At the IIT Delhi campus I am judging the ‘Mr and Ms Rendezvous’ competition, where students from all over India participate to win the coveted title and be declared the most eligible bachelor and bachelorette on campus. Here I meet Prayag, who wins the title and steals the show with his rapturous, albeit heavily accented, rendition of Michael Bolton’s When a Man Loves a Woman, which would have made Bolton proud. Over the next few weeks, by spending time with this bright, young mathematician from Nagpur I realise that along with complex numbers and rigorous coding, sex is festering on every brilliant IIT mind.

On a sunny winter’s day in Delhi, I sit with Prayag and his new girlfriend, Priya—a 3rd-year IIT student of computing and mathematics—at the canteen. A pretty girl strolls by, she has bright blonde highlights in her hair, and she is dressed boldly in an abbreviated skirt and a tight top shows off her full figure. Prayag’s body bristles like a hound in heat, and he turns instinctively to stare at her. Priya...