Saturday, January 17, 2009

Swapping purposes and days at IITD

My Biomaterials professor started his course by asking how long everyone wanted to survive. The answers ranged from 60 to 100 years (one guy memorably asked whether the question pertained to this particular course! So much so for dedication and the A grade!). Next, prof. proclaimed that the human body was programmed to live optimally for only 45 years, that we humans were controlled by DNA and that we had no purpose other than reproduction and sustenance of our little masters. 'All the lazy B. Techs will hail this guy', I thought. Not to be mistaken, it is an awesome thought - that we are mere survival machines housed and run by the supreme forces on the planet - genes.

Staying with purpose, gone are the days when a ticket to IIT guaranteed a grade A job, or a fully-funded stint in a prominent US university. To quote another enlightening prof (one who makes up the dwindling minority of story-telling-teachers in the Institute), firms across the country are slowly waking up to the reality that engineers from other institutes are equally good, if not better, and have spent quaity time in workshops instead of swatting flies in front of their sleek dual-core machines.

I had a mid-week break last week, on account of Makar Sankranti. In lieu of this, Saturday was working, and functioned as a Wednesday. Such day-swapping is not uncommon to people on campus. But its funny to note that what's Saturday to the whole world, and even to the clerk in the PG section, is a full working day for the departments and centres. Thankfully, the shuffling is limited to days. God knows how things would unfold if some Head gets the bright idea of bending time!