Back to School

As part of IBM's effort to be a good corporate citizen and encourage training of engineers to skills we need, I spent Sunday through Thursday, a few weeks ago, at India Institute of Technology—Madras (IIT-M) giving a series of guest lectures to Prof. Shreepad Karmalkar’s semiconductor modeling class. I came home on an overnight train, reaching Bangalore at 4:00am. After going to the office on Friday, I caught a 6:00am flight to Delhi to deliver lectures on Saturday and Sunday at IIT-Delhi. At Delhi my lectures and a project are a stand alone, one credit course, with Prof. Jagadesh Kumar acting as faculty sponsor. This picture is IIT-Madras (the city is now known as Chenai but the school still uses the name used by the colonial British.It was taken at the point where the drive way comes from the main road toward the electrical engineering building (officially the Electrical Science Block). I think it gives you the feel of the campus. A tropical forest with space carved out here and there for buildings and roads.
Like all of the IIT’s this is a complete community with housing for the faculty and staff as well as students.Almost everyone who works or studies here lives on campus, including the non-academic staff.



There is also plenty of wild life.The monkeys are not particularly afraid of people but I had a hard time getting a decent picture because they don’t hold still except high up in the trees. There was a sign inside my room with general information like the timing of meals, etc.It include the warning “This campus is a nature reserve.The monkeys here are very smart. "Hence please lock the windows and doors, especially when leaving the room.”
When I told some friends at work who graduated from that campus about the sign they took it as as a sign of the quality of the school that even the monkeys that live there are smart. There are two species of deer on campus. This one, resting in the shade on the guest house lawn is the more common. I did see a pair of the other species while taking an early morning walk but didn’t have my camera phone with me. They are smaller with long straight horns twisted into a spiral. They are endangered and only 12 are living on the campus.


I stayed on campus in the guest house compliments of the electrical engineering department. I took this picture of the girls waiting for the school bus just across the road from the guest house. Just outside the picture is a cluster of boys, also waiting for the bus in uniforms made of the same materials as the girls.




The guest house is in the part of campus near the hostels (dorms) and this shot was taken as I walked over to class. Students are not allowed to have motorized vehicles but some have bicycles. However the most common mode of transport is on foot. There are also quite a few motor scooters on campus driven by the faculty and staff.The guest house is in the part of campus near the hostels (dorms) and this shot was taken as I walked over to class.
Students are not allowed to have motorized vehicles but some have bicycles. However the most common mode of transport is on foot. There are also quite a few motor scooters on campus driven by the faculty and staff.


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This is the classroom where I taught. Closest to the camera is Yogesh, another IBM engineer who gave some of the lectures. Furthest from the camera is Prof. Kumar. This picture was taken at 10am Sunday morning. By afternoon there were twice this many student and even morn than that attended on Saturday. The classroom is typical of classrooms at both campuses. Everything looks a little old but still serviceable. Because it is warm all year round sound on both campuses hallways are open to allow air to circulate. Buildings tend to be long and thin so that with windows open rooms have cross ventilation. Because the hallways are open there is really no such thing as locking the building. So each room locks with a heavy brass or steel bolt and a pad lock. This is also typical of many homes and other buildings in I am typing from a “havali” (guest house) in Jodhpur Our room locks with a heavy bolt and pad lock from the outside. From the inside there is just a small bolt on the door.