A class apart

For some a stint at the IIT is not the realisation of a dream but the beginning of another, discovers SOUVIK CHOWDHURY

Old pals T. Muralidharan, H. Sitaram and R. Ramanan catch up with each other — Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

THERE ARE three types of engineers coming out of the Indian Institute of Technology. A `natural engineer', also called a blue-blooded one, who are people cut out particularly for engineering. The second category, which the IITs generate in large numbers, is a `research engineer', - these are people who devote their life to research and technological innovation; unfortunately much of it is done abroad. The third and the most interesting category, is an `accidental engineer'. He comes out of IIT to discover that he is a novelist, a vocalist or someone who can run a poultry farm better. H. Sitaram, an IIT Bombay alumnus, does exactly that.

By his own admission, he lost his way and ended up having an innings in IIT. T. Muralidharan, R. Ramanan and B. Vijay Kumar share his story. Chilled out, classical music crazy, multitalented, simply brilliant - the foursome represent a whole constituency, who did engineering to become something else - that, which is utterly divorced from engineering fundas they learnt at IIT.

"To a 15-year old straight out of school, if one says here's a challenge - have a crack at it. What else does he do than be in IIT - the best option after school," says Ramanan, CEO, Astra Microelectronics.

While Sitaram gave up his electrical engineering degree from IIT Bombay to engage in something as remotely related as poultry, Vijay - who loves the chills and thrills of life, changed lanes to become a rally-car driver for sometime. Directionless after completing his engineering, Muralidharan had a stint at IIM-Ahmedabad - the place, which he claims, "resulted in his growth", while Ramanan joined BHEL initially, keeping in mind the sooner he left the public sector the better were his chances of becoming a father.

Brilliant, the buzzword

"Intelligent, we all were," says Sitaram, now Head of Department (Printing) at ICFAI, adding, "but when one enters the IIT, the initial euphoria is so high that there is hardly any clarity on what one would do after four years."

Simply put, it takes extraordinary brilliance to get into IIT, clearing all the hurdles that require backbreaking preparation. Yet there are people who undergo all this to deviate into branches unrelated to engineering and how.

Says Muralidharan, Managing Director & CEO, C&K Management Ltd, "As long as engineering is devalued in our country to management courses there will always exist guys who feel disoriented after engineering and end up being at the IIMs."

Then where do they apply the engineering skills if management skill is what their job demands? "The knowledge from IIT can hardly be put to any practical use," says Sitaram. Seconding him, Ramanan says, "There's no denying the knowledge of engineering equips us to take quick decisions accurately; our analytical and logical skills are enhanced to a considerably degree which helps us solve or fix a problem much faster. But with respect to the technical knowledge, it is unfortunate that unless one is a blue-blooded engineer, there is not much use of that."

Murali, along with a few IIT-Madras alumni is preparing a database of people who passed out from IIT Madras and are engaged in an activity not related to engineering. "There is a sizeable section of such people," he assures.

Denying a chance?

But aren't such people who are on an academic trip, who become IIT engineers to take admission into management courses in IIMs and subsequently sit for their civil services, doing so at the expense of those who are more focussed, who could have possibly made great engineers and contributed proactively to nation building?

Murali attributes it to the "lack of career counselling" that few engineers lose sight after IIT and find themselves at sea as to what to do following the completion of their course. T.V. Ramana Rao, an aerospace engineer from IIT Madras, never got a chance to apply his knowledge in aerospace.

He chose software instead and following a brief stint in the U.S. is now back in town as a project manager with Yasu Technologies. "No regrets," he shrugs off adding, "What can one do when there aren't enough opportunities."

Then, there are IITians like B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, founder, chairman and managing director of Infotech Enterprise, who feel a stint at the IIT improves one's lateral thinking abilities because of the unique delivery mechanism the institute follows.

A 1972-batch of IIT Kanpur, Mohan Reddy says, "Three parameters - faculty, curriculum and infrastructure have earned IITs a formidable reputation worldwide."

Teachers are good at IIT but students are better. "And it is not quite easy to teach math to IIT students," says Ramanan. Many have taught a lesson or two in math to their mathematics professors! One rarely comes across bored engineers coming out of the IITs; only interesting people who are way ahead of others.

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