Shashank (left) and Bhargav, IIT Punjab students, browse through a physics book at their temporary hostel room in IIT Delhi

Aspiring engineer Bhargav Mangipudi says he has taken the biggest gamble of his teenage life, and uncertainty lies ahead despite an Indian Institute of Technology tag.

What he is certain of is a place in IIT history.

Bhargav has given up a seat at IIT Delhi, from where fresh graduates often pick up seven-figure salaries, to join the first batch of IIT Punjab, an institution that now exists only on paper.

His rank in this year’s IIT Joint Entrance Examination had fetched him an opportunity to study chemical engineering or civil engineering at IIT Delhi. Bhargav wants to do computer science engineering, a more popular course, which he was offered by the Punjab institute, one of six new IITs that are opening this year.

“I’m taking a risk. So are all of us who are joining the new IITs, which are merely notional at present. The only exciting aspect is, of course, that we will go down in history as the first batch of the new IITs,” he says, a shy smile breaking out on his face as he sits on his hostel bed flicking through the pages of the day’s newspaper.

Bhargav is among 600-odd students joining the new Institutes — to be located in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Orissa apart from Punjab — this year under the largest expansion of the IIT brand since its inception.

From makeshift hostels on a temporary campus, these students are studying for courses that are not even recognised yet.

Although the new IITs have been registered as societies, an amendment to the IIT Act of 1962 is necessary for their degrees to be recognised.

In exile

At IIT Delhi, a freshly painted board directs newcomers to the hostel for IIT Roopnagar (the new name for Ropar, the Punjab town where the virgin IIT will come up) near the northern tip of its campus.

It is here that Bhargav and other male classmates will be housed for at least a year. The girls are to stay at Himadri hostel, one of the IIT Delhi girls’ hostels. The IIT Punjab students will attend all classes at IIT Delhi while a polytechnic in Roopnagar is spruced up.

“The IIT Punjab students will have separate classes from the IIT Delhi students. Once the polytechnic is ready, the IIT Punjab students will move to Roopnagar,” explains Professor Anurag Sharma, dean of students at IIT Delhi, the institute tasked with mentoring IIT Punjab.

A freshly painted board at IIT Delhi, directing visitors to the temporary hostel for IIT Punjab students. Indraprastha Apartments is actually meant for married IIT Delhi researchers. Pictures by Charu Sudan Kasturi

But the polytechnic will be just another temporary stop, where the students will study till the IIT Punjab campus comes up on a 600-acre stretch along the banks of the Sutlej.

The IITs of Orissa (to come up in Bhubaneswar) and Rajasthan (the location is yet to be decided) too are following Punjab’s two-stage rented accommodation route before moving into their own home. While Orissa is being mentored and housed by IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur is hand-holding and hosting the Rajasthan institute.

The remaining three new institutes are starting off from polytechnics in Gandhinagar (IIT Gujarat), Hyderabad (IIT Andhra Pradesh) and Patna (IIT Bihar) while their campuses are built.

“We don’t even know if the IIT Punjab campus will come up during our four-year course,” says Shashank Sharma, another IIT Punjab student.

But for all the anxiety and uncertainty, the IIT brand proved an irresistible attraction for Sharma.

He has ranked 18 in this year’s All India Engineering Entrance Examination and could have waltzed into a course of his choice at any of the National Institutes of Technology, rated the country’s second best set of engineering schools.

“The IIT brand is unparalleled, after all,” smiles the boy from Jaipur, his right hand adjusting the rim of his spectacles.

The rooms in the Roopnagar hostel — actually called the Indraprastha Apartments and meant to house married researchers — have all been freshly painted. The mess is clean and the food homely and wholesome.

“Although we would like to be on our own campus, it is a great experience living on the IIT Delhi campus too,” says Manu, an IIT Punjab student from Hyderabad.

The experience of being at an IIT is indeed critical to making the students of the new institutes feel accepted, says IIT Kharagpur deputy director Madhusudhan Chakraborty.

Unlike IIT Delhi, Kharagpur has put up the IIT Bhubaneswar students at its hostels, as room neighbours of its own students. The IIT Orissa students — 104 have been admitted this year — will attend the same classes as IIT Kharagpur students, Chakraborty says.

“My class has students from both IIT Kharagpur and IIT Bhubaneswar. There is no way of telling the two sets apart except through their roll numbers,” he says.

“It is crucial to create an atmosphere where there is no scope of distinguishing between the two groups. After all, why do people come to IIT? They come for the IIT experience. While they are here, we want to give the students of the new IIT that experience.”

Hectic preparations at IIT Kanpur for the inauguration of the Rajasthan institute – from Kanpur – on August 2 received a breather once officials learnt they would not also have to pander to the needs of education minister Arjun Singh at the launch.

Arjun was expected to “grace” the occasion and helicopters had been put on standby in case the 78-year-old Congress leader, no longer in the pink of health, needed emergency attention.

But Arjun was admitted to hospital in Delhi three days before the inauguration and was replaced at the ceremony by his younger and fitter deputy, D. Purandeshwari, allowing IIT Kanpur officials to focus their efforts on helping the IIT Rajasthan students settle in.

“We are absolutely ready to welcome the IIT Rajasthan students and help them settle in. Our preparations are on track,” IIT Kanpur registrar Sanjeev Kashalkar says.

None of the IIT top brass — directors, registrars, deans, etc — have ever had to set up a new IIT, a challenge compared with which merely running one is a cakewalk, they admit.

The director with probably the maximum experience of running a virtually new IIT is Gautam Barua, who heads the Guwahati institute, which came up in the 1990s.

The computer science expert is now busy making sure that the temporary campus of IIT Patna, which he is mentoring, has enough tables and chairs.

“The procurement of furniture is nearly complete. It is a tough task starting the new IIT straightaway from Patna since it involves plenty of travelling — to and from Guwahati — for those of us involved in starting the new institute,” Barua says.

Worries

To the IIT Punjab students, though, efforts like Barua’s are “worth it”. At least, they say, the IIT Patna students won’t feel like “gatecrashers”.

“We are already hearing that the IIT Delhi students aren’t happy with our coming here. They blame us for having to live in cramped conditions,” says Sharma.

Till last year, two IIT Delhi freshers would share a room. This year, IIT Delhi had to expand its intake because of the Other Backward Classes reservations. With an additional 100 IIT Punjab students as well, three IIT Delhi freshers will have to share a room this year.

“The IIT Delhi students are saying they could have been housed in these apartments if we were not here,” Bhargav says.

There are bigger worries too. One, without any seniors to turn to, how would they cope with the tough internal exams? Two, are all the six new IITs rated alike or are some among them “ranked” better? Three, would top companies come to recruit students from the new IITs?

Yet, the excitement of youth breaks through the clouds of apprehension about the future to focus on the present.

Sharma has one last question, and Bhargav and Manu look up eagerly, almost as if they know what he would ask.

“What’s the way to the nearest multiplex?”