IIT Madras refers to the 640 acre piece of land in the south Indian city of Madras that every nine and a half out of ten telugu parents want their child to go to college at. The city that IIT Madras is located in has since changed its name to Chennai; nonetheless, having been established by a charter of the Central Government of India, its official name remains the Institute of Indian Technology, Madras. The name is likely to be corrected after the next election when by the rotation policy; a south Indian minister is expected to take charge of the “ministry in charge of the correct nomenclature of higher technological institutions with special focus on the IITs especially in the south of the country”. That is as far as official goes. Unofficially, it is often referred to as “Indian Institute of Technology, Madras”, “Institute of Infinite Torture, Madras” etc. The local Hindi version of the name is “Hindustan College of Engineering, Madaras” which is pretty close to the official Hindi translation which has been discarded due to its un-pronounce-ability.

It is especially well known for the scenic wilderness. The campus had been carved out of a national sanctuary which no one had heard of till the 1960s. The sanctuary is now very famous in quizzing circles for being the smallest national sanctuary in the known universe.

Geography and Climate

IIT Madras is located in the absolute south of the city and has a village attached to it and is not as very far from civilisation as is believed. Though, people who intend to run away from civilisation choose to come to the IIT Madras.

The temperatures in IIT Madras are on average seven centigrade degrees below the temperatures of Chennai, owing to the impressive tree cover. The temperatures range from a minimum of 29 degrees centigrade recorded in 1964 in the peak of winter to 45 degrees centigrade in the peak of summer which is likely to be beaten tomorrow.

Rains at IIT Madras follow a four year cycle. Three absolutely dry years followed by a year of bountiful rain and particularly one week of rain to flood the whole institute. For a couple of weeks every four years, boats become the chief mode of transport.

History

In 1956, the German Government decided it needed to get rid of its outdated technical apparatus and know-how and followed the Russian lead offering technical assistance for establishing an institute of higher education in engineering in India. Many Indian bureaucrats went on fully paid trips to Germany and finally IIT Madras was setup. Official support from the German government ended when it realised that the US and India were benefiting more than itself from the institute.

Economy

Apart from over-generous grants from the government of India, The institute also benefits from the extensive industry “interaction”. When the system of DASA (special admission and special fee for People of Indian Origin) was disbanded, the institute hit upon a novel way to make up for the dip in income from the fees. Today, you can find a huge number of foreign students on “exchange” programs. It is a different matter though that no student from India is involved in the “exchange”.

The entire economy of the village of Taramani is dependant on the IIT. The village has 312 cigarette vendors, 127 photocopying machines, 234 bicycle repairers, 213 auto drivers, 222 motorcycle parking zones, 7 telephones and three toilets.

The institute’s student population is also solely responsible for turning three single-room catering firms into multi-million rupee establishments. The catering contracts of the institute are very coveted and full-fledged mafia help is necessary to obtain the contract or run the service. This mafia is often referred to as the sambar mafia.

Administration

The administration is carried out by dons assigned to different aspects like don (students), don (planning), don (funding) etc. The director is the titular head of the institute. However, the real power rests in two dons namely don (students) and don (acads). The rest of the dons, the senate and the director and their decisions have no bearing on anyone living to the south of the Gajendra Circle. The only other person with considerable powers of torture is the CSO (Chief Scrutiny Officer)

The institute also boasts of a “democratically” elected student council. However, the only real use out of this council to the students is to have someone to blame and to the administration is that it need not lend ears to any complaints directly.

Transportation

The institute is full of care for the environment, so the students cannot use powered vehicles in the campus. Professors, their spouses, their children, their friends, visitors, school children, workers can all use power vehicles. The institute itself employs 43 smoke belching Lorries and seven huge construction machines everyday for the construction activities. Primary means of transportation is the bicycle followed by a battery of battery operated vans which charge only one rupee to take you wherever you don’t want to go. It is always the previous or the next van that goes to the place you wanted to.

The roads were once beautiful, scenic and well paved. For a few days every four years, boats become the chief mode of transport.

Part 2: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to IIT Madras. Part-2