disciplines. After all what do you even know about the EP or marine discipline at those colleges you mentioned. For a fact, I know for a fact that the highest package (30L) for the year 2011 was offered to a student from Marine engineering dept. Just a food for thought.
Discl: A student from IITM
@AshishG from “IIT Bombay”,
lets see what happens to your IIT in the coming 10 years.
Anon,
If there were no new IITs I would be doing Engg Physics in IITG. (Or that marine stuff in IITM.)It was by way of a stupid mistake I placed Patna above all of them. Thanks for the comment.
You cannot have your cake and eat it too Devan! If there were no new IITs, you would have not got into it and would have to settle with NIT brand value < IIT. Now that there are new IITs, you could get in, but still new NIT < IIT brand value.
There is justice in the world!
I would assume that this is good news to the Old IIT people who were afraid that their old IITs will suffer from brand dilution.
“Those campuses and faculty will keep shaping better individuals than the newer IITs” – see you after 15 years.
” I sometimes get emails for job agencies..” I wouldn’t count myself a “better individual” if i dont have a decent job.. lol..
Disclosure: “new” IIT student..
To corroborate the article, I sometimes get emails for job agencies which specifically call out the difference. It goes something like, “Vacancy for grads of older IITs only!”
Don’t worry about the brand dilution. Previous IIT was the brand. Now IIT + city name will become the new brand. Each IIT will have its brand. Cream of the nation will keep going to the older IITs. Those campuses and faculty will keep shaping better individuals than the newer IITs.
Disclosure: IITB alumnus.
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