IIT…

…a dream for so many ambitious students. The top institute in India to study Science and Technology and so many students prepare for years to get in to this. Preparations start as early as Standard 9 and students study for 3-4 years to clear the entrance test. And once you get through, your life changes altogether. You get the best in class education in the country and once you are done with the course you get to work or study in the best company or university.

Well it was never in my dreams to enter in to IIT as a student for I did not hear the name till I was in standard 10 and nobody I ever interacted with even talked about it. I think I understood the seriousness of getting in to IIT only when I got in to engg. college. But in my engg college days my dream for IIT started. Naah, not to do M.Tech or something. One of my closest friend used to live inside the IIT campus and we used to visit him often. No no, he is not an IITian, at least I wouldn’t be having an IITian as my friend (namma range kku…). His dad is a prof there. We used to go there to play volleyball primarily and wow what a huge campus it was.

From the polluted roads of Chennai when you enter the campus after getting a gate pass from the security guard, it is heaven inside. You get to breathe in fresh air which in itself is something great. There are so many trees inside, in fact I guess they have built some buildings inside a forest:) The roads are pretty neat without any pot holes, speed breakers are smooth; not like the hard breakers found in the city roads. You might spot some deers inside and monkeys are a regular scene there, sometimes they scare you too:) When you take your bicycle or ride your two wheeler at a speed of 20-30kmph, with the gentle breeze on your face you tend to wonder if you are in Chennai.

The campus has a school inside, huge grounds wherein literally you can play any sport, swimming pool exclusively for people residing inside and an Open Air Theatre. OAT as it is called would show all new movies in a projected screen and you get to sit relaxed in the grasses and enjoy the movie with your loved ones. And every year IITians host their technical symposium and the cultural events. Of course I never went to the tech symposium and when I went in the final year I participated in the Network games section only to get fired by the IITians in the final round of “Unreal Tournament”. Later some one told me how the IITians play for hours together in their hostel LAN and master every map of the game. But the cultural event is a mega event for all the colleges in Chennai. Almost every engg college student would come and watch the event and enjoy the evening. And apart from the events we go there to check out girls from other colleges…hehe.

I am sure the campus was located in deep outskirts of the city when it started, but now it is a prime area in the city with a two bedroom apartment costing around 1C. Whenever I cross IIT, I always dream of living inside this huge campus, where I can go for a morning jog or probably an evening walk, catch up with friends during the weekend and go around the campus and there are so many other things that can be done peacefully inside. Especially you get to breathe in pure air… I sometimes feel I should have studied hard during my school days and got in to the campus.