The IITians
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The IITians is a non-fiction book written by Sandipan Deb, an IIT Kharagpur alumnus and editor of Outlook Magazine. It was first published in 2004 by Penguin Publishers. The theme of the book is the IIT Brand, its history and salient features. The book covers these topics and give an overview of the present popularity of IITs in the media; for example in an episode of CBS 60 Minutes, the golden anniversary celebration in California of the IIT system and the awareness of the dot com boom being driven by IITians in Silicon Valley.
[edit] Book Summary
The book deals with the comparison of IITs with other Institutes of Technology and even universities in USA and elsewhere, like Massachusetts, Harvard, Princeton, California, Illinois, and Tokyo or Singapore. The book discusses the social changes in India and their effect on IITs in contrast with the institutes elsewhere in the world. The book also discusses the peculiarities of campus life in IITs, and how the author went on to be a professional journalist while being trained to be in Electronics.
The foundations of the IIT system, beginning with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s vision, to the nature of the curriculum and life on campus, and the efficacy of the Joint Entrance Examination, the all India culture, and the world view are dealt with in the book. The author also mentions the academic, professional and social interactions between undergraduates in classes, exams, hostels and extra curricular events. The concerns of brain drain, returns to India, the distorted sex ratio among students, the general conditions in the country also form the part of the discussions. The book does not discuss the admission process to IITs other than JEE.
The book is an exploration of how India could create a world class system of engineering education. It also discusses some crucial issues concerning the IITs, namely the Brain Drain, which is the migration of its students to other countries. It rells how much hard work goes into qualifying in the IIT examinations. It also gives the history of the institution. It has listed the achievements of some of IIT's most famous passouts. The book also has a lighter side to it. A chapter, named 'The Weirdos' details some of the more eccentric personalities at the university.
