Help me with a car dent, won’t you?

Ranjan Raj, Fifth Year Metallurgy (Prathamesh Bandekar)

His take:

Laptop repair, please

His take:

Lights jala do...

His take:

Aren’t girls hired to cover up sexism?

Her take:

Robots on the campus?

Do you have robots on the campus? (Prathamesh Bandekar)

His take:

Nine-hour study duty, no?

His take:

Stereotyping is not uncommon — whether it is in cinema or real life. Even college students face the brunt of being stereotyped for what they do, the courses they take up and the career choices they make. And so, when we chose IIT-Bombay as the next stop for our campus discussion, we asked them about the strangest comments they get from people. Just to give you an idea, someone studying electronics engineering can fix lights. As simple as that, get it? Read on…I’d gone for a wedding when the lights went off and someone requested that I do something about it! I secretly fled from there. It’s been two years since I’ve met them. On another occasion, an uncle in my housing society walked up to me and said, “There’s a dent on my car following an accident. It doesn’t look good. Thoda kuch chemical wagaera daalke theek karde.”Mentally, I brought out a hammer to make a dent on the other side as well. Nature loves symmetry, you know!— Ranjan Raj, Fifth Year MetallurgyI had gone to my aunt’s place, and even before I could munch on the snacks, she came with her laptop to me and asked me to repair it, saying, “Bohot dino se chal nahi raha hai. I can’t even charge the battery. You’re in your third year, please kisi tarah chalaa de.”Nevermind I’m in my third year of college, it doesn’t affect who can fix the laptop; it’s about the right kind of exposure.— Yash Mandhana, First Year Mechanical EngineeringOnce there was a blackout at home due to a spark in a generator. My family members told me, “Ab toh tu IIT mein hai na? Jaake theek karne mein thodi help karwade. Kaam jaldi ho jayega!”Just because there’s an ‘engineer’ in my course name, it doesn’t mean I can take this up. I’m a “chemical” engineer and know nothing about circuits!— Sarthak Khurana, Third Year Chemical EngineerDoesn’t matter who I meet, I’ve come across this common assumption that girls barely enroll in IIT and due to the skewed sex ratio, the competition is only among boys. Someone once told me, “Don’t girls have an edge over boys as companies need to hire girls too in order to avoid looking sexist?”It’s actually true that girls have an edge over boys during placements as employers are always on the lookout for bright minds!— Prachi Goel, First Year Electrical EngineeringAssuming that everything at the institute is hi-tech, a friend once asked me, “Wahan robots ghoomte hain kya? Do you guys move around on hoverboards? You all must be tired after all that tech overload, no?”Like every other college, IIT is very normal. The labs here are high-end, no doubt, but no robots move around. In fact, the closest we get to technology here are the automatic lights in the washrooms.— Anmol Dobwal, First Year Metallurgy (Dual Degree)I don't know why, but most people assume that IIT-ians are always studying. A childhood friend once asked me, “You must be studying all the time, right? Suna hai raat ko, subah ko, kabhi bhi classes lete hain and one has to attend a minimum of nine hours...”It’s quite the opposite. I have four classes in a week for four hours each with Saturday-Sunday offs. The timings are better than most workplaces, I guess!— Shivam Gupta, Third Year Chemical Engineering