The IITM Story

<About my initial experiences as an IITian> 

  Once upon a time, there was a girl who, by the ever-obscure scheming of Lady Luck (that they call an ‘entrance exam’, but we all know how that works), ended up in the hallowed premises of the ‘Academic Vatican’ that is IIT Madras. This is the story of those first few weeks in this brand new world that outshone her entire life until then.

1.       Snow White

   The gates opened, and she entered a vast, verdant world of breathtaking beauty. But those massive, gnarled trees that extended their branches out to the roads as if to grab at passersby (and a very un-fairytale-ish fear of being part of an intellectual minority; but that’s impertinent) ….she was filled with foreboding. This was the arcane Enchanted Forest. But wait! Glimpses of the marvellous creatures  of the wilderness! (aha—of course not you, dear seniors--don’t flatter yourself) She might just survive, after all: she would sing with the birds and dance with the deer and….

uh-oh. The monkeys.

2.        Dorothy

They were everywhere, but their headquarters seemed to be at her hostel. Evil flying monkeys that spat fire and swooped on unsuspecting prey (okay, they snatched water bottles and edibles and the occasional mobile phone, and ransacked rooms left unlocked, but the spirit of fairytale glamour has to be upheld). They had established a reign of terror over the inmates. The bane of the Emerald City. Ugh—the picture wasn’t as rosy as her mind had painted it; would the great Oz prove to be nothing but a myth?

3.       Sleeping Beauty

After a few days of la-la-la-ing with the deer and screaming like the ‘Psycho’ heroine at the monkeys’ antics, classes began. Oz was Oz all right: she was flummoxed by the alien pedagogical and epistemological aspects of the curriculum (it would be very unglamorous to state that the heroine of this story felt like a dumbass). After months of lazing in that ‘in limbo’ space between school and college, all she could think was “ZZZZzzzzz….”

Oh, wait. The glamour factor looms. Fine then: the heroine was pricked by…er…something pricky, and fell into deep, deep slumber……

4.       Me

“TRRRRrrrrinnggg!!!

Not the school bell, she tells herself—the alarm clock. She shakes off the warm cocoon of slumber with her blanket; classes begin early today. Things are slowly beginning to fall into place; life in IITM is beginning to make sense: the fire-breathing flying monkeys have reduced to annoying pests, and deer are deer, period. No fairytales here--only great friends, brand new experiences, amazing professors who open doors to new universes each day, and a one-of-a-kind college. 

But the sparkling hope of a ‘happily ever after’ remains.