Men, IIT Kanpur Class of 1984 40th Reunion. December 2023. Photo: IIT Kanpur

February 18, 2024

By Ravi Rao*

In 1984, I graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur. Two months ago, I returned to the campus for the 40th reunion of my class.

It was the first time I was back in Kanpur, following my graduation. When I was a student, the journey from my home in Pune, near Mumbai, to Kanpur, which is in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, took about 36 hours by a steam engine powered train. Last month, a direct flight to Kanpur from Bangalore, where I was visiting my mother, took two hours.

The new airport in Kanpur is connected to the city as well as to the IIT campus by a new metro line. When I got to the campus on a Wednesday evening, I found it was very different from my recollections as a student. There was a major expansion of the student residences, lecture halls, and other facilities, set amidst a thicket of trees. The campus is spread over 1,000 acres.

We had a good turnout. About 60, from my class of 200, attended the December 2023 re-union, many with their spouses and some with their children. While most of them were from India, some traveled from the United States (like me), Australia, Hong Kong, and Britain. Last month, a second reunion of the class of 1984 was held for those who were unable to attend the December re-union.

During the first evening of our reunion, I joined the social hour in the Visitors Guest House. After a gap of four decades, I did not recognize most of my classmates and nor did they recognize me. But I recalled the voices and walk of many of them.

Several graduates of IIT Kanpur have achieved major success around the globe as managers, technologists, company founders, teachers and in other professions. In the business field, they include Arvind Krishna, chief executive of IBM, with a market value of $167 billion; Narayan Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, the Indian information technology (IT) company with a market value of $85 billion; Pradeep Sindhu, founder of Juniper Networks, a U.S. based IT networks supplier with a market value of $12 billion; Rakesh Gangwal, former CEO of U.S. Airways and co-founder of IndiGo Airlines, India’s largest discount airways with a market value of $14 billon; and Dheeraj Panday, founder of Nutanix, a cloud-based IT services company with a market value of $14 billion.

IITs admit less than 2% of applicants, screened through two stages of rigorous admission exams. In 2023, the 23 IITs admitted about 17,400 students, from among roughly 1.2 million applicants. While about 10% of my class of 1984 were women, today they comprise about a fifth of the IIT students.

The competition for admissions is intense because the IITs offer globally recognized engineering degrees at a low cost. IIT graduates earn the highest income among engineers in India and are in demand worldwide. Also, being government subsidized institutions, the total cost of an undergraduate engineering degree from the IITs is very attractive. For instance, currently the total costs for the four year education at IIT Kanpur is Rs. 1 million ($12,000), or less, for most students. This compares to a total cost of Rs. 8.7 million ($100,000) at the private for-profit Manipal Institute of Technology, India, and $320,000 at the University of Michigan in the U.S.

Women in class of 1984. 40th reunion, IIT Kanpur. Photo: IIT Kanpur

Typically, those admitted to the IITs have good work habits, are highly motivated to succeed and very competitive, including with each other for the top grades in a class. Yet on campus most of us were civil to each other and many became, and continue to be friends. While competing with each other, we recognized and respected each other’s talents even if we were in the same class for a course. We also offered encouragement and support, including when one of us got a bad grade in a course or had some personal problems.

As students of an IIT, which are now globally recognized for producing top quality engineers, we were humbled yet inspired by the courses and the professors. The genius of the IIT system is that it harvests the intellectual talent of students from ordinary backgrounds and propels them to great heights. Being admitted to an IIT, is like standing in front of Mount Everest and realizing that one day, after much work and struggle, you will reach the top.

Our attitude was never to complain about the course load or the teachers. We saw the intense and long hours of study as a challenge to be dealt with. This is an important habit which was a big help later in our professional careers.

Looking back, the teaching at IIT Kanpur was truly world class – something I appreciated only after leaving India and comparing it with the top engineering universities in the United States. We also learned a great deal from our fellow students, most of whom were sharp, curious, driven, and helpful.

After we graduated in 1984, about 40 percent of my classmates, mainly electronics and computer science majors, went abroad, primarily to the U.S., for advanced degrees and better jobs prospects. I was among them. I earned a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and then worked for IBM.

Many of those in the U.S. took up jobs in the Silicon Valley, with some founding companies. One founder also owns a vineyard in California with his own wine label.

Today, far fewer IIT graduates are pursuing advanced studies abroad, especially in the U.S. They fear taking on major education loans and then being unable to repay the debt, given uncertainties over getting temporary work visas and the 17-year plus wait for permanent residency in the U.S. Instead, they seek jobs especially at Google, Microsoft, Apple and other multi-national companies in India. Some are joining startups or setting up their own.

Among the rest of my classmates, roughly a fifth each took up jobs with companies in India; pursued MBA degrees in India, after which they worked for companies in India or Asia; or worked for the government, many in the top cadre of officers, after passing the highly competitive Indian Administrative Service examination.

A few of my classmates pursued journalism or became college professors. The most transformed was one who has largely renounced the world, wears saffron clothes, and lives in a remote region in the Himalaya mountains. We were delighted he joined the reunion, shared the reasons for his life-changing decision, and entertained us playing bass guitar in our class rock band.

Ravi Rao’s former room at Hall 1, IIT Kanpur

Following the social hour, we had dinner – yes very lavish compared to the tasteless rotis and dal we were served as students. S. Ganesh, the director of the IIT, spoke of major plans for the expansion of the campus. They include setting up a research hospital to combine medical science and engineering, funded by contributions from alumni.

The first night we alums stayed at the relatively comfortable visitors’ guesthouse on the campus. The room, in Hall 1, where I stayed as a student was still as austere, with only a bed, table and chair. I sent a photo of the room to my three children since it is unlike the large, comfortable rooms they lived in while in college in the U.S.

When I visited my room, I found a current student staying on, during the winter break, to apply for jobs. In our case, almost all students in the graduating class had found jobs by December.

Since 1984, while the number of IITs has grown nearly five-fold, the total number of students admitted has risen more than ten-fold.

The Indian media often report on the decline in the quality of teaching and graduates, especially at the newer IITs. Faculty recruitment is a major challenge, especially for engineering courses even in Kanpur, since those with advanced skills easily find more lucrative jobs.

In addition, the newer IITs lack adequate labs and other facilities. Also, in the 1980’s, the IITs were almost exclusively teaching undergraduate students. Today, at some of them, post-graduate students make up a large part of the student population.

Ravi Rao, at right. IIT Kanpur Class of 1984, 40th reunion. Photo: IIT Kanpur.

Each evening of the re-union we were treated to a variety of cultural programs. In the neighboring city of Lucknow, where we stayed for three days, we heard a Qawalli group who sang modern versions of traditional Sufi music. We also had the best meals in Lucknow, enjoying classic Mughlai vegetable and chicken dishes, which have evolved since the Mughal rule in India, 16th to the 19th century.

Late one night, around 2 am, some classmates launched into a spontaneous Urdu poetry recitation contest. After one classmate finished reciting a poem, another responded with a different poem. When one of the poems referred to a tarana, a musical form from North India, I responded by singing a tarana. On the last evening, an alumni band - yes including our classmate in orange robes who lives in the Himalayas - performed popular rock songs of the 1980’s, including Pink Floyd’s “We don’t need no education.”

There were jokes and laughter and stories retold from our student days. My classmates were happy with their lives and what they accomplished in their careers.

One classmate studied under a street lamp to prepare for the IIT entrance exam since most homes in his village had no electricity. He graduated with a degree in computer science and worked at the research division of Tata Consultancy Services, India. While a few classmates have retired, most plan to continue working. One of them earned a PhD in sociology last year.

When I returned to the campus, after being unable to attend the 25th, 30th and 35th reunions, I learned I was lucky. The 40th reunion, we were told, is the last class gathering organized by the institute. I am glad I could attend. I feel re-charged.