The timing for my review of the Roorkee University or the erstwhile Thomason college of civil eng or presently IIT-Roorkee, is critical to me, primarily ’cos I’m in my 5th year of B.Arch now. This brings in a sense of strong nostalgia.
MAGNUM OPUS:IIT-Roorkee, I believe is the true builder of infrastructure worldwide. Bakhra Nangal Dam, Upper Ganga canal system ( visible from INSAT series of satellites ), Suez canal or the more recently, softwares for the NASA mars rover and Scramjets are the outcome of Roorkietes and their spirit for excellence.
Surely even a rookie, who drops into the campus shall surge ahead of others, when he becomes aware of the RICH past and the stupendous records set by their Alma Mater. Our civil eng department boasts of the country’s first full fledged surveying lab (apart frm some gr8 profs!)
CAMPUS: Its for u to see with u?r own eyes!!! NO campus in INDIA is as lush and well maintained as is ours. The British and our old professors have done the landscaping and the selection of the flora. And take my word for it... it is ravishing. The campus is highly safe for gals and boys (of course!) all throughout the year with very good and disciplined security arrangements.
The roads between the department are shaded by an assortment of trees such as teaks, asoka, poplar, chamelis, semal and the departments are studded with bougainvillea of various colors. The planning of the campus around the grand old main building (of the Brit age) is accentuating, with most of the roads running North-South. The campus is dotted with low cost hangouts like Nescafe, Alpahaar, bhawan canteens ( read Govind canteen), SB gate, Ganga canal, civil lines etc. Only, campuses such as IIM-Bangalore, IISc, TIFR, IIT-Bombay, MIT, Harvard can stand anywhere near by( ceteris paribus )!
ACTIVITIES: They are mainly categorized into student (cultural) activities such as THOMSO, SHRISTI, PEHLA NASHA, DANCE show, SPIC-MACAY, LIT WEEK programs; academic activities include COGNIZANCE, AIEEE, SAE and NASA chapters. Apart from them the campus is witness to some high profile events such as, lecture series (C.N.R Rao, Prabhu Dayal, Tandon-neurosurgeon and the list is unending) which are highly informative, workshops, paper presentations and convocations ( with the likes of the President of India, Azim Premji dropping in). What else do u expect ?!
USP: as our director puts it....’the campus has got all which a city such as Delhi can provide but minus the chaos and pollution of a large city.’ The campus is ideal for a proper academic pursuit...(I don?t practice what I preach) And finally u have the opportunity to be a part of the Thomason traditions.
ALUMNI: Nobody and absolutely nobody can match us on this front. Established in the 1850’s, one can only fancy the number of scholars, engineers and statesman produced by this institute where India’s first train began with 8 coaches( errata in ur history books!). V recently met an alumni who was 95 years old...and bel me he had a story to tell about the campus...v were dumbfounded! most of the guys out of the campus have generally preferred the engineering services. Our GOI ministries, public sector units, railways etc are flooded with Roorkietes. ( so read placements and interviewer !!)
ACADEMICS: classes begin at 8 in the morning till 1. The afternoons are for tutorials and practicals...so sort of a respite for the 3rd, 4th and 5th yearites (read seista !), but not for the 1st and 2nd yearites who are grilled throughout. But dont worry a real Roorkiete misses an opportunity to CHILL ( in the swimming pool or by shopping, hiking, trekking, mountaineering, river rafting, tête-à-tête, dancing, poli...) Grades out here are taken seriously, and exams means deserted roads and hostel corridors, night outs, TENSION, strategy making, policy formulation, understanding psyche of profs. But u may still find a mélange! In the end please remember to PASS, ’cos supplementary’s are common especially if u happened to be in CSE, ECE, ARCH or an Enfant terrible !!
Our hostels, deps, class rooms, studios are all on the net, offices are being automated, lecture halls are air conditioned, equipments and computers keep pouring in. Our architecture students n their course structure is the best in India, the civil dep is ’top klass’, CSE/ECE can boast of rigurous acads ( read suppli !)and fundu placements, electrical holds some cool whiz kids( read IT jobs), chemical guys are full of allrounders and IIM aspirants, Meta are US fliers, Mech and Indus are Koool, M.Techies(matkas) are bindaas ( except in the mess!).
LINGUA FRANCA: the campus lingo comprises of bakar, ghissu, lasso, topo, vele, kat lo, mandir, PD, CL, frustu, toolna, watt lagao, bhokal (new entrants!), phat lee, proxy, dhakkan, poli, kholu, jhakkas, junta, fundu and finally the most popular ? fokiaap / fundu / F.Q( fokiaap quotient) !!!
DOWNSIDE: Angrezon ke zamane ki faculty, shortage of faculty, lack of enough gals in the campus, high on discipline, mess food( not the waiter who have been so good all along), the quiet and peace is unbearable for a Delhite like me!! Airtel, Escotel and BSNL(a strict no no) are the only options here. STD payments for all those with GFs in Delhi and beyond! Traversing from Delhi to roorkee might giv some initial hiccups.
There is no end to wht I can write so I hang up.
Roorkee will whole heartedly help u to grow...the rest is for u to decide. As a student of IITR I am determined to take Roorkee to No1 spot in Asia from the present No14, and I expect u all to do the same(no kidding).
punchline : Once a Thomason, always a Thomasonian. No looking back.
Ciao.
Abhay Ambati.